Sweet Tokyo food souvenir Tokyo Banana teams up with Kyoto matcha maker for brand new cake

https://ift.tt/Uv4GIBN Dale Roll

Tokyo’s most famous souvenir combines with its most famous flavor for an airport-only treat!

If you’ve traveled through Tokyo Station to get to other parts of Japan via the bullet train, or flown in or out through Narita or Haneda airports, you’ve probably seen stores selling Tokyo’s most famous food souvenir: the Tokyo Banana. A fluffy, banana-shaped caked with a banana cream filling make these both delicious and iconic, so they’re a popular souvenir for bringing to other parts of Japan, or even overseas.

Tokyo Banana has done several collaborations before, many of them with Pokémon, but though they’ve released a matcha-flavored cake in the past, they’ve never made one in collaboration with a certain long-standing Uji Matcha teahouse. At least, not until now.

Tokyo Banana has teamed up with Itohkyuemon, a Kyoto teahouse founded in 1832 that specializes in Uji Matcha tea and sweets, and whose parfaits and sweet creations are out of this world in both flavor and presentation. The new collaboration product is simply titled “The Matcha Cake” and is a deliciously soft and fluffy matcha-flavored sponge cake filled with two kinds of cream, matcha milk and milk cream.

Kyoto Uji matcha is used in both the cream and the dough, giving it a highly fragrant aroma, and each cake sports one of four illustrations inspired by traditional Japanese culture and aesthetics, to add to the overall Japanese flair of the treat. Even the packaging has been designed with a Japanese motif, with a woman in a green kimono depicted holding a plate of “The Matcha Cakes.” The woman even has a barrette shaped like a Tokyo Banana in her hair!

The Tokyo Banana World/Itohkyuemon The Matcha Cake is available now, and, in the spirit of having international tourists try out some of Japan’s best sweets, you can only find them at Fa-So-La souvenir shops in Narita Airport and Tokyo Souvenir Shop North in the international terminal of Haneda Airport. They sell in packs of eight for 1,404 yen (US$10) or packs of 12 for 2,106 yen. So if you’re flying through either airport any time soon, be on the lookout!

Source: PR Times via Japaaan
Images: PR Times
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Man arrested for throwing dog at police officer in Japan

https://ift.tt/nhpw5KX Casey Baseel

It’s not nice to throw things, dogs included.

“Dog bites man” isn’t news, the old saying goes, but “Man bites dog” is. What’s really unusual, though, so unusual that it wasn’t even considered in the adage, is what happened recently in Kobe: Man throws dog.

The incident took place last Tuesday evening in the city’s Hyogo Ward. At around 5 p.m., a passerby on the street noticed a dog with a collar but no visible owner in the vicinity. Since the dog happened to be near a pet-grooming salon, the passerby took the pooch inside, thinking the staff might recognize the Shiba Inu. None of the workers did, though, but when they called the police to see what could be done, the officer who was dispatched had seen the Shiba before.

The same dog had been spotted unattended on the streets once before, and the dispatched officer was the same member of the police force who’d taken it into custody at that time before returning the animal to its owner. Since the officer knew who the owner was, a 55-year-old man who lives in the same ward as the salon, he went to the owner’s house and told him what had happened. They then returned together to the salon, but when they arrived, the man refused to take the Shiba back. “I aint got no need for a dog like this!” the man angrily yelled, commanding “YOU take him to the damn animal shelter!”

According to the police, during his rant the man picked up the dog, which is 60 centimeters (23.6 inches) long and weights 6 kilograms (13.2 pounds) and threw the animal at the officer, after which he was placed under arrest.

You might wonder what specific part of the penal code you’ll run afoul of if you start throwing dogs at people. In this case, the crime the man is being charged with is “obstruction of official duties.” It’s a broad offense, similar to Japan’s “forced obstruction of business” charge that’s often used in cases of harmful mischief and mayhem in shops, restaurants, and other places of business.

Neither the dog nor the officer suffered injuries in the incident. The animal showed no visible signs of physical abuse from its owner, but was taken into custody at the police station.

Source: Sun-TV News via Hachima Kiko, Kobe Shimbun Next
Top image: Pakutaso
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Whole-Pikachu curry plates with Gen 1 starter buddies coming to Pokémon Cafe【Photos】

https://ift.tt/ltAFHhj Casey Baseel

Plus a new popping Pikachu dessert drink.

