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Krispy Kreme Japan giving free donuts with morning drink purchases at all branches, maybe forever

This isn’t a limited-time offer – the free morning donut service has no specified end date!Usually when you hear someone say “The best things in life are free,” they’re talking about love, friendship, or the peaceful tranquility of self-realization and confidence…or maybe a really, really good nap. All fine things, to be sure, but we’d argue that any list of the best things in life is immediately invalidated if it fails to include donuts, and those aren’t free, are they?Except, donuts now

30 Pikachus want to share a Tokyo hotel room with you that has separate Grass, Water, Fire spaces

Grand Hyatt Tokyo celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise with one Pikachu for every year.The Grand Hyatt Tokyo welcomes visitors from around the world every day, but summer is when the establishment’s guests include Pokémon. It’s become an annualtradition for the hotel to offer Pokémon-themed rooms during the summer months.However, since the Pokémon Red and Green Game Boy games were originally released in Japan in 1996, 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of the franchise, so

Japanese politician arrested on charges of accepting bribes to reduce number of monkeys in park

Investigators say city councilman was involved in monkey business.According to the Shimane Prefectural Police, on a June night in 2024, Kiyoshi Inata ventured out of his home in the town of Yonago, where he serves as a city councilman. Inata wasn’t headed out to enjoy the warm air of an early summer’s evening, though, but to have a clandestine meeting in a parking lot within the city limits.As a member of the city council since 2010 who had been reelected multiple times, and who was even the cou

Mt. Fuji decorated with a 500,000-flower pink carpet is Japan’s ultimate spring view

With mirrors, art installations, and a Peter Rabbit garden, this festival is the perfect day trip from Tokyo.There are always times when you might look at a photo of Japan and think, “Surely it can’t be that beautiful,” but this is definitely one of those times that proves just how stunning the country can be. While many are traveling around the nation chasing the fleeting cherry blossom season, there is a vibrant pink carpet rolled out at the base of Mt. Fuji that lasts a lot longer than the tr

New Travelling Bento pouches turn your luggage into a Japanese lunch box

Make your next journey delicious and Instgrammable.Packing for a trip can be a stressful experience, but now it’s something you’ll look forward to, thanks to a new series of travel pouches from Japanese company Pine Create.Cutely called “Tabi Suru Obento” which translates as “TravellingBoxedLunch“, the new pouches instantly transform the contents of your luggage into a Japanese lunch box, and there are two types of obento to choose from.▼ The first variety is

McDonald’s and Gundam team up for customized anime mecha and fried chicken sandwiches[Video]

Char’s invasion of Side 7 looks a little different in this continuity.McDonald’s is the world’s biggest burger chain, so if they’re going to do a collaboration, they’re going to team up with partners at the top of their fields too. Cute character collab? Hello Kitty. Fighting game cross over? Street Fighter. Mecha anime?Yep, Gundam!Specifically, it’s the OG (original Gundam) Mobile Suit Gundam TV anime that McDonald’s Japan is teaming up with, promoting the 35th anniversary of the Chicken Tatsut

Does a long line mean a sweeter deal? We compare two sweets from a Hokkaido food fair【Taste test】

We try to find out whether waiting in a longer line equates to a more delicious sweet through a blind office taste test.The other day, our Japanese-language writer Yuichiro Wasai paid a visit to the Hokkaido Grand Fair happening at the Keio Department Store in Shinjuku, an event featuring all kinds of regional food products from Hokkaido that can usually only be purchased there. One of the booths had an unbelievable line in front of it, so he thought that some kind of product demonstration might

Family Mart unveils new Japanese bread that elevates convenience store food to mocchiri levels

Japan’s trend for soft, chewy bread just got even more intense.Family Mart has built up a big fanbase with its popular “Famimaru Bakery” line of baked goods, and this month, there are three new additions bringing textural sensation to the range.Called “Cho Mocchiri Pan” (“Super Chewy Bread“), this new collection takes Japan’s trend for soft, chewy bread to new heights, with a mouthfeel that’s as springy as mochi (pounded sticky rice cakes).▼

Häagen-Dazs releases new Green Tea sandwich in Japan for a limited time

We find out if this ice cream has what it takes to make matcha lovers swoon.Häagen-Dazs loves to cater to local tastes in Japan, and its latest release does just that, with a new Crispy Sandwich flavour called “The Green Tea“.Released to honour the25th anniversary of the Crispy Sandwich, this new flavour is said to deliver the bitterness of matcha and the sweetness of white chocolate in a luxurious way, and we were able to get an early taste of it ahead of the official 7 April releas

Schoolkids learn life skills through shopping field trips at street markets in Kochi Prefecture

The unexpectedly cutest part of shopping at Kochi’s Thursday Market was seeing some fellow shoppers of the very small variety in action. Kochi City, the capital of Kochi Prefecture, has a local custom where shop vendors set up shop on various streets on different days of the week. While the Sunday Market is the biggest in scope and probably the most famous, another version is the Thursday Market, which materializes on–you guessed it–Thursdays, near the Kencho-Mae bus stop in fr

