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April 03, 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 21, 2005
Inakaya East: Performance art of the robatayaki
As you slide open the door and enter, a chorus of yells assails your ears, echoing around the room. Before you are even seated, there will be more shouts and responses unleashed by the same bevy of full-throated floor staff. And then again when you order that first drink. And so on all evening. Welcome...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 7, 2005
Ebisu Imaiya Saryou: A yakitori pavilion that rules the roost
A brave new Year of the Rooster has dawned -- so what better way to celebrate it than by eating one? On such auspicious occasions as this, naturally, only the finest fowl will do -- and it's hard to find any that taste better than the variety known as Hinai jidori.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 17, 2004
Raising a glass to the Food File's faves
The goose is getting fat and so too is your humble correspondent, after another year of gobbling his way through some of the best dining that Tokyo has to offer -- not to mention a sizable dollop of the mediocre and worse. But it's not just gluttony that keeps the Food File going, nor merely devotion...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 3, 2004
Olives Tokyo: For a night to remember
It was one of those evenings that called for -- nay, stridently demanded -- a special celebration. Not a quiet, intimate table a deux; nor some sober parade of rarified gourmet delicacies; but a full-on, self-indulgent feast in a setting to match. It was time for dinner at Olives.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 19, 2004
Kizakura: Game, set and match in fashion central
Food is fashion in this city and, inevitably, food is also foreplay -- especially in the ritzier parts of town. More often than we care to recall we have found that swish furnishings and subdued lighting are danger signals, warning of meals that are self-conscious, mediocre and overpriced. How nice it...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 5, 2004
Nezu Club: Closer to real soul of Tokyo
Just like stepping back in time. The soul of traditional Tokyo. Ancient Edo preserved in amber.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 15, 2004
Kitchen: S.E. Asian fare with a personal touch
Unlikely as it may seem, there's a vegetable boom sweeping the nation. And no food dovetails better with this new healthy ethos than Vietnamese -- at least the way it is eaten in its homeland.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 1, 2004
Top tapas made the Tio Danjo way
Tio Danjo is not a large place, and it's hard enough at the best of times to reserve a table at short notice. At the end of last month, though, it was nigh on impossible. Owner-chef Keita Danjo had just come back from one of his regular visits to Madrid, and the word was out among regular customers....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 17, 2004
Food fit for a doge on canals of Venice
Eating where the tourists eat is always a risky proposition, especially in a city like Venice, whose sole raison d'e^tre is tourism. Along the city's main arteries and tourist sites, the restaurants are often disappointing -- and sometimes even disastrous. But, as we found on a quick visit there earlier...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 3, 2004
Arossa spreads Antipodean goodness
Ever since it opened, the Food File has been a major fan of Arossa, the Aussie-specialist wine bar and restaurant out on the leafy fringes of Shibuya's Shoto district. We like the modern styling, the extensive cellar of Antipodean wines and the sophisticated food menu. But there is one area in which...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 20, 2004
Chilling out with noodles in summertime
These are days of heat and tribulation. For 40 days and 40 nights we sweltered and sweated through that record heat wave -- and there's plenty more of the summer yet to come. Not surprisingly, given these almost biblical weather conditions, our main source of solace and sustenance has been noodles --...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 6, 2004
Galali: Summertime, and the grazing is easy
Tongues lolling, throats parched, energy levels flagging, taste buds shriveled . . . When the summer heat sets in, nobody feels like hefty meals. It's the time of year when you have to coax your appetite into action. This is the season for grazing.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 16, 2004
Fishmarket Taproom: Chugging down the coast
The Food File does not often leave Tokyo. Why should we, when there's so much great eating to be had within the sprawling confines of this massive city? But when it comes to good drinking, that's a different story altogether. We will gladly go the extra mile (or 70) if there's a pint or two of fine ale...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 2, 2004
Pot-Bouille's recipe for success: just keep it simple
Stop me if you've heard this one before: Parisian banlieu decor; no-frills wooden tables in cozy proximity; Pernod and Lillet bottles on the shelf behind the bar; the obligatory espresso machine; a short wine list; and a menu of brasserie staples chalked on a blackboard brought round to your table by...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 18, 2004
Acca: Italian cucina meets 21st-century Tokyo
Twenty-five years ago the idea of mixing Japanese and Western cuisines was tantamount to heresy. A decade or so back it was cutting-edge novelty, embraced (and then almost as quickly disparaged) as "fusion." These days, in Tokyo at least, it is fast becoming the postmodern standard. And the results can...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 4, 2004
Zen-modern cuisine on a higher plane
Like a lotus growing from the mud of a murky pond, Gesshinkyo is a still point of serenity amid the hubbub of Harajuku. Its simple wooden door lies just steps away from Omotesando's fashion boutiques and preening temples to high-end spending. But when you step past the the coarse-woven hempen noren you...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 21, 2004
Vin Chou: Bistro browsing for Francophiles about town
Vin Chou subscribes to the contemporary ethos that morsels of high-quality, charcoal-grilled chicken on skewers go just as well with good wine as with fine sake. It's also quite comfortable using herbs, tomatoes and balsamico. But what makes this place so special is the quality of its yakitori ingredients....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 7, 2004
SE Asian classic makes itself at home
Chicken rice. The entire bird, simmered whole then sliced with a cleaver, arranged on a plate with a mound of steamed rice, garnished with sprigs of coriander and anointed with dabs of thick soy and piquant ginger sauce. And served with a bowl of light, fragrant broth -- chicken bouillon, of course....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 16, 2004
The great outdoors -- on a plate
All it takes is the first hint of warm spring weather and we start thinking of the great outdoors. By that, we do not mean sea kayaking, a vigorous hike in the hills or a jaunt to some provincial onsen. For us, it is quite sufficient to salute the first blossoms and leaves from the vantage point of a...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 2, 2004
Higashi-yama: 'Designer washoku' for all seasons
Cometh the season, as the saying almost goes, cometh the man. And every year when the hanami season rolls around, you are likely to find us strolling down by the Meguro River in Naka-Meguro. It's a favorite spot for us, not just for the superb cherry blossom that lines both banks, but also because there...
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.
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.
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.
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, South Korea and China vow to strengthen trade ties amid looming U.S. tariffs
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto (left), South Korean Trade Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun (center) and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Sunday
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).
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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