Twentythree

Says he remembers parking his car, but can’t remember the exact date he did it anymore.

Because many Japanese apartments and condominiums don’t have their own attached parking spaces, it’s common for car owners to have to find a nearby lot to park in. Usually they’ll seek out a place where they can lease a reserved parking spot on a monthly or other long-term basis, but a resident of Kobe’s Nada Ward apparently decided one night that an automated coin parking lot he found near his condo, one where you pay when you leave, was good enough. So he pulled into an empty spot, got out of his car, and walked home.

However, he didn’t go back and get his car the next day, or the day after that…or the day after that. Just how long was he parked there? Since April…of 2019.

Yes, in the time the man’s car remained parked in the lot, the coronavirus pandemic came and went. The Tokyo Olympics were both postponed and held. Japan became the world’s hottest travel destination. The glacially paced Japanese government approved the morning-after pill for use without a prescription. Through all of these momentous events, the man left his car in the same coin parking spot, for more than six years…and now he’s been arrested for it.

▼ The lot the car was parked in (the vehicle itself seems to have finally been removed)

On February 4, the Hyogo Prefectural Police announced that they have arrested the car’s owner, a 47-year-old man. However, since users of the parking lot don’t pay until they leave, and the man’s car was still there, he couldn’t be charged with theft, fraud, or non-payment. Instead, the charge he faces is Forcible Obstruction of Business, a catch-all category in Japan that covers various kinds of disruptive behavior in stores, offices, and other places of business, with the ostensible specific offense being that by remaining parked in the space for so long, the man was preventing other customers, who would have then vacated the space and paid in a more timely manner, from using it, thus depriving the lot’s owner of revenue.

The car’s owner is an employee in a shipping company, and so presumably not philosophically opposed to the idea of things occasionally moving from one place to another. When questioned by police, he admitted that he had parked his car in the spot, but also said that he couldn’t remember the exact date he’d done so, understandable considering that it was, again, more than six years ago. As for the parking bill he’s run up, it’s grown to more than three million yen (US$19,000).

The man said that he had gone back and tried to start the car up, but that “the engine wouldn’t turn over,” so it’s possible that he hadn’t been intending to leave it in the spot for so long, and that while trying to decide whether to repair, sell, or scrap the vehicle, the days stretched into weeks, months, and then years. Still, a half-decade-plus seems like more than enough time to address any mechanical issues.

That said, the way in which the parking lot owner handled the situation wasn’t exactly normal either. The laws governing parking lot operations must include some sort of time frame for the disposal of abandoned or unclaimed cars, and the grace period before getting one towed away and impounded can’t be six years, right? Likewise, it seems like consumer protection laws would have some sort of clause that prevents coin parking fees from continuing to accrue endlessly without any kind of required communication between the lot and car owner after a certain amount of time, which would have in turn limited the potential benefit to the lot in putting off having the car towed.

Hopefully, the legal mess can be sorted out, and the car will find a more attentive owner.

Source: TBS News Dig via Livedoor News via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
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It’s a gray area in terms of travel etiquette, but JR has a clear stance on the topic.

Japan is very committed to the idea that it’s important to be considerate to others, even if that means being a little inconvenienced yourself. This is especially true is shared spaces like public transportation, but there’s debate that pops up periodically regarding riding the Shinkansen/bullet train.

Certain Shinkansen cars have reserved seats, like an airliner, and just like with air travel, sometimes there are people traveling as a group who weren’t able to get tickets where they’re all seated next to each other, or couldn’t book the specific seats they wanted. Maybe it’s an excited couple who want to sit by side, a parent with a child who wants a window seat so they can see the scenery the train is whizzing by, or a group with a senior citizen for whom an aisle seat is easier to use. So if they ask you if you’d be willing to give up your seat, do you have an obligation to oblige them?

