author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 21, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Melinda Joe

Meta

Twitter

@MelindaJoe

Melinda Joe
Melinda Joe is an American journalist in Tokyo. A certified wine and sake professional, she writes about Japanese drinks in her Kanpai Culture column for The Japan Times and blogs at tokyodrinkingglass.blogspot.com.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 22, 2018
For Tohru Nakamura, fusion is in the blood, not just the food
At Geisels Werneckhof in Munich, Tohru Nakamura — whose father is from Japan and mother is from Germany — displays his bicultural heritage to winning effect, in a style that combines Japanese and German traditions in subtle yet surprising ways.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Sep 8, 2018
Cheers to beers connecting northern Europe and Japan
J.L.S. Trading imports an eclectic range of craft beers from various microbreweries in the Baltics and Scandinavia.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 18, 2018
Belon chef to showcase his cooking in Tokyo collab
Known for his precise, classically French approach to cooking, Daniel Calvert will join Yusuke Namai of restaurant Ode in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward for a collaboration dinner on August 29.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Aug 11, 2018
New brews from old Tokyo
Tokyo-area craft sake breweries gather to celebrate local specialties at the Greater Tokyo Sake Festival.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Food Sustainability in Japan
Jul 21, 2018
For chef Shinobu Namae, cutting waste is priority
At cafe Bricolage Bread & Co. and restaurant L'Effervescence, chef Shinobu Namae is finding creative ways to reduce and repurpose food waste.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jul 7, 2018
At Mugaritz, sommelier Guillermo Cruz pairs sake and the avant-garde
Although Basque Country in Spain might not be your first thought when it comes to Japanese brews, two-Michelin-star Mugaritz is helping diners fall in love with sake by offering multiple pairings with each imaginative dish.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jun 9, 2018
It's not what's in the glass of sake, it's the glass itself
Riedel's new Junmai Glass elevates drinking junmai, or 'pure rice,' sake to a multisensory experience.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Food Sustainability in Japan
May 26, 2018
Calling on chefs to lead the charge against overfishing
Chefs for the Blue and its partners, NGO Sailors for the Sea Japan and consulting firm Seafood Legacy, are part of a small but growing movement to promote sustainable seafood in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
May 12, 2018
Put the sake down, warm weather means craft beer
Although Yona Yona Beer Works is a staple for great craft beer in Tokyo, there are plenty of other hidden gems. Global beer-drinking afficionados share some of their favorites.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Apr 7, 2018
Hong Kong and Macau, the sake gateways to China
With tastes for premium Japanese sake on the rise, new opportunities to drink sake abound in Hong Kong and Macau.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Mar 10, 2018
Celebrating the Tokyo weekend with a glass of natural wine
Jose Moya (a.k.a. "the Spanish Hipster," a moniker that refers to both his country of birth as well as the name of his food blog) is, to put it mildly, a natural wine snob. As a purveyor of natural wine, he has a professional interest in the topic (as well as high standards).
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 24, 2018
In Taiwan, top chefs are building on a long history of culinary exchange with Japan
At 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, the Raohe Street Night Market in downtown Taipei is heaving. A line snakes in front of a stand selling caramelized pork buns near the grand, red gate that marks the entrance, and groups wander through the rows of vendors, munching on skewers of grilled squid and slurping...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Feb 10, 2018
At high-end restaurants, sake is the sommelier's new best friend
At restaurants around the world, sake is increasingly becoming the beverage of choice for challenging pairings. Ingredients such as artichoke, asparagus and fermented foods are kryptonite to most wines.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jan 20, 2018
Sake company Aramasa Shuzo seeks new edge with techno partnership
Last month, techno DJ Richie Hawtin — who came to fame in the 1990s under the alias Plastikman — threw a party at The Hangar, a cavernous sake den in Tokyo's hipster Nakameguro neighborhood.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 31, 2017
20 Questions: The best answers of 2017
What brought you to Japan? I came here for the magic. Osaka is home to some of the best close-up magicians in the world.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 9, 2017
With its tachinomiya tradition, is Tokyo ripe for a pintxos revolution?
Enjoy these treats the Basque way — with a drink or two, a chat with strangers, and then move on to the next bar.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 9, 2017
Vladimir Mukhin offers Japan a culinary reminder that Russia is just next door
Chef Vladimir Mukhin, who is spearheading a culinary revolution in Russia, speaks about the relationship between the two countries and the future of Russian cuisine.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Nov 11, 2017
Whirlwind wine romance led to a brand of her own
Early in her career, winemaker Atsuko Radcliffe aspired to brew sake. Fate, however, had other plans.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 28, 2017
Top Philippines chef Margarita Fores chows down like a local in Tokyo
Margarita Fores was recently in Japan to give Tokyoites a taste of her Italian-inflected Philippine cuisine.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Oct 7, 2017
'Doburoku': Reviving a rustic sake tradition
Sachio Egawa is a Renaissance man of sorts.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
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.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
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.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER