Twentythree

After six months of trying, organizers say they still don’t have the necessary OK from the U.S. government to bring the horse girl concert to the City of Angels.

One of the clearest examples of the surging worldwide popularity of Japanese pop culture is the fact that Umamusume has established a passionate and sizable fanbase in the U.S. A sports anime/video game series centered on the souls of real-world Japanese race horses reincarnated as schoolgirls is exactly the sort of thing that used to have no shot at an official overseas release, but the franchise has had so much success in America that two Umamusume concerts are going to be held in Los Angeles this week.

Well, maybe they’re going to be held, because a visa issue could now mean that the performances will have to be cancelled.

Back in June, Umamusume’s 7th Event World Tour: The Stage kicked off with a pair of concerts held at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The next stage of the globetrotting event is supposed to be October 22 and 23 at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, with 17 Umamusume voice actresses/vocalists scheduled to make the trip across the Pacific to perform.

At 8 p.m. on October 18 (Los Angeles time), though, both the English and Japanese official Umamusume Twitter accounts announced that the concert organizers have still not been able to obtain the required visas for the concert to take place. A statement, posted to the official Umamusume website, says:

“In preparation for the 7th Event: The Stage in Los Angeles concerts planned for Oct 22–23, 2026, we had been working with lawyers and promoters in the US to secure the visas necessary to enter the US since over six months ago, but as of now the visas have yet to be approved.”

Six months seems like it should be plenty of time to process the paperwork for a two-day musical performance, but the United States visa process is notoriously time-consuming in the best of times, and it’s unlikely that the especially chaotic conditions of American bureaucracy these days is making things any easier. That said, while the concerts will only be held for two days, it’s possible that the performers’ talent agencies, since they’re going to the expense of flying so many performers to the U.S., are hoping to have them engage in other promotional activities or professional appearances while in the country, which could be adding complexity to the application process.

Regardless of whether or not six months should be enough time for the U.S. government to have processed the applications, the critical fact is that the concert organizers still don’t have the visas they need, and that’s putting the concerts in jeopardy. A final decision on whether or not to hold the concerts will be made by 10 p.m. on October 19 (Los Angeles time).

Cancelling the concerts would result in some severe headaches for everyone involved, with the matter of refunds being the most immediate problem. Ticket pre-sales for the Los Angeles shows started on July 23, with prices ranging from US$80 all the way up to US$350 for special VIP passes with included merch bundles. Viewing tickets for live-streams of the concerts have also been on sale, priced at US$39 for one day’s performance or US$74 for both, and livestream tickets have even been on sale in Japan for fans who want to watch their favorite voice actresses make their mark on an overseas stage. Then there’s all the concert merchandise that’s scheduled to be offered at the venue, some of which is specific to the Los Angeles performance and would thus be a hard sell if there’s no actual concert happening in the city.

Of course, photo finishes in which victory comes by a split-second margin aren’t uncommon in horse racing, and hopefully all the visa issues can get sorted in time for the concerts to take place as planned, and also that there won’t be any similar problems with the world tour’s next stops in London and Seoul.

Source: Umamusume official website via Anime News Network/Joanna Cayanan, Umamusume 7th Event World Tour: The Stage official website, Twitter/@umamusume_eng, Twitter/@uma_musu
Top image: Umamusume 7th Event World Tour: The Stage official website
Insert images: Umamusume 7th Event World Tour: The Stage official website (1, 2)
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Fall means an abundance of good weather but a shortage of time in Japan, but here are eight spots that are quick to see but you’ll remember for a long, long time.

There’s a strong case to be made that autumn is the most comfortable time of year for going out in Japan. The summer heat, humidity, and thunderstorms are all done, but the cold weather and short daylight hours of winter haven’t set in yet. The cruel irony, though, is that Japan’s three vacation seasons, New Year’s, Golden Week, and Obon, take place in the winter, spring, and summer. Autumn has a few scattered holidays, but extended time off from work or school are hard to come by at this time of year.

So what we need is a selection of great places to spend half a day or so in autumn, and to put a list together we turned to a number of our writers. Let’s take a look at their recommendations of places they’ve visited that turned out to be low-key awesome.

● Hakone Open-Air Museum
Website

The town of Hakone, in the mountains of Kanagawa Prefecture, is most famous for its hot spring baths and lake cruises with views of Mt. Fuji. But if you can carve out time in your schedule for the Open-Air Museum, which has both indoor and outdoor sculptures on display, including many pieces by Picaso, you won’t be disappointed (and yes, the museum has a hot spring foot bath too).

We just sort of stumbled into the place on a family trip, but we ended up having a great time. It feels more like a park than a museum, and there’s plenty of space for kids to move around. I’m not even that much of an art lover usually, but we were there for three hours, and I never felt bored. – P.K. Sanjun

● Attack on Titan in Hita Museum
Website

Sort of like Hakone, Oita Prefecture, which