There are two contrasting schools of thought. One is that the whole point of a reserved seat is that you paid for it, so it’s yours, and you shouldn’t have to give it up to anyone, especially since reserved Shinkansen seats cost more than non-reserved ones. The counterargument to this, though, is that unlike on an airliner, where seats can vary wildly in price even if they’re close to each other, on the Shinkansen all seats within the same car are the same price. Assuming the other person also has a reserved seat, swapping spaces with them doesn’t mean that you’re giving up yours for something of lesser economic value by accommodating the person who’s asking.

But how does Japan Railways Group, the group of companies that operate the Shinkansen network, feel about all this? When asked, JR Central, which operates the Tokaido Shinkansen that connects Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, said:

“Answering in accordance with the terms and conditions shared by all six JR passenger companies, as stipulated in the Passenger Business Regulations, reserved Shinkansen seats are held for the bearer of the corresponding ticket, and cannot be used by any passenger other than that ticketholder.”

That might sound strict, but it’s not an arbitrary stance. Unlike with an airplane, where all the passengers will board and exit the vehicle at the same time, the Shinkansen makes multiple stops along its route, with any number of people getting on or off at the stations along the way. For example, if you’ve reserved seat 5A for a ride from Tokyo to Nagoya, someone else may have booked that same seat between Nagoya and Kyoto, farther down the line. So if, shortly after the train pulls out of Tokyo Station, you give up your seat to someone who’s riding all the way from Tokyo to Kyoto, when the person who booked 5A after your stint gets on the train in Nagoya, there’s going to already be someone else sitting in their seat. They’re then going to have to ask them to move, but that person is probably going to ask them to give up their seat too, meaning that the from-Nagoya passenger essentially has to negotiate for the seat they paid for after boarding. That extra annoyance could trigger arguments between the two parties, and also extra shuffling around of people, luggage, and personal items at a time when JR would really like everyone to settle in as the train gets underway again.

▼ As for why you were going to Nagoya, it was for the Shinkansen/Final Fantasy VII collaboration, naturally.

In its statement, JR Central also explained that giving up your reserved seat to swap with someone with a non-reserved seat is not allowed. The logic here is pretty easy to see, since reserved-seat tickets cost more. There’s an argument to be made that if a passenger wants to trade their more expensive seat for a cheaper one, then they should be able to do so, but this creates an operational complication. On-board JR staff members periodically come by to check tickets, and if someone in a reserved seat has a non-reserved ticket, it’s going to look like they’re stealing someone’s seat, and since reserved and non-reserved seats are in different cars, it’s not like the staff can quickly confirm with the reserved ticketholder that they’ve agreed to waive their right to the reserved seat.

All that said, provided you and the person asking you to switch seats are traveling on identical sections of the route, and have both booked reserved tickets, you can probably get away with swapping since it ends up as a no-harm, no-foul kind of deal. Still, you’re not under any obligation to do so, and JR has your back if you decide to say “Sumimasen, sore wa dekimasen,” (“I’m sorry, I can’t do that for you”) and the company says that if anyone does try to pressure you or otherwise is making you feel uncomfortable about not giving up your rightful seat, please inform a staff member so that they can deal with them and you can get back to enjoying your trip.

Source: Maido na News via Livedoor News via Hachima Kiko
Top image ©SoraNews24
Insert image: JR Central
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What sounds like a crime against food, turned out to be a cute and delicious surprise.

With Valentine’s Day just a few days away, it’s time to start thinking about what to present to your loved one, which in the case of Japan, is almost always chocolate. Chocolate and Japanese Valentine’s Day are so intertwined that it sometimes feels less of a romantic event and more of a nationwide celebration of chocolate. Each year sees the coming of fairly standard chocolates, bizarre creations like ones that taste of fish, and the unexpected ones in the shape of a male masturbatory aid.

This year, we happened to hear about the Popping Candy Chocolate: Omurice Tin from chocolatier Mary’s. The combination of omurice, or omelet-topped ketchup-fried rice, and chocolate almost feels forbidden, as unsettling as putting whipped cream on sushi, or dumping cereal into ramen.

