63+ Great Japanese Cooking Utensils Vocabulary

How are you going to cook without utensils?! It’s time to go shopping for kitchen supplies. But before you head out to the store, you’d better brush up on some Japanese cooking utensils vocabulary.

Below you’ll find lots of Japanese words related to kitchen utensils so you can adequately enjoy cooking food in your kitchen. Japan has all the standard kitchen tools you’ll need and some very interesting cultural kitchen utensils specific to cooking Japanese cuisine.

These are difficult to get outside of Japan, and it appears very few people have taken photos of these utensils. Still, we tried our best to find some images for you.

The Japanese, of course, love to eat fish and sushi, but there is far more than that to cook and eat in Japan. What will you encounter during your time there? Your food journey will be full of surprises and new tastes!

The Japanese culture is heavily based on work, resulting in most people eating street food or out at restaurants. Some people find the time for a home-cooked meal during special celebrations.

Perhaps you want to impress someone with your cooking abilities.

Whether that’s the case or you enjoy cooking for yourself, it’s time to learn and get to know utensils in Japanese!

 

Types Of Food In Japan

Japanese cooking utensil vocabulary

If you’re interested in cooking local Japanese food in your daily life, you should become familiar with the most popular dishes to prepare in Japan. 

It will help you to know what sorts of kitchen tools you’ll need to purchase, such as chopsticks, bowls, plates, knives, and other dishes you may need. Know that rice is a huge part of the cuisine, so you’ll want to pick up a high-quality rice cooker.

Name in EnglishJapanesePronunciation
Kaiseki懐石kai-sek-ee
Miso soupみそ汁mee-so-sheru
Natto納豆na-toe
Odenおでんoo-den
Okonomiyakiお好み焼きo-ko-nom-ee-yak-ee
Onigiriおにぎりo-nee-gear-ee
Ramenラーメンraa-men
Sashimi刺身sha-shi-mee
Shabu Shabuしゃぶしゃぶsha-boo-sha-boo
Sobaそばso-ba
Sukiyakiすき焼き soo-kee-a-kee
Sushi寿司tsu-shi
Takoyakiたこ焼きta-ko-ya-kee
Tempura天ぷらtem-purr-a
Tofu豆腐toe-foo
Tonkatsuとんかつton-cat-sue
Udonうどんoo-don
Unagiうなぎoo-na-gee
Wagashi和菓子wa-ga-shi
Yakitori焼き鳥ya-key-tor-ee

 

Unique Japanese Cooking Utensils Vocabulary

There are some very unique kitchen utensils particular to Japan. These are just a few that you may end up in your kitchen if you plan to cook Japanese food.

  • Donabe – 土鍋 (do-na-bay)
Donabe
  • Egg mold – 卵型 (ta-ma-go-ga-ta)
Egg mold
  • Fish roaster – フィッシュロースター (fish-hero-su-ta)
  • Fish scaler – フィッシュスケーラー (fish-ku-tera)
  • Gyoza press – 餃子プレス (gee-o-za-pre-es-oo)
  • Omelet pan – オムレツパン (oo-mer-ette-span)
Japanese cooking utensil vocabulary
  • Onigiri mold – おにぎり型 (oo-ni-gear-ee-gata)
onigiri mold
  • Pickling press – ピクルスプレス (pick-oo-roo-soo-poo-roo-soo)
  • Rice washer – ライスウォッシャー (rice-oo-osha)
  • Sukiyaki pot – すき焼き鍋 (soo-key-ya-key-na-bay)
Sukiyaki pot 
  • Takoyaki maker – たこやきメーカー (ta-koh-ya-key-meh-ka)
Japanese cooking utensil vocabulary Takoyaki maker

 

Western Japanese Cooking Utensils Vocabulary

Here is a listing of typical kitchen tools in Japanese.

Name in EnglishJapanesePronunciation
Bottle openerボトルオープナーbo-tor-o-oo-poo-na
Bowlボウルbo-ru
Butcherknife肉切り包丁nee-ku-kiri-bo-cho
Can opener缶切りkan-kiri
Chopsticksha-shi
Colanderザルzar-oo
Cutting boardまな板ma-nai-ta
Dishes料理ree-ori
Forkフォークfor-ku
Frying panフライパンfoo-rai-pan
Kitchen knife包丁hoe-joe
Lidfu-ta
Measuring cup計量カップkerri-o-ka-pu
Measuring spoons計量スプーンkerri-o-spoon
Peelerピーラーpee-ra
Platesa-ra
Potポットpot-o
Skewertsu-shi
Spatulaへらhera
Spoonスプーンspoon
Strainerストレーナーsto-rai-na
Whisk泡 立て 器ah-wah-decki
Wok中華鍋choo-ka-na-bay

 

Kitchen Appliances In Japanese

Japanese kitchen Utensils
EnglishJapanesePronunciation
Dishwasher食器洗い機show-key-a-rai-key
Microwave oven電子レンジden-gee-ren-gee
Refrigerator冷蔵庫ray-zo-ko
Ovenオーブンoh-bun
Stoveストーブsto-boo
Rice cooker炊飯 器zee-han-gee
Kettleケトルke-tor-oo
Sinkシンクshink-oo
Garbage canゴミ箱go-mee-ba-ko

 

Phrases And Japanese Cooking Utensils Vocabulary To Use While Shopping

While shopping, you may need this Japanese vocabulary and words to ask for help in locating things in the store in your daily life in Japan.

You’ll notice that in each question, the thing you’re asking for is the first thing in the sentence, followed by the question. This is the opposite of English sentence structure.

EnglishJapanesePronunciation
Where can I find the kitchen tools?キッチンツールはどこにありますかkitchen-soo-roo-ah-dokoo-nee-ari-mas-ka?
Where can I find a kitchen knife?包丁はどこにありますかho-cho-ah-dokoo-nee-ari-mas-ka?
Where is a cutting board?まな板はどこにありますかma-nai-ta-ah-dokoo-nee-ari-mas-ka?
Where is a frying pan?フライパンはどこですかfoo-rai-pan-ah-dokoo-de-su-ka?
Where is a pot?鍋はどこですかnabe-wa-dokoo-de-su-ka?
Where can I find a whisk?泡立て器はどこにありますかah-wah-decki-ah-dokoo-nee-ari-mas-ka?
Where can I find a rice cooker?炊飯 器はどこにありますかzee-han-gee-ah-dokoo-nee-ari-mas-ka?
Where are the bowls?ボウルはどこにありますかbo-ru-ah-dokoo-nee-ari-mas-ka?
Where are the chopsticks?箸はどこにありますかha-shi-ah-dokoo-nee-ari-mas-ka?
Where are the dishes?お皿はどこですかo-sara-ah-dokoo-de-su-ka?

 

It’s Time To Cook And Learn!

Hopefully, this article will improve your Japanese vocabulary and help you understand how to ask for kitchen utensils and appliances when shopping.

We’d love to help you learn even more Japanese vocabulary, especially the pronunciation of this entertaining language to speak.

Learn Japanese with Ling

With Ling, you’ll learn Japanese in a short time per day. You’ll also learn to read and write Japanese and listen to real conversations between people to help you pick up on accents and pronunciations of Japanese phrases and vocabulary.

Share this post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

What makes learning with Ling special

Interactive exercises

Improve your pronunciation by starting a conversation with our app’s interactive chatbot

Engaging activities

Practice your skills with mini-games and track your progress with fun quizzes

Mix of languages

Choose from over 60 languages, both big and small, and listen to audio from native speakers

Proven results

Backed by linguistic research, our learning methods can help you achieve fluency in record time