Twentythree

Photo shows Family Mart chocolate donut looking nothing like its packaging, but was that by design?

It’d be an exaggeration to say that Japan’s love affair with its convenience stores is over, but the relationship isn’t quite as rosy as it used to be. Over the last few years, the trend has been towards rising prices, shrinking sizes, and an overall lower level of satisfaction among shoppers. In some cases, major convenience store chains have come under fire for deceptive packaging or presentation that critics say misrepresent what’s really being sold, and the latest one to find itself in the crosshairs is Family Mart.

Family Mart’s Chocolate Old-fashioned Donuts are a consistent best seller, and a constant presence in the chain’s pastry aisle. Priced at 135 yen (US$0.90), they’re a remaining light of hope that we can still have inexpensive, delicious treats, but that perception took a major blow when the following Japanese Twitter post went viral, claiming to show a Family mart Chocolate Old-fashioned with hardly any chocolate at all.

これはさすがに笑った
底上げ弁当が霞んで見えるわ pic.twitter.com/Pa4cKCfMjq

— 二見俊弥 | Syunya Futami (@Aynuh_simatuh) April 23, 2026

That post went up on April 23, and the amount of chocolate on the donut is in reverse portion to how upset it made sweets fans. But is Family Mart really trying to shortchange/shortchoco its customers to such an egregious degree? To investigate, we made the solemn decision to go out and buy a bunch of donuts.

We came back to our testing center with 10 Family Mart Chocolate Old-fashioned Donuts, sourced from four different branches, in order to get a broader picture of what’s going on.

Obviously, making donuts isn’t like assembling cars, so we’re not going to be holding Family Mart to industrial engineering-caliber standards of uniformity here. The photo on the packaging for their Chocolate Old-fashioned Donuts, though, shows chocolate covering about half of the donut (way more than in the above tweet), so that’s the amount we’ll be looking for.

Let’s get started with our first three test subjects.

We’d call all of these acceptable. Sure, there’s some variance, but nothing shockingly off from the target of 50-percent coverage, even if the uneven upper surface of the donut means that there are gaps sometimes.

Let’s open up four more.

Again, nothing stands out here as anything that makes us think we’re getting scammed. That last one, in particular, looks like it’s got chocolate covering more than half of it, so if anything, Family Mart’s package is underselling that individual example.

OK, now for the last three.

As you can see, out of the 10 donuts we tested, none of them looked significantly different from what Family Mart promises through its packaging, and none of them were even close to the choco-deprived donut shown in the viral tweet.

About the only room for criticism is that the chocolate here is a covering, not a coating, in the sense that it’s primarily on the top of the donut, and doesn’t really wrap around the side or bottom surfaces.

However, there’s no law or confectionary compact that says a chocolate donut has to have an all-sides coating, and the packaging itself only shows it on top.

So if our testing shows that Family Mart’s donuts really do tend to have as much chocolate as promised, what’s going on in that tweet? Assuming the photo is genuine and the donut undoctored, it would seem, to be the result of some sort of production process error. Since Family Mart currently only sells Chocolate Old-fashioned Donuts (there’s no plain version), should you happen to end up with one with so little chocolate, the best thing to do would be to take it back up to the counter and show it to the clerk or manager and ask for a replacement, since it’s a fluke of some kind, and not a case of Family Mart actively trying to rip you off.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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Lipton caters to the Japanese market with an exclusive new dessert beverage.

Lipton has come a long way since it was founded by Sir Thomas Lipton in Scotland in 1871, expanding to become known as a leading tea brand in countries around the world, including Japan.

Like many big global brands, Lipton specifically caters to the Japanese market with exclusive offerings you won’t find anywhere else, and right now there’s a new release that will have tea connoisseurs clutching their china teacups.

Called Lipton Purin Milk Tea, this new beverage is designed to taste like purin, a popular Japanese custard pudding that’s similar to a crème caramel. Consisting of a smooth, silky custard base topped with a layer of bittersweet caramel sauce, purin are typically served chilled and can be found in stores, cafes and many a home refrigerator.

While purin isn’t commonly served with a side of tea, Lipton is here to prove that the flavours work well together, saying this milk tea is inspired by the taste of old-fashioned pudding, and features a rich eggy flavour with slightly bitter caramel.

“Eggy flavour” might not sound all that appealing to purin first-timers, but it’s used in the sense that it provides a rich, custard-like mouthfeel, which is part of what makes purin so popular.

The dessert-like milk tea is said to evoke the taste of a classic, traditional pudding, with carefully selected fragrant and flavourful tea leaves crafting a perfect balance between the main components.

After trying Lipton’s Pancake Tea Latte in 2024, we’re looking forward to seeing if the new Purin Milk Tea is just as mind-bendingly delicious, and it will be available at stores around Japan from 12 May, at a recommended retail price of 184 yen (US$1.15).

Source, images: PR Times
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Pray to get ahead or to keep your head.

Bicycle helmets have really taken off recently. In the months leading up to Japan’s stricter cycling violation penalties, I noticed many more people around me wearing them, and after the laws went into effect, they even started selling out in a lot of stores. That’s great to see as it’s a simple way to potentially save lives.

But is it enough to have a carefully designed and rigorously tested artificial shell forming a protective barrier around your cranium? Why not add a layer of spiritual protection to it too, just in case you happen to fall off your bike and onto a stretch of road paved with pure malice and vitriol?

Kobenomiya Yomo Shrine in Mie Prefecture can provide that by offering bike helmet blessings. Many shrines offer blessings and protective omamori talismans specializing in traffic safety, but what makes this shrine unique is that it specializes in the head.

The name “Kobenomiya” literally means “Shrine of the Head,” originally because it enshrined an imperial family member’s skull, but later because it also enshrined the God of Heads. This applies to all things dome-related, from injury protection to smarts when studying for exams. So, if you want any sort of divine intervention for your noggin, this is the place to be.

And in honor of Bicycle Month in Japan, Kobenomiya Yomo and bike-helmet maker OGK Kabuto are teaming up for a special edition goshuin. These are often exquisitely crafted stamps that you can collect from shrines and temples after praying there as a kind of souvenir of the places you’ve visited.

This new goshuin is believed to be the first of its kind in Japan, shaped like an OGK Kabuto AERO-R2 model helmet. This model is used by members of the Japanese national cycling team and not only represents safety but also a desire to reach the top, something also exemplified by the Shrine of the Head.

Helmet blessings have been held since 2022, but the goshuin will be made available from 1 May, also known as Bicycle Helmet Day. This day kicks off Bicycle Month, which is intended to raise awareness for safety, manners, and the healthy aspects that all come along with pedaling light vehicles.

▼ Don’t forget to get your Bicycle Helmet Day shopping done.

It’s a perfect marriage of spiritualism and technology. Luck will only take you so far, so it’s a good idea to make your own luck with some high-performance polycarbonate too. That’s why you should head on down to Kobenomiya Yomo Shrine or most other shrines that offer traffic safety blessings, and, most importantly, a bike shop to buy a helmet so you can protect your grey matter, because someday it may matter.

Shrine information
Kobenomiya Yomo Shrine / 頭之宮四方神社
Address: Mie-ken, Watarai-gun, Taiki, Ouchiyama 3314-2
三重県度会郡大紀町大内山3314-2
Website

Source, images: PR Times
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Vintage-look shirts celebrate the original vintage of the landmark anime series.

As one of the most popular anime series of all time, Evangelion has had plenty of remasters and visual upgrades over the years. But way back in the beginning, viewers were watching the original series on CRT TVs, either as part of its original TV broadcast in Japan or on VHS tapes (of either the fansubbed or professionally released variety).

So for many long-time Eva fans, their memories of the series have a measure of visual grain to them, and that should match up nicely with a new line of Evangelion T-shirts from Uniqlo’s sister brand, GU.

The designers describe them as “vintage-like” T-shirts, with a pre-weathered/washed look that gives the fabric the aura of something that’s been in your wardrobe since you picked it up at the Anime America ’96 dealers’ room at the San Jose Red Lion hotel, but without 30 years’ worth of actual wear and tear on the fabric and stitching.

Adding to the old-school appeal is that all of the artwork, featuring Shinji, Rei, Asuka, and their respective Eva Units, are taken from the original Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series, as opposed to their subtly updated redesigns seen in the Rebuild of Evagelion movies that came decades later.

The lineup consists of a total of four shirts, each with a graphic print on the front and marked with “Nerv Tokyo-3” on the back, right underneath the collar.

The shirts are each priced at 1,990 yen (US$13) and are scheduled to go on sale in late June at GU physical shops and through the chain’s online store here.

Source: GU via Denfaminico Gamer
Top image: GU
Insert images: GU (1, 2, 3, 4)
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Matsuya makes the step from beefy bowls to milky drinks, but only at select locations for now.

Hamburgers and milk shakes have been happily coexisting on fast food restaurant menus for generations…so why not add them to the offerings at other beef-centric eateries? This week Matsuya, one of Japan’s big-three gyudon/beef bowl chains and rival to Yoshinoya and Sukiya, started serving up a brand-new line of milk shakes.

▼ Matsu シェイク = Matsu Shake

Well, it sort of started serving them up. Matsuya has over 1,300 branches across Japan, but currently Matsu Shakes are only available at five of them. Luckily for us, one of those, the Adachi Rokucho branch in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward, is withing striking/snacking distance of SoraNews24 HQ, and so as soon as Matsuya’s milk shakes went on sale on April 28, we rushed out to try them.

