Pizza Hut Japan’s new Wiener Coffee Pizza tastes as crazy as it sounds

https://ift.tt/PGNj2Ii Oona McGee

Pun becomes a pizza, in true Japanese style.

This year, Pizza Hut Japan has been launching assaults on our taste buds, first with the Too Much Coriander Pizza, which delivered exactly what it suggests, and now with the “Wiener Coffee Pizza?”

The reason for the question mark at the end of this menu item is due to the Japanese wordplay in the name. You see, as it is in German, the Japanese word for “Viennese” is “Wiener“, and it’s often heard in relation to “Wiener Sausage” (“Viennese sausage”), a food so popular in Japan it’s simply known as “Weiner”. However, due to Wieners being so synonymous with sausages in Japan, when it comes to Viennese coffee (“Weiner coffee“), a lot of people confuse it to mean “sausage coffee“.

Image: PR Times

After conducting a questionnaire into the matter, Pizza Hut confirmed that a lot of young people don’t know what a Viennese Coffee really is, so they decided to play on the confusion by channelling the chaos into a new pizza.

▼ The promo image reads: “‘Shock’ Maybe it’s different to that hahaha Wiener Coffee Pizza?”

Image: PR Times

The official site reveals more information behind the concept:

“Wiener coffee. A shocking combination that everyone has imagined from the name. Everyone’s misunderstanding turned into a pizza.”

All this talk about coffee and pizza had us salivating to try it when it was released on 26 May, so we picked one up and were surprised to see it came with the fresh cream served in a separate box.

▼ The whipped cream topping is one of the main things that defines a Viennese coffee.

As soon as we lifted the lid on the pizza, we could smell the faint aroma of coffee, and looking down at it, the round shape and deep brown hue kind of resembled a cup of Joe.

This was no regular cup of Joe, though — heck, it was no regular type of pizza, especially after we’d piped the whipped cream on it.

It looked like some sort of weird dessert pizza, but we’d never eaten a dessert with wieners before. It wasn’t just the wieners we were wary of — it was the combination of coffee, cream and cream cheese as well.

Taking a tentative bite, our taste buds stood up in defence at the unexpected assault. They fought valiantly in an attempt to make sense of it all, but this was a crazy, amazing pizza that would never make sense, no matter how hard anybody tried.

Eating the sausage and whipped cream together wasn’t great, but when we kept them separate, enjoying the bittersweet coffee and cream combo before biting into the sausage, the saltiness of the meat worked like a reset for the taste buds.

The salty and sweet profiles were equally strong in every slice, creating some sense of balance amidst the chaotic flavours. Each ingredient stood its ground, fighting against the other flavours without any attempt at harmony, but somehow, weirdly, it didn’t taste bad.

It was sweet, salty, bitter, and kind of like eating dinner and dessert in one mouthful. It was flavourful but weird, which, when you think about it, is kind of how you might imagine a sausage in coffee would taste.

We’re not sure if we’d try it again, but still we’re glad to have tried it, while getting an education in puns and Viennese coffee at the same time. If you’d like to try a Wiener coffee in the guise of a pizza — or vice versa — you’ll want to be quick, as it’s only available for a limited time until 14 June, priced at 2,500 yen (US$18) for takeout and 2,800 yen for delivery.

Related: Participating stores list
Top image: PR Times
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The top 10 manga/anime heroines from Shonen Sunday chosen by fans in general election【Survey】

https://ift.tt/dZnSMEK Casey Baseel

101 candidates, over 275,000 votes, and three characters from one series in the top 4.

Manga anthology Weekly Shonen Sunday has been in publication for more than 60 years. The magazine is the home of some of Japan’s most popular manga series from both the past and present, which in turn makes it the home of many of the fan community’s best-loved female characters.

But who’s the best of the best? That’s the question at the heart of a survey recently conducted by internet portal Comic Natalie, which it dubbed the Shonen Sunday and Sunday Web Every Heroine General Election (it’s worth noting that within the Japanese anime industry, “heroine” is used to describe prominent female characters in a work of fiction regardless of whether or not they take part in any epically heroic deeds).

To initially pare down the field, Comic Natalie selected 101 candidates from series that debuted in Shonen Sunday between 1980 and 2023. They then collected roughly 275,000 votes over a 10-day period. They’ve now released the results, and while voters had plenty of options to choose from, there’s one series that really dominated the highest part of the list, as we’ll see as we look at the top 10.

