Twentythree

A 10-year wait turns out to be exactly the right length to warm her heart.

A while back, our Japanese-language reporter Mariko Ohanabatake was sorting through her mail for the day, and mixed in among the restaurant fliers, condominium ads, and other junk mail was a letter from her mom. You might be thinking that it’s unusual to bother sending a written letter in today’s digital world, where pretty much everyone has a phone with at least one messaging app, if not more, in their pocket, and you’d be right. What made this written-on-paper correspondence even more unusual, though, is that Mariko’s mom passed away from stomach cancer roughly a year and a half before the letter was delivered.

What’s more, the letter itself was written even farther in the past. In 2015, Mariko’s mom attended an event in her hometown of Nagasaki in which participants could write letters and entrust them to the organizers, who would mail them 10 years later. At the time, Mariko’s mother was yet to be diagnosed with her eventual medical condition, but she was still in a pensive mood. In the months prior to writing the letter, Mariko’s mom had lost both her younger and older brothers to illness, and her ex-husband, Mariko’s father, had also recently passed away. Mariko herself was also going through a rough time. This was before she joined our site as a writer, and she was still stuck in a punishingly exhausting and exploitative job elsewhere.

So no doubt Mariko’s mom had a lot on her mind about family, the pursuit of happiness, and the flow of time as she put pen to paper to write a message to her daughter a decade in the future. Evidently, she’d even gone to the trouble of contacting the organization that ran the letter-writing event after Mariko got married in 2023, updating the delivery information to reflect her new married family name and address.

▼ The letter Mariko received

So what did Mariko’s mom have to say?

This has been a year with so many very difficult days.

Right now, I’m at Mizubenomori Park with your aunt.

In 10 years’ time, will everyone be doing well? Will you, Mariko, be leading a happy life? Will you have children?

I hope you are all doing well.

– Mom

The question about whether or not future Mariko (now present Mariko) would have children stuck out to her, but not because she felt any anger or resentment about her mother’s curiosity. Mariko didn’t get married until she was around 40, but never once had her mom pressured her about finding someone and tying the knot. Because of her age, Mariko went into her marriage understanding that kids weren’t really likely to be part of the deal, but her mom never grumbled about wanting grandchildren. As a matter of fact, in one of their conversations, Mariko’s mom explicitly told her:

“I like kids, but I can’t picture you as a mother. Don’t worry about giving me grandkids, though. You were an adorable child, and that’s all I needed.”

Mariko believes that her mom’s words were genuine, but reading the letter, she couldn’t help but wonder if her mom really would have liked to have had a grandchild, even if she respected and understood that Mariko hadn’t walked that path in life. Given her mom’s kind, caring nature, she could even imagine her nervously wringing her hands in heaven, regretting mentioning grandkids in the letter she’d written a decade ago and that she knew was about to be delivered to Mariko, and which might stir up some complex emotions.

And yeah, the question in the letter did have Mariko feeling emotional, because exactly three days before it arrived in her mailbox…

…Mariko found out that she’s pregnant.

Yes, Mariko, now in her 40s, is expecting. With the timing of the letter’s delivery having been decided on 10 years ago, dry logic would say that it’s a coincidence that it arrived right after Mariko learned she’d be having a baby, but Mariko can’t help but feel like there’s some sort of fate involved, so that her mom can breathe a sigh of relief since the question about whether Mariko would have kids of her own feels prescient rather than pestering.

▼ Mariko’s mom

Mariko’s due date is coming up in the summer, so it’ll still be a while before her baby is big enough to talk or read. Once the kid is, though, she looks forward to showing them the letter from Grandma, and telling them the story of when it arrived.

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Gyonuts look set to become the nation’s trendiest new sweet. 

Japan loves to throw out the rulebook when it comes to foreign-born sweets, a fact we recently saw when udon noodle chain Marugame Seimen released Udonuts, made with – you guessed it – udon flour.

These unusual doughnuts became a surprise hit, with the chain selling more than a million servings in the six days following their release.

▼ Since then, the Udonuts continue to be a hit, even collaborating with Dragon Ball Z.

Now, Osaka Ohsho, a popular local restaurant chain specializing in Japanese-Chinese cuisine, particularly gyoza, is adding another weird doughnut to the sweets scene: the Gyonut.

As you might have guessed, Gyonut, or “Gyonatsu” as it’s pronounced in Japanese, is an amalgamation of the words “gyoza” and “doughnut”, and that’s exactly what this treat is about. Like Udonuts, these new morsels promise to be delicious while also making use of ingredients that would otherwise go to waste, making them good for both customers and the planet.

▼ 大阪王将 = Osaka Ohsho

▼ The new gyoza doughnuts are made from gyoza wrappers, and they first began appearing in stores last year.

According to Osaka Ohsho’s official website, these fried treats aren’t only made with gyoza wrappers, as they also make use of croissant dough. This suggests a more complex texture than the Udonuts, and with such unusual flavours on offer – Gyoza, Sugar, Strawberry Milk, Chocolate and Mapo Tofu – these definitely push the boat out on what normally constitutes a doughnut.

▼ The Gyonuts come in packs of five for 300 yen (US$1.92), and we purchased the Mapo Tofu, Sugar, and Gyoza varieties.

Gyonuts are fried to order, so it takes a little time for them to be served. However, the fact that they are guaranteed to be freshly fried and piping hot are one of their strengths, so we had high hopes for the tasting.

Starting with the Sugar variety, we were instantly hooked on the flavour it delivered. Powdery sugar coated the tongue to provide a mellow and consistent sweetness, while the crunchy, slightly hard texture was reminiscent of Sata Andagi, doughnuts that are a local specialty in Okinawa.

▼ The firm exterior gives it a wonderfully fluffy centre, just like a sata andagi.

The freshly made nature of the doughnut ensures the exterior maintains just the right amount of firmness, making for an impressive mouthfeel. This gave each one a signature texture that remained consistent throughout the board, but one thing that certainly wasn’t consistent was the flavours.

▼ Mapo Tofu

Mapo Tofu is a spicy tofu dish, and while it tastes great as a standalone meal, the doughnut version blew our minds. The flavour appeared to be all in the powder, and it tasted identical to mapo tofu, breaking all our preconceptions on what a doughnut should be.

Even our reporter Seiji Nakazawa, who eats a lot of Chinese food, confirmed that it tasted like the real thing, and when he tried the gyoza variety, it too, tasted so much like a dumpling that he couldn’t quite believe what he was eating.

The flavour of the Gyonuts was totally unexpected, and the Mapo Tofu and Gyoza varieties were so strong and punchy that they overpowered the palate, in a good way. Seiji says they’re like nothing he’s ever tasted before, and he reckons foreign visitors to Japan will get a kick out of trying them, as it shows just how weird things can get in this land of uniquely Japanese creations.

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Prizes are still random, but you’re guaranteed to get a pair of tanuki balls.

You always have to be prepared for a certain amount of randomness when buying something from Japan’s gacha/capsule toy machines, but if you want to limit the amount of uncertainty, there are ways to do so. One of the easiest techniques is to look for a machine that, rather than offering variation-on-a-theme lineups like canned-goods Sanrio characters or classic anime VHS cases, is instead stocked with a single design that comes in a variety of colors. For example, with the items we’re looking at today, even if you won’t know ahead of time which hue you’ll be getting, you can say, with complete certainty, that you will be getting a set of testicles to play with.

OK, we should probably explain the rich cultural legacy behind those gigantic balls. The critter that they’re attached to is a tanuki, or raccoon dog. Tanuki are some of the most adorable wildlife you’ll encounter in Japan, with their roly-poly physiques and fluffy tails, but for most people, the first anatomic element that comes to mind when they think of tanuki are their testicles.

As you can see (or actually can’t see) in the above photo, actual tanuki don’t have scrotums that account for the majority of their body mass. Tanuki balls figure prominently, though, within folklore and artwork. According to legend, tanuki are skilled shapeshifters, and their testicles often play a role in the transformation process. Tanuki balls are also considered signs of prosperity, which is why you’ll find tanuki statues outside many noodle restaurants in Japan, and all of them will have massive balls.

So with Japan having been fascinated with tanuki testicles for centuries, Tokyo-based capsule toy maker Tarlin has figured “Hey, we should give the people tanuki testicle capsule toys!”

And make no mistake, the designers are fully aware that people are going to be squeezing these things, as the line is called Momimomi Tanukin, with momimomi meaning “squeezy” and Tanukin being a mashup of tanuki and kintama (“testicles”). Actually, the official name for the line is Momimomi Tanukin 2, as this is the second time for Tarlin to offer such items. For round two, they’ve dialed up the top-end intensity on the range of colors. While the above brown version more or less fits with the animals’ real-world coloring, and the white one at least looks like it could be some sort of imaginary snow tanuki, it’s harder to speculate on what the natural habitat of the electric blue Momimomi Tanukin would be.

