About Shinisetabi

Shinisetabi – A Budget Gourmet Journey Through 100-Year-Old Eateries in Japan

This website documents century-old eateries across all 47 prefectures of Japan, with one of the more extensive individual databases of its kind — over 1,350 locations and growing.

Shinisetabi is a travel and food documentation project created by KotaPapa, a Japanese salaryman, and his corgi dog Kotaro.
The project focuses on visiting and recording eateries that have operated for over 100 years across Japan.

The concept is simple: Enjoying traditional Japanese food and history while traveling on a budget.

Who Is KotaPapa

KotaPapa is an ordinary full-time Japanese office worker who loves history, local culture, and affordable traditional food.
He travels across Japan to visit long-established eateries that have survived for generations.

These eateries represent living history, family businesses, and local communities that have endured wars, disasters, and economic changes.

Who Is Kotaro

Kotaro is a corgi dog and KotaPapa’s travel companion.
He appears in photos and videos visiting historic towns and century-old eateries, adding a warm and personal element to the project.

Kotaro is now 13 years old, and age is beginning to slow him down. To carry the journey forward, Kotaro II — a young corgi related to him by blood — has recently joined the family.

The Pendant Story

A small pendant travels with KotaPapa on every journey. It belonged to Kotamama — his wife, and the one who first dreamed of this journey with him. She can no longer walk these streets, but she still rides along in spirit, one century-old eatery at a time, exactly as they once planned it together.

What Shinisetabi Documents

Shinisetabi provides detailed records of century-old eateries in Japan, including:

• Eatery name
• Founded year
• Address and contact information
• Business hours and closing days
• Photos of Kotaro, interiors, dishes, and exteriors

To support your travels, we offer free access to our original Google My Maps featuring over 1,350 historic locations across all 47 prefectures. Each pin is directly linked to our detailed blog posts, allowing you to plan your own authentic journey.

You can easily sort the archive either by prefecture or by food tags to find eateries that match your destination or taste.

A Note on Language

Shinisetabi’s photo captions and social media posts are bilingual (Japanese/English). Full blog articles are currently written in Japanese only; browser translation (e.g., Google Translate) works well for reading them.

As an independent, self-funded project, we hope to one day offer professional English translation of the entire archive — details on how we plan to make that happen are shared below.

Right now, visiting and documenting eateries takes priority over translation. Eateries are closing faster than one person can visit them, and an eatery that closes unrecorded can never be added to the archive — but its translation can always wait. 

All content is created independently with simple photography and writing. Information on this website reflects the situation at the time of each visit. For the latest details, please check directly with each eatery.

Why Century-Old Eateries Matter

Century-old eateries are cultural heritage. They preserve traditional recipes, craftsmanship, and local history that cannot be replaced.

Shinisetabi aims to:

• Preserve disappearing local food culture
• Share authentic Japanese culinary history globally
• Help ease overtourism by guiding travelers toward local communities, beyond the most crowded destinations

While our current focus remains dedicated to the eateries of Japan, it is our ultimate hope that Shinisetabi will one day grow to become a global bridge, connecting century-old establishments and preserving traditional food cultures around the world.

Why This Site Exists Despite No Funding

This project is published without any budget because time is the one thing these eateries cannot get back. Many century-old eateries are already struggling, and this site exists to guide travelers toward them — hoping that even a small increase in visitors might help them survive a little longer.

KotaPapa is a salaryman with limited free time. At this pace, visiting every historic eatery across Japan will take several more years. Some may close before he ever gets there — and if they close before being documented, even a gray pin cannot be left behind to remember them.

This site has no power to save these eateries. But if it can help extend their story by even a little, that may be enough to leave one more gray pin — one more place remembered.

A Note on Respect (Ichigo Ichie)

Each visit follows the spirit of ichigo ichie — treating every encounter as unique and unrepeatable.

We try not to interrupt a busy owner during service. We read the mood before asking anything personal, and hold back if it doesn’t feel right.

Some visits leave us with less information than we’d like. That’s fine. What appears on this site is only what each eatery was willing to share in that one encounter — nothing more.

Independent and Non-Commercial Philosophy

Shinisetabi is created without advertising, ranking lists, sponsored content, or commercial partnerships.

No recommendations, rankings, ratings, or reciprocal links are provided for any eatery. This is a personal, self-funded documentation project, created with the aim of remaining fair and unbiased toward every eatery it documents.

At present, Shinisetabi does not accept donations. In the future, support from companies, organizations, and individuals may be considered as cultural patronage (mécénat) to help expand the archive, document more century-old eateries, and make this resource available in multiple languages — including the full English translation mentioned earlier.

Social Media Accounts

Shinisetabi uses the same handle — @shinisetabi — across all 8 platforms, matching the website domain so you always know you’ve found the official project:

• Instagram: @shinisetabi
• TikTok: @shinisetabi
• X (Twitter): @shinisetabi
• YouTube: @shinisetabi
• Facebook: @shinisetabi
• Threads: @shinisetabi
• RED: @shinisetabi
• Reddit: @shinisetabi