Transport authorities launched a full-fledged investigation Sunday into the derailment of a bullet train on the Akita Shinkansen Line in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, on Saturday afternoon.
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
Quick, before the wonderful spring weather turns to rain and then to sweltering summer. It’s the perfect season for long, leisurely alfresco lunches: Time to book that peaceful verdant patio table at Cucina Tredici Aprile. It’s all about the setting. Screened from the sun ...
There’s nothing quite so satisfying as fresh-made pasta. Spaghetti out of the packet is only as good as the sauce that’s served over it. But freshly rolled pasta, whether it comes as strips, strings, bows or curlicues, has a texture, taste and vitality all ...
Nowhere does tonkatsu like Tonki. Of all the restaurants in Tokyo that serve those ever-popular cutlets of breaded, deep-fried pork — and they number in their thousands — nowhere stands out quite the way Tonki does. To its legions of fans, it is an ...
There are a few restaurants around Tokyo, though not enough, where customers are allowed or even encouraged to BYOB (bring your own bottle, specifically wine). But here’s a first: a place that does BYOF — bring your own food. Such is the enlightened policy ...
In the early 1980s, you could count the number of Indian restaurants in Tokyo on the fingers of one hand. Top of that list, by dint of its size, prestige and the standard of the cuisine, was The Taj, close to Akasaka-Mitsuke. Sadly it ...
What’s the best season for eating Indian food? Summer, when all the spices help you sweat out Tokyo’s clammy heat? Or in the chill of winter, to put fire in your belly? The answer: Any time at all, if the cooking is as consistently ...
It is always a pleasure to discover a great new restaurant — and even more so when “new” means a lot more than just “recently opened.” L’As is a small place with a young crew and a location that is easy to overlook. But ...
The pink mist descends and sakura fever sets in. Resistance is futile: Get out there under the petals, gaze, imbibe, revel and cavort. And then, as the evening chill sets in — as it inevitably does at this time of year — adjourn for ...
It’s been a long countdown, but finally spring has liftoff. The buds and leaves are out, and so are those all-important cherry blossoms. And there is no finer way of appreciating them than from a table with a good menu and a choice vantage ...
Zunda-mochi dumplings, hatto-jiru soup, hittsumi noodles: These are far from mainstream Japanese foods, and rarely found on restaurant menus. But they’re essential landmarks on the culinary landscape of the Tohoku region. They are also core items on the menu at Michinoku, one of the ...
