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November 04, 2025
 

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Robbie Swinnerton
Robbie Swinnerton has been living, eating and writing about food in Tokyo for over 30 years. His column, Tokyo Food File, has run in The Japan Times since 1998.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 18, 2017
Eneko Bar: At long last, a place in Tokyo to savor classic Basque pintxos
Finally, Tokyo has a pintxos bar worthy of the name. And what a name: Creative culinary genius Eneko Atxa now has a Japan outpost for his contemporary, inventive cuisine.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 4, 2017
Tadenoha: A taste of rural Japan in the heart of Tokyo
As the days draw in and the nights get chilly, what greater pleasure could there be than settling in by a warm hearth stacked with glowing charcoal? One thing only: watching the meal you're about to eat being cooked on it. That's the kind of enjoyment delivered at Tadenoha.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 4, 2017
Good Luck Curry: A different take on a favorite spicy dish
It's immediately clear that Good Luck Curry is a bit different. From the cheery sign by the entrance exhorting "Don't Worry, Be Curry!" to the hip decor and the indie/club-jazz/hip-hop soundtrack, this simple, stylish 10-seater neither looks or sounds like your average Tokyo curry-rice joint.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 28, 2017
Tokuyamazushi: Wild dining from lake and forest in Shiga
Owner-chef Hiroaki Tokuyama prepares modern versions of narezushi, which he serves as part of his multicourse meals featuring local fish and game.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 28, 2017
Tomita Shuzo: Storied sake on a Shiga street that time forgot
As well as being one of the oldest sake breweries in Japan, the sake here is also some of the nation's finest.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 14, 2017
Somtum Der: Spicy food from Thailand's northeast
Somtum Der is unlike any other Thai restaurant in the city. It's not just the look, though the bold red facade certainly stands out in the drab Yoyogi backstreets, and the chic, bright interior reflects a contemporary sensibility, not one rooted in the cliches of tradition.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 14, 2017
Banh Mi Bakery: Flavor and consistency straight out of Saigon
Banh Mi Bakery stands right across the road from Ebisu Yokocho. But with its colorful typography and bottles of nuoc mam fish sauce arrayed in the window, it looks like it's been beamed over straight from the streets of Saigon. Better yet, it smells and tastes like it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 30, 2017
336 Ebisu: Neo-bistro has food and style all its own
If you judge restaurants solely by their architecture and decor, you'd probably finger 336 Ebisu as a temple of modern Scandinavian cuisine. The interior is so simple and airy — all big windows, curving arches, light-wood furniture, unadorned walls — that you expect dishes of Nordic precision. You'd...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 30, 2017
Henry's Burger Akihabara: Same top wagyu, grander digs
At last, Kentaro Henry Nakahara has an outlet to match the quality of the meat he uses and the scale of his ambition. When he opened the first branch of his eponymous burger restaurant in Daikanyama back in late 2015, the justifiable excitement was inevitably tempered by the diminutive scale of the operation....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 16, 2017
Ningyocho Imahan: An old take on an old favorite — sukiyaki
As the city crow flies, it's just a short hop from the bustle and bright lights of Ginza to the laid-back, low-rise backstreets of Ningyocho. But once you're there, it can feel half a world away — especially when you arrive at Imahan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 16, 2017
Wagyumafia: The Cutlet Sandwich offers rich cuts of beef
Wagyu beef could hardly be hotter in Tokyo these days. The richly marbled meat from Japan's prize pampered cattle is drawing global gastronauts to some of the city's most exclusive and expensive venues, none more so than Wagyumafia.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 2, 2017
Sougo: A next-generation take on temple cooking
It's a dilemma faced by all practitioners of traditional arts and crafts. To keep their heritage alive, should they rigorously adhere to time-honored practices? Or bend a few rules and innovate? Chef Daisuke Nomura chose the second route. Sougo, his excellent restaurant in the heart of Roppongi, is the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 2, 2017
Calms: Bringing Bhutan's spicy cheese stew to Yoyogi-Uehara
