Japanese cuisine has a vast array of regional specialities known as kyōdo ryōri (郷土料理) in Japanese, many of them originating from dishes prepared using local ingredients and traditional recipes. While "local" ingredients are now available nationwide, and some originally regional dishes such as okonomiyaki and Edo-style sushi have spread throughout Japan and are no longer considered as such, many regional specialities survive to this day, with some new ones still being created. Regionality is also apparent in many dishes which are served throughout Japan such as zōni soup. For example, the dashi-based broth for serving udon noodles is heavy on dark soy sauce, similar to soba broth, in eastern Japan, while in western Japan the broth relies more on the complex dashi-flavouring, with a hint of light soy sauce.

Historical origins

Broadly speaking, the historical origins of Japanese regional specialities can be categorized into four types:

List of regional specialities

Hokkaido

Tohoku region

Chubu and Kanto regions

Kansai and Chugoku regions

Shikoku

Kyūshū

Okinawa

Various