And while trinkets in traditionally girly colors do tend to be quite popular in Japan, the hue for the last of the four available models can also look rather, well, fleshy.

Like its predecessor series, Momimomi Tanukin 2 is recommended only for tanuki testicle fans age 8 and up, and comes with a choking warning (though that’s also implied by their name being “Squeezy Tanuki Testicles,” not “Bitey Tanuki Testicles”). They’re priced at 400 yen (US$2.60) per figure, and should be showing up in capsule toy vending machines as of this month.

Source: Tarlin via Japaaan
Top image: Tarlin
Insert images: Tarlin, Wikipedia/Zaltys
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No doorbell rung, one face slapped.

Sometimes, in his idle moments at home alone, a guy living by himself might think “Ya know, it’d be nice to have a girl here.” And if that happened to be the sentiment running through the mind of a 29-year-old man in Kagoshima City on Wednesday morning, the last day of Japan’s Golden Week holiday this year, then his yearnings were answered when a woman suddenly appeared in his house.

However, this woman was not a magical goddess sent to reward him for his pure heart, nor was it a childhood friend seeking to fulfil a promise they’d made to each other in elementary school, the spirit of the house’s previous occupant, or any other of the scenarios romantic comedy anime would lead us to expect. As a matter of fact, the man and the woman had never met before this unexpected encounter in his home at around 6:10 a.m., and while it’s definitely weird to just let yourself into the home of a complete stranger, what the woman did next was even stranger, as she slapped him in the face.

“There’s a woman I don’t know inside my house,” said the man as he placed a call to Japan’s 110 emergency police response number following the slapping. When officers arrived on the scene, they found the 54-year-old woman, herself a resident of Kagoshima City as well, still inside the man’s house. When questioned on the scene, she admitted “There is no mistake that I slapped him.” Though the blow to the man’s face was not powerful enough to require medical treatment, the woman was still placed under arrest on charges of assault.

The woman made no attempt to steal anything from inside the house, so it appears she really was there just to slap a dude, though the police are still investigating just why she’d want to do that. With no immediately obvious signs of forced entry, investigators are also trying to determine how she gained entry into the man’s home. Though the police have made no comment yet as to whether it was the case in this incident, it’s not incredibly uncommon for people living in Japan to leave their front doors unlocked if they feel like their home is in a safe neighborhood. But even in a country with very low crime rates, weird stuff can, and does, happen, so taking the time to lock your door is usually an effective way of keeping strangers out of your home and their palm off your face.

Source: TBS News Dig via Livedoor News/MBC Minami Nihon Hoso via Hachima Kiko, Kagoshima Yomiuri TV
Top image: Pakutaso
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Man and machine versus nature.

The fact that we call the items “hangers” is proof of how hard it is for us humans to imagine any use for them other than hanging clothes. And yet, despite their nudist tendencies meaning that they never have to hang laundry, the crows living in the neighborhood of our Japanese-language reporter Yuichiro Wasai love his hangers so much that they routinely steal them from his apartment balcony.

That’s because crows have learned that hangers make great nest-building materials. But while the crows are at least considerate enough to leave Yuichiro’s clothes behind when they steal his hangers, that still means that his laundry ends up in wet piles on the ground. Hanging his clothes inside isn’t an option either, as Japan’s small living spaces and high humidity mean that laundry rarely, if ever, dries properly indoors, and instead ends up damp and musty-smelling.

Unfortunately, no amount of diligence has helped Yuichiro keep his avian antagonists away from his hangers. As soon as he hears even the slightest shuffling sounds coming from the balcony, he tears back the curtain to see what’s going on, only to be left watching helplessly as the crow already flies off with one of his hangers. His desperate search for a solution eventually led him to Amazon Japan, where he discovered <deep breath>…

Newest Reiwa Era Version Cat Repeller Animal Repelling Machine Ultrasound Rat Expeller Solar and USB Charging IP64 Water-repellant Effective Range 150 Square Meters Strongest 16 LED Flashlight Increased Repelling Power Harmful Bug Expeller Stary Cat Sparrow Palm Civit Crow Owl Repelling Machine Dog Repeller Bird Repelling Items Harmful Animal Repeller Harmful Insect Countermeasure Machine Animal Droppings Damage Noise Pollution Damage from Birds Damage to Food Unoccupied Home Countermeasure Fields and Garden (Green)

▼ We were on the fence, but “Green” really sold us on it.

It might be kind of hard to notice, being buried in the middle of the lengthy name, but the product does promise that this device will keep crows away. Plus, it apparently is the newest version for the Reiwa era, which began in 2019, so it’s got to have some pretty fancy tech, right?