And when we say try them, we mean all of them. The initial lineup consists of three different shakes, and while our dietician may not recommend a triple-serving of dessert drinks, we’re willing to defy such guidelines to bring you, our cherished readers, the full story.

We started off with the Vanilla Matsu Shake (180 yen [US$1.15] for a small, 240 yen for a medium). Taking a sip, we found an orthodox vanilla shake. Matsuya isn’t trying to do anything tricky or quirky here. They’ve simply taken aim at the creamy sweetness you’d expect in a vanilla milk shake, and they’ve hit the mark, with a deliciously satisfying flavor profile that’s exactly what one would anticipate.

Things start to get a little cleverer with the Strawberry Matsu Shake (290/350 yen). Rather than using strawberry ice cream, the base here is the same as with the Vanilla Matsu Shake, but with pieces of fruit as a topping, with strawberry sauce drizzled in too. Again, there’s nothing shocking here, but this is a perfectly tasty treat with the strawberry adding some extra tart complexity to the flavor profile and also adding some variety to the texture. Matsuya serves its shakes with a wide-diameter straw of the type you’d get for boba/tapioca bubble tea, but you can also get a spoon and eat the Strawberry Matsu Shake like it’s a little parfait.

And last, we come to the Vanilla and Choco Cocoa Cookie Matsu Shake (320/380 yen).

Once again, we’ve got the vanilla base, but this time topped with chocolate sauce and chocolate cookie crumbles.

This was the standout of the trio. Sure, a cookies-and-cream-style shake isn’t anything earth-shattering on the conceptual level, but we were blown away by just how many cookie pieces Matsuya gave us! From our first sip to our last, we had a joyfully strong stream of cookies coming through the straw.

With only five Matsuya branches (Adachi Rokucho in Tokyo, Misato Shimohikogawa in Saitama, Kashiwa Aobadai and Higashi Kamagaya in Chiba, and Ayase Teraonishi in Kanagawa Prefecture) currently offering the Matsu Shakes, they appear to be in a test phase, so it’s possible that the recipes might be tweaked if/when they go nationwide. For now, though, the Vanilla and Choco Cocoa Cookie Matsu Shake is unique and delicious, so hopefully it’ll stay that way when it makes its all-Japan debut.

Related: Matsu Shake-serving Matusya location finder
Photos ©SoraNews24
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Do they live up to the hype of their Taiwanese inspiration?

Taiwan has a bustling street food scene, and some of the more popular items that’ve risen to prominence are the milk donuts covered generously in a milk sugar coating.

Our Japanese-language reporter Yui Imai, who often finds herself shuttling back and forth between the two countries, Yui Imai, has eaten them frequently due to how irresistibly delicious they are, so when she learned of Mister Donut selling a new type of airy donut taking inspiration from those popular Taiwanese donuts, she couldn’t fight the temptation to try them.

Released on April 26, two varieties of Sakupofun Crisp and Puff Donuts made their way into Mister Donut stores across Japan: Milk Sugar and Custard Sugar. Both have the distinguishing characteristic of having a crisp outer layer with a light and airy center, and cost 248 yen (US$1.55).

Yui visited her local Mister Donut branch on the first day, but was only able to get her hands on one of the new donuts due to their seemingly overwhelming popularity, so with a visit to a second store, she was finally able to complete the duo.

Holding them in her hand, Yui felt they were slightly firm to the touch, and looked very similar to the donuts she ate in Taiwan, so it was a very promising start.

Starting with her beloved Milk Sugar donut, Yui cut it in half to reveal that crispy outside and the inside with so much more hollow space compared to usual donuts.

Taking a bite, Yui was greeted with the satisfying crunch, followed by the light and airy texture, within which the gentle sweetness of the milk sugar spreads out. It’s a simple taste, but heartwarmingly delicious.

Next up was the Custard Sugar, which instead has a rich sweetness and a scent that makes you think undeniably of custard, and it was no less delicious than the Milk Sugar one.

Comparing the two donuts, Yui could definitely see many similarities between the Milk Sugar donut and its Taiwanese inspiration, although Mister Donut’s version might possibly have a slightly more pronounced crispiness to the outside. Also, in Taiwan, they were always served piping hot and freshly fried, so she admits that she could feel a difference in that regard. Nonetheless, Mister Donut has done an exceedingly good job crafting such high-quality donuts to be offered on a nationwide scale, Yui thinks.

If you hold any interest in Taiwanese street snacks, or you just can’t resist a good donut, be sure to stop on by a nearby Mister Donut to pick up the latest Sakupofun Crisp and Puff Donuts, although with their apparent popularity, you might need to be lucky to find a store that still has some in stock.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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