Does Mos Burger’s new Muscle Burger give you muscles?

Japanese pre wrestler Kazuchika Okada puts his name, and body, behind this new release.

In Japan, the 29th day of every month is known as “Meat Day“, due to a pun that ties the Japanese word for meat (“niku“) with the Japanese words for two and nine (“ni” and “ku“). It’s the perfect day for fast food chains to release special burgers, and homegrown chain Mos Burger has done just that this month, giving us a burger that’s also a related pun in itself: the Kinniku Burger.

“Kinniku” means “muscle” or “muscles” in Japanese, and that’s exactly what this burger is all about, with Japanese pro wrestler Kazuchika Okada throwing his support behind the new release.

▼ Mos Burger hopes that Okada, a.k.a The Rainmaker, will shower them with customers, just as he’s showered with golden bills when he enters the stadium.

Image: Mos Burger

Okada isn’t just the face, and body, of the new burger, though — he’s also been involved in its creation, supervising the process to ensure that each burger contains 32 grams of protein, which is indispensable for strength training.

Our reporter P.K. Sanjun was keen to see whether this much protein would give him the strength he needed to get through another gruelling workday, so he headed out to Mos Burger to try it out.

Once there, he saw the burger contained the following ingredients:

“Soy patties based on vegetable protein derived from soybeans, chicken patties using domestic chicken breast meat, chicken nuggets as the main, green leaves, shredded cabbage, sliced ​​cheese, aurora sauce, and meat sauce sandwiched between buns.”

And when he received it, he could see every ingredient at a glance because the burger was huge — towering in height like Okada himself, who’s 191 centimetres (6 foot 3 inches) tall.

▼ A heavyweight champion in the burger world.

P.K. felt as if this was the equivalent of two burgers, only with more emphasis on protein with the soy patty, chicken patty, and chicken nuggets. Though this was essentially protein food, it was the most delicious type he’d seen, as it dripped clumps of thick, meaty sauce while he held it in one hand.

Biting into it, P.K. raised a fist and pumped the air like a champion. Not only was this meal filled with muscle-building protein, it was absolutely delicious! The meat and soy components were moist and flavourful, with the cheese adding umami and the lettuce and shredded cabbage cutting through the grease for a refreshing lift.

The highlight, though, was the sauce, which was sweet and meaty, bringing everything together in a unified whole. Mos Burger clearly knows its stuff when it comes to creating flavoursome burgers, and with Okada on board to oversee the muscle-building aspect of the meal, this is a match made in protein heaven!

The burger retails for 850 yen (US$6.41) and will be available to purchase on the 29th of every month at Mos Burger outlets around the country.

Reference: Mos Burger “Kinniku Burger”
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Taste-testing famous ramen from Kobe turns into moment of self-reflection for Mr. Sato

What was supposed to be a simple taste test makes Mr. Sato take another look at his gourmet writer credentials.

Wei-Pa is a popular Chinese seasoning sold here in Japan, and its distributor headquarters are based in Kobe City in Hyogo Prefecture. Kobe City might be better known for its world famous Kobe beef, but Wei-Pa is so well loved that special packets of Wei-Pa ramen noodles are sold throughout Kobe as local souvenirs. Wei-Pa’s distributors Kouki Shougyou even have a Wei-Pa store in Nankin-machi, also known as Kobe’s Chinatown.

Unfortunately, this fact passed our crack reporter Mr. Sato by, as he recently visited Kobe completely unaware of Wei-Pa’s Kobe roots, and even walked around Nankin-machi several times without noticing the Wei-Pa store.

Such an oversight was unlike Mr. Sato, who usually has a keen eye for spotting local hidden gems. So what caused such a rookie error?

Either way, it wasn’t all bad news for Mr. Sato, as he popped into a souvenir shop at Shin-Kobe Station on his way back to Tokyo and managed to find some packets of Wei-Pa ramen by chance. They were around 250 yen (US$1.88) a pack, although he lost the receipt and isn’t quite sure. Mr. Sato… are you OK?!

