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May 01, 2024
 

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BEST BAR NONE

Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jun 30, 2002
Back to lounge life as usual
"Live the life" is a motto that has worked for Mi-chan. Having begun her days as an assistant photographer, she soon discovered that she much preferred socializing. So when two of her favorite hangouts closed (Jirocho in Ebisu, and MC1000 in Shinjuku), she and party cohort Gera decided to open their own place.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jun 16, 2002
Now that's the winning spirit
Like many, I have been bitten by World Cup fever -- though in my case that means prowling Roppongi looking for postgame action. While the English converge at Sports Cafe, throngs of Irish -- and an equal number of police -- have become a fixture every night in front of Paddy Foley's, regardless of whether or not Ireland played a game that day. Mexican fans have found their clubhouse at the Freshness Burger on the strip. After a win, you will find them crowding the street out front, playing spirited salsas on tin trumpets and accompanied by impromptu street percussion.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jun 9, 2002
What's red, red and very, very sexy?
Red is an electric color. It incites bulls to charge and people to revolt. It is the color under which more than one country (and soccer team) rallies. It is the color of lust and passion. Red is provocative, but the emotion it evokes depends on the person and, sometimes, on the time of day.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jun 2, 2002
Permanent collection of cool
Ebisu is not only full of little bars, it is full of similarly named bars, which can make things pretty confusing. Within a 50-meter radius, there's E, E-Cafe, Fura and Furo Furo -- see what I mean? So before we start, let's clear up a few things. E-Cafe is a cute 'n' cozy second-floor perch overlooking a temple, not that place on the third floor above a 24-hour ramen joint. Got it? Hope so . . .
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 26, 2002
Where to get your kicks
As Japan braces itself for the influx of soccer fans, the media is keeping a careful eye on potential hot spots -- including Roppongi, Tokyo's gaijin HQ. Though no World Cup matches will be played inside Tokyo, Roppongi is expected to take the brunt of post-game soccer fans out to celebrate their wins or -- perhaps worse -- drown their loses.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 19, 2002
Something close to home
Some of Tokyo's best little bars are hidden on tiny back streets in quiet residential neighborhoods. They are the kind of bars that one only discovers by living nearby -- or being taken there by someone who does. So when a friend called suggesting an outing to one of his favorite bars on the outskirts of Shimokitazawa, it took me less than a nanosecond to say yes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 12, 2002
The song remains the same
Finding Endorphin for the first time was like unraveling a mystery. Word of mouth is an excellent source of leads, but sometimes the modern-myth syndrome kicks in as the word is passed along. The stories I accumulated for what I thought was one little rock bar in Jiyugaoka turned out to be for two bars -- which wasn't so much a problem as a bonus.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Apr 21, 2002
Whip me with your best shot
A frequent visitor to Tokyo for the past 20-plus years asked me whether I thought S/M was on the rise in Tokyo. The answer is both yes and no. Hardcore S/M bars have been discreetly operating throughout that period, but as with all specialty bars, they are controlled by a strict members-only door policy, i.e. no tourists. What has emerged and proliferated in recent years, though, are soft-core, user-friendly S/M theme bars.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Apr 14, 2002
Not that Nobu, just the opposite
Mention the name Nobu to most jet-setters and they will recall the international restaurants serving "nouvelle Japonais" cuisine. The one in Tokyo occupies a sprawling, bungalow-style structure that hogs an impressive chunk of street front on Roppongi-dori near Shibuya. But what all the globe-hopping gourmands who've eaten there don't know is that just across the street -- almost exactly opposite, in fact -- is another Nobu, which has been quietly operating on what was once a darkened stretch of road for the past 20 years.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Apr 7, 2002
One love, one heart, one glow
Shinkukan is a DJ bar and lounge that has slipped quietly into a curious niche in Tokyo's nightscape. Operating like a ninja, with stealth and under the cloak of darkness, it stole into a small basement in a quiet semi-residential area on the Jingumae side of Omotesando. It's not the greatest location for a nightclub, but it has survived -- for eight years already.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 31, 2002
A hundred reasons, but one will do
By the time you read this, the last blossom may have already fallen from the deep banks of cherry trees that line the Meguro River as it sweeps through the back streets of Naka-Meguro. If not, then you are in luck. And you should put down your newspaper -- right now -- and head over to Cento Cose, a restaurant and bar complex tucked in on a quiet stretch where the river cuts under Yamate-dori headed for Ikejiri Ohashi.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 24, 2002
Like a rolling stone but harder
Enter the words "rock" plus "Shinjuku" into the search engine of Tokyo's communal consciousness, and the result, "Rolling Stone" -- a rock 'n' grot dive of more than 20 years' standing in that neighborhood -- will always come back at the top of the list. Even Eggey, the owner of two hardcore Shinjuku rock lounges -- both simply called Black, with interiors to match -- first asked if I knew of it before settling down to chat with me.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 17, 2002
There's inspiration around every corner
Nearly every expat in Tokyo knows Las Chicas, the hip neo-Asian garden restaurant that sprawls across the first floor of the Vision Network complex near Omotesando. But many may not realize that there is more to Vision Network than a Thai curry lunch special. A quick peek into the corners of the rambling split-level structure will reveal three little bars -- two very well-hidden -- each with its own individual personality and character.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 10, 2002
Bartender, can you make that a double?