10. Aoi Nogami (Zettai Karen Children a.k.a. Psychic Squad)
9. Lum (Urusei Yatsura)
8. Princess Syalis (Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle)
7. Miku (Aishiteiru Game wo Owarasetai)

▼ Aishiteiru Game wo Owarasetai’s Miku, on the right.

『愛してるゲームを終わらせたい』はサンデーうぇぶりで連載中です。
Twitterではごく一部しか掲載してないので、全編読みたい方はアプリまたは単行本でぜひ！
アプリだと初回全話無料
→https://t.co/6N62PYiUBu
1巻～4巻発売中
→https://t.co/9HD5Rz2JdW#愛してるゲームを終わらせたい pic.twitter.com/QnHWhe2a7d

— 堂本裕貴@愛してるゲームを終わらせたい (@domoto64) June 1, 2023

We start things off with an eclectic mix in this block. Aoi Nogami hails from a series that was intensely popular in the late 2000s, but whose active fandom has now largely faded. Princess Sylais is the persistently drowsy heroine of a sleeper hit, and Miku is one half of a will-they-or-won’t-they pair of childhood friends in a romantic high school comedy that only debuted in Shonen Sunday about a year and a half ago.

Lum, on the other hand, is the one character in this section of the rankings that pretty much any anime/manga fan in Japan would instantly recognize and know by name. She’s one of five female character from manga creator Rumiko Takahashi to make the top 30, the others being Mao’s Kiba Nanoka, Rinne’s Sakura Mamiya, Ranma 1/2’s Akane Tendo, and one other character we’ll be seeing a little later on (and for any fans of Takahashi’s Maison Ikkoku who might be wondering where its female lead Kyoko Otonashi ended up, she wasn’t eligible for the poll, as Maison Ikkoku ran in a different anthology, not Shonen Sunday).

6. Kanon Nakagawa (The World God Only Knows)
5. Nazuna Nanausa (Yofukashi no Uta)
4. Ayumi Yoshida (Detective Conan a.k.a. Case Closed)
3. Kagome Higurashi (Inuyasha)

▼ Kanon Nakazawa, appearing as a promotional standee at the real-world Ise-Nakagawa Station in Mie Prefecture

#神のみぞ知るセカイ は東山奈央さんのデビュー作（中川かのん）で、伊藤かな恵さん（エルシィ）早見沙織さん（ハクア）竹達彩奈さん（高原歩美）悠木碧（青山美生）花澤香菜さん（汐宮栞）そして阿澄佳奈さん（小阪ちひろ）すごいメンツなんやぞ！音楽も神掛かっている。ちなみに名字は近鉄駅名です pic.twitter.com/ZdG6Qswr9P

— 黒領域【くろエリア】＠ #ユーフォの清涼剤 こと「加藤葉月」推しです！ (@blackareas) June 1, 2023

Like Zettai Karen Children, harem comedy The World Only God Knows is a series that doesn’t get a lot of mainstream attention now that it’s over, but back in its early 2010s heyday Kanon Nakagawa stood out from the rest of the sizable female cast enough to get her own magical girl spinoff manga and OVA anime.

Also, as promised, we’ve got our fifth Rumiko Takahashi heroine with schoolgirl-turned-adventurer Kagome, and our first appearance by a Detective Conan character, child sleuth Ayumi Yoshida…

2. Ai Haibara (Detective Conan)

…but not the last, as at number two on the list we come to Ai Haibara, who shares the titular Conan’s dilemma of being trapped in a child’s body.

▼ Ayumi Yoshida (with the hairband) and Ai Haibara

こんばんわ

名探偵コナン 吉田歩美&灰原哀

どうぞ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)つ pic.twitter.com/UOSBHOE3Ih

— きらひよ (@kirahiyo316) May 5, 2023

Conan’s not done yet, either, because…

1. Ran Mori (Detective Conan)

…at the very top, beating out all 100 other candidates in the poll, is Ran Mori, Conan’s childhood friend (from his original childhood).

