Tasty Tacos Around Katsuta

Back around 2010, I was in my hometown of Miami with a friend who had lived in Japan for a year. I was getting ready to move to Japan myself and had a bunch of questions for him. We met at a Mexican restaurant and talked for quite a while. When the tacos came to our table, he told me, "Enjoy these, because you are not going to find them in Japan." A few weeks later, I moved to Japan, and I have to say he was right. I had been all around Tokyo and did not see any tacos around the city. Fast forward to 2026, and Japan is now in a taco craze. I can point you to a bunch of different taco restaurants and food trucks in Tokyo. I have even talked about taco restaurants here in Ibaraki. Tres Club in Moriya, Cafe Jammin' in Arakawaoki, To mecca in Mito, to name a few. Now I have one more taco place to add to the Ibaraki taco restaurants list. This place just opened a few months ago, and it is serving some delicious tacos. Today, I will be talking about Rainbow Culture in Hitachinaka City.

Rainbow Culture

Rainbow Culture is located in the Katsuta area of Hitachinaka City. If you are coming by train, it is just a three-minute walk from Katsuta Station. If you are coming by car, Rainbow Culture does not have any parking that I know of. You are going to have to park at one of the pay-to-park parking areas around Katsuta Station.
I had just visited Mrs. Ibaraki Eats at her salon, which is very close to Katsuta Station, and was heading home. While walking to the parking lot, I noticed Rainbow Culture. I wasn't very hungry at the time, but I could eat. So I decided to walk in and check the place out.

Inside

When I walked in, I was greeted by the owner and told to take a chair. There are no tables at Rainbow Culture, just a long bar area with around 8 chairs in total. It is a pretty small and narrow restaurant, but it has a certain relaxing charm to it. The bar area is also the kitchen area. This allows you to watch the owner at work, making tacos or making cocktails. There are quite a lot of liquor bottles on the wall, which I asked the owner about. He told me that at night, a few customers come in and ask for tequila. He happily obliges and makes some tasty tequila shots.
I came to Rainbow Culture during lunchtime, and I checked out the lunch menu.

The Menu

The lunch menu is quite simple.
You have your choice of a three-taco and salad set or a three-taco and fries set.
You can choose your taco flavor and meat: carnitas, beef suadero, or chicken with chili.
I decided to go for the carnitas and salad.

Carnitas Tacos and Salad

Once I ordered the tacos, I saw the owner work his magic and present me with three good-looking tacos and a nice salad to go with those tacos. I do wish I had gotten limes instead of lemons, but as I have been noticing recently, limes are getting expensive and harder to find in Japan. The carnitas looked great. I couldn't wait to try them. I did hold off on the tacos and tried the salad first. It was a pretty good salad. I liked the small nacho toppings that the salad came with. The salad dressing was pretty tasty as well.
Now, to get to the main event.

Delicious Carnitas

After giving the salad a try, I grabbed one of the carnita tacos and bit into the delicious-looking taco. The meat was amazing. It had that slight crunch from the burned ends and that nice, tender, shredded taste. The juicy inside of the meat was fantastic, and all the vegetables in the taco really enhanced the overall flavor. The tortilla held everything together pretty well. It tasted like a fresh corn-made tortilla. Not something that came out of a package. The owner assured me that he made his own tortillas, which I could immediately tell by biting into the taco. All three tacos were fantastic, and I am very interested in coming back to try their other types of tacos.

After I finished my meal, I thanked the owner and headed to my wife's job. I let her know about Rainbow Culture, and she said that we would need to go soon. I agree. I hope we can visit Rainbow Culture sometime this month. Preferably on a Tuesday for Taco Tuesday!

So if you are around the Katsuta area of Hitachinaka and are craving some tasty tacos, why not give Rainbow Culture a chance? Who knows? You might see us there. Enjoying different flavored tacos and possibly a tequila or two.
Enjoy!

For more information, check out Rainbow Culture's Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/rainbow_culture_tacos/