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April 04, 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
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.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 9, 2009
Tokyo's miso soup: quality, variety and style
Traditionally in Japan, miso shiru soup represented the taste of home cooking. Each family would have its own recipes, prepared using local or homemade miso but served up with favorite combinations of ingredients. Vegetables, seafood, mushrooms, tofu, seaweed and even small quantities of meat all find...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 9, 2009
A mecca for miso out in Kameido
Crates of champagne were popped open, wine was mulled and sake was sipped. But now the feast days are over, we must rein in the appetite (and the spending, too). It's time to focus on simple, wholesome home cooking to see us through the coldest season: hearty stews and nabe hot pots, rib-sticking casseroles...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 9, 2009
Sano Miso: A mecca for miso out in Kameido
Crates of champagne were popped open, wine was mulled and sake was sipped. But now the feast days are over, we must rein in the appetite (and the spending, too). It's time to focus on simple, wholesome home cooking to see us through the coldest season: hearty stews and nabe hot pots, rib-sticking casseroles...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 19, 2008
Volo Cosi: Northern Tokyo's top- notch Italian
Another year of eating our way around Tokyo draws to its well-fed conclusion. We have dined well in 2008 — we invariably do, of course — with many memorable evenings and lunches spent at the table. Among the highlights was finally making our way to Volo Cosi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 5, 2008
Restaurant & Wine Cellar Davis: What delicacies hide in Takanawa
When Shoko Davis first opened her Wine Cellar more than 10 years ago, it felt like the ultimate neighborhood restaurant. Not just because it ticked all the boxes in terms of food, drink and ambience, but also because it was so far off most people's radar.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 21, 2008
Ebisu Yokocho: Bright lights, retro style
Times are tough, money's too tight to mention, the recession is biting and credit is crunching. Red ink is the new black. Doom-and-gloom mongering is back in vogue.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 7, 2008
Tateru Yoshino and Sucre Sale: Haute cuisine and the friendly local
The slatted, skewing facade of the new Prias Building may not be the most arresting design in Ginza — the melting-metal, curvilinear De Beers building wins that accolade hands down. But it's enough to make you stop and crane your neck.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 17, 2008
Rakushokushu Maru: Modern kaiseki the Maru way
The simple truth has become a global cliche: It is hard to get a bad meal in Tokyo. Whether you're eating humble noodles or a rarefied kaiseki banquet, it's likely to be more than just satisfactory — there's a good chance it will be prepared with flavor and flair.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 17, 2008
Sleek and soulless, the new Shunju ain't what it used to be
Since the very early days, we have been fans of the Shunju group. After all, these were the restaurants that pioneered the idea of modern washoku Japanese dining back in the late 1980s. So we were interested to check out the latest branch, dubbed Shunju Yurari (literally "gently floating"), that opened...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 3, 2008
Mikura Ginza Honten: It's Kyoto kaiseki, but not as you know it
[Note: Mikura Ginza Honten has closed.]
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 19, 2008
Had enough of the bistro? Then head on to the bouchon
Kagurazaka already has a remarkable concentration of French bistros, brasseries, wine bars, and at least one authentic Breton creperie. Since last September we have been able to add to that list a full-fledged bouchon, a bistro-style restaurant specializing in the distinctive cuisine of Lyon, the region...
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
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.
Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
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.
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.
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.
On defense, Japan may avoid Trump's worst impulses — for now
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chat after reviewing an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.

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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