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July 21, 2025
 

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Weiwen Lin
At the Asia's 50 Best Bars 2025 awards ceremony, 20 new entries were added to the list, reflecting the increasing diversity and creativity of Asia's bar scene.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 17, 2025
Tokyo nabs four spots on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list
Two of the city’s bars, Bar Benfiddich and Virtu, drop ranks while this year’s list showcases a wider diversity with several new entries from places like Jakarta and Bengaluru.
Restaurants from 22 territories across five continents were honored at this year's World's 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony held in Turin, Italy.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 20, 2025
Four restaurants from Japan earn spots on World’s 50 Best list
Tokyo has three entries, with Sezanne climbing from its previous position of No. 15 to No. 7 this year.
After establishing Lagoon Brewery in 2021, Yosuke Tanaka began making export-only "nihonshu" (Japanese sake) and later, "craft sake," a new genre of sake that isn't bound by the rules of traditional sakemaking.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 25, 2025
Brewed from rice, water and tomatoes: The growth of ‘craft sake’
Hampered yet inspired by the strict regulations for new brewers, a growing breed of sake producers are making the beverage on their own creative terms.
Nadaman Sazanka-so is known for its "kaiseki" (multicourse Japanese haute cuisine), which is deftly executed by chef Takehiko Yoshida.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 18, 2025
A Japanese dining icon gets a (minor) facelift
Less a purposeful renovation than a prudent refitting, the renewed Nadaman Sazanka-so has retained its old world charm that made it such a celebrated dining destination.
Bolstered by a strong turnout last year, Raw Wine Tokyo, a natural wine festival, is returning to quench the thirst of natural wine lovers.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 9, 2025
The world’s biggest natural wine festival returns to Tokyo
After impressing the city’s wine buffs last year, Raw Wine is back with more than 80 natural wine producers from around the world.
With a heady mix of sake, food and live music, this year's Craft Sake Week is drawing the crowds.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 24, 2025
Craft Sake Week is back with its usual brand of cool
The annual Roppongi Hills festival is banking on a combination of top sips, delicious bites and party vibes to spread the gospel of Japan’s signature tipple.
After focusing on cabernet sauvignon in Napa Valley, winemaker Eiji Daniel Akaboshi moved to make pinot noir at the renowned Freeman Vineyard & Winery in Sonoma County.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 13, 2025
In California, a Nikkei vintner finds his heritage and purpose
The discovery of a distant relative's wine legacy in California led winemaker Eiji Daniel Akaboshi to look at his vocation in a new light.
Brooklyn Kura's Catskills, a "junmai daiginjō" (sake with rice polished down to at least 50%), is made with water from the New York region of the same name.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 28, 2025
New York's Brooklyn Kura becomes first U.S. sake exporter to Japan
The brewer’s initial exports are “relatively small,” but it hopes drinkers in Japan are "open to trying" American-made sake.
While Google may be the restaurant review medium of choice in other countries, Japan largely prefers Tabelog, where five-star reviews are rare and three-star reviews aren't what they seem.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2025
On Japan's top foodie site, imperfection is gold
Cultural expectations may influence ratings on Tabelog, but reading between the lines might help you find the next hidden gem.
Musashi Winery is known for its 'shōkōshi' wines.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 26, 2025
Where to begin when it comes to Japanese wine
Buying your first Japanese wine? Let your own palate lead the way.
Japan ruling bloc loses majority in Upper House after election drubbing
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, leaves at the party's headquarters following announcement of Upper House election result projections in Tokyo early Monday.
Polls open for key Upper House election that could shake Japanese politics
People vote during Japan's Upper House election at a polling station in Tokyo on Sunday.
Sunken WWII Japanese warship Teruzuki found off Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands. A team from the U.S. nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust has discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki on the deep seabed off the Solomon Islands as the 80th anniversary of the war's end approaches.
Japan team finds ancient ocean full of squids
The ancient ocean was full of squids, whose population exceeded that of fish or ammonites, a Japanese research team mainly from Hokkaido University has found through a new method using technology.
Voters in Tokyo reflect shifting political views across Japan
Pedestrians walk in front of an election notice board displaying posters of candidates in Tokyo on Sunday.
‘Noto Democracy’ and the slow work of civic change
Yukio Iokibe’s “Noto Democracy" centers on Motoyuki Takii, a former junior high school teacher who publishes a handwritten newspaper every month to encourage the residents of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, to engage in local politics.
In microbes we trust: Embracing the nature of fermented food
You don't need an oven to make Kenji Morimoto's easy and delicious Miso Sticky Toffee Crepe Cake.
Touring the Silk Road — without leaving Tokyo
One of the entrances to Pao Compound, a nine-story Silk Road-inspired complex in Tokyo's Higashinakano neighborhood
The self as a muse: Leonard Foujita's world in paintings and photos
One of Leonard Foujita’s biggest muses was himself. He painted self-portraits, often with a cat on his side, looking back at the viewer. He posed for photographers throughout his life, the displayed photos showing he retained his signature bowl cut and round glasses.
Japan's rice farmers are confounded by Shinjiro Koizumi’s policies
Kiyoshi Shibata stands in front of one of the rice paddies in Murayama, Yamagata Prefecture, where he produces the prefecture's signature rice brand Tsuyahime.

Podcast

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

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
By Alex K.T. Martin

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