Another type of Japanese cuisine that has become a standout in the fast-food arena recently is donburi, which is a bowl of rice topped with fish, meat, or chicken-and-egg. This type of dish has caught on among the general public, and specialty chains have sprouted up everywhere. Favorite varieties include gyudon (beef bowl), oyakodon (chicken-and-egg bowl), katsudon (porkcutlet bowl), magurodon (tuna bowl), and tendon (tempura bowl). A beef bowl consisting of rice topped with sliced beef and chopped onion that have been boiled in salty-sweet liquid costs less than ¥300. Rock-bottom prices have elevated the beef bowl to the status of a new national food. Although the beef bowl suffered a setback recently when the scare over bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) halted the import of beef from the United States, the beef-bowl chains appear to have found a way around the problem by developing new menu items; now there are more kinds of donburi available than ever before.

Oyakodon, one of the most popular versions of the dish, is made by topping rice with pieces of chicken and chopped onion that have been parboiled in a salty-sweet liquid. A raw egg is cracked over the bowl of hot ingredients, and the dish is served with the egg partially cooked. Katsudon is made in the same way, but with the chicken pieces replaced by a pork cutlet. The tuna bowl is made by topping vinegared rice (the style of rice used for sushi) with tuna sashimi that has been dipped into soy sauce with wasabi (Japanese horseradish) mixed into it. Tendon is shrimp or vegetable tempura over rice, topped with a thick salty-sweet sauce. The determined donburi eater, it is said, can go into a fast-food restaurant, place an order, wolf down a bowl, and be out the door within 20 minutes. Prices are higher at specialty restaurants, but the donburi chains generally charge just ¥400 - ¥800 for a bowl.