author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 22, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

J.J. O'Donoghue
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 19, 2016
Views from Kyoto: Who would you like to see win the U.S. presidential election?
People in Kyoto talk about who they would vote for if they could in next month's U.S. presidential election.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Oct 7, 2016
Tempura Endo Yasaka: Deep-fried morsels in a downtown teahouse
After reading the recent review by Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold of Tempura Endo's Beverly Hills restaurant I thought it was high time I went to the original. Tempura Endo Yasaka in Kyoto is housed in an ornate wooden teahouse south of Gion; waiting staff in delicate light blue kimonos...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Oct 7, 2016
Sarasa Nishijin: A curious cafe in the bones of an old bathhouse
Sarasa Nishijin is a sentō (bathhouse) — well, it used to be. But using the past tense here belies how much of its old spirit still lives on. The waters may have drained away — replaced by sofas, tables, chairs and people lounging about fully clothed — but the sentō's old life is revealed in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Sep 23, 2016
The Panhead's Heaven Saloon: Gigantic burgers fit for a biker
We need to talk about calories. They are, in the words of "Panmas" — the avuncular owner and chef at The Panhead's Heaven Saloon — the "concept" upon which his towering burgers are built. By his count, the Cheese-Bomb has more than 2,000 units loaded into it. Bear in mind that the average male requires...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Sep 23, 2016
Galleria: Neapolitan-style pizza made with Hokkaido flour
Galleria is a pizzeria with two outlets in Osaka Prefecture — one in Umeda and the other in Tondayabsahi. Their classic pizzas are prepared Neapolitan-style, with wafer-thin dough in the middle, thick crust and smothered in tomato sauce and olive oil. As with Neapolitan pizza, your order arrives quickly....
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 17, 2016
Emoji: The evolution of emoticons
The ideograms that were once eyed with skepticism have transformed into a universally accepted part of daily communication.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Sep 9, 2016
Moriwaki: Blissful sashimi in a compact family-run eatery
One of my favorite occasions to eat out in Japan is after returning from a long trip abroad. I have learned to empathize with those Japanese tourists who can't wait to get home and eat Japanese rice after a whirlwind tour of Europe.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Sep 9, 2016
Hyakushokuya: The wagyu joint that only makes 100 meals each day
Hyakushokuya, "100 meal shop," makes 100 meals a day — and that's it. The daily challenge for staff is to make and serve them as fast possible, so that they can take the rest of the day off. It seems that this is typically accomplished by the end of lunchtime, at which point a chalkboard is placed...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Aug 26, 2016
Atariya makes stopping at Shin-Osaka Station a treat
For most people, Shin-Osaka Station is a transit stop rather than a destination. That's understandable as there's not too much to stick around for. But if you're at a loss for food options, at least there's Atariya, a family-run soba restaurant that's a 10-minute walk from the station.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Aug 26, 2016
Cheap meat is what everyone's talking about at Nikusakaba Buzz
In an attempt to stand out from the multitude of pubs and restaurants packed in between Takatsuki's two train stations, Nikusakaba Buzz describes itself as neither a steakhouse, bar nor restaurant — it's just a chill place to enjoy meat and booze.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Aug 12, 2016
Grill Aoi serves up the most Japanese Western food in its Little Rich Lunch
The Japanese guriru ("grill" meaning a restaurant, not a cooking tool) is an interesting mix of new, borrowed and adapted ideas. Grill Aoi, a family-owned diner tucked away on a quiet side street between Gojo and Shijo, has no shortage of such ideas.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Aug 12, 2016
The telltale signs of a terrific Thai restaurant
When you've been to enough Japanese restaurants, you come to realize that a bowl of rice or miso soup can foretell the quality of an establishment's other dishes. I like to think this rule also applies to a serving of pad thai at a Thai restaurant.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jul 22, 2016
Fukushima Mori: Slow 'kaiseki' beside a minimal rock garden
I'm seated at one end of a wooden counter, hewn from the dark wood of a bubinga tree and streaked with hues of purple and red. The white pebbles in a nearby rock garden fan out around a patch of moss shaded by a single Japanese maple tree. And on my other side? Three empty seats. Beyond that, all Fukushima...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jul 22, 2016
Bahnhof: Specialty coffee, crafted by certified 'meisters'
One of the first and only sentences I mastered in three years of (not) learning German was "Wo ist der Bahnhof?" ("Where is the station?") I never thought I'd have a chance to put this into practice in Japan, but my hopes were raised when I heard about Bahnhof, a specialty coffee shop. Sadly, as it turned...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jul 8, 2016
Sara: Where daintiness gets a good grilling
Midway through lunch at Sara, a family-run restaurant in northern Kyoto, I started to suspect that the chefs subscribed to a philosophy of daintiness. The food was as pretty as it was good to eat, but the portions were decidedly petit.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jul 8, 2016
Chocolat Bel Amer: Head-turning desserts in an old wooden town house
First established in Tokyo, Chocolat Bel Amer has now opened a boutique in a gorgeous traditional machiya (town house) fronted by a Japanese maple tree. In a rather bold move, it is directly opposite Inoda, an institution among Kyoto's cafes. What connects both these places — besides the street —...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 7, 2016
New butoh venue aims for intimacy
Butoh has found a permanent home in Kyoto. Appropriately, for a form of dance that originated in Japan but has flown under the radar here, that home is a tiny 154-year-old kura, or storehouse, hidden down an alley and squeezed between a medical college and residential buildings slap bang in the middle...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jun 24, 2016
Kakomi: the hushed, abstract art of 'kaiseki'
I have worked in my fair share of kitchens over the years. At some stage while toiling at each, someone — usually a chef — would lose their temper with me and regain it only after loudly roasting me with words not fit for a newspaper. I thought of these episodes while sitting at the counter of Kakomi...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 24, 2016
English wasabi could put the heat on Japanese chefs
Wasabi, according to the late food writer Shizuo Tsuji, grows best on the banks of cold, clear streams.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jun 24, 2016
El Zocalo Burrito: A Mexican Valhalla in downtown Osaka
El Zocalo Burrito is, as its name implies, all about burritos. Located on a quiet street west of Shinsaibashi Station, it offers a reprieve from the never-ending throng of tourists wandering the nearby Dotonbori shopping district.
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.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
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

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER