Japan confronted its second year of the COVID-19 pandemic with continued disruptions to the Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional food service industry. In 2021, total sales from the hotel, restaurant, and institutional food service industry totaled $231 billion (JP¥24,621 billion), a decrease of nearly four percent from 2020. Despite the overall declines, American style fast food chains and fine-dining restaurants experienced stable sales. Japan’s food service industry will continue to depend on imported foods, and the U.S. is well positioned to continue supplying this segment with U.S. agricultural products accounting for more than one quarter of the food that Japan imports.