Chosen for you
Sukiyaki
すき焼き
“Warmth around one pot.”
Why this dish fits you
You lean sweet-savory and rich, and you like meals that feel like occasions. Sukiyaki is Japan's celebration pot: beef simmered in sweet soy, shared around one table, saved for nights that matter.
About the dish
Sukiyaki is paper-thin beef and vegetables — long onion, shungiku greens, tofu, shirataki noodles — simmered at the table in warishita: a sweet blend of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin.
Each bite is dipped in beaten raw egg, which cools the meat and turns the sauce silky. Premium wagyu makes it the classic celebration splurge.
Region
Kansai and Kanto cook it differently: in Osaka and Kyoto the beef is seared in the pot first, seasoned as it cooks; in Tokyo everything simmers in warishita from the start. Families defend their side of the divide.
How Japanese people enjoy it
Sukiyaki marks occasions — year-end gatherings, reunions, good report cards. Gift boxes of sukiyaki beef are a classic present.
Someone (often the eldest, or the self-appointed pot master) manages the cooking; everyone else eats and passes their bowl.
The finale: udon noodles dropped into the sweet, beef-rich broth at the end.
Dining etiquette
Dip each piece in the beaten egg — it's the traditional way, and eggs in Japan are produced to be safe raw.
Use the serving chopsticks (or reverse your own) when taking from the shared pot.
Let the pot master work — reaching in to rearrange someone else's simmering is a small crime.
A common misunderstanding
The raw egg alarms many visitors, but it's the heart of the dish — and Japanese eggs are washed, inspected, and date-stamped specifically for raw eating. Skipping it means missing sukiyaki's signature texture.
Did you know?
Beef itself was the novelty: Japan largely avoided beef for centuries until the Meiji era, when sukiyaki (then gyunabe) became the fashionable taste of a modernizing country.
The 1963 hit 'Sukiyaki' (Ue o Muite Arukō) reached #1 on the US charts — renamed after the dish simply because it sounded Japanese.
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