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The Differences of Taiwanese and Japanese Delicious Breakfast
A yummy breakfast is indispensable to start an energetic day. To face various challenges every day, nutritious breakfast can provide you with good mood and energy for your brain. When we have our breakfast, we also can chat to make the atmosphere more harmonious. Unlike a wide range of choices in Taiwan, Japanese traditional breakfast is mainly focusing on lighter and easier to make. These two countries not only show that both have various colorful breakfast but also a slight difference in time and habit.
The biggest difference is that Taiwan has a lot of breakfast bars everywhere whereas most Japanese have their breakfast at home. In Taiwan, there are many nuclear families, which means both parents need to work. That causes parents don’t have time to prepare breakfast for their children and themselves (王琬育, 2017). Also if every member of a family wants to eat different breakfast, it’s hard to prepare for everyone since time is limited. Breakfast bars help these families solve these problems. They provide a wide range of food to let customers choose. Not only Western and Eastern but also traditional Taiwanese food, you can find all of them in breakfast bars (STORY CIRCLE, 2020). In contrast, Japanese have their breakfast at home. One reason is that cooking is cheaper than eating outside (Oyako Shop, 2024). The other reason is that there are still some traditional Japanese families. Most wives are used to preparing breakfast for the families (LIVE JAPAN, 2024). And that’s why there are not so many breakfast bars in Japan.
Another reason that Japanese can enjoy their meals at home is the time. For them, they are used to getting up early to have breakfast. Furthermore, Japanese students only need to get to school before 8:50. So they don’t need to eat breakfast quickly (Japahoilic, 2024). Different from Japanese, most Taiwanese go to school and work in a hurry, they don’t have time to have their breakfast in a relaxed way. And they will choose to grab food from breakfast bars. It’s convenient for them because breakfast bars prepare a dish quickly. So they can bring breakfast to the workplace and school (Oyako Shop, 2024).
The other difference is Taiwanese get used to different types of breakfast. Sometimes Taiwanese may find that it’s hard to choose what to eat today since every breakfast bar sells a variety of food. If you want to eat Western food, you can choose hamburgers, sandwiches and salad. Or today you can have some Chinese breakfast, such as rice balls and hot plate noodles. These are all things you can find in Taiwanese breakfast bars (王婉育, 2017). On the other hand, Japanese breakfast has light flavor. People think that Japanese tradition breakfast is very healthy. Traditional Japanese breakfast has three dishes and one soup, including a fish, pickles, vegetables and miso soup. And rice is the main dish that is always served in breakfast set. This set can consume the basic nutrition that body needs (SAVOR JAPAN, 2024; Betz, 2025). Although Japanese people can choose other kinds of breakfast now, there are still some hotels or tourist attractions that serve classic Japanese breakfast (MEOWTRIP, 2025).
Although there are some differences between two countries, the meaning of making heart warm and start ing a new day is the same. From many kinds of breakfast in Taiwan to healthy Japanese breakfast, both of them make everyone happy. If you want to have a nice day, just go to have a hearty breakfast. You’ll find that it’s wonderful to have it.
References
【日本文化特蒐】在日本早餐怎麼吃？常見8種早餐介紹與常見問題. (2024, November 1). Oyako Shop. from https://www.oyakoshop.com.tw/index.php?module=news&mn=1&f=content&id=41333
Betz, Leslie. (2025, July 16).日本早餐精選：11種必嘗美味及其最佳去處. by Food. https://www.byfood.com/zh-tw/blog/breakfast-in-japan-p-702
MEOWTRIP旅喵編輯部.(2025, April 30). 早上起床吃什麼？帶你了解為什麼日本街頭少見早餐店. MEOWTRIP. https://www.meow-trip.com/blog/posts/why-no-breakfast-shops-in-japan
王婉育.(2022, January 1).台灣人共同書寫的早餐小史. 料理.台灣. https://ryoritaiwan.fcdc.org.tw/columns/7078
台式早餐店：台灣人最值得驕傲世界的特別. (2022, January 22). 敘事圈 STORY CIRCLE. from https://storycircle571.com/2020/01/22/%e5%8f%b0%e5%bc%8f%e6%97%a9%e9%a4%90%e5%ba%97%ef%bc%9a%e5%8f%b0%e7%81%a3%e4%ba%ba%e6%9c%80%e5%80%bc%e5%be%97%e9%a9%95%e5%82%b2%e4%b8%96%e7%95%8c%e7%9a%84%e7%89%b9%e5%88%a5/
Japaholic編輯部. (2024, September 3). 日本為什麼沒有早餐店？台日早餐文化差異比一比. Japahoic. https://www.japaholic.com/tw/article/detail/940594
SAVOR JAPAN. (2024, June 19). 好吃又健康！吃日式早餐感受日本文化. Savor Japan. https://tw.savorjapan.com/contents/discover-oishii-japan/delicious-and-nutritious-immerse-yourself-in-japanese-culture-by-opting-for-a-japanese-breakfast
日本人都自己做早餐？比起白飯選擇XX的人比較多！日本人早餐習慣大調查. (2024, February 16). LIVE JAPAN PERFECT GUIDE. from https://livejapan.com/zh-tw/article-a0001278/
Photo reference
from above references and
https://wwwsnova.blogspot.com/2014/10/taiwanese-breakfast-in-english.html
November 27, 2025
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