Twentythree

Ahiruneko’s single-guy sauna days are done, but this gadget promises to bring the steam right into his home.

Back in his bachelor days, our Japanese-language reporter Ahiruneko used to go to a sauna once or twice a week. Now, though, he’s got a wife and kid, plus an apartment out in the suburbs that’s closer to the mountains than the office, and thus a long commute, leaving him with only enough time for one or two sauna days in an entire year.

So in his quest for the optimal sauna/life balance, he decided to purchase a home sauna.

Converting an entire room of his home into a sauna facility would be excessive in terms of cost and floorspace, so instead of doing that he went looking for a home sauna kit on Rakuten, where he found an assemble-it-yourself steam sauna kit for 17,780 yen (US$112). All of the components shipped together in a large cardboard box, and Ahiruneko laid them out to see what he’d be working with.

Folded up inside that cloth pouch is the material for the sides of the sauna tent, pictured with it in the above photo are a floor mat, piping for the tent’s frame, one device for producing steam, another for dispersing it inside the tent, and a hose to connect them.

Also included in the set were a folding chair and one of those rollers that are supposed to stimulate the pressure points on the bottom of your feet to provide various vague wellness benefits.

The included instructions were written in less-than-fluent Japanese, but between them and the photos on the Rakuten product page here, Ahiruneko could figure out what he needed to do. He started by removing the tent material from its pouch and assembling the pipe frame.

This was a pretty quick and simple process, and before long the tent was standing in the middle of his living room.

It almost looks like a giant down vest, with a slot for your neck and also two little slits that you can open if you want to reach your hands outside the tent.

There’s also an exterior pocket where you can keep the remote control to turn the steam generator on and off or adjust the temperature.

Speaking of the steam generator, it resembles a rice cooker.

You fill it with water, and once the liquid gets hot enough to start turning into steam, it gets channeled through the side of the tent by the connecting tube…

…and dispersed by the steam box, which you place inside the sauna with yourself.

The dimensions of the tent are cozy, but there’s room to spare in which to fit the chair, and laying down the mat before your steam session will help keep your floor from getting damp.

OK, with everything assembled, it was time to turn ono the steam generator! Ahiruneko hit the power button…and had no idea what the display said.

That blurriness isn’t from Ahiruneko’s camera. His brand-new home sauna’s display was foggy and indistinct, almost like it was censoring itself with a mosaic. Luckily, the control buttons all had legible labels, and the printed instructions had told Ahiruneko that once steam started coming out of the top of the sauna tent, it was ready for him to step in.

It took about 20 minutes for the steam to heat up, but when it did, entering the tent turned out to be surprisingly tricky, since the frame has a pair of connected pipes running horizontally across the front. Ahiruneko ended up having to temporarily pull them apart, step inside the tent, and then put them back together.

Now that he was finally inside, all he needed to do was zip the front back up…

…and settle in for a steam session.

If you’re setting one of these up for yourself, you’ll definitely want to give your housemates a heads up beforehand, so that they don’t wander into the room and think you’ve been decapitated, or maybe had your body from the neck down converted into machinery in order to become a sauna cyborg.

But as startling as this setup looks when viewed from the outside, it was extremely relaxing for Ahiruneko on the inside. He’d purposely kept his expectations low about how high the temperature could get, but it turned out that the steam filling his home sauna was surprisingly hot. It wasn’t long until his body was sweating steadily, but his head being exposed kept the environment from feeling stifling or even stuffy.

In time, though, Ahiruneko started to sweat from his face too, so he unzipped one of the arm holes so he could grab the remote control and turn down the temperature just a bit.

He’d actually put a second remote control in the pocket too, the one for his TV, since having his own personal sauna means he can watch whatever he wants while staming.

As for negatives, the device that emits steam inside the tent does, understandably, get very hot, so you do need to be conscious of where it’s placed and make sure not to step on it. You also need to wipe down the tent and let it dry before you fold it back up, which adds a little time and hassle to the start-to-finish process.

Still, even with some cleaning up to do, Ahiruneko is still coming out ahead, time-wise, by being able to have a sauna session without having to leave his home. He thinks he’ll still probably look for opportunities to treat himself to a trip to a professional sauna when he has the chance, but for those times when his schedule or budget is tight, he’ll be very happy to use this at-home version again.

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Who wowed our reporters the most with sheer friendliness?