However, at the same time, we’ve learned in our time as online shoppers that sometimes the length of a product’s name is in inverse proportion to its quality. Like we said, though, Yuichiro is desperate, and if he doesn’t do something soon he’ll be approaching the situation where he has no clean clothes and will have to start showing up to work shirtless, something we (generally) don’t allow at SoraNews24 HQ.

Yuichiro paid 3,480 yen (US$22) for the Crow Repelling Machine, as we’ll call it for short. Once it arrived and he had it in his hands, though, he wasn’t quite sure that it represents cutting-edge Reiwa-era technology, as it’s kind of a clunky-looking design.

Still, it is equipped with a motion sensor that detects when an animal is nearby and activates functions designed to scare the creature off. Testing it out in his living room, Yuichiro saw that the eyes and mouth light up and flash on and off when the sensor is triggered.

The device comes with a USB charging cable, as well as a small pole that you can assemble if you don’t already have someplace to hang it, but there’s also an opening at the top so that you can tie it to your laundry pole, which is what Yuichiro planned to do.

Also at the top of the unit is a solar charging receptor, so you actually don’t even have to bother with the USB cable, as long as you’re deploying the Crow Repelling Machine in a spot where it’ll get sunlight.

Once he had a load of freshly washed laundry to dry, Yuichiro hung everything up on hangers, then put them outside on the rack along with the Crow Repelling Machine.

Then he went out to take care of some errands. When he got back home a few hours later, he went to the balcony to check on the results, and…

…as always, some of his laundry had been left plopped on the ground, with the hangers he’d placed it on nowhere to be seen.

So, is the Crow Repelling Machine a worthless piece of junk? It’s probably too soon to make such a harsh assessment. See, while Yuichiro was relying on the flashing lights to keep crows away from his clothes, he actually was only using half of the device’s functions. In addition to the lights, the Crow Repelling Machine can also emit ultrasound noises when its motion sensor is triggered.

There’s a little dial on the front of the unit that lets you adjust the volume, and in its default setting, Yuichiro found it to be incredibly loud and annoying to his human ears, and he figured his neighbors would find it similarly unpleasant to hear every time a crow came near his laundry. Even after turning it down to the lowest setting Yuichiro still found the noise more invasive and aggravating than the “mosquito buzz” that people have been noticing near Shibuya Station in downtown Tokyo these days.

Because of that, for Yuichiro’s test of the Crow Repelling Machine, he decided to turn the ultrasound function off entirely. This means, though, that the device wasn’t running at its full (purported) effectiveness, and with Yuichiro doing his test in the afternoon, the flashing lights probably had less sensory impact too.

Unfortunately, due to Yuichiro living in the relatively densely populated environment of suburban Tokyo, he’s not prepared to crank up the volume, since that might mean winning his battle with the crows at the expense of courting fights with his neighbors. So while the Crow Repelling Machine didn’t do the trick for him, it might still be a viable option for people living in the countryside with wider buffer spaces between residences, especially if they’re not quite ready to go full Monster Wolf with their pest control solutions.

Related: Crow Repelling Machine Amazon Japan listing
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Edo-period specialty gets a modern makeover in the heart of Tokyo. 

If someone were to mention they’d tried a green beverage in Japan, most people might assume they’re talking about matcha. However, there is another type of drink with green hues that locals are well acquainted with, and it’s called the Zunda Shake.

Made from edamame (fresh soybeans), the Zunda Shake hails from Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan. This area is famous for zunda, a coarse paste made from sweetened edamame, which has a history that dates back to the Edo period (1603-1867), when it was said to be invented by the Date samurai clan, who used it as a quick source of energy before going into battle.

Now, modern-day warriors in the concrete jungle of Tokyo can enjoy the Zunda Shake ahead of their own daily battles, thanks to a new vending machine that sells the drink in the depths of Shinjuku Station.

We only learnt about this hidden machine when a friend from Sendai put us on to it, saying it was run by Kikusuian, a long-established Japanese confectionery shop in their home city.

Founded in 1920, Kikusuian runs a zunda specialty shop inside JR Sendai Station, but this vending machine is now introducing Tokyoites to the wonders of the Zunda Shake, as it’s totally dedicated to this one product.

▼ 喜久水庵 = Kikusuian

The vending machine is located in a corner of Shinjuku Delish Park, diagonally across from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Starbucks on the first basement floor at the west exit bus rotary of JR Shinjuku Station.

