Twentythree

We pit the convenience store challenger against Tokyo’s favorite maker of Japan’s beloved octopus dumplings.

Takoyaki (octopus dumplings) are one of Japan’s best kinds of street food. Now, though, there’s an alternative to buying freshy cooked takoyaki from a street stall, since 7-Eleven sells them too!

Takoyaki started showing up in the “hot snack corner” of 7-Eleven Japan branches on April 21, the same section of the store where you’ll find things like their cooked-in-store fried chicken or pork buns. Priced at 214 yen (US$1.40) for a pack of three or 428 yen for six, these are more than you’d pay per-dumpling than with a pack of frozen takoyaki that you’d need to cook yourself at home, but still within the realm of relatively guilt-free snack expenditures.

When we rolled into our local 7-Eleven to secure some takoyaki for a taste test, there didn’t happen to be any already cooked up and ready to go, so after we ordered a three-pack at the counter, the clerk got to work making ours. The cooked-in-store takoyaki, somewhat ironically, start out frozen, but the clerk dropped them into a vat of hot cooking oil and fried them up in a flash, with hardly any time spent waiting after finishing the payment transaction.

The takoyaki come with a combo pack of mayonnaise and Worcestershire-like takoyaki sauce to pour over them, but if you’re a takoyaki veteran, you might notice that the third standard topping, bonito flakes (called katsuobushi in Japanese) are nowhere to be seen. That’s because 7-Eleven instead mixes dashi (bonito stock) directly into its takoyaki batter, to provide the flavor even without the flakes.

Before starting our taste test, we wanted to know exactly what we were working with here. Separating one dumpling from its brethren, we weighed it with our kitchen scale and found it to weigh 30 grams (1.1 ounce), about 50 percent more than an average takoyaki. Of course, that could just mean a lot of extra batter was used to hide a miniscule amount of octopus, so next we used a knife to slice the dumpling open, and waiting inside was a reassuringly large chunk of seafood.

OK, now it was time for the tasting! The customary way to eat takoyaki is to skewer them with a toothpick, then pop the dumpling into your mouth (being careful not to burn your tongue with the heat trapped on the inside). As we bit into the dumpling, the outer surface of the dough had the ideal level of light crispiness to it, which gave way to a softer, then melty consistency as we approached the center, where the octopus was nice and firm.

Everything tasted great, and, unorthodox as it may be, 7-Eleven’s decision to mix the bonito stock right into the dough as opposed to sprinkling bonito flakes on top worked out just fine, with the flavor readily apparent and evenly distributed. Overall, this is a very high-quality takoyaki, and tasty enough to enjoy even without pouring the mayo and sauce on it. So yes, even at a price that works out to 71 yen per cooked-in-store takoyaki, about double what you’d pay for cook-yourself frozen takoyaki (provided you’re buying them in bulk), 7-Eleven’s new cooked-in-store takoyaki feel like a very good value, in addition to being extremely satisfying in the flavor department.

However, 7-Eleven offering freshly cooked takoyaki means that they’re now, in essence, competing with specialized takoyaki stands, so how do they fare in that comparison? Searching for that answer, we rushed back out and hit up our local branch of Gindaco, east Japan’s favorite takoyaki chain.

▼ 7-Eleven takoyaki on the left, Gindaco takoyaki on the right

A six-pack of Gindaco’s standard takoyaki costs 615 yen, working out to 102.5 yen each, so they represent a pretty significant step up the price ladder from 7-Eleven’s. They’re also on the large size, with our Gindaco weigh-in showing a weight of 31 grams.

Gindaco’s octopus pieces aren’t small either, though they’re also not necessarily any bigger than what 7-Eleven gives you.

After getting multiple taste-test impressions from members of the SoraNews24 staff who were in the office at the time, we came away with the impression that Gindaco’s octopus has more of a “snap” when you bite into it, whereas 7-Eleven’s is more consistently firm all the way to the core. In terms of overall flavor, though, they’re very similar, so much so that if you like one, odds are you’re going to enjoy the other very much too. The biggest difference ended up being the presence or absence of bonito flakes, which does affect the overall texture and mouthfeel, but if the flakes aren’t a must-have in your book, you’ll probably be just as satisfied with 7-Eleven’s takoyaki as with Gindaco’s, and considering how 7-Eleven is a newcomer to this field, this is an extremely impressive debut.