Our website has been around for quite a while now, and over the years we’ve even had the opportunity to rub shoulders with famous movie stars and musicians from time to time. Considering we’re known for behavior that some may deem “gross” or “indecent,” it wouldn’t be too shocking if they treated us like the schlubs we admittedly are, but there have been a few who really seemed to shine as genuinely good people.

So, our Japanese language writers would now like to take a moment and give credit where credit’s due to the famous people from Japan, as well as famous people from abroad who visited Japan, who really made a positive impact on us.

When it comes to celebrity interviews, P.K. Sanjun is usually our frontline reporter. As such, he’s met the likes of Will Smith, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tom Holland, to name a few. But here are the people who made the biggest impression on him.

● Chris Pratt

I’ve interviewed a lot of Hollywood actors, and they’ve all been really nice. I sort of think you need to be in order to make it out there.

But among them, Chris Pratt stood out as a super nice person. When I finished my interview, I was just sitting there feeling awkward, but he took the initiative and said, “Hey! Let’s take a photo together!” It was a god-tier gesture and made me fall in love with the guy.

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● Maximum the Ryo-kun

He’s a very private person. You could even say he’s mysterious, and very artistic too. But he’s also an absolute legend and totally down to earth when you talk to him. So much so that I found myself wondering, “Does a celebrity like this actually exist?”

The rest of the band [that he’s in, Maximum the Hormone], were great too. Nao-chan immediately snapped a picture after Ryo-kun shaved my eyebrows. Even though it’d been years since I last interviewed them, Daisuke-kun greeted me with a friendly “Long time no see!”

Of course, Ue-chan, who shyly chatted with me about kendama, was wonderful too. In short, Maximum the Hormone aren’t just great because of their music. They’re a class act as well.
If I ever get another chance to meet Ryo-kun, I want to ask him why he loves [’80s Japanese rock band] Lindberg so much.

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Mr. Sato’s been known to do a few interviews in his days as well, including none other than Santa Claus. But what big names managed to out-nice even Ol’ Saint Nick for our star reporter?

● Cunning Takeyama

I’ve met the famous Japanese comedian Cunning Takeyama a few times now, and every time his genuine kindness shines through. His work often involves interacting with the general public in TV segments, so he seems to make a conscious effort to make people feel at ease. That gentle, approachable character he shows the moment he meets someone is something that I aspire to emulate as an adult.

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● Shinichiro Azumi

I’ve been invited on his TBS radio show Nichiyo Tengoku a few times. Even though it’s a live broadcast, he went out of his way to look after me because of my lack of experience in this setting. He has a way of completely managing the flow of conversation but never lets it show by drawing stories out of me naturally. It’s the mark of a true professional and made a strong impression on me in the way I could relax and have a natural conversation with him.

You don’t often see Yoshio interviewing famous people, unless it involves a money-making scheme,  but he’s often behind the camera at these meet-ups and has interacted with plenty of famous people as well. Here’s who made the biggest impact on him.

● Matt Damon

I was a photographer at an interview with him during the release of Jason Bourne. He might be a world-famous actor, but he didn’t act like it at all and answered every question from P.K. with sincerity. I’ve been present for a lot of celebrity interviews, but Matt Damon was the nicest of them all. It really took me aback how humble someone of his stature could be. He was just a very cool guy.

● Yumi Adachi

I was the photographer when Seiji interviewed her while pretending to be Yngwie Malmsteen. I always thought she had a very elegant fashion sense and way of life, so I was intimidated to meet her, but she turned out to be incredibly friendly and cheerful, exactly like she is on television. While we were standing around waiting, she noticed I had the latest iPhone at the time and said, ‘Wow, it’s got three lenses!” I still have and cherish that phone to this day.

▼ Yumi Adachi and Yngwie Malmsteen (Seiji Nakazawa)

The interviews where Seiji Nakazawa pretended to be Yngwie Malmsteen in an effort to join famous people’s musical projects were always dicey ones. They rarely ended up being actual interviews, and the famous people involved would have had every right to chew us out for making a mockery of the whole process. But it’s also a chance for celebrities to really show how easy-going they can be, as Ahironeko recalls.

● Non

This was our very first Yngwie project, and I was the photographer. The awkward tension in the air was so thick both for us and the people on her side. None of us really knew what was going on.
Considering that, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if she just snapped at us with, “Excuse me… What the hell are you doing?” But she was all smiles the whole time. A true goddess.

