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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
Feb 5, 2010
Nezucafe: There's nothing fusty about the Nezu Museum's new cafe
When the Nezu Museum reopened last October, after more than a year of reconstruction, we were among the first to join the lines outside. We were keen to inspect Kengo Kuma's impressive architecture and wanted to view the remarkable bronzes, scrolls and screens in the new galleries. But more than anything...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 22, 2010
E*A*T: Fast food worth lingering over
The bright yellow sign calls down over the busy, narrow sidewalk like a grandmama from the old country exhorting her brood to come to table. "EAT EAT," it shouts. Do as you're told: Go in and sit down. We did. And we ate. We ate very well indeed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 22, 2010
Tokyo's burger joints have never been better
It looks as though Tokyo has finally woken up to the idea that there's much more to a burger than the cheap, bland offerings of the fast-food chains. Premium burgers, made by hand with quality ingredients and cooked with care, are all over town these days and the best of the recent bunch is the strangely...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 8, 2010
Other soba houses to discover in Kamakura
Kamakura has no shortage of good soba restaurants. Like Matsubara-an, many occupy freestanding traditional buildings. Here are three more worth tracking down on a visit to the ancient capital.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 8, 2010
Matsubara-an makes soba a fresh tradition
From the very first sip of aromatic otoso sake and steaming-hot ozoni soup, we always love the time-honored ritual and ceremony of New Year's in Japan. But even more than that, we like it when the hallowed traditions are brought up to date and placed in a contemporary context. That's the way they do...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 18, 2009
Ryugin: Refined flair in the dragon's lair
It's that season once again, when we pause, look back and savor some of the outstanding meals we have enjoyed over the past year. High on that list has to be going back to eat at Ryugin last month.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 4, 2009
Staying in Tokyo for Christmas dinner
These days, just about every restaurant in town offers a Christmas menu — in just about any cuisine you want. Whether you're craving turkey and stuffing, oysters and risotto or gravlax and smoked trout, there's a place for you. Here are just a few Food File recommendations.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 4, 2009
Mario i Sentieri: A personal touch from super Mario
You're booking a table for a nice night out, so which is it to be: punctilious precision in a bubble of privileged privacy; or something a bit warmer and jazzier, with a personal touch, plenty of atmosphere and a hint of glamour?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 20, 2009
Restaurant J: A favorite chef's inspired return
Fantastic news: Restaurant J has returned. After a gap of over four years, one of our most talented chefs, Masahito Ueki, is back in action in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 6, 2009
Tempura Uoshin: A masterclass at the counter
Tradition, craftsmanship, and understated refinement. These are attributes expected of any place serving traditional Japanese cuisine of a certain quality. When it comes to tempura, those same values are every bit as important.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 16, 2009
Tapas Molecular Bar: Elevated dining at a molecular level
Test-tube "caviar," froths and foams and taste-teasing flavor infusions, miracle fruit and desserts "cooked" at super-chilled temperatures. . . . Welcome to the brave new world of contemporary cuisine commonly known as molecular gastronomy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 2, 2009
Natural nourishment for body and spirit in Nishi-Ogikubo
Nishi-Ogikubo — or Nishiogi, as the locals like to call it — is a quiet, low-rise neighborhood, a backwater that most people overlook in their hurry to get to bustling Kichijoji. Therein lies its primary appeal.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 2, 2009
Hobitto-mura: Natural nourishment for body and spirit in Nishi-Ogikubo
Nishi-Ogikubo — or Nishiogi, as the locals like to call it — is a quiet, low-rise neighborhood, a backwater that most people overlook in their hurry to get to bustling Kichijoji. Therein lies its primary appeal.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 2, 2009
Norabo: Perfectly simple seasonal cuisine
Returning from any trip out of the country, it's always Japanese food that we crave. No need for anything fancy: hand-chopped soba at the neighborhood noodle shop will do us fine, or perhaps a few charcoal-grilled skewers of chicken at our local yakitori counter. This time, though, having been away for...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 18, 2009
Awamori : Keeping up high spirits with Okinawa's signature drink
Awamori, the signature spirit of Okinawa, is often lumped together with shochu, the clear liquor produced in the rest of Japan. However, its production is significantly different and its history — like that of the islands themselves — is quite distinct.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 18, 2009
Awamori: Keeping up high spirits with Okinawa's signature drink
Awamori, the signature spirit of Okinawa, is often lumped together with shochu, the clear liquor produced in the rest of Japan. However, its production is significantly different and its history — like that of the islands themselves — is quite distinct.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 18, 2009
Taketomijima: Southern comfort Okinawan style
Everybody loves Okinawa. Japan's southernmost prefecture boasts sun-kissed beaches, coral reefs, an easy-going lifestyle and a culture unlike anywhere else in the country. These days, the islands and their distinctive cuisine enjoy a certain hip cachet; this has not always been the case.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 4, 2009
Tharros: Sardinian flavors in taberna style
Tokyo's love affair with Italian food and drink shows no sign of abating. In the bad old days — and they weren't that long ago — finding a ristorante that was even half good might entail a trip across town and considerable expense. Now we're spoiled rotten for choice.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 21, 2009
The new Harajuku Taproom brews up a storm with craft beer and yakitori
Another American who has been carving out an impressive niche for himself in Japan is brewmaster Bryan Baird. Over nine years has passed since he first began producing craft beers, which he sold in his own brewpub, the Fishmarket Taproom in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 21, 2009
Ivan Ramen: Artisan ramen with NY accent
"Eat ramen here." It's the kind of illuminated sign you might expect to see outside a restaurant in central London or New York. To find it over the door of a one-counter noodle joint on an old-fashioned shopping arcade in the western suburbs of Tokyo is, however, little short of bizarre.
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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