Twentythree

A heartwarming way to say thank you to the plush toys you have loved, and who have loved you in return. 

A unique new shrine held its founding ceremony in Japan on 20 June, and attendance wasn’t limited to people, as plush toys were warmly welcomed too. That’s because the shrine is dedicated to plush toys, serving as a place where visitors can pray with their favourite stuffed companions, and even hold ceremonial services for them when they reach the end of their lives.

Known as “Nuigurumi Jinja”, which literally translates as “Plush Toy Shrine”, this sacred site was created under the direction of Komichi Horiguchi, founder of the Osaka-based plush toy repair service Nuigurumi Byoin (Plush Toy Hospital), which has cared for more than 26,000 stuffed toys. The shrine is intended as place of worship and a resting place for plushies, especially those that are beyond repair or whose owners have died, according to the belief that stuffed animals contain a life force and should be cared for, repaired, and respectfully farewelled.

Located in the forested Miyama area of Nantan City in Kyoto Prefecture, the shrine is rooted in the notion that forests, rivers, animals, people, ancestors, and even plush toys are all connected. Its organic design, featuring wooden structures and a thatched roof, conveys the idea that the site is at one with this natural world.

▼ The shrine can be seen in this founding ceremony coverage.

With cute details like a bear-shaped window in the worship hall and a torii gate with bear-shaped ears at the entrance, the unique atmosphere makes it feel like a forest sanctuary for furry creatures.

However, it’s also a recognised religious site, with traditional Shinto rituals carried out in connection with the project, including preparatory ceremonies leading up to its formal establishment, as well as a “mitama-wake no shinji” (spirit division ritual) held on 18 April at Kyoto’s Reimei Shrine as part of the enshrinement process.

Unlike other sacred sites, which tend to display statues of gods and deities on the grounds as protective forces, this shrine features a cast of plush toys who serve to connect the human world with the surrounding “Forest of Life”, which is said to be under their care. Led by a Peach Fairy called Milda, a kind and caring caretaker, and King Puffty, a courageous polar bear-like guardian, these residents help to guide plush toys from the human world into the next realm, so they can become one with the natural environment while under their protection.

Dedicated facilities for ceremonial burnings and a resting place for ashes are planned for the site, creating a memorial space where visitors can seek comfort and pay their respects. Rather than being a place for sad farewells, though, the shrine aims to switch the focus to a sense of gratitude, where people of all ages can say “thank you” to the toys they have loved and who have loved them in return.

The shrine also offers amulets and goshuin stamps for visitors, along with a “words of gratitude” offering service, where written messages are placed in an offertory box to be delivered to the gods by a Shinto priest on an auspicious day.

Following the founding ceremony, the shrine will continue final preparations before officially welcoming visitors from 7 July, which coincides with Tanabata, the traditional Japanese Star Festival. It’s a fitting date for the opening, because just like the celestial meeting of two deities at the centre of the festival, this shrine also fosters otherworldly connections, reminding us that the bonds that tie us can continue to live on past the physical realm.

Shrine information
Nuigurumi Jinja / ぬいぐるみ神社
Address: Kyoto-fu, Nantan-shi, Miyama-cho, Tagata, Gobatani 11-8 
京都府南丹市美山町字田歌字五波谷11-8
Website

Sources: Nuigurumi Jinja, TBS via Yahoo! News Japan
Featured image: Nuigurumi Jinja
Insert images: Nuigurumi Jinja (1, 2, 3, 4)
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The Dumb and the Inconsiderate: Tochigi Drift.

“I want to go to Japan because it’s the land of _____” is a common, and understandable, motivation for foreign tourists to decide to visit the country. There are all sorts of appealing, colorful, and just plain cool parts of Japan’s modern and traditional culture, and whether you think of Japan as the land of Hello Kitty, the land of ramen, or the land of ninja, it’s definitely worth your time to pursue those interests in some way while visiting the country.

The key, though, as is so often the case in life, is not to be a jackass about it. Apparently that was too high a standard for a Dutch tourist in Tochigi Prefecture, though, as he’s now been arrested for drifting/vandalism.

The Tochigi Prefectural Police have announced the arrest of 32-year-old Roy Witte, a Dutch national traveling in Japan. Security camera footage from June 15 shows Witte sliding a rented R34-chasis Nissan Skyline sedan around the parking lot of the Oya History Museum in the town of Utsunomiya, with smoke rising from the tires and tread marks left behind on the asphalt. The director of the museum says that cleaning the tire marks from the parking lot will cost a considerable amount of money.

