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July 16, 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
Apr 29, 2017
Sushi Jin: Self-taught master serves only the freshest fare
...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 29, 2017
Kousai: When firefly squid are in season, it's best to go to the source
If you like seafood, you'll love Toyama Bay. And nothing symbolizes its bounty better than hotaru-ika, the firefly squid that rise in huge shoals from the depths of these fertile waters emitting the mysterious glow that gives them their name.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 15, 2017
Path: Covering breakfast and brunch through dinner with panache
It's not hard for a restaurant to generate buzz. All it takes is a strong design, cool music — on vinyl, of course — and some hot PR. But to maintain that level of vibrancy, it needs to be good. It also helps if it's a bit special, and Path qualifies on all counts.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 15, 2017
Umami Burger: A focus on flavor with natural ingredients
Umami is hardly a foreign concept in Japan. After all, this is the land where the so-called fifth taste was isolated, named and promptly marketed to the outside world.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 15, 2017
Preparation for S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2018 contest ramps up in Tokyo
The search is on for the next generation of aspiring culinary stars. Over the next year, up-and-coming chefs around the world will be sharpening their knives and their kitchen skills in the hope of making it to the Grand Finale of the Young Chef 2018 competition in Italy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 1, 2017
Craft Sake Week set to bloom in Tokyo's Roppongi Hills
Sake and sakura. Cherry blossom and Japan's traditional tipple make for a heady combination, wherever you put them together.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 1, 2017
Torikado: Elevating yakitori to an art form
Tokyo has no shortage of yakitori restaurants. They range from funky, smoky hole-in-the-wall grills to elegant emporia serving prime skewers of the finest fowl. But there's nowhere quite like Torikado.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 1, 2017
Hayashi: Ponder the sound of one man slurping
The ticket machine at the door to Hayashi looks more like a Zen riddle than a method of ordering noodles.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 17, 2017
Champagne & Gyoza Bar: A fine new pairing in the backstreets of Akasaka
It's gyōza time. These 1½-bite pan-fried dumplings — crisp and brown underneath, moist and meaty inside — may have their roots in China, but they're as deeply embedded in Japanese hearts and the daily diet as ramen and chahan (fried rice).
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 17, 2017
Los Barbados: Eclectic African cuisine on the fringe of Shibuya
From African chicken to Zanzibar pizza, the menu at Los Barbados runs the full gamut of eclectic. Push through the door of this eight-seat diner and you're in a parallel continent where Tokyo meets Kinshasa, with lashings of Middle Eastern flavors, too.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 3, 2017
Delifucious: Fish burgers and 'anago' dogs prepared by an experienced sushi chef
Let's hear it for Nakameguro. Tokyo's hippest neighborhood has some of the best artisan pizza, craft beer and third-wave coffee outlets in the city. Now with the arrival of Delifucious, we can add premium fish burgers to that list.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 3, 2017
Asia's top pastry chef Kazutoshi Narita on what inspires his creations
Over the past three decades, master patissier Kazutoshi Narita has worked in half a dozen countries alongside some of the world's most acclaimed chefs.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 3, 2017
Dandelion Chocolate: Half cafe, half factory, all cacao flavor
It's been a year since San Francisco's Dandelion Chocolate arrived in Tokyo with its artisan, small-batch, bean-to-bar ethos and laid-back California style — and it has proved a perfect fit in the trendy and rapidly gentrifying Kuramae district just south of Asakusa.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 17, 2017
Matsushima: Riffing on the theme of Chinese cuisine
Matsushima is not the easiest restaurant to find. It lies on a quiet pedestrian alley with its name displayed so discreetly that you barely notice the stairs leading down to its unobtrusive door. And yet, over the 10 months since it opened, a growing number of people have been searching it out.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 17, 2017
Venu's South Indian Dining: Tidy atmosphere, deep flavors
There are no prizes for guessing what's on the menu at Venu's South Indian Dining — but there are surprises.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 3, 2017
Matt Goulding's 'Rice, Noodle, Fish' makes Japanese-language debut
It's well past midnight on a frigid winter's evening and the back streets are emptying fast in Namba, Osaka's effervescent, neon-lit entertainment district. But behind the unprepossessing door of Teppanyaro, the party is only just getting going.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 3, 2017
Yakitori Imai: A new grill pairs tradition with ambience
...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 3, 2017
Hotaru: Tokyo's first and only sake brew-pub
Uchi-Kanda has always been one of Tokyo's most colorful carousing districts. Just to the north of buttoned-up Otemachi and Marunouchi, its narrow streets are lined with low-budget eateries and boisterous izakaya taverns. Hotaru fits in perfectly but with one key distinction: It is Tokyo's first (and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 20, 2017
Tempura Yokota: The taste of tradition in a fast-changing neighborhood
The sign on the street outside Tempura Yokota and the elevator up to the restaurant are as modern as they come. But the patinated sliding wooden door that greets you on arrival speaks of tradition and, once you're inside, so does the welcome.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 20, 2017
ici: sophisticated French cuisine at bistro prices
The backstreets of Ebisu do not lack for great French cuisine. So how can a tiny new restaurant put itself on the map in such a popular dining district? One approach is to adopt a short, catchy name written in lowercase letters. But at ici (French for "here"), the real strategy is offering brilliant...
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.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
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.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
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.
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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