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The Burger King sundae line feels like a perfect match for the Japanese sweets scene.

Burger King Japan is in the middle of a very aggressive push to expand its dominion in Japan, and as part of its aspiration to sit upon Japan’s hamburger throne it’s currently offering bundles of 40 million yen (US$250,000) to rival fast food chain franchises that ditch their current partners and convert to Burger King locations. Of course, even if you have restaurants in every neighborhood across the country you still won’t be successful without tempting items on the menu, and so to help attract people to its increasing number of branches, Burger King Japan is launching its King Fusion.

No, this isn’t Burger King collaborating with Dragon Ball and its Fusion Dance. Instead, the King Fusion is Burger King’s line of mix-in sundaes, a swirl of soft serve vanilla ice cream with sauces, toppings, and other fixings artfully added, which you then strip up to your liking.

The King Fusion is only available in certain countries in which Burger King operates, and is conspicuously missing from the menu in the U.S., but as of April 24, it’s now ready for customers at Burger King Japan branches. The opening offer is a King Fusion with pineapple sauce and crisp coconut waffle bits, which should provide an excellent mix of sweet, tart, smooth, and crunchy sensations to get your taste buds firing and snap you out of any springtime sleepiness.

As tasty as that sounds, though, the real excitement here is what the future may hold. As we’re all well aware of, no place on earth does seasonal and limited-time sweets flavors better than Japan, so things like a matcha King Fusion, sakura King Fusion, white peach King Fusion, sweet potato King Fusion, “soda” King Fusion, and more seem like more of a matter of when we’ll get them than if. For now, though, the pineapple coconut King Fusion is on sale at Burger King Japan branches nationwide, priced at 490 yen (US$3.15).

Source: PR Times
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Business-formal tradition melts away in modern-temperature Tokyo.

For a very long time, the baseline attitude in Japan has been that if you’re working in an office, you should be wearing formal business attire. However, while people in Japan may place great value on traditions, climate change, by its very nature, is unconcerned with conforming to the status quo. With Japan Meteorological Agency data showing the country has experienced its hottest summer on record for three years in a row, the Tokyo metropolitan government decided to rethink the dress code at Tocho, Tokyo’s city hall complex, and now allows workers to wear attire that would have been unthinkable a generation ago: shorts.

The relaxing of regulations came as part of new “cool biz” initiatives introduced at the start of the administrative year, which begins in spring in Japan. As of April 3, employees “working within the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building [Tocho]” are allowed to wear shorts. They’re also allowed to work in T-shirts, though it’s worth noting that, especially among older speakers, in Japanese “T-shirts” is sometimes used to refer to pull-over tops in general, and not only the sort of thing you might wear at the gym or buy at a concert by your favorite band.

Ideally, the relaxed dress code will produce a number of benefits. From a worker safety standpoint, lighter, better-breathing attire should function as a heatstroke countermeasure on hot days, and in fact Tocho has also instituted a new heatstroke alarm system to alert employees to stay cool and hydrated during extreme temperatures. The option of wearing shorts and T-shirts also would allow for running air conditioners at more moderate levels, lessening energy usage and environmental impact. Finally, comfortable workers tend to be more effective workers, so the new dress code could also lead to improved productivity within the halls of Tocho.

“At first I thought I’d feel self-conscious,” says one male Tocho worker who worked a recent shift in shorts, “but it really is comfortable wearing them, and I could feel myself making smoother progress with my work. Up until now, I’ve usually worn polo shirts and chinos in the office, but shorts really are cooler and more comfortable than long pants.”

The new policy isn’t coming without public blowback about the breezy wardrobe choices. Shorts, especially when worn by men, have long been seen as decidedly casual attire in Japan, and some online commenters have grumbled about the idea of government employees dressing in such a laid-back style. The until-now rarity of uncovered male legs in the workplace also raises grooming-related business etiquette questions, as in many Japanese offices stubbly facial hair is discouraged or banned, causing some to wonder if men choosing to wear shorts at Tocho should then also be willing to shave their legs or otherwise remove lower body hair.

Despite complaints from those who perceive the new dress code as representing a loss of professional decorum, the above videos appear to imply that shorts are being allowed for workers in internal/back office positions, not necessarily for those in roles which involve directly interacting with residents and other members of the public coming to Tocho to take care of administrative issues. And with Japan’s summers becoming so hot that the country is needing to create new words to describe the heat, it’s nice to see Tocho taking some sort of countermeasures before the end of spring.

Source: Tokyo MX Plus via Yahoo! Japan News via Hachima Kiko
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Seventh Heaven becomes Lemon’s Heaven.

Final Fantasy VII is an adventure on a grand scale, taking players into ancient temples, mysterious caverns, and high-tech military facilities. One of its most memorable locations, though, is the bar Seventh Heaven.

Run by protagonist Cloud’s childhood friend (and best Final Fantasy VII female cast member) Tifa, Seventh Heaven serves as not only a gathering place for the local community, but also as the base of operations for resistance group Avalanche. As depicted in Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth, it’s a rustically welcoming place, with a brick façade, wooden furnishings, and warm lighting, just the kind of place to get together and clink glasses with friends as you blow off steam after a hard day of work and/or discuss how to fight evil and save the world. As a matter of fact, Tifa’s bar is so inviting that it’s opening in the real world later this month.

Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix and Asahi Beer are teaming up to open the Future Lemon Sour Bar with Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in downtown Tokyo’s Roppongi neighborhood. The approximately 60-seat saloon will recreate the look and feel of Seventh Heaven (with a change to the sign over the door to read “Lemon’s Heaven”), and will be serving up all three varieties of Asahi’s canned lemon chu-hi cocktail: Future Lemon Original, Plain (a dryer version), and Strong (with a 7-percent alcohol content instead of the 5 percent of the other two). They’re all priced at 300 yen (US$1.95), and note that payment in Gil or Shinra scrip is not accepted.

▼ Future Lemon, as you might remember from our taste test, is a unique canned cocktail with an actual lemon slice inside for extra freshness and flavor.

Tifa’s bar will be setting up shop in the Roppongi Hills entertainment complex’s outdoor O-Yane Plaza section. It’ll be open from April 29 to May 3, serving drinks from 1 to 9 p.m. on its opening day, 4 to 9 p.m. on April 30 and May 1, and noon to nine on May 2 and 3, with last call at 8:30 nightly.

Related: Roppongi Hills official website
Source: PR Times
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Priest enlightened himself of the burdens incurred when paying for insurance.

I think most of us view Buddhist priests as centered people who aren’t swayed by the materialistic temptations that cause some to commit crime. But much like snowflakes, all Buddhist priests are unique creations of their own karma, and there are even some who end up going on a nationwide spending spree with someone else’s health insurance card.

Buddhist priest Terukazu Hirokaga was arrested after he was caught impersonating another man by using his insurance during a hospital visit in Osaka to get treatment and prescription medicine. The 55-year-old Hirokaga claims he had found the card belonging to a man in his 60s on the street in Tokyo.

The thing about illegally using a health insurance card is that there is a very clear-cut paper trail, and police could quickly ascertain that he had used the card 115 times since March 2024, in a number of cities, including Okayama and Kyoto. Hirokaga reportedly admitted that he intentionally used it in different locations to avoid detection.

▼ Apparently, even while he was making this video of himself playing the flute very beautifully, he was out and about hitting up different medical centers.

In Japan, everyone is required to have a health insurance card and pay into the national insurance system either through their company or individually. These plans generally cover 70 percent of hospital bills, with the remainder paid directly by the patient. Some people do not make their insurance payments and therefore do not have a valid card of their own. In that case, they can rejoin the system only if they pay two years’ worth of past payments at once, which makes some hesitant to rejoin unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Actually, the government officially stopped issuing health insurance cards last year, but still honor ones that haven’t expired yet. Instead, the duty has been transferred to the MyNumber card, a type of social insurance card that the government hopes to be used for everything from healthcare to driver’s licenses. One key difference is that a MyNumber card has a photo on it and requires either a PIN or facial scan to use, whereas a health insurance card does neither.

