Results tagged “thejapanese”

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 lame, though we bet we would have laughed hearing it from Arnold

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).

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.

- 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.

Matsui and the Yankees are already drawing large crowds during their practices at the Tokyo Dome, with more than 30,000 people turning out. The Japanese fans just love Matsui, with some people comparing his status to The Beatles or to Elvis.

It also helps that he's ridiculously good–looking, seems like a nice family man (wife: Mio; 3 year–old daughter Haruna), and is going to try his "best to bring another [World Series ring] to the city for the New York Mets." He wore minority owner Saul Katz's 1986 ring, reportedly "enamoured" of it; relatedly, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King opens next Wednesday (buy tickets at Fandango). With Andy Pettite leaving the Yankees for Houston and Derek Jeter dangerously close to being a punchline, maybe it's time for a little Kaz.

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: