Oct 05, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 3 Comments

Asahi Style Free: Happoshu and Beer of the Third Kind

It is a strange quirk of history and economics that a nation’s taxation regimes change the beer that each country drinks. In the US, beer needs to contain at least 25% malted barley and so mass market brewers push the lower limit using rice, corn or anything else that can

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Aug 22, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 7 Comments

Beer and Chocolate: Sapporo x Royce Chocolat Brewery Bitter

This limited release from Sapporo and apostrophe’d Japanese confectioner Royce’ is a strange Belgian nightmare; multiple vices backsliding into a brown can of depravity. Hops bitterness and cacao bitterness are perfect partners, malty and chocolate-y sublime and congruent combinations. Beer and chocolate works together. But these two really don’t. The

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Aug 04, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 3 Comments

Eating Japanese food like a complete jackass

Katsu kari don at Narita International Airport. I cobbled together the last few yen on my Suica transit card and a fistful of hundred yen coins to buy the above breaded pork cutlet in sweet and acidic curry gravy, washed down with a bland as a mountain stream lager. I

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Aug 04, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees No Comments

Crossing Kappabashi-dori

The streets around Kappabashi in Asakusa are filled with nothing but kitchenwares and restaurant supply stores. If you were ever keen to fit out a Japanese restaurant with the full complement of ye olde traditionalia, this is the suburb to hit hard.

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Jul 04, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 4 Comments

Izakaya under the train line

There is nothing as inviting as a restaurant that builds its furniture from empty beer crates. Update, 24 June 2011: Commenter Nathan identifies the location as Under JR Yamanote line at Yurakucho Station. I’ve added the map.

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Jun 18, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 4 Comments

Asahi Strong Off

I’ve noticed that one of the first beers that I drink in any country is the one whose advertisement I see first. The ads for Asahi Strong Off on the subway platforms around Tokyo depicts your average businessman with an expression on his face of either drunken jubilation or gaping

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Jun 16, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 3 Comments

Tsukiji Market is not just fish.

It also sells fat red chunks of whale meat. Not much of it though. While the cubed cetacean is pretty hard to uncover (I only saw a single vendor), what does tend to get overlooked is that there is also a gigantic vegetable market next door. Compared to the speed

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Jun 12, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 6 Comments

This is where tuna ends

Whole frozen tuna on a forklift at Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo I have no hope whatsoever for the future of tuna. The death warrant for Atlantic tuna was written at the last meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, ensuring that current tuna stocks will have

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