Twentythree

You can haul back thousands of yen worth of ramen, rice, and snacks for a fraction of the price.

Expanding its reach with additional sub-brands, one of Japan’s big-three convenience stores, Lawson, opened the doors to L Minimart, its first “mini supermarket”, on May 28 in Kodaira, Tokyo. Excited to learn more about what this new brand will entail, our Japanese-language reporter Mr. Sato joined the crowd of the roughly 200 people who wanted to be among the first to step through the store’s doors on the day of its opening.

Mr. Sato arrived early enough that he was able to line up, peruse the store, and complete his shopping without any significant wait time or issues, but by the time he was wrapping up his visit, other prospective customers were being told that they would likely have a one-hour wait to enter.

As Mr. Sato walked back from the store to the nearest train station (Kodaira Station), he couldn’t help but look down at some of his recent purchases. In commemoration of the opening, he discovered the store was selling two types of lucky bags, also known as fukubukuro: one full of food and the other stuffed with snacks, and both priced at 1,080 yen (US$6.76) per bag.

Longtime readers may be familiar with our annual report on the New Year’s fukubukuro that go on sale at all manner of stores in Japan, but they’re not an uncommon sight to see throughout the year too, particularly if the store is involved in some sort of celebration or campaign.

A lot of times when good deals like these crop up, the amount of bags that each customer can purchase is limited, so Mr. Sato was pleasantly surprised to find out that there were no official limits in place. However, he soon realized one of the unwritten limits: your arm strength.

▼ Mr. Sato only picked up one of each.

While the snack bag wasn’t so bad, the food one slowly began to feel like an iron block hanging at the end of his arm, leaving him to adjust his grip regularly, and making him pretty tired after the whole ordeal was over. He couldn’t help but wonder what it might be like for customers who are more advanced in age, and how they might struggle to haul their lucky bag back to their houses.

Arriving home, he quickly stepped on the scales for a base reading, before picking up the food lucky bag, filled with curiosity. How heavy was it exactly?

It turned out that the bag weighed an impressive 3.3 kilograms (7.3 pounds), so it was no wonder he was feeling a little drained.

Spreading out the contents of the bag, he discovered that there were a total of 15 items:

1.  Ciscorn Frost Cereal – 421 yen
2. Hakubaku Fragrant Barley Tea (52 bags) – 270 yen

3. Acecook Super Cup Sauce Yakisoba – 259 yen
4. Acecook Seaweed Ramen – 254 yen
5. Kyusyu Sanpodo Kurumeshi Ramen – 254 yen
6. Myojo Hyobanya Salt Yakisoba – 159 yen
7. Kyusyu Sanpodo Nagasaki Champon – 254 yen

8. Hachi Shokuhin Tappuri Carbonara – 226 yen
9. Hachi Shokuhin Tappuri Meat Sauce – 226 yen
10. Ajinomoto Marudorigara Soup – 400 yen
11. Mama Hayayude FineFast Four Minutes – 320 yen
12. House Shokuhin Curry-ya Curry (Medium Spice) – 130 yen

13. Sato no Gohan New Standard Microwaveable Rice – 307 yen
14. Sato no Gohan Microwaveable Rice – 200 yen
15. Ajinomoto Pure Select Rich and Tasty 65 Percent Calorie Cut Mayonnaise – 280 yen

Just a single fukubukuro contained food worth an impressive 3,960 yen, making for a saving of 2,880 yen.

The snack bag also contained 15 items:

1. Kameda Seika Kotsubukko Bitter Caramel Rice Snack – 216 yen
2. Lotte Pie no Mi Share Pack – 300 yen
3. Ginbis Shimi Choco Corn Matcha – 328 yen

4. Yamazaki Biscuit Chip Star Lightly Salted – 100 yen
5. Morinaga Seika Pote-long Salt Flavor – 110 yen
6. Pringles Consomme and Onion – 160 yen

7. Iwatsuka Seika Black Soybean Rice Crackers – 260 yen
8. Hizatsuki Shrimp Rice Crackers – 200 yen
9. Yamayoshi Seika Wasabeef Potato Chips – 160 yen
10. Nissin Coconut Sable Cookies – 162 yen
11. Kasugai Xylicrystal Milk-Mint Candies – 200 yen
12. Fujiya Ginza Kamadashi Cheesecake – 300 yen

13. Tohato Poteko Tasty Salt Flavor Potato Ring Snack– 173 yen
14. Koikeya Sour Mucho Chips Refreshing Plum Flavor – 140 yen
15. Oyatsu Company Baby Star Giant Ramen Scorched Soy Sauce Scented Festival Stall’s Grilled Corn Flavor – 152 yen

Totaling 2,961 yen, the whopping grand total of the food’s worth is 6,921 yen, which meant a saving of 4,761 yen.

