Kaisendon Travel Guide

Combining two of the country’s staple foods to make an effortlessly delicious dish, kaisendon brings succulent sashimi slices together with a humble bowl of rice. Maximizing easy access to seafood, kaisendon in Japan is textural and fresh, a rice bowl dish that falls under the donburi family of Japanese cuisine. Topped with fatty tuna or neon-fleshed salmon, salty mackerel or squishy squid, each piece of sashimi is sliced with precision by an experienced chef, delicately laid over a fluffy bed of Japanese rice. A meal that’s both fresh and comforting, a kaisendon topped with luxurious crustaceans, shrimp, or raw fish makes for one of Japan’s incredible seafood culinary experiences.

With famously fresh fish, salmon roe, and winter crabs, Hokkaido guarantees a mean kaisendon, although adding the local delicacy of uni (sea urchin) is undeniably divisive. Kanazawa’s positioning by the Sea of Japan offers consistency in high-quality seafood catches, best enjoyed in the busy maze of Omicho Market, although unmatched by Toyosu, now the world’s biggest fish market in Tokyo. Eat an elaborate kaisendon on a market tour of Tsukiji, or learn how to put one together yourself at a seaside cooking class. Enjoyed with soy sauce and dab of wasabi, sashimi and rice in a kaisendon is unmissable, emphasizing Japan’s quality ingredients and freshness.