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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
Aug 19, 2016
Chef Massimo Bottura's Kyoto menu is both colorful and daring
When Italian chef Massimo Bottura arrived in Japan in late July to present a series of meals at the elegant Ritz-Carlton Kyoto, it represented quite a coup for the hotel in only its second year of existence. Just six weeks earlier, Bottura's restaurant, Osteria Francescana in Modena, had been voted into...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 19, 2016
Handels Vagen's frozen treats will have you singing Handel's 'Messiah'
Premium ice cream is never out of season. But the timing could hardly have been better for the arrival of Handels Vagen at the start of this summer. Located in the basement of the new Tokyu Plaza in Ginza, it boasts a modest footprint that seems appropriate to the artisan production scale of very superior...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 5, 2016
Yoji Tokuyoshi's 'contaminated' take on Italian cuisine
Most Japanese chefs who go to Italy stay just long enough to learn new skills before returning home. Very few stay and set up their own restaurants. Yoji Tokuyoshi not only did that, he became the first to win a Michelin star there.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2016
Kazami: A noodle joint that's hard to find but worth the hunt
It takes considerable confidence to open a new restaurant at the hottest time of the year, when people's appetites are at their lowest ebb. To locate it down a narrow alley hidden from sight of Ginza's passing foot traffic seems even more foolhardy. But ramen shops work according to different rules —...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2016
Tabela: A touch of North Africa in central Tokyo
When eclectic indie film distributor Uplink moved across Shibuya to its current location, it did more than add extra screening rooms. It created a cultural hot spot, a meeting place for people looking beyond the mainstream. From the start, the focus for that was its restaurant, Tabela.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 29, 2016
The American chef bringing Kyoto 'kaiseki' to Tokyo
Culinary collaborations are commonplace these days, with chefs flying halfway around the world for one-off events far from their home kitchens. This exciting cross-fertilization of ideas and flavors is also starting to happen in Japan — but rarely, until now, in the field of traditional Japanese cuisine....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 15, 2016
Narikura: 'Tonkatsu' that should be on every foodie's radar
There's nothing gourmet about tonkatsu. Those deep-fried cutlets with their crisp, appetizing exteriors concealing juicy chunks of rich, fatty pork are, for many, the ultimate expression of Japanese comfort food. But, as with other types of downhome cooking, the best purveyors often become the object...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 15, 2016
Mikkeller Beer Garden: Denmark's rich, fruity and dangerously alcoholic brews are back
One of the disappointments of spring was the demise of the brilliant, buzzy Mikkeller Tokyo craft beer bar in Shibuya, a mere nine months after it was launched. The problem was administrative, and certainly not due to a lack of customers or problems with the beer. So it's cause for celebration to see...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 1, 2016
For summer dining, escape to the sunny Shonan coast
The Shonan coast in Kanagawa Prefecture, about an hour south of Tokyo by train, has something for just about everyone. Some head to Chigasaki to ride the waves or to Enoshima to luxuriate in its spa. Others explore the hills and temples of Kamakura or just get away from it all in sleepy Hayama. Few make...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 1, 2016
Unagi Fujita: The lowly eel comes up in the world
Not so many years ago, unagi, the humble freshwater eel, was considered a plebeian pleasure — a delicacy fit for Tokyo's townsfolk rather than rarefied levels of society. Much has changed. This once-lowly fish now commands high-end prices worthy of even the most upscale parts of town. This meant that...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 1, 2016
Menya Nukaji: Righteous ramen on the fringe of Shibuya
In many ways, Menya Nukaji is the archetypal artisan noodle counter. Run by a ramen enthusiast who developed his own recipes and set up with his wife, it barely seats eight people and is tucked out of sight on a quiet side street. But the word has been spreading in the two years since owner Hiroshi Nukui...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 17, 2016
Kotaro: A modern 'izakaya' in the backstreets of Shibuya
All anniversaries should be celebrated, and hitting the five-year mark holds a special importance. But for Kotaro Hayashi, reaching that milestone a few months back carried even more significance. That's because he opened his diminutive restaurant a scant few weeks after the massive 2011 Great East Japan...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 17, 2016
Pizzeria Bakka M'unica: Suburban HQ of a self-taught pizza artisan
It's no longer a secret: Tokyo has some of the finest pizza in the world. But what's even more impressive is the growing number of dedicated artisans setting up shop well away from the more obvious mainstream neighbourhoods. There's no better example than Yutaka Hazama's Pizzeria Bakka M'unica.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 3, 2016
Le Bar a Vin 52: The secret to Ebisu's new wine and wagyu HQ
When the new Atre mall opened in April outside Ebisu Station, most people's eyes were fixed on the ground floor and the one-hour lines outside burger phenomenon Shake Shack's eagerly awaited second Tokyo branch. But those in the know have been directing their feet to destinations higher up — specifically...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 3, 2016
Have More Curry: A spicy suggestion to eat more vegetables
Not getting enough healthy veggies in your diet? There's a very simple answer: Have More Curry. That's not just a suggestion, it's the brilliantly eccentric name for the excellent little basement diner that opened close to Omotesando last autumn by Yohei Matsuzaki.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 20, 2016
Sincere: The return of a chef at the top of his game
Congratulatory bouquets were arrayed in profusion outside the entrance to Sincere last month, marking its opening in the quiet residential backstreets north of Harajuku. Sometimes those auspicious flowers — sent by well-wishers at the start of any new venture — can seem like mere ritual gestures...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 20, 2016
Takadanobaba Taproom: Craft beer and deep-fried morsels with a Japanese accent
Great news for craft beer enthusiasts. Just in time for the summer heat, the good folks from Shizuoka's Baird Beer have opened their latest pub in the Takadanobaba neighborhood. It's their third Taproom in Tokyo, after Nakameguro and Harajuku, and sixth in Japan. It could well be the best of the lot...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 6, 2016
Tokyo's best artisanal sandwiches
It's the season for being outdoors. Head for the hills, the beach, the nearest park or perhaps just a deck chair on your veranda. There's only one question: who's making the sandwiches?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 6, 2016
The Apollo: Modern Greek cuisine descends on Ginza
Taramosalata, dolma, souvlaki, moussaka: Even the briefest roll call of these classic dishes will trigger intense Pavlovian salivation in anyone who has ever visited Greece. For most people in Tokyo, though, these foods have been off the radar. The arrival of The Apollo looks set to change that in a...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 6, 2016
Cafe de Rope Ginza: Classic 'kissaten' meals in an underground parking garage
Tokyo's hippest new cafe is also one of its most obscure, even though it occupies some of the city's swankiest real estate. Cafe de Rope Ginza lies in a corner of a converted parking garage three floors under the venerable Sony Building. And it's attracting the cognoscenti in droves — likely because...
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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