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November 22, 2024
 

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J.J. O'Donoghue
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Mar 11, 2016
Ajikyu: A tiny izakaya squashed inside a family home
Reviewing restaurants is a slippery slope to overindulgence. That's why opting for lunch can be a safer bet than dinner. Not only are lunch reservations easier to come by and the bills easier on the wallet, but midday meals help to ensure you getting home before sunset, or sunrise. That didn't happen...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Mar 11, 2016
Miyako Yasai Kamo Nasu: All the locally grown vegetables you can eat
Miyako Yasai Kamo Nasu — a mouthful if ever there was one — is a chain of buffet restaurants offering all-you-can-eat vegetables for breakfast (¥490), lunch (¥880) and dinner (¥1,350).
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Feb 26, 2016
Oimatsu Kitagawa: A moment of calm in a swirling galaxy of Michelin stars
Toru Kitagawa, the chef and owner of Oimatsu Kitagawa, has a casual air about him that borders on insouciance — an air that belies the imagination, creativity and earnestness of his cooking. Perhaps this equanimity is an Osaka trait, but it could just have easily been cultivated at Gion Sasaki, the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Feb 26, 2016
Gokan: Tea and cake for modernist samurai
In Kitahama, just north of Umeda, there are two rather stately teahouses within cake-throwing distance of each other. Kitahama Retro is where you'll want to go if you like crustless cucumber sandwiches, afternoon tea and Edwardian cosplay. But don't let the pretense fool you, it's a great teahouse.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 13, 2016
Lisako Fukuda-NiChionnaith: 'What you play reflects your real personality'
Japanese musician on the relationship between Irish music and communication
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Feb 12, 2016
Muraki: Handmade soba in a tavern for hobbits
There's a hobbit-in-the-Shire feeling in Muraki, a homely husband-and-wife run soba restaurant west of Kyoto city. The entrance is uncharacteristically marked not by traditional noren curtains but sliding wooden doors — the ki in Muraki is the Chinese character for tree or wood. The arboreal theme...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Feb 12, 2016
Tsukijisay: Enjoy seasonal sushi without breaking the bank
Tsukijisay has been serving sushi since almost as long as nigiri (sushi with vinegared rice) has been around — the original restaurant is more than 125 years old, a time when this venerable fast food was still in its infancy. As the restaurant name suggests, the origin of Tsukijisay is the historic...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jan 29, 2016
Rikyu: Playing games with traditional 'kaiseki' cuisine
Tsukasa Yamaguchi likes to play. But not much of what he does behind the counter of Rikyo, which he opened nearly two years ago, suggests this. Like many of his contemporaries working in haute cuisine restaurants, Yamaguchi has the manner and intensity of a surgeon. If you look closely, you'll see his...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jan 29, 2016
Kashmir: An austere setting for a flamboyant curry
Let's start on the street. That's where I waited in line for an hour before moving to a dark, narrow hallway for another hour of waiting. At infrequent intervals the door to Kashmir would open, allowing in customers and expelling the spicy aromas from within.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 23, 2016
Haruka Kuroda: 'Whatever the situation, listen to your feelings'
U.K.-based Japanese actress on jelly and collaborating with Gorillaz
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jan 15, 2016
Rikichi: Bowling and the art of traditional Japanese kaiseki
In 2000, Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam wrote "Bowling Alone," a book about the decline of community and rise of individualism in the U.S. I thought about the title of that book over lunch at Rikichi — indeed there was plenty of room for thinking. Not only was I the only diner, but chef...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jan 15, 2016
Kobushi: Ramen with spinach, chicken and a motorbike
One of the differences between a restaurant chain and an independently owned restaurant is that the latter tolerates — even encourages — eccentricity.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 2, 2016
20 Questions: the best answers of 2015
Japan Times On Sunday contributors select the responses that made them laugh loudest this year
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 25, 2015
Why are Japanese children the healthiest in the world?
In a country where food culture permeates all aspects of life and society, it is perhaps unsurprising that Japan leads the "World Health Olympics," in the words of Naomi Moriyama and William Doyle. In their book, "Secrets of the World's Healthiest Children," the pair proselytize for the traditional diet...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Dec 25, 2015
Kurosugi: A fish doesn't need to be sexy when it's sublime
Without a doubt the worst-named restaurant of the year is London's "Sexy Fish." But, the name — the audacity and stupidity of it — did set me thinking about fish seafood and sexiness (as opposed to fish and sex). Can a fish be sexy? Certainly not. When thinking about fish, "sexy" is one of those...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Dec 25, 2015
Wai Tan Hong Lu Deng: Rowdy waiters and sizzling dumplings
Tenma is one of the best spots in Osaka for food and drink, especially street eats. Japan's longest shōtengai (indoor arcade) bisects this eating area, along which there are dozens of restaurants and stalls, serving local savory treats. But get off the main drag and there's even more to offer. A word...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Dec 11, 2015
Sakuya: One of the old capital's best traditional lunches
On a mundane street in northern Kyoto is an excellent soba restaurant called Nicolas. Farther down the road, tucked under a nondescript apartment block, is Sakuya, a kappo (counter-style restaurant), which serves a variety of traditional Japanese food. There is no menu to speak of, but I wouldn't be...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Dec 11, 2015
Ippodo: Enjoying tea without tradition
Japanese tea can be beguiling and bitter. And the ceremonial tradition that surrounds it can be disconcerting and dull.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Nov 27, 2015
Aozora Blue: Where perfectly simple udon noodles get the spotlight
Ramen, soba and udon are the trinity of Japan's noodles, though it can sometimes feel as if the last one on that list is underappreciated. Ramen has followed sushi down the path of global domination — no doubt helped by instant ramen's popularity — and buckwheat soba noodles can swing from low to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Nov 27, 2015
Tashinami: Seasonal Japanese dining at a tiny horseshoe-shaped counter
Located in the bowels of Osaka Station City, Tashinami only has room for about eight diners at its horseshoe-shaped counter. All that separates you from the surrounding shops in the basement food hall is a see-through beaded curtain, meaning you, as well as what you eat, are on show. Furthermore, owing...
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

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