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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
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...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 17, 2010
Casa Vinitalia: High-end Italian for the spontaneous gourmet
Snaring a reservation at a top-end Tokyo restaurant is hard enough at the best of times. Now, with the yearend celebrations in full flow, it's nigh on impossible. But even if you haven't booked that special dinner yet, there could still be a glimmer of hope. You can always try your luck at Casa Vinitalia...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 17, 2010
Aroma Fresca: 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...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 3, 2010
Junkadelic makes its (exclamation) mark
One of our favorite funky eateries has just sprouted a new offshoot, and it's every bit as laid-back delicious. Junkadelic, the self-styled "comfortable Mexican" hangout in Naka-Meguro, already has a branch in Akasaka. This new one, which opened in nether Shibuya in late October, is smaller, more intimate...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 3, 2010
Junkadelic Jalopy! makes its (exclamation) mark
One of our favorite funky eateries has just sprouted a new offshoot, and it's every bit as laid-back delicious. Junkadelic, the self-styled "comfortable Mexican" hangout in Naka-Meguro, already has a branch in Akasaka. This new one, which opened in nether Shibuya in late October, is smaller, more intimate...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 3, 2010
La Gargote: Buzzing new bistro moves in for the grill
The great guide Michelin has again spoken, and lo! Tokyo has yet more stars in its firmament, and with even greater numbers anointed to the most exalted echelons. Further confirmation, should it be needed, that this is the foodiest city on the planet.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 19, 2010
Kankyo Shuten: Crab with wine in Ningbo style
This is the golden season, the time for feasting and thanksgiving. Here in Japan, we celebrate the rice harvest, persimmons and pumpkins, mikan mandarins and matsutake mushrooms. Over in Shanghai, though, the autumn delicacy par excellence is freshwater crab.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 5, 2010
To your health: Vinegar is the toast at Osuya
Following the refurbishment of the Ginza Mitsukoshi department store, much media attention has focused on the ninth-floor rooftop lawn terrace. But it's the bottommost floors that grab our interest. They have been totally revamped to create Tokyo's newest, classiest depachika basement food hall.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 5, 2010
Kamo-shabu Chikutei: Putting the duck into shabu-shabu
There's no mystery as to what's on the menu at Kamo-shabu Chikutei. Even if you didn't know that "kamo" means "duck," the lamps at the entrance with their stylized image of a mallard in flight give the game away.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 15, 2010
Rue de Shuri: Small is beautiful out in Nakame
Everyone likes Naka-Meguro. With its languid tree-lined creek, quirky bars and design boutiques and easygoing low-rise ambience — away from the station, at any rate — it's one of the Tokyo locales we all wish we lived in. Best of all, Nakame (as those in the know call it) has some excellent little...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 1, 2010
Zezankyo: A showcase for tempura artistry
It would be absolutely inaccurate to call Tetsuya Saotome a maverick. But within the traditional, buttoned-down world of tempura chefs, he certainly stands out as an individualist.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 17, 2010
Maison Bretonne: All for the love of Breton galettes
Isn't it about time that galettes — those skinny, savory, nut-brown buckwheat pancakes born in Brittany but now ubiquitous in French cuisine — took this country by storm?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 17, 2010
Koz Cafe: Colorful dishes, Scandinavian style
One of our best — and best-looking — discoveries this summer has been Koz Cafe. Occupying a converted house on a narrow pedestrian street on the Tomigaya side of Yoyogi Park, it has a distinctive Scandinavian feel both inside and out (you can't miss its patterned slate-blue exterior) and on the menu...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 3, 2010
Bissori: A secret garden of enchantment
Even among the architectural mishmash of Tokyo's jumbled backstreets, Bissori stands out. The two-story facade is sheer, rough-plastered, almost windowless. Creepers and bamboo obscure the few small square portholes. It's intriguing, enigmatic. Inside, though, is even more remarkable.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 3, 2010
The Market SE1: Artisan ice cream on the Shonan coast
We surely haven't been the only ones thirsting for ice cream throughout this long, sultry summer. Those cravings have been assuaged by regular doses of the superb gelati made by Grom. As of last month, there are now three outlets in Tokyo for these outstanding (and pricey) Italian ices, which many people...
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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