And so the packet of Wei-Pa ramen made the journey back to Tokyo in Mr. Sato’s bag… where it remained hidden until around a month later, when Mr. Sato was feeling peckish but too lazy to go out and buy lunch. It was then (and only then) that he remembered his souvenir ramen, and rushed to look in his travel bag, finding the packet nestled sadly at the very bottom. He’d packed away his travel bag without even taking out the contents first. Mr. Sato… have you finally upgraded from ossan to grandpa? Are you going to start every sentence with “Back in my day…”?

The packet contained two servings of ramen noodles with two sachets of soup paste. And if you look closely at the noodles…

… you can see a cheerful face waving, and it seems that this man is the chairman of Kouki Shougyou. “These would make good designs for masking tape,” Mr. Sato mused as he removed the tape from around the noodles.

Cooking the ramen was, like most instant ramen, pretty straightforward — put the noodles in boiling water for three minutes…

… and then add the soup paste. Mix in the paste gently and transfer to a bowl to serve.

And that’s it! You can add toppings like char siu pork or green onions to make it more fancy, but Mr. Sato is a simple man; as long as the noodles and broth taste good, he doesn’t need anything more.

Luckily for Mr. Sato, the ramen was very tasty, and made him feel like he was in a Chinese restaurant. He started to feel a little guilty that he’d left something that tasted so great unattended in a bag, shoved in his closet, for over a month, but boy was he glad that he’d remembered it. The familiar taste of the Wei-Pa spices with the tasty noodles was absolutely delicious. He slurped up his last noodles, pleased with the fact that he’d found a tasty, hidden gem only found in Kobe City.

But then, after a quick Google search, Mr. Sato discovered that Wei-Pa ramen can easily be bought outside of Kobe; it’s available on Amazon and can even be found in stores like Village Vanguard. Mr. Sato had gone all the way to Kobe to buy ramen you can literally buy anywhere in Japan.

So all in all, Mr. Sato’s journey with Wei-Pa ramen was a delicious one, but definitely one that caused him to reflect on his actions. It was a miracle that he’d managed to accidentally stumble upon a store selling the ramen to start with, but add to that the fact he then lost the receipt, and then forgot about the ramen entirely for a month, and it would be easy to say that Mr. Sato has lost his touch, and maybe he’s getting too old for this gourmet writing malarky.

However, we here at SoraNews24 know better, and we know the real reason for Mr. Sato’s blunders is that he’s still physically recovering from eating a huge melon bread. Taking on such a monster understandably requires an adequate amount of rest to recover, and Mr. Sato clearly needed a bit more time before he dove back into the fray of gourmet reporting.

We’ll let it slide this time, Mr. Sato.

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Cherry blossom-viewing bus tour for dogs now available in Japan

Pamper your pooch with a special hanami trip to Mt Fuji.

It’s been one year since dog-friendly hotel Inumo Shibakoen by Villa Fontaine opened its doors in Tokyo, and to celebrate the anniversary they’re now offering a special cherry blossom-viewing bus tour for pups and their owners.

According to the hotel operators, the tour takes place on Japan’s first “dog-exclusive bus“, and while it looks like any other tour bus on the outside…

▼ …the inside has special specs to maximise comfort for both dogs and their owners.

Not only is the bus fitted with a non-slip wooden-style floor mat, the seating areas are more spacious than those on regular buses, to provide ample room for large dogs and owners with pet buggies.

▼ Every row has a roll screen to keep dogs apart and provide them with the privacy they need.

The bus tour starts at the hotel in Tokyo and goes out to Yamanashi Prefecture, where it stops at Arakurayama Sengen Park and Oshino Hakkai, a natural springs area.

▼ Yamanashi is home to one half of Mt. Fuji, so participants can expect plenty of glorious views of the iconic mountain during the tour.

One of the local specialties of Yamanashi Prefecture is Hoto Nabe, a noodle hot pot, and both dogs and their owners will be able to enjoy the specialty for lunch.

▼ Hoto for humans

▼ Hoto for pooches

Dogs will be able to stretch their legs and enjoy the cherry blossoms with their owners at Arakurayama Sengen Park and Oshino Hakkai, a natural monument in Japan.

The tour can be taken as a day trip or an overnight stay, with a maximum of 24 places available for each option, which is limited to 9 and 13 April. The one-day plan is priced at 29,800 yen (US$223.36) per person (including pooch), while the bus tour and accommodation plan is priced at 46,800 yen per person on weekdays and 49,800 yen per person on weekends.

