# Are there Japanese Steakhouses in Japan
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-japanese-steakhouses-in-japan/149232
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 17, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-japanese-steakhouses-in-japan/149232 "2003-01-17T15:20:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-japanese-steakhouses-in-japan/149232/1 "2003-01-17T15:20:02Z")
I know there are restaurants in Japan that serve steak, but are there places similar to a Benihana where they cook it in front of you while you are seated around the grill? If so are they common?
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### Author:  [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-japanese-steakhouses-in-japan/149232/2 "2003-01-17T15:25:19Z")
There are steakhouses in Japan.
They are hideously expensive.
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### Author:  [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-japanese-steakhouses-in-japan/149232/3 "2003-01-17T16:47:50Z")
A quick search on Google came up with the following, on this page by Fodors: [http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=kyoto@86&cur\_section=din](http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=kyoto@86&cur_section=din)
> [@](#):
>
> A short walk from the Gion district, Ashiya Steak House is the best place in Kyoto to enjoy “a good steak…a real martini…and the essence of traditional Japan,” in the words of 30-year-resident and owner Bob Strickland and his wife, Tokiko. While you are seated at a kotatsu (recessed hearth), your teppanyaki dinner of the finest Omi beefsteak, grilled and sliced in style, will be prepared as you watch. You’re sure to be impressed by the service and the $160 price tag for a 12-ounce steak. Reservations essential.
I’m not sure how common places like this are, but since I came upon this description on my first hit from Google, I can’t think these sorts of restaurants are extraordinarily rare in Japan.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-japanese-steakhouses-in-japan/149232/4 "2003-01-17T18:35:05Z")
What you want to do is scour the district for teppanyaki style places. That’s the “benihana” sort of thing. I don’t recall going to any of those whilst living in Japan; however, I did frequent the yakiniku (Korean BBQ) and Izokaya-style joints.
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-japanese-steakhouses-in-japan/149232/5 "2003-01-17T18:49:23Z")
My wife is a Japanese native and lived in Yokahama and Tokyo until she was 20.
She went to a Benihana a few years ago and claims this is not “real” japanese food and that she never saw anything like this style of food in Japan.
So they may exist but they are probably rare and not typically frequented by the average Japanese person