In his Olympic year, Oscar Pistorius steadily became an avid firearms collector, joining a gun-collecting club and purchasing a collection of firearms that included a .500 Magnum pistol and a civilian version of a military assault rifle.
When it comes to gender equality, Japan has never failed to disappoint.
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, ...
Manchester United's Shinji Kagawa is back with a bang, becoming the first Asian player to score a hat trick in the English Premier League.
"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 levels.
Japanese cuisine at its loftiest is elegant and profound. It can be taut as a tea ceremony or exquisite as ...
After an unusually cold winter, the sight of spring produce is particularly welcome, especially the bright yellow-green of nanohana.
Every Monday night at 7, Japanese TV viewers are treated to the sight of comedians being locked inside a fast-food restaurant. Formica tables take the place of iron bars, and instead of three square meals a day the cast is fed a steady diet ...
Nothing gives me greater pleasure, as a California native, than to discover a new burrito shop. I'm not talking about the kind of burritos served on a plate in a restaurant.
Tempura and soba: Separately, they’re two essential elements of traditional Japanese food culture. Put them together side by side on the table and they add up to one of the all-time classic dishes. Even at its most basic — at a stand-and-slurp noodle counter, ...
Inside the visitors’ center at Chichibu Distillery, high in the hills of Saitama Prefecture, a hint of sawdust mingled with the aromas of vanilla, dried fruits and honey that filled the air.
A few dabs of equine DNA found in so-called "beefburgers" caused quite a kerfuffle last month, shocking unsuspecting customers of the British supermarket chain Tesco (and then other stores) into outrage.
Wild plants and meals of swamp wallaby, lizard, or wombat sustained Australia’s indigenous people for tens of thousands of years before British settlers brought a radical change of diet. But so-called “bush tucker” — the local fruits, shoots and creatures that also include kangaroo ...
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?
The red-framed doors and purple canopy that mark the front of Le Verre Vole a Tokyo are a cheerful sight at any time of year. In the chill dark dead of winter, their glow is even more welcoming, especially if you’re arriving on ...
After queuing on the street, diners sit next to strangers inside the cramped Ho Hung Kee (Ho Hung’s restaurant) eatery in Hong Kong before rinsing their own cutlery. Welcome to the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred experience. Ho Hung Kee was first awarded a coveted star ...
In Hanoi, it is a truth universally acknowledged that the best “pho” noodle soup is found in the grimiest restaurants, where the staff are rude, the lines long, and the surroundings spartan at best.
Doritos and Budweiser, canapes and Champagne, jamon and Tempranillo — when it comes to happy hour, everyone has their favorite combination of booze and umami-infused treats.
Before refrigeration became widespread in the late 1950s, fresh, unprocessed fish was only available to the well-to-do or people living on the coasts.
