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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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Sure, Starbucks knows how to make a good Frappucino, but do they have what it takes to make good gummies? 

Starbucks is known around the world for being a coffeehouse chain that specialises in drinks like the Frappuccino, but here in Japan you can come across some other unique surprises. Right now, the biggest surprise of all is that the chain is branching out into the sweet world of gummies, with a new release called Fruit Gummy.

We came across this new discovery when we spotted the sweets next to the register on a recent Starbucks visit, with the simple graphic bubble font catching our eye. Upon closer inspection, we saw that these were plant-based gummies that don’t use animal ingredients, making them suitable for a wide range of customers.

Each pack contains three gummy flavours: muscat, mandarin orange, and peach. From the moment you open the package, you can smell the sweet smell of soft fruit, which is apt for Starbucks, given its history of whipping up delicious fruit-based beverages.

Placing them on a plate, we were able to appreciate the true beauty of the gummies. Glistening in the light like jewels with a soft sheen and semi-transparency, each gummy was well portioned, with just the right amount of give between the fingers.

With five-out-of-five stars for looks, we popped one of the gummies onto our tongue, instantly treating our taste buds to a fruity sweetness. Biting down on the soft gummy was a wonderfully satisfying experience as the texture was plumper and chewier than expected, giving us more time to enjoy the richness of the fruit.

After trying all three, our favourite was the mandarin, which had a subtle tartness that played against the fruity sweetness in a way that was both juicy and refreshing. The other two flavours erred more on the sweet side but were equally delicious, and with a total of 15 gummies in our pack for 270 yen (US$1.69), this was great value for money.

The small size makes them easy to pop into your bag for those times when you need a fruity boost, and we reckon they might actually go well with a bitter coffee, for added sweetness.

Whether you buy them for yourself or as a gift for a friend, these are high-quality gummies that’ll put a smile on your dial, and a clever reminder from Starbucks that they can do more than just Frappuccinos.

Images©SoraNews24
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A public restroom stall shock that had nothing to do with cleanliness.

Whether you’re looking for a Pokémon frappe, chocolate chip sandwich, or surprisingly high-quality T-shirt, Japan’s convenience stores have got you covered. As a matter of fact, it can start to become easy to become desensitized to the very wide variety of things you can find in a Japanese convenience store, but earlier this month a customer at one in the town of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture came across something that still managed to shock him, as the late-night shopper found a gun inside the shop.

Firearm ownership is heavily regulated in Japan, however, so the gun wasn’t something the store was selling, and it wasn’t out on the shelves between the boxes of Pocky and packs of melon bread either. Instead, the customer, who was at the store at around 12:35 a.m. on June 3, found the gun in the store’s bathroom. After he stepped into a stall, he noticed a belt hanging from a hook ordinarily meant for bags or coats. Attached to the belt was a holster, and inside the holster was a pistol.

We’ve often discussed how life in Japan isn’t like anime, but reality here is also very different from video games, and you generally won’t find weapons just lying about in real-life Japan like it’s an RPG. An odd exception, though, is bathrooms, which periodically turn into unintended armories when police officers use them and forget to take their guns with them once they’re done doing their bathroom business. That’s what happened in this case as well, with the firearm being traced back to a police officer with the Yamaguchi Prefectural Police who was on duty that night and had stopped by the convenience store roughly 40 minutes before the customer found his gun.

The customer informed the store staff about the forgotten weapon, and the store then contacted the policer to report its discovery. The officer has admitted to accidentally leaving his weapon behind, and the Yamaguchi police have pledged to reassert to all officers the importance of making sure they haven’t left their gun behind and unaccounted for when moving from one location to another.

In addition to convenience stores, in recent years there have also been incidents of officers accidentally leaving weapons behind at a restroom in an airport and even one within a police station.

Until recently, most police departments prohibited officers from making use of convenience stores while on duty and in uniform. With such regulations being eased, though, the frequency with which police firearms are brought into stores will likely continue to increase, so hopefully officers will remember to take them back out too.