Pokémon is a franchise that’s all about evolution. Whether it’s the Pocket Monsters themselves powering up to stronger forms, sequels in the video game series getting graphical upgrades, or new art trends seeping into the illustrations for the collectible cards, there’s always something new to enjoy in the world of Pokémon.

That goes for the Pokémon Cafe, too, as the eateries in Tokyo and Osaka have just announced new Pikachu Plate meals are coming to the menu, and they look both delicious and adorable.

The new Pikachu plates feature something as widely loved as the Electric-type Pokémon himself: Japanese curry. Each curry plate has a made-of-rice Pikachu, with what appear to be carrot-slice cheeks and tortilla chip ears and tail, lounging next to the curry roux, so that you can mix them in whatever ratio you’d like after you’ve taken a photo or 20 of the presentation. You also get a hamburger steak dressed up to look like a Poké Ball.

There are actually three Pikachu Plates to choose from, differentiated by the accompanying Poké-pal. The Pikachu and Bulbasaur Friends Plate has the Gen I Grass-type starter as a serving of potato salad. Pikachu and Charmander Friends provides you with a Charmander chicken cutlet, and for Pikachu and Squirtle are Friends you get Squirtle seafood gratin cheese pasta.

▼ The cafe doesn’t say what the starter Pokémon faces are made from, but odds are they’re wafers, a common element in themed-cafe dishes in Japan.

The line between beverages and desserts is often blurred at Japanese cafes, and stepping into that sort of hybrid role is the new Pikachu Popping Spark Lemon Float.

Cute as it is to look out, the drink sounds like it actually has a pretty sophisticated flavor, with sliced lemon, nata de coco, and black tea gelatin for a sweet-but-not-too-sweet flavor that kids and adults alike should be able to enjoy. The chocolate-accented scoop of mango ice cream also has popping candies inside, to give you a jolt reminiscent of Pikachu’s Spark ability as you eat it.

The new Pikachu Plates are priced at 2,420 yen (US$17.50), and the Pikachu Popping Spark Lemon Float at 1,540. Both are joining the Pokémon Cafe menu on September 2.

Related: Pokémon Cafe reservation site
Source, images: Pokémon Cafe
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Japanese curry chain is highly recommended by foreigners on Reddit, but is it any good?

https://ift.tt/VqchFfS Oona McGee

We find out if this curry joint is worth visiting or if it’s an overhyped tourist joint. 

Recently, our reporter Seiji Nakazawa has been checking out Tokyo restaurant recommendations from foreigners on Reddit, and he’s come to the conclusion that some foreigners know more about Japan than Japanese people.

After reading some of the discussions on Reddit, he’s discovered some unusual dining spots he didn’t know about, and now he’s just unearthed another — a curry chain he’d never heard of, called “Sama“.

▼ This chain was highly recommended by foreigners on Reddit.

Sama has 14 stores nationwide, with three branches in Tokyo, and Seiji decided to visit the branch in Okachimachi, which was located in a calm alley between Okachimachi and Akihabara. After doing a little research on the chain, Seiji discovered that most of the branches are located in Hokkaido, where it was founded, and unlike other Japanese curry chains, which specialise in Japanese curry rice dishes, this chain specialises in…

  ▼…Hokkaido soup curry.

At Sama, you can choose from five types of soup: Tomato soup, coconut soup, plain soup, shrimp soup, or creamy shrimp soup. As these are all Hokkaido soup curries, though, the common base is a light chicken broth throughout.

In Seiji’s mind, soup always seems like an appetiser rather than a main meal, so he was concerned over whether it would fill his belly or not. So he decided to order the tomato soup Mega Sama DX Curry for 2,500 yen (YS$17.68), as it looked to be the biggest meal on the menu.

▼ And when it arrived, it was sufficiently huge.

The soup was more like a stew, with thick pieces of vegetable and pork poking out of it, and even a leg of chicken in the back.

That wasn’t the end of the surprises, though, because when Seiji dipped his spoon into the mix, he pulled out…a Hamburg patty!

This was a soup that was filled with surprises, and as soon as he tried it, he was hooked on the flavour. It was meaty, yet light, thanks to the mild curry soup, which was sweet and subtle in spices, making it incredibly easy to eat.

The wide variety of vegetables made every mouthful exciting, and he and his dining partner, who’d ordered the equally delicious Tandoori Chicken and Minced Meat Coriander Cheese Curry (1,500 yen), agreed that they would happily add Sama to their list of regular dining venues from now on.

When Seiji spoke to a friend in Hokkaido about the chain, even they said they’d never eaten there, despite seeing branches around town on the regular. Seiji, now converted to Sama’s soup curry, found himself recommending the chain to his Hokkaido friend, which just goes to show that sometimes, restaurant recommendations from out-of-towners are worth looking into.

So in the end, this recommendation wasn’t a tourist trap, and if you’re looking for another curry chain that’s worth trying, you’ll want to add this Reddit recommendation to your list of must-visit restaurants in Tokyo!

Store information
SAMA Kanda store / SAMA 神田店
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Sotokanda 6-15-4
東京都千代田区外神田6-15-4
Open: 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (last order 3:00 p.m.); 5:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m. (last order 9:00 p.m.)
Closed: Second Wednesday of the month
Website

Images © SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Convenience store clerk arrested for punching customer over receipt in Hyogo Prefecture

https://ift.tt/J7VyCvh Master Blaster

Receipt reception is a recipe for retail retaliation.

There’s been a lot of good things said about customer service in Japan, but at the end of the day, the staff are all people too, and equally capable of being pushed over the edge in certain circumstances. Just ask the 22-year-old convenience store clerk in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, who was arrested for assaulting a customer.

The incident took place at 8 p.m. on 25 July when a 73-year-old man came in to buy a can of beer. While paying at the register, the customer told the clerk that he didn’t want a receipt, but the clerk handed him a receipt anyway. This angered the customer who then threw the receipt back at the clerk, in turn angering the clerk and triggering a heated argument.

While words were exchanged, the clerk knocked over the customer’s beer can and as things escalated they moved into the backroom of the store. While there, the clerk allegedly assaulted the customer. The extent of the assault isn’t clear but according to reports there was punching involved.

▼ According to reports, the incident occurred at a Lawson in the Mukonoso area

Police arrived shortly after and arrested the clerk for assault. The condition of the customer and his beer are unclear but both were believed to be free of serious injury.

The receipt game in Japanese convenience stores is surprisingly complex, making it difficult to establish who’s ultimately at fault here. Many stores still have clear plastic sheets hanging over the counter which can make verbal communication somewhat difficult and also makes it very possible that the clerk misheard or simply didn’t hear the customer.

▼ The sheets were introduced during the pandemic, and a few stores continue to use them today.

Moreover, most convenience stores have little plastic boxes that you can simply toss unwanted receipts into right at the register. A majority of 7-Eleven stores take this one step further and have the register automatically spit out the receipt, leaving it up to the customer if they want to take it, and letting it fall into a plastic bin if they don’t. In this way, getting an unwanted receipt is hardly a headache for customers these days.

And on top of all that, it’s becoming increasingly common for convenience stores to print coupons for other items onto receipts. I once refused a receipt, only to have the clerk insist I take it. When I did there was a coupon for a free 2-liter (68-ounce) bottle of Pepsi on it.

▼ Here’s a Family Mart receipt with a coupon good for a 950-milliliter (32-ounce) bottle of Aquarius sports drink

That being said, it’s also entirely possible that the clerk simply wasn’t paying attention. There have been incidents in the past of in which elderly people have expressed dissatisfction with certain aspects of conveninece store shopping, sometimes leading to violent outbursts, so it might very well be the case once again.

As a result, online comments have been mixed over who is to blame for this altercation.

“Don’t they have a little basket for unwanted receipts?”
“Always asking if someone wants a receipt is annoying for both people. All stores should do it the 7-Eleven way.”
“It is kind of strange for the clerk to hand him a receipt after he said he didn’t want it.”
“If you don’t want it, throw it away yourself. There’s no excuse for throwing it at the clerk.”
“Why did they go in the backroom? Did the customer work there too?”
“He’s demanding too much quality from a part-time worker.”
“I used to work at a convenience store and the customers can get really arrogant at times.”
“Of course, he can’t accept the cursed receipt. He would die from it.”
“I think the heat is getting to everyone.”

Regardless of the details, in the end, it’s probably fair to say both men crossed a line at certain points during this incident. At least with the advent of self-service convenience stores, there ought to be a decrease in customer-staff violence. Granted, there’ll probably be a sharp rise in customer-machine violence, but we’ll deal with that when the time comes.

Source: Kobe Shimbun NEXT, Hachima Kiko
Images: ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Japanese masturbatory aid Tenga’s president reveals how crazy HARD he works

https://ift.tt/L1hUWO9 Casey Baseel

Top man in the company is intimately involved in product testing.

It’s conceivable that there are some companies whose top executives aren’t necessarily personal fans of the products their organizations sell, but rather see them in a pure business commodity sense. Koichi Matsumoto, though, is not such a person.

Matsumoto is the president of Tenga, Japan’s largest masturbatory aid manufacturer. It’s not exactly the kind of career one just comes into by chance, and Matsumoto is a businessman who’s truly committed to providing the highest quality offerings he can. In a recent interview with Japanese magazine Shin R25, he revealed a shocking example of his dedication to his job.

▼ Photos of Matsumoto, wearing a T-shirt with a pair of cherries on it, during the interview

TENGA社長の４コマできた pic.twitter.com/ARMuYYw0DB

— TENGA公式 (@TENGA_PR) July 26, 2023

Any consumer product manufacturer’s offerings need to be thoroughly tested, and in many companies, that’s a task the top boss would hand off entirely to other people. Not Matsumoto, though, as the 56-year-old president revealed that he personally tests each and every new Tenga model before it goes on sale in stores.

Of course, that means that Matsumoto also ends up testing a lot of prototypes that don’t make it into production too. Making his schedule even harder is the fact that sometimes Tenga will plan to roll out multiple new models around the same time, which means that Matsumoto can’t just call it a day after he’s found one that meets his standards. As he recalls:

“One time we had 48 prototypes, and the staff said ‘President Matsumoto, we want to decide on which five to put into production by tomorrow morning.’ That was really hard to pull off.”

What’s more, Matsumoto doesn’t want to test prototypes in a cold, sterile lab at the factory, since that’s not how customers are going to use Tenga’s products. Instead, he tests them in the comfort and privacy of his own home. In the case of the marathon testing incident mentioned above, he says he started around midnight, and it wasn’t until five o’clock in the morning that, hand trembling, he decided on the fifth member of the new product launch lineup. Realizing that that’s not a pace most people would be able to maintain, he adds that he “used medicine” in order to achieve the physical conditions necessary test so many prototypes within that time frame.

▼ Video of the interview

Matsumoto shows a startling amount of candor, but again, you probably don’t become the president of a company about Tenga if you’ve got a self-conscious streak. “Sexual desire isn’t a shameful thing,” Matsumoto goes on to say. I want to tell everyone that it’s one of the joys of life. That’s the kind of world I want to make.”

You could say that’s a dramatic way of describing what Tenga’s products are, but given that this is the same company that launched a rocket into space not too long ago, it makes sense that Matsumoto is always thinking big and working hard.

Source: Twitter/@TENGA_PR via Hachima Kiko
Top image: PR Times
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Studio Ghibli releases a My Neighbour Totoro skateboard clock in Japan

https://ift.tt/ifcANEj Oona McGee

Now you can tell time by your skateboard.

Back in 2020, Studio Ghibli opened a new specialty store called GBL, designed to appeal to lovers of streetwear with a focus on Ghibli-adorned “American casual” goods. One of the most surprising items in the store was a range of skateboards, but that pales in comparison to what the brand has come up with now, because now they’ve created…

▼ …the My Neighbor Totoro Skateboard Clock!

Though this product might look like a skateboard at first glance, a closer inspection reveals it has something surprising on board — a clock.

The 9, 12, 3 and 6 that help to make up the clock and show the time blend seamlessly into the design, which replicates the scene from My Neighbour Totoro where Mei peeks into the cracks of her new home looking for Soot Sprites.

GBL products often feature English text, in line with the American casual aesthetic, and this one has “Soot Sprites” printed on one end of the deck, “GBL” and “©Studio Ghibli” on the other end, and in the middle, the words, “The Haunted House“, which sums up Mei’s cautious feelings about the new home before they settle in.

The black hands of the clock are so dark it’s as if they’ve disappeared into the darkness with the Soot Sprites, but this is no gimmick — the clock really does work, as evidenced by the mechanism on the other side of the deck.

The clock placement would make riding this skateboard difficult if you were to mount it on wheels, but that’s okay because this is really a piece of artwork that’s meant to be admired, by leaning it up against, or securing it to, a wall.

▼ Priced at 20,900 yen (US$149.59), this is a collector’s item that’s only being made in limited quantities.

The skateboard clock is made from Canadian maple and measures 80 centimetres (31.5 inches) long by 20.5 centimetres wide. Pre-orders are currently being accepted via Donguri Kyowakoku’s GBL page, with deliveries scheduled for mid-to-late December.

Source, images: Donguri Kyowakoku
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!