I was once asked to invent a list of bars with brief descriptions as part of an April Fool's joke for a magazine. In fact, one of the bars I included did (and still does) exist. But it was one I had not been able to review, because the master refuses publicity in order to maintain exclusivity. So I gave it a fictitious name, at least, and added it to the list. This was done so that if a reader knew of it already, they would recognize it by the description (which would lend credibility to the bogus bars on the list), but so that no first-timer would ever be able to track it down (thereby preserving its reputation).
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Feb 24, 2002
Like mama, like son
George's Bar, on a corner of the former site of the Defense Agency headquarters in Roppongi, needs no introduction to its hundreds of regulars. For those who haven't dropped by recently, though, I have some good news and some bad news.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Feb 17, 2002
The heart of the jungle
While the ink on this page was still drying, several dozen bankers were careening toward the hangover of a lifetime. Of course, a Sunday hangover is nothing unusual for the average salaried employee, but for these chosen few -- these fast-track Masters of the Universe with brain cells aplenty to burn, who play by their own rules and rarely limit their drinking to the weekend -- today will be painful to remember, impossible to forget and likely to ignite a bonfire of profanity.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Feb 10, 2002
Home with the best
Being the youngest in a large family meant, in my case, becoming an auntie when I was still in my teens. And during my long self-exile in Japan, I patiently awaited the arrival of a new generation of travelers -- but then started feeling neglected as one nephew and niece after another circled the world without dropping by for a cup of tea at Auntie Jude's.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Feb 3, 2002
A bar that's right on the Button
Ebisu hides many secrets -- especially at night. And Button -- a neat, two-story attic perched on top of a building near the Nishi-Ebisu fiveways -- is one of the area's most precious. And you know it the instant the elevator doors open onto the sixth floor.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jan 27, 2002
Straight from the mothership
So, before I inundate you with a slew of new discoveries in the Shibuya-Ebisu-Daikanyama triangle, I must first pay homage to a funky little hole in the wall of seven years' standing -- Enjoy! House. It -- like 2626 (Flo Flo) -- sits within seconds of the Nishi-Ebisu fiveways. I can never make up my mind which of these two bars is my all-time Ebisu favorite, so I usually let my mood decide. If it's bourbon and blues I seek, 2626 wins. But if it's art and an edge that my soul requires, you'll find me at Enjoy! House -- along with Tokyo's next-generation artists, musicians and DJs.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jan 13, 2002
A space-age think pad with the sweet smell of success
Each year begins with a clean sheet. Like the first page in a new diary, it is pure and unblemished. (The coffee-and-ink stains come later as we juggle our resolutions with the realities of life.) As such, the simple, white world of Bar Kapa seems an appropriate place to start. Even after two years of operation, it appears pristine and untouched -- as if detached from time. It is stylish and very adult. But it is not the kind of place one would go to alone.
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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.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
Golden Week crowds greeted with high temperatures as holiday period kicks off
The departure lobby for domestic flights is crowded with travelers at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Saturday, the first day of this year's Golden Week holidays.
India seen overtaking Japan in nominal GDP in 2025
The skyline of central Mumbai's financial district
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
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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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