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Food — Life in Japan

  • food/ Jun 19, 2026

    The Quiet Half of the Gift

    Father's Day in Japan is Mother's Day's muted sibling — read from the department-store gift counter, where the rule is: give him something to consume.

    A single yellow rose with its stem, lying on a dark grey surface.
  • food/ May 26, 2026

    The Endless Aisle

    A food critic walks the department-store basement, where a ¥10,000 gift melon sits one counter from a ¥300 croquette.

    A net-skinned green melon with its stem, nestled in straw inside a wooden presentation box.
  • food/ May 9, 2026

    Kissaten: The Slow Coffee Holdouts

    A food critic's case for the dim, wood-panelled coffee houses where one hand-dripped cup takes four minutes and nobody hurries you out.

    Coffee dripping from a cloth filter into a white cup, steam rising against a dark wooden background.
  • food/ Apr 14, 2026

    The Optimistic Cherry

    What does sakura actually taste of? Not cherries — it never did. A critic's autopsy of the pink season.

    A pink rice sweet wrapped in a pale pickled cherry leaf, resting on a wooden surface near a window.
  • food/ Mar 31, 2026

    The After-Work Izakaya

    A critic's guide to the izakaya: the toriaezu beer, the small plates in waves, the otoshi ambush, and the etiquette of the shared table

    A glass of beer and a plate of steaming grilled skewers on a dark wooden bar counter.