Travel

How can one score a free trip to Tokyo? The answer is simple: just eat at all 72 Benihana Restaurants across America and enter the restaurant chain's "Passport Challenge" contest as part of their 50th Anniversary celebration (the contest is now, sadly, closed.)

Apparently, an astounding 11 people ate at all the 72 Benihana restaurants in the U.S. in 2015, but only one Lee Potter was selected to win the grand prize trip for four people to Tokyo. (Where he is going to eat authentic Japanese food that pretty much looks nothing like Benihana food. But that's another story.)

Other winners won lesser prizes like gift cards to Benihana, including those for visiting one Benihana restaurant as many times as possible during the year. (The top distinction goes to Jack King who visited the Benihana in Salt Lake City more than any other participant.) In total, Benihana said that 19,000 people participated in the contest, submitting 26,000 photos too. Yes, that's a lot of pictures of onion volcano towers and chefs flipping shrimp tails into their hats. #sofull

But back to Lee. If this is your first time to Tokyo, then we've got some suggestions for you. If it's not, well, we still think our Tokyo travel guide will serve you well. Sorry, fried rice is not included. But Okonomiyaki is!

And we're sure Benihana has your hotel stay covered but if you're looking to extend the trip, HotelChatter has some good suggestions too.