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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 1, 2014

A golden time to dine outdoors

Now is the golden season in Tokyo: balmy days, mellow temperatures, low humidity and no mosquitoes. There's nothing better than a nice, leisurely (and maybe even boozy) lunch outside — dinner, too, as long as you bring a warm jacket or throw.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 29, 2014

Shooters Sports Bar and Grill: A taste of America in Nagoya

Having first opened its doors in 1997, Shooters is the longest running and most successful international restaurant in Nagoya. But it is not only its longevity that makes this a great place to hang out: It also boasts friendly staff, a well-stocked bar and generous portions of Americana cuisine.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NAGOYA RESTAURANTS
Apr 29, 2014

The Corner: Great burgers at any angle

The Corner is a tiny little nook of a place that has been running since 2011 and (although this may be contested by some) serves the best burger in town. A "New York-style bar," The Corner is keen to put the gourmet into burger making, as every patty is handmade and every bun spread with a unique secret...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 26, 2014

Aloha gozaimasu: Japan's influence on Hawaiian culture

In 1868, the first year of the Meiji Era, 148 Japanese men, mainly from the Kanto area, set sail from Yokohama on the British ship Scrito, bound for Honolulu in the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Apr 22, 2014

Gohanya Isshin: a diverse menu topped by fries that wax poetic

Isshin is deceptively big, dimly lit and madly busy; but the staff are on their game. More impressive is that the kitchen produces such high-quality fare in such a demanding work environment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Apr 22, 2014

Cafe Ibaraki Yu: Former bathhouse offers a bite of the old days

The city of Ibaraki in the north of Osaka is home to Tadao Ando's Church of the Light, a modernist concrete masterpiece. Out of the spotlight, another architect in Ibaraki has been quietly but busily breathing life into buildings whose glory days would otherwise be behind them. Cafe Ibaraki Yu might...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Apr 18, 2014

Make a splash on a family outing

Spring has arrived, and with it a taste of the sunny, sweltering climate to come. Longer days and warmer rays make my kids thirst for a swimming pool. However, Japan's outdoor swimming season doesn't officially begin for months, and indoor locations such as Tokyo Summerland water park can trigger claustrophobia...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 15, 2014

Butagumi Dining: Quality tonkatsu pork cutlets to eat and go

What's not to like about the original Butagumi? Tokyo's temple to high-end tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlets) really is the finest in town. Where else serves such beautiful cuts of premium pork — from hand-reared breeds of "heritage" pigs — and in such a classic setting?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Apr 8, 2014

Elk: Who doesn't eat soup with their pancakes?

Here's an odd couple: soup and pancakes. But this is how Elk, a small but expanding chain of cafes, advertises itself. The day I ate at Elk the pancake crowd was definitely in the ascendancy; there were a few soup eaters like myself, but we were in the minority. And speaking of minorities, men were so...
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
Apr 6, 2014

Tokyo jumps on theme bar bandwagon

Tokyo and its surrounding areas provide an array of entertainment spots to serve the varied interests of its inhabitants, day or night. The latest fads are theme bars and restaurants for those seeking an unusual drinking or dining experience. Guys who were fascinated by Ultraman in the heady high-growth...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 1, 2014

Pizzeria Tonino: Some of the best Italian pizza in town

Any al fresco seating is good now that the weather's warming up. If there's a view, that's an added bonus. At Pizzeria Tonino, you get to watch colorful streetcars going past from the luxury of your terrace seat.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 1, 2014

Ostü: Great Italian across the way from Yoyogi Park

The only drawback to the sakura season is that no matter how beautiful the blossoms, the celebrations can get very chilly. You need somewhere you can repair to for warmth and sustenance. If you're anywhere near Yoyogi Park, you won't do better than Ostu00fc.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Mar 25, 2014

Japanese baseball stadiums hit a B-kyū gourmet home run

Coming off the most exciting season in recent memory, Japanese baseball is flying high — in some cases, literally so. Star pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, who signed with the New York Yankees in the offseason after leading the Rakuten Eagles to the Japan Series title, traveled to his first Big Apple press...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2014

Abe funds matchmaking to ease welfare bill

Over coffee and cake in a rural cafe in Kochi Prefecture, Hideyuki Tanaka, 40, plucked up the courage to speak with Eri, 14 years his junior.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 18, 2014

