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April 30, 2024
 

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BEST BAR NONE

Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jan 26, 2003
One trip to Never Never Land, and you're hooked
Hiroshi Matsusaki is not a big Disney-film fan. His imagination was captured, however, when he read a Japanese translation of "Peter Pan" -- understandable for a child whose life's adventures began in the lush natural reaches of Kyushu, before his family moved on to Saitama.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jan 12, 2003
Legato's sky lounge serves up its cocktails from on high
In a musical score, the term "legato" indicates a passage that should be performed in a smooth and connected manner. As such, it is an excellent choice for the name of a sumptuous new restaurant and bar. Legato is every bit as "smooth" and "connected" as an orchestra under the guidance of a great maestro.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Dec 15, 2002
Close encounter with a UFO navigator
By the time you read this, Raphael Sebbag will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of his arrival in Japan. He will not only be able to reflect on how much he's seen change in that time, but he will also be able to take responsibility for having engineered some of those changes as a DJ in Tokyo's club scene.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Nov 24, 2002
Sweet remedy for the ills of a metropolis
Mishiku, to Shibuya's west, offers a variety of interesting little bars along the meandering network of back streets between Ikejiri and Sangenjaya. If one knows where to look, it is possible to find everything from chic little wine bars secreted behind unmarked doors to full-on, in-yer-face rock dives buried in the basements of commercial buildings.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 27, 2002
Shake a leg down to Yotsuya for imported carnivale
Saci Perere is a remarkable little Brazilian nightspot -- not only for having survived for more than a quarter of a century, but also for having done so with never-diminishing energy. I think of the bar, which takes its name from a mischievous one-legged ghost in Brazilian folklore, as one continuous samba line, shaking and snaking its way through the underbelly of the city.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 20, 2002
Put on your party hat and escape to Oz
At the mini five-ways down the hill behind Almond in Roppongi, one will find a pleasant second-floor bar in a building on one corner. Though small, it takes full advantage of the building's glass exterior walls, with every seat at the bar offering a view of the street. It feels spacious and safe from the rabble below.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 13, 2002
Crowd aside, Department-H parties are never a drag
Gogh Imaizumi, a skilled cartoonist, left his hometown, Sapporo, at age 20 with the dream of becoming an illustrator. He took with him these words of advice from his mother: "Whatever you do, don't be a nuisance to anyone."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 6, 2002
Into the night at Meguro's Saka Bar
When a friend took me on a tour of his favorite bars in Nakameguro, Saka Bar was the scheduled last stop. It scored this slot on the tour because of its notoriety in the area as a late-night hangout. On that first visit we arrived at 5 a.m. to find all stools at the bar taken -- though in an eight-seater establishment, this is often the case.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Sep 29, 2002
Father, son mix it up in Yokohama
Yokohama was once the undisputed headquarters for foreigners in the Kanto region. Its wide accommodating port facilities were the destination for postwar U.S. fleets arriving to establish their presence in Japan. And, as with any port town, many bars and restaurants sprang up to cater to the ebb and flow of customers arriving with the tide.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Sep 22, 2002
The true soul of Roppongi
Most of what passes for entertainment in Roppongi is only skin-deep. And while the area itself may appear to be a dense maze of bars stretching for miles, it is only a facade, barely extending more than one block off the strip. The 4-chome area, in particular, which fills the blocks behind the bank at Roppongi Crossing, is one of the quietest patches on the grid.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Sep 15, 2002
In the realm of the senses and spirits
Tantra is a fabulously atmospheric retreat from the mundane. Here -- in a darkened corner illuminated only by candlelight -- one may ponder and explore the spiritual aspects of corporal desire. The name itself refers to one in a series of Hindu texts collectively known as the Kama Sutra; the Tantric passages explore the possibilities of reaching enlightenment through sex.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Sep 8, 2002
Tsukasa sings the blues, etc.
Word of mouth is still the best way to find cool new bars. The downside, though, is that such tips are usually accompanied by verbal directions. A customer at Gosse (reviewed last week) told me about a hip-hop bar called Tina near Meguro Station. It sounded easy enough to find, but after scanning every signboard on every building in the vicinity, I could find no Tina.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Sep 1, 2002