▼ MyNumber cards also have chips to sync with your phone and other devices.

It’s unclear why Hirokaga didn’t have his own card. According to reports, he was “on leave” (“kyugochu”) at the time of his arrest. This means that he still retained the rank of priest but was not affiliated with a temple. This could be due to a variety of reasons, such as him feeling professionally burned out or his former temple having fallen on hard times.

Whatever the case, many readers of the news online felt this was a clear case of how the MyNumber card is superior to traditional insurance cards. Others wondered if this priest was really holier than whosoever.

“He probably got insurance through his temple before he left.”
“That’s exactly why we need to use MyNumber…”
“This never would have happened with the MyNumber card.”
“I want him to shave his head and reflect on his actions.”
“How did they even manage to catch him if he didn’t do anything strange?”
“Who just picks up an insurance card like that? I wonder if that’s how he really got it.”
“115 times? The police should check if he was selling some of that medication.”

The fact that he went to a hospital 115 times in two years, averaging about once a week, is rather suspicious and likely a factor in how he got caught. For the time being, his reasons for doing this remain between him and his eighth consciousness, but perhaps police will be able to pierce the maya and uncover the seeds of his transgression.

Source: FNN Prime Online, Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso
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An even more convenient way to get ice cream. 

Whenever someone from overseas raves about Japanese convenience stores, they’re usually talking about the big three – 7-Eleven, Family Mart, and Lawson.

▼ However, there’s another well-known chain that’s often overlooked: Ministop.

Despite being well-known, Ministop reported a net loss of 5.6 billion yen (US$35 million) for the fiscal year ending February 2026, its third consecutive year in the red. The news has sparked concern among longtime fans, with #SaveMinistop now appearing as a hashtag on social media. Support is so strong that some fans have been intentionally purchasing items with the best product margins, and one of those products is the soft serve, which the chain is famous for.

Given its financial background, you’d expect the chain to be tightening its purse-strings, cutting corners and doubling down on efforts to turn a profit at all costs. But instead, it’s doing something entirely different: giving away free soft serves.

The free offer is a very limited-time affair, and only available through the unique, eye-catching ad pictured below, which has just popped up at the Metro Promenade at Shinjuku Station.

▼ The sign here says: “I’ve found an outrageous ad“.

Our reporter Mr Sato stumbled upon the ad by accident as he was walking through the station, and as he walked towards it, he could see a row of people lined up beneath the words “必ず当たる” which means “guaranteed win”.

A guaranteed win is something Mr Sato can never pass up, so he joined the crowd at the poster and copied what they were doing by pressing his phone to the “Touch with your Smartphone” spot, circled below.

Although the system seemed to work for everyone else there, Mr Sato’s phone did nothing – his Motorola razr50 was unresponsive. Whipping out his backup phone, a Google Pixel 7a, this too did nothing so he asked the staff there for advice, and they told him that Android devices like these might be slow to respond. They suggested he try other touchpoints, but there was still no response, even when he tried them all.

So he took out his other backup, an iPhone SE2, and it worked immediately, lighting up his screen with a message saying he’d won a coupon.

▼ Mr Sato is a man of many phones.

The winning message had “Tokyo Asakusa Station North Exit Store” written at the top as the place to redeem the coupon, but it can be redeemed at any store in the country. If you do want to have the message show a different store, you can change it by spinning a roulette wheel, according to the steps below.

▼ Scroll down as instructed…

▼ …then tap the blue “spin the roulette wheel again” button.

This will switch to a random store every time you tap it, and you can spin it as many times as you like before hitting the yellow “Get Free Coupon” button.

It didn’t take long for Mr Sato to get a store nearby, so when “Shinjuku Hanazono Dori” popped up as an option, he hit the yellow button.

That took him to a new page with a barcode, which he was instructed to take a screenshot of for staff to scan when redeeming his free soft serve. The free offer is only available from 20-26 April, and limited to one per customer, with coupons needing to be redeemed from 20 April to 10 May.

Although Mr Sato’s screen said “Shinjuku Hanazono Dori”, he chose to use it at a different branch closer to his home. Sure enough, there were no hiccups as he was able to receive his free soft serve by simply presenting the coupon to staff at the register.

