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July 17, 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
Jul 3, 2009
Enoteca inspiration brings wine and food for Italophiles
Blink and you're likely to miss Enoteca Cricca as you walk past. It's one of those diminutive hole-in-the-wall restaurants that Tokyo does so well. With a low-budget, rustic interior — whitewashed walls, exposed brick and lots of simple, hand-finished woodwork — it's clearly a labor of love...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 3, 2009
Coolie's Creek: Up in the Paradise down by the creek
Coolie's Creek: What a great name for a Chinese restaurant. OK, it may not be the most politically correct moniker, but when you get there you know it feels absolutely right.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 19, 2009
Simple seafood and a fish shack
"Meet you at the fish shack in Meguro!" It was a suggestion, a rendezvous, an invitation to check out a new restaurant. But more than anything, in these days of straitened economics, it was an offer we couldn't refuse.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 5, 2009
Basque in great flavors at Txoko
It's no secret: Spain has some of the best food in Europe. But Tokyo is only starting to realize there's much more to it than just paella and sangria. That's why we were so pleased to hear about Txoko, the city's first restaurant specializing in the outstanding cuisine of the Basque Country.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 1, 2009
Two more treats along the waterfront
Good things so often come in threes. Between the waterfront and Bashamichi Station are a couple of other Yokohama eateries that are well worth discovering.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 1, 2009
Araiya: Celebrating beef by the Yokohama bayside
Down in Yokohama they're partying like it's 1859. It's been exactly 150 years since Japan's largest port — indeed the country itself — was fully opened to foreign trade. Earlier this month we went down to the old Red Brick Warehouses to marvel at massive mechanical spiders, France's contributions...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 17, 2009
Cafe Hai: MOT goes Vietnamese
It's always a pleasure to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (MOT) out in Koto Ward. The surrounding park is calm, the architecture of the museum exemplary, and the exhibitions invariably well curated.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 17, 2009
Kemuri: Smoking up in Kanda-Sudacho
There are half a dozen compelling reasons for heading to Kanda-Sudacho. The small pocket of back streets that survived the firebombs of World War II and — so far — the ravages of high-rise development is home to some of the city's most venerable restaurants.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 3, 2009
Fleeting beauty, timeless dining
Impatient to see the first sakura of the season, we followed the crowds into Ueno Park. It's been a good while since we last joined in the revelry at Tokyo's largest, most boisterous cherry blossom-viewing party — and never before have we done it in such gourmet style.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 3, 2009
Innsyoutei: Fleeting beauty, timeless dining
Impatient to see the first sakura of the season, we followed the crowds into Ueno Park. It's been a good while since we last joined in the revelry at Tokyo's largest, most boisterous cherry blossom-viewing party — and never before have we done it in such gourmet style.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 20, 2009
Bruschetta, beer — this must be northern Italy
Great news. Stefano Fastro, owner-patron- chef of one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Kagurazaka's inimitable Ristorante Stefano, has just opened a new place. Better news yet, it's not a spinoff or an attempt to duplicate his original operation. In fact, it's completely different in feel, although...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 20, 2009
Brusca: Bruschetta, beer — this must be northern Italy
Great news. Stefano Fastro, owner-patron- chef of one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Kagurazaka's inimitable Ristorante Stefano, has just opened a new place. Better news yet, it's not a spinoff or an attempt to duplicate his original operation. In fact, it's completely different in feel, although...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 20, 2009
Cucina Amano: With eager eyes on the kitchen
One of the particular pleasures of dining out in Tokyo is sitting at the counter of a small, owner- chef restaurant, gazing into the kitchen and watching your meal — and others', of course — being prepared.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 6, 2009
Hashidaya and Kushiwakamaru: One bird in the pot is worth two on the stick
It's awfully damp and chilly in winter alongside Meguro-gawa, the deep, concrete-lined creek that runs through Naka-Meguro. In summer, the cherry trees that line each bank provide blissful dappled shade, but at this time of year their boughs are bare.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 20, 2009
Japan meets Jamaica: ital soba in Tokyo
What is it about handmade noodles, young chefs, minuscule restaurants and hard-to-find locations? Here's another highly idiosyncratic craft-noodle shop that opened recently, which is every bit as hard to find as Nemuri-an.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 20, 2009
Asahi: Japan meets Jamaica: ital soba in Tokyo
What is it about handmade noodles, young chefs, minuscule restaurants and hard-to-find locations? Here's another highly idiosyncratic craft-noodle shop that opened recently, which is every bit as hard to find as Nemuri-an.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 20, 2009
Nemuri-an: Austere, obscure, entirely Japanese
At the recent Tokyo Taste World Gastronomy Summit, the super-chefs assembled at Tokyo International Forum paid fulsome homage to Japan and its influence on their own creative vision. Their well-honed, technologically enhanced presentations were leavened throughout with buzzwords such as dashi soup stock,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 6, 2009
A gastronomic treat
Chef alert! The big guns of global gastronomy are coming to town. The occasion is a convocation being held next week grandly titled "Tokyo Taste — the World Summit of Gastronomy 2009."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 6, 2009
Cujorl: Artistic cooking in an American style
The Food File has a new favorite restaurant — with the emphasis firmly on "new." Cujorl has been open barely a month now, and already we've been back three times.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 23, 2009
The Majestic: Tasty dips for a Majestic Tet
From Halong Bay to the Mekong Delta, the flowers, fireworks and festive clothes are being readied: Soon the fun and feasting will begin. China and its vast diaspora may make the most noise at Lunar New Year, but it's no less of a big deal in Vietnam.
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
China’s economic growth comes in worse than expected
Pedestrians in the Wangfujing shopping area in Beijing on July 11, 2024. China's economic growth in the second quarter was lower than forecast, adding pressure on Chinese leaders to lift confidence at the Chinese Communist Party's third plenum this week.
Kansai airports to increase takeoff and landing slots ahead of Osaka Expo
Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. The upper limit on the number of takeoff and landing slots at the airport as well as Kobe Airport in Hyogo Prefecture will be raised in spring next year ahead of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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