Twentythree

Restaurant chain creates sushi you can eat with one hand, leaving your other free to toast the cherry blossoms.

The cherry blossoms will be blooming soon in Japan, and the arrival of sakura season also means the arrival of snack season. Between parties in the park and long strolls along tree-lined lanes, there’s often not enough time for a sit-down restaurant meal on a day of cherry blossom viewing excursions, so something fun and filling that you can munch on quickly and conveniently is the perfect form of sakura season sustenance.

And so, with that in mind, Japanese restaurant chain Unatoto is offering a new takeout item: Sushi Push Pops.

Each pop has four pieces of nigiri-style sushi. They’re stacked in a cup with a unique design that lets you push up on the stick and raise the bottom of the container, bringing the next piece of sushi up to the top so you can easily eat them with one hand without the need for chopsticks or getting your fingers dirty.

Unatoto specializes in unagi (freshwater eel), so the top piece is a slice of unagi over vinegared sushi rice (the promotional language calls it “popping texture sushi” in its English text and “unagi California sushi” in Japanese, neither of which is a commonly used term with any sort of widely accepted meaning). Underneath that is a piece of smoked salmon and mayo sushi, followed by a minced unagi sushi piece wrapped in a thin omelet, and finally another piece of salmon sushi.

Knowing full well how freely the drinks flow at many cherry blossom viewing parties, Unatoto points out that the Sushi Push Pop pairs very well with beer. The chain also points out that each Sushi Push Pop comes decorated with one of seven stickers of Unatoto mascot Totoko, since in Japan “people who like beer” and “people who like cute characters” are far from mutually exclusive demographics.

The Sushi Push Pop is priced at 750 yen (US$4.85) and is available at only two Unatoto branches: the Asakusa one in Tokyo and the Minami Morimachi one in Osaka. It’s being offered for a limited time, which Unatoto has poetically set as “from March 13 until the cherry blossoms scatter.”

Restaurant information
Unatoto (Asakusa branch) / 宇奈とと（浅草店）
Address: Tokyo-to, Taito-ku, Hanagawado 1-5-2
東京都台東区花川戸1-5-2
Open 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
Website

Unatoto (Minami Morimachi branch) / 宇奈とと（南森町店）
Address: Osaka-fu, Osaka-shi, Kita-ku, Tenjinbashi 2-3-24
大阪府大阪市北区天神橋2-3-24
Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
Website

Source, images: PR Times
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Our Frappuccino expert brushes aside fears of bad fortune to taste test two new drinks.

Friday the 13th is supposed to be a day of ill portent, so we don’t think anyone could have blamed us if we’d simply called our boss and told him that we were staying home for personal safety reasons (plus who doesn’t like a three-day weekend?). But we had March 13 circled on our calendar not as a reminder to shelter in place, but because that was the day Starbucks Japan was releasing its newest Frappuccino flavor.

So our Japanese-language reporter and resident Frappuccino expert K. Masami bravely ventured into the outside world, knowingly accepting the risks inherent with all the bad luck swirling about, but also feeling very lucky since she was going to be taste testing the Cream Puff Frappuccino.

Starbucks Japan has never offered a cream puff-flavor Frappuccino before this, but the new dessert beverage is actually based on an annual springtime favorite served at Starbucks branches in Korea. With cream puffs themselves being one of Japan’s favorite sweet treats too, Masami had high expectations for the new Frappuccino, and soon after ordering she had the 700-yen (US$4.50) drink in front of her.

This is a cream-based Frappuccino, with a blended vanilla, milk, and caramel base that evokes all of the happy memories of reaching the filling of a cream puff. It’s topped with a swirl of custard-flavored whipped cream made with vanilla and egg yolk, the latter of which helps give it an especially eye-catching canary color. Of course, there’s more to cream puffs than just the cream part, and so Starbucks also sprinkles on bits of crunchy cream puff pastry, and there’s a layer of them at the bottom of the cup too, waiting for you to either sip your way down to them or stir them up into the rest of the drink.

Masami took a sip, and it was, in a word, luxurious, and in two words, very luxurious. Further expanding the linguistic limit, the caramel and cream are fragrant and rich, but the milk in the drink base gives it a smooth flavor profile. The custard whipped cream is especially decadent, and the crunch coming at both the top and the bottom of the cup add a textured substantialness, enough so that it doesn’t feel out of place to take a few bites of this drink using a spoon.

Starbucks has done a great job walking the tightrope to keep the flavor consistently and thoroughly rich without feeling cloying or oily. The Cream Puff Frappuccino is, by no means, the sort of thing that anyone would call “refreshing,” but it’s incredibly comforting, immensely satisfying, and entirely in keeping with the theme of a drinkable cream puff.

The Cream Puff Frappuccino isn’t the only new limited-time arrival to the Starbucks Japan menu, as also making its debut is the Citrus and Honey Sorbet Tea.

This 640-yen beverage also takes inspiration from a Starbucks Korea fan favorite, their Grapefruit and Honey Black Tea. Starbucks Japan, though, swaps out the grapefruit and instead uses three kinds of Japanese citrus fruits, with a blend of iyokan, unshu mikan, and amanatsu juice. All three of those could be considered “oranges” in layman’s terms, but unshu mikan is sweeter than a regular orange and iyokan and amanatsu both have a characteristic tart sharpness. The three kinds of juice are mixed with black tea and joined in the cup by bits of fruit, and serving as the finishing touch is a measure of honey citrus sauce with zest.

Each sip starts off sweet before shifting to a sharp finish, and between the flavor, aroma, and cute color, this is a drink that left Masami refreshed not only physically, but mentally too.

So that’s two thumbs up from Masami, as soon as she puts down her drinks and has her hands free to give the gesture of approval. Starbucks hasn’t given any word as to whether the Cream Puff Frappuccino is going to become an annual event in Japan too, but she thinks it’d be deserving of the honor.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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Japan’s foreign resident population surges past four million for the first time in history.

Though it’s been 2026 for a while now, the Japanese business/administrative year starts in spring, so this is the time of year when many organizations start putting out their annual reports and statistical analyses. That includes the Japanese government’s Immigration Services Agency, which in a report to the prime minister’s cabinet says that Japan has reached a new record high in its number of foreign residents.

For the first time in history, Japan’s foreign population numbers over 4 million people, and it didn’t just barely rise past that figure, either. As of the end of 2025, there were approximately 4.13 million foreign nationals living in Japan, with roughly 370,000 of them added over the course of last year. The foreign resident demographic has grown by more than a million members in just the past three years, and is 50 percent larger than it was a mere five years ago.

● Foreign-resident population in Japan (by end of year)
2021: 2.76 million
2022: 3.07 million
2023: 3.41 million
2024: 3.76 million
2025: 4.13 million

Proportionally, the rate of growth has actually slowed slightly, but the numerical increase in foreign residents continues to grow.

● Increase in foreign resident population
2022: 310,000 people (11.2 percent increase in total foreign population)
2023: 340,000 people (11.1 percent increase in total foreign population)
2022: 350,000 people (10.3 percent increase in total foreign population)
2022: 370,000 people (9.8 percent increase in total foreign population)

It’s still too early to confidently say exactly how large an impact the surge in foreign residents is going to have on Japanese society. All else equal, an increase in foreign nationals coinciding with a decrease in the ethnically Japanese population would point to a likely acceleration of the internationalization of the country’s culture. However, the above statistics reflect foreigners in Japan on anything longer than the standard three-month tourist visa, and aren’t limited to permanent, or even particularly long-term, foreign residents. Included in the figures are foreign residents who’re attending school or otherwise participating in educational programs in Japan. Thanks to the yen’s recent weakness versus foreign currencies, financing such ventures using home country savings has become a much more viable option in recent years. The exchange rate becomes less attractive, though, for foreign nationals working in Japan and being paid in devalued yen, who could perhaps be earning much higher salaries elsewhere, which could end up making living in Japan less attractive as they progress farther into their careers.

Shifting back to the present, though, the statistics show that people in Japan are now much more likely to have neighbors, classmates, or coworkers from other parts of the world, and brings Japan that much farther into the global community.

Source: Sankei Shimbun via Itai News
Top image: Pakutaso
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Shhh…don’t let anyone know we told you about this secret cheap eat destination loved by locals.

It’s often said that a good breakfast can be hard to find outside of hotels in Tokyo, but hungry early risers who live in the city often have some hidden gems up their sleeves. One of the tricks to finding an early-morning meal is to locate a good 24-hour establishment, and while that might mean a nearby convenience store to overseas tourists, locals often prefer to stop by a casual eatery called Komachi Shokudo.

Written as “食堂” in Japanese, shokudo combines the kanji for “food” (食) and “hall” (堂), but rather than having connotations of a posh food hall in Western terms, the vibe is more like a casual diner or cafeteria, where staple Japanese meals are served in a no-fuss setting. It’s like eating at a home away from home, where you can enjoy classic comfort food that tastes like it was made by a Japanese mother, and that’s exactly what Komachi Shokudo prides itself on, describing its meals as “ofukuro no aji” or “Taste of mother’s cooking“.

With dishes stored in refrigerated displays, you’re free to choose whatever’s available, similar to how you might pluck food out of the fridge at home. Simply grab a tray when you enter the store and pop whatever dishes you like onto it, essentially creating your own set meal.

If you keep to Japan’s traditional “rice, soup and a side” mindset, you can easily create a well-balanced meal, and for heartier appetites you can add even more sides to your tray.