▼ The smile of a man who went through three smartphones to get a free ice cream.

As he licked his sweet reward, Mr Sato learned that Ministop’s soft serve underwent a revamp last April, changing from a “Vanilla Soft Serve” to a “Hokkaido Milk Soft Serve .” Earlier this month, the chain reportedly renewed the cone’s ingredients, replacing some of the wheat flour with whole wheat flour and adding calcium, so the free campaign looks to be a concerted effort by the chain to get everyone to try the new ice cream.

For Mr Sato, the soft serve tasted better than he’d remembered it, and not just because it was free. It was creamy and fresh, with a high-quality flavour you’d expect from milk sourced from Hokkaido, Japan’s premier milk-producing region. With summer just around the corner, the free campaign is a perfect way to remind everyone about the wonders of Ministop ice cream, and if you’re looking for a novel way to enjoy it, then this hack will help you view the humble ice cream in a whole new light, and hopefully keep Ministop in business.

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There was more than one famous Masako at this year’s Spring Garden Party.

Every year in spring, the imperial family of Japan hosts a Spring Garden Party on the grounds of the Akasaka Estate, an elegantly maintained green space in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. Our invitation must have gotten lost in the mail, so unfortunately we weren’t among the guests in attendance to hobnob with Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on April 17.

However, in addition to the wife of Japan’s reigning monarch, there was another famous Masako in attendance, Masako Nozawa, the veteran anime voice actress who’s served as the voice of Dragon Ball’s Son Goku for 40 years and counting. With 1,400 guests at the function, it’s unlikely that all of them had time to directly chat with the emperor and empress, but the royals did make time to talk with the anime luminary, as shown in the video below.

The royals clearly recognize Nozawa, with Empress Masako inquiring about her career, asking “Have you always done shonen roles?”, referencing Nozawa’s body of work in action anime aimed at boys. “Yes, I’ve never played the role of a beautiful woman, not even once” says Nozawa with a good-natured laugh. Rather than lean into Nozawa’s self-deprecating humor, thought, Empress Masako follows up with “Did shonen roles just click with you right from the start?” to which Nozawa replies “yes, they did.”

The biggest surprise, though, comes when Emperor Naruhito joins in and reveals himself to be a long-time fan of the anime adaptation of Gegege no Kitaro, the hit series in which Nozawa herself played the lead role. “When I was a kid, I watched Gegege no Kitaro on TV, and wondered what kind of person was doing the voice of the character,” he reminisces. “Oh, I’m so happy to hear that you watched it,” Nozawa says, and Emperor Naruhito also reveals that he knows that Nozawa went on to provide the voice for Kitaro’s father, Medama Oyaji, in the anime’s 2018 iteration, showing that he’s got at least some familiarity with relatively contemporary anime too.

Online reactions to the conversation between the two famous Masakos and singularly famous Naruhito have included:

“Kakarot, the Emperor, and the Empress all have such refined ways of speaking.”
“Even I feel honored watching this.”
“Masako Nozawa is so accomplished in her field, but she always conducts herself in a humble and gentle way…She’s exactly the kind of person I want to be.”
“I don’t think there’s anyone in Japan who didn’t grow up listening to her voice.”
“Seeing her talk with people, you’d think she’s still in her 50s. Having that much drive must keep you energetic.”
“It’s amazing to hear ‘Kitaro’ and ‘Medama Oyaji’ come out of the Emperor’s mouth.”

During their chat, the imperial couple asked Nozawa a number of other questions about how she’s honed her craft. She explains how a key element in a good performance is instilling a natural quality in it, matching the energy and intonation that one would have in a face-to-face exchange even while speaking into a microphone in a recording booth. To that end, she says that, even though she’s now 89 years old herself, she still often portrays young boys, and so she tries to be observant around kids in the real world, taking note of and internalizing the ways they speak.

As their conversation draws to a close, the three exchange polite goodbyes, and Nozawa says “I’ll keep doing my best,” perhaps now with even more motivation to make her vocal performances shine considering who might be watching and listening.

Source: Aera Digital via Yahoo! Japan News, YouTube/TBS NEWS DIG Powered by JNN
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