All 11 options on the vending machine are Zunda Shakes, and they’re all priced at 450 yen (US$2.88). The machine doesn’t accept cash – only electronic money is accepted – and according to the signs, this is the “first of its kind in the Tokyo metropolitan area!”

After purchasing one of the shakes, we immediately fell in love with the look and feel of the handy pouch it came in, as it reminded us of Coolish, a super popular Japanese ice cream that comes in a similar-looking pouch.

The shake felt hard and rigid straight out of the machine, so the trick is to let it sit for a while until it melts slightly. With the weather being warm when we visited, it didn’t take long until the pouch, and its contents, softened up nicely, allowing is to easily take a sip from the spout.

That first sip introduced us to the deliciously complex flavours of the Zunda Shake, with a subtle hint of saltiness enhancing the sweetness of the milk. Then, the distinctive richness of edamame joined the chorus, with its slight coarseness and earthy notes creating a uniquely flavoured sweet milkshake that we couldn’t get enough of.

If you love edamame, you will love this unique product, and with each serving being only 170 millilitres (5.7 ounces), you won’t have to feel guilty about sipping it before, or after, your daily battles.

Related: Kikusuian
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We’ve heard good things about Pringles and chocolate, but what about Pringles and Lotte’s chocolate?

Pringles has been selling potato chips in its distinctive cans for decades, but it wasn’t until recently that foodies realized that the container can also serve as a chocolate mold. Thus was born the viral Pringles chocolate food hack, and so in turn was born our Japanese-language reporter Yui Imai’s desire to see how it would taste using Japan’s popular Ghana brand chocolate from confectioner Lotte.

Though it’s available at affordable prices in every convenience store and supermarket in the country, Ghana is considered one of the best baseline chocolates you can get in Japan, sweet and milky but not overly sugary and never chalky in texture. Though not a premium-priced product, it’d be fair to say that it’s a more elegant and refined chocolate bar than, say, Hershey’s, but would that also make it less suited for something so unabashedly junk food-y as pouring melted chocolate into a can of potato chips until they fuse with each other?

There was only one way to find out. After returning from the store with a short can of Pringles Uma Shio, the brand’s basic salted flavor in Japan, and four bars of Ghana chocolate (with a combined weight of 200 grams [7.1 ounces]), Yui began breaking up the bars and putting the pieces in a bowl.

She then placed the bowl in a bot of hot water, stirring with a spatula to work out any lumps as the chocolate melted.

Once the Ghana was liquified, Yui showed considerable restraint by not just lifting the bowl to her lips and drinking the whole thing down. Instead, she popped the top of the Pringles can and carefully poured the chocolate in.

It didn’t go all the way to the rim, but there was enough chocolate to fill up about 80 percent of the can, once she’d scraped the sides of the bowl.

Yui then spent the next two or three minutes strongly tapping the can’s bottom against a flat surface, pounding the chocolate down to create a thick and uniform distribution.

Then she put the lid back on the can and stuck it in the refrigerator, once again showing admirable willpower by waiting until the next day to check the results.

As the chocolate hardened, it had also stuck to the inside of the can. Sliding the chocolate Pringles out by turning over the can wasn’t going to happen, so instead, Yui grabbed a pair of scissors to cut open the side and remove the contents.

Yui had a hunch that cutting the choco cylinder was going to be difficult, and sure enough, after a few tentative taps with the blade of a kitchen knife, she could see that it was still hard enough that she was going to end up crushing it if she pressed any harder.

So instead, she let the chocolate site for 15 minutes to get closer to room temperature, and then she was finally able to cut a few slices.

Visually, things had turned out quite beautifully, with a ring of chocolate surrounding each slice and ribbons of Ghana stretching towards the center of each cross-section.

And as for the taste? It was fantastic. As we mentioned above, Japanese chocolate tends to be less cloying than what’s often sold in other countries, and this means that while the rich sweetness of the Ghanna is definitely still a major part of the flavor profile, it leaves plenty of space for the salty notes of the Pringles to play on your taste buds too, and the combination is extremely satisfying.

So in the end, Ghana chocolate turned out to be an excellent choice for the Pringles chocolate hack. Yui’s one and only regret is that, as you can see in the photos right before and after the can went into the fridge, there wasn’t quite enough chocolate to completely cover the stack of chips. Because of that, when she makes her next batch, Yui plans to use five bars of Ghanna instead, but having justification for buying extra chocolate is something we’ll never complain about, and if we end up buying too much, we have ideas about how to use the surplus.

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