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July 17, 2024
 

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Robbie Swinnerton
Robbie Swinnerton has been living, eating and writing about food in Tokyo for over 30 years. His column, Tokyo Food File, has run in The Japan Times since 1998.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 15, 2013
Light bites of every flavor in Tokyo
Tokyo has seen more and more restaurants recently open with the express purpose of offering casual, light bites, rather than elaborate full-course meals. Close to home is fine, as long as we can nibble and graze, ordering a dish or two at a time, and interspersing food with drink and conversation till...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 1, 2013
Marusen Seimen: Chicken ramen to bowl you over
It's summer: You're not supposed to have an appetite. All you feel like is eating noodles? Welcome to the club. Here's one place where I've been finding nourishment in this most difficult of seasons.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / SWEET INSPIRATIONS
Aug 1, 2013
Chocolate gelato at its most intense
Who eats chocolate in summer? Very few people who I know. It's not just that chocolate bars melt in seconds: The taste can seem too heavy and the texture too cloying. It simply doesn't seem to suit Japan's muggy heat. But there's one exception to that rule I'll gladly and frequently make — when...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 18, 2013
Akasaka Tantei: A taste of Kyoto-style Okinawa in Tokyo
Okinawan food is — for me at least — the food of summer. When the days are short and chill, I have little interest in the flavors of Japan's southwestern isles. But when the heat and humidity build like a thunderhead, that is the time the cravings arise.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 4, 2013
Cicada: The buzz continues, and it's better than ever
A breeze ruffles the surface of the pool next to my table. A canvas parasol stirs above my head. I sink back into my rattan throne, a cool microbrew in my hand. On a hot summer evening in the center of Tokyo, it really doesn't get much better than an outside table at Cicada.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / SWEET INSPIRATIONS
Jul 4, 2013
Takemura: as traditional as it gets
Sweetshops don't get much more traditional than Takemura; inside and out it is a classic. Founded in 1930, this handsome two-story wooden building has stood untouched in the backstreets of Kanda-Sudacho, with its stone lantern, shrubs, the little palisade of bamboo and verge of greenery.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 21, 2013
Gallus: Torishiki spinoff is a chick of the same feather
It's always exciting when a favorite restaurant sprouts an offshoot, especially if that restaurant is among the best of its kind in the city. And even more so when it's such a hot table that reservations are nigh-on impossible.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 7, 2013
Eatrip: A healthy diet of peace and quiet
Food, flowers and tranquility: Eatrip is not just a restaurant, it's an unlikely oasis in the busy shopping district of Harajuku. Call it a Garden of Eating.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / SWEET INSPIRATIONS
Jun 7, 2013
Japanese desserts with an alcohol kick
"There are two types of people," my dear old landlady used to say, handing me a bowl of frothing matcha tea: "Those who like alcohol, and those who like sweets."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / FOOD MATTERS
May 31, 2013
Gourmet food for cheap, if you can stand for it
Here's a scenario few restaurants would dare to dream of: All tables fully booked a month ahead, all year round; lines outside an hour before opening time; a prompt turnover of satisfied customers, with as many as three rotations per evening. And a bulging bottom line.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 17, 2013
Katsuzen: Ginza offers tonkatsu that's a cutlet above
Tonkatsu is comfort food, gourmand grub — not a gourmet delicacy. So what are those hearty, unpretentious deep-fried breaded pork cutlets doing in an elegant little bar-style restaurant above one of Ginza's temples to high-end consumption?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 3, 2013
Cafe 104.5: The delicious upside to urban development
Onward and upward: Tokyo's ever-changing skyline sprouts new high-rise buildings like bamboo shoots in spring.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / SWEET INSPIRATIONS
May 3, 2013
Custard treats are anything but square
How long does it take a business to achieve cult status in Tokyo? Years or decades in most cases. For Omotesando Koffee it was barely a matter of weeks.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 19, 2013
Abrazo a la Oaxaqueña: Mexican moles under wraps in Shimokitazawa
You never know quite what you're going to find in the busy back alleys of Shimokitazawa. It has music bars and shisha pipe dens, old-school yakitori, the latest in craft beer, tofu doughnuts and bohemian barista coffee. So why not artisan tortillas and mole sauces from the far south of Mexico?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 5, 2013
Akasaka Kikunoi: Tastes of old Kyoto in Tokyo's bustling heart
A pair of ornamental cherry trees stand like attendants by a sturdy wooden gateway. A narrow flagstone path lined with bamboo and maples curves out of sight in the mid-distance.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / SWEET INSPIRATIONS
Apr 5, 2013
Springtime sweets come into bloom
The petals may have dropped from the cherry trees, at least in the Tokyo area, but there are plenty of leaves to be seen — and not just on the trees. Look around any shop selling traditional wagashi sweets at this time of year and you'll find cherry leaves in evidence, wrapped around sakura-mochi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 29, 2013
Dine with a backdrop of cherry blossom
With an ephemeral canopy of pink sweeping Japan, the JT's food writers know the perfect spots to dine with an eyeful of sakura (cherry blossom) — or just the right sake to sip as you picnic under the petals.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / FOOD MATTERS
Mar 29, 2013
Fearless foodies? Let them eat dirt
Soil, dirt, mud ... Call it what you like, the not-so-secret special ingredient at some of Japan's high-end restaurants has a distinctly earthy quality. And over the last couple of months, it's been getting substantial media attention, both at home and abroad.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 15, 2013
Wana: Pay like a pauper, eat like a lord
"It's still gibier season," proclaims the sign on the street corner outside Wana. And who could argue with that? There's no reason why game meats and wildfowl should only be eaten in winter. If they're readily available, why shouldn't we enjoy them all year round?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 1, 2013
Den: Modern Japanese with a wry twist
Japanese cuisine at its loftiest is elegant and profound. It can be taut as a tea ceremony or exquisite as a furisode kimono. But inventive, irreverent? Only at Den.
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
China’s economic growth comes in worse than expected
Pedestrians in the Wangfujing shopping area in Beijing on July 11, 2024. China's economic growth in the second quarter was lower than forecast, adding pressure on Chinese leaders to lift confidence at the Chinese Communist Party's third plenum this week.
Kansai airports to increase takeoff and landing slots ahead of Osaka Expo
Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. The upper limit on the number of takeoff and landing slots at the airport as well as Kobe Airport in Hyogo Prefecture will be raised in spring next year ahead of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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