#毛利蘭 #蘭姉ちゃん pic.twitter.com/Sn9tA1FOsW

— Kuri (@KuriRan_) May 30, 2023

Ran’s place atop the poll means that three of the top four spots are occupied by Detective Conan characters. While the series may not have had much success in English-speaking markets, Detective Conan really is a pop culture juggernaut in Japan. The manga began publication since 1994 and its adapted anime TV series started airing in 1996, both of which continue to this day, and since 1997, there’s been at least one Conan anime movie a year, if not two. While murders and terrorist plots may not be considered kid-friendly plot points in the U.S., Japan’s extremely low violent crime rates mean most parents don’t have any qualms about letting their children start reading Conan at a young age, either.

▼ The top 10

So while it may not inspire the same sort of intense devotion to its female characters that other more lascivious or otherwise otaku-oriented series often do, there’s a pretty safe bet that if you became a manga fan in Japan at any point over the last 30 years, you’ve read a good amount of Detective Conan, and the constantly strong and supportive Ran being the one most fans latch on to is pretty easy to understand, even if she also showed up in the rankings for anime and manga’s most bizarre hairstyles.

Source: Shonen Sunday via Comic Natalie via Hachima Kiko
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Insert image: Shonen Sunday
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Talking manga with a Weekly Shonen Magazine editor ahead of the K Manga launch party【Interview】

https://ift.tt/Ce5MTfD Master Blaster

And you’re not going to want to miss what’s up for grabs at this party.

Earlier we reported on the launch of the K Manga service in the US, which offers 60 English simulpubs among 400 translated titles direct from the editors at Kodansha. While that sounds great in itself, another very interesting part of the launch is the party which will be livestreamed worldwide from Tokyo on 22 June.

The overall theme of this party is “The Stories Behind the Stories,” which gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into making manga for Kodansha. A pre-recorded interview with Attack on Titan‘s Hajime Isayama will give insight into the process, as will a short documentary following the editorial staff as they prepare a chapter of Taku Kuwabara’s Drifting Dragons for publication. And that’s just a bit of what’s planned for the two-hour livestream.

▼ Some of the artists that can be seen include Hajime Isayama (Attack on Titan), Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail), and Reiji Miyajima (Rent-A-Girlfriend)

Ahead of the event, I spoke with Yuta Hiraoka, an editor with Weekly Shonen Magazine who is also involved with the K Manga project. And to tempt you further into checking out the launch party, we’ll be giving you previews of signed artwork by 16 Kodansha artists that can be won by US viewers of the party, starting with these two.

▼ Left: Adachitoka (Noragami)
Right: Akiko Higashimura (Princess Jellyfish)

Hello Mr. Hiraoka, and thank you for joining us today! And also congratulations on the launch of K Manga. It’s only been out for a couple of weeks but how has it been so far?

Hiraoka: “It’s going to take a lot of time. I think that it takes a lot of time and/or money to raise awareness of any app.”

I guess launching in the American market is very difficult and a very different market from Japan. So far, have there been any surprises?

Hiraoka: “Prior to launching this app we did a lot of research into the American market, so I knew the difficulties involved in gaining users and having them continue to use it. So, what’s happening right now is more or less what I was expecting.”

What’s the biggest difference between the Japanese and American markets?

Hiraoka: “The manga readers are different and their culture is different in terms of continuing to read a title. In the Japanese app, it’s more common to have people come in and continue to read right away, but it’s sort of different in the US. That being said, the app’s only been out for a few weeks so we still don’t have a concrete sense of it yet.”

▼ Left: Atsushi Ohkubo (Fire Force)
Right: Hajime Isayama (Attack on Titan)

I want to talk more about K Manga, but first I’d also like to know a little about you. How did you join Kodansha and Weekly Shonen Magazine?

Hiroka: “My father was a big fan of Weekly Shonen Magazine so I was always very familiar with it too. When I first applied to Kodansha I initially wanted to join the Weekly Shonen Magazine group but was put on the Weekly Young Magazine editorial team for five years and then got transferred into my dream job at Weekly Shonen Magazine.”

I read that your favorite manga is Battle Studies, which I think is not so popular in western countries. Why might you recommend that manga to American readers?

Hiraoka: “Well… I mean, I like it but…”

You’re an editor at Weekly Shonen Magazine, so it’s probably pretty good…

Hiraoka: “I’m not sure I can recommend it though, it’s just that I personally like the story. But if I had to recommend it to American readers it’s because the themes of fantasy and romance can resonate with readers around the world.”

