Eat in a retro department store dining hall
From the 1950s to the 1970s, a family outing in Japan often ended at the big dining hall on the top floor of a department store, over plates of omurice (an omelet on ketchup rice), ice cream and set meals. A few of these halls still keep their old look and menus, so you can order the same dishes in the same setting today. The one in Ueno is easy to reach from central Tokyo, while the others are in Iwate in the north and Kagoshima in the far south.
A 560-seat dining hall on the sixth floor of a former department store in Hanamaki, Iwate, its Showa-era interior, from the mid-1900s, kept just as it was. The famous dish is soft-serve ice cream piled ten layers high, which people eat with chopsticks, and the Marukan ramen with a thick, spicy sauce is a local favorite. Weekends are busy, so go early.
A dining hall in the Matsuzakaya department store in Ueno, Tokyo, that keeps the feel of the old department store restaurants. Order an omurice set or another Western-style classic and eat it by big windows that look down on the streets of Ueno. It is an easy stop after Ueno Park or the Ameyoko market street.
A large dining hall on the seventh floor of Yamagataya, a long-established department store in central Kagoshima, at the southern tip of Kyushu. Its famous yakisoba is crisp fried noodles under a thick sauce of vegetables and seafood, which locals eat with a splash of sweet vinegar, and the menu also covers Japanese, Western and Chinese dishes. It is a long way from Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, so plan it as part of a trip to Kyushu.