My wife and I visited Japan in 1984. We were on a tour for 2 weeks, then on our own for 1 week. Our tour guide (Japanese) believed we should learn to do things for ourselves, so he offered minor suggestions on the first couple of days, and pretty much left us alone the rest of the time. We ate at a lot of I guess what you would call chain restaurants (although we didn’t know them, as such). Most had the plastic (fake) food samples or pictures out front. This was long before cell phones with cameras, or even digital cameras, so we would stand outside and figure out what we wanted, then go inside. When the waitress came to take our order, we politely asked her to accompany us back outside where we could point to what we wanted. We never had a problem using that method of ordering. (It helped that I am 6’7" tall. I was almost a celebrity wherever we went. And the waitresses really liked me.)
By the third week, when we were off tour, we had pretty much mastered how to order food. Went into a local noodle place on one of the small islands and apparently thrilled the owner (chef) and his wife with our ability to order. We had a great time in that shop, trying different types of noodle dishes that the chef seemed to be happy to share with us.
There were some items that I did not like. Fish cakes are usually ‘mushed up’ fish (I think; I was expecting something like a piece of fried cod). And if it looks like chocolate, it’s probably some kind of bean. Let the buyer beware.
