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This shop combines traditional Japanese sweets with…mayonnaise?!?[Taste test]
Even with a shop name like Mayo x Mayo, we weren’t expecting this much mayo.The word “original” has a bit of a different nuance in Japanese. It’s not so much used to describe something revolutionary or inventive so much as something that’s unique to a specific place. So, for example, a restaurant that makes its own roux from scratch, as opposed to using any sort of pre-made version, might boast about its “original curry,” even if the restaurant’s curry itself is pretty orthodox in style.But we r
Starbucks adds new Fruit Gummy sweets to stores in Japan
Sure, Starbucks knows how to make a good Frappucino, but do they have what it takes to make good gummies? Starbucks is known around the world for being a coffeehouse chain that specialises in drinks like the Frappuccino, but here in Japan you can come across some other unique surprises. Right now, the biggest surprise of all is that the chain is branching out into the sweet world of gummies, with a new release called Fruit Gummy.We came across this new discovery when we spotted the sweets next t
Gun found in Japanese convenience store restroom, traced to forgetful on-duty cop
A public restroom stall shock that had nothing to do with cleanliness.Whether you’re looking for a Pokémon frappe, chocolate chip sandwich, or surprisingly high-quality T-shirt, Japan’s convenience stores have got you covered. As a matter of fact, it can start to become easy to become desensitized to the very wide variety of things you can find in a Japanese convenience store, but earlier this month a customer at one in the town of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture came across something that sti
New Square Enix Cafe reveals Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Nier, and Fullmetal Alchemist menu items
Tokyo’s new video game/anime eatery has a lot to love (and eat).June 12 is the grand opening of the brand-new Square Enix Cafe in downtown Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood, and the eatery has released a sneak peek at what’s going to be on the menu. As you might expect, food and beverages inspired by the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises will be on offer, but there’s one other dark-horse candidate for your dining and drinking attention, and an anime/manga mega-hit too.Beginning with Final Fa
Shinto shrine’s night sky firefly sweets are Japan’s newest breathtaking, mouthwatering desserts.
Firefly-viewing season provides the inspiration for breathtaking Japanese confectionaries.Japan loves to celebrate the changing of the seasons, and Japan loves sweets, so Japan really loves seasonal sweets. Sometimes, finding those crossover opportunities is easy, like releasing sakura-flavored confectionaries as the cherry blossoms come into bloom, or using premium matcha just as the first batch of green tea for the year is being harvested.Things get a little trickier, though, if you’re looking
Dushanbe hosts Asia-Pacific meeting ahead of 2026 UN Water Conference
DUSHANBE, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Asia-Pacific Regional Preparatory Meeting for the 2026 United Nations Water Conference was held on Monday in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, in conjunction with the 4th High-Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action "Water for Sustainable Development," 2018-2028.
Family Mart commits “reverse fraud” in new Giant All-Star Festival, and we couldn’t be happier
At this Japanese convenience store chain, big is an understatement. It’s been a great few months for convenience store fans in Japan, with chains like 7-Eleven and Lawson upsizing a number of their products with special limited-time campaigns.▼ Now, Family Mart is bringing joy to its customers with a “Giant All-Star Festival“.With 14 items in the lineup, covering products like coffee, sweets and sandwiches, there’s something here for everyone. However, unlike 7-Eleven and
Retro fashion magazines from Tokyo’s street market remind Mr. Sato of a special gift from his dad
Mr. Sato is filled with appreciation for the other Mr. Sato.Tokyo has a number of neighborhoods, such as Shibuya and Harajuku, that celebrate trendy, youthful fashions and culture. There’s also a part of the city, though, with a focus on a more mature clientele.Located part-way between Ikebukuro and Ueno on the Yamanote loop line that encircles the city center, Sugamo is a gathering place for Tokyo’s senior citizens, and while it’s an interesting spot to check out on any day, our ace reporter Mr
Godiva melts minds by releasing a new corn chocolate drink in Japan
We find out if this new limited-edition Chocolixir really tastes like corn potage soup.With summer now upon us, stores all over Japan are releasing limited-edition seasonal products to keep us feeling cool and refreshed. Over at Godiva, though, the focus is more on seasonal produce, with a new release that’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before.Called the Sweet Corn Chocolixir, this new take on the chain’s signature chocolate-based Chocolixir drink is said to taste like sweet co
Order a cocktail, support a senior with Shinjuku Day Service Mojito at a handful of businesses
A new model of urban community collaboration in Shinjuku’s Kabukicho area connects the generations using mint as a bridge.Senior citizens probably aren’t the first demographic that comes to mind when you think of Shinjuku’s Kabukicho neighborhood, which is much more commonly associated with younger crowds, nightlife, and bars. Yet, the area is home to a sizeable population of older folks who depend on facilities such as Shinjuku Day Service for lifestyle support and social acti
New Tokyo sweets shop offers 648 different mochi ice cream dumpling combinations
Customizable Yukimi Daifuku shop makes an amazing variety of sweet treats so that you can find the perfect one for you.There are certain problems in life that it’s nice to have. For example, Japan has so many amazing desserts that just picking one can be a tough decision, and that’s not going to get any easier with the opening of My Yukimi Daifuku, a new sweets shop coming to Tokyo’s Nakameguro neighborhood this summer.As the name implies, My Yukimi Daifuku is a place for Yukimi Daifuku, confect
Fukushima City on edge as resourceful and violent bear still not found
Cunning bear managed to escape stand-off with police and hunters.As we’ve been seeing in recent years in Japan, not only has the number of bear encounters and attacks been steadily rising, but it appears bears have been coming closer and closer to populated areas as well.Once an incident that only those deep in the mountains and forests of Japan had to worry about, more and more people have been spotting the large and powerful animals in unlikely places, like train stations, and now on the outsk
Body of missing American college student found in Kyoto mountains
20-year-old on family trip to Japan had been missing since May 29.On May 25, 20-year-old James “Weston” Higginbotham arrived in Japan with his parents and younger brother on a family vacation to celebrate the younger sibling’s high school graduation. During the trip, the environmentally minded James argued with his mother over her use of AI, and the ecological impact of such systems, and on May 29, when the family was in Kyoto, James decided to break off from the group and spend time alone. Befo
Japan’s cheap beef bowl chain Matsuya opens gourmet Premium Matsuya with Kobe beef…inside Matsuya
A tale of four Matsuyas, and a whole lot of gourmet wagyu beef.As one of the country’s big-three gyudon/beef bowl chains, Matsuya is among the top choices for those looking for a cheap but hearty meal in Japan. But maybe it doesn’t always need to be quite so cheap, and so Matsuya has made the decision to open a new, more expensive, and more gourmet, branch inside Matsuya.Actually, we should back up a bit, because there are no fewer than four different Matsuyas we’re going to be talking about her
Colour Hunting: The hot new street photography trend changing how we see Japan
Some might say you haven’t truly seen Japan if you haven’t colour hunted. Recently, an activity called “colour hunting” has been gaining popularity in Japan. Simply put, it involves choosing a colour theme and then, while walking around town, taking photos of things that match that colour, before compiling them into a single image.The results are remarkably mesmerising, but what’s even more interesting is the way it encourages you to notice details you wouldn’
Japanese rice cooker recipe gives us a tasty new way to enjoy vegetables and wieners
Quick and easy, this is a meal that’ll have you going back for seconds.One of our favourite hacks when it comes to making Japanese-style meals is to whip out our rice cooker and stuff it with all sorts of unconventional ingredients. These so-called “rice cooker recipes” almost always result in surprisingly delicious meals, and our latest culinary experiment turned out to be so tasty and easy to make that we wanted to share it so you can enjoy it too.The recipe itself is adapted
Japan Railways partners with Overwatch, heroes hit the Shinkansen for bullet train collaboration
And yes, there is a reason Mercy is dressed that way.With Japan being home to many of the world’s most passionate gamers, Japan Railways Group periodically partners with popular video game franchises to add a little extra fun to fans’ train travel in Japan, like we’ve seen in previous tie-ups with the Final Fantasy and Pokémon series. For its next video game collaboration, though, JR Central (a.k.a. JR Tokai) is teaming up with a series that hails from the U.S.This summer, characters from the ca
Ghibli’s No Face continues to demonstrate his generous character growth by dispensing soy sauce
Can you please pass the soy sauce, No Face?Explicit exposition has never really been Studio Ghibli’s thing, but even by their standards, No Face’s character arc is an impressive case. Without saying a single word of dialogue, we watch the Spirited Away scene-stealer go from covetous to considerate over the course of the film, learning that there’s more to life than a cycle of gorging and coercing people with regurgitated pricy baubles.By the time the movie ends, No Face has become a sympathetic,
With hot sweaty Shibuya summer on the way, free sodium tablets to be given out in downtown Tokyo
Stay salty, everybody.Shibuya is one of Tokyo’s most exciting neighborhoods. Between world-famous tourism landmarks like the statue of faithful dog Hachiko and the scramble intersection, plus shopping options from iconic stores like fashion mecca 109 and Nintendo Tokyo, there’s a lot to see and do in this part of downtown, and if you’re visiting this summer you might want to stop by the Shibuya Ward Office too and grab a little something to eat.No, this isn’t another semi-secret ward office cafe
A Japanese toast sandwich remix: The toasted rice rice ball[SoraKitchen]
Mr. Sato steps into the SoraKitchen with a bold idea.Food, as a broad topic, is pretty much always on our mind here at SoraNews24, but recently our ace reporter Mr. Sato found himself thinking about toast sandwiches in particular. Like many people who grew up outside the U.K., Mr. Sato initially found the concept of a sandwich where the inside and outside are made of the same thing to be kind of bizarre. And yet, the toast sandwich has been part of British cuisine for more than 150 years, so it