One interesting thing about Tokyo kebab stands is the amount of interest and curiosity they attract from passing Japanese. Eating at these stands can feel like being an exhibit at a crowded zoo, and elderly couples will frequently pause to peer intently at the spinning meat roll, dumbfounded and perplexed by this strange outlander food. It is kind of cute in a way -- but intimidating as well if you are a diner, to me even more intimidating than the homie gangs and hiphop crews who hang out outside the kebab shops at home. Because while I have gotten used to the stares earned by being a foreigner living in Japan, I don't particularly like being stared at while I am eating. And since Tokyo's kebab stands are at most just a hole in the wall with no interior seating, the only way to eat that kebab is to stand on the sidewalk with about 50 pairs of passing eyes scrutinizing your every move. If I mess up and drop a piece of beef on my shirt, people are going to be watching that. But anyway, enough bitchmoaning -- this is about the food. And here are the kebab stands and vans of Tokyo, the ones that I have dined at anyway, or the ones I have read about on the Internet, listed alphabetically...

Marmara: Takadanobaba 4-9-9 (on Waseda-dori).
Kebab take-outs from the stand up front, and full meals in the dining room downstairs.
Open 11am-11pm daily.

モーゼスさんのケバブ: 台東区上野6-10-7.
(Mouzesu no Kebabu: 6-10-7 Ueno, Taito Ward.)
Situated in the heart of Ueno's atmospheric Ameyokochou shopping district, literally underneath the Yamanote line (the city's most important railway link -- can you imagine a more Bladerunneresque location?) lies this hole-in-the-wall restaurant. It purports to sell Turkish and North African style sandwiches, and in my humble opinion, this is the best kebab restaurant in Tokyo. 500 Yen for a kebab, and they also sell icecreams. This is in what I consider the black quarter of Ameyokocho, and there are plenty of Africans on the streets, trying to entice people into some of the nearby hiphop themed clothes stores. A mixed African/Middle Eastern/South American staff works the kitchen at Moses's Kebabs. Cries of "chikin ka biifu" ("chicken or beef?)" fill the air, or at least try to rise over the din of the twin Oriental Passage pachinko parlors on the other side of the street. A good place to grab a snack if you are shopping in Ameyokochou. Be warned -- some of the sauces offered here can be devastatingly hot!
Open 11.30am to 8pm on weekdays and 10am to 8.30pm on weekends.
トルコ料理｢ドネルケバブ｣！！のお店です。｢ドネルケバブ｣って何・・？！ビーフかチキンのお肉を選んで頂き、それをあつあつピタパンにはさみ、たっぷりキャベツとトマトに当店オリジナルのドレッシングソースをかけてガブッと食べていただくサンドイッチです。1つ500円（消費税なし！）で男性の方も十分満足していただけるボリューム！！！ドレッシングソースは4種類あって、辛くないオリジナル、少し辛いミックス、辛口のチリ、激辛のＷチリの中からお好みでお選び下さい。ノドが渇いたらドリンクに、ソフトクリーム（7種類）もあります。夏はカキ氷もやってます。

Star Doner Kebab: 外神田１−８−１０　/ TRUCK: つくばエクスプレス秋葉原駅の前.
(Main shopfront at 1-8-10 Soto Kanda, located in a small street opposite the Tsukumo PC III store. On weekends there is also a mobile shop parked on the street outside the Tsukuba Express Akihabara Station.)
Website: http://www.kebab.co.jp. Map: This is said to be an institution in the Akihabara dining scene, and has plenty of fans. On the official website, the takeaway restaurant even claims to be the most famous doner kebab in all Japan. The website reads: "Since1999, we started our Doner kebab shop with a cooking car in Akihabara. in 2005,we opened a small kebab stand in there,so busy street the center of Akihabara."
Akihabara is becoming a multicultural place these days, with loads of Indian and even African tourists flying in to do their home electronics shopping, and many of them take a keen interest in this shop. But actually I don't dig it that much -- the kebabs aren't as good as the ones at Moses's stand at Ueno. Still, there is always a crowd around both the shop and the van on weekends, and they do seem to offer more variety than other kebab shops: gyros and shawarma are also on the menu. One blogger with business in Akihabara wrote: "We had an early dinner at Akihabara where the sumptuous Star Doner Kebab is located. It's soo yummy!!! We had 3 beef kebabs, each!! It's a bit pricey compared to Bangkok where one can buy a kebab for only 60 Baht. Here it's 500 Yen for a regular sized kebab and I can definitely say that even though it is 4 times more expensive than the one in Bangkok, it is 8 times more delicious. It was worth it."