Obana

Is Obana worth the trip from Tokyo?

Yes; if you are willing to build a half-day around it. Obana is a sushi counter in Tatebayashi, Gunma prefecture, roughly 50 minutes from Kitasenju Station by limited express. It holds a Tabelog Score of 4.46, a 2026 Silver Award (upgraded from eight consecutive Bronze years), and has appeared in Tabelog's Sushi EAST Top 100 in 2021, 2022, 2025. Opinionated About Dining ranked it #164 among Japan's leading restaurants in 2025. The price point; JPY 27,500 for the standard course, JPY 35,000 to JPY 43,000 for the full course, positions it well below the leading Ginza counters while delivering award-level consistency. That gap between quality and price is the clearest reason to make the journey.

What to Expect at the Counter

Obana seats just 8 guests across a counter and one private tatami room for 2–3. The format is course-only, with two seatings on weekday evenings (17:30 and 19:30), a single Saturday evening sitting, Sunday and public holiday lunch seatings at 12:00 and 15:00. The room is described as a stylish, relaxing house-restaurant format, a converted private residence rather than a city-centre dining room. That setting matters: this is not a slick Ginza operation. It is closer in feel to dining in someone's home, which suits guests who find Tokyo's more performative omakase counters exhausting. Compared to Harutaka in Tokyo, Obana trades metropolitan polish for a quieter, more personal atmosphere.

For guests focused on unagi rather than sushi, the broader Gunma-to-Tokyo corridor has alternatives worth noting: Akimoto, Hashimoto Unagi, Kabuto Unagi, Sangubashi Asaya, and Uomasa all operate in the Tokyo unagi space. Within Japan more broadly, Chikuyoutei in Osaka is the reference point for high-end unagi in the Kansai region, Irin in Bratislava is an interesting outlier for travellers wanting context on how the format travels internationally.

The Drinks Angle

Obana takes sake seriously. The database flags a particular emphasis on nihonshu (sake), alongside shochu and wine. BYO is also permitted, with a corkage fee of JPY 3,300 per bottle, a practical option if you want to bring a specific wine or bottle of sake. For a food-and-drink explorer, this matters: the combination of a serious sake list and a BYO policy gives you genuine flexibility to match drinks to a course that varies by ingredient availability. If sake pairing is part of why you travel for food in Japan, Obana rewards that interest more than many counters at this price level. Credit cards are accepted (Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Amex, Diners); electronic money and QR code payments are not.

Getting There and Booking

Access requires planning. From Kitasenju Station (Tobu Skytree Line), take the limited express Ryomo to Tatebayashi Station, approximately 50 minutes, then walk 15 minutes from the east exit or take a short taxi. By car, it is roughly 10 minutes from Tatebayashi IC on the Tohoku Expressway, with parking for up to 7 vehicles on site. New customers can only book through Pocket Concierge. Cancellation fees apply: 30% at 7 days out, 50% at 3 days out, 100% for same-day or day-before cancellations. An English menu is available free of charge, request it at booking.

How It Compares

Explore More

Obana sits outside central Tokyo, but it connects to a wider network of high-calibre dining across Japan. For other destination-worthy restaurants, see HAJIME in Osaka, Gion Sasaki in Kyoto, akordu in Nara, Goh in Fukuoka, 1000 in Yokohama, and 6 in Okinawa. For planning the rest of your trip, use our full Tokyo restaurants guide, Tokyo hotels guide, Tokyo bars guide, Tokyo wineries guide, and Tokyo experiences guide.