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December 22, 2024
 

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David Chester
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Apr 1, 2001
Tea fit for royalty glows at L'Epicier
For the last three months, I have been inexplicably drawn to tea shops with yellow color schemes. Is there a magical connection? Maybe only in a subliminal desire for the very best.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Feb 28, 2001
Copying without an original
In the movie "Mr. Baseball," Tom Selleck's character complains to his Japanese girlfriend that Japan copies everything. She quickly replies, "We may copy it, but we make it better." After a visit to Ashbys of London, located near Akasaka-Mitsuke Station, one would have to agree.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Jan 24, 2001
Mariage Freres: A Ginza tea party
They haven't had to advertise in over 140 years. Of course, when your product is of the highest quality, word travels -- even to distant shores.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Dec 27, 2000
Brewing up a winning formula: Starbucks hits it big in Japan
I admit it: I had a breakdown. It probably happened sometime after Starbucks Store No. 100 opened in the cavernous Tameike-Sanno subway station. My first reaction was: What, another one? How many more of these places, full of smiling, happy crowds, nursing "bold expressions" and munching on brownies...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 21, 2000
Celebrating France-Japan relations with a toast
The peaceful town of Koriyama in Fukushima Prefecture might not be Japan's most international city, but Jean-Pascal Noirault, 30, and Mikiko Kurumada, 29, are determined to change that.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Nov 23, 2000
The orthodox way of milk tea
In my search for a pleasant place to enjoy a coffee or tea, I often feel like a detective. Wandering Tokyo's nooks and crannies, I diligently try to track down havens where weary souls can rejuvenate from harried schedules and the din that seems to accompany us wherever we go.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Oct 25, 2000
A Thrush perches between two worlds
One foot in the past, one foot in the present.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 24, 2000
Creating soundtracks for modern pop culture
Dodgeville, Mich. Ever heard of it? Perhaps not. It's just another small Midwestern town you pass through on your way to the big city. It certainly wouldn't occur to you it's where one of America's most talented and hardworking composers was born.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Sep 27, 2000
Reading relaxation in tea leaves
Tokyo is a city of surprises. Take a walk down any side street, and you can be sure you'll find an interesting shop or restaurant. Such is the case with Mother Leaf, a pleasant discovery moments away from the Kabuki-za in Ginza.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Aug 23, 2000
Boiled and baked, the real thing: New York bagels at Little Tribeca
As the song goes, "Everything Must Change." Nowhere is that clearer than in the world of the Japanese kissaten. Remember the half cups of coffee (no refills, thank you), high prices and limited choices? Nowadays we have filled-to-the-brim short, tall or grande, the cheap and the cheaper (Doutor and Pronto...
COMMUNITY
Aug 9, 2000
A lifetime spent selling pearls to the stars
Today's pop quiz: What do Jodie Foster, Harrison Ford and Brooke Shields have in common? Hint: They are all happy customers of the Wally Yonamine Company. No, they did not purchase autographed baseballs (although Yonamine, former ace slugger for the Yomiuri Giants, is still known as "the Jackie Robinson...
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Jul 26, 2000
Seattles's Best has just joined the rest
It must be something in the water. What else could account for the fact that three of the most popular gourmet coffee chains in Japan originate in Seattle, Wash.? First there was Starbucks, then Tully's and now Seattle's Best Coffee has brought its "pleasing to the palate" brew to Shinjuku, minutes from...
COMMUNITY
Jul 6, 2000
Young women take to life at sea
It's common knowledge that a large proportion of Japanese traveling abroad these days are young single women. They usually have decent-paying jobs, live rent-free with their parents and spend their salaries as they please. Well aware of this phenomenon, the travel industry has geared some advertisements...
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Jun 28, 2000
Star cafe keeps the customers beaming
Catwoman is back. This time, though, she isn't wearing a black spandex body suit. No mask, no whip and no sexy purr in her voice. In fact, at 67, she's not quite as lithe as she used to be.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
May 24, 2000
Fresh or aged, the coffee is kicking at Satei Hato
On a nondescript side street, a short walk from Shibuya Station's jangling cell phones and glaring white lipstick, Satei Hato first catches your eye with the dramatic vases and fresh flowers that grace its entrance. Intrigued, you discover a space much larger than you anticipated, filled with the warmth...
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Apr 26, 2000
Stirring up the dust of a Classic era
This column marks the one-year anniversary of Kissa Kultur. What started as a way to help freelancers find interesting spots to enjoy a coffee between jobs has now become a fascinating historical dig through postwar Tokyo.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 22, 2000
Chinois chic in Tokyo's 'experimental' cyber cafe
Can't be bothered with waitresses? Not in the mood for a menu? Just want to grab a hot beverage and snack, plug in and kick back?
CULTURE / Music
Mar 10, 2000
Still much to savor in PPM
Take three vintage bottles of wine. Ignore every rule about proper storage. Open them about 40 times a year and serve them to whomever you meet. Within moments of tasting them, everyone is certain to experience the same thing: a deep, warm glow guaranteed to last a lifetime.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2000
Adventures in global dining with Tokyo's restaurant king
From stand-and-slurp ramen shops to authentic French cuisine, Tokyo is a diner's paradise. Certainly, finding places that appeal to your palate isn't a problem; hoping they'll be there the next time around is. Tokyo restaurants go out of business faster than Shibuya girls change their nail colors.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 23, 2000
Tsukiji or not, nothing fishy about Bellini's Bar
One usually doesn't go to Tsukiji to get a fine cappuccino or a poppy-seed sponge cake soaked in liqueur. Yet just a few minutes away from "Tokyo's Kitchen," where pricy cuts of maguro are noisily auctioned off to the highest bidder, Bellini's Italian Bar offers businesspeople and tourists alike a pleasant...
Freed anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson arrives in France
U.S.-Canadian anti-whaling environmental activist Paul Watson, who was released from prison in Greenland's capital Nuuk after five months in detention, arrives with Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, near Paris, on Friday.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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