Having paid just 2,160 yen for the two bags, the results were well worth the money spent.

While many people have likely missed out on the opportunity to go and purchase one of these lucky bags, it appears that L Minimart has plans to open more stores in the future, with one coming to Itabashi, Tokyo, on June 12, and another to Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, on June 26, so when one happens to open up near you, be sure to grab these lucky bags.

Store Information
L Minimart Kodaira Nakamichi-ten / Lミニマート 小平仲町店
Address: Tokyo-to, Kodaira-shi, Nakamachi 251, Excellence
東京都小平市仲町251エクセレンス
Open: 7:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m.

Related: L Minimart
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Bring Totoro and the gang to work with cleverly concealed character details. 

One of the things we love about Studio Ghibli is the way its movies appeal to people of all ages. Even My Neighbour Totoro, which might seem like a children’s movie, with its child protagonist and fantastical characters, has wider themes of familial love and rural ideals that strike a chord across generations, garnering fans that range from toddlers through to businessmen.

In fact, toddlers who first watched the film when it was released in 1988 would now be in their 30s, making them a prime customer for Totoro nostalgia. This is a market that the studio’s specialty retail chain, Donguri Kyowakoku, is now catering to with a new release of My Neighbour Totoro neckties.

The My Neighbour Totoro Necktie 26 Spring Summer collection consists of eight silk ties, in four designs.

▼ The first design, “Nut Stripe“, comes in two colourways – navy and wine.

This tie features the adorable movements of Totoro toddling around with fallen acorns, incorporated into a neat diagonal stripe pattern.

The design might be playful, but its subdued colours make it suitable for people of all ages, from young adults to seniors.

▼ Next up, we have Clover Check, also in navy or wine.

This design features a sophisticated check pattern, with a scattering of clovers and subtle appearances from the white Small Totoro.

▼ Look closely and you’ll see a little Soot Sprite perched on a clover leaf!

▼ The third design is Circle Dot, in blue or navy.

This lovely design has small Totoros peeking out from clusters of tiny, neatly arranged dotted circles.

Like all the ties, you wouldn’t know there was a character hiding out in the design when viewing it from a distance, but up close you can appreciate all the fine details.

▼ Finally, we have Acorn Check, in turquoise or blue.

Based on a traditional Japanese checkered pattern, this design features Totoro and acorns scattered in a balanced and cleverly concealed way.

This design is said to evoke a sense of nostalgia while maintaining a modern, contemporary Japanese aesthetic.

Every tie comes with a Studio Ghibli tag, so you can keep your love for the studio close to your heart…

▼ …and a sweet gift box, which is ideal for Father’s Day gift-giving.

With so many cleverly disguised character details, these ties are a great way to bring Totoro and the gang to work while maintaining a polished and professional appearance. They’re only available while stocks last, though, both online (links below) and at Donguri Kyowakoku stores in Japan, priced at 9,350 yen (US$58.47) each.

Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Featured image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Says he did it for the social media views, but the police didn’t like what they saw.

A lot of things in Japan rely on the country’s ability to trust that people will be considerate and respectful. Perhaps nowhere is this more clearly displayed than in the existence of conveyor belt sushi restaurants, in which automated delivery of food to customers is carried out under the assumption that no one will do anything disruptive or unsanitary along the way.

In other words, one of Japan’s most popular restaurant genres is dependent on people refraining from behavior within the “jerk” and “jackass ” sections of the societal spectrum. Unfortunately that proved to be too tall a task for one man, who’s now been arrested after posting a disgusting video of his recent visit to Hama Sushi, one of Japan’s biggest conveyor belt sushi chains.

In the video, which the man posted to TikTok, he can be seen squirting liquid from a dish soap container, which he had brought to the restaurant with him, onto a plate of sushi. The video was recorded at a Hama Sushi branch in Saitama Prefecture and posted on May 27.

One week later, the Saitama Prefectural Police have not only identified the man who posted the video as an unemployed 43-year-old resident of the Saitama town of Moroyama, they’ve also arrested him on charges of forced obstruction of business.

There are a couple of aspects of the incident that warrant further discussion. To start with, the man did not squirt the liquid on sushi that was eaten by another customer. In recent years, in order to improve efficiency and provide fresher food, many conveyor belt sushi restaurants in Japan have done away with the old system of pre-making sushi pieces and sending them on plates down the belt to be grabbed by whoever wants them. Instead, the vast majority of the food, and at many conveyor belt sushi restaurants all of it, is made after the customer places an order, then sent down the belt and automatically stops at the table of the diner who ordered it. That was the case with the sushi the 43-year-old man squirted the liquid onto, as in the video he uploaded the plate has stopped on the belt at his table, and in the video he can be seen taking the plate off the belt and placing it on his table.

