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November 24, 2024
 

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Steve Trautlein
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Aug 26, 2014
Refuel and refresh at Japan's gourmet motoring rest stops
Whoever said it's better to travel than to arrive must have been traveling in Japan. Just ask the folks who hit the road earlier this month for the o-Bon summer holidays. Sure, the nightly newscasts were filled with horror stories of bumper-to-bumper traffic, but motorists and their families knew that...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Jul 22, 2014
O-chūgen: Hand-picked gourmet gifts courtesy of the postman
Even though the Japanese didn't invent the idea of exchanging gifts, they seem to be doing everything they can to convince themselves that they did. This is a culture, after all, that celebrates Christmas without Jesus, piles White Day on top of Valentine's Day, and has developed a whole species of cloth...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Jun 24, 2014
Yokohama 'museum' marks 20 years curating ramen royalty
Now that ramen has taken its place alongside sushi as the world's favorite Japanese food, it's easy to forget what the noodle landscape was like just a couple of decades ago. Back in the 1990s, foreigners knew ramen — if they knew it at all — as cheap fuel for all-night study sessions or as a belly-filler...
Japan Times
CULTURE
May 31, 2014
Essential summer festivals 2014
A summer without festivals simply wouldn’t be a proper summer in Japan, so now that the humidity has returned, it’s time to slop on an extra layer of sunscreen and line up some outdoor activities.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
May 27, 2014
Japan says 'aloha' to Hawaiian food
I should have realized that my first trip to Cinnamon's would end in tears. Or, at least, in an uncomfortably long wait. This newly opened transplant from Kailua, Hawaii, is on the bucket list of every OL (office lady) in the Kanto area, and its location near Yokohama's waterfront guarantees heavy walk-in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Apr 22, 2014
Japan's freshest ready meals can be found in the basement
If there's one thing all Japanese guidebooks, concierges and expats can agree on, it's that tourists from overseas should make an effort, at some point during their stay, to visit the basement food floors of a major department store.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Mar 25, 2014
Japanese baseball stadiums hit a B-kyū gourmet home run
Coming off the most exciting season in recent memory, Japanese baseball is flying high — in some cases, literally so. Star pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, who signed with the New York Yankees in the offseason after leading the Rakuten Eagles to the Japan Series title, traveled to his first Big Apple press...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Feb 25, 2014
Prize-winning local dishes are the real taste of Japan
With memories of the Winter Olympics still fresh and with the Academy Awards just around the corner, Japanese food lovers are saluting some medalists of their own — prize-winning dishes from cooking competitions, public opinion polls and government surveys around the country. Here's a guide to some...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Jan 21, 2014
New book gets to the soul of Japanese home cooking
Like the Denver Broncos, the Nikkei stock index and "Gravity" director Alfonso Cuarón, Japanese food is on a hot streak. Here at home, the revival of interest in classic regional fare known as B-kyū gourmet (B-level cuisine) has spread to supermarket shelves and fast-food menus around the country....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Dec 19, 2013
A year of pancakes, donuts, flying fish
Japan has reached peak donut.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Nov 21, 2013
Japan's love for curry means endless variety
It's only a slight exaggeration to say that Japanese curry saved my life. After relocating to Japan in the late 1990s, I found myself underemployed, surrounded by unfamiliar foodstuffs and suffering from a near-total lack of cooking skills. Yet I managed to fill up at the cafeteria of a local university,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Oct 24, 2013
A gourmet tour of Japan in one spot
If you were visiting Japan and wanted to experience the best of the country's dining scene, your itinerary might look something like this:
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Sep 26, 2013
Shopping tips from the Costco queen
Talk about a crazy idea: A big-box American retailer seeks to enter a market where customers value precision and sophistication in their shopping experience.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Aug 22, 2013
The ramen burger that ate New York
It's too early to tell if Aug. 3, 2013, will go down as a landmark date in culinary history, but for the hundreds of people who lined up that morning at a food fair in Brooklyn, New York, the excitement was palpable. The crowds had braved steady rain for a chance to try the ramen burger, an East-meets-West...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Jul 25, 2013
A nostalgic nibble on lasting favorites
As Japanese families return to their hometowns for the traditional summer holidays, cries of 'Atsui!' ('Hot enough for ya?!') give way to feelings of natsukashii — a sense of nostalgia triggered by the sights, sounds and tastes of childhood.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Jun 28, 2013
Cheap or fancy Chinatown feasts
Dining doesn't get more democratic than in Yokohama's Chinatown, where visitors can spend big bucks on a single meal or fill up on steamed buns for a single coin. Here's a personal guide to some notable dishes; in the spirit of the neighborhood, there's a selection to suit all tastes and budgets.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
May 24, 2013
Chomp your way through spring
It's no surprise that the Japanese get serious about eating and drinking come late spring, as yatai food carts roll out, a bevy of fresh vegetables appear on restaurant menus and the annual festival season begins to heat up. This year is no different, with offerings that include a fried-chicken collaboration,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
May 10, 2013
Chains that bring local dishes to you
Thanks to Japan's comprehensive network of bullet trains and regional airports, it's easy for the culinary adventurer to sample local specialties at their point of origin.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Mar 22, 2013
Running with the ramen hunters
Ramen is to Japanese food as school-girl uniforms are to porn — the animating fetish that sustains an entire industry. Helping to scratch the noodle itch is an army of bloggers whose dispatches are consumed with voyeuristic glee. The numbers are against them — with a ramen shop on nearly every street...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Feb 22, 2013
Foodie Media 101: Eat all about it
Every Monday night at 7, Japanese TV viewers are treated to the sight of comedians being locked inside a fast-food restaurant. Formica tables take the place of iron bars, and instead of three square meals a day the cast is fed a steady diet of the shop's specialties — tonkatsu breaded pork cutlets,...
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
Tokyo police care for lost umbrellas, keys and flying squirrels
An employee at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Lost and Found Center in the Iidabashi area of central Tokyo bags, tags and organizes thousands of items.
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.
Japan approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
Woman dies after train collides with car in Tochigi
A Moka Railway train car
Tokyo’s newest three-star chef wants ‘harmony across every detail’
British-born Daniel Calvert earned his third Michelin star last month — a stunning achievement considering his restaurant, Sezanne, has only been open for just over three years.
133-year-old Kyushu railway station remains to be partially preserved
The remains of the original Moji Station in Kitakyushu
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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