As with any good bus tour, participants will be able to pose for a commemorative photo, but on this trip they’ll be making memories with their pooches!

Seats on the tour are limited, so if you’d like to treat your pup to a trip they’ll never forget, be sure to check out the links below. It’s a woof-cation we haven’t seen the likes of since the Shinkansen For Pets appeared for a short time last year!

Related: Inumo Shiba Park 1st Anniversary Project Arakurayama Sengen Park/Oshino Hakkai Walking Bus Tour
Source, images: PR Times
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New Studio Ghibli exhibition brings anime movie magic to cities around Japan

Celebrating a famous partnership that’s flourished for decades.

In Japan, Studio Ghibli films are often broadcast on television in a Friday night TV slot known as “Kinyo Road Show” (“Friday Road Show”). The relationship between the two began in 1986, a year after Kinyo Road Show began in 1985, when Ghibli’s 1984 animated feature film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was first broadcast. 

Since then, Kinyo Road Show, or “Kinro” as it’s commonly known, has screened Ghibli films on more than 200 occasions. It’s a fruitful relationship that continues to flourish to this day, so this summer they’re banding together for an exhibition that celebrates their partnership. 

▼ Kinyo Road Show’s famous logo character — a gent in a top hat called “Uncle Friday” who operates an old-time movie camera — was actually created by Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki, with assistance from Whisper of the Heart director Yoshifumi Kondo.

The “Kinyo Road Show and Ghibli Exhibition“, as it’s being called, traces the long history of the Kinro and Ghibli relationship with a number of immersive displays that allow you to slip back in time to different eras.

One of the highlights is the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: The World of Ohmu display, which draws you into the world of the movie, and acts as a photo spot where visitors can take moody photos of themselves to share on social media.

▼ Created by Takeya Takayuki, a world-famous sculptor, this exhibit makes you feel as if you’ve stepped into the anime film.

Another photo spot that visitors will want to see is the “Ghibli Magic Lantern” area, where you’ll find a giant lantern that was originally made for the Ghibli Grand Exposition held in Toyama in 2018-2019.

▼ You can experience the world of Ghibli through characters illuminated from the glass.

Of course, there’ll be plenty of other exciting displays at the exhibition, but Kinro and Ghibli are keeping the details under wraps for now. All will be revealed when the exhibition begins in Tokyo, at Warehouse Terrada B&C HALL/E HALL in Tennoz, from 29 June to 24 September, and later at the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art in Toyama City, where it’ll run from 7 October to 28 January.

▼ “Kinyo Roadshow and Ghibli Exhibition“

If you’re not in those areas, don’t worry — the exhibition is set to go on tour around the country from next spring! We’ll keep you updated with further details as soon as we get them.

Reference: Friday Roadshow and Ghibli Exhibition 
Source, images: PR Times
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Can you customise the Starbucks Snoopy Frappuccino to make it even more like Snoopy?【Taste test】

According to staff in Japan, yes you can! 

It was a happy day when Starbucks Japan unleashed its first-ever Snoopy Frappuccino out into the world. However, after getting a first taste of it, our resident Starbucks expert K. Masami couldn’t help but wonder if there was a way to make it even more like Snoopy.

You see, the chain has chosen cookies and cream to be the main ingredients in this limited-edition beverage, which goes under the official title of Snoopy Vanilla Cream Frappuccino with Crushed Cookies. The ingredients have been selected not just for their black-and-white Snoopy-esque colour scheme, but for the fact that cookies and ice cream are said to be two of Snoopy’s favourite foods.

▼ Luckily for Masami, these are two things she loves too.

However, the one problem Masami has with the drink is that it closely resembles an already existing Frappuccino — the Vanilla Cream Frappuccino. And seeing as she’s been expanding her Starbucks expertise by exploring their customisations recently, she felt that the Snoopy Frappuccino deserved a little more pizazz to truly pay homage to such an iconic cartoon character.

So could she find a customisation that would make this Snoopy Frappuccino even more like Snoopy? Curious to find out, she brazenly asked the store clerk, saying, “Do you have any recommendations for a customisation that can enhance its Snoopy-ness?”

The staff member smiled, as if they’d heard this question before, and said: “How about chocolate sauce and chocolate chips?”

