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LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 8, 2001

Brash, bright, cheerful and fun

As a matter of principle, the Food File doesn't write up places within the first few weeks of their opening. Instead we prefer to wait until the kitchen has settled in properly and recovered from the inevitable strain of dealing with the local media and the surge of customers that inevitably follow....
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 8, 2001

Roti: Brash, bright, cheerful and fun

As a matter of principle, the Food File doesn't write up places within the first few weeks of their opening. Instead we prefer to wait until the kitchen has settled in properly and recovered from the inevitable strain of dealing with the local media and the surge of customers that inevitably follow....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 14, 2000

Dining out in year-end style

With Christmas a mere 10 days away, it is unlikely that anyone has failed to make their arrangements for celebrations, either on the day itself or during the Yuletide run-up. However, just in time for the season of good cheer, overeating and loosening of purse strings, here are two places (opened in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 23, 2000

A night at the culinary opera

Let it be stated unequivocably and from the outset: The Food File is not a great fan of gastrodomes and flashy new mega-restaurants where style outweighs substance and quality is sacrificed at the altar of fleeting fashion. Nor are we enamored of restaurant chains, where menus -- no matter how titillatingly...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 10, 2000

Spicing up life on the Shonan coast

This is hardly the most obvious name for an Indian restaurant. It started life some four years ago as a friendly little Bengal-accented cafe-restaurant in the back streets on the other side of the station, quickly making a name for itself as a reliable spot for authentic Indian cooking. Then three months...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 25, 2000

On a culinary cruise in Akasaka

We have numerous restaurants which bear the name of their chefs, owners or svengalis. But Denis Allemand is perhaps the first to proudly boast the name of the man responsible for its interior design -- whose main work in Japan up to now has been producing deli-diners in airport departure lobbies for...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 23, 1999

The best of the rest(aurants) of 1999

Before our memory cells get erased by the momentous celebrations and the post-millennial hangover, let's pause for a moment to consider some of the many places we visited and enjoyed in 1999 but which, for whatever reason, never made it into print.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 11, 1999

No smoke gets in your eyes here

It is not so much ironic as inevitable that the shichirin -- the basic, mass-produced, charcoal-fired clay stove so widely used in Japan in the austere postwar reconstruction days -- has now been reinvented as the favorite cooking accessory for recession- chic dining out.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 14, 1999

Food dilettantes need not apply

There are so many plants around the entrance of A Tes Souhaits you'd be forgiven for thinking this is one of those feminine restaurants where flowers and fancy frills take precedence over the food. The sight of the sous-chef squatting by the kitchen door plucking a wild fowl should disillusion you of...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 9, 1999

Taverna Rondino: Kamakura's most excellent cucina

Now that summer is finally past its punishing prime, it's time for the beach. September is the finest season down on the Shonan waterfront: The sun and water are still plenty warm enough; the teenybopper crowds have dissipated; and the rip-off beach houses have packed up and gone, taking their dubious...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 12, 1999

Morocco: Moroccan fare to make the belly dance

The inquiry, from a regular reader, sounded more plaintive than optimistic. Is there anywhere in town that serves real, authentic Moroccan food?
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 25, 1999

Kokotei: Kamakura cuisine with a view

For most city folk, the best thing about Kamakura is the reassurance that it actually exists. We don't need to go there so often: It's enough to know that, less than an hour away down the JR tracks, there really are quiet backstreets to wander in, temples and monuments exuding a whiff of history, brine...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 25, 1999

Matsuya: The heart of Tokyo's little Seoul

Despite the considerable demographic surges in recent years from Southeast Asia (and much further afield), the few square blocks that lie between the north side of Kabukicho and Shin-Okubo still justify keeping the title of Tokyo's Little Seoul district. And this is where we head for whenever those cravings...
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 15, 2023

Japanese food firms take aim at U.S. market again

In a bid to boost earnings, companies are more actively opening new stores and engaging in business negotiations in the United States.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2023

Yoshinoya may tap retirees as drivers when overtime cap hits transport industry

The plan comes amid the Japanese logistics industry's so-called 2024 problem, an expected truck driver shortage due to revised overtime rules.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 2, 2023

