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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
Oct 14, 2014
Suzuran: A favorite ramen shop relocates and evolves
Suzuran has moved. After over a decade building up a large and loyal following, Shibuya's classiest ramen shop has shuttered its old wood-clad premises behind the police station and found itself a smart new home — down the road in Ebisu.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 14, 2014
Ginza Maru: Kaiseki courses that won't break the bank
Sitting down to a kaiseki dinner is rarely a casual decision, least of all in Ginza. Like going to kabuki or shopping for pearls at Mikimoto, you need to budget time and cash for a multi-course meal of traditional cuisine in the glittering heart of Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 30, 2014
Malins: authentic fish and chips day and night in Roppongi
Fish and chips: The United Kingdom's best-known food is no stranger to Tokyo. You can find it at almost every Irish, Scottish and English pub in the city. Many versions are worthy. Some are good. But very few do it right. Not like they do it at Malins.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 30, 2014
Pizza Slice: New York-style pie served one piece at a time
No prizes for guessing the specialty at Pizza Slice, or the way that it's sold. What does come as a surprise — especially when you've just schlepped it down to one of the remotest corners of Shibuya — is just what a big, bright, stylish, happening place it is.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 16, 2014
Pignon: Bistro dining by different rules
Guacamole and merguez sausages on the menu, salsa and bossa nova on the sound system and not a check tablecloth in sight: Pignon is a far cry from the average bistro. But then again, owner-chef Rimpei Yoshikawa is anything but a typical Tokyo French chef.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 16, 2014
Afuri: Classic noodles with a twist of citrus
Can it really be 10 years since the original Afuri opened, bringing its trademark yuzu ramen, stylish black uniforms and hip, post-industrial decor to the backstreets of Ebisu? A decade on, the lines outside are still just as long. But the good news is there are now half a dozen other branches around...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 2, 2014
Toriki: Yakitori made with care but no frills
Yakitori is comfort food. No matter how high-end or low-rent the location, it's all about the simple pleasures of chewing on grilled chicken and kicking back with a drink or a few. That's the tried-and-true formula at Toriki.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 2, 2014
Faro Slow Time: Take your time over the food, not the line
The distinctive orange-clad Shiseido Building in Ginza is more than just a showroom for the company's cosmetics: Its swish 10th-floor restaurant, Faro, serves some of the best Italian food in the area. It's also one of the most popular, meaning tables are booked up well in advance.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 19, 2014
Nanakura: A lighter take on udon noodles
Is it possible to become a noodle addict? Technically no, but at this time of year it's not hard to build up a fierce dependence on food that is light, quick and easy on the digestion. And it always pays to know where to find a good fix. Around Shinbashi, it's hard to do better than Nanakura.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 19, 2014
Bakka: Neapolitan-style pizza al fresco in the heart of Shibuya
Al fresco pizza and beer. It doesn't get much better than this in the middle of Shibuya. Who cares if your seat is a hard, narrow trestle, the view is an inner-city abandoned lot and the pies are served on flimsy paper plates from the back of a converted delivery van? You don't come to Bakka for home...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2014
Sushi Iwa: High-end Michelin-starred sushi at a medium price
High-end sushi in Tokyo can be memorable and uplifting, even revelatory for those trying it for the first time. But it can also be intense and uncomfortable sometimes, what with the formality and etiquette, the inevitable language barrier and the hefty price tag.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2014
Aji no Nakamura: Comforting food and sake with ambience to match
Twenty years have passed since Teiji Nakamura announced himself to Tokyo with his first bar and, shortly thereafter, his eponymous upscale izakaya tavern — and five since he moved that distinctive, appealing combination of quality cooking, premium sake and buzzy ambience to Namikibashi, in Shibuya....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 15, 2014
Sakana no Nakasei: One of three great Tokyo restaurants for aged beef
Tokyo's taste for high-end meat is maturing fast. For the cognoscenti, breed, provenance and fat content have long been critical. Now add one more key factor: aging. That's the focus at several new venues.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 15, 2014
Kazahana: 28th-floor restaurant offers fine food with a view to match
Very few Japanese restaurants in Tokyo can boast a view to rival that from Kazahana. Sitting 28 floors up in the Conrad Hotel, you gaze out over the centuries-old Hamarikyu garden on the waterfront and across to the Rainbow Bridge and the malls of Odaiba in the mid-distance.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 1, 2014
Kaiseki Ikku: Stave off the unagi eel crash with this fine alternative
It looks like the end of the line for one of Japan's best-loved summer dining rituals. Unagi (eels) are on the endangered list, with catches plummeting and prices heading skyward. The annual "unagi day" summer feeding frenzy has an uncertain future, and so too the wonderful grill-houses that serve them....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 1, 2014
Jean-Georges Tokyo: New York super-chef adds Japan to his list of global outlets
France-born, New York-based super-chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten has some two dozen restaurants, spread over six countries on three continents. Now he's added Japan to that impressive list.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 17, 2014
Ata: A Tokyo seafood bistro that does so much more than seafood
Bouillabaisse, fish and chips, beef Parmentier, foie gras dengaku. For a self-proclaimed seafood bistro, Ata certainly covers a lot of territory — much like its dynamic owner-chef has done in his short career.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 17, 2014
Ramen Kugatsu-do: Delicate broth and fine noodles for a slurpsome summer
Born in China and raised in Japan, ramen's hybrid heritage has evolved into a wide range of different guises. At one end of the spectrum are the alpha-male turbo-charged tonkotsu counters. At the other, you find lightness, delicacy and refinement. That's the way Kugatsu-do does it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 3, 2014
Kagura: Refined traditional dining minus the airs and graces
Akasaka's restaurants are an eclectic mix. Cheek-by-jowl with the raucous pubs, ramen counters and Korean kimchee kitchens, you find inscrutable anonymous facades, many of them exclusive ryōtei (traditional restaurants) reserved for politicians and captains of industry.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 3, 2014
Patinastella: French cuisine by way of California in Shibuya
From the hubbub of central Shibuya, the walk to Patinastella takes only five minutes, but it feels like jumping several time zones. This spacious, glass-enclosed dining room could have been beamed from an affluent neighborhood of Los Angeles.
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.
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.
The unstoppable rise of konbini tourism
Guests typically follow Ryo Ito’s lead as he weaves through the narrow, colorful aisles of convenience stores.
Anime isn’t competing with Hollywood — it’s beating it
After its July release, “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle,” an animated feature adapted directly from a TV arc, became the highest-grossing Japanese film ever.
Oasis returns to Japan after 16 years — and fans can still sing every word
Liam Gallagher commanded the stage with effortless charisma during Oasis' Tokyo Dome set on Saturday.
At Japan Mobility Show, BYD gears up to conquer Japan's EV market
BYD Auto Japan President Atsuki Tofukuji unveils the Racco at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Wednesday.

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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