What are the odds for this? Tokyo now has not one but two restaurants serving Bhutanese food. And not only are they both in the same Uehara neighborhood, they stand face to face on opposite sides of the same street.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 19, 2017
An Di: Vietnamese cuisine, Japanese sensibility
Were it not for the name on the illuminated sign hanging at the entrance, you would be hard pressed to identify An Di as a Vietnamese restaurant. Inside or out, there are no other clues — no flags or tourist posters, no signs advertising Saigon's ubiquitous 333 beer — as what kind of food it serves....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 19, 2017
365 Nichi: Daily bread and baked goods of superior quality
You don't need to understand Japanese to guess the meaning behind 365 Nichi's name. This excellent little bakery has been operating day in, day out, even at new year, ever since it opened in 2013. During that time it has only ever taken one holiday: last year's Leap Day.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2017
Umbilical: Linking friends with fine food and wine
Tokyo is a tough place to open any business, especially your first restaurant. Along with kitchen skills and front-of-house nous, you need the right location, good connections and a strong underlying raison d'etre. A catchy name and some funky background music can't hurt either, as the folks at Umbilical...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2017
Commune 2nd: Al fresco food, drink and community
Tokyo has never been big on outdoors dining. Save for the old-school beer gardens that mushroom in midsummer, there are too few opportunities in the inner city to drink, snack and while away the time al fresco. At least there's Commune 2nd.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 29, 2017
Latteria Bebe: Two brothers, one focus on Italian cuisine
There are lots of good reasons for visiting Kamakura. It has temples, shrines and walks in the hills. You can windsurf, laze on the beach or just enjoy that rare sensation of having escaped the megalopolis. But dining out rarely comes high on the list.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 29, 2017
Hanabi: True labor-of-love ramen
It is all too easy to overlook Hanabi. Every day streams of visitors walk past this unprepossessing noodle joint without giving it a second look as they hike between the center of Kamakura and the Hase area and its famous Great Buddha. That's their loss, as it serves some of the best ramen in town.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 15, 2017
Maruka: Shikoku-style 'udon' at its best, if you don't mind the wait
Many of Tokyo's finest restaurants are so hidden away you hardly know they're even there. But there's little chance of missing Maruka. In the unlikely event that you fail to spot the large white noren curtain across the entrance, you won't miss the long line leading up to it.
The unstoppable rise of konbini tourism
Guests typically follow Ryo Ito’s lead as he weaves through the narrow, colorful aisles of convenience stores.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo
A narrow Pacific waterway at heart of U.S. plans to choke China’s vast navy
Philippine and Australian troops fire an M777 howitzer during live fire exercises as part of joint military drills in Laur, Nueva Ecija, the Philippines, in August.
Trump would make U.S. Supreme Court history by attending tariffs case
There is no record in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 235-year history of a sitting president ever attending arguments, according to Clare Cushman, director of publications and resident historian at the Supreme Court Historical Society.
Dodgers clinch back-to-back World Series titles as Blue Jays downed in thriller
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and teammates celebrate after winning the World Series against the Blue Jays. Yamamoto was named MVP for the series.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo
Young Indonesians in Japan find their political voice
Indonesian students at Hiroshima University hold posters of the 17+8 Demands, demanding transparency and action from their homeland’s government.
The unstoppable rise of konbini tourism
Guests typically follow Ryo Ito’s lead as he weaves through the narrow, colorful aisles of convenience stores.
Kenshi Yonezu, 'Chainsaw Man' and the art of pop ubiquity
Kenshi Yonezu's “Iris Out” was an instant hit when it dropped in September. Its association with smash anime "Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc" has spread it to even more people.
How airlines are refining their in-flight food in Japan's tourism boom
All Nippon Airways' gourmet program, The Connoisseurs, showcases the Japanese concept of "shun" (peak season for ingredients), giving passengers a preview of the refined cuisine that awaits them in Japan.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
By Alex K.T. Martin

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