Interview with ‘Loco in Yokohama’

Baye McNeil is a fellow blogger in Japan that I have been following for many years. He is originally from Brooklyn, New York but now calls the beautiful city of Yokohama home. A multitalented man who is a writer, blogger, amateur photographer and teacher, I really enjoy his work which includes his blog, Loco in Yokohama. Baye is also a published author with his first book, Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist, an acclaimed success. He is just about to release his latest book; ‘Loco in Yokohama’, so Japan Australia took the time to interview this fascinating man.

Lotteria Super Cheeseday and Super Fryday

Japanese burger chain Lotteria is celebrating its 40th anniversary with an Autumn special that might interest all those ex-pat burger lovers here in Japan. Back by popular demand are Lotteria’s Super Cheeseday and Super Fryday burger deals.

Starting from September 23 until October 9, you can find two new items back on the menu. The Zeppin Cheeseburger will come with five beef patties and slices of cheese. It will be priced at 1360 yen (USD$13.60). The Ebi Tree Burger is a seafood option featuring ebi (shrimp). It contains five deep-fried shrimp patties and costs 770 yen (USD$7.70). You may remember that both of these classics featured in the recent Twin Burger.

KFC Corn Potage Fritter

KFC Japan has just released a new item to its menu, the Corn Potage Fritter. It went on sale on September 5th across the country. Corn Potage is a very popular soup in Japan that is thick and creamy. It is served at most restaurants and cafes and can even be found in vending machines during the colder months. Corn Potage also seems to be a flavour of the moment here in Japan and can be found in everything from snacks to ice-cream. KFC has taken this Japanese favourite one step further by serving it deep-fried. Yes, that’s right deep-fried! The Corn Potage Fritter is crispy on the outside while soft and creamy on the inside.

How do KFC do it? 

Tsukimi Burger 2013

The Tsukimi Burger at McDonald’s Japan is an autumn favourite of mine and I always look forward to it making its annual appearance on the menu. Autumn in Japan, which is September – November is the time to enjoy delicious autumn food, cooler weather and koyo ~ the colourful autumn leaves. The Tsukimi Burger is only available for a limited time during autumn in Japan and made its appearance back on the menu in 2013 on August 23rd.

Starbucks Refreshers Japan

Starbucks Refreshers hit the store shelves on June 25th in Japan. They are a new kind of energy drink made by Starbucks and can be found at Seven Eleven’s across Japan. The drink is fruit juice based and lightly caffeinated with green coffee extract to pick you up. Designed mainly for the female market and as a light afternoon pick-me-up as opposed to a full on energy drink. They are available in two different flavours ~ Cool Lime and Very Berry Hibiscus.

The drinks contain real fruit juice along with green coffee extract, ginseng, and vitamins B and C.

They come in a 200ml can and cost 200 yen (USD$2.00).

How do they taste?

Cool Lime ~ Very fruity and you can really taste the lime. The fruit juice makes it seem more like a soft drink but it’s very refreshing.

Starbucks Refreshers Cool Lime

Very Berry Hibiscus ~ A lot sweeter than the Cool Lime and you can really taste the berry flavours. Definitely our favourite of the two and easy to drink.

Starbucks Refreshers Very Berry Hibiscus

Have a look at our video to see the new Starbucks Refreshers in Japan

Summer Snacks in Japan

One of the great things about living in Japan is the seasonal food and drinks that come around every year, and summer in no exception. Summer 2013 in Japan has seen a great range of summer snacks hit the shelves at conbini (convenience stores) and supermarkets around the country. A few of my favourites have been:

Summer Pocky

Two new summer flavours of Pocky came out for summer 2013. These are Tropical Pocky and Coconut Pocky. Tropical Pocky is very fruity with the Pocky stick covered in mango cream and infused with bits of pineapple. Coconut Pocky features the Pocky stick covered with chocolate and coconut. It was delicious and definitely is our favourite of the summer Pocky.

Coconut Pocky & Tropical Pocky

Passionfruit / Cookies & Cream KitKat

Two new summer versions of KitKat also hit the shelves this summer. Passionfruit KitKat and Cookies & Cream KitKat. Passionfruit KitKat is very sweet and has a strong fruity passionfruit taste. Perfect for any passionfruit fan. Cookies & Cream KitKat is best eaten cold straight out of the fridge or freezer, and is very sweet and delicious. It's hard to beat our all time favourite Matcha Green Tea KitKat but these come close.

Passionfruit KitKat

Cookies & Cream KitKat

Crunch Caramel & Vanilla

Crunch Caramel & Vanilla is also recommended to be beaten cold and is super sweet. It has a great texture and is very good.

Crunch Caramel and Vanilla

Watermelon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Watermelon or Suika is an extremely popular summer flavour in Japan and you will find it in all sorts of things.These Watermelon Chocolate Chip Cookies are a very interesting idea and taste pretty good.

Watermelon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Calbee Salty Lemon Potato Chips

These have been our favourite summer potato chip with a great lemony taste that is just perfect with a cold beer.

Calbee Salty Lemon Potato Chips

Pepsi Shuwa Shuwa Cola Corn Snacks

An unusual flavour that really does taste like Pepsi with that refreshing shuwa shuwa (fizzy bubbles) feeling! They are basically Cheetos that are covered in a fizzy cola powder.

Pepsi Shuwa Shuwa Cola Corn Snacks

What is your favourite Japanese Summer Snack for 2013? Please leave your answers in the comments below.

Obon 2013

Obon (お盆) is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of our ancestors. It is believed that each year during Obon, the spirits of our ancestors come back to this world in order to visit their relatives. The spirits visit the family household altar, where we make offerings of food and prayers. We traditionally hang lanterns called chochin in front of the house to guide the spirits home and visit cemeteries and temples together with our family. This Buddhist custom has in recent times evolved into an important family get-together or re-union, where people return to their ancestral family homes to visit and clean their ancestors’ graves. At the end of Obon, the lanterns are usually taken to the family grave-site in a practice called okuri-bon or placed into rivers, lakes, or sea in order to guide the spirits back into their world.

Obon has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance called Bon-Odori (盆踊り). Here in Gifu Prefecture, there is a famous Bon-Odori in Gujo Hachiman called Gujo-Odori. This is one of the biggest Bon festival dances in Japan. It is held on 31 nights from mid-July to early September with the four main nights in the middle of August (13, 14, 15, 16) where they dance through-out the night.

Bon-Odori originates from the story of Maha Maudgalyayana (Mokuren), who was a disciple of the Buddha. Mokuren used his supernatural powers to look upon his deceased mother. While doing this he discovered that she had fallen into the Realm of Hungry Ghosts and was suffering and in pain. Disturbed by this vision, he went to the Buddha and asked how he could release his mother from this realm. Buddha instructed Mokuren to make offerings to the many Buddhist monks who had just completed their summer retreat, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Mokuren did this and just as Buddha had said, saw his mother released from the realm. Overjoyed and grateful for her release he danced with joy and thus Bon-Odori was born.

Obon lasts for three days; however the starting date varies depending on the region of Japan. “Shichigatsu Bon” or Bon in July is celebrated from 13 - 15 July in areas such as Tokyo, Yokohama and the Tohoku region. “Hachigatsu Bon” or Bon in August is celebrated from 13 - 15 August and is the most commonly celebrated time in Japan. The Obon week in mid-August is one of Japan’s peak holiday seasons with lots of people travelling around the country. This year the peak Obon travel period is anticipated to be between 10 August and 18 August, so take note if you are travelling during this period. The busiest days will be 10 August with people leaving home and 17-18 August with people returning home.

Goju-Odori from Gujo Hachiman Tourist Association

Mister Donut Calpis Donuts

Mister Donut Japan has released a summer series of donuts in collaboration with Calpis. For those who don’t know, Calpis is a Japanese soft drink with a light, milky taste, similar to a yoghurt or yakult. Mister Donut in April released a Hello Kitty series of donuts that was very popular.

The new Mister Donut Calpis Donuts went on sale on July 7 with Calpis (ramune soda) and Calpis (strawberry) flavours available.

The donuts come in different styles such as the Calpis Star Donut Soda, Calpis Star Donut Strawberry, Calpis Cream Donut, Calpis Pon de Soda, and Calpis French Style Donut Soda.

Calpis Star Donut Soda 

Calpis Star Donut Soda (147 yen) contains Calpis cream and is topped with a soda flavoured chocolate and silver sugar. It was designed especially for Tanabata which coincides with the anniversary of Calpis. The Calpis flavour matches this donut style best in our opinion as its light and fluffy.

Calpis Star Donut Soda

Calpis Cream inside the Calpis Star Donut Soda

Calpis Star Donut Strawberry 

Calpis Star Donut Strawberry (147 yen) contains Calpis cream and is topped with strawberry flavoured chocolate and silver sugar. This was by far and away our favourite as we really liked the sweet strawberry chocolate icing.

Calpis Star Donut Strawberry

Inside the Calpis Star Donut Strawberry

Calpis Cream Donut 

Calpis Cream Donut (136 yen) contains Calpis cream and is coated in sugar.

Calpis Pon de Soda

Calpis Pon de Soda (147 yen) contains Calpis cream as a filling and is partly topped with a soda flavoured chocolate. We found this our least favourite as the Calpis filling and topping was very strong and overpowering.

Calpis Pon de Soda with the cute Mister Donut / Calpis Wrapper

Calpis Pon de Soda Donut

A look inside the Calpis Pon de Soda with Calpis Cream Filling

Calpis French Style Donut 

Calpis French Style Donut Soda (147 yen) contains Calpis cream as a filling and is partly topped with a soda flavoured chocolate. The Calpis flavour was also a good match with the French Style donut but it still has a very strong soda flavour.

Calpis French Style Donut waiting to be taken out of the wrapper

Calpis French Style Donut

A look inside the Calpis French Style Donut

Have you tried any of the Mister Donut Calpis Donuts?
Please leave your comments below.

Mister Donut website

Star Wars Pocky

Japanese food maker Glico has joined forces with Star Wars to produce some limited edition Star Wars Pocky. Pocky (ポッキー) is a Japanese biscuit stick produced by Ezaki Glico, and made its debut in 1966. Star Wars Pocky comes in two different boxes, one featuring Darth Vader and the other Luke Skywalker. These are the Giant Pocky, so each one is about 20cm and thicker than your normal Pocky. One pack contains 6 Pocky sticks and they come in three flavours Strawberry, Kyoho Grape, and Matcha Green Tea with each one individually wrapped.

Note: Kyoho is a type of giant mountain grape in Japan.

The front cover of Star Wars Pocky

The back features some info on the lightsabers

Each Pocky stick corresponds to a different Star Wars character’s lightsaber. The Strawberry one belongs to Darth Vader, the Grape to Luke Skywalker and the Matcha to the Jedi Master Yoda. They are very cool and do look like Star Wars Lightsabers. You can have a lot of fun eating these.

The Star Wars Pocky Lightsabers individually wrapped

How do they taste? Both the strawberry and grape have a strong smell and are pretty light on the flavour with the biscuit stick dominating. The flavour is quite artificial tasting with the grape one reminding us of the Grape Hi-Chew. Matcha Green Tea was by far and away the most delicious with a nice Matcha taste and even had Matcha inside the biscuit stick. I wouldn't say I’m a big fan of the Giant Pocky (excuse the pun) as the Pocky is too heavy on the biscuit and a lot lighter on the icing/topping compared to your regular Pocky.

Star Wars Pocky ~ Strawberry

Star Wars Pocky ~ Kyoho Grape

Star Wars Pocky ~ Matcha Green Tea

Glico as part of this campaign have produced a whole range of branded snacks such as curry, gyudon, chukadon, fried rice, Pretz, and other snacks. You can see all of these at the Glico website

A few that we have had the chance to try include:

Glico Star Wars Shinise Yoshoku Beef Curry

Star Wars Tomato Pretz

Star Wars Cecil Milk Chocolate

Star Wars Pocky is available in convenience stores and some supermarkets in Japan. You can pick up a packet for 300 yen (USD$3.00).

You can read more about Pocky on my recent Pocky Post

Check out my Star Wars Pocky Video on YouTube

Star Wars Pocky

Twin Burger at Lotteria Japan

Lotteria Japan is famous for its interesting menu and unique burger selections such as The Ramen Burger, which Japan Australia tried back in May.

Lotteria’s latest creation is the Twin Burger that combines two of its most popular menu items, the deep-fried Shrimp Burger and the Zeppin Cheese Burger. The deep-fried Shrimp Burger has been on the Lotteria menu since 1977, while the Zeppin Cheese Burger comes piled with cottage and red cheddar cheese.

The Twin Burger available in Japan from July 4 allows you to enjoy both the Shrimp Burger and Zeppin Cheese Burger at the same time. The Twin Burger costs 500 yen (USD$5.00) and will be available until July 31.

How does it taste?

The deep-fried Shrimp Burger is really good with a crunchy patty with nice tartar sauce. The Zeppin Cheese Burger was really tasty as well with lots of melty gooey cheese. We picked up the Twin Burger with small fries and a medium drink for 850 yen (USD$8.50).

The Twin Burger comes wrapped in a two colour wrapper

The Twin Burger ready to be eaten by Japan Australia

A close-up of the Twin Burger ~ Love that gooey cheese and tartar sauce

Two burgers in one is a pretty good idea in our book! Have you tried the Twin Burger from Lotteria?

Lotteria Japan website

Summer Fashion in Japan

Summer trends in Japan for 2013 include vivid colours and colours such as blue, red, yellow, green, pink as well as neon colours. Printed designs and patterns are also very popular this summer. Soft pastel colours and whites that give a feeling of transparency and sophistication are also trending.

Classic Japanese patterns from the past have also made a come-back this year. The Japanese yukata (浴衣) is a popular choice for summer this year as well.

The yukata is a casual summer kimono usually made of cotton and worn by both men and women. Cotton is perfect for the hot summers as it lets air through and is very cool and comfortable. A typical yukata ensemble includes the yukata, obi (sash), geta or zori (traditional Japanese sandals), sensu (foldable fan), and kinchaku (carry bag). It is a popular look and very common during the hot summer months starting in July and the summer festivals and fireworks (hanabi) which are also part of this season.

Japanese Yukata

Geta ~ Traditional Japanese Sandals and Kinchaku ~ Carry Bag

Sensu ~ Japanese Folding Fan

Yukata are traditionally made with indigo dyed cotton but these days a wide variety of colours and designs are available. The traditional yukata had patterns of flowers or nature against a background. The general rule is that younger people wear bright vivid colours and bold patterns. The older generation prefer dark, simple patterns and matured colours. Men usually wear solid dark colours.

Japanese Men's Yukata

A lot of young people are also completing their yukata look with a pair of cool sunglasses. Men are also wearing hats and women hair accessories to make the look more modern. It is a wonderful mix of the traditional with the new and modern, which is a big part of fashion today in Japan.

This post is proudly sponsored by SmartBuyGlasses Japan, one of the world's largest online eye wear retailer.