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April 03, 2025
 

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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
Oct 28, 2017
Tomita Shuzo: Storied sake on a Shiga street that time forgot
As well as being one of the oldest sake breweries in Japan, the sake here is also some of the nation's finest.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 14, 2017
Somtum Der: Spicy food from Thailand's northeast
Somtum Der is unlike any other Thai restaurant in the city. It's not just the look, though the bold red facade certainly stands out in the drab Yoyogi backstreets, and the chic, bright interior reflects a contemporary sensibility, not one rooted in the cliches of tradition.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 14, 2017
Banh Mi Bakery: Flavor and consistency straight out of Saigon
Banh Mi Bakery stands right across the road from Ebisu Yokocho. But with its colorful typography and bottles of nuoc mam fish sauce arrayed in the window, it looks like it's been beamed over straight from the streets of Saigon. Better yet, it smells and tastes like it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 30, 2017
336 Ebisu: Neo-bistro has food and style all its own
If you judge restaurants solely by their architecture and decor, you'd probably finger 336 Ebisu as a temple of modern Scandinavian cuisine. The interior is so simple and airy — all big windows, curving arches, light-wood furniture, unadorned walls — that you expect dishes of Nordic precision. You'd...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 30, 2017
Henry's Burger Akihabara: Same top wagyu, grander digs
At last, Kentaro Henry Nakahara has an outlet to match the quality of the meat he uses and the scale of his ambition. When he opened the first branch of his eponymous burger restaurant in Daikanyama back in late 2015, the justifiable excitement was inevitably tempered by the diminutive scale of the operation....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 16, 2017
Ningyocho Imahan: An old take on an old favorite — sukiyaki
As the city crow flies, it's just a short hop from the bustle and bright lights of Ginza to the laid-back, low-rise backstreets of Ningyocho. But once you're there, it can feel half a world away — especially when you arrive at Imahan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 16, 2017
Wagyumafia: The Cutlet Sandwich offers rich cuts of beef
Wagyu beef could hardly be hotter in Tokyo these days. The richly marbled meat from Japan's prize pampered cattle is drawing global gastronauts to some of the city's most exclusive and expensive venues, none more so than Wagyumafia.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 2, 2017
Sougo: A next-generation take on temple cooking
It's a dilemma faced by all practitioners of traditional arts and crafts. To keep their heritage alive, should they rigorously adhere to time-honored practices? Or bend a few rules and innovate? Chef Daisuke Nomura chose the second route. Sougo, his excellent restaurant in the heart of Roppongi, is the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 2, 2017
Calms: Bringing Bhutan's spicy cheese stew to Yoyogi-Uehara
What are the odds for this? Tokyo now has not one but two restaurants serving Bhutanese food. And not only are they both in the same Uehara neighborhood, they stand face to face on opposite sides of the same street.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 19, 2017
An Di: Vietnamese cuisine, Japanese sensibility
Were it not for the name on the illuminated sign hanging at the entrance, you would be hard pressed to identify An Di as a Vietnamese restaurant. Inside or out, there are no other clues — no flags or tourist posters, no signs advertising Saigon's ubiquitous 333 beer — as what kind of food it serves....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 19, 2017
365 Nichi: Daily bread and baked goods of superior quality
You don't need to understand Japanese to guess the meaning behind 365 Nichi's name. This excellent little bakery has been operating day in, day out, even at new year, ever since it opened in 2013. During that time it has only ever taken one holiday: last year's Leap Day.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2017
Umbilical: Linking friends with fine food and wine
Tokyo is a tough place to open any business, especially your first restaurant. Along with kitchen skills and front-of-house nous, you need the right location, good connections and a strong underlying raison d'etre. A catchy name and some funky background music can't hurt either, as the folks at Umbilical...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2017
Commune 2nd: Al fresco food, drink and community
Tokyo has never been big on outdoors dining. Save for the old-school beer gardens that mushroom in midsummer, there are too few opportunities in the inner city to drink, snack and while away the time al fresco. At least there's Commune 2nd.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 29, 2017
Latteria Bebe: Two brothers, one focus on Italian cuisine
There are lots of good reasons for visiting Kamakura. It has temples, shrines and walks in the hills. You can windsurf, laze on the beach or just enjoy that rare sensation of having escaped the megalopolis. But dining out rarely comes high on the list.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 29, 2017
Hanabi: True labor-of-love ramen
It is all too easy to overlook Hanabi. Every day streams of visitors walk past this unprepossessing noodle joint without giving it a second look as they hike between the center of Kamakura and the Hase area and its famous Great Buddha. That's their loss, as it serves some of the best ramen in town.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 15, 2017
Maruka: Shikoku-style 'udon' at its best, if you don't mind the wait
Many of Tokyo's finest restaurants are so hidden away you hardly know they're even there. But there's little chance of missing Maruka. In the unlikely event that you fail to spot the large white noren curtain across the entrance, you won't miss the long line leading up to it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 15, 2017
Mikkeller Tokyo: Danish flair in deepest darkest Dogenzaka
Everybody likes a happy ending, especially when the story involves one of Tokyo's most popular pubs. That's why many cheered when Mikkeller Tokyo announced its return this spring.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 8, 2017
Spain meets 'washoku': Cooking along to the sizzling beat in Ibiza
There has never before been a tasting menu quite like it. The first dinner presented by wagyu beef grillmaster Kentaro Nakahara, yakitori supremo Yoshiteru Ikegawa and sushi maestro Takaaki Sugita was unprecedented in so many aspects.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 1, 2017
Spain meets 'washoku': Three top Japanese chefs take their expertise abroad
This is an era of gastronomic collaboration. Chefs fly from one continent to another, swapping kitchens, recipes and sometimes even their homes. But rarely does this restless cross-fertilization of ideas and techniques involve the world of washoku, Japan's traditional cuisine.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 1, 2017
S'accapau: Modern Italian dining bar fare with flair
Beware of basement dining bars with neon signs, dim lighting and moody music. All too often they deliver style with little substance and menus that titillate but fail to deliver. Thankfully, there are a few exceptions. In Nishi-Azabu, one of the best is S'accapau.
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
Japan, South Korea and China vow to strengthen trade ties amid looming U.S. tariffs
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto (left), South Korean Trade Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun (center) and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Sunday
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
On defense, Japan may avoid Trump's worst impulses — for now
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chat after reviewing an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.

Podcast

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

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

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