J.J. O'Donoghue - The Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Oct 21, 2014

Sushi Masa is a locals' joint, the kind of place where everybody knows your name; by the end of the night they knew mine, too. It isn't hard to make yourself known: There's a kitchen, a counter, two tables and a few seats, so conversations are shared, to which there seem to be no beginning or end. Thankfully...

COMMUNITY / Issues

Oct 20, 2014

Bicultural Japanese baby names can be double the trouble

What do the following names have in common: Ayeisha, December, Eli, Gabrielle, Haruki, Julie, Kaede, Koh, Leon, Louis, Lucia, Luke, Margaret, Olivia, Ryuken, Tobin and Tennis? They are all children's names — all but one the sons and daughters of bicultural couples.

CULTURE / Books

Oct 18, 2014

If you'd nuked a city, you'd feel guilty too

The author T.C. Boyle in the preface to his book "Stories II" published last year made a convincing argument that runs counter to the conventional wisdom to "write what you know." Boyle said: "A story is an exercise of imagination — or, as Flannery O'Connor has it, an act of discovery."

CULTURE / Books

Oct 11, 2014

How KonMari's phenomenal book can help put your house in order

Before wrapping up my interview with Marie Kondo, who might well be world's foremost cleaning consultant, I promised I would put one of her de-cluttering lessons to the test prior to reviewing her book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up." And so here I am in my narrow hallway, between the entrance...

LIFE / Food & Drink

Oct 7, 2014

A stroll through Nishiki, Kyoto's favorite food market

Nishiki Market's most famous son, the celebrated artist Ito Jakuchu, is probably best known for his elaborate set of scrolls called "Colorful Realm of Living Beings," painted during the Edo Period (1603-1867), when Japan was not open for tourism.

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Oct 7, 2014

Awomb: Make your own sushi at Kyoto's experimental dining destination

Before getting into Awomb, a few observations on queues and queuing. Or, in American parlance, standing in line (or on line). 1. Nothing turns me off queuing like seeing a queue. 2. Besides staging a crash outside your new shop or restaurant, nothing generates interest quite like a queue. 3. The Japanese...

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Oct 7, 2014

Spice Chamber: curry as hot as it's meant to be

Spice Chamber is actually more like a closet, or a long coffin; I wondered while I waited for my curry if I could touch both walls at once. At kappō (counter-style) restaurants, you have to leave your guard down a little. One of the attractions of this style of dining is immediacy; you can see every...

CULTURE / Books

Sep 27, 2014

The Rise of Sharing: Fourth-Stage Consumer Society in Japan

Atsushi Miura envisions a society in which we will own little but share a lot in his lively discussion on where consumer society in Japan is headed. I don't buy it — well, not all of it — but nonetheless it's an interesting and engaging analysis of Japan's famously sophisticated and discerning shoppers....

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Sep 23, 2014

Kaisenyatai Okuman: seafood a fisherman would love

Okuman is all about the fish: head, bones, fins and tail. And eyes and scales, and entrails too — that's what you get at Okuman.

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Sep 23, 2014

Wakisaka: comfort food on the streets of Osaka

Wakisaka is a mom-and-pop restaurant that specializes in Osaka's soul food: okonomiyaki. From what I could tell the small but cozy restaurant abuts their living quarters so that the pair don't have far to travel. Mom works the floor while Pop works the teppan, the iron hot plate without which there would...

LIFE / Travel

Sep 13, 2014

Kibiji bike path: eating local in the slow lane

It doesn't take a great mind to read a map, and neither does it take one to get lost. I found myself doubting my direction three times as the Kibiji bike path — one of Japan's top 100 cycling roads — wound its way through pear- and grape-growing country, past a continuous patchwork of rice fields...

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Sep 9, 2014

Wakuden: An early lunch of budget kaiseki cuisine

Wakuden in Kyoto Station opens for lunch at 11 a.m. Who eats lunch that early? To answer I arrived minutes after 11, thinking I would be dining tout seul. Far from it: The queue was out the door. The reason: Wakuden serves pricey kaiseki (haute cuisine) — sets starts at ¥6,000 — but every day there...

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Sep 9, 2014

Soba Rojina: Noodles handmade with care

Soba Rojina opened earlier this summer, and in a few short months it has garnered a reputation for its high-quality handmade soba. It's a busy spot and food takes time to arrive — not too long, but longer than some people might want to wait during the precious lunch hour.

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Aug 26, 2014

EO: Top Kansai chef presents French cuisine with a twist

What makes a good restaurant? It's a pretty basic question, and one that I imagine is on most people's minds, even if you aren't actively aware of it. With a new restaurant, such as EO, this question and the search for answers are more to the forefront. What it boils down to, if you'll forgive the cooking...

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Aug 12, 2014

Mo-an: Lose yourself in hidden tranquility

Mo-an is a good friend's favorite place in Kyoto. She's born and bred here, and like many a Kyotoite her enthusiasm for the old capital can be a little boorish. But with Mo-an I can see why. It advertises itself as a "quite place in a peaceful grove, close to the heart of tea." It is. But, let me try...

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Aug 12, 2014

Tohkasaikan: Chinese food in a location that (almost) justifies the price

Let me first introduce the elevator at Tohkasaikan, a beautiful old Otis workhorse operated by levers and pulleys replete with a dial that wavers as you ascend. It is, in fact, the oldest elevator in Japan, and in a country where taking an elevator is about as quotidian as it comes, this elevator is...

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Jul 22, 2014

Berry's Cafe: Burgers so good you can forgive the decor

Osaka's Minami-Ibaraki is noteworthy for (at least) two things: a vertiginous lattice of train tracks and elevated highways topped by a monorail, and "Until Sun Child Rises," a giant statue of a yellow anime-like astronaut boy that stands outside the train station. To this list, add Berry's Cafe, which...

LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS

Jul 22, 2014

Pancotei: 'Kushikatsu' morsels prepared with obsessive care

Precision. This is the premise on which everything at Pancotei is based, from the angle of the ear of wild asparagus, the volume of the froth on a glass of beer, the suitability of a single Japanese maple leaf as an adornment to a dish, the knot in the master's tie. Precision, bordering on perfection....

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Jul 8, 2014

Aoi-jaya: Traditional Japanese cuisine without the traditional price tag

A combination of train delays and the restaurant I had intended to eat at closing earlier than advertised meant that I had to find a replacement on the hoof. Fortunately, I was in the Isetan department store in Kyoto Station. The top two floors are given over to restaurants: the 10th floor to mostly...

LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS

Jul 8, 2014

Nakamuraken: refuge from summer in a glass of shaved ice

With months of nothing but sun, Japanese summers can sap your will to live. Be grateful, then, for the arrival of kakigōri (shaved ice). In fact, it's about the only thing to look forward to between now and November.

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