Now, it is true that Japan is the country where drifting first became a cultural phenomenon among car enthusiasts. However, that doesn’t mean that the practice, on non-sanctioned streets, is encouraged or even widely accepted by Japanese society as a whole. In particular, part of the Japanese auto enthusiast ethos is not causing problems for other people, so even when drifting was a more prevalent activity back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, it was usually done as part of spirited drives along isolated stretches of road late at night. Simply spinning around a parking lot like this has pretty much always been frowned upon in Japan, and isn’t really even what those in the Japanese enthusiast community would commonly call drifting, since the wheelspin isn’t being used to navigate a curve in the road and doesn’t require any actual skill.

As such, Japanese online reactions to Witte’s arrest aren’t especially sympathetic, even from drifting fans.

“Do that in your own country.”
“You have to have problems in the head to think it’s OK to do that.”
“I can understand wanting to drift, but do it with permission on private property like a race track.”
“Dude that doesn’t even count as real drifting.”
“All he’s doing is causing wheelspin, What a loser.”
“I feel bad for the rental car too.”
“Who rents a car to do that kind of thing?”
“Make him compensate the museum.”
“Please don’t drop the charges against him.”

The last few comments highlight two other points worth noting. First, while it may be expected in some countries that rental cars are going to suffer plenty of abuse from the people renting them, that’s not generally the norm in Japan. Renting something still means you don’t own it, and Japanese etiquette dictates that people should treat things owned by other people with respect, so it’s possible that whatever company Witte rented the car from is also going to take issue with his driving.

The comments also highlight a growing exasperation among people in Japan with foreign tourists committing crimes in the country but then being deported without standing trial or otherwise receiving punishment. For many years, a swift but quiet “Please leave” and the charges being dropped was the norm for non-violent infractions by foreign tourists, but with the number of such arrests increasing, there have been increased calls for the authorities to see things through in the same manner they would had a Japanese resident committed the crime, and the lenience that allowed arrested tourists to fly home with just a slap on the wrist is likely going to be harder to come by.

Source: FNN Prime Online via Yahoo! Japan News, YouTube/FNNプライムオンライン
Top image: Wikipedia/TKOIII
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Starbucks Day Trip line gives each and every part of Japan a chance to shine.

Starbucks has branches all across Japan, and while they’re all part of the same chain, they each have pride for their individual part of the country too. We’ve seen that before with special regional drink offerings, and now Starbucks Japan is adding some visual fun for each of Japan’s 47 prefectures with its Starbucks Day Trip drinkware and decoration line.

Starting with the practical side of the collection, the Starbucks Day Trip Bottle and Bag Set bundles a 532-mililiter (18-ounce) stainless steel drink bottle with a denim shoulder-strap bag to carry it in. 47 different designs are on offer, with illustrations showing the prefecture’s name written on a Starbucks cup plus different per-prefecture color patterns on the checked cloth near where the drawstrings close.

▼ The Starbucks Day Trip bag for Tokyo…

▼ …and the one for Kanagawa Prefecture.

The bottle itself sports the Starbucks logo, but with no regional flourishes. However, you can add prefectural appeal by putting some cute Day Trip stickers on it.

Though the packaging calls them “city stickers,” these are prefecture-based, with a total of 47 sticker sets.

▼ Stickers for (left to right) Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, and Gunma Prefectures

Each prefecture gets four sticker designs: the name-on-cup illustration also used for the bag, the shape of the prefecture with a coffee-bean motif, the first hiragana phonetic character used to write the prefecture’s name, and an adorable barista bear holding the special ingredient used for the flavor exclusive to that prefecture’s Starbucks branches during the chain’s Jimoto Frappuccino campaign highlighting Japan’s local specialty foods and cultural traditions.

▼ Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Yamagata, Nagano

▼ Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie, Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, and Wakayama

▼ Tottori, Shimane, Okayama Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, and Kochi

▼ Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, Kumamoto, and Okinawa

Drink bottle and bag bundles are priced at 4,200 yen (US$26) and stickers at 700 yen, though only three stickers for each prefecture are included in each pack, so you’ll have to buy more than one, and have a little luck, if you want all four for a place. As for availability, they all go on sale in-store at Starbucks branches in their respective prefectures on June 24, but Starbucks Japan’s online shop is currently offering limited quantities of the bottle/bag sets here.