Ajisen: Seasonal seafood and more in Tsukishima

There are many reasons for heading across the Sumida River to Tsukishima. Most of them involve monja, those griddle-splattered, dogs-dinner "pancakes" that are Tokyo's unconvincing answer to the okonomiyaki of western Japan. The one blessed anomaly is Ajisen.
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 13, 2014

Welcoming spring in style; flipping for flapjacks; tranquil times in nature's embrace

Welcoming spring in style
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Mar 11, 2014

Catalan cuisine, sake's international pairing pal

"Please, just one bite," cajoled Derrick Lim, patting my shoulder like a solicitous Asian grandmother. "You have to try this dish." A certified sake professional, Lim had been explaining the concept behind his latest venture — a sake-and-tapas bar called Bam, located on Singapore's trendy Tras Street...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 4, 2014

Fuku: Your new local yakitori stop

Yakitori is neighborhood food, not destination dining. When you feel like nibbling on skewers of grilled chicken, you don't go across town; you head for your local. If you're lucky, it will be good. But it's unlikely to be as good as Fuku in Yoyogi-Uehara.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 1, 2014

Visit Japan's ancient past in urban Kyushu

Back in the late 1970s, the city planners of Karatsu, a fishing community on the northern coast of Kyushu, decided to build a new road. This provided a rare opportunity for local archaeologists. Seizing the chance to burrow with abandon in the densely developed region, they established a dig and began...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 18, 2014

Bettei: Duck shabu-shabu you'd be quackers to miss

Even a lingering winter has its upsides. The longer and harsher the conditions, the more appealing it is to sit down to a bubbling, warming nabe hot-pot — especially if it comes with a dash of contemporary style, as it does at Bettei.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 18, 2014

Bistro Aligot: French pie and mash at its best

Aligot: a traditional dish from central-south France, made from mashed potatoes blended with melted cheese, butter, cream and garlic. Aligot: one of Tokyo's tastiest, most unusual and atmospheric little bistros.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Feb 13, 2014

Japan gets in the mood for love this Valentine's Day

Love is all around at this time of year, but on Valentine's Day in Japan it isn't so evenly distributed. The festival of romance has long suffered from a gender imbalance here: Feb. 14 is traditionally a day for women to give presents to men — not just their partners, but also often fellow students,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 4, 2014

Gogyo: Where there's smoke, there's kogashi ramen

All ramen is good ramen when you're craving warmth in your belly. But you won't find a noodle shop in town that fights the cold in more dramatic style than Gogyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 16, 2014

Luxury dining at the Imperial Hotel

The Imperial Hotel Tokyo has invited Laurent André, executive chef at Le Royal Monceau Raffles Paris, one of the most renowned luxury hotels in Paris, to prepare a special fair from Jan. 20-26 at the hotel's traditional French restaurant, La Brasserie.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 14, 2014

Maishin: Safe haven in Shibuya for sake-loving adults

Shibuya is not a neighborhood where you head for haute cuisine. But all that window-shopping, people-watching, hanging out and having fun can be hungry work. So it's good to have a few places up your sleeve that offer sustenance and respite from the crowds and noise.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 14, 2014

Le Petit Kanda: Oden with a strong Gallic accent

In Japan, it's not winter without oden. Some people find it hard to get excited about the idea — and the redolent reality — of kamaboko fish cake, hard-boiled eggs or chunks of daikon simmered interminably in murky baths of odoriferous dashi stock. But Le Petit Kanda makes this cold-season specialty...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 9, 2014

Stay plan for Tokyo marathoners; New year lunches in Kobe; meals from the movies

Stay plan for Tokyo marathoners
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jan 8, 2014

Restore the shuttered-up New Year's of yore

First of all, I would like to wish a happy new year to all the readers of Labor Pains. While labor news has generally been a gloomy topic of late, it is my hope that this year will bring brighter things for me to write about.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 31, 2013

Cork: Meals start from the wine list at this L'As spinoff

As we gallop into 2014, how better to start this Year of the Horse than with a toast? Sake may be traditional on this auspicious day, but wine is just fine — as long as the setting is as bright and shiny as this brave new year, and if there's great food to match. Cork fits the bill perfectly.

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