Source: TBS News Dig via Yahoo! Japan News via Kinisoku
Top image: Pakutaso
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Tokyo’s new video game/anime eatery has a lot to love (and eat).

June 12 is the grand opening of the brand-new Square Enix Cafe in downtown Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood, and the eatery has released a sneak peek at what’s going to be on the menu. As you might expect, food and beverages inspired by the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises will be on offer, but there’s one other dark-horse candidate for your dining and drinking attention, and an anime/manga mega-hit too.

Beginning with Final Fantasy, the entrée options are the Chocobo and Moogle Spice Curry, milder Moogle Kids Curry…

…Chocobo and Friends Burger Plate (with a special appearance by Cactuar on one of its mini buns), and Chocobo Balanced Salad, designed as a for-humans equivalent of the Gysahl Greens so loved by the avian steeds.

And for dessert, Final Fantasy fans can look forward to the FF Version Purin Parfait, a Japanese-style custard pudding served in a classy cocktail glass with toppings including a marshmallow Chocobo and ice cream.

The “FF Version” part of the name suggests the existence of other pudding parfaits as well, and the DQ Version, of course, stars Dragon Quest’s adorable Slime.

The DQ mascot monster also appears in the Slimes Draw Near Jiggly Sweets Plate…

…and there are savory Slime plates too, such as the Healslime Burger Basket, in which the restorative creature’s tentacles are represented by a sliced sausage, and the Taco Rice-Style Hamburger Plate with Bubble Slime On Top.

Getting back to that third video game inspiration we mentioned, it’s none other than Nier: Automata, whose version of the purin parfait gives you a triple dose of Emil marshmallows…

…and his smiling (?) face is also present in the Lunar Tear Milk Tea Float plate.

Things get a little abstract with the 2B YoRHa Skirt-style Crepe Salad (with edible bamboo charcoal the most likely ingredient giving it its color), and things get really abstract with the On-Site Procurement Bullet Hell Pasta, meant to evoke memories of the enemy bullet barrages in the game’s shooting segments.

Now we come to the anime/manga part of the menu, which is saluting Fullmetal Alchemist.

Though Square Enix is most famous for video games, the company is also a major manga publisher, and within Japan handles the tale of brothers Al and Ed Elric, who are featured in a purin parfait, plus steamed buns with sweet custard and savory stew fillings. Fellow alchemist Roy Mustang also contributes to the menu with a Flame Alchemist shrimp pasta topped with shredded chili for extra heat.

Drinks come in two tiers, with the fancier ones consisting of a Final Fantasy Potion, Dragon Quest Traveler’s Healing Herb Set, and Fullmetal Alchemist Dwarf in the Flask.

The lower drink tier is made up of standard soft drinks such as coffee, tea, cola, orange juice, and melon soda. The cold drinks come with your choice of illustrated cup sleeve…

…while hot drinks let you pick one of two latte art designs per series.

The Square Enix Cafe has a service charge of 1,200 yen (US$7.60) per person, but that price does include one lower-tier drink of your choice, plus an illustrated placemat (you can pick which title you want, but the exact design is random).

▼ In keeping with Nier’s unabashed weirdness, its placemats are vertically oriented.

And as anyone who’s been to one knows, you can’t have a proper themed cafe in Japan without art coasters, and you’ll receive one at random when ordering any of a series’ associated food items or premium drinks.

Prices for the premium drinks and desserts are generally in the 1,000-1,500 yen range, with most of the main dishes priced between 1,500 and 2,200 yen (though the Fullmetal Alchemist steamed buns are just 770 yen each).

Again, the Square Enix Cafe’s grand opening takes place on June 12, and while walk-ins are allowed if space is available, reservations can be made through the restaurant’s website.

Restaurant information
Officially Licensed Square Enix Cafe & Shop Shinjuku
Address: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 3-36-1
東京都新宿区新宿3丁目36-1
Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Website

Source, images: Officially Licensed Square Enix Cafe & Shop Shinjuku official website
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