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November 22, 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
Apr 4, 2020
In Tokyo, self-isolation doesn’t mean you can’t eat well
Self-isolating doesn't have to mean you can't eat well. It also doesn't mean you can't eat food prepared by your favorite restaurants. In fact, if we want to see those restaurants back in action once the worst is over, it is essential that we keep up our patronage, to carry them through this crunch time.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 3, 2020
Japan's restaurants in crisis call for government support
Lockdown or no lockdown? Voluntary restraint or #juststayhome? Tokyo is teetering on the edge of uncertainty. We're urged to avoid bars and nightclubs, live houses and pachinko parlors. But where does that leave restaurants? Two words: In crisis.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 27, 2020
Asia's 50 Best Restaurants is a somber countdown for an industry and continent in crisis
In the latest edition of the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants rankings, Singapore's Odette has retained its No.1 position for a second straight year, ahead of The Chairman in Hong Kong and Tokyo's Den. But the announcement on Tuesday was overshadowed by the escalating coronavirus pandemic that has swept the continent.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 14, 2020
Caveman: The best opening of the year? So far, at least
Little more than two months into 2020, already we have a strong candidate for the best opening of the year. And, at the same time, a probable shoo-in for most memorable restaurant name. After all, who's going to come up with anything better than Caveman — least of all in the casual-fine-dining category?...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 14, 2020
B: Basement bar brings brews from NYC to Nihonbashi
B is for beer. B is for buzzy basement bars. B is the name you'll find on the door at Brooklyn Brewery's brand new flagship outlet, tucked away like some insiders' secret juke joint at the bottom of the refurbished K5 building.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 29, 2020
Izakaya Aobadai: Classic soba, new-wave sake and cherry-tree views
It's an excellent sign when the first sight that greets you at a restaurant is a gleaming refrigerator filled with some of the best sake in Japan. When the next thing you see is a room set aside for rolling out and cutting soba noodles, it's even better. To find both of these as you enter LDH Kitchen...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 15, 2020
Eiki: A remarkable stage for a young yakitori master
All good meals incorporate elements of theater, whether in the table setting, the waiters' movements or the way each dish is unveiled. Dining out in Tokyo often adds an extra dimension: watching the chefs at work on your meal from a kitchen-front seat. At Eiki, the dramatic tension builds before you...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 1, 2020
Tsuta: The original Michelin-starred ramen shop returns, better
Yuki Onishi is clearly not a chef who is ready or able to rest on his laurels. His flagship ramen restaurant, Japanese Soba Noodles Tsuta, is one of the best-known in the city, drawing legions of fans from near and far. He has won accolades, grabbed global media attention and opened several overseas...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 25, 2020
Top 5: The best gyoza restaurants in Tokyo
In the past, gyu014dza dumplings were a simple side dish — now, they're the star of the plate. Here are five of The Japan Times' favorite gyu014dza spots, some old-school, some new and innovative.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 18, 2020
Echoes of Esquisse in the elegant new Elan
Elan is the new restaurant of the young and impressive Ryoma Shida, formerly of the two-Michelin-star restaurant Esquisse. Here, Japanese ingredients meet contemporary French cuisine.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 4, 2020
Taishu Sakaba Raincolor: Start the decade with the down-home and delicious
The first meal of the year is always important. When it's the first of the decade, though, it surely takes on even weightier significance. So what's it to be? Fine dining or casual? Traditional or contemporary? Homegrown Japanese, something from overseas or perhaps some nifty fusion? Wait, don't overthink...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 1, 2020
Dining out in 2019: The world came to Tokyo, and the city answered
Before we leave 2019 behind, there's just time to look back on the past 12 months of dining out in Tokyo. And to wish all The Japan Times' readers good luck, good health and good eating in the year ahead.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 14, 2019
Chaos Kitchen: Yokochō culture reimagined with 2020 vision
Occupying the entire basement level of the sparkling, reborn Parco luxury mall in Shibuya, Chaos Kitchen is not a food court. Nor is it anything like a typical department store dining floor, all straight lines and bland, standardized decor. In fact, it's like nowhere else in the city.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 14, 2019
Delifucious: The cult-classic fish burgers are reborn in Chaos Kitchen
Delifucious has resurfaced inside Chaos Kitchen, the casual basement dining floor in the hulking new Shibuya Parco building. And it already feels like it could be a perfect fit. While it lacks the rough-and-ready retro charm of the old digs, the new location brings with it both cachet and a much larger footfall.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 30, 2019
Esterre: Terroir, pedigree and the backing of a French superchef
Location is everything. But that's only one reason why Esterre, the beautiful new French restaurant unveiled last month in the ultraluxury Palace Hotel Tokyo, has so much going for it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 30, 2019
Katsuo Shokudo: A new, permanent location for the katsuobushi specialist
Mai Nagamatsu is more than just a fan of katsuo (skipjack tuna). She's an avowed, unapologetic evangelist for those streamlined, silvery pelagic fish that play such an important role in Japanese cuisine. So much so that she set up her own small specialist breakfast counter to help spread the word.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 16, 2019
Sakai Shokai: Quality izakaya dining at this hidden Shibuya gem
Hideaki Sakai doesn't make it easy to find his diminutive premises. Hidden on the second floor of an anonymous building on a quiet backstreet on the "wrong" side of Shibuya, it is invisible from the street. You access it through an unmarked door next to an offal specialist grill, up a steep flight of...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 16, 2019
La Coquina: Spanish beer, wine and bar food, with no plastic straws
The vertiginous open-air viewing platform atop the new Shibuya Scramble Square building may be the area's latest and tallest attraction. But the restaurant floors immediately below are also drawing long lines. What if you don't want to wait? Try your luck at La Coquina.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 2, 2019
Inua revisited: One year on from its grand opening
At Inua, the cuisine is as unique and distinct as a fingerprint.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 2, 2019
At his superb new patisserie, Yuicihi Goto is without equal
Called Equal, this is the latest project by master patissier Yuichi Goto. Best-known as co-owner of the ever-excellent Path in nearby Tomigaya, his illustrious resume includes spells at the three-star Restaurant Troisgros in France, and then at Sugalabo in Tokyo's Kamiyacho.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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

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