Twentythree

Humanoid Typhoon to hit Shibuya and Namba this July.

Trigun Stargaze, the sequel series to Trigun Stampede, was released earlier this year, and while there’s fun to be had in the CG-reimagining of the adventures of Vash the Stampede, for many fans there’s just no substitute for the original hand-drawn Trigun manga and 1998 anime TV series.

So now there’s a Trigun Legacy Cafe coming to Tokyo and Osaka.

Hosted by Chugai Grace Cafe, a themed restaurant subdivision of department store Marui, the cafe will be saluting Trigun and Trigun Maximum, the renamed-for-publishing-purposes extension of the manga by creator Yasuhiro Nightow. Though it’s simultaneously opening in both Tokyo’s Shibuya and Osaka’s Namba neighborhoods, the two Trigun Cafes will have slightly different menus. The image above shows the lineup for the Tokyo branch, and below is the selection for Osaka.

There’s some overlap between the two. For example, you can get Vash and Wolfwood “visual mocktails” at either branch…

…and the same goes for the $$30 Million Donuts, Smokey Black Forrest Parfait, and Plant-inspired Twins Birthday drink, which comes with an art card and gives you the bulb-like container to take home.

However, the Opening Animation Salmon Sandwich and Bride beverage are exclusive to the Tokyo branch.

The Tokyo branch has regular restaurant seating, while the Osaka branch is takeout-only. However, you won’t want to breeze through too quickly, since both cafes will also have attached merch shops with items like pin badges, acrylic art bocks, and polaroid snapshot-style art cards.

If you’re looking for something practical, the shops will also have calendars, key chains, and tote bags.

Once again, the lineup is a little more extensive in Tokyo, though, as only the Tokyo branch will have plastic mini posters, IC card stickers sized to go over Suica and other rail pass cards, and “art cookies.”

And of course, this being a Japanese anime cafe, customers will also get illustrated coasters for ordering food and drink items from the menu, with separate sets available for the first and second half of the cafe’s run.

The Trigun Legacy Cafe will be open from July 3 to 26 at the Chugai Grace Cafes in Tokyo’s Shibuya Modi and Osaka’s Namba Marui buildings.

Related: Trigun Legacy Cafe Tokyo official website, Trigun Legacy Cafe Osaka official website
Source, images: PR Times
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A new limited-edition drink you can’t even get at Starbucks.

Competition is fierce amongst Japan’s top three convenience store chains,  7-Eleven, Family Mart and Lawson, but right now 7-Eleven is edging ahead of the competition with a new tie-up Starbucks drink that you can’t get anywhere else, not even at Starbucks.

Called Fruity Cheers Torori, this new beverage comes in two flavours, Strawberry Berry Bergamot and Mango Passionfruit, with each one blending the rich aroma of fruit with the creamy smoothness of milk and the refreshing finish of tea for a perfect summer pick-me-up. One of its other key features lies in its name, as “torori” is Japanese onomatopoeia for something with a thick, smooth, rich, and velvety texture, and that’s what this drink promises to deliver.

The Strawberry Berry Bergamot blends milk with the refreshing citrus aroma of bergamot, the delicate fragrance of jasmine tea, and the sweet tartness of strawberry and blackberry. The result is a vibrant, fruity beverage with a rich strawberry aroma and a satisfyingly smooth texture.

The Mango Passionfruit features rich tropical aromas of mango and passionfruit, and blends it all with milk and black tea to create a luscious taste experience. The sweet, full-bodied fruit flavors and creamy richness are said to “unfold with every sip”, delivering a refreshing sensation that captures the spirit of summer.

According to Starbucks, this new series was created with the goal of bringing the Starbucks experience into people’s busy everyday lives through a convenient PET bottle format. Carefully developed by fine-tuning the balance between fruit, milk, and tea to achieve a rich, fruity flavour with a refreshing finish, these drinks are said to be the perfect companion for a summer afternoon.

With bright, colourful packaging and layered graphic elements, the cheerful design is sure to grab your attention when the drinks are released on 16 June. They’ll be available at 7-Eleven stores nationwide for a limited time, priced at 214 yen (US$1.33) each.

Source, images: Press release
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Japan’s Kansai region inspires some very bold baking in Shakey’s Japan’s ovens.

A while back, Shakey’s celebrated its 50th anniversary of arriving in Japan with a special selection of pizzas that it called the “American Pizza Tour.” But having passed the half-century mark in Japan now, the chain has seen some very tasty stuff in this country too, and brings us to Shakey’s newest creations, pizzas inspired by the culinary traditions of central Japan’s Kansai region.

We start with the Kansai Chili Con Carne Style Pizza. The topping for this complex concept is sujikon, a dish popular in Kansai made by simmering gyusuji (beef tendon) and konnyaku (konjac gelatin) simmered in a soy sauce-based stock. The sauce here has a Kansai twist too, as it’s a mixture of tomato sauce and Doro Sauce, a thick savory Worcestershire-like sauce made in Kobe with a little spicy kick to it.

Next we have the Saikyo Grilled Spanish Mackerel Alfredo Style Pizza. Kyoto is also part of the Kansai region, and while history buffs love the city for its temples and shrines, foodies are especially fond of saikyoyaki, a Kyoto specialty of white miso-marintaed grilled fish. Sawara (Spanish mackerel) is the most commonly used type of fish for saikyoyaki, and so that’s what comes with this pizza, with its elegantly sweet notes accompanied by a buttery Alfredo sauce and crisp mizuna (Japanese mustard greens).

Dessert also comes courtesy of inspiration from Kyoto cuisine. Though not mentioned in the name of the Matcha and Strawberry Dessert Pizza, here Shakey’s is drawing from nama yatsuhashi, Kyoto’s representative confectionary of folded mochi with anko (sweet red beans) inside and often a dusting of cinnamon. This dessert pizza has a butter anko sauce and is topped with little balls of gyuhi (extra soft mochi) and strawberry pieces, with matcha powder and cinnamon which should deliver an intriguing mix of sweet, bitter, and tart sensations.

And finally, Shakey’s will be serving up Doro Sauce BBQ Spaghetti too, which should let you get an even more pronounced taste of the condiment than with the Kansai Chili Con Carne Style Pizza.

There’s no denying that the new pizzas are all very bold, pioneering innovations…but it’s also hard to deny that they’re pretty weird. Since Shakey’s Japan operates on a flat-fee, all-you-can-eat system, though, there’s no need to commit to ordering a whole pie, so you can try a single slice first, then go back for more if/when they win you over.

Shakey’s Japan Tour 2026 Kansai, as the new items’ stint is called, runs from now until August 31.

Source: PR Times
Top image ©SoraNews24
Insert images: PR Times
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With its slogan “Melt the Rule,” Cool Fuel offers a new kind of five-layered ice cream-eating experience centered on Mascarpone cheese flavor.

New ice cream brand Cool Fuel opened on May 29 in the Yokohama Hammerhead shopping complex. We’d heard rumblings that it was supposed to be an ultra-luxurious dessert experience, far different than eating regular ice cream. Never ones to resist an icy sweet treat, we paid the new shop a visit on the morning of the fourth day it was open.

▼ Yokohama Hammerhead shopping complex

Lots of new stores had opened in the mall recently so it was bustling with people as we made our way through the space.

We made a beeline to our goal and were greeted by the cool blue tones of the new store. There was a little bit of a line, which was a little surprising since it was a weekday–but we weren’t in a rush.

We asked the staff which flavors were the most popular and they replied that the chocolate and caramel ones were selling well.

We decided to spring for chocolate (called Velvet Chocolate in English on the menu) this time for 780 yen (US$4.90). The menu explained that each cup was structured with five layers, which we were curious to see with our own eyes.

Upon placing our order, we received a numbered ticket and stood off to the side until our number was called.

The concoction handed to us was very round, top-heavy, and had an overflowing flaky topping! We quickly sought out a place to sit before there was any spillage.

Here’s the ice cream’s glamor shot. It sure looked like a work of art while posing.

The very top of the cup was a Mascarpone-based soft serve covered with crispy chocolate corn flakes.

Taking a large spoonful off the top revealed the interior cross-section. We could see what the menu meant by five layers–the inside was filled with a rich chocolate sauce and crunchy chocolate cookie bites, which made for a tantalizing texture.

▼ If only high school science classes offered ice cream dissections…

As we dug deeper, layers of freshly whipped cream also appeared from the bottom, giving the whole thing the impression of a very rich parfait or sundae. It was definitely decadent and we could see how people who enjoy “lighter” desserts like kakigori shaved ice might reach their limit very quickly. We, however, had absolutely no problem downing the entire thing in true form.

In conclusion, Cool Fuel ice cream is incredibly rich, delicious, and has found a formula to perfect the balance of taste and texture. At 780 yen it also feels more like a special reward than a routine dessert, so we recommend saving your visit for a very special occasion.

Now that the days are getting hotter, we’ve definitely got ice cream on the brain. Check out Mr. Sato’s recent visit to classic American/Japanese ice cream brand Blue Seal if you just can’t get enough brain freeze this month.

Store information
COOL Fuel Yokohama Hammerhead store / COOL Fuel 横浜ハンマーヘッド店
Address: Kanagawa-ken, Yokohama-shi, Naka-ku, Shinko 2-14-1 Yokohama Hammerhead, 2nd floor
神奈川県横浜市中区新港 2-14-1 横浜ハンマーヘッド 2F
Open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. (weekdays), 10 a.m.-9 p.m. (weekends)
Website

All images © SoraNews24
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Even with a shop name like Mayo x Mayo, we weren’t expecting this much mayo.