▼ This is a good guideline for a fantastic breakfast at a Komachi Shokudo.

With a standard menu of over 60 items, plus additional seasonal menu items throughout the year, Komachi says there are a million possible combinations for a set meal at their shokudos, so you could eat at your local branch every day and never get bored.

▼ While you’ll need to heat up the refrigerated meals yourself with the onsite microwaves, staff serve up hot rice and soup when you pay at the register.

Sometimes, you’ll even find cheap all-you-can-eat breakfast deals, like this recent one-hour offer for 990 yen (US$6.28) at the Okachimachi branch, which proved to be so popular it ended before its scheduled end-date of 30 April this year.

They do have other all-you-can-eat-and drink deals, though, like this 90-minute offer for 3,840 yen, which is available for parties of two or more.

▼ Children under five eat for free and children under 12 are half-price (non-alcoholic beverages for the younguns, of course).

Even without an all-you-can-eat deal, you’ll get great value for money as the dishes are all very reasonably priced.

With only six stores in Japan, all in Tokyo, Komachi Shokudo is a secret gem of an eatery that you’ll want to keep an eye out for. There are other types of shokudos all around Japan, though, so next time you’re looking for a breakfast option during your Tokyo stay and can’t face another egg sando in the morning, look for a shokudo, which will introduce you to classic Japanese meals with a home-cooked flair.

Restaurant information
Okachimachi Komachi Shokudo / 御徒町小町食堂
Address: Tokyo-to, Taito-ku, Taito 3-15-1
東京都台東区台東3-15-1
Open 24 hours (breakfast buffet is from 6:00-10:00 a.m. until 30 April. May close earlier)
Irregular holidays
Website

Photos ©SoraNews24
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New version of Vocaloid software is arriving with a new Miku design.

As a virtual idol, Hatsune Miku doesn’t age. However, that doesn’t mean she looks the same as she did when she made her debut 19 years ago, or even the same as she did last month, as the Vocaloid’s visuals have just been redesigned.

Miku’s makeover comes in preparation for the upcoming launch of Hatsune Miku V6, the newest version of her associated Vocaloid voicebank software package. Illustrator LAM was tapped for the official artwork and package portrait, and deftly hits both the targets for a visual redesign, in that it’s still instantly recognizable as being the same character, but with enough subtle changes to give a fresh and distinct feeling to the new version.

▼ The V6 Miku design

Compared to the preceding Hatsune Miku V4X design (there was no V5 version, in case you were wondering), the V6 Miku has thicker, more voluminous twintails in a bolder color that hang in unified cascades. Her hair accessories have gone from square to angularly heart-shaped, and her shirt is back to the gray color not seen since her V2 design in 2007, but now with a contrasting white collar. Her sleeves/arm covers now flare at the wrists and have a more prominent control panel motif, and the aqua accent color in her skirt has been moved from the hem to alternating pleats, with a similarly shaded belt for extra contrast. The virtual idol’s footwear has also switched from sneakers to heeled boots. Arguably the biggest change, though, is Miku’s eyes, which in the new design have sharper lines, longer eyelashes, larger pupils, and a greater sense of depth, giving her a more pensively yearning air.

▼ V4X Miku

▼ And while we’re taking a trip down memory lane, here’s the V4X predecessor, V3 Miku, who debuted in 2013.

▼ The V6 Miku design sheet

Of course, there’s more to Hatsune Miku V6 than just a new look, as developer Crypton Future Media promising better sound too, with new parameters and optimization for even more natural-sounding vocal performances. The company is especially proud of the improvements to Miku’s English singing capabilities, which should help continue to expand her overseas fanbase.

▼ A demonstration of the V6 Miku singing American songwriter Crusher’s “Like a Shooting Star”

▼ How the performance looks through the Vocaloid user interface

Hatsune Miku V6 releases on April 14, with pre-orders open now through the Sonicwire online store here.

Source: PR Times, Sonicwire
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times, Sonicwire (1, 2)
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Viral tweet claims have shoppers wondering if they’re paying premium-filling prices for almost-plain onigiri.

Consumers in Japan have gotten a lot more cautious with their convenience store rice ball purchases these days. Once a go-to impulse buy for when you’re feeling too hungry to wait for your next full meal but not ready to have that meal just yet, convenience store rice balls, or onigiri, as they’re called in Japanese, have rapidly risen in price, now costing double, and sometimes triple, what they did just a few years ago.

So in this climate, where it’s no longer a given that convenience store rice balls will be a good value for money, the Japanese Internet sighed in disappointment when it saw the tweet from Twitter user Shingeki no Gourmet below showing 7-Eleven Japan’s onigiri filled with sujiko (salted salmon roe). Well, it was supposed to be filled with sujiko, but the photos showed hardly any filling at all.

