Twentythree

Ice cream chain famous for its 31 flavors celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise with temptingly tactile treats and a salute to every starter Pokémon.

As any etiquette expert knows, you can’t have a proper party without ice cream, can you? So with Pokémon celebrating its 30th birthday this year, Pikachu and friends will be stopping for supplies at Baskin-Robbins Japan.

With this year being a big milestone for the franchise, Baskin-Robbins is simultaneously getting nostalgic and giving us something new. When the 31 Poké Summer promotion kicks off next month it’ll be doing so with a brand-new flavor, Pikachu Volt Tackle.

This new flavor takes its name from the attack that was added to Pikachu’s repertoire in the third generation of Pokémon games in which Pikachu dashes towards his target while wrapped in crackling electricity. The yellow here is a sweet and tangy pineapple sorbet, and Baskin-Robbins says the white ribbons interlaced with it are “cider”-flavored, which in Japanese sweets jargon usually refers to a refreshing apple/citrus taste. Symbolizing both Pikachu’s cheeks and the high-voltage nature of the technique is an extra-large amount of popping candies. As a matter of fact, there are 31 percent more popping candies here than in Baskin-Robbins Japan’s eternally popular Popping Shower ice cream, so the Pikachu Voltage Tackle (priced at 420 yen [US$2.60] for a regular-size scoop) promises to be a very stimulating scoop.

Also getting a special salute is Ditto, who’s having a big year as the star of spinoff game Pokémon Pokopia.

Baskin-Robbins is giving Ditto some time off from building cities/rebuilding civilization and letting it get back to doing what it does best: transforming. The 760-yen Ditto Crush Soda is a carbonated crushed ice dessert drink with two different flavors, grape and pineapple, that come with their respective syrups only partially blended. After the drink is served, it’s up to you to use the included Ditto stirrer stick to mix everything up until the contents of the cup turn a Ditto-like purple, and there’s also a dollop of jiggly grape gelatin, so like with the Pikachu Volt Tackle, this treat not only looks like its inspiration, it feels like it too. Since this is an ice cream float, you also get your choice of ice cream flavor to add to the cup, with the Pikachu one being the obvious selection.

The Ditto cup isn’t the only special container that’s part of the 31 Poké Summer fun, though. If you’re in the mood to upgrade your ice cream to sundae status, you can do it with the Poké Ball Sundae, which gets you one scoop of your choice, a Pikachu chocolate whipped cream, and sprinkles on top, all served inside a Poké Ball for 820 yen. A special cup calls for a special spoon, so this sundae also randomly provides you with one featuring Pikachu and one of the three original starter Pokémon, Charmander, Bulbasaur, or Squirtle, plus a toothpick-like decorative character illustration.

Meanwhile, if you’re good without toppings but instead want more ice cream, the Pokémon Double Cup lets you choose two flavors (510 yen for small scoops or 760 for regular) and serves them in a cup decorated with cross-generational images of either Grass, Fire, or Water-type starters.

These also come with one of the three starter spoons, plus one of 30 stickers (featuring all nine generations of starters so far plus Pocket Monster all-stars Pikachu, Eevee, and Mew).

▼ The stickers seem to indicate each species’ favorite ice cream. It’s a little surprising Pikachu didn’t pick Voltage Tackle, but maybe the interviewers had some sort of rule preventing him from voting for his own flavor.

And if you want some Pokémon ice cream spoons that are even more special, Baskin-Robbins Japan has two stainless steel designs, with Pikachu and Eevee in alternating levels of prominence.

These are included in the Pokémon Summer Special Set, along with your choice of nine scoops of ice cream (3,520 yen for small or 4,100 yen for regular) in special paper cups, plus nine of the plastic starter Pokémon spoons.

And finally, during 31 Poké Summer, Baskin-Robbins Japan’s four, six, eight, or 12-scoop Variety Boxes will have a Pokémon visual theme going on.

31 Poké Summer as a whole is scheduled to run from August 1 to 31, but the Poké Ball Sundae will only be offered from August 1 to 9, and, as always with promotions like this, supplies are limited, so this is, once again, a reason to listen to your ice cream cravings as soon as possible. And if you’re a Pokémon fan who’s into not just sweets, but specifically cakes, a different sweets shop in Japan is ready to accommodate you too.

Source, images: PR Times
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Gotta scan ‘em all if they want to get in.

In today’s digitally secured world, there are certain sensitive situations in which you can expect facial recognition systems to be part of the procedure. International travel often requires a facial scan as part of immigration protocols, and banking apps may ask for it as an authentication factor before you can access your account.

And as of this summer, you may also need to have your face scan before you can purchase Pokémon cards.

On July 24, the Pokémon Card Game’s official website quietly announced that it will be introducing a facial recognition system for customers wishing to enter Japan’s Pokémon Card Stores. Agreement to the scan is a requisite for entering the stores.

The Pokémon Company says that facial recognition scans are being implemented for the purposes of crime prevention and to ensure compliance with entry and purchase rules, with that last point implying that this is the latest attempt to combat the growing problem of Pokémon card scalping. The Pokémon Company appears to be wising up to the risk that letting speculative bulk-buying run rampant will eventually erode its broad base of younger and more casual fans who, if the only way they can get Pokémon stuff is by buying it an inflated prices from a scalper though an online retail site, might instead just find another hobby/series to love.

Under the new system, customers will need to submit to a facial scan before entering Pokémon Card Stores . Facial scans will also be required for obtaining seiriken, essentially queue tickets that stores give out during crowded times with an entry time specified for later in the day, so that shoppers don’t have to physically wait outside the store for the entire time until they can get in. If any individual enters a Pokémon Card Store twice in the same day, or attempts to get more than one queue ticket in a single day, the system will alert the store staff, who may then ask the aspiring shopper about their repeat visit and have the right to refuse entry if they suspect the person of being a scalper.

▼ A Pokémon Card Store

Facial scans will be required for all shoppers of elementary school age or older, which translates into ages 6 and up. Children younger than 6 will not need to have their faces scanned, but are also prohibited from entering the Pokémon Card Stores without being accompanied by a parent or guardian, so in effect no one will be getting into the stores without themselves or someone in their group getting scanned. The Pokémon Company says that facial and visit number data will be retained to the extent necessary to fulfill the system’s safety and anti-scalping purposes, then deleted “after a certain amount of time has passed.”

At the present time, the facial recognition system appears to be only for the Pokémon Card Stores, popup stores that sell not only Pokémon cards, but also a selection of Pokémon plushies, toys, and sundry/household items. Facial recognition has not yet been announced as a requirement to the larger, permanent Pokémon Center superstores, though their online branch will be requiring shoppers to show Japanese government-issued ID cards for certain purchases, and even more regulations could be coming in the wake of the Japanese government setting up a task force to address potential problems within the trading card industry and retail spaces.

Related: Pokémon Card Store location list
Source: Pokémon Card Game official website via Kotaku
Images: Pokémon Card Game official website
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The haircut wasn’t the only great thing we got out of this great-price deal.

China has a rich street food culture, and for many travelers grabbing a bite to eat from a roadside food stall is high on the list of things they want to do in the country. But did you know that China has roadside haircut stalls too?

Though he can’t say for sure how common they are, our Japanese-language reporter Seiji Nakazawa can confirm that there’s at least one in the town of Datong, in Shanxi Province. Seiji spotted this boxy little hair salon while out for a walk in the afternoon, and was shocked at the listed price of just 8 yuan, which converts to about 160 yen (US$1) at the current exchange rate. That’s roughly a tenth of the price charged by most of Japan’s budget chain hair salons, and since Seiji was feeling a little shaggy, he figured this deal was too good to pass up.

However, maybe this deal was also too good to be true? Despite it being the middle of the day, there was no staff present at the haircut stall, and he guessed that maybe it had gone out of business due to unsustainably low prices, and the owners had just abandoned it. This theory, though, turned out to be incorrect, because when Seiji wandered back down this same stretch of street after sundown…

…the stall was now open for business! It turns out that because of the intense heat of the summer weather in Datong, locals try to avoid doing errands during the hottest times of day, and instead try to shift those schedules to the cooler nighttime hours, and so that’s when this haircut stall starts welcoming customers.

Now, though, Seiji had a decision to make: How was he going to get his hair cut? To be honest, considering how cheap the price was, he wouldn’t have been surprised if this place had a no-requests policy and simply kept all customers’ hairstyling the same as it was when they came in but trimmed it to be shorter. However, peeking inside at a customer seated in the stall’s single chair, he could see the conversational back and forth between the customer and stylist as he told her how he wanted his hair cut.

So after giving it some thought, Seiji decided to ask for the Haaland.

OK, so maybe that’s not an officially recognized term in the hairstyling industry, but in any case, Seiji wanted to look like Erling Haaland, the star striker of Norway’s national soccer team who shined especially brightly in the squad’s campaign at the World Cup. Haaland has a distinctive look, with a long ponytail and the sides of his head shaved clean, and between that and his on-field prowess, he received lots of screen time during media coverage of the tournament, including in China, as Seiji saw him several times on TV during his trip.

We should probably mention that Seiji doesn’t speak Chinese, but through gestures and murmurs he was able to convey that he wanted a haircut, and the stylist let him know to wait outside, as there’s not much spare space inside the stall. He was the only non-local waiting for a haircut, and the regular customers regarded the traveling newcomer with friendly curiosity.

Haircuts at the stall took about 10 minutes per person, so Seiji figured he wouldn’t have that long to wait, and his wait got even shorter when the elderly gentleman who was actually ahead of him in line good-naturedly gestured for him to go ahead of him, as a sign of hospitality to their visitor from overseas.

Once inside, Seiji took a seat and attempted to bridge the language barrier and make his request. Unfortunately, when he smiled and said “Haaland,” the stylist repeated “Haaland…?”, with an audible question mark that showed she didn’t know who he was talking about.

This wasn’t a complete shock, as while Seiji was waiting he’d been pulling up pictures of the soccer player on his phone, and none of the other customers seemed to recognize him either. Like we said above, Haaland is known among soccer fans in China, but maybe this stylist and her clientele just aren’t all that into sports.

Thankfully, though, this wasn’t actually such a big problem, because Haaland’s fame within the sporting world means there are all sorts of photos of him online, showing his head and hairstyle from various angles. After looking at a number of them, the stylist seemed confident that she could give Seiji the same look, and so they got started.

Seiji was impressed that despite being a roadside stall, this is still a very professionally run hair salon. The stylist had a proper cape that she draped around his shoulders, and all of the scissors, razors, combs, and spray bottles necessary for a transformative haircut on the order of what Seiji had asked for.

Speaking of the stark contrast in Seiji’s before and after appearances, a small crowd had gathered to watch the show as the stylist cut his hair.

At one point, a man running a nearby food stall even took a break to come over and take an extended look.

And when it was all done, not only did the stylist give him a heartwarming wave goodbye, he even got a round of cheers from the group that had been watching.

So, how did Seiji’s haircut turn out?

Very nicely! Not only would anyone who’s a Haaland fan immediately recognize the inspiration, the styling itself looks good enough on Seiji that it’s be a satisfying cut even without the sporting connection.

▼ Before

▼ After

It’s one of the best haircuts Seiji’s had since that time he had a stylist turn him into Rengoku from Demon Slayer.

▼ Video of Seiji’s roadside hair salon stall haircut

Even more than how he looked or how little he’d had to pay, though, what really made Seiji happy about the experience was the people he’d interacted with. Japan and China have a complicated history, to put it mildly, and the anonymity and echo-chamber environment of social media can be a breeding ground for all sorts of ignorant, antagonistic rhetoric. There are people with good hearts in every country in the world, though, and even if Seiji couldn’t communicate directly with the staff or other customers, the smiles they exchanged showed that they know thought of each other as friends, even if they didn’t necessarily think of Seiji as Haaland.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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Sure, that big, fluffy down blanket is a must for making it through a Japanese winter, but how are you supposed to clean it when summer comes around?

Generally, living in Japan means hanging your laundry outside, and the residential housing market is designed with this in mind. Even the smallest dwellings will have a balcony or some other exterior space with hooks for hanging drying poles, and architects design both houses and apartment complexes so that these sections are facing south to maximize the amount of sunshine they get.

Because of that, it’s rare for Japanese homes to include a spot to hook up a dedicated clothes dryer next to your washing machine. You can get dual-purpose appliances, where the same drum handles both washing and drying functions, but their drying capabilities aren’t anywhere near those of a dedicated dryer. Again, though, this isn’t really a major issue, since homes are designed to make outdoor drying easy.

A major exception, though, is when it’s time to wash your futon, or duvet, if you want to use the fancy occidental term. Japan gets very cold in the winter, so a big, fluffy down blanket to take shelter under is a must for making it through the coldest months.

▼ My natural habitat for several months of the year.

But with Japanese washing machines not generally up to the challenge presented by such a bulky item, is your only option shelling out for an expensive dry cleaning service?

Nope! With the midsummer heat here and not even a trace of chill left in the nighttime air, Japanese laundromat chain Laundry Press knows it’s time to put your duvet into storage, and before you do that, they’ve got advice for how to wash and dry it at a laundromat. In order to save you the time, hassle, and cost of repeating the process, Laundry Press has prepared a list of advice points for how to smoothly get your futon clean, soft, and fluffy for the next time you need to crawl underneath it.

The first point, and the most important, is to make sure you choose a machine that has more space than you need to fit the duvet inside. Sure, with some forceful shoving, you might be able to squeeze the futon into a smaller machine, but it’s going to swell as it soaks up water, and if it’s too cramped inside the machine, it won’t wash properly, and the initial drying effectiveness of the spin cycle will be compromised as well.

▼ You want to choose a machine where you have the kind of interior space shown in the machine on the right, not on the left.

Speaking of putting your futon into the machine, the second point of advice is to remove the duvet’s cover. You can wash both the cover and the duvet together, in the same machine at the same time, but separating them will help ensure that water and detergent can reach all of their surfaces. This more thorough cleaning will also help restore fluffiness to the duvet, so while it can be a hassle to untie or unzip the cover, it’s something you’ll want to make sure to do.

▼ Duvet and cover washed while still attached to each other on the left, washed separated from each other on the right

The third thing to remember is, if you have the option, to wash your futon in warm water. Even if you only used it when the weather was cold, your body will still sweat and excrete oils as you sleep, and those will have soaked into the futon’s fabric little by little. Selecting a warm-wash option will help cut through the grease and grime, and if your laundromat has an extra-warm setting as a countermeasure against mites, that’s even better.

▼ A laundromat control panel, with warm and anti-mite setting icons on the left

Finally, after your futon has entered the drying stage (either as part of a combo washer/dryer or because you transferred it to a dedicated dryer), when you’ve got about 20 minutes left in the cycle, stop the machine and take the futon out. Because of how big and fluffy it is, the futon will probably have folded over onto itself, which can create damp pockets that the dryer isn’t reaching, so give the futon a manual fluffing, fold it back the opposite way from how it was, and put it back in to finish the cycle.

Laundry Press says that if your futon is especially big or luxuriously thick, you might also want to extend the drying time by an additional 20 to 40 minutes to make sure everything is as dry and fluffy as possible.

▼ Fluffiness levels before (left) and after (right) following these steps outlined above

With heat and humidity hitting Japan after a surprisingly mild June, preparations for cold weather are probably the farthest thing from many people’s minds. But just like how the best time to fix your roof is when the sun is shining the best time to wash your futon is when the frozen treats are hitting convenience stores.

Source: PR Times
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: SoraNews24, PR Times
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Stay cool with a little help from a Ghibli seaside town.

When temperatures rise in Japan, so too does our desire for some cool respite, preferably along the lines of a seaside adventure like the one in Studio Ghibli’s 2008 anime film, Ponyo.

As if reading our minds, the studio has now come to the rescue with a new Ponyo glassware range to keep us cool and hydrated in summer, with beautiful designs to lift our spirits after a draining hot summer’s day. There are two products in the lineup, featuring an “Under the Sea” design inspired by the ocean scenes from the opening of the film.

▼ The first product is the “Under the Sea” Sea Glass (2,310 yen [US$14.21])

This clear glass is adorned in motifs that bring the film’s seaside setting to life, including a smiling Ponyo, fish, Sosuke’s house, and the lighthouse.

▼ At the bottom of the glass is a light blue jellyfish, as a nod to the jellyfish seen in the movie.

The jellyfish base is cleverly designed so that when you pour yourself a clear beverage, like water or soda, the liquid appears to take on a blue tint, making you feel as if you’re staring into the sea.

▼ The glass has a 270-millilitre (9-ounce) capacity, and measures 8.2 x 8.9 centimetres (3.2 × 3.5 inches).

The cool, summery design is perfect for summertime dining, especially when you pair it with the other new product in the lineup.

▼ “Under the Sea” Small Bowl (2,310 yen)

This adorable design depicts Ponyo mid-stroke, creating a sense of movement and a personal connection, as the cute character appears to look at us from the side, maintaining eye contact mid-swim.

▼ It’s almost as if she’s paused momentarily, inviting us to join her in the cool, calm seas.

▼ Or perhaps inviting us to enjoy some ice cream.

▼ Like the glass, this bowl also has a wave-like design, making us feel like we’re peering into the ocean.

Measuring 11 x 5.9 centimetres (2.3-4.3 inches), the bowl is ideally sized for a serving of yoghurt, ice cream, or shaved ice, and it’s also great for cold noodles and side dishes, whenever you need a cool moment to help ease the summertime heat.

If your love of Ponyo runs deep, you’ll be happy to know that Ghibli has just restocked a number of Ponyo items that’ll add even more cool vibes to summer.

▼ Lidded Bowl (5,500 yen)

▼ Jellyfish Ponyo Clock (8,580 yen)

▼ “Got It!” Ham Sandwich Pouch (3,850 yen)

▼ Ponyo Bucket (990 yen).

You can even add some cool Ponyo stylings to your look with a range of jewellery that sweetly depicts the character with her fish siblings.

▼ Ponyo Greeting Bracelet (3,630 yen)

▼ Inside the Jellyfish Ring (2,420 yen)

▼ Earrings (2,970 yen)

▼ This ocean-inspired design is available in pierced and clip-on versions.

The entire collection is awash with cute Ghibli stylings to help us look, and feel, cool this summer. All the Ponyo goods can be purchased at Donguri Kyowakoku stores and online (links below), where you can also pick up some other cute goods to help beat the summer heat.

Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Featured image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. 10)
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