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July 16, 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.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 8, 2000
Fresh innovations at home in Tsukiji
Urban dining myth number one: The closer you eat to Tsukiji, the better quality the fish must be.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 25, 2000
On a culinary cruise in Akasaka
We have numerous restaurants which bear the name of their chefs, owners or svengalis. But Denis Allemand is perhaps the first to proudly boast the name of the man responsible for its interior design -- whose main work in Japan up to now has been producing deli-diners in airport departure lobbies for...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 11, 2000
French with a difference
We have no shortage of bargain-basement French-accented bistros scattered around the metropolis. But for my money, Tete-a-tete is the cream of the current crop. I could reel off about a dozen cogent reasons why I rate this little place so highly. But there's only one that you really need to know -- it...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 27, 2000
Ohmatsuya: Down on the farm, just off the Ginza
You could call Ohmatsuya rustic -- but only in the most Ginza sense of the word. It sits just one floor above the brand-name bustle of the street, inside a modern multistory building little different from any others occupying that premium patch of real estate. Step inside, however, and you could have...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 13, 2000
Bangkok's never too far away
You can't get authentic Thai food in Tokyo south of Kabukicho -- at least that's what the conventional wisdom would have us believe. Indeed, as with any such sweeping generalization, there's a kernel of truth to it -- as long as what you're after is hawker food that's rough but ever ready, gentle on...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 23, 2000
In the realm of the culinary senses
Some people celebrate the cherry-blossom season in doggedly internationalist mode: Aoyama cemetery or the Tamagawa embankment; a few bottles of bubbly with cheese and crackers; maybe even some beluga roe if they're feeling flush. Others prefer to stagger down the well-worn path of traditionalism: Ueno...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2000
No stereotypes in 'the House of Weeds'
So you think Korean food is all smoky yakiniku, meat-laden stews and fiery, spicy kimchi? That's a bit like saying Chinese people eat nothing but ramen and gyoza; or that Thai cuisine begins and ends with tom yam kung. Or that there's nothing to eat in Japan except sushi, tempura and sukiyaki.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 24, 2000
Italian home cooking from a solo artist
It's always depressing when news comes in that another good restaurant has bitten the dust. In the past month we've found out that two of the best (in their own ways) have given up the ghost. So it was with not a little trepidation that we hiked off into nether Ebisu to see if our long-time favorite...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 10, 2000
Whiter than white, cooler than cool
You can't miss Rokko An. It's the flash new place in Nishi-Azabu with the brilliant white concrete facade, on the left as you wend your way down toward Hiroo. From dusk till 4 in the morning it gleams out from a long, low picture-window right across Gaien Nishi-dori from (and totally in contrast with)...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 27, 2000
Culinary fire power, Szechwan style
...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 13, 2000
Come in from out of the cold
Finally we can put behind us the Christmas leftovers and the Hogmanay hangovers (not to mention the Y2chaos that never was) and assume some semblance of normality. Don't get the wrong idea -- we certainly put away our fair share of mince pies and Gaultier-clad millennial champagne over the holidays....
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 23, 1999
The best of the rest(aurants) of 1999
Before our memory cells get erased by the momentous celebrations and the post-millennial hangover, let's pause for a moment to consider some of the many places we visited and enjoyed in 1999 but which, for whatever reason, never made it into print.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 9, 1999
Good-time dining for the new year
It's the time of year for that annual conundrum: Where to go for that end of year celebration. It really does have to be something European, with wine and a soft, jazzy backing track. You want something with style, but definitely not too formal; a place with a buzz, but not too well known; with good...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 11, 1999
No smoke gets in your eyes here
It is not so much ironic as inevitable that the shichirin -- the basic, mass-produced, charcoal-fired clay stove so widely used in Japan in the austere postwar reconstruction days -- has now been reinvented as the favorite cooking accessory for recession- chic dining out.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 14, 1999
Food dilettantes need not apply
There are so many plants around the entrance of A Tes Souhaits you'd be forgiven for thinking this is one of those feminine restaurants where flowers and fancy frills take precedence over the food. The sight of the sous-chef squatting by the kitchen door plucking a wild fowl should disillusion you of...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 23, 1999
Kinoji: A sanctuary of simple elegance
Kinoji lies well off the beaten track, on an unremarkable stretch of a nondescript avenue. But that only makes it easier to spot the bold, contemporary lines of the five-story architects' building, in which Kinoji occupies the basement level.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 9, 1999
Taverna Rondino: Kamakura's most excellent cucina
Now that summer is finally past its punishing prime, it's time for the beach. September is the finest season down on the Shonan waterfront: The sun and water are still plenty warm enough; the teenybopper crowds have dissipated; and the rip-off beach houses have packed up and gone, taking their dubious...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 12, 1999
Morocco: Moroccan fare to make the belly dance
The inquiry, from a regular reader, sounded more plaintive than optimistic. Is there anywhere in town that serves real, authentic Moroccan food?
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 22, 1999
The new alfresco hits the pavement
It was not so long ago that alfresco dining here meant choosing between a raucous, roof-top beer garden or the cosy, elbow-rubbing confines of a funky pavement yatai. And if oden or ramen and a glass of cheap sake was not quite what you had in mind for a romantic evening out, too bad.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 8, 1999
'Wabi-sabi' with a modern edge
Wasabiya epitomizes the very 1990s genre that has come to be known in Japanese as "dining bars." That means you can treat it as a restaurant, as an izakaya or even as a kind of designer drinking hold; it just depends on how hungry or thirsty you are.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
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.
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.
Amid same-sex marriage ban, LGBTQ couples opt for 'photo weddings'
A lesbian couple, consisting of a 35-year-old woman (left) and 40-year-old woman, cover their faces with bouquets as they pose for wedding photos in Yokohama on Nov. 1.
China and Russia conduct joint Pacific military patrol
The Russian corvette Gromkiy enters the Chinese port of Zhanjiang as part of a joint China-Russia naval exercise on Saturday.
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.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals

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