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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
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
What better way to mark the start of this new lunar year than with yakitori? It's the Year of the Fire Rooster, so that calls for some good skewers — prime jidori chicken, of course, carefully prepared over proper charcoal. At Yakitori Imai that's exactly what you get, in the most stylish of settings....
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...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 6, 2017
Richie Hawtin: Pairing Japan's best sake with techno
Richie Hawtin needs no introduction to anyone familiar with electronic music. For 25 years, this Berlin-based, English-Canadian DJ has been at the forefront of techno and he continues to play at major music and art events around the planet.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 6, 2017
Akomeya Chubo: Japanese comfort food hidden in a Ginza rice shop
The holidays are over and so is the feasting. Now it's time to revert to less extravagant fare. But simple doesn't have to mean plain. Even Japanese comfort food can be a delight to the eye, the palate and the stomach. If you head to Akomeya Chubo that's the kind of cooking you'll find.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 6, 2017
Guerrero: Pizza worthy of the angels
Nothing says comfort food like pizza, even at its most elementary. But the satisfaction runs far deeper when your pie is made with quality toppings and cooked with an artisan's touch in a wood-fired oven. At Guerrero you get all that and plenty more.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 30, 2016
Change — the only constant for Tokyo restaurants in 2016
What a year it has been. Thankfully, the world of gastronomy hasn't followed the same spiral of sadness, frustration and despair as the political and popular music arenas. Even so, it's high time to get the Year of the Monkey off our backs with a rundown of some of the ups, downs, ins and outs at Tokyo's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 16, 2016
Argile: A gourmet sanctuary above the streets of Ginza
Is there any Tokyo neighborhood more focused on dining than Ginza? Its nine compact blocks house the greatest concentration of high-end restaurants in the country — quite possibly the whole world. But when it comes to quality cuisine at somewhat more affordable prices, the area has less to offer. All...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 16, 2016
Esquisse Cinq: A new stage for dessert maestro Kazutoshi Narita
Kazutoshi Narita makes gorgeous desserts. They are lyrical flights of fancy, adorned with colorful swooshes and sprinkles, crisp shards, fragile foams and delicate, lacy sugar confections. Until recently, the only way you could taste them was at the end of a full meal of high-end French cuisine at Esquisse...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 13, 2016
When Rene Redzepi brought Noma to Japan
In April 2014, chef Rene Redzepi was riding the crest of a wave. Noma, his iconic Copenhagen restaurant, had just been voted back to No. 1 on the World 50 Best list, cementing its place as one of the top global dining destinations. And then, at the awards ceremony, he dropped a bombshell announcement....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 9, 2016
How Michelin's stardust has changed Tokyo
It has become one of Tokyo's gastronomic rites of autumn. Just as sure as the leaves on the city's many ginkgo trees turn gold and scatter across pavements, the latest Michelin Guide Tokyo hits the stores each year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 2, 2016
Nakameguro Koukashita: Eating under the train tracks has never been this classy
The wraps came off one of Tokyo's latest renovation projects in November, unveiling a host of sparkling new shops and restaurants. But Nakameguro Koukashita is a development with a difference: It's just one story high, extends half a kilometer, and brings new meaning to the term "dining under the tracks."...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 2, 2016
Ohka The Best Days: Craft beer and 'gyoza' keep Nakameguro's old spirit alive
It's getting hard to remember the days when "Nakame" — the local nickname for Naka-Meguro — was funky and alternative, before the river got cleaned up and gentrification set in. But there are still pockets of the old neighborhood vibe to be found if you wander far enough from the station; places...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 18, 2016
erba da nakahigashi: Modern Italian with deep Japanese roots
Arriving at erba da nakahigashi, you might think you have stumbled across a plush, exclusive Japanese restaurant, rather than one serving Italian cuisine. The walls leading down to the basement premises are finished in lacquer and the dining room has no tables, just a compact open kitchen with a wooden...
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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