With the chocolate sauce being free, and the chocolate chips costing an additional 50 yen (US$0.38), Masami immediately agreed, and when she took a seat with the drink, she found it had a better balance between black-and-white components.

▼ Now this is a drink Snoopy would be proud of.

Masami remembered seeing Snoopy’s love of chocolate chip cookies expressed in a comic strip, so she felt better now that the drink contained actual chocolate chips to go with the dark cocoa cookie pieces in the Frappuccino.

Masami was concerned that the extra chocolate components might make the drink overly sweet, but after mixing the dark topping into the base of the drink, she found the cocoa cookies were surprisingly bittersweet, so the balance was actually perfect.

Every mouthful was creamy yet refreshing and the cocoa cookies were crunchy, creating a lovely textural contrast with the smooth milk. It was a good mix of flavours that actually tasted like chocolate chip cookie ice cream, which would surely make Snoopy grin from ear to ear.

Having tried both the regular version and the customised version, Masami reckons the customised one has a better ratio between chocolate and cream, and it’s even crunchier with the chocolate chips so she highly recommends trying it.

The drink retails for 648 yen (US$4.95) on its own, and it’ll only be on the menu for a limited time while stocks last, along with all the other delectable Peanuts drinks and treats in the range!

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Animal-cracker-themed Tabekko Dobutsu Land saves the day for our reporter

It’s not just for kids apparently!

With the school year ending and spring vacation beginning in Japan, many parents are left looking for ways to fill up all their kids’ newfound free time. In the case of our parenting reporter P.K. Sanjun, a trip to Tokyo Dome City was in order to spend some quality time in an elaborate play center there.

However, upon arrival P.K. learned that he wasn’t the only one with such a plan and was told that he’d have to wait three hours just to enter. Now, having to kill 180 minutes with a 6-year-old itching to get into her promised playland became a nightmare.

▼ Just then P.K. stumbled upon his savior: Animal Cracker Land!

More specifically this was Tabekko Dobutsu Land, dedicated to the Tabekko Dobutsu brand of animal crackers which has dominated the animal-shaped snack market in Japan for decades. Mustering up all of his fake enthusiasm, P.K. shouted at his disappointed daughter: “Look! Animal Cracker Land! Isn’t it great?!”

Inside, however, our reporter was full of nervousness. He had never heard of this place before and had no idea what was inside. But since his daughter was right in that perfect animal-cracker age, it promised to be worth the 880 yen (US$6.74) admission for an adult only since kids are free.

There were a lot of technical exhibits, such as charts detailing the history of Ginbis, the maker of Tabekko Dobutsu, and other cookie-cracker snacks like the Ginza Waffle and Asparagus Biscuits. Although kids aren’t innately attracted to corporate timelines, the displays were all large and colorful enough to get his daughter’s attention.

There were also certain attractions that made use of AR and 3-D glasses.

There was also a section with animal-cracker-themed snacks, supposing that actual animal crackers would have been too on the nose. P.K., who is well-experienced in pop-up cafes and the like, was not surprised by the prices, such as 700 yen ($5.36) for the little cup of popcorn pictured below alone.

However, he also knew that these kinds of places don’t skimp on quality either and all the food was very well-made and tasty.

Before he knew it, half of his three-hour wait had already flown by and there was still a lot of photo spots to stop by, such as this gigantic box of Tabekko Dobutsu that you can stand inside.

P.K. actually thought that this box might have been too big for kids and that’s when he made a surprising realization. He had spent most of the time focusing on his daughter that he never really looked around at the other guests, but when he did he noticed that most were adults.

He’d have guessed about 20 percent were kids with the rest being young adults in their 20s or so. Was there some kind of fashionable animal cracker trend going on that he wasn’t aware of?

Just then, he heard cries of joy coming from one corner of the exhibit and rushed over to see what all the commotion was about.

▼ Shohei Ohtani?!

Actually, it was a giant hippo and not the sultan of swing, but it might as well have been Ohtani, given the flurry of excitement and all the young women flocking to get their pictures taken with him.

P.K. was both surprised and intrigued by this, considering his profession of covering Japanese pop culture. Apparently Tabekko Dobutsu animal crackers — which thanks to this exhibit he now knows have been around since 1978 — were experiencing an unprecedented surge in popularity, and good for them! They’re a simple yet delicious snack and they just helped P.K. entertain his daughter for hours when the chips were down.

