J.J. O'Donoghue - The Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Feb 10, 2017

Usaya: Perfecting classic dishes in a cozy, family-run environment

Sanjo's shotengai (shopping arcade) has long been a poor relative of Nishiki Ichiba, the overcrowded shopping arcade of downtown Kyoto. Go a bit west, however, and you'll discover the Sanjo arcade, where you won't have to fight through crowds and there's everything from secondhand shops to kissaten (traditional...

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS

Jan 28, 2017

Photographer John Paul Foster: 'Little details separate a good photograph from a great one'

American photographer on geisha cluture and the art of taking a great picture.

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Jan 27, 2017

Asai Togei: Traditional 'kaiseki' with an Okinawan twist

Kousei Togei, chef and owner of Asai Togei, comes from Yonaguni Island, one of Japan's most far-flung outposts. On a clear day, the mountainous coast of Taiwan is visible from this Okinawan island. Togei has the laid-back disposition of someone who grew up in eternal sunshine. He left Yonaguni for Osaka...

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Jan 27, 2017

Bokkoshi: Umami-rich ramen that defies expectations

The house special at Bokkoshi is a little confusing — but, that's a good thing. Called Niwatorisayu, this version of chicken-based ramen is served in a tall, deep black bowl and looks extremely creamy. In fact, the broth looks so creamy that it could almost pass for clam chowder or thick chicken soup....

LIFE / Style & Design

Jan 14, 2017

Curtain call: Examining the evolution of Japan's humble 'noren'

The shōtengai (shopping street) in Katsuyama, a rural hamlet located on the banks of the Asahi River in Okayama Prefecture, wouldn't look completely out of place in a Richard Scarry picture book for young children.

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Jan 13, 2017

Gi Han Ebisu Do: a window on Japanese-inflected dim sum

Restaurateur and chef Yoshiyuki Gi has spent a lifetime working in Chinese restaurants. He grew up in the kitchen of his parent's eatery in Yokohama's Chinatown before working his way through Chinese restaurants in Japan and onto China. When he returned to Japan, he settled in Kyoto and opened upscale...

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Jan 13, 2017

Suzuya: one of the old capital's oldest coffee shops

Last year, Suzuya celebrated its 70th anniversary, making it one of the oldest kissaten (traditional coffee shops) in Kyoto. To the best of my knowledge, only Salon de The Francois — which opened in the interwar period — pips it for longevity.

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Dec 23, 2016

Wa Bistro Tsuna: Succulent fish heads along an old shopping street

These are tough times for the shōtengai, Japan's old-school shopping streets. The convenience of online shopping and mega-malls has lured shoppers away from the city's vintage arcades. However, the uniform glitz of a shopping center or an online store can never replace the buzz of a shōtengai — such...

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Dec 23, 2016

Kushiyakitori Mahoroba: Get an umami overload at this charming yakitori joint

The area around Kyobashi Station, a major transit hub close to Osaka Castle, is not short of restaurants. But if you're nearby and have a hankering for chicken, try Kushiyakitori Mahoroba, a small and charming yakitori restaurant.

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Dec 9, 2016

Izuju: A hidden home for sweet 'Kyozushi'

When you live in a tourist mecca like Kyoto you tend to avoid the major attractions. However, having a visitor in town provides a good excuse to join the horde and get into tourist mode: taking over footpaths, meandering slowly along backstreets and taking photos of everything, especially photos of yourself...

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Dec 9, 2016

Togenkyo: A return to Japan's traditional coffee-shop style

Togenkyo is a cafe curated to the nth degree. Being so self-conscious, even self-indulgent, could be a turn off, but Togenkyo has its charms.

CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES

Nov 26, 2016

'Dave Barry Does Japan': Three weeks in Nippon with a baffled American

It has been a quarter of a century since American humorist Dave Barry "did" Japan — a task he completed in three weeks. "The Japanese culture is thousands of years old," he writes. "To truly grasp its incredible complexity and infinite subtle nuance, you'd need at least a month." Free of nuance and...

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Nov 25, 2016

Yoshino Sushi: A meal here will give you a new appreciation of rice

Yoshino Sushi has been making sushi in Osaka for more than 170 years, and has become well known for its hako (boxed) sushi, where the rice and seafood are pressed together in a rectangular wooden mold. Made from cypress wood, the mold creates sushi so pretty it could be mistaken for confectionery. A...

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Nov 25, 2016

Ali's Kitchen: The cramped home of more than 600 Pakistani and Arabic dishes

Ali's Kitchen is a basement Pakistani and Arabic restaurant that is so cramped it can hardly contain the outsize personality of restaurateur Ali Zaidi.

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Nov 11, 2016

Ajiro: Vegetarian 'shojin ryori' in a Buddhist temple complex

I ate my lunch at Ajiro in the company of a bewildered farmer with a comical Donald Trump-like mop of hair. But looks were the least of his concern; rather it was a bull that had got the better of him, escaping from the herd and hightailing it to the hills. Luckily he finally found the animal hiding...

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Nov 11, 2016

Soba Dokoro Sasaki: Traditional soba sets worth lining up for

Soba Dokoro Sasaki is worth a stopover if you're heading north into Kyoto's hills to catch the trees in their autumnal colors. It's billed as a soba restaurant, but there's plenty of udon and tempura dishes on the menu, too. Your best bet is to opt for one of this restaurant's substantial set menus....

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES

Nov 2, 2016

A portrait of the tattooist as a nice young man

'Otattoo' artist Hori Benny overcame prejudice, poverty and punishing training to blaze an inky trail through Osaka.

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS

Oct 22, 2016

Ig Nobel perception prize winner Atsuki Higashiyama: 'Psychology teaches us to be scientific and skeptical'

Psychology professor on perserverance, doubt and the influence of his teachers

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Oct 21, 2016

Zeshin: Seasonal surprises in a 'kaiseki' hideaway

Autumn is our reward for overcoming the extremes of summer. The harvest that comes with the season also makes it quite possibly the best time of year for eating out. Zeshin, opened more than three years ago by Hideyuki Ohishi, will make you wish autumn lasted the whole year.

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Oct 21, 2016

Tabaccoya: Japanese curry that's sweet, spicy and slow

You always remember your first curry. Well, maybe not. But I do remember the first time I ate a good Japanese curry, after stumbling across Tabaccoya nearly six years ago. It was the first Japanese curry I had eaten with a complimentary mix of sweet and spicy, and all folded into a deep, gravy-like roux....

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