Source: Starbucks Japan via Fashion Press
Top image: Starbucks Japan
Insert images: Starbucks Japan (1, 2)
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Serving up dumplings with almost 200 years of Chinese history.

Walk along undiscovered streets in new and fascinating towns and there will be locations and landmarks that jump out at you, places that are practically begging you to visit and shop signs suffusing the landscape with their siren calls. However, this phenomenon can also exist on your daily commute—a store never being enticing enough to stop inside, but one that you keep reminding yourself to check out sometime every time you pass it. There’s a store like that for me, a small noodle shop on the train platform I use daily that always smells so delicious, but after years, I’ve still yet to sample its menu.

Our Japanese-language reporter Seiji Nakazawa similarly has a restaurant that had taken root inside of him, located within a restaurant district on the west side of Shinjuku Station, called Rouben Gyozakan, also known as Laobian Dumpling.

Every single time Seiji crossed the pedestrian crossing near it, he would notice it and would reaffirm that there was “some kind of authentic Chinese place there”, and it was only recently that he patronized the store, only to make a surprising discovery: the shop is allegedly part of the world’s oldest gyoza chain.

At the entrance to the restaurant, a notice denoting the 40th anniversary of this branch’s founding back in 1986 is displayed proudly next to the store’s name.

Although it opened in Shinjuku in 1986, the main branch in China is said to be founded by Mr. Bian Fu in 1829 during the Qing Dynasty. At the time of the Shinjuku store’s opening, they invited chefs from the main branch to Japan to ensure the authentic taste was not changed. According to Shanghai Great World Guinness, China’s answer to the Guinness World Records, it can be said to be the oldest existing gyoza chain in the world.

▼ A family tree that traces back to the original founder adorns one of the walls of the restaurant.

Looking through the menu, the store is described as being “the only restaurant in Japan where you can eat the closely guarded gyoza of Laobian Dumpling, which has a 200-year history in China”.

With the promise of enjoying a taste of history, Seiji couldn’t wait to place his order. He noticed there were lunch sets priced at just below 1,000 yen (US$6.21), but since there wasn’t a set where gyoza was the main focus, he passed them up and ordered separate dishes, and went for the Eight Pan-Fried Gyoza for 1,298 yen and the Laobian Special Fried Rice for 1,089 yen.

▼ A selection of the lunch sets on offer.

The pan-fried gyoza come with some impressive wings, the crispiness of which combines with the chewy dough and the overflowing meat juices for a bold and vivid taste, unlike the subdued historical taste Seiji had been expecting.

The Laobian Special Fried Rice puts the eggs on the center of the stage, with solid seasoning while still being loose and fluffy. Truly, a 200-year-old heritage cannot rely on dumplings alone, and Seiji was more than satisfied with the food he tried, marveling at the tremendous skill of the chefs.

That was until he spotted another note on the menu that read: “When people think of gyoza in Japan, they think of pan-fried gyoza, but in China, boiled gyoza is often made at home, whereas what people eat when dining out is steamed gyoza.” Taken aback, Seiji cursed himself that he had almost passed up the opportunity to enjoy the store’s specialty, instead being satisfied with the pan-fried gyoza.

Consulting the menu once more, there were many varieties of steamed gyoza, be it in appearance or flavor, and they even appeared on the lunch set’s add-on menu.

Seiji went for two pieces of the Chicken’s Comb-shaped Chicken Gyoza with Shiitake Mushrooms for 360 yen.

A burst of meat juice gushed out of the dumpling the moment Seiji took a bite, much more so than the pan-fried gyoza. While in other stores, he had never really noticed a difference in skill when it came to steamed gyoza, the ones at Laobian Dumpling are definitely on another level.

Many people walk this street in Shinjuku every day, but it’s unknown how many actually realize there is a taste of 200-year-old history just waiting behind one of its doors. For those of us who have one of these types of “must-try stores” in our hearts, we might actually be missing out on something unbelievably delicious, so it’s time to change that commuting scenery into a destination.

Restaurant information
Rouben Gyozakan Shinjuku Honten/ 老辺餃子舘 新宿本店
Address: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Nishishinjuku 1-18-1 Ogawa-biru 3F
東京都新宿区西新宿1-18-1 小川ビル3F
Open: 11:30 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m. (Monday–Friday),11:30 a.m.–11:00 p.m. (Saturdays), 11:30 a.m.–10:00 p.m. (Sundays and Holidays)
Website

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First increase to visa fees in nearly 50 years will affect some arriving foreigners more than others.

