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April 05, 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
Dec 16, 2011
Sweet memories: Tokyo's dreamiest desserts of 2011
As the Yule season approaches, thoughts turn inevitably to cakes and sweetmeats. Homemade is always best, but sometimes expensive cravings arise for the kind of elegant confections that can only be furnished by bespoke chocolatiers and dessert chefs. Here are five of the desserts that hit the sweet spot...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 2, 2011
Bakushu-an: Nighttime nibbles served by the pint
A mound of oysters on the half shell, with a pint of intense hop-driven IPA on the side. It's a combination that could well get to be a habit this coming winter, if we can only get over to Otsuka more often, to the cozy little Japanese-style tavern known as Bakushu-an.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 2, 2011
L'Effervescence: Artisan cuisine that looks as beautiful as it tastes
The bubbly season is upon us. The illuminations and Christmas music have been with us for weeks already, but now we're into December, it's high time to think about where to uncork a quiet commemorative bottle or two. Somewhere special and secluded, with plush service and, most crucially, fabulous food...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 18, 2011
Ahiru Store: Fresh-baked bread to suit every dish on the menu
Bread and wine: what a great combination. We cannot live on either alone, but put the two together — along with an easygoing attitude and a tasty side menu of home-cooked snacks — and that's the recipe that makes Ahiru Store one of our favorite little wine bars in the city.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 18, 2011
Atelier d'I: Plenty of wine — and food to match
For the longest time, one of our most vociferous complaints about Tokyo was that there weren't enough wine bars worthy of the name. These days, thankfully, we are spoiled for choice in every price range. One of the best of the new crop we've discovered recently is Atelier d'I in Shirokane.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 4, 2011
Deli, coffee — and don't forget your monocle
The Monocle Cafe — the first in the world created by the eponymous international lifestyle magazine — looks just the way you'd expect. Sleek but comfortable, with light-wood furniture in a modern Scandinavian vein, it blends in perfectly with the designer boutiques inside Hankyu Men's Tokyo, the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 4, 2011
Les Chanterelles: Mushrooms and much more in Moto-Yoyogi
Poets may talk all they like about mist and mellow fruitfulness, but for us, autumn is above all mushroom season. And this year we have a new favorite place in which to indulge our fondness for fungi: Les Chanterelles.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 21, 2011
Suzunari: Who says kaiseki ryōri has to be stuffy?
Kaiseki ryōri, Japan's traditional multicourse "haute cuisine," is known for its rarefied elegance, its depth and subtlety of flavor, an exquisite focus on the seasons and, too often, for being as much fun as a funeral. But there is also another kind of kaiseki, one that's simpler, less formalized and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 7, 2011
Hosokawa: Weather the fall with an old Edo classic
Now that summer has been blown away, we finally have the appetite not just to eat but to venture further afield. Time to head across the Sumida River into the shitamachi (old downtown) heartland of Ryogoku, home to the national cult of sumo and its central shrine, the mighty Kokugikan stadium.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 7, 2011
Kyotei Daikokuya: The most satisfying soba in temple town
Few visitors to Asakusa venture beyond the shops and temple precincts around Sensoji. But for aficionados of artisan noodles, the grid of backstreets tucked away behind the mighty temple holds an extra attraction: Kyotei Daikokuya, a quaint little soba restaurant that many consider among the best in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 16, 2011
Pizzeria e Trattoria da Isa: Proper pizza and pasta — and yes, it's in Tokyo
"You can't get proper Italian food in Japan." "It's all too pretty-pretty and refined." "There's no soul in it." These are the plaints of people pining for the taste of home. People who have never been to Pizzeria e Trattoria da Isa.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 16, 2011
Il Rifugio Hayama: coastal cucina with flair and local flavor
The summer beach season may be over, but we are already planning our return to the Shonan coast. Not for the sand and sea, though, but the promise of a meal at Il Rifugio Hayama, currently our favorite Italian restaurant in all of Kanagawa Prefecture.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 2, 2011
Cristiano's: A taste of Portugal in Tokyo's backstreets
Charcoal-grilled fish, lots of fresh seafood and seasonal produce, rice at least once a day and no fussy seasonings or sauces: Portuguese cuisine has so many points of overlap with Japan's, it's a wonder that it hasn't caught on here more widely.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 2, 2011
Vi-sand: Bohemian baguettes all the way from Vietnam
It was art that first led us to Vi-sand in Shimo-Kitazawa. It was the food that drew us back again. This bright little cafe/diner specializes in banh mi, those typically Vietnamese sandwiches (hence the shop's name) made with crisp baguette bread and a variety of savory fillings.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 19, 2011
Hatos Bar: Perfect BBQ and beer for a long, hot summer
There are few good reasons for staying in Tokyo through a long, punishing Japanese summer. But there are a few consolations. The heat and sweat are a lot more bearable if you know that once night has fallen you can be sitting outside, with a light breeze in the air, cool music on the sound system, a...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 19, 2011
DevilCraft: Dying for a crafty pint? Head down to Kanda
The craft beer revolution in Japan is picking up pace. The main event of this summer has been the opening of DevilCraft, an excellent brewpub-to-be that is already serving some of the finest, hoppiest, maltiest, tastiest microbrews around.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2011
Ivan Ramen Plus: Maverick chef Orkin opens new noodle joint
There are those who love ramen, and those who are obsessive. Count us firmly in the first category. We won't cross town, wait in line for hours or pore over websites just to slurp at some particularly popular noodle shop. But if we hear word of anything especially good and unusual, then we want to know...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2011
Ichikanjin: Sun, sea, sand and slurping soup noodles
There's nothing like a sea breeze and a day spent lounging by the ocean to generate a healthy appetite. And nothing hits the spot better or faster than ramen. If the beach in question happens to be in Kamakura, then we know exactly where to go to refill and recharge on the way back from the waterfront...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 15, 2011
Bistro Authentique: Authentic flavor in a tiny bistro setting
Tokyo is well served for Vietnamese food these days, and there's no compelling need to venture far from the center when the craving arises for pho, cha gio and banh xeo. Even so, many of our favorite places are far from the mainstream. But few are as obscure — or as worth searching out — as Bistro...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 15, 2011
My-Le: On track for great Vietnamese food
As soon as the rains lift and the temperatures rise, our thoughts turn to Vietnam. It's the food we crave: No other cuisine seems quite as appetizing once the sweltering summer sets in.
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.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
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.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
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).
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.

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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