Food

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• Sake — how to read the label, and what *daiginjo* actually means on a Japanese bottle

  On a sake bottle, the smaller the number, the more rice was destroyed to make it. That's the premium signal.

• Ramen-ya — the Japanese 15-minute solo dining ritual that isn't really like eating pasta

  A 15-minute solo ritual at a counter — Japanese ramen isn't really like eating pasta, and the slurping is required.

• Onigiri — the Japanese rice ball that's been a portable meal since before Japan had restaurants

  The Japanese rice ball — a thousand-year-old portable meal that lives in every convenience store, every lunchbox, and every Japanese childhood.

• Kaiten-zushi — the Japanese conveyor-belt sushi that quietly turned the most expensive food in the country into family dinner

  Japan's conveyor-belt sushi chains turn sushi into casual family dinner — touchscreen ordering, color-coded plate prices, and a long belt of small plates rolling past your seat.

• Izakaya — the Japanese place that isn't a bar, isn't a restaurant, and quietly does what neither does

  Not a bar. Not a restaurant. The Japanese institution that quietly hosts most of the country's serious socializing.