The Japanese government has announced a proportionally huge increase in visa fees for foreign nationals entering the country, and it’s going into effect almost immediately.

Right now, the cost for a single-entry visa is 3,000 yen (US$19). Under the new pricing structure, set by the Cabinet of Japan, that fee will be raised to 15,000 yen, five times its current price. The fee for a multiple-entry visa, which allows the holder to enter and leave Japan multiple times during its period of effectiveness, will be undergoing the same 500-percent increase, rising from 6,000 to 30,000 yen. This will be the first time for Japan to raise its entry visa fees in 48 years, as the current prices were put in place in 1978.

In announcing the price increases, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi justified them on the grounds of reflecting “inflation and current exchange rates.” While this explanation isn’t complete nonsense, there’s an argument to made that it makes only half-sense. Yes, Japan is experiencing inflation pretty much across the board right now, and so the Japanese government’s Immigration Services Agency is likely seeing increase to its operating costs. However, “current exchange rates,” referring to the weakened value of the yen versus foreign currencies, don’t seem like they should be putting any kind of extreme pressure on the Japanese government in terms of visa application processing, since the review and issuing of visas is something the Japanese government is doing within itself, not through the use of foreign materials or overseas labor.

As such, it seems like the price hikes aren’t a single-minded initiative to cope with rising costs, but also an attempt to grab some extra cash from foreigners coming into Japan at a time when the increase will seem combatively palatable to people whose home-country currency is currently strong versus the yen. Speaking about the price increases, Motegi specifically mentioned that “We are not expecting this to have a near-future influence on the number of inbound foreign visitors to Japan.”

Part of any lack of immediate impact, though, is going to be thanks to the suddenness with which the fees are going to be raised. The new prices were announced on July 19, and will go into effect on July 1, leaving little time for upcoming visa applicants to hit the brakes on their travel plans.

So who exactly is going to be affected by this? The answer is a little complicated. For tourists visiting Japan, citizens of many countries, including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, European Union members, South Korea, and Singapore coming to Japan as tourists are automatically given a 90-day visa exemption, so they won’t be paying the higher fees unless they’re planning a very long trip to Japan. Not on the visa-exempt list are Russia, much of the Middle East and Africa, and, most notably China. Chinese travelers represent a very large portion of Japan’s inbound foreign tourist numbers, and the Japanese government predicts that the higher visa fees will produce a total revenue increase of 116.1 billion yen (US$19.72 million) in the 2026 fiscal year.

However, even citizens of countries on the visa-exempt list for tourists still need to apply for a visa if they’re arriving in Japan for non-tourist reasons. So, for example, if you’re a U.S. citizen moving to Japan for a study abroad program, or a Canadian coming to work as an English teacher, you’ll need to apply for a visa and pay the new, higher fees as of July 1.

It should be noted that the announced increases are for entry visas, which are a separate permission from the periodic status of residence renewals that foreign nationals who’re already living in Japan have to apply and pay for, though those too may be getting price increases soon.

Source: Asahi Shimbun, Jiji
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Pakutaso
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Eat big and eat light at the same time.

As the temperature continues to rise in Japan, people’s appetites tend to diminish. So, in the summer, we sometimes turn to classic dishes like somen chilled noodles as a light and refreshing way to get some energy when we just can’t stomach a heavy meal.

We aren’t quite at that level of heat yet, so our reporter Takashi Harada has been trying to sneak in as many bowls of Iekei ramen as possible. Iekei is a popular style of ramen that originated in Yokohama and has a few notable features. The first is its incredibly rich broth, made with pork, chicken, and soy sauce all together. This soup is often balanced by some leafy greens like spinach, and is commonly eaten with a side of rice. It also comes with several sheets of seaweed that you can dip in the soup and eat with the rice.

▼ Some Iekei ramen from Korakuen Iekei Ramen Truck Yaro

It’s an addictively decadent dish, but might be hard to stomach when the heatwaves hit, so Takashi was hoping to get a bowl while the getting was good. However, as he approached one of his favorite chains, Yokohama Iekei Ramen Ichikakuya, he spotted something even more compelling.

