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November 25, 2024
 

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Nicholas Coldicott
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Nov 28, 2008
Brown rice befits chef's cake, beer
"He was a wise man who invented beer," said Plato. It wasn't his greatest line, but it sets this story up nicely: the tale of a talented man who sort of reinvented beer.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Oct 24, 2008
Stir up memories in bars of yore
In hard times such as these you can always find solace in a drink; just make it one that reminds you of better days. Here are eight great Tokyo bars that ooze nostalgia. Some serve classic cocktails, some survived the war, and most of them seem to have served author Yukio Mishima.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Sep 26, 2008
Red Carpet treatment
Like Da Vinci or Mozart, every bartender wants to make something that lives on after they die," says Takahiro Watanabe of the Keio Plaza Hotel's Polestar bar. "A bartender's dream is to make a cocktail that appears on every bar's menu."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Aug 22, 2008
The perfect gin and tonic
"A gin and tonic is an entry-level drink," said the ladyfriend recently. It's easy to understand, she said, easy to drink. Like Kahlua milks and Moscow mules. A drink for people who haven't graduated to whiskeys or rickeys.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Aug 22, 2008
Ten things you never knew about gin
1. Gin derives its name from jenever, the Dutch word for juniper.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Jul 25, 2008
Cooling it down with Tokyo's best
"Go around the beaches and let's have a list of the best seaside bars," said my editor. In this heat? Not a chance. But here's something better: five refreshing cocktail recipes from a quintet of great bartenders. Each of these invigorating drinks was designed to zap your summer indolence and clear the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Jun 27, 2008
Eau contraire: no two waters taste the same
From the marketing bumf, you'd think all mineral waters tasted alike. The aquifers are ancient, the nature is untouched and blah blah blah. But H2O is such a great solvent it steals a bit of anything it passes through, resulting in a shelfload of different flavors.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
May 23, 2008
Bottled water: It's naughty, but nice
I know, I know, bottled water is terribly unethical these days. Pinching a natural, life-sustaining resource and flying it to rich people in faraway lands is a bit naughty, all that packaging is trashing our planet, and our taps dispense safe water for less than ¥1 per liter — or a little more than...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
May 23, 2008
Japanese malt scotches rivals
If you know Nikka Whisky only as the producer of the extraordinarily cheap peatless Black that fills the nether regions of Japan's whisky market, you might be surprised to learn that the company makes around 40 other styles — and one of them has just been voted the best single malt in the world....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Apr 25, 2008
Judgment by mojito-ability
Two of Tokyo's one-time landmarks reopened last month: one literally rising from the rubble, the other sporting a little cosmetic trim.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Mar 28, 2008
Vodka: not so plain and simple
Vodka is often described as the world's most versatile spirit, which is a nice way of saying that it doesn't taste of much. Globally, it outsells every other spirit, but outside of Eastern Europe, nobody drinks it for its flavor.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Feb 22, 2008
Finding Tokyo's top theme bars
Sure, "best theme bar" is faint praise, but here are four Tokyo joints that are more fun than the Hard Rock Cafe. They were selected through the following criteria:
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Jan 25, 2008
Tokyo hones the craft of the cocktail
"The best bartenders on the planet all work in Ginza," claims Masahiro Kon, ex-bartender and award-winning cocktail creator. "In the U.S., they're mixing drinks with herbs and other weird ingredients, but in Ginza the best guys just polish their cocktails like jewels."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 14, 2007
A sleighload of ways to savor the taste of Christmas
Only 1 percent of Japan is Christian. Luckily the rest of the country is happy to pilfer the fun parts of a jolly old festival season. So whether you're celebrating the prophet or the presents, and whether Christmas means eggnog, panettone or foie gras, Japan's chefs have cooked up some delectable holiday...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 4, 2007
Skin-deep success
It started with an e-mail from my editor: "Get yr (sic) camera ready. Online Dating Minus Ugly People is coming to Japan. Thinking Lifestyle page trend piece. Ready for the money shot?"
CULTURE / Music
Nov 30, 2007
The Hot 8 Brass Band "Rock with the Hot 8"
Why would anybody choose to play the tuba? It's the heaviest and most expensive piece of brass, it belches notes that could make buildings fall down, and the brightest career hope is to play the rom-pa-pom-pom of fat people walking in cartoons. Despite those failings, The Hot 8 Brass Band was put together...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 23, 2007
Tequila to be sipped, not slammed
I won ¥1 million last week, betting on the botanical classification of the blue agave — the key ingredient of tequila. Early on Thursday morning in a Roppongi bar, an overconfident drinker called the plant a cactus; my money said lily.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 30, 2007
Lean, green and no hippy aftertaste
Imagine a lasagna without the meat. Now drop the cheese and pasta too. Not much left?
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 26, 2007
Upmarket bakery makes ambience its bread and butter
It's easy to be cynical about Point et Ligne, a boutique bakery that sells staple food at gastronomic prices. Loaves for ¥2,500 under the moody lighting of a jazz club? Clutch your purse and approach with skepticism.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 14, 2007
Hyakunincho hangouts — a taste of Tokyo's most cosmopolitan district
If you're in the Hyakunincho area, Tokyo's unofficial Koreatown, blocks north of Shinjuku Ward's Kabukicho, be sure to take a trawl of these eclectic bars:
Taiwan stuns Samurai Japan to capture Premier12 title
Japan starter Shosei Togo reacts after allowing a three-run home run against Taiwan in the fifth inning of the Premier12 final on Sunday.
Ishiba shelves proposal for liaison offices with North Korea amid rising tensions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks on Saturday in Tokyo at a rally that was held by a group of families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago to demand the immediate return of all abductees.
How Japan can exit the fossil fuel subsidies it can’t seem to quit
A man walks past a gasoline station in Tokyo on Thursday.
Woman dies after train collides with car in Tochigi
A Moka Railway train car
Japan beats Taiwan ahead of rematch in Premier12 final
Keita Sano celebrates with his teammates after scoring on Kotaro Kiyomiya's two-run triple against Taiwan during their Premier12 game at Tokyo Dome on Saturday.
An iconic 32-foot doughnut might give Randy’s an edge in Japan
Randy's Donuts in Inglewood, California. Replicas of the giant doughnut sculpture will be installed, where possible, at shops in Japan.
Tokyo’s newest three-star chef wants ‘harmony across every detail’
British-born Daniel Calvert earned his third Michelin star last month — a stunning achievement considering his restaurant, Sezanne, has only been open for just over three years.
133-year-old Kyushu railway station remains to be partially preserved
The remains of the original Moji Station in Kitakyushu
After Shohei Ohtani bump, Iwate ironware maker sees brighter future
Kaito Kikuchi's decision to send superstar Shohei Ohtani one of his company's traditional ironware tea kettles has paid off with a surge of interest from general consumers.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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