An oasis in the Meguro desert
Naka-Meguro and Meguro proper are worlds apart. The former is a boomtown of cool little bars and the latter a backwater of pachinko parlors and karaoke snacks. And while the two areas may sound geographically close, they are not. It takes almost an hour to walk between the two along the darkened stretch of Yamate-dori that separates them.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 25, 2002
Far from the tanning crowd
The beaches between Zushi and Enoshima were buzzing with activity as my friends and I sped southbound along the strip. They were not only crowded with sunbathers, but also choked with oversize beach bars, lined up cheek to jowl along the foreshore. Some of these bars are extravagant multistory structures that look like they've been imported wholesale from Thailand.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 18, 2002
A good place to keep cool
It really is too hot to wander far from home -- unless, of course, you're heading for a beach. Even the government recognizes this fact, with the official four-day summer O-bon holiday being one of three officially sanctioned and nationally observed annual vacation periods (the other two being New Year and Golden Week). During the break, the cities become ghost towns as their populations flee in favor of cooler climes in the mountains and along the coast.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 11, 2002
FBI -- why not give it a shot?
Fifteen years ago, Shokuan-dori was a dark no man's land trapped in the vacuum between Kabukicho and Shin-Okubo. The latter, at that time, was an area buzzing with life as it gained momentum as headquarters for Tokyo's non-Japanese Asian foreigners. But it wasn't until several years later that a few Korean restaurants opened nearby each other along Shokuan-dori and it became known as Little Seoul. Even so, with the exception of the odd Thai or Filipino streetwalker patrolling her beat, the area was still dead at night.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 28, 2002
He's got jazz izakaya to an art form
Many newly opened bars and stores proudly display their year of establishment on the signage out front -- even if it just opened. Vagabond, a funky jazz izakaya in Shinjuku, is no exception. The signboard outside proudly boasts "Tavern Since 1976." When I arrived in 1981, this made me laugh. But now -- after 26 years of business -- it hangs proudly with the weight of the passing years.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 21, 2002
Whet your appetite
If you know Bourbon Street, the New Orleans-style restaurant in Roppongi, chances are a friend introduced you. Sohan Ahluwalia vowed that he would never directly promote his restaurant but would let satisfied customers spread the word. And it worked. Sohan has put his heart and soul into creating his creole kitchen, and as it readies for its third birthday (July 25th), one routinely finds it necessary to wait for a table.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 14, 2002
Where the surf's always up
Drunkard is an older form of the noun "drunk," which, according to my Concise Oxford English Dictionary, means "deprived of proper control of oneself by alcoholic liquor." Unlike its modern shortened form, it is not a word one hears used much these days, which gives it a slightly old-fashioned, almost anachronistic air. As such, it makes a perfect name for a soulful little neighborhood bar with an interesting history.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 7, 2002
The lord of the dance
To Tokyo clubbers, the name Pylon conjures images of overly tanned and underdressed young women teetering precariously on high clogs as they dance para-para style -- glow sticks in hand -- atop a bar (or other elevated surface). And at their center will be a handsome young man, shirt slipping off his back and body aglow with sweat as he shakes a magnum of Champagne on his hip (this being a sign for those below to ready themselves with heads uplifted and mouths open to receive the ensuing overflow of bubbles).
When will Japan intervene to support the yen?
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has reiterated the government's readiness to take an appropriate action as the yen continues to slide against the U.S. dollar.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
Yen rebounds strongly after first slide past ¥160 since 1990
The yen dropped to ¥160.245 per dollar on Monday before heading into the other direction to ¥155.01 amid speculation of an intervention by Japanese currency authorities.
Man, 28, arrested in Okinawa over burned bodies found in Tochigi
Hikaru Sasaki enters the Metropolitan Police Department's Osaki police station in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward on Monday after being arrested on suspicion of disposing of two bodies found in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, earlier this month.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

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