Local Culture

I remember my first night at a tiny standing ramen bar in Tokyo—late, rain on my jacket, and a neon sign humming above a narrow doorway. Inside, a dozen people stood shoulder to shoulder at a wooden counter, slurping steaming bowls with a concentration that felt almost reverent. I was nervous: do I queue correctly? How do I order from the vending machine? Should I tip? Over the years I’ve returned to these bars again and again, learning...

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When I want to understand a city, I follow its coffee — the cups, the steam, the tiny rituals that say more about a place than a guidebook ever will. In Tunis, that means tracing a line from the sun-baked terraces of Sidi Bou Said down into the labyrinth of the medina, listening to the different tempos of coffee culture: the slow, social pour of a traditional qahwa, the brisk bark of an espresso machine, and the improvisations of street...

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When I first landed in Tokyo, bleary-eyed from a long flight, I wandered into a narrow alley and found my first standing sushi bar. The counter was tight, the sushi came fast, and the whole experience felt like a secret handshake: quick, intimate, and brimming with ritual. Since then, I seek out these tiny, efficient counters—known as tachigui sushi or standing sushi bars—every time I visit. They’re where the city eats between trains,...

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