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Takashi Furusawa is a newer addition to our staff and hasn’t been to as many interviews as the others. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t had his own brushes with greatness.

● Miki Narahashi

Miki Narahashi is best known as the voice of Misae Nohara in the long-running hit Crayon Shinchan.
But for me, she was also my senpai when I was at voice acting school. I still clearly remember how she always looked out for me, giving me advice and kind encouragement when I had problems.
It was a true honor to have studied under her for two years, and I still cherish that experience to this day.

▼ Nararhashi has played the mother of Shin-chan for the entire run of the series.

As Takashi mentioned, not all of our celebrity encounters come from interviews. Many of our writers have also appeared on TV and radio over the years, where they’ve bumped into famous faces. Go Hatori has a few memories along those lines too.

● Kuroda

I met Kuroda, from the comedy duo Messenger, when we appeared together on a TV show in Osaka in 2014 and I was asked to talk as a spam email expert. I was so nervous that my legs were shaking uncontrollably, but he kept tossing out these perfectly timed, light-hearted jokes that completely eased my tension. He had a way of making everything I said funny and was just a truly kind and thoughtful person. I’m filled with both gratitude and admiration for him.

● First Summer Uika

I met First Summer Uika (a singer, actress, and media personality) while doing voice acting and on some TV sets. She was always very approachable and easy to talk to. It left a big impression on me! One time she even came all the way from her dressing room to where I was working to say hi. I’m such a big fan of hers now that I even have an acrylic standee of her on my desk. I even have a T-shirt with her on it that I’ve kept secret until now.

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This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list, but 10 is a nice round number and lets the real cream of the crop rise to the top. 

So, if you’re a mega-famous, internationally known movie star, musician, and/or athlete, please apply to have us interview you, and you may just be one of the lucky few to make a future nicest-ever list. Please submit your applications in an orderly fashion, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

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There’s a new sweets curator in downtown Tokyo.

In an ideal world, we’d spend every single day on a meandering journey through Japan, stopping see the sights and sample the delicacies whenever and wherever the mood struck us. Unfortunately, we don’t have the copious amounts of money or free time that such a lifestyle would require, but there is a way to send your taste buds on a trip across Japan for a very affordable price, as we found out on a recent visit to the Marui Annex department store in downtown Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood.

On the first floor of the building you’ll find a shop named Edited Japan Shinjuku, which just opened in September . “Edited” isn’t being used with the meaning of revising or altering something, though, but more in the sense of an “editor’s selection,” as Edited Japan is a curator of Japanese regional sweet and salty snacks. The store is stocked with over 100 different items, representing all of Japan’s prefectures, and unlike some food souvenir shops that only offer large-quantity boxes, Edited Japan specializes in individual-serving sizes, letting you pick out a variety of treats without making any major commitment as you search for a new favorite.

Another cool thing about Edited Japan is the store’s focus on snacks that are a genuine part of everyday life in their local communities. You won’t find anything that’ll win you brownie points with a snooty coworker or snobby classmate here. Instead, the shelves are filled with things that present a combination of high quality and reasonable price. Think more “This is something people in Kyoto would munch on if they want something sweet on a Sunday afternoon” than “Bring this to the next party you’re invited to so you can show off your refined sensibilities.”

So we decided to see how many prefectures’ treats we could taste with a budget of 1,000 yen (US$6.30), and we mean a hard limit of 1,000 – not a single yen more.

Thankfully, this still gave us plenty of room to work with, since most of Edited Japan’s items are somewhere in the 100-200 yen range. We had to do some mid-shopping calculations to make sure we didn’t go over, but in the end, we were able to put together a bundle of snacks from six different prefectures, with the total coming to 995 yen.

So what did we get? Let’s start at the north of the country, and work our way down, which makes our first entry on the list Hokkaido Dining Kitchen’s Corn Soup (130 yen), from Hokkaido Prefecture.

Soup may not be counted as a “snack” in some cultures, but certain varieties in Japan do sort of get treated that way. Corn pottage, for example, is commonly seen as something that’s tasty and moderately filling even when it’s not served as part of a meal, which is why you’ll often see cans of corn soup for sale in Japanese vending machines during the fall and winter. This powdered corn pottage mix, though, is tastier than what you can get from a can, as it’s made with an especially sweet variety of Hokkaido-grown corn and contains no artificial flavors or preservatives.