However, the plate was still on the lane when he squirted it, opening up the possibility of whatever the liquid was splashing onto other plates or parts of the restaurant where it could come into contact with other diners’ food. The man, who has admitted to recording and posting the video and said his motive was “to get a lot of views on social media,” claims that he had emptied the dishwashing liquid container and refilled it with water prior to squirting it on the sushi, though this isn’t something that can be easily confirmed after the fact.

One could, perhaps, make the argument that regardless of whether the liquid was dish soap, water, or something else, as long as the man ate the sushi himself, or simply left it uneaten so that it would be thrown out when the restaurant staff cleaned the table, that he didn’t do anything wrong, just something weird and potentially damaging to his own stomach. However, by posting the video online, his actions could be seen as damaging to the reputation of Hama Sushi. Any suggestion of unsanitary conditions is extremely damaging to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, and by extension the chain and even the entire industry.

A rash of conveyor belt sushi “prank” videos occurred in 2023, but though things have quieted down since then, the Moroyama man’s actions are definitely not the sort of thing businesses, the police, or the general public have any patience for anymore. “[His] actions are utterly unacceptable” said Hama Sushi’s parent company Zensho in a statement, while promising to provide all possible cooperation in the investigation and legal procedures.

Source: Livedoor News/Kyodo, Nitele News, FNN Prime Online
Top image: Pakutaso
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Renovations wrapping up in Tokyo, new menu items on their way to Osaka too.

If you’re a Pokémon fan, heading to Japan’s Pokémon Cafe as soon as possible probably seems like a no-brainer. However, if you can hold out for a few more weeks, you’ll be rewarded for your patience, as there’s a slew of brand-new, incredibly adorable new items being added to the menu.

The arrival of the new entree, dessert, and drink options coincides with this month’s grand reopening of the Pokémon Cafe Tokyo. At the time of its opening in 2018, Japan’s first permanent Pokémon restaurant was already an awesome place to visit, and the newly redone interior will feature even more species of Pokémon in its art and decorations.

Among the menu items making their debut is the Chocolate and Berry Pikachu Parfait, a mixture of sweet, fruity, and creamy flavors topped with strawberries and a Pikachu made of mousse with chocolate facial features.

Continuing with the sweet treats, there’s also the Eevee Colorful Fruit Pancake, which gives a nod to Eeevee’s many possible evolutions with a rainbow of dried fruit pieces and recreates the Pokémon’s tuft of fluffy fur with Mascarpone cream.

We’d be the last ones to criticize fans for ordering double dessert, (our independent research has found that it’s the most important meal of the day), but we’d highly recommend saving room for some savory stuff too, like the Pikachu and Pichu Friends Curry Plate, with a Pikachu-shaped serving of saffron rice and a Poké Ball-style hamburger steak.

The sleepiest Pokémon couldn’t be bothered to wake up for the Napping Snorlax Teriyaki Burger, but he does at least let you use his tummy for the top bun of this teriyaki chicken and scrambled egg sandwich, and he contributes some carrot Zs to the accompanying veggie mix.

Rounding out the new entree choices is the Mimikyu Disguise Omelet, recreating the mysterious Ghost/Fairy-type’s covering in egg form, with a salad and cup of corn chowder, with Pokémon-shaped pasta, on the side.

And last, to wash everything down there’s the new Go! Greninja! White Peach Smokescreen Drink. Floating in the glass is a gelatin Water Shuriken, and the Pokémon Cafe promises that the drink also shows off Greninja’s Smokescreen ability, which could mean that it has some sort of foamy or cotton candy-cloud creating effect.

The visual appeal of dining at the Pokémon Cafe isn’t limited to the food on your plate or the art of the walls, either. Seatings are done in set time blocks, and each of them includes a visit by some species of Pokémon. To celebrate the debut of the new Pikachu parfait, there’s also a new show, Let’s Make a Pika Pika Parfait, a 10-minute performance featuring a trio of culinary Pikachus.

▼ From left to right these are Waitress Pikachu, Chef Pikachu, and Patissier Pikachu, but they also look like they could be the panel of a Pokémon-themed Iron Chef reboot (which someone should make immediately).

▼ The same three also appear on special Pokémon 30th anniversary stickers given out randomly with drink orders.

Prices for the above items range from 1,375 yen (US$9) for the Greninja drink to 2,090 yen for the desserts and 2,530 yen for everything else. The new menu items will be available at both the Tokyo and Osaka Pokémon Cafes starting June 17, which is also the grand reopening date for the renovated Tokyo branch, which has been closed since late March.

Related: Pokémon Cafe
Source: Pokémon Cafe (1, 2, 3)
Top image: Pokémon Cafe
Insert images: Pokémon Cafe (1, 2)
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