▼ The appearance of the forbidden chocolate?

However, word of mouth was that Mary’s omurice chocolate was actually surprisingly tasty, so with curiosity getting the better of us, we looked up where to pick some up. It turns out that the chocolates are available only at department stores, train station commercial facilities, and online shops, but after checking the Valentine’s corner of our nearest Takashimaya department store, we managed to find them.

Although the omurice chocolate is available all by itself, in the enticing green tin shown below, our heart instantly fell in love with the brown retro cafe menu-themed tin sitting nearby.

This tin contains a nine-type assortment recreating retro cafe menu items, such as melon cream soda and pancakes, in chocolate form.

Since it also happens to include the omurice chocolate we were after, we decided on getting the retro cafe set, officially called the Popping Candy Chocolate: Cafe Menu Tin, for 2,700 yen (US$17).

After closer inspection of the tin upon returning home, we came to the conclusion that it truly is absurdly retro-cute no matter which angle you admire it from.

Opening up the tin, we found:

• Cola Float Chocolate (three pieces)
• Cider Chocolate (three pieces)
• Melon Cream Soda Chocolate (three pieces)
• Mixed Juice Chocolate (three pieces)
• Strawberry Soda Chocolate (three pieces)
• Pancake Chocolate (three pieces)
• Shortcake Chocolate (three pieces)
• Omurice Chocolate (two pieces)
• Fruit Sandwich Chocolate (two pieces)

…all making for a total of 25 pieces.

▼ Even the wrappers are super adorable.

When you unwrap the chocolates and line them up, they look like pastel-colored jewels.

Much like the name of the product suggests, the main feature of this chocolate is the popping candy, which seems like it would be a fantastic fit for the soda-based flavors, but we couldn’t wrap our heads around how that would play out with the omurice chocolate.

In appearance, it’s a small, round shape that, when broken open, reveals a two-layer structure that resembles egg atop some ketchup rice.

Putting it into your mouth, it opens with a gentle, milkshake-like flavor, before the popping sensation starts to go wild, followed by a faint ketchup-like taste.

Rather than being a simple novelty, you can tell that Mary’s were genuinely trying to recreate the flavors of omurice while still maintaining within the realm of “actually tasty chocolate.” Even so, we couldn’t help but feel that the popping candy is quite strong, ultimately stealing the limelight.

Next, we tried the fruit sandwich chocolate.

This one is mostly white and feels like white chocolate overall. Within the milky flavor, the relentless popping candy doesn’t fail to make its presence known once again.

While we originally thought these chocolates would be a mere novelty item, they actually turned out to be surprisingly delicious. If you do happen to spot them in a Valentine’s Day section in a store near you, they would make a pretty great gift. Next, we just need to figure out what to do with our cute empty tin.

Related: Mary’s Website, Online Store
Photos ©SoraNews24
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This beast puts convenience store egg sandwiches to shame.

In a climate of rising costs and prices, it can be hard to find a good deal in Japan these days. So when Lawson announced it would be holding a “Morisugi Challenge“, which loosely translates as “Overfill Challenge“, we immediately headed out to our local branch to check it out.

▼ The “Overfill Challenge” upsizes select items by 50 percent at no extra cost.

The challenge began on 26 January, running over four weeks with different items introduced weekly. On 3 February, a new batch of products got the overfill treatment, including yakisoba fried noodles, coffee, and the thick-cut pork loin cutlet sandwich.

With our eyes firmly set on the pork sandwich, or “Atsugiri Rosu Katsu Sando” as it’s known in Japanese, we headed over to the “Machikado Kitchen” section, where bento boxed meals and other prepared foods made in Lawson stores’ kitchens are sold.

This is where you’ll find the mega sandwich, and because freshly made Machikado Kitchen items are discounted towards the end of the day, you can get even more value on the deal if you’re lucky.

