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The consumption tax increase next April will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people's financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the impact of the hike, experts say.
Every parent is all too familiar with The Tantrum. The screaming, the flailing arms, the angry head butting — and the timing (normally in the most inconvenient public place possible).
International events undermine Japan's democracy. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for being a party to it.
Tucked away behind the main museums in Ueno, the Tokyo University Art Museum may not be on most people’s radar, but it is definitely one of the city’s top museums in terms of curatorial quality. Whenever I go there, I am always delighted by ...
Francisco Liriano showed up at PNC Park on Tuesday afternoon in a suit with his suitcase packed for a trip St. Louis. The message reverberated through the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse. After 21 years away from the playoffs, it was time for the best story ...
Portugal has plenty to answer for when it comes to the way Japan eats. Tempura, castella sponge cake and even bread — paõ in Portuguese, pan in Japanese — were all assimilated following the arrival of the first trading ships in the mid-16th century. ...
Who eats chocolate in summer? Very few people who I know. It’s not just that chocolate bars melt in seconds: The taste can seem too heavy and the texture too cloying. It simply doesn’t seem to suit Japan’s muggy heat. But there’s one exception ...
Sweetshops don’t get much more traditional than Takemura; inside and out it is a classic. Founded in 1930, this handsome two-story wooden building has stood untouched in the backstreets of Kanda-Sudacho, with its stone lantern, shrubs, the little palisade of bamboo and verge of ...
“There are two types of people,” my dear old landlady used to say, handing me a bowl of frothing matcha tea: “Those who like alcohol, and those who like sweets.” She was well aware which camp I belonged in. But as a tea-ceremony teacher ...
How long does it take a business to achieve cult status in Tokyo? Years or decades in most cases. For Omotesando Koffee it was barely a matter of weeks. First there’s the setting. Where else in the city can you find a contemporary espresso ...
The petals may have dropped from the cherry trees, at least in the Tokyo area, but there are plenty of leaves to be seen — and not just on the trees. Look around any shop selling traditional wagashi sweets at this time of year ...
"I am not very fond of sugar and sweet things, and yet I became a pastry chef." The story of British pâtissière Rose Carrarini, whose quote adorns the wall in the growing number of cafe-bakeries that bear her name, is an eye-opener on many ...
Japan's prodigious ability to assimilate, reproduce and then develop homegrown adaptations of products from other cultures is legendary. Why should it be any different when it comes to patisseries?
If Christmas is the time when adults pander to their inner child, then it is holiday season all year round at Papabubble. Tokyo’s premier purveyor of artisan candies is no ordinary sweet shop: it’s more like a Santa’s grotto — complete with happy toiling ...
Attention all chocoholics! Here’s a way to satiate your sweet tooth without gaining a single gram. In fact you’re likely to work off plenty of calories as you explore “Chocolate: The Exhibition.” This major show, which opens Nov. 3 at the National Museum of ...
Great fanfare accompanied the reopening of Tokyo Station’s redbrick building in Marunouchi this week. And, just like any major new (or in this case 98-year-old) landmark, it’s a bonanza for tie-in marketing, including plenty of sweets — all limited-edition items that can only be ...
The heat wave may be past its punishing peak, but there are still lots of ice-cream days left this late summer — and plenty of premium outlets to discover in Tokyo. When it comes to multi-flavored cups and sugar cones, the arrival of Ben ...