Twentythree

Getting more convenience store food for our yen is always a fun time, but this campaign is bordering on ridiculous.

On 12 May, 7-Eleven Japan kicked off its its “Founding Anniversary Sale” by giving us over 50 percent more of some of our favourite products in the first phase of its so-called “Thank You Extra Large” series.

▼ We immediately visited our nearby 7-Eleven and managed to get our hands on four of the upsized products.

The products we procured were:

• Corn & Mayonnaise (170.64 yen [US$1.08])
• Egg Salad Sandwich (291.60 yen)
• Radish, Cucumber, Carrot, Rice Malt, Miso & Mayonnaise  (280.80 yen)
• Mega Pork Ramen with Extra Fat (734.40 yen )

There are actually six products in the range, but despite visiting several stores to purchase the complete set, we were unable to find the following two items:

• Flame-Grilled Pork Fried Rice (496.80 yen)
• Fluffy Dorayaki with Red Bean Paste & Whipped Cream (213.84 yen)

This was probably a blessing in disguise, as the size of the four we had already looked like a lot of food. The ramen, in particular, produced under the supervision of award-wining Chiba-based ramen restaurant Chuka Soba Tomita., looked especially ginormous.

We decided to test this hefty beast first, popping it on the scales to reveal its true weight, which turned out to be…

▼… an astonishing 1,084 grams (2.4 pounds)!

As the container weighs about 23 grams, what we have here is more than a kilo of food, which is a great deal given that the price remains unchanged despite the 50-percent upsize. Although the pork fat is highlighted as an increased ingredient, it’s also said to have more vegetables, noodles, soup, and garlic, so we were curious to know how these extra ingredients would affect the taste.

▼ We popped it into the microwave, for 10 minutes at 500 watts, which is quite a long time for microwaveable food.

As it was heating, we felt slightly intimidated by the intense garlic smell that filled the room, and when we opened the lid we couldn’t quite believe the amount of food that lay before us.

The ingredients were so huge they made the container look tiny, and we began to wonder how we could eat our noodles without them spilling out everywhere.

Carefully lifting the char siu, we could see a huge pile of bean sprouts and cabbage beneath it, with the rest of the meal consisting of garlic, noodles, and pork fat.

With big noodle meals like this, locals make use of a special move called “tenchi gaeshi“, which literally translates as “heaven-and-earth flip“. This involves lifting the noodles from the bottom of the bowl and “flipping” them over the vegetables on top, to prevent them from getting soggy and to mix the broth, noodles, fat, sauce, and vegetables more evenly.

▼ Performing the “tenchi-gaeshi” mixing maneuver requires extra skill with this huge meal.

After carefully flipping heaven and earth, we were even more impressed at how much food was in the bowl, and when we took a sip of the broth, we were hit by the intensely powerful flavour of garlic and pork fat, which was absolutely delicious.

This was a high-quality meal, and the noodles were equally fantastic, providing just the right amount of chewiness to help round out the bold flavours.

The sheer volume was truly unbelievable, and nothing like what you’d normally see at a convenience store. It was so filling that by the end of the meal, we didn’t have any belly room for the other items we’d picked up.

▼ The vegetable sticks, with rice malt, miso and mayonnaise dip, would’ve been a nice way to cut through all the fat, but we just couldn’t fit them in.

The Egg Salad sandwich, or “THE Tamago” (“THE Egg”) as it’s called in Japanese, now contains three cut sandwiches instead of two, making it a great deal.

▼ And finally, the Corn & Mayonnaise bread has also been upsized, so it’s now almost twice as large as a smartphone.

The first phase of the campaign is scheduled to run from 12 May to 25 May, with the second phase bringing us a new line of upsized items from 19 May to 1 June. After receiving flack from customers who claimed that some convenience stores have been skimping on their offerings recently, there’s certainly no skimping with these campaign products, so hop in and try them while you can!

Images©SoraNews24
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Kabuki adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki Ghibli anime opens in Tokyo this summer.

Princess Mononoke is one of the most celebrated anime films of all times, and with every frame bursting with Studio Ghibli’s distinct animation artistry, it’s hard enough to imagine what it would look like in live action, let alone as a kabuki play. That’s exactly what we’re getting, though, with the stage adaptation set to open in Tokyo this summer, and now we’ve got our first look at the main cast in costume.

The production team has released a video preview that opens with actor Dango Ichikawa declaring “My name is Ashitaka” as he notches and arrow and draws back the string of the wandering prince’s bow.

He’s followed by a silent introduction of Kazutaro Nakamura as San, the monster princess herself.

As a complex tale of various factions searching for ways to survive, sometimes at each other’s expense, Princess Mononoke doesn’t have a traditional, clean-cut villain. Within the central conflict of the forest denizens versus the humans, though, the latter group is led by Lady Eboshi, who’ll be played by Manju Nakamura.

Given its feudal Japan setting, Princess Mononoke’s characters’ outfits make for an easier adaptation into kabuki costumes than, say the wardrobes of My Neighbor Totoro or Kiki’s Delivery Service would. Still, the designers have added touches of ornate flair here and there. Kabuki does, after all, have a tradition of bold aesthetics, and the costumes need to have a level of visual impact that can reach far past just the front row of the audience.

▼ Kabuki San’s skirt, for example, gets extra feathery elements that aren’t present in the anime design.

The Princess Mononoke kabuki play is scheduled to run from July 3 to August 23 at Tokyo’s Shinbashi Enbujo Theater. Tickets for most of the performances won’t be on sale until May 25, but there are a pair for which reservations can be made now too.

Related: Princess Mononoke kabuki play official website
Source: Princess Mononoke kabuki play official website via Anime News Network/Joanna Cayanan
Top image: Princess Mononoke kabuki play official website
Insert images: YouTube/松竹チャンネル/SHOCHIKUch, Princess Mononoke kabuki play official website, Studio Ghibli
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Practical and horrifying!

Usually when we’re talking about Japanese lifestyle brand Felissimo, we’re highlighting one of their animal-themed creations, like the Shiba Inu-shaped hot water bottle cover or red panda nap cushion. But Felissimo also has a “Museum Division” that draws inspiration from the arts, and who’ve come up with something a little less cute and cuddly looking.

Felissimo has entered into a creative partnership with the Kyoto Kanze Kaikan, or Kyoto Kanze Noh Theater. Noh is Japan’s oldest form of stage theater that’s still performed today, with its origins predating kabuki by more than a century. Noh performers wear masks while on stage, and with many of the stories dealing with demonic possession, madness, and other such chilling topics, the masks too are often unnerving in design, but the amount of undeniably skilled craftsmanship that goes into them also makes them, one could argue, in a way, beautiful.

Of course, Felissimo realizes that the average person doesn’t really have many occasions on which to slip on a Noh mask, so they’ve instead applied three classical designs as motifs for organizer pouches. With help from Kyoto Kanze Kaikan, Felissimo has produced a hannya mask pouch, showing a female demon consumed by jealously and sporting intimidating horns, and also a Okina mask, showing an old man with a long beard.

Being roughly the same size as a person’s face, they can actually hold quite a bit of stuff, with interior zippered sections and pockets to keep everything nice and organized.

Also part of the lineup is a pouch styled after a Kasei mask. Also known as a manbi mask, this type of mask is meant to create different atmosphere depending on the angle it’s viewed from, switching from a beautiful woman with a demure smile to something bolder or even sinister. The Kasei mask pouch was actually created by Felissimo’s designers prior to the start of their collaboration with Kyoto Kanze Kaikan, but as you can see, they were still able to achieve some terrifying results.

As further proof of just how committed Felissimo was to authenticity, even the backsides of the pouches mimic the interior surface of Noh masks.

The whole lineup is available from Felissimo online store here, priced at 2,860 yen (US$18.50) each. And should you find yourself instead in the mood for something that’s still strange but not quite so scary, don’t forget about Felissimo’s steamy Myaku-Myaku photo album.

Source, images: Felissimo
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The new sets of noodles and bowls make excellent souvenirs for lovers of both Naruto and ramen.

Lovers of the hit ninja anime series Naruto grew up watching protagonist Naruto slurping down bowl after bowl of ramen at the fictional Ichiraku Ramen restaurant, his absolute favorite place in Konohagakure Village. Now, you too can indulge in an Ichiraku-inspired dish thanks to a collaboration between the anime and Kawakyo, a longstanding maker of Kitakata-style ramen. The Naruto x Kawakyo Ichiraku Ramen sets went on sale on May 11.

Each set contains one noodle packet (120 grams [4.23 ounces]), tonkotsu broth (32 grams), and one original donburi bowl based on your main character of choice–Naruto, Sasuke, or Sakura. The ramen itself is based as much as possible on the food often seen being served in the anime.

▼ Place all three of the outer packages together and they also form a full art scene.

Each bowl has the text “Ichiraku” decorating its side. Naruto’s bowl is, unsurprisingly, a vivid shade of orange to match his fiery personality and clothes with small whirlpool logos symbolic of his Uzumaki Clan.

Meanwhile, Sasuke’s bowl is a cool and collected black with the red and white uchiwa fan logos of the Uchiha Clan.

