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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EARLY START
Aug 5, 2016

Start your morning with a serving of tradition at these breakfast joints

The Japanese breakfast provides a healthy start to the day. It's rich in vegetables — from both land and sea — often includes fermented foods such as miso soup and pickles, and is rounded out with rice and grilled seafood. Though, it hasn't always been this way.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NAGOYA RESTAURANTS
Jul 29, 2016

Juliett: Australian 'wagyu' for Japan's Muslim community

Although Juliett has an Australian flag displayed in the window, it doesn't initially seem to have much to do with the land down south. Instead, it has an extensive menu similar to many other modern fusion restaurants in Japan: pizzas, pastas, omelet rice and desserts. The connection with Australia becomes...
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 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
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jun 25, 2016

Restaurants slash prices and frills as living standard in Japan drops

What the falling standard of living in Japan means is that anyone who can sell food more cheaply is enjoying a larger pool of dedicated customers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jun 24, 2016

Kakomi: the hushed, abstract art of 'kaiseki'

I have worked in my fair share of kitchens over the years. At some stage while toiling at each, someone — usually a chef — would lose their temper with me and regain it only after loudly roasting me with words not fit for a newspaper. I thought of these episodes while sitting at the counter of Kakomi...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jun 10, 2016

G-strings on the menu at Amrita’s naked dining pop-up

Amrita has a simple premise: diners must be naked before they are seated. And if naked dining doesn't seem intimidating, the prices may shock you.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jun 9, 2016

New small-breed dog run in Hakone; summer treats to beat the heat; sipping drinks under cool night skies

New small-breed dog run in Hakone
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 2, 2016

FDA drafts guidelines to lower salt levels in restaurant, packaged food

The United States moved on Wednesday to cut the amount of salt in packaged and restaurant food in a bid to reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes linked to consuming too much sodium.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
May 27, 2016

Naniwa: The taste of summer in Japan

The small and flimsy Naniwa cafe is located on Tengonakazakidori, one of my favorite shōtengai shopping streets in Osaka. Compared to the neighboring Tenjinbashisuji Shotengai, which stretches for 2.6 kilometers, Tengonakazakidori Shotengai is a short stroll. What it lacks in length it makes up for...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
May 12, 2016

Fine dining paired with fine ceramics; feast to mark first anniversary; East meets West in natural setting

Fine dining paired with fine ceramics
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 22, 2016

Buddhist cafe gives Tokyo caffeinated enlightenment

The hum of conversation and the clinking of spoons and coffee cups fills the wood-panelled cafe in a fashionable Tokyo neighborhood as more than a dozen customers sip drinks and nibble desserts.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Apr 21, 2016

Showing gratitude to mothers; tasting the best of traditional cuisine; enjoying a ladies night out

Showing gratitude to mothers
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Mar 25, 2016

Ramen Yashichi: Enjoy some of the city's best noodles without lining up

Yashichi is a notable ramen shop on two counts: it ranked 39 on review website Tabelog's top 50 ramen restaurants for 2016 and has devised a way of dealing with its popularity by eliminating long lines to get it. Rather, when you pull up to its ramshackle exterior, one of the servers will issue you with...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Mar 11, 2016

Ajikyu: A tiny izakaya squashed inside a family home

Reviewing restaurants is a slippery slope to overindulgence. That's why opting for lunch can be a safer bet than dinner. Not only are lunch reservations easier to come by and the bills easier on the wallet, but midday meals help to ensure you getting home before sunset, or sunrise. That didn't happen...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 3, 2016

Spa plan to provide rest, relaxation; treatment offers relief from hay fever; sweets celebrate matchmaking lore

Spa plan to provide rest, relaxation
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Feb 26, 2016

Oimatsu Kitagawa: A moment of calm in a swirling galaxy of Michelin stars

Toru Kitagawa, the chef and owner of Oimatsu Kitagawa, has a casual air about him that borders on insouciance — an air that belies the imagination, creativity and earnestness of his cooking. Perhaps this equanimity is an Osaka trait, but it could just have easily been cultivated at Gion Sasaki, the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 5, 2016

Honke Ponga: Korea's healthy answer to 'yakiniku'

Can anything be more enjoyable than sitting around a shichirin (traditional charcoal burner) and cooking your own dinner — especially in the coldest season? Honke Ponga, a friendly South Korean grill just steps away from Meguro Station, does its best to answer that in the affirmative by adding a light,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jan 29, 2016

Rikyu: Playing games with traditional 'kaiseki' cuisine

Tsukasa Yamaguchi likes to play. But not much of what he does behind the counter of Rikyo, which he opened nearly two years ago, suggests this. Like many of his contemporaries working in haute cuisine restaurants, Yamaguchi has the manner and intensity of a surgeon. If you look closely, you'll see his...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Jan 29, 2016

Kashmir: An austere setting for a flamboyant curry

Let's start on the street. That's where I waited in line for an hour before moving to a dark, narrow hallway for another hour of waiting. At infrequent intervals the door to Kashmir would open, allowing in customers and expelling the spicy aromas from within.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Jan 15, 2016

Kobushi: Ramen with spinach, chicken and a motorbike

One of the differences between a restaurant chain and an independently owned restaurant is that the latter tolerates — even encourages — eccentricity.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Dec 25, 2015

Wai Tan Hong Lu Deng: Rowdy waiters and sizzling dumplings

Tenma is one of the best spots in Osaka for food and drink, especially street eats. Japan's longest shōtengai (indoor arcade) bisects this eating area, along which there are dozens of restaurants and stalls, serving local savory treats. But get off the main drag and there's even more to offer. A word...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Dec 17, 2015

A jazzy way to kick off the new year; enjoying lunch in chic, relaxing space; taking tea in luxurious atmosphere

A jazzy way to kick off the new year
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 4, 2015

Hugo Desnoyer: Has Paris's best butcher crafted Tokyo's best tartare?

There's a curious ritual that just about everyone follows before settling into dinner at Hugo Desnoyer. Once you've been shown to your seat upstairs and ordered drinks, you are encouraged to meet your main course.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Dec 3, 2015

Enjoying a luxurious slumber party; cakes put the final touch on holidays; experience the finest tea in high style

Enjoying a luxurious slumber party
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Nov 27, 2015

Aozora Blue: Where perfectly simple udon noodles get the spotlight

Ramen, soba and udon are the trinity of Japan's noodles, though it can sometimes feel as if the last one on that list is underappreciated. Ramen has followed sushi down the path of global domination — no doubt helped by instant ramen's popularity — and buckwheat soba noodles can swing from low to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Nov 13, 2015

Hashinaga: Delicious and relaxed kaiseki cooked by a formidable chef

I am almost certain that I wouldn't survive a day working under chef Noriyuki Hashinaga. I am, however, certain that I could eat his food every day.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 6, 2015

Kohaku: Horsehair crab, turtle and caviar at this tradition-bending kaiseki restaurant

Tradition looks quite different in Tokyo than, say, Kyoto. Concealed and evolving under constant layers of reinvention, it must be sought out. Where to start? Just head to Kohaku in Kagurazaka, Tokyo's atmospheric nightlife district.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami