An Attraction for the Whole Family Being able to make whatever you want with a pile of small, colored pieces of plastic is awesome. You can build cars and buildings. Animals might seem a little distorted, but they still look alive. These tiny pieces of plastic are fantastic. … [Read more...]

　 　 Enjoy a drink with a canned-food appetizer Can’s Bar, which is located under the train tracks near Akihabara Station’s Central Exit in Tokyo, opened earlier this year on January 23. As the name implies, this café and bar offers a variety of dishes made with canned food that you … [Read more...]

　 　 Full-immersion gaming experience in a bar setting The Capcom Bar, which opened in January in Tokyo's Shinjuku district, offers a totally new authentic entertainment experience by allowing customers to personally experience the world of Capcom's classic games, as well as the very … [Read more...]

Discover Piping Hot Potato Chips The Calbee+ store in Harajuku, Tokyo is a direct outlet satellite store for the Calbee snack manufacturing company. It’s enormously popular, and on weekends long queues of people line up to buy the freshly cooked potato chips available there. Rows of … [Read more...]

    A Hotel Enveloped in Nature and History Kakunodate, located in Akita Prefecture and known as the Little Kyoto of Tohoku, is a tourist destination with a Bakumatsu- period (mid-19th century) atmosphere. The snuggling, weeping cherries bloom around a samurai manor reminiscent of … [Read more...]

    A Museum for Immersing Yourself in the Orient Toyo Bunko (Oriental Library), known for its collection of valuable Japanese and Oriental books, opened a museum on October 20, 2011. Established in 1924 as a research library for Oriental studies, Toyo Bunko houses approximately … [Read more...]

    A Museum Where You Can Look, Touch and Enjoy The world's first instant ramen, Chicken Ramen, debuted in 1958. In 1971 cup noodles went on sale for the first time anywhere and instant ramen became an international food. Today 95.4 billion serves of instant ramen are consumed every … [Read more...]

    A Third Toraya Cafe Opens Toraya Café is a new style of café developed by Toraya, one of the oldest makers of traditional confectionery in Japan. Food coordinator Tomoko Nagao had a free hand in combining Western- style ingredients with the bean paste that is at the core of … [Read more...]

    Up-and-Coming Chef Offers Youthful Promise The Japanese restaurant Seizan opened this April in Mita, Tokyo. Proprietor Haruhiko Yamamoto may be young at just thirty-one, but commands a range of skills acquired from twelve years of training at Gifu's renowned Takada Hassho kaiseki … [Read more...]

Pictured are dishes made with sake lees, which are called “Kojo Sozai” at this bar.   Enjoying Sake Bar-Style The Sake Hall Hibiya Bar opened on April 20 in Ginza, Tokyo. It’s the first bar in the world devoted to cocktails made from sake. The usual method of drinking sake is to have … [Read more...]