▼ Left: Hiro Mashima (Fairy Tail)
Right: Ken Wakui (Tokyo Revengers)

Well, I think we can trust your opinion on that. So, you joined Kodansha and then became an editor for Weekly Shonen Magazine, and then after that, very early they put you on Magapoke (Magazine Pocket), the online Japanese manga service. You were very heavily involved in that, so are you still working on Magapoke too?

Hiraoka: “I’m more of an observer right now. The Magapoke chief’s desk is right next to mine in the office so if they have any questions we can talk it over at any time.”

I guess K Manga is kind of an evolution of Magapoke, so in what way did Magapoke sort of lead into K Manga?

Hiraoka: “I was with Magazine Pocket for five years and when I started the service only had a few users, but over the years it became one of the biggest manga services in Japan. What I realized from that was how when the reader begins a manga, they can ultimately develop a deep attachment to it. So, when entering the American market, I think that giving readers various opportunities to begin different manga can ultimately lead to something much bigger for them.”

▼ Left: Makoto Yukimura (Vinland Saga)
Right: Muneyuki Kaneshiro & Yusuke Nomura (Blue Lock)

Speaking of that, what do you think are the best titles to get readers hooked?

Hiraoka: “I believe that the titles that get the readers hooked are the ones that are already being adapted as anime. So, Attack on Titan and Fairy Tail are one kind of initial starters.”

▼ Left: Nakaba Suzuki (The Seven Deadly Sins)
Right: Nanashi (Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro)

What do you think is going to be the next big thing?

Hiraoka: “For the next wave, we’re thinking that they’re the titles that are in the works to be adapted into anime, so, for example, ones that are scheduled to come out like Shangri-La Frontier, or ones that are probably going to be adapted like Gachiakuta and also The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity. We’ve noticed from K Manga that romantic comedies are popular among US readers so we think The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity is going to be popular for that reason too. Wind Breaker has similar elements to titles like Tokyo Revengers, so we think that has a lot of promise too.”

▼ Left: Reiji Miyajima (Rent-A-Girlfriend)
Right: Ryo Ogawa (Ya Boy Kongming!)

As editor of Weekly Shonen Magazine you get many, many submissions from artists who want to be published, but do you get submissions from countries outside Japan as well?

Hiraoka: “We do accept submissions from overseas, but there’s a limited number of people on our staff who can actually read English or other languages. In the future, I hope that there’s a possibility for an editor to reside in the US for K Manga and then have submissions accepted there to offer more original content. That’s the kind of future I’m hoping for with the K Manga app.”

Yeah, that’s what I thinking too–this service could possibly open opportunities for American artists. So, for any of our readers who might be aspiring manga writers and artists, do you have any advice?

Hiraoka: “Read lots of manga, for sure. And practice by copying the artwork of your favorite artists. Actually, for anyone interested in becoming a manga artist, there is going to be a lot of good information at the launch party because our artists will talk about what they went through and how they became what they are today. I think that would be a great help.”

▼ Left: Ryosuke Fuji & Katarina (Shangri-La Frontier)
Right: Taiki Kawakami (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime)

Great, thank you. I think that’s it for my questions but do you have anything you would like to add about K Manga?

Hiraoka: “Honestly, I don’t just do this as a job. I believe that, because manga itself is usually created by one artist, that person’s beliefs are deeply instilled in that one title. Each title has a strong message of its own and I believe that it inspires people, so I hope that readers can use K Manga as a way to discover a lot of manga and find their personal favorite.”

▼ Left: Tsubasa Yamaguchi (Blue Period)
Right: Yoshitoki Oima (To Your Eternity)

You heard the man. This launch party on YouTube, which will stream here, is definitely worth checking out for fans and artists alike. By the way, all 16 artists whose works will be up for grabs during the event will also be giving pre-recorded messages to fans and Hiro Mashima is even going to treat us all with a live drawing. All in all it will be a great way to enjoy past favorites and maybe find new ones, just as Yuta Hiraoka hopes you will with K Manga.

Event information
K Manga Launch Party
9:00 EST, 22 June, 2023
Livestream Channel: Kodansha USA’s Official YouTube Channel
Event Website

Images © 2023 KODANSHA LTD.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Starbucks Japan’s new cake Frappuccino brings sunshine to our taste buds

https://ift.tt/71gJVch Oona McGee

Cheerful new limited-edition beverage parts the clouds on a rainy day.

With the rainy season starting to set in around Japan, the skies have been gloomier than usual, but over at Starbucks the sun is shining with the arrival of the summery Setouchi Lemon Cake Frappuccino.

This new limited-edition beverage blends milk and cream with lemon sauce, peels and cake bits made with lemons sourced from Setouchi, Japan’s premier lemon-producing region.

Our resident Starbucks expert K. Masami lined up as soon as the Frappuccino went on sale on 31 May, and rather than try the drink as is, she decided to ask the barista for their recommended customisation. He told her she would be completely satisfied with the mix without any customisation, but he did say that almond milk pairs particularly well with it, so that’s what she ordered.

▼ Behold, the Setouchi Lemon Cake Frappuccino with almond milk

The bright yellow topping on this drink was incredibly summery, with lemon icing sauce and lemon-flavoured pearl sugar designed to recreate the taste of a cake topping.

Stirring the drink revealed the thick and creamy base was interspersed with small bits of crushed cake, and when Masami tried it all together, she was surprised to find it tasted incredibly sweet.

She’d been expecting the tartness of the lemon to dominate the flavour profile, but instead, she found that the sweetness of the cake and icing shone through. The lemon was still there, though, especially in the topping, but instead of swaying everything over to the tart side, it played a harmonious accompaniment in the background, adding a delightful fruity freshness to the mix.

The almond milk helped to add a bittersweet taste to the lemon and cream, and by the end of the drink, Masami found herself feeling fuller than usual, which she figured must’ve been due to the cake pieces adding extra body to the beverage.

The only thing she regretted about her visit was the fact that she’d forgotten to bring a tumbler from home with her. Customers who do bring their own tumbler to Starbucks can enjoy a 55-yen (US$0.40) discount on their drinks, instead of the usual 22-yen discount, as part of a special “Tumbler Club” promotion being held until 30 June.

▼“We are Tumbler Club. We are Tumblers!”

The Setouchi Lemon Cake Frappuccino is available in a tall size only, priced at 678 yen for takeout or 690 yen for dine-in customers, so a 55-yen discount would certainly sweeten the deal.

It’s only on the menu for a limited time while stocks last, though, so if you’d like to escape the grey skies and enjoy a taste of sunshine, be sure to stop by the chain sooner rather than later!

Images © SoraNews24
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Japanese government promises, for real this time, that expressways will be free by the year 2115

https://ift.tt/5KTh8qU Casey Baseel

If you can hold off on your Japan road trip until the next century, you could really save some money!

Japan may be one of the world’s largest automobile producers, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get around the country by car. There’s a huge hurdle to hopping into your car and getting out on the highway for a weekend drive or family trip, which is that Japan’s expressways are extremely expensive. Want to take the expressway from Tokyo to Osaka? That’ll be about 12,000 yen (roughly US$90) in tolls, and, unless you’re planning on abandoning your car in Osaka, another 12,000 yen when you drive back to Tokyo.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though. In 2005, Japan’s expressways were quasi-privatized, becoming managed by stock companies with the Japanese government holding a controlling number of shares. As part of this restructuring, the government promised that, by the designated year, it would do away with expressway tolls, making them free to use.

Unfortunately, the government is now backtracking on that pledge. At a session of the House of Councilors on May 31, the attending members enacted the Revised Act on Special Measures for Road Development, which legally allows them to continue collecting tolls past when they’d said they’d be ended. The good news is that they’ve given the public plenty of advance warning about the extension. The bad news? The new deadline to end toll collection is the year 2115.

▼ What it’ll probably look like to plan your free-expressway driving route.

Yep, 2115. When the toll moratorium was first announced, expressways were supposed to become free to use by no later than 2055. In 2014, though, this was revised to 2065, and in the latest walk-back, the government decided to tack on another 50 years of toll-collecting privileges.

Even with a 42-year heads-up, an extra half-century of paying tolls is an idea that’s got the general public upset, as Twitter reactions in Japan are showing. Some people are able to calm themselves with the dry, grim realization that the government’s decision likely closes the door on them ever being able to drive on the expressway for free in their lifetime, so there’s not much point in worrying about it anymore, but others are still shocked to see the futuristic year 2115 show up in official legislation, and are saddened that they’ll still be paying to use the expressway when we were supposed to have much cooler things going on by then.