「手巻おにぎり 熟成すじこ醤油漬け（246円）」
セブンイレブンの定番商品。
出汁醤油に漬け込んで熟成させた、旨味とコクのあるすじこを中具にした、パリッとした海苔を巻いて食べるコンビニおにぎりです。
残念ながら、具材のすじこがほとんど入っていませんでした。 pic.twitter.com/QstIPhWKdv

— 進撃のグルメ＠コンビニ新商品とチェーン店の新メニュー＠SHINGEKI (@rekishichosadan) March 5, 2026

Making the situation more suspicious is that this wouldn’t be the first time for 7-Eleven to be selling something that’s not as generous a portion as it seems. There was the whole “paper tiger sandwich” thing from a few years back, plus the deceptive coloring on the cups of its banana and strawberry milk beverages.

At 246 yen (US$1.60) each, 7-Eleven’s sujiko onigiri aren’t exactly cheap to begin with, and that price would become really egregious for an almost entirely plain onigiri. So to get a better handle on what’s going on, we decided to conduct our own investigation, and purchased 10 sujiko onigiri to see if 7-Eleven really is skimping on their fillings so badly.

To get a broader sample size, we didn’t source them all from the same store, either. Instead, we hit up four different 7-Eleven branches in our vicinity, getting two or three at each of them. Once we had them assembled at SoraNews24 HQ, instead of popping them into our mouths like we usually would, we opened each rice ball up to take a look inside and see if it contained what we felt was a reasonable amount of salmon roe.

Here’s what we found:

● Rice ball #1: a reasonable amount of salmon roe

● Rice ball #2: a reasonable amount of salmon roe

● Rice ball #3: a reasonable amount of salmon roe

● Rice ball #4: a smaller amount of salmon roe

● Rice ball #5: an extra-large amount of salmon roe

● Rice ball #6: a reasonable amount of salmon roe

● Rice ball #7: a reasonable amount of salmon roe

● Rice ball #8: a reasonable amount of salmon roe

● Rice ball #9: an extra-large amount of salmon roe

● Rice ball #10: a smaller amount of salmon roe

So out of 10 onigiri, the majority of them, six, contained what we feel is an acceptably large amount of salmon roe, and certainly more than Shingeki no Gourmet got in the rice ball shown in the tweet. And with an even split among our remaining four rice balls of two with a smaller-than-expected amount of sujiko and two with extra-large portions, things balanced out for us overall.

That said, it is unusual for there to be this much variance with a store-brand offering from one of Japan’s major convenience store chains, given their reputation for excellent and consistent quality control. Maybe the sticky texture of the salted salmon roe makes it difficult to dole out in exactly even portions while the rice balls are being made, but regardless of the reason, it looks like there’s a bit of luck involved in just how much filling you’ll get with 7-Eleven’s sujiko onigiri.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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That’s not supposed to be there…

If you happened to be passing through Osaka’s Tsurunocho neighborhood on Wednesday morning and saw the large steel column shown in the video below, you might think the city was adding a new support pillar to the elevated road overhead. Hmmm…but it needs to be a little longer to reach the roadway, doesn’t it?

However, the issue isn’t that the cylinder is too short. It’s actually the exact length it’s supposed to be. No, the problem is that it’s in the wrong place, and the place it’s supposed to be is underground.

In fact, the cylinder, which is actually a pipe, initially was underground, but sometime during the early morning hours mysteriously rose up out of the ground to a height of roughly 13 meters (42.7 feet) above the surface of the street. It didn’t come up from a preexisting hole, either, as close-ups show that it burst through the pavement, surreally making the asphalt look like torn construction paper in the process.

The pipe is part of a public waterworks construction project. The city is in the process of installing an auxiliary pipe to collect excess rainwater, so as to prevent flooding if the capacity of existing drainage that channels into the sewer system is exceeded during severe storms. The pipe that burst up through the street is meant to connect the main and auxiliary pipes.

With the connecting pipe having a total length of 27 meters (or, as cultured civil engineers would measure it, 1.4 Unicorn Gundams),  if it continued rising it could have struck the underside of the road above, and so traffic was shut down as fire crews filled the pipe with water, causing it to sink back into the depths where it belonged. If the time-lapse video of the process shown above was too quick for your tastes, there’s also a six-and-a-half-hour version for hard-core pipe construction enthusiasts.

The reason why the pipe rose up is still unknown, and the Osaka municipal government is conducting an investigation into the matter. In the meantime, despite Osaka being very close to the city of Kyoto and Nintendo’s headquarters, please refrain from jumping Super Mario-style into any giant pipes you may come across in the city.

Source: TBS News Dig, Livedoor News/MBS via Jin
Top image ©SoraNews24
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