Next have Dutch Senbei rice crackers, from Yamagata Prefecture’s Sakata Beika, which were the value all-star of our shopping trip, priced at just 45 yen.

This brand of rice cracker has been a big hit in Yamagata since 1962, but what makes them “Dutch,” other than the cap that person is wearing in wrapper illustration? There are two theories, one of which is that the distinct bumpy texture of the crackers is said to resemble the footprints left by visitors from Japan to the Netherlands, some of the first foreigners to set foot on Japanese soil back in the feudal era, and thus some of the first people to be seen walking around in Western footwear, which was much bulkier than the straw sandals that were the norm for Japanese people at the time.

The other possible explanation is that Oranda, the Japanese word for both Holland and Dutch, sounds similar to orada, a way of saying “we” in the Yamagata dialect, which would make “Oranda Senbei” (as the snack is called in Japanese) sound similar to saying something like “the rice crackers we made.”

Regardless of why they’re called that, though, Sakata Beika’s Dutch Senbei are crisp and refreshing, lightly salted to enhance, but not replace, the natural flavors of the non-glutinous Yamagata-grown rice that they’re made with.

Next we move on to Kyoto, which means it’s time for nama yatsuhashi.

Nama yatsuhashi is a folded triangle of soft mochi with a dollop of anko (sweet red bean paste) inside. Chewy and sweet, with just a touch of sophistication from a dusting of cinnamon, nama yatsuhashi are so popular with Kyoto residents and visitors that there are a few different companies that make them. Nishio, who makes the 250-yen matcha-flavored version we picked up, is one of the most respected, because if your company has been around since 1689, you’ve earned a lot of trust.

Since nama yatsuhashi’s simple ingredient list lends itself well to experimentation, most makers, Nishio included, have a cycle of seasonal flavors that are only offered at certain times of year, but the matcha ones are so well loved that they’re available pretty much all the time, as long as the day’s stock isn’t sold out.

Continuing west, our taste buds arrive in Hyogo Prefecture, where the coastal town of Akashi brings in some of the country’s most delicious octopus, inspiring rice cracker maker Eirakudo to make Akashi Takosen senbei (250 yen).

These deep-fried senbei are made with Akashi octopus and treated with a savory, slightly sweet sauce, and they’re just as suited for a midday snack as they are for a pairing with a nice cold beer after work.

We shift back into sweets mode as we reach Hiroshima Prefecture, which, like Kyoto, has a particular dessert that’s overwhelmingly associated with it: the momiji manju.

Hiroshima Prefecture is famous for its beautiful maples, called momiji in Japanese, and these manju (sweet dumplings) are shaped like the trees’ leaves.

The outside is a sponge cake similar in flavor and texture to a dorayaki or castella cake, and while the most traditional filling in anko, momiji manju come in all sorts of different flavors, and we opted for a custard cream version from maker Yamadaya, from the island of Miyajima, for 180 yen.

And last, we come to the end of our sweet pseudo-odyssey in Ehime Prefecture with the linguistically dense Shiki Hamu Anpan Manju (140 yen), from confectioner Ichiroku.

We’ve already covered the meaning of manju, and anpan is a hybrid dessert of a western-style baked bread bun with anko inside. Hamu is an old-fashioned/literary way of saying “eat” in Japanese, and the Shiki being referred to here is Masaoka Shiki, a 19th century poet who’s considered one of the greatest haiku masters in Japanese history.

Masaoka was born in Ehime, and is also said to have been a big anpan fan. So while this is still a manju, the cake is a little more substantial, and it’s crowned with black sesame seeds, a common addition to anpan.

We were a little bummed out that we weren’t able to fit some snacks from Kyushu or Okinawa into our taste buds’ itinerary, but we really can’s complain after enjoying six different delicious desserts for just 1,000 yen, especially when we got a taste of so many different parts of the country. Now that we’ve got the snack-travel bug, we’ll have to make sure to swing by Edited Japan whenever we’re in the neighborhood but also kind of wishing we could be someplace else.

Shop information
Edited Japan Shinjuku
Address: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 3-1-26, Shinjuku Marui Annex 1st floor
住所　東京都新宿区新宿3丁目1-26 新宿マルイ アネックス 1F
Open 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Website

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