“I’m dead.”
“Free expressways in 2115? Yeah, I’m not gonna be in this world anymore by then.”
“If a kid is born today, he’ll be 92 years old when the expressways finally become free.”
“How come they’re still going to be charging expressway tolls then? Aren’t we supposed to have our flying cars by then?”
“2015? Are they serious? Geez, that’s even after Doraemon is supposed to be born.”
“Cyberpunk 2077. Free expressways 2115.”

As for why the government is extending the toll-abolishment deadline, according to recent reviews of expressway conditions, including its tunnels and bridges, and projects to widen certain sections from two lanes to four, are going to cost 1.5 trillion yen (roughly US$11.1 billion) more than previously expected. That brings the total estimate for all projected maintenance and development work for the expressway network (including areas that are in good condition now but will need work done in the future) by 2115 up to 8.3 trillion yen, with the apparent prediction that not enough of that will be paid for by 2065 to stop collecting tolls.

There is a sliver of silver lining to the situation, in that the deadline extension is not yet a firm decision to continue collecting tolls all the way up to 2115. In technical terms, it only grants the government the power to extend the deadline past 2065, in increments, all the way up to 2115. That said, if the financials of going toll-free are already looking dicey 40-plus years ahead of time, it seems unlikely that the government is going to find a feasible way to end expressway tolls with just a few extra years past 2065.

Sources: NHK News Web, Kyodo, Twitter
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso
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Best breakfast ramen in southern Japan? Taste-testing Fukuoka’s super-convenient Morning Ramen

https://ift.tt/xgU3CS6 Casey Baseel

A perfect place for your last, or first, meal in Japan’s southern ramen capital.

Generally speaking, ramen isn’t considered a breakfast meal in Japan. All over the country, you’ll see college students and office workers at their local ramen joint for lunch, people of all stripes getting it for dinner, and even clubbers and bar hoppers slurping down a bowl as a late-night snack. But ramen is a bit much for breakfast, most people would say, in terms of both the strength of its flavor and how filling it is.

And yet, we here at SoraNews24 say it’s perfectly natural to experience first-thing-in-the-morning ramen cravings if you’ve traveled all the way to Japan, and especially if you’re spending the a.m. in Fukuoka, once of the country’s very best ramen towns.

So today we’re heading to one of Fukuoka’s very best places to get breakfast ramen.

Located in the basement level of Hakata Station (downtown Fukuoka’s main rail hub) is a restaurant section of the complex called Hakata Ichibangai, where many of the eateries specialize in local delicacies. A lot of the restaurants don’t open up until around 11 o’clock or so, but Ikkosha starts serving up Fukuoka-style ramen at 8.

▼ Ikkosha

Opening so early and being located right at Hakata Station makes Ikkosha an extremely convenient place to get one last bowl of Fukuoka ramen in your belly before you have to leave town for the next stop on your Japan travel itinerary, or to get your first if you just got into town via early-morning or overnight means.

We rolled up just a little after Ikkosha opened for the day, but there was already a bit of a line. The flow of customers in and out looked pretty speedy, though, so we sauntered up to the touch panel terminal to buy our meal ticket.

We could have ordered Ikkosha’s standard pork-broth Hakata Ramen, but the screen showed that they also have a special Assari Morning Ramen. When talking about food, assari describes a lighter flavor with a clean finish, so, intrigued, we opted for a bowl of the Assari Morning Ramen for 630 yen (US$4.70) and added an extra topping of kikurage mushroom for 130 yen more.

Just as we’d predicted, it wasn’t long until seat for us opened up. We sat down, handed our meal ticket to the staff, poured a cup of water from the self-service tap…

…and in less than a minute, our bowl of breakfast ramen was placed before us!

Aside from the supplemental kikurage we’d ordered, Ikkosha’s Morning Ramen comes standard with chashu pork and negi (green onions). As is proper ramen-tasting procedure, we started with the broth.

Instead of a cloudy all-tonkotsu pork stock, Ikkosha’s Morning Ramen is a comparatively clear hybrid tonkotsu and soy sauce broth. That doesn’t mean it’s lacking in flavor, though, as sipping a spoonful supplied us immediately with a meaty deliciousness.

