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December 23, 2024
 

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William Campbell
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Oct 12, 2007
Grapes try to kick the chemical habit
Wine grapes are perhaps the highest-value, most quality-driven legally-grown agricultural crop in the world. As such, growers are usually quick to adopt the latest technical advances for protecting their vineyards. Winemakers have begun to realize, however, that the traditional agrochemicaly-based approach...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Aug 10, 2007
Two Victorias, twice the pleasure
Two of the hottest women winemakers in Spain today are named Victoria, so when they banded together to start a new winery, it was hardly surprising that they decided to call it Dos (two) Victorias.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 13, 2007
Four top tipples for summer
The first rule for a summer wine is that it needs to be refreshing. High-scoring monster reds that warm the soul on a winter evening become plodding, heavy, alcoholic beasts on a sweltering day. Under conditions of heat and humidity, such big, bruiser wines leave us weary, rather than exhilarated.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jun 8, 2007
Mavericks of the Southern Rhône
By any measure, the Perrins are an unusual family, making an unusual wine in an unusual region of France. They've been at the forefront of protecting the quality of French wine, yet they maintain a maverick touch. And after five generations, the owners of Château Beaucastel in the Rhône Valley are...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Apr 13, 2007
What the Japanese are drinking
Recent government data confirm that Japan remains a nation of beer drinkers, with beer and beer-like beverages accounting for nearly two thirds of the 9 billion liters of alcohol consumed last year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Mar 9, 2007
This wine school gets better with age
Japan's oldest and largest wine school, the Academie du Vin, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Something of an institution in Japan's wine world, the academy has turned out more than 30,000 graduates in its two decades of operation. But rather than rest on its laurels, the school continues...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Feb 9, 2007
Avoiding a vinferno
Midway through our life's journey as wine collectors, we found our wine refrigerator almost lost, its engine straining desperately against the summer heat. Delving into the dark wood of the cabinet to remove all the bottles would provide a chance to catalog and glorify years of strategic acquisitions...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Dec 8, 2006
Koshu: Japan's great white hope
Winemaking in Japan has a long but difficult history. At first glance, there's the auspicious fact that Japan lies at a similar latitude to sunny, dry California. But here, unlike California, the rainy season strikes during the early summer flowering, and recurrent typhoons batter vineyards just prior...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Nov 10, 2006
DNA sleuths find the 'original Zin'
In August, the California state legislature passed a bill recognizing Zinfandel as the state's official "historical wine." This caused an immediate outcry among passionate Pinot fans, and sent waves of astonishment rippling through the upper echelons of Napa Valley's otherwise staid Cabernet dynasties....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Oct 13, 2006
Fall in for some wine adventures
A s a welcome series of typhoons scrubs away the last of the summer heat, we find ourselves at long last putting away the beer-bottle openers and breaking out the corkscrews. Fortunately for wine lovers, this fall offers no shortage of temptations.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 8, 2006
Staying mellow about 'malo' wine
T hose who were drinking white wines in the late 1980s and early '90s will remember the virtual tsunami of heavily oaked "butter bomb" style Chardonnays that swept the world. Living in London at the time, I couldn't tell whether sea levels were rising or the entire country was sinking under the weight...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 14, 2006
Fine-tuning Washington's wines
Last month's column on the recent success of wines made from grapes grown in eastern Washington state's high desert generated a large amount of reader feedback. Most questions ran along the lines of, "If the Washington desert is such a great place for viticulture, then why weren't they growing grapes...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jun 9, 2006
Coaxing true delights from a desert
Any remaining doubts about the ability of the Washington state region of the United States to produce world-class wines were recently put to rest when Robert Parker's legendary Wine Advocate newsletter awarded perfect, 100-point scores to not one, but two Washington wines.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
May 12, 2006
Resurrecting Girard
Good wine at a fair price is not a phrase heard often in Napa Valley these days, but the buzz among Tokyo wine lovers is that the recently revived Girard winery is now delivering just that.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Mar 10, 2006
Bisty boys invade Omotesando Hills
Nothing makes my heart skip a beat like the discovery of a great new wine. Yet the prospect of paying for a full bottle of something new, only to discover on first sip that it's definitely a not- for-me style, can prove daunting for even the most adventuresome. Fortunately for wine lovers in the Tokyo...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Feb 10, 2006
Napa vineyards survive deluges
Tremendous flooding in California's wine country over New Year's made for dramatic, televised scenes of almost completely submerged vineyards. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger added to the excitement, proclaiming, "Napa was 4 feet under water, creating tremendous damage."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jan 13, 2006
Perfect winter match: big reds and cassoulet
When the Imperial Palace moat begins to ice over, our thoughts invariably turn to the big red wines of southern France, and to the region's ultimate winter dish -- cassoulet.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Dec 9, 2005
Drinking in a historical view
Choosing gifts for the wine lovers in your life can be a minefield, as passions among oenophiles can sometimes run as high as those in the most spirited political or religious debates. To avoid a dreaded, "Oh, you shouldn't have," we offer two gift ideas that are sure to stimulate and surprise even the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Nov 11, 2005
Can Japan sales save Beaujolais Nouveau?
Japan overtook the United States as Beaujolais' top export market in 2004, but a disastrous sales campaign for Beaujolais Nouveau last year raised serious doubts as to whether Asia can save the Beaujolais from the hole that they've dug themselves into.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 9, 2005
Hail Vouvray, Aristocrat of the wine world
Just as The Aristocrats is the dirty joke that comedians tell each other after the punters have gone home, Vouvray is the tipple of choice among sommeliers once the ties have come off at the end of the evening.
How Bashar Assad's inner circle fled Syria after his fall
Syrians step on posters of Bashar Assad and his father, Hafez Assad, in Homs, Syria, on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy to replace Ukraine ambassador to Japan
Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky delivers a speech during a handover ceremony of Self-Defense Force vehicles to Ukraine, at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo, in May last year.
Bankruptcies and suicides rise as Japanese struggle with mounting debt
Lawyers estimate that personal bankruptcies in Japan are on track to reach the highest since 2012 this year.
Honda and Nissan consider mutual production of vehicles, report says
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2023.
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.
For baseball fans, 2024 brought The Summer of Shohei Ohtani
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani reacts to a standing ovation from fans after hitting his 50th home run of the season, against the Marlins in Miami on Sept. 19.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
Is Japan finally ready to tap its abundant geothermal energy potential?
Steam rises from a geothermal plan in Yuzawa, Akita Prefecture. Despite its long history and potential, geothermal provided just 0.3% of Japan's overall energy mix in the fiscal year from April 2023
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.
North Korea aiding Russia where it needs it most, Canadian general says
North Korean special forces soldiers march and shout slogans during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of the country's founding father, Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang in April 2017.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?
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