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November 22, 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 / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 20, 2011
Roppongi Nouen: Farmers' touch brings peas and quiet to Tokyo
Where does the food on our plates come from? Who grows it and how does it reach our tables? It's almost impossible to know, even when we're at home cooking for ourselves. Eating out in restaurants is a far greater leap of faith.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 20, 2011
Daylesford Organics: Chow down in faith with organic eats
Another place where you can dine in total confidence that nothing untoward will be on your plate is Daylesford Organics. There was considerable buzz among Tokyo foodies when this chic natural foods emporium opened last November near Omotesando Station, close to the U.N. University on Aoyama-dori.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 15, 2011
Roppongi Nouen's Eat For Japan: The first bite is with the heart
Among the massive outpouring of support for Tohoku, one fundraising effort in particular has caught our eye. Eat For Japan is a program launched by Roppongi Nouen, a fine restaurant tucked away in the heart of Tokyo's nightlife district that specializes in good, wholesome dishes and farm-fresh produce....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 15, 2011
Namikibashi Nakamura: Celebrating spring with sake and seasonal fare
Is it too soon — postquake, post-tsunami and still mid-nuclear crisis — to eat, drink and be merry? It's certainly a valid question. The answer, for us at any rate, is no, especially if we know that by doing so we can provide a small measure of support for the devastated areas. And most especially...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 1, 2011
Keats House: Simple nourishment that tastes like poetry
"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever." Those oft-quoted words by the romantic poet John Keats resonate here in Japan no less than in his native England. Now, two centuries after being penned, they are the inspiration for a splendid little cafe-restaurant in one of Tokyo's lesser-trod neighborhoods.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 18, 2011
Warung Bintang: A taste trip to the Bali backstreets
With all the thousands of Japanese who visit Bali each year, enjoying its beguiling climate and culture, it's a mystery why the island's cuisine does not have more adherents here. Indonesian restaurants are so few and far between in Tokyo that any addition to their number is worthy of note. When it's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 4, 2011
Martiniburger: Enjoy your burger shaken, not stirred
Martiniburger. It's a great name for a restaurant. Even before you arrive you can picture it in your mind: As sleek as a cocktail lounge, with subtle lighting, cool music and even cooler people tucking into prime patties of best beef. And you wouldn't be far wrong.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 4, 2011
On the Corner: American breakfast around the clock
The idea of the all-day breakfast — the kind found in countless roadside pit stops and blue-collar grills throughout North America — has taken a very long time to reach these shores. But finally that glaring gastronomic gap was filled last summer by the arrival of the aptly named On the Corner, just...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 18, 2011
Wanoba: Affordable eats with a contemporary vibe
One of our favorite discoveries of the past couple of months has been Wanoba, a stylish little dining bar in Ebisu that marries contemporary Japanese design with tasty, affordable food and drink — all with a welcoming, easygoing ambience.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 18, 2011
Shokkan: Good Japanese dining that's accessible to all
Ambiance, food, value for money: These are universal factors when deciding where to eat. But when it comes to Japanese cuisine here in Japan, there's another criterion: Accessibility. How well do you fare if you don't speak or read Japanese?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 4, 2011
Bashamichi Taproom: Where there's smoke, there's BBQ and beer
The Celebration Ale was flowing and foaming down in Yokohama last month, and for a very good reason. Baird Brewing, one of our favorite small-scale craft-beer producers in all of Japan, has been marking its 10th year in business. And it's done it in style, by opening its newest and best pub to date....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 4, 2011
Bayside brews
Plenty of beer has been sunk in Yokohama over the past century and a half since the opening of the port. That tradition is very much alive today, and the city remains one of Japan's strongholds for brewing, from mass-market suds to limited-edition craft ales.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 21, 2011
Fujiya Honten Grill Bar: cheap and tasty eats on your feet
Now that the holiday feasting is just a fast-fading memory, it's time to tighten the belt and rein in the spending. No more high-end splurges: These days we're staying strictly street level.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 21, 2011
Wine that stands out
The idea of the wine specialist "stand bar" has been around in Tokyo for quite a few years, melding the blue-collar tradition of the tachinomi (standing-only) sake counter with the more contemporary enthusiasm for the fruit of the vine. But adding a proper food menu to that equation is far less common,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 7, 2011
Sasuga Hanare: Slurping soba in more formal surroundings
There are a number of places around the city these days that combine carefully crafted te-uchi handmade noodles with refined Japanese cuisine. Few, if any, do it with greater accomplishment than Sasuga Hanare, the third in this group of innovative, stylish soba restaurants.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 7, 2011
Sasuga Bekkan: For a relaxed, stylish meal, use your noodle
Call us traditional, but when it comes to New Year it is not the Champagne and raucous party streamers we go for; it's the deep, clear fragrance of fine sake and the quiet tolling of ancient temple bells. Add some quality cuisine — Japanese, of course, with plenty of soba noodles — and we are ready...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 31, 2010
The simple but profound flavors of Buddhist temple cooking
Hidden away in the quiet backstreets of Azabu-Juban, Itosho is a self-effacing little restaurant that has been serving shojin ryori (Buddhist temple cuisine) for 40 years, remaining — until recently at any rate — one of the city's better kept secrets.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 31, 2010
Eat temple style at home or find the right Tokyo eatery
It seems implausible these days but, until 150 years ago or so, Japan was essentially a vegetarian country. Certainly, river fish were caught, seafood was eaten by people on the coast and hunting was part of life for those living in the inhospitable interior. But the Buddhist tenets against taking life...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 31, 2010
Kansha: Living and eating Japanese cuisine with appreciation
A writer, author and longtime authority on Japanese cuisine, Elizabeth Andoh has been even busier than usual since the publication of her latest work, "Kansha: Celebrating Japan's Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions." Beside the extra demands of promotional commitments, for the past several years she has...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 17, 2010
Smells like great Italian — but book ahead
Even in its earliest incarnation on the edge of Hiroo, Aroma Fresca was one of the hottest tables in town — and among the hardest to reserve. It was the same story during its stay in Azabu-Juban (in the premises now occupied solely by Casa Vinitalia), and nothing has changed since its rebirth in August...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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