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July 16, 2024
 

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J.J. O'Donoghue
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Nov 13, 2015
Hashinaga: Delicious and relaxed kaiseki cooked by a formidable chef
I am almost certain that I wouldn't survive a day working under chef Noriyuki Hashinaga. I am, however, certain that I could eat his food every day.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Nov 13, 2015
Sept Bistro: Japan-style hamburgers in a French-style restaurant
Japan does adaptive innovation well: just look at the nation's cars, video games and, yes, hamburgers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Nov 11, 2015
Mr. Cherry, Japan's No. 1 record-breaker, is 'officially amazing'
Cherry Yoshitake has broken more world records than any other Japanese person, but there's every chance you've never heard of him.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Oct 28, 2015
Imagining a Japan that thinks beyond blood and binary distinctions
Could the Brave Blossoms serve as a model for a multicultural Japan of the future?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2015
Hotel Iris: Sexual obsession in a drab island resort
"The Housekeeper and the Professor" may be Yoko Ogawa's most critically acclaimed and well-known work, but her 1996 novel "Hotel Iris" is a more beguiling tale that evinces the mystery and violence of love.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Oct 23, 2015
Kaishoku Shimizu: Slow kaiseki dining, watched over by Van Gogh
Across from Osaka's Van Gogh museum is Kaishoku Shimizu, a Japanese multicourse restaurant with a facade that looks small enough to squeeze onto a canvas. Between the counter and the two tables it can accommodate 15 diners, which may be a decent amount for restaurants of this kind but good luck trying...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Oct 23, 2015
A La Campagne: A patisserie lacking a little 'je ne sais quoi'
A La Campagne, or "in the countryside" is a loosely French-themed chain of patisseries and cafes. The first shop opened in the sweet-toothed city of Kobe in 1984 and since then they have been sprouting up all over Japan. On a recent sojourn to Osaka, I popped into the branch in the city's Shinsaibashi...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Oct 10, 2015
Soren Bisgaard: 'There is more to chadō than meets the eye'
Danish tea master on philosophy, tranquility and leaving everything behind
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Oct 9, 2015
Sobaya Nicolas: Michelin-starred soba that belongs in your memory, not your camera's
If taking pictures of a meal is one of highest forms of flattery in the modern age, then what to make of the restaurants in Japan that forbid photographing what you are about to eat? The best answer I can come up with is that I'm not sure — nor do I have enough space in this review to decipher the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Oct 9, 2015
Totoya: Fresh seafood donburi beside Kyoto's fish market
While Kyoto's main fish market is off limits to the public most of the year, Totoya, a little seafood restaurant just yards from the market's main entrance, gives you a taste of what's available inside.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Sep 25, 2015
Kagaman makes lunch a personal experience
Although I frequently dine alone while reviewing, I'm rarely alone, in the true sense. Especially at kappō, or counter-style restaurants, where there's a miscellany of worthwhile distractions and on occasion small talk.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Sep 25, 2015
Expect an open-air courtyard and some wine when you pull up to the garage
Even though it's called Garage, this eatery is probably better described as a shack. On weekdays, during lunch and after work, the clientele is mostly drawn from the surrounding offices, but on weekends the crowd is not as uniform.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Sep 11, 2015
Kyokabutoya: Informal Japanese cuisine in an old wooden townhouse
Yasumasu Ikeda, chef and owner of Kyokabutoya, moved to the Kansai region from Hokkaido more than 15 years ago. After almost a decade of cutting his teeth in the kitchens of Osaka and Kyoto, he opened a Japanese restaurant around 2010. Kyokabutoya is housed in a machiya (traditional wooden townhouse),...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Sep 11, 2015
Sasaya Iori: Kyoto's 300-year-old sweets shop
The area around Kyoto Station seems to lack the cultural and culinary charms found elsewhere in the city, but this might be changing. A massive restoration of the nearby Higashi Honganji Temple complex will soon be completed and Umekoji Locomotive Museum will be combined into the new Kyoto Railway Museum,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Aug 21, 2015
Takama: Affordably luxurious soba lunches
It would be easy to breeze past the understated exterior of soba restaurant Takama without ever realizing what's inside, but that would be unfortunate — especially if you like soba. Michelin-starred Takama is located on the same street that leads into Tenjinbashisuji Shotengai, one of Japan's — if...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Aug 21, 2015
Olivier le Francois: Kitsch French interiors saved by unpretentious home cooking
There's no mistaking where Olivier le Francois takes its inspiration from. One step inside will transport you to what feels like a bistro beside the Seine, replete with tables covered by checkered tablecloths, posters of European movie stars on the walls, wine glasses hanging in rows over the bar and,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Aug 7, 2015
Gion Sasaki: Where eel is served in tiny shrines and speaking on phones is banned
On the wall at Gion Sasaki there are two signs depicting mobile phones with lines through them. Bringing your phone with you is allowed, but speaking on it is a no-no. When I visited for lunch, an Asian tourist dining on his own nearby barely put his phone down during the entire nine-course kaiseki meal....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Aug 7, 2015
Kiln: Incredible burgers for wagyu lovers and vegetarians
Kiln takes its name from the oven at the center of its open kitchen, which is surrounded by communal wooden slabs that seat around 10 diners.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 25, 2015
Will 'neurotic' Japan go postcapitalist?
Is Japan on the threshold of postcapitalism? If it is, as Morris Berman suggests in "Neurotic Beauty: An Outsiders Look at Japan," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe doesn't seem to have received the memo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jul 24, 2015
Difference: Small but intense challenges served on big plates
Certain foods are like certain songs: they transport you to another time and place. Foie gras always reminds me of Belgium — specifically a wedding I once attended outside Brussels. It was the bride's wish (and command) that all 200-plus guests would eat foie gras, and from that time I've always associated...
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

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