Japanese manhole lid raises eyebrows with fertility god symbol that looks like… well, you know

Festival of the Steel Phallus deity gets a steel lid in a rural city. For all its staid traditions and formal etiquette, Japanese culture can be surprisingly uninhibited in ways that can leave visitors from abroad clutching their pearls.Take, for example, a new manhole lid that’s just been installed in front of Kobunoki Shrine in Ninohe City, Iwate Prefecture. This sacred place of worship is in full support of the new manhole cover, which features… a colourful and playful phallic des

Foreign man arrested for walking on Shinkansen tracks, claims he was on the run from yakuza

If you’re going to do something like this, you need a very good, or at least a very crazy, reason for doing it.Japan’s trains are very punctual, but that doesn’t mean they have a perfect on-time record. Even the prestigious Shinkansen is delayed sometimes, as happened on Tuesday afternoon when service was suspended for a very unusual reason: someone was walking on the tracks.The incident occurred at approximately 4 o’clock in the afternoon at Shizuoka Station, located in the middle of the heavil

Man bites woman at cherry blossom park in Japan, dies shortly after

Senior citizen passes away shortly after being arrested and taken to hospital by police.With cherry blossom season winding down, last Sunday many people were out at Suimeidai Edohigan no Mori, a park in the Hyogo Prefecture town of Kawanishi that’s famous for its many sakura trees. However, all was not peaceful under the boughs covered in springtime flowers, as at some point a woman in her 40s and an 89-year-old man became embroiled in an argument after the woman took issue with some aspect of t

New 7-Eleven sandwich goes viral in Japan, but is it everything it’s cracked up to be?

We find out if this “Greedy Sandwich” with cherry blossom bread tastes as good as it looks.Japanese convenience stores have become famous around the globe for all the great things you can find in them, and right now there’s one item everyone is scrambling to try: the Chocolate Sprinkles & Whipped Cream sandwich.Sold exclusively at 7-Eleven, this new release is the latest in the chain’s big-sized “Greedy Sandwich” line, and ever since it became available on

How to take your home ramen to the next level by making your own chashu pork in a frying pan

If you’ve got a frying pan and some aluminum foil, this kurukuru chashu recipe is ready to revolutionize your home cooking.Whether you’re someone who likes cooking for yourself, don’t have any good restaurants in your neighborhood, or just don’t feel like going out to eat, a bowl of ramen is pretty simple to whip up for yourself. Well…it’s mostly simple.Ramen noodles and soup stock are easy to find at supermarkets, even if you live outside of Japan, and their long shelf life means you can

Deer that appeared in downtown Osaka gets a new home, a new name, and a lot of snacks[Video]

Likely wanderer from Nara Park won’t be going back, but has a new place to live in a hot spring town.Both the business and academic year start in spring in Japan, so right now is what’s known as the shin seikatsu, or “new lifestyle,” season, as new workers and college students move into new commuting-distance homes to start the next chapter of their lives. However, one new Osaka resident who just moved into a new place isn’t a university freshmen or a new corporate recruit, but a deer.Last month

Famous koi ponds overwhelmed with tourists throwing thousands of coins in them

Koi and coins don’t mix.Oshino Hakkai is an idyllic spot nestled in the Fuji Five Lakes region of Yamanashi Prefecture. Traditional thatched-roof buildings are scattered among eight pristine spring-fed ponds. Combined with a spectacular view of Mt. Fuji, it’s a popular tourist spot that attracts people from all over Japan and the world.And for years, they’ve been dealing with a problem, and it only gets worse as foreign tourism increases. That problem is that people from other countries insist o

Peanuts and Coke becomes a viral hit in Japan, but is it a trend worth joining?

“Farmer’s Coke” is having a moment in Japan, and surprising people in the U.S.Things are changing rapidly in the online sphere these days, especially on Twitter, where posts and comments in the timeline can now be automatically translated from other languages in seconds, exposing everyone to more global trends than ever before.Here in Japan, the increased exposure recently led to a huge surge in discussions about “American-style barbecue”, but that has now been over

McDonald’s Japan adds new Hello Kitty and Pompompurin drinks to the menu for a limited time

Sanrio characters add sweetness to first-ever McDonald’s smoothie and frappe collaboration, complete with a Japanese idol commercial. As Japan’s hardest working feline, Hello Kitty’s work is never done, with a long list of companies vying to join forces with her for limited-edition releases that feature her kawaii charm.Now, McDonald’s is enlisting Hello Kitty’s powers for a new collaboration that sees her appearing on a smoothie, which the chain describes as a firs

New Japanese KitKats come in sakura flavour, with poetic symbolism for success

“Sakura saku” literally means “Sakura bloom” but it’s also code for something else. Japanese often feels like a deeply poetic language, where even everyday expressions carry layers of imagery and cultural meaning. A beautiful example is the phrase “sakura saku” (“cherry blossoms bloom”). Beyond its literal meaning, it has long been used to signify success, or passing an exam, evoking the image of blossoms opening in spring as a metaphor for achievement and new begin