Hiyashi Ichiro appeared to be a chilled version of Iekei ramen for 960 yen, and unlike other chilled noodle dishes, this was fully loaded with toppings. There wasn’t really a choice for our reporter anymore, and he pressed the Hiyashi Ichiro button on the ticket machine before heading to the counter. 

The staff asked if he wanted a side of rice, and it gave him pause. Normally, he would always get rice with his Iekei ramen, but would it work with this new style?

Takashi decided to keep an open mind and go with the flow by choosing the rice. At Ichikakuya, the rice was complementary during certain times anyway, so it was no skin off his back.

The transparent bowl the ramen came in gave it a very refreshing vibe, but the pile of toppings completely obscuring the noodles kept it in a true Iekei style.

And like other Iekei ramen, this had a beef-based soup. It wasn’t quite as dense but still full of flavor. The plentiful vegetables like cabbage, bean sprouts, and mustard greens helped to tighten the flavor in a very crisp package that never felt too heavy.

It was a very nice bowl of chilled ramen, and Takashi would have been satisfied with that alone. However, there was another stage to this meal to place it firmly in the Iekei realm of decadence. Though optional, Ichikakuya recommends adding chili oil and mayonnaise for extra zing.

Not one to turn down a recommendation, Takashi put a dab of each on his noodles. He had a fair idea of what to expect from this, but was still completely blown away by how well it blended with the original flavor of the ramen.

He felt a little guilty pushing his meal firmly into junk food territory, but it was an amazing taste experience in the end. Up until this point, he wasn’t quite sure what to do with his rice since this ramen didn’t come with squares of seaweed, but the chili-mayo-soaked noodles solved that mystery.

It was a taste made in heaven, and our writer left feeling not only satisfied by the portions but also the various dining experiences he felt in a single meal for under 1,000 yen. His only complaint was that after eating all that, he felt really sleepy in the afternoon, so be careful if you try it during a lunch break.

Otherwise, Hiyashi Ichiro will be on sale at the Ichikakuya until 30 September, making for an excellent alternative to hot ramen during the extremely hot weather of summer in Japan.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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If you’re going to play with your food, make it competitive.

Spinning tops have been around for a very long time, and even the concept of having battles where opponents try to knock each other’s tops out of commission isn’t new. I have to think it was the name “Beyblade” that really helped to propel tops to the upper echelon of popular toys in recent years.

Though simple in concept, the game has elements of engineering and physics that arguably make the parts educational toys. Perhaps that’s why the makers of educational candy at Kracie took an interest in it. You may not know Kracie by name, but you’ve likely seen some of their products that often involve turning packets of powder into snacks that are surprisingly authentic in looks and taste.

Their latest creation, set to go on sale in stores nationwide on 6 July, is Custom Koma King, where “koma” is the Japanese word for “top,” and I suspect there is an intentionally sneaky pun of “making” in there too. Much like Kracie’s hit candy brand Nerunerunerune, you’re given various packets of powder and plastic trays to mix them with water and create candy. Different powders have different colors and flavors, which can then be modified further by mixing powders together.

In Custom Koma King, you’ll get cola, lemon, and soda flavored powders, which can be combined into flavors such as Super Cola, Super Soda, and Lemon Cola. The primary colors of each can be blended into new colors or made into a rainbow design if done carefully enough. Grape-flavored candy sticks are also included for the spinners, resulting in a top that is entirely edible when you’re done spinning it around.

The kit also comes with three types of molds, so you can make tops of different shapes that give them different attributes. Flower-shaped Bloom tops are able to spin the longest if left to their own devices and can often triumph in low-impact matches. Wing tops have a slight feathered shape that helps them to withstand impacts better than other designs. Finally, the Edge mold creates tops with jagged sides that give more aggressive players an attacking advantage.

These are just the molds that come with Custom Koma King, however, and no one can stop you from creating a completely original top as well. The kits also come with a small tray to spin single tops on for testing, but for full on battles, you should use something like a large dinner plate or a wok. Just keep in mind that you’re probably going to eat the tops afterward, so it should be something clean.

Also, Beyblade parts are carefully made with an inherent balance to them for the best performance, but these candies are completely handmade from powder, which means there’s an added element of how well you can forge your own top with the correct symmetry to outlast opponents. And even if you fail, you can just eat it and start again. When tasting defeat comes with the pleasant tanginess of soda and grape, it’s always a win-win situation.

Source, image: PR Times
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