The word “original” has a bit of a different nuance in Japanese. It’s not so much used to describe something revolutionary or inventive so much as something that’s unique to a specific place. So, for example, a restaurant that makes its own roux from scratch, as opposed to using any sort of pre-made version, might boast about its “original curry,” even if the restaurant’s curry itself is pretty orthodox in style.

But we recently stumbled across a mayonnaise specialty shop in Kobe that’s original in both senses of the word.

▼ オリジナルマヨのお店 = original mayo shop

Called Mayo x Mayo, the simple but inviting storefront is flanked by a little outdoor terrace section. After stepping inside the shop, we saw that they do indeed offer their proprietary mayo in both pouches and glass jars.

But what really grabbed our attention was the blackboard with Mayo x Mayo’s wares listed on it, which included a section for wagashi…

…a.k.a. Japanese sweets?!?

The first item under the wagashi heading was mitarashi dango. Dango are mochi dumplings, generally served skewered, and mitarashi dango is what they’re called when they’re slathered with sweet soy sauce glaze, but at Mayo x Mayo, the mitarashi dango come with mayo too.

We’re not talking about a little dab of mayo for color or a subtle flavor accent that might go undetected if you weren’t looking for it. Mayo x Mayo puts a ton of mayo on them, so much so that there might even be more mayonnaise than mitarashi glaze.

While Japan has a loyal foodie sub-demographic of hard-core mayo fans, our Japanese-language reporter Haruka Takagi doesn’t count herself among them, but she doesn’t dislike mayo either. She likes mayonnaise, but thinks of it as just one of many tasty condiments there are in the world, or at least that’s what she thinks when she bothers to think about mayonnaise at all, something that doesn’t happen all that often, to be honest. This made Haruka the perfect candidate for taste-testing duties, since she isn’t predisposed to love or hate mayonnaise itself. She was, however, understandably apprehensive about this unusual flavor combination would play out, and so, steeling her resolve, she swiftly bit down and tore one of the dumplings off the stick…

…and it turned out she hadn’t needed to worry at all!

To her happy surprise, Mayo x Mayo’s mayonnaise mitarashi dango tasted great! Part of this is thanks to Japanese mayonnaise being comparatively thicker in consistency and less sour-tasting than its western counterparts, and another part is thanks to Mayo x Mayo’s mayo having very little sourness to it at all, even in comparison to other Japanese versions. What you’re left with is a very pronounced creamy sensation, which blended deliciously with the sweet and salty flavors of the mitarashi glaze. Haruka had expected the two sauces to acrimoniously fight each other for dominance and for her taste buds to suffer as collateral damage from the battle, but they actually played very nicely together, and the mitarashi glaze that Mayo x Mayo uses being an especially sweet example also helped.

Mayo x Mayo charges 240 yen (US$1.50) for its mayo mitarashi dango, but you can also get a skewer of regular mitarashi dango, without mayonnaise, for 200 yen. However, you can’t get away from the mayonnaise with another of the shop’s desserts, their daifuku.

Daifuku are also a kind of mochi dumpling, but whereas dango are solid spheres, daifuku have a mochi wrapping that goes around some sort of filling, most commonly anko (sweet bean paste). At Mayo x Mayo, though, the filling also includes mayonnaise.

Mayo x Mayo offers two kinds of daifuku, both with a cream cheese anko filling with mayo mixed in too. The Black Daifuku (which is actually brown on the outside) also gives you the flavor of hojicha (roasted green tea) while the White Daifuku’s extra ingredient is honey (both are priced at 300 yen).

Once again, the result was much more delicious to Haruka than conventional wisdom would have led her to expect. The primary impression here came from the rich cream cheese flavor with a touch of saltiness, and though the mayo wasn’t nearly as pronounced as it was with the dango, she could still taste its presence.

Haruka had also picked up a pouch of Mayo x Mayo’s original mayo, for 680 yen, though, so she decided to add a squeeze of the stuff to her daifuku…

…and though she was no longer surprised by this point, she was happy to find that this was also a great-tasting combination.

Since then, Haruka has tested Mayo x Mayo’s mayo out with other, non-dessert food, and she reports that it works great for more conventional mayonnaise uses too. A trip all the way back to Kobe to restock might not be in the cards when her pouch runs out, but thankfully Mayo x Mayo sells its mayonnaise online too. And if seeing photos of daifuku has your stomach growling more so than the mayo, there’s a new dessert spot opening in Tokyo soon that you won’t want to miss.

Shop information
Mayo x Mayo
Address: Hyogo-ken, Kobe-shi, Higashinada-ku, Yamakitamachi 3-7-11
兵庫県神戸市東灘区本山北町3-7-11
Open 10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Closed Sundays
Website

Photos ©SoraNews24
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