Event information
Tabekko Dobutsu Land / たべっ子どうぶつLAND
Tokyo Dome City Gallery AaMo / 東京ドームシティ Gallery AaMo
Tokyo-to, Bunkyo-ku, Koraku 1-3-61
東京都文京区後楽1-3-61
18 March – 14 May
Hours: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Website

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Family Mart goes matcha crazy with new lineup of green tea sweets in Japan

Convenience store chain teams up with a company that traces its history back to a high-ranking tea master.

It’s often said that you can get pretty much anything you want at a Japanese convenience store, and that’s certainly true now that top chain Family Mart has announced its upcoming Kinsei Uji Matcha Zukushi collection.

“Kinsei Uji Matcha Zukushi” roughly translates to “All Sorts of Carefully Produced Uji Matcha“, and it looks set to be a high-quality collection, as it’s been produced under the supervision of Kanbayashi Shunsho Honten. This tea wholesale store in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, was established in the Eiroku era (1558-1569), which predates the Edo era (1603-1867), so they have a wealth of experience when it comes to matcha goods.

There are a total of 16 Uji matcha products in the collection, so let’s take a look at them all below, starting with the products that were released on 28 March.

▼ Uji Matcha Frappe supervised by Kanbayashi Shunsho Honten (330 yen)

This delightful beverage blends high-quality Uji matcha with milk to bring out the aroma and mellow sweetness of matcha.

▼ Uji Matcha Nama Choco Mochi (4 pieces for 268 yen)

A matcha centre wrapped in mochi rice cake and covered in ganache and matcha powder makes for an irresistible sweet.

Now we have a couple of products that went on sale at most outlets on 28 March, but will be released in eastern Japan a little later, on 4 April.

▼ The Uji Matcha Cream Daifuku (165 yen) encases a centre of cream in a layer of matcha bean paste and a mound of matcha mochi.

▼ The Uji Matcha Dorayaki (180 yen) has a smooth matcha paste middle, with matcha also kneaded into the dough.

Now we move on to the rest of the range, which will be released nationwide on 4 April.

▼ The Uji Matcha Melon Pan (158 yen), has a sweet matcha whip, bittersweet matcha paste and a crunchy matcha exterior.

▼ The Uji Matcha Financier (178 yen) contains two types of matcha to reduce astringency and enhance the aroma.

▼ The Uji Matcha Baumkuchen (180 yen) also blends two types of matcha for sublime flavour.

▼ As does the Uji Matcha Pound Cake (170 yen), which also adds a small amount of brown molasses to the mix.

▼ The Uji Matcha Terrine Chocolate (298 yen) blends Uji matcha with white chocolate to create a rich green tea sweet.

▼ The Uji Matcha Tiramisu (320 yen) contains layers of matcha sponge and tiramisu mousse, topped with matcha powder.

▼ The Matcha Fragrant Matcha & Cocoa Cookies (268 yen) contain a well-balanced mix of matcha and cocoa in the dough.

▼ The Gateau Chocolate-style Chocolate Matcha Flavour with a Moist Texture (158 yen) combines soft white cookies with matcha chocolate.

▼ The Karinto with Matcha Chocolate (178 yen) are deep-fried sugar snacks coated in matcha chocolate.

▼ The Mini Matcha Soaked Chocolate Explosion Cone (158 yen) contains crunchy chocolate cone delights soaked in matcha.

And to finish, we have a couple of ice creams:

▼ The Waffle Cone Uji Matcha (278 yen), which delivers a double matcha hit with green tea in the ice cream and the cone.

▼ The Crispy Textured Matcha Cookie Ice Bar (230 yen) is a chocolate-coated ice cream bar filled with matcha ice cream and cookie pieces.

That’s a whole lot of matcha coming to Family Mart this spring, and it’s certainly the most convenient way to get a taste of an esteemed matcha manufacturer in Japan. Kanbayashi Shunsho Honten is currently headed up by its 15th generation owner, who’s descended from a tea master of the highest rank who once served tea to the shogunate and feudal lords, and now the store is able to serve customers all around Japan.

It’s a great example of tradition and innovation coming together for a beautiful partnership, but it’ll only be around for a limited time while stocks last.