Lucky Pierrot’s anti-McDonald's approach makes it a Hakodate treasure

With an eclectic menu, eccentric decor and 35 years under its belt, Lucky Pierrot is a fixture of southern Hokkaido comfort food.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 14, 2023

Hong Kong ban sends restaurants scrambling to replace Japanese seafood

The move comes as Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings is preparing to release more than 1 million cubic meters of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean off Japan's east coast.
Though vegan restaurants have been on the upswing since 2017, Japanese vegans still lack a wide variety of options.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jan 29, 2025

In meat- and fish-loving Japan, veganism is making a comeback

Tourism, climate goals and animal rights concerns are sparking a plant-based renaissance in a country famous for sushi and pork ramen.
A woman stands on one side of the wall texting in front of a nightclub while, on the other side of the wall, a man works in an izakaya.
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 24, 2023

One night out in Tokyo

As the last trains leave the central hubs of Shinjuku and Shibuya for the suburbs, much of the city heads home. However, Tokyo never sleeps.
The Hong Kong skyline on Jan. 3, 2022. In 2018, Hong Kong received a record 65 million tourists. In 2023, it welcomed a little more than half that.
BUSINESS
Oct 17, 2024

Tourism has rebounded worldwide but not in Hong Kong.

The rebound of international travel to the city continues to lag far behind the tourist activity reported at most other Asian destinations.
Chef Stuart Brioza (left) of San Francisco’s State Bird Provisions explores the vineyard at Domaine Takahiko in Yoichi, together with his partner, Nicole Krasinski, and their son, Jasper.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 22, 2023

A California chef's quest across Hokkaido for umami

Acclaimed chef Stuart Brioza has been to Hokkaido many times — but never with a focus like this on the island’s stunning natural bounty.
Artificial intelligence is peering into restaurant garbage pails and crunching grocery-store data to try to figure out how to send less uneaten food into dumpsters.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 6, 2024

AI is spying on the food we throw away

The tech is being used to try to reduce the amount of uneaten food that ends up in dumpsters.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken dines at the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant at the Yu Gardens in Shanghai on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 27, 2024

When U.S. diplomats visit China, meal choices are about more than taste buds

Visits to China by U.S. officials like Secretary of State Antony Blinken can bring fame to local restaurants, as well as scrutiny to the dignitaries.
A vehicle carrying Seiha Sekine, the 32-year-old common-law husband of the deceased Tokyo couple's first daughter, leaves a police station in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 7, 2024

Two more arrested over brutal murder of couple in Tochigi

Police suspect the Tokyo couple's murder was orchestrated by their daughter's common-law husband, who managed some of the restaurants they operated.
Indonesia adopted a measure in 2014 requiring halal labeling for restaurants and food products.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2024

Indonesia to check grocery shelves as deadline for halal labels nears

The world's biggest Muslim-majority country adopted a measure in 2014 requiring the labeling for restaurants and food products.
A McDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburger. The fast-food chain has pulled the Quarter Pounder from about one-fifth of its U.S. restaurants.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 25, 2024

Fast-food chains hold the onions after McDonald's E. coli outbreak

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said late on Wednesday that fresh onions were the likely source of the E. coli outbreak.
Walking along Osaka's Kanjosen brings you closer to a different side of the city that the head-in-the-clouds Expo 2025 misses.
LIFE / Travel
May 17, 2025

Fighting Osaka Expo fatigue? Walk the 21-km Loop Line for a cure.

Officially completed in 1961, the Osaka Kanjosen runs through the city’s most famous and less touristed neighborhoods alike.
At modern French restaurant Crony, sommelier Kazutaka Ozawa impresses guests with his thoughtful wine pairings.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Jun 15, 2025

Kazutaka Ozawa: ‘The best wine is the one that brings you joy'

The oenophile, who recently earned the title of Asia’s Best Sommelier, shares his thoughts on domestic sips and Tokyo’s vino trends.
Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Sep 15, 2025

Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’

Young Japanese are saying no to booze — and yes to mocktails, gaming and sober nights out. Breweries are pivoting to meet them.

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