Finally, Sakura’s bowl is perfectly pink along with cute cherry blossom symbols in a clear nod to her name.

Each Naruto x Kawakyo Ichiraku Ramen set retails for 2,400 yen (US$15.30) or 7,200 yen for the complete set on Kawakyo’s online shop. They make for a compact, practical gift for any of your ninja-loving friends. As a gift to yourself, you may also want to visit the Naruto & Boruto Ninja Village in Hyogo Prefecture while the May Rain Festival is taking place during your time in Japan.

Source, images: PR Times
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Find out how to use the machines, and more importantly, where to find them.

Back in 2013, 7-Eleven Japan revolutionised the convenience store scene by equipping its stores with coffee machines so customers could make their own individual cups of freshly brewed coffee. Then, in 2022, the chain upped its game even further with smoothie machines that became a runaway hit, and now there’s a new machine causing a stir with customers: the self-service ramen machine.

Introduced last October, the new “Steama” cooking machines, produced by Japanese tech company SoftBank, can make five different types of noodle dishes, and they can only be found at 41 branches, all in Saitama Prefecture.

▼ This screenshot from the official site introduces the 7-Eleven noodles as “Dekitate Men”, which means “Freshly Made Noodles”.

Saitama isn’t too far from Tokyo, so we headed out to the branch near Asaka Station in Asaka City, which takes just 27 minutes from Shinjuku Station by train.

▼ The branch is a 10-minute walk from Asaka Station.

As soon as you enter the store, you’ll spot the unusual-looking machine, which catches the eye with its jet-black appearance.

Like 7-Eleven’s smoothies, the noodles need to be retrieved from the freezer section of the store, so we headed over there and selected the Rich Pork Bone and Seafood Ramen for 880 yen (US$5.60).

Taking our noodles to the cashier to complete our purchase, the staff asked if this was our first time using the machine, and when we told them it was, they kindly explained the process.

First, they told us to press the start button on the machine, which gets the machine to warm up. After about a minute, we were prompted to scan the QR code on the side of the product with the QR code-reading camera.

If you’ve used one of the chain’s smoothie machines before, operating the noodle machine will be a cinch as it’s the same process. After scanning the QR code, the door lock will be released, so you can open it up and pop your noodles in the recess on the tray inside.

▼ Keep the protective film lid on.

After closing the door, the process begins, with a nozzle punching its way through the middle of the film. Then, you’ll see hot steam escaping from the lid as the machine thaws and warms the frozen broth and noodles.

You’ll receive a sticker, which isn’t a cute stationery souvenir but an item with which to cover the hole in the film before taking it home.

▼ We couldn’t wait to try these at home so we stopped by a nearby park to taste our 7-Eleven ramen.

Reading the labels on the outside of our meal, we discovered that these noodles had been created in conjunction with Chuka Soba Tomita, an award-winning ramen restaurant based in Chiba Prefecture.

This raised our expectations for the freshly made convenience store noodles, and our expectations rose even further when we peeled off the lid to find that the ramen had been evenly heated all the way through.

Though the nozzle only pierced the centre, it did an impressive job of heating the entire meal, right to the edges of the bowl.

Dipping our spoon in for a taste, the rich pork bone broth displayed subtle hints of seafood flavour, and it even contained yuzu peel for extra aroma, making it seem like a restaurant-quality dish.

Next up, we tried the noodles, which had the undeniable texture of heated-up frozen noodles. Still, for a convenience store meal, we couldn’t complain as they were satisfyingly thick and chewy.

The most impressive ingredient was the char siu pork, which was huge, and so tender you could tear it apart with chopsticks. The taste and size of it helped to completely overturn any preconceived notions we had of frozen ramen.

In the ever-evolving world of frozen foods, being able to whip up a bowl of noodles in a machine represents another significant leap forward for 7-Eleven. While other convenience stores have introduced their own coffee machines, the ramen machine will be a hard one to replicate.

In fact, it seems that even 7-Eleven is finding a full-scale rollout to be a challenge, because even after six months since its introduction in Saitama, the ramen machine is yet to expand to other prefectures. It’s a fun new convenience store experience that ramen lovers should definitely try, and the full list of participating stores can be found at the link below.

Store information
Seven-Eleven Asaka Saiwaicho 1-chome Store / セブンイレブン 朝霞幸町1丁目店
Address: Saitama-ken, Asaka-shi, Saiwaicho 1-4-1
埼玉県朝霞市幸町1-4-1
Open 24 hours

Related: 7-Eleven Japan
Photos ©SoraNews24
Screenshot: 7-Eleven Japan
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