The regular-sized katsu sando, which consists of two sandwiches, usually retails for 495 yen (US$3.16), which works out to be roughly 248 yen per sandwich. During this campaign though, Lawson is adding another sandwich for free, so the price drops to 165 yen per sandwich, but with the extra discount that price drops even further, to 115 yen per sandwich.

You have to be lucky to get this extra-special price as it’s not uncommon for the sandwich to sell out earlier in the day without any discount. Even at the regular price though, you won’t be disappointed as this sandwich is huge, with the cutlet being thick and juicy, and the cabbage and sauce adding just the right amount of contrast without overpowering the meat.

Like many things in Japan, scoring a discount on freshly made items at the ends of the day is a skill that gets fine-tuned with practice. In general though, Lawson stores tend to discount select items between 3-5 p.m. and again at 7-9 p.m., so that’s the yardstick for getting even better deals at the chain, and it’s a good guideline for other chains too.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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Mr. Sato leads an office roundtable discussion on weird things Japanese schools have said “Nope, you can’t do that” about.

As we’ve touched on recently, Japan is currently in the grip of sticker fever, with people across the nation newly enthralled with collecting and exchanging cute little adhesive seals, especially the ones with some puffiness to them. While adults are not immune to sticker fever, it’s kids who feel the appeal most strongly, and as is so often the case when kids en masse find something they like, educators have stepped in to say “You can’t do that at school.”

With an increasing number of Japanese schools making it a rule that students aren’t allowed to have decorative stickers on campus, our ace reporter Mr. Sato found himself in a reflective mood, his mind drifting back to his days as a young tyke some 40-ish years ago, and the sort of restrictions and prohibitions that he’d had placed upon himself in school, At the time, the kids born in Japan’s bubble economy baby boom were flowing into the education system, and with class sizes increasing, teachers and administrators were no doubt concerned about maintaining order in the classroom. All the same, Mr. Sato still doesn’t understand why his middle school had to be so strict as to make it a rule that all boys had to shave their heads, and all girls had to conform to a set length of bangs. The teachers would even perform regular checks to make sure everyone’s hair was within the permissible lengths.

“Come to think of it,” said SoraNews24 owner Yoshio as Mr. Sato reminisced about his childhood, “when I was in middle school, we weren’t allowed to have a two-block hairstyle.” In Japan, “two-block” refers to an undercut, in which a man’s hair is shaved or cut short on the sides and at the back, but left long on top. Even today, it’s a hairstyle that some schools frown on, as it’s popular not just with fashionable young dudes, but also with delinquents, to the point that one Tokyo Board of Education member said that the hairstyle constituted a safety risk.

Moving to a closer parallel to the current trend of sticker bans, Mr. Sato recalled “The kids a little younger than me got into Bikkuriman [chocolate snacks that come with shiny stickers], and I heard the school banned those too. Even when I was going there, they wouldn’t let us use the erasers you could buy that looked like Kinnikuman [Muscle] anime characters or cars.”

“I mean, those are all technically stationery supplies, but they’re really more like toys, and so are the puffy stickers that’re having a boom right now,” chimed in fellow reporter P.K. Sanjun. “At my high school, they banned Walkmans. I still brought one, but I got caught and they took it away from me.”

“Well, yeah, they weren’t gonna let people bring those to school,” said Mr. Sato. “They didn’t have to take it away from you, though. And if you think about it, now that you can listen to music on your phone, everyone basically has a music player on them.”

“It wasn’t an item they banned,” said Seiji Nakazawa, the fourth member of our staff to jump into the conversation, “but at my elementary school, they had rules about what we were allowed to do on our way home. Most kids would walk home in groups, and sometimes they’d play rock-paper-scissors, and whoever lost had to carry everyone’s backpacks, so the school said they were going to start cracking down on things like that.”

“Ah, yeah, that happened at my school too,” remembered P.K., and Mr. Sato said the same. Yoshio’s experience had a wrinkle to it in that the loser only had to carry everyone’s stuff to the next telephone pole or some other partway-home distance, but in any case, it was a common practice, and so also a common target of school rules.

“We even had weird rules about what brands of drinks we were allowed to bring to school.” P.K. said. “Pocari Sweat [Japan’s biggest-selling sports drink] was OK, but [competing sports drink brand] Lifeguard was banned.”

▼ Lifeguard

“Ah, yeah, Gatorade was banned at my school,” Mr. Sato recalled, “but for some reason Pocari was OK…what was up with that?”

With uniforms being the norm at Japanese schools, you’d think that there wouldn’t be any need for apparel rules beyond “You have to wear the uniform,” but some students still got caught looking for wiggle room, sometimes literally. “In my high school, they had rules against altering your uniform so that the pants were extra-baggy or the coat was extra-long. I got there a little after that trend had already died down, though, so I couldn’t see why the heck anyone would want to do that anyway.”

“Ah, I’m a little older than you, so I was there when those were a thing,” explained Mr. Sato. “Stories about yankis [delinquents] like the manga Bebop High School and Roku de Nashi Blues were big, and people wanted to copy the style by altering their uniforms.”

▼ The sort of extra-baggy pants that were banned

Of course, with all of them now being full-grown men, and working in the lawless zone of SoraNews24 HQ, the quartet no longer has such unreasonable restrictions placed on their personal conduct and style. However, with Yoshio having two daughters who are currently in elementary school, he was able to confirm that schools still have some unusual rules, with some of the ones his daughters have to follow at theirs being:

● No using pencils or pencil cases with anime character illustrations on them
● No metallic pencil boxes that will make a loud noise if they fall to the floor
● No mechanical pencils
● Do pencil boxes that open from both sides
● No pencil cases with attached pencil sharpeners

▼ With its attached sharpener, this pencil box apparently has the power to shake the foundations of child education.

While it’s understandable that schools need certain rules to create a safe, constructive learning environment, it’s hard to see the logic behind some of the ones discussed above. But hey, at least they’ve been getting rid of underwear color requirements.

Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso, SoraNews24
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Mister Donut is Japan’s most broadly loved donut chain, but this kind of behavior is more divisive.

Recently, a debate broke out online in Japan regarding Mister Donut. The topic wasn’t whether or not its donuts are good, as Mister Donut, being Japan’s largest donut chain for several decades now, has got plenty of fans. No, the question was whether or not it’s OK to take a donut from the shelf, put it on your tray, and then change your mind and put it back on the shelf without buying it.

For those who haven’t had the pleasure of visiting multiple locations, Mister Donut branches can largely be divided into two types. At some, generally branches with smaller amounts of floor space, the donuts are all lined up behind a counter, and you tell the staff how many of which you want (if you’re like us, that conversation usually boils down to “A lot of all of them, please”). But at many Mister Donut branches, you instead grab a tray and tongs as you enter, then take the donuts yourself from showcases. Once you’ve finished making your selections, you take your tray to the register, where the staff will ring you up.

▼ A serve-yourself Mister Donut interior

In a recent Twitter post, though, one Mister Donut customer recounted being shocked to see another customer take a donut from the case and set it on their tray, then, after some deliberation, nonchalantly put it back on the shelf. The original poster considered this a major breach of etiquette, and the majority of commenters agreed. Some, though, contended that as long as the tongs and tray have been kept properly clean by the shop staff, putting a donut back on the shelf shouldn’t cause any problems.

But what does Mister Donut have to say? After being contacted by Japanese online legal advice portal Bengoshi.com, Mister Donut’s parent company Duskin said that, since its employees are trained to make sure that the tongs and trays provided for customer use are kept clean, the chain has no explicit rule against customers putting a donut back on the shelf after having put it on their tray.

However, there are a couple of conditions to that. First is that Duskin says returning a donut to the shelf isn’t a problem “with normal usage” and that staff may approach a customer who’s determined to have handled foodstuffs or utensils in a manner that “affects quality or hygiene,” with quality ostensibly referring to the appearance of the product. So, for example, if you squashed the donut in the parts where you picked it up with the tongs, set one donut on top of another so that their glazes mix, or touched anything with the tongs or put anything on the tray that might have made them less clean than they were when initially provided, the donut you took isn’t going to be sellable anymore, and is going to need to be removed from circulation if you try to put it back on the shelf.

Duskin is very diplomatic in its language, being careful to phrase everything from the perspective of it keeping its tongs, trays, and overall operation very hygienic. However, it’s worth keeping in mind that, with the baseline high standards in Japan for things being clean, neat and orderly, a lot of customers who actually see a donut getting put back on a shelf will probably feel squeamish about then taking that same donut themselves, and might not even be too keen on taking a different donut from that shelf either. So while Mister Donut may not have an explicit rule against putting a donut back, it’s still unusual behavior, and something probably best avoided. After all, if you went so far as to put it on your tray, there’s a good chance that, deep in your heart, you really do want that donut, right?

Source: Hachima Kiko, Twitter/@teijidashkimeru, Bengoshi.com
Photos ©SoraNews24
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A convenience store find waiting to be discovered by customers.

On a recent convenience store run to a local 7-Eleven, we came across a sign in front of the counter telling us that they offer freshly baked pizzas. We immediately whipped out our phone to find out more about this new revelation, and after a quick search online, we discovered it was a service that started around a year ago.

▼ However, as it’s not available in all stores it remains under the radar for most customers.

Always hungry for a good convenience store find, we wasted no time in picking up a pizza. There’s a bit of a process to it, though, as the first thing you have to do is pick up an empty pizza box from the stacks in front of the counter and take it to the register.

▼ Choose the box according to the variety you want – either Margherita for 780 yen (US$4.99) or Teriyaki Chicken for 880 yen.

We picked up a Margherita box, and after taking it to the counter and paying for it, the staff member behind the counter took our box and popped a frozen pizza in the oven. They then gave us a numbered tag, and after a two-minute wait, we were able to collect our order.

▼ With the colourful pizza box now containing pizza, we ran home to try it as soon as possible.

Flipping the lid, we were greeted by a deliciously cheesy pizza, and it looked like a lot of effort had gone into making it.

Just on looks alone we wouldn’t be able to pick this out of a lineup with more expensive, restaurant-made pizzas, but how would it taste?

Biting into a slice, the taste didn’t disappoint at all, despite having cooled slightly on the journey home. The simple toppings of cheese, basil, and tomato sauce hit the palate in perfect measures, creating an irresistible blend of flavours.

The thickness of the dough was another pleasant surprise, giving the hand-tossed bases at Japan’s major pizza chains a run for their money. Chewy, elastic and soft, the textures added another delicious element to the slice, making it incredibly satisfying to eat.

▼ At roughly 19 centimetres (7.5 inches) in diameter, you won’t have any problems finishing the other slices.

In terms of cost performance, taking into account the price in proportion to size, it may not hold up as well as other frozen pizzas on the market, but perhaps thanks to the powerful in-store heating process, it feels like it’s a few steps closer to the quality of a specialty store.

▼ On the spectrum of frozen and specialty pizzas, this one sits towards the higher end.

Given how good it was half-hot, this pizza would taste even better straight after heating, which is a bonus for drivers and those living close by.

▼ Melted cheese always tastes better freshly heated, after all.

Despite the issues with temperature, this was a fantastic pizza that we thoroughly recommend trying. It’s so good it’s actually a shame not more people know about it, but then again, that only makes this find even more special.

▼ A fantastic find…for those who know about it.

So if you’re lucky enough to stumble upon a 7-Eleven in Japan that offers freshly baked pizzas, don’t hesitate to give them a try. And if you’re looking for something to pair them with, the chain’s highly acclaimed smoothies make for the perfect partner.

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