As much as we love tonkotsu ramen, even it’s biggest fans will tell you that it can sometimes have a strong, and unpleasant, odor to it. Ikkosha’s morning ramen, though, is free of such smell, making it a ramen you can eat first thing in the morning without fear of having a strange scent on your breath for the rest of the day.

Next up, the noodles. These too are in the traditional Fukuoka style, straighter and firmer than what you’ll find in most other parts of Japan. Add in their smooth surface texture, and we’ve got nothing bad at all to say about them.

The kikurage and negi were high-quality too, adding some nice crunchy texture, and last, but certainly not least, the chashu is outstanding, tender and juicy.

Oh, and remember how we said the flow of customers in and out of Ikkosha is so fast? It’s not just because of the staff’s speedy service, but also because their ramen is so good that many diners, us included, wolf it down with lightning speed.

We should point out that there are also restaurants that serve pre-lunch ramen inside Fukuoka Airport. However, they don’t open until 10, making it a lot harder to squeeze in a ramen breakfast, and they won’t solve your noodle craving crises at all if you’re not leaving or arriving in Fukuoka by air.

Really, the only potential drawback we see to hitting Ikkosha for your morning meal is the possibility of feeling like your day has peaked so early on, but that’s a chance we’re willing to take.

Restaurant information
Ikkosha (Hakata Ichibangai branch) / 一幸舎（博多一番街店）
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Japanese city getting Spirited Away buses to celebrate Studio Ghibli anime producer museum event

https://ift.tt/pXjV8cy Casey Baseel

Toshio Suzuki exhibit comes to southern city for the first time, with new merch along for the ride.

Japan’s major cities are usually too big to traverse on foot, but taxis are expensive. That makes public transportation the best way, by far, to get around, and now travelers and locals alike in Fukuoka City will have one more reason to take the bus. Starting this month, a number of buses from operator Nishitetsu Bus will be running around downtown Fukuoka wrapped with Spirited Away artwork.

Gazing out with a smile from the back of the bus is Chihiro, and she’s joined by two other characters from the Studio Ghibli anime film masterpiece. Perched on her shoulder is Boh, in his mouse form, and looking out from the back is No-Face.

The Spirited Away buses are part of the promotion for the latest iteration of the Toshio Suzuki and Ghibli Exhibition. The traveling event, which focuses on the life, career, and sensibilities of veteran Studio Ghibli anime producer Toshio Suzuki, is coming to Fukuoka for the first time.

In addition to some breathtaking art installation/photo spaces featuring Totoro and Spirited Away with Yubaba, there’s also a gigantic library exhibit of roughly 8,800 books Suzuki has read in his life, which he credits with helping to shape his way of thinking and artistic philosophies.

There is, naturally, a collection of classy merchandise being offered in conjunction with the exhibition, including items such as notepads, stickers, T-shirts for Spirited Away’s Aburya bathhouse for the gods, a sake bottle/cup set with flying dragon Haku, and a No-Face tea canister.

And for those with a special appreciation for Ghibli anime dialogue, there’s a series of uchiwa hand fans and plastic clear files emblazoned with brush-calligraphy renderings of famous lines from the studio’s films. These items, not offered at the previous iterations of the Toshio Suzuki and Ghibli Exhibition, are making their debut at the Fukuoka event.

▼ “It was a dream, but it wasn’t a dream!” for My Neighbor Totoro
“Please let me work here” for Spirited Away

▼ “You’ve got 40 seconds to get ready!” for Laputa: Castle in the Sky
“It’s been tough, but I’m doing well” for Kiki’s Delivery Service

Getting back to the Spirited Away buses, the artwork will appear on select vehicles on the following bus lines between the listed stops.

● Atagohama Seaside Line between Nokotosenba and Hakata
● Fukudai Line between Hibara Katae Eigyosho and Yoshizuka Eigyosho
● Aburayama Line between Hakata and Hibara Katae Eigyosho

Nishitetsu Bus hasn’t announced exactly when the special buses will appear or for how long, but with the Toshio Suzuki and Ghibli Exhibition taking place at the Fukuoka City Museum from June 9 to August 31, a similar time frame seems most likely.

Related: Toshio Suzuki and Ghibli Exhibition Fukuoka official website, Fukuoka City Museum
Source: PR Times
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times, press release
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