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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 26, 2020

Top 5: Food trends our critics want to see Japan embrace in 2021

Eyes (and stomachs) are already turning to 2021. Five of The Japan Times' critics share the dining trends they'd like to see the country embrace.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jun 24, 2017

Entertainment entrepreneur Steve Plotnicki: 'Learn how to analyze what you're eating'

Opinionated About Dining founder on his musical background, algorithms and what makes a decent restaurant critic.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Nov 7, 2021

Meet the unofficial mayor of New York’s ‘Little Tokyo’

With little fanfare, since the 1980s Bon Yagi has helped transform New York's grungy East Village into a trendy hub for Japanese cuisine. His motto? “Visit Japan without airfare.”
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 14, 2018

Booking services secure tables, but at what price?

Everyone wants to eat well in Japan, but it can be difficult to secure reservations at the best spots. Restaurant booking services, like TableAll, make it easier, for a price.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 2, 2007

Japanese media reaches for the stars in restaurant coverage

The first Michelin Guide to Tokyo's best restaurants has sold extremely well since going on sale Nov. 22, which isn't surprising given the huge amount of press it has received. The media love it when a foreign entity pays close attention to Japanese culture, and in this case it's culture you can eat,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 23, 2018

Kura's Kunihiko Tanaka: From peddling vinegar to running a sushi empire

Kunihiko Tanaka was peddling vinegar to sushi restaurants in western Japan when he spotted the opportunity that would change his life.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2015

Raw pork liver fans say goodbye to banned sashimi

Fans of raw pork liver savored their last chance to taste the dish on Thursday night as they expressed mixed feelings on the arrival of a new food safety regulation Friday that bans eateries from serving pork sashimi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Aug 21, 2017

Let's discuss smoking regulations in Japan

Will the 2020 Tokyo Olympics be smoking-free?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 6, 2014

Japan's top chefs grapple with sustainable eating

After the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony in Singapore last month, chef Yoshihiro Narisawa was in high spirits, despite the late hour and the tropical February heat. His Tokyo restaurant, the eponymous Narisawa in the Aoyama district, had been named Best Restaurant in Japan for the second...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 20, 2012

Hokkaido's diverse cuisine recognized by Michelin

Hiroshi Nakamichi dreamed of becoming a great one-star restaurateur when he went to Lyon, France, with a Michelin guide in his hands, to work at Michelin-starred restaurants. More than 30 years later, his dream came more than true when his "bible" gave three stars to his Sapporo-based French restaurant...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 30, 2012

Helping Tokyo menus to get found in translation

One of the longtime complaints of English-speaking foreigners visiting restaurants in Japan is that few of them offer menus in English. Well, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is doing what it can to help eateries translate their menus into English and other languages, to help them become more hospitable...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 21, 2018

Still eating, still writing: Robbie Swinnerton reflects on 20 years of Tokyo Food File

At 1,000 restaurants in, what keeps this insatiable food writer hungry?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / 'SUMMER DAVOS' SPECIAL 2015
Sep 9, 2015

'B-class' cuisine: Food that reflects the soul of the people

From the impressive number of stars garnered by restaurants in Tokyo to heads of state visiting the establishments of famed sushi masters, the high end of the Japanese culinary scene gets plenty of attention worldwide. But eating out in Japan doesn't mean you have to break the bank all the time, and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 24, 2015

Smoke signals: Can Tokyo ever go smoke-free?

Japan has long held a reputation of being something of a paradise for smokers. Tobacco is, at least by Western standards, relatively cheap and people can still light up in many of the country's restaurants and bars. In fact, before the turn of the century smokers could pretty much puff away on a cigarette...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2008

Critics dispute Michelin regard for Tokyo

Paris might still be good if you've got a big wad of cash and want the best of the best. But Tokyo is really where it's at foodwise, at least according to the French people who keep track of these things.
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2007

Stars in their guides

Last month, Tokyo's restaurants received their stars. For the first time, the famed Michelin Guide, the most respected and feared guidebook in Europe, published a volume outside the Western world. Noted for its make-or-break effects on European hotels and restaurants, the publication was greeted in Tokyo...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 17, 2006

McSato et al prompt mastication over whose 'real' is really real

I've been running around lately like a headless chicken -- and the simile is more literal than you might think. I have been spending my evenings going around Tokyo restaurants, doing a survey strictly in the interests of scrupulous journalism.
BUSINESS
Oct 5, 2006

U.S. beef hard sell as concern lingers, Aussies fill void

Michal Small has been waiting eagerly for the return of U.S. beef to Japan, but it seems the American will have to wait a while longer before the Roppongi Hills restaurants she frequents start serving the fare again.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Jul 17, 2005

Dining where no solo woman dared

Reiko Yuyama believes that adventures are there to be had in daily life without having to go out into the wilderness. In that sense, she says she might be "more of an adventurer than Christopher Columbus or Naomi Uemura," the late, great Japanese explorer and climber who disappeared on Mount McKinley...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 21, 2022

They fled Afghanistan for America. Now they feed the newest arrivals.

Afghan restaurants represent generations fleeing war, and a cuisine interconnected to the world for centuries by the Silk Road.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2020

NPC, top U.S. franchisee of Pizza Hut and Wendy's, files for bankruptcy

The plan is to reduce the company's debt and sell some of its restaurants, starting with Wendy's, court papers show.
Japan Times
ESG CONSORTIUM
Jun 17, 2020

Community, workers prioritized amid pandemic

Suntory Holdings Ltd., a global leader in both the alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages industry, has been making a shift from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism in the belief that efforts to vitalize communities will benefit the company and its shareholders in the long run.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 19, 2019

Food for the soul: Traditional gyōza makers and eaters in Utsunomiya try to keep the dumplings rolling

Albert Kuwano Bakonyvari beckons me inside his factory's steam chamber, where hundreds of plump, white, crescent-shaped gyōza dumplings are neatly lined on stacks of trays fitted in steel racks, waiting to be sent to the freezer.
EDITORIALS
Feb 10, 2018

Smoking ban plan diluted again

The latest plan by the health ministry to protect people from secondhand smoke is far too weak.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 20, 2017

A smoke-free Tokyo as an Olympic legacy

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike has vowed to make the capital a smoke-free metropolis in time for hte 2020 Games if her party and its allies secure a majority in the July 2 election.
Reader Mail
Oct 21, 2016

Clamp down now on passive smoke

I read with interest the story "Health ministry unveils draft plan to combat passive smoking" in the Oct. 14 edition.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 9, 2016

Being young, Japanese, a woman and a chef — in Paris

Chiho Kanzaki has been cooking for as long as she can remember. Growing up in Tokyo, she used to watch her father prepare dinner for their family and would climb onto a stool to imitate his movements in the kitchen. Like a lot of little girls enamored of the food world, she imagined herself as a baker...
Japan has many rivers that run through its cities, but few offer the level of serenity and relaxation as Kyoto's Kamo River.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 14, 2024

The enduring allure of Kyoto’s Kamo River

Many foreign tourists seek advice online about how much time they should devote to lounging by the lazy currents of the Kamo River.
The number of consultations from foreign visitors to Japan about problems related to accommodations and shopping is increasing.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 3, 2024

Consumer consultations by foreign visitors to Japan on the rise

The number of consultations from foreign visitors in fiscal 2023, which ended in March this year, stood at 227, up for the second straight year.
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.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear