Haru: The Japanese mini-chain’s takeover of New York is proceeding according to plan with the opening of their latest location in the financial district. The elegant, bi-level space (pictured) is located in the landmark 1903 Beaver Building, which calls to mind a mini-Flatiron Building. This location features two floors of dining to accommodate 160 guests, a 17 seat sushi bar, a second “alcohol” bar and two private party rooms. Like the other Harus, the extensive......

MUJI is on the verge of opening its first store in the United States. The Japanese retailer, whose original name meant "No Brand Quality Goods", is opening up a 2,000 square foot location on Broadway. Since we visited last week, the store has taken the protective covering off and stocked its shelves. Gothamist stopped by this morning for a preview. We can already say that one of the biggest issues is going to be......

The Japanese ad agency being sued by one of its former employees for forcing him to go to brothels is countersuing, saying that Steve Biegel was fired for poor performance, not because he complained about sex shenanigans at work. Details of Biegel's lawsuit were released late last week and included info on ad shop CEO's peculiar affinity for crotch shots of women, including one he took of Maria Sharapova and passed around the office. That......

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger muscled into town to promote the Golden state's environmental policies, and he made a strange metaphor in the process. amNew York reported that he compared "'tree-hugging' stigma of environmentalism to the reputation for weirdness that once beset bodybuilders": "The gym used to be thought of as a dungeon for weirdoes and fanatics, but that has changed. Now it's changing for environmentalists." The Sun says it was a joke, but that's pretty......

Bruni awards Sfoglia two stars. The Upper East Side Italian restaurant "hits a sweet spot between simplicity and sophistication, both in its look and its food," he says. He raves about most of the food, including the desserts and the bread, and recommends that you go for lunch as it takes about a month to get a dinner reservation (longer after his review, no doubt). The boys at Eater (scroll down) are off this week,......

Bruni one-stars Cafe Cluny: it's "a beguiling neighborhood place," he says, and not much else. Cluny is partly-owned by Lynn Wagenkneckt, ex-wife of Keith McNally (the man who bought us Odeon, Cafe Luxembourg, Balthazar & Pastis), and Bruni sees something of their successful formulas here. Doesn’t make up for the "unimaginative" menu or "erratic" service, though. Over at Eater, confusion reigns. They put the odds on one-star (nice going), yet they themselves bet on two......

- The archery competition was all about the Koreans. They won the men's and women's team competitions which, along with the other archery events, took place at Panathinaiko Stadium - the first stadium to host a modern Olympics. - In badminton, China won 3 of 5 events, the women's singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. The men's singles was won by Indonesia and doubles by Korea. But the best thing about badminton is that Gothamist......

Godzilla has returned to Japan. No, not the overgrown monster from the South Sea, but Japan's own Hideki Matsui. The Yankees and Matsui arrived after 1 am Tokyo time this morning (or was it yesterday morning, the time difference has Gothamist all messed up). The team was dressed to the nines, wearing suits and ties, not the sweat-suits and slippers they wore on the plane. The line of stars made it off the plane one......

If you want to win over the hearts of jaded sports journalists, disaffected Mets fans, and your average cynical New Yorker, take a note from playbook of the new Mets shortstop Kazuo Matsui, who met NY yesterday in a press conference. The Japanese baseball superstar instantly became a son of New York by uttering in English, "Hello everyone. My name is Kazuo Matsui. I love New York." It also helps that he's ridiculously good–looking, seems......

New York Yankee Hideki Matsui is nicknamed Godzilla, but really, he is larger than life: Japan Airlines has put him on two of their planes, in an move to attract more Japanese domestic travelers. While it seems more logical for Matsui's visage to be on the planes that go from Japan to, say, New York, Gothamist does enjoy Japan Airlines' press relase on the matter: The Japanese love puns and GO GO has several......