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 ...
Beard. What sort of name is that for a restaurant, least of all one serving French-inflected food? And what chef would have the word daubed in orange paint across his front door, on the diagonal no less? One with a quirky sense of humor, ...
Summertime, and the living is far from easy in the city. Stuck in the middle of the heat island, appetites fray and taste buds wilt like yesterday’s lettuce. Simple snacks are called for, not major meals, with copious quantities of liquid sustenance too. Whether ...
In the relentless heat of summer in Japan, it is often hard to generate the appetite and energy for a full-course sit-down meal. But there’s far more incentive to head out for dinner (or lunch) at a top restaurant if you know you’ll be ...
Arriving for the first time at Torishiki’s elegant entrance, you’d be forgiven for thinking you had come to the wrong address. The chic, charcoal-gray facade, artfully illuminated in the dusk; the dwarf maple growing from a ceramic pot; the plain-wood sliding door with its ...
Maruyama-cho is one of the least-known corners of Shibuya. A generation ago, it was more famous for its “short-stay” hotels and carousing salarymen’s sake bars than its dining options. While those pleasures are still available, today the neighborhood attracts a rather more varied — ...
To track down Tokyo’s best Thai street food, you need to step out of your comfort zone. The search may lead to pungent backstreets, brash suburban malls or hole-in-the-wall stores redolent of lemongrass and durian. In the case of Montee, the trail takes you ...
If the view from the top of Tokyo Skytree leaves you hungry for more down-to-earth pleasures, there’s no shortage of eating options in the Tokyo Solamachi mall at the foot of the tower. The ground floor arcade offers snacks and souvenirs, including a branch ...
Even in the middle of the afternoon on a gray, rainy-season Monday, the queue in front of us is the best part of an hour deep and moving at snail’s pace. Only to be expected at Tokyo Skytree, you might say. Except we’re not ...
All anniversaries need to be celebrated. Ours was a major milestone that demanded something special. A memorable meal was called for: Dinner for two at Takazawa. Ever since chef Yoshiaki Takazawa opened his bijou restaurant back in 2005, it has been one of Tokyo’s ...
Who says you need pastures and milk cows if you want to produce cheese? Why not churn it out where demand is highest, right in the middle of the city? That is the admirable, out-of-the-box thinking underlying Shibuya Cheese Stand, which opened earlier this ...
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 ...