Source, images: PR Times
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Tokyo family serves totally non-traditional super old-school katsudon at century-old restaurant

The Kojima family’s pork cutlet bowl recipe is both startlingly innovative and really, really old.

In a standard katsudon, or pork cutlet bowl, the cutlet is wrapped in omelet-like egg, for a tender, moist mouthfeel. Recently, though, there’s been a bit of a schism among katsudon fans in Japan, with some preferring the upstart style known as tojinai (“unbound”) katsudon, in which the meat and omelet are kept separate, resulting in a crispier texture when biting into the cutlet.

But on a recent stroll through Tokyo’s Ningyocho neighborhood, we came across an even more innovative style of katsudon…only to find out it actually predates the tojinai katsudon by more than a century.

Koharuken is a small, unassuming restaurant just a block away from Ningyocho Station. Their menu board has the typically tempting list of katsu specialty restaurant items, but in the bottom left corner is a photo of the “Koharuken Special Katsudon,” and it doesn’t look like a katsudon you’ll find anywhere else in Japan.

Traditionally, katsudon consists of a pork cutlet, egg, and rice. Maybe you might have some small shreds of onion mixed in with the egg, or some shredded cabbage if it’s an eggless katsudon with sauce. But the Koharuken Special Katsudon’s photo shows it topped with a variety of cubed vegetables, a katsudon topping we’d never seen before.

So, naturally, we had to try it.

At 1,300 yen (US$9.90), which also gets you a side of miso soup with clams, it’s an affordable edible adventure, especially considering that Ningyocho is one of the more expensive parts of downtown Tokyo. It wasn’t until we had our Koharuken Special Katsudon in front of us that we realized it also splits the difference between the wrapped-in-egg katsu and the tojinai type by using a soft boiled egg, which you can eat by itself or break up to cover the rest of the bowl’s ingredients.

But like we mentioned above, while this was an unprecedented eating experience for us, the Koharuken Special Katsudon has been around for a long time…but with a catch. Koharuken was opened all the way back in 1912, when Japan was still in the Meiji period, by a man named Tanesaburo Kojima. Tanesaburo came up with the idea of adding cubed carrot, onion, green pepper, and potato to his restaurant’s katsudon, but eventually, for reasons lost to antiquity, Koharuken’s unique take on the dish disappeared from the menu.

The Kojima family still runs the restaurant today, and when the fourth-generation owner, Yuji, took over in 1995, he decided he wanted to bring his great-grandfather’s version of katsudon back to the menu. There was only one problem: Yuji had never eaten the dish, and had only heard stories of it. Thankfully, there was one person still around who did have first-hand experience the dish, Yuji’s father, Mikio, who had eaten it as a boy when Tanesaburo, his grandfather, cooked it for him.

Based on Mikio’s childhood memories, Yuji was able to bring back the Koharuken Special Katsudon, and now it’s the most popular item on the restaurant’s menu.

The Koharuken Special Katsudon falls into the “sauce katsudon” sub-category, with the bite-sized pieces of meat treated with a sweet sauce with some spicy/salty notes to excite a wide range of your taste receptors. Breaking up the soft-boiled egg’s yolk adds a rich, creamy element too.

But of course, what really steals the show are the veggies. After being chopped, they’re stewed in demi-glace sauce, so they’re tender and flavorful.

Having eaten more katsudon than we can count in our lives, it took a few moments for our minds to wrap themselves around the concept of having so many vegetables with our pork cutlet bowl, the potatoes in particular, since they’re not so commonly used in traditional Japanese cooking (curry rice and nikujaga notwithstanding). But after two or three bites, any weirdness we were feeling was replaced by bliss at the straightforward deliciousness, and we’re happy this is one new-to-most-people recipe from over a hundred years ago that the Kojima family was able to bring back.

Restaurant information
Koharuken / 小春軒
Address: Tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Nihonbashi Ningyocho 1-7-9
東京都中央区日本橋人形町1-7-9
Open 11 a.m.-1:45 p.m., 5 p.m.-7:45 p.m. (weekdays), 11 a.m.-1:45 p.m. (Saturdays)
Closed Sundays and holidays

Reference: Ryori Okoku, Machi Nihonbashi
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