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April 04, 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 / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 18, 2016
Rituel: A pilgrimage site for patisserie devotees
Almost exactly one year ago, fans of French pastry were celebrating the opening of Rituel, the Tokyo headquarters of French artisan baker Christophe Vasseur. Just like his main shop in Paris, Du Pain et Des Idees, this store near Omotesando Station has become a place of pilgrimage for those in search...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 4, 2016
Gem by Moto: Simple, stylish and seasonal — with sake to match
Whenever you find a place that serves good sake, there is a high chance it has quality food, too. No matter if it's an upscale Japanese restaurant, a down-home izakaya tavern or an obscure bar for sake geeks, this rule of thumb rarely fails. It certainly applies at Gem by Moto.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 4, 2016
Bills Ginza: Laidback Australian dining in the heart of the city
Ginza. It's where you go for classy cake shops, high-end sushi and some of Japan's priciest cuisine. But surely not for vegan cauliflower fritters and spelt risotto, or porcini-rubbed steaks and truffled arancini (rice balls)? Absolutely, thanks to the newest branch of the laid-back — and still lower-case...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / FUKUOKA RESTAURANTS
Oct 28, 2016
Sushi Gyoten: In the experienced hands of a young sushi master
Arriving at Sushi Gyoten for the first time feels a bit like slipping back in time. The weathered bamboo fence, carefully positioned ornamental rocks and narrow, stone-paved path curving out of sight: this could be the portal to some well-entrenched decades-old ryōtei (high-end traditional restaurant)....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / FUKUOKA RESTAURANTS
Oct 28, 2016
Udon Taira: Keeping Kyushu's noodle tradition alive
You can't mention "Fukuoka" and "noodles" in the same sentence without thinking of ramen. But long before ramen arrived in Kyushu, the local favorite was udon — chunky white wheat noodles served in a hot dashi broth. No other shop keeps this tradition alive more faithfully than Udon Taira.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 14, 2016
Bistro Marx: Casual, classic cuisine high above the streets of Ginza
There are several good reasons why Bistro Marx is one of Tokyo's hottest new openings of the year: The excellent cooking and high quality ingredients; the spacious dining room and comforting absence of table cloths; plus the fact it's under the imprimatur of one of France's finest chefs. But when all...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 14, 2016
Siam Shokudo: Honest Thai flavors on a busy downtown crossing
You can't miss Siam Shokudo. It's right above Yushima subway station looking out over a busy crossroad, with its front entirely open to the street whenever the weather is warm. From outside you might take it for just another bar in this old-school carousing district. But it's not only bigger than you...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 7, 2016
Luca Fantin: Italian creativity blooms in the heart of Ginza
Chef Luca Fantin's cooking is far from most people's idea of typical Italian fare. The softly spoken 37-year-old native of Treviso serves elaborate multicourse tasting menus that are as creative, contemporary and cutting edge as anywhere else in Tokyo. This has won him plaudits, a Michelin star — he's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 30, 2016
Celaravird: Edible works of art from an adventurous chef
Dinner at Celaravird runs to a strict schedule. At 6:30 p.m., guests start to converge on the restaurant. Some climb out of taxis; others make the uphill hike from the nearby train station. By 6:45 they are expected to be at their tables, the buzz of anticipation growing as preprandial drinks are served....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 30, 2016
Meating at Anis: Monthly gatherings for carnivore connoisseurs
Nobody in Tokyo cooks meat like Susumu Shimizu. Whether it's beef, pork, lamb or poultry, he prepares it all over a plancha — basically a hot plate with super-sensitive controls — in his chic little restaurant, Anis, on the western edge of Shinjuku.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 16, 2016
Yakitori Ogawa: Traditional 'yakitori' served like high-end sushi
There's no mistaking the kind of cuisine offered at Yakitori Ogawa. All 15 seats in this compact, one-counter grill look directly onto the open kitchen where skewers of premium poultry are slowly, carefully tended to over glowing charcoal.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 16, 2016
Tempu: A cluttered hole-in-the-wall with incredible 'takoyaki'
Tempu is in no way a destination restaurant. It's a six-minute schlep beside the tracks from JR Shibuya Station, and when you arrive all you'll find is a cluttered hole-in-the-wall that fits eight at a pinch, all standing. But it's this funky setting that makes it such a favorite with the locals —...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 2, 2016
Falo: An Italian take on the 'izakaya'
Arriving at Falo, prepare for a few surprises of the most pleasant kind. The first is that this sleek-looking new Italian restaurant, which opened in May in Daikanyama, feels and functions like a traditional izakaya tavern.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 2, 2016
Cam On Pho: No-frills pho and banh mi done right
Spring rolls, pho noodles, and banh mi sandwiches: the menu at Cam On Pho is anything but extensive. But those are the classics of Vietnamese street food. And if they're done well, like they're done in their homeland, what more do you need?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 27, 2016
Italian chef Massimo Bottura: 'Never forget where you came from'
Owner of the world's best restaurant on the influence of culture in cuisine
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 19, 2016
Tinsagu nu Hana serves up a melodic mix of Okinawan cuisine
It's a long way from Tokyo to the balmy, subtropical Ryukyu Islands — approximately 1,500 kilometers as the crow (or plane) flies. But Japan's southernmost prefecture feels a whole lot closer when you're out in the residential suburbs of Suginami Ward. At least it does when you're sitting in Tinsagu...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 19, 2016
Chef Massimo Bottura's Kyoto menu is both colorful and daring
When Italian chef Massimo Bottura arrived in Japan in late July to present a series of meals at the elegant Ritz-Carlton Kyoto, it represented quite a coup for the hotel in only its second year of existence. Just six weeks earlier, Bottura's restaurant, Osteria Francescana in Modena, had been voted into...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 19, 2016
Handels Vagen's frozen treats will have you singing Handel's 'Messiah'
Premium ice cream is never out of season. But the timing could hardly have been better for the arrival of Handels Vagen at the start of this summer. Located in the basement of the new Tokyu Plaza in Ginza, it boasts a modest footprint that seems appropriate to the artisan production scale of very superior...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 5, 2016
Yoji Tokuyoshi's 'contaminated' take on Italian cuisine
Most Japanese chefs who go to Italy stay just long enough to learn new skills before returning home. Very few stay and set up their own restaurants. Yoji Tokuyoshi not only did that, he became the first to win a Michelin star there.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2016
Kazami: A noodle joint that's hard to find but worth the hunt
It takes considerable confidence to open a new restaurant at the hottest time of the year, when people's appetites are at their lowest ebb. To locate it down a narrow alley hidden from sight of Ginza's passing foot traffic seems even more foolhardy. But ramen shops work according to different rules —...
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.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
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.
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’s leader didn’t read the job description
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
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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