Strawberry Pocky

Pocky is a Japanese biscuit stick coated in chocolate. There are many different flavours of Pocky in Japan including Strawberry Pocky which made its debut in 1977. This is my favourite Strawberry Pocky and is called tsubu tsubu strawberry. It is strawberry flavoured chocolate with pieces of dried strawberry. It has a light sweet taste and is very addictive. I enjoy the sweat taste of the strawberry sometimes as opposed to some of the more bitter chocolate varieties.

Tsubu Tsubu Strawberry Pocky

This is what it looks like. You can see the pieces of dried stawberry.

Korean Style Beef Burger

This is a modern take on the classic burger with Asian flavours such as garlic, ginger and sesame oil in the meat and served with soy braised onions and chilli mayonnaise.


Serves 4

Ingredients
• 600g minced beef
• 4 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 Tbsp chopped spring onions
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 2cm knob ginger, finely grated
• 1 tsp sugar
• sea salt and pepper
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 onions, halved and finely sliced
• 2 Tbsp mirin (Japanese rice wine)
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tsp chilli sauce
• 4 burger buns
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 8 soft lettuce leaves
• ½ cucumber, finely sliced
• 2 small tomatoes, sliced

Method

1. Mix the beef, using your hands, with 2 Tbsp soy sauce, sesame oil, egg, green onions, garlic, ginger, sugar, salt and pepper. Form into patties and refrigerate for an hour.
2. Heat 2 Tbsp vegetable oil in a frying pan and cook onions over a medium heat for 10 minutes, tossing well until softened.
3. Add remaining soy, mirin and vinegar to the pan and cook 5-10 minutes more until golden brown. Set aside.
4. Whisk mayonnaise and chilli sauce together.
5. Brush burger patties with remaining vegetable oil and grill or pan fry over a medium heat for about 4 minutes on each side, until browned.
6. Split burger buns and lightly grill.
7. Top base buns with lettuce leaves and burger patties. Add a spoonful of chilli mayonnaise and top with soy onions and sesame seeds.
8. Arrange lettuce, cucumber and tomato on remaining bun tops alongside and serve.

With the help of Epicure, The Age 2011

Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

Lady Gaga Promotes Japan

Japan has recruited Lady Gaga to promote and spread the word that much of Japan is safe for visitors. Japan is still recovering from March’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, but has now stepped up efforts to draw foreign travellers back to Japan. The Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) efforts include online videos of race car drivers, ice skaters and other celebrities like Lady Gaga urging travellers to visit the country. In an online video shot before a benefit concert in Tokyo in June, Lady Gaga says “I can’t say enough to people all over the world that the majority of Japan … is very safe”.

The northern summer months are vital to Japan’s foreign tourism industry with the nation traditionally reporting some of its highest tourist numbers in July and August. As part of its effort to lure visitors before the northern summer ends, the JNTO recently posted online the radiation levels for down town Tokyo that the tourism group says are lower than in tourist destinations such as New York, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The JNTO has been focusing its efforts on showing people that Japan is safe for travel and that it’s business as usual in Tokyo and most other major cities in Japan.

You can read more here about Is it Safe to Travel to Japan

Lady Gaga Promotes Japan as a Safe Destination

Curse of the Japanese Salaryman

Who wants to work in Japan? The Japanese have a reputation for being one of the world’s hardest workers. They even have a word in Japanese “karoshi” which means “death by overwork”. The Japanese Salaryman often works under sustained stress that involves unpaid overtime and long hours with many of them working themselves to death.

Death is usually caused by a heart attack or stroke. In classic karoshi cases, victims drop at their desks. You might think that this is Only in Japan and classify it as just another culture quirk of the Japanese, but this is now happening beyond Japan. Karoshi exists in Korea, Taiwan, and China. Karoshi emerged in Japan after the country rose from the ashes of the post war slump and edged towards prosperity. As the country’s star rose, so did the number of hours Japanese citizens worked. They became workhorses, clocking in 12 hour days seven days a week.

Why does karoshi still exist today? It still exists today because the culture is stocked by two key dynamics. First is the economic decline, which has fuelled cuts and the second is the exacting practice of Japanese production management or “lean production”. Karoshi looks unlikely to loosen its grip on the Japanese Salaryman any time soon with increased job insecurity, traditions of discipline and devotion to the company still running deep.

Inspired by an article in MyCareer in THE AGE 2011

TripAdvisor World’s Best Destinations

The list is in for the World’s Best Destination in the annual TripAdvisor Travelers Choice Awards


The Top 12 World Destinations are:

1. Cape Town, South Africa
2. Sydney, Australia
3. Machu Picchu, Peru
4. Paris, France
5. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
6. New York City, US
7. Rome, Italy
8. London, UK
9. Barcelona, Spain
10. Hong Kong, China
11. Kyoto, Japan
12. Queenstown, New Zealand

Congratulations to Sydney for 2nd position and my favourite place in Japan, Kyoto for 11th.

What do you think of this list? Do you Agree or Disagree with the choices?

You can view the full list of the Top 25 World’s Best Destinations with the link below

TripAdvisor World’s Best Destinations

Cat Time Café in Osaka

In Gifu, there is a famous chain restaurant called Cat’s Café that specialises in cheap affordable food and the restaurants are famous for their atmosphere that features a lot of cat decorations scattered all over the restaurant. The Cat Time Café in Osaka goes one better with real cats roaming the café which patrons pay to play with the feline friends.

The Cat Time café, which opened in 2009 has 21 cats residing at the café and specialises in “cat relaxation”. Customers pay at least 850 yen ($9.80) just to step In the door and enjoy the pleasure of sipping their coffee and admiring the assortment of cats that make their way around the café. Customers have one hour of so called “cat time” to enjoy. The café has various beverages available as well as cakes and a limited number of cat treats. Cat toys can be hired in 10 minute blocks from 210 yen.

These types of café have been on the rise in Japan due to the tiny apartments which are extremely commonplace in large cities and pets are often forbidden by landlords.

Osaka currently has 10 such cafes and the new phenomenon has already spread to Tokyo and Seoul.

How does it all work?

Upon arrival at Cat Time Café, guests must remove their shoes, pay their money and then have their hands sprayed with hand cleaner. They are then free to enjoy their coffee and cake and to interact with the cats. There are a few simple rules such as no shouting, do not disturb any sleeping cats, no outside toys are to be brought in and no smoking is allowed.

The typical customer at Cat Time Café usually only stays for an hour and spend their time moving between various cats, occasionally stopping to pat one of the cats or to take a photo with their mobile phone. Most customers come to the café to relax and enjoy the assortment of cats.

Cat Time Café
8-8 4 Chome
Kita-ku
Osaka Tenjinbashi

This is my submission to the November 2011 J-Festa Dining in Japan

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Bid

Tokyo on Saturday formally announced its bid to host the 2020 Olympics. Japan’s Olympic Committee sees the bid as a symbol of Japan’s determination to recover from the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Tokyo, which hosted Asia’s first Olympics in 1964, lost out to Rio de Janeiro in the race to host the 2016 Olympics. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics was where Japan was able to show the world how much Japan had recovered from the disaster of the second World War. The Olympic Committee wants to make the 2020 games a similar symbol of recovery from the major disasters Japan has recently suffered.

What do you think? Is this games bid a vital component to Japan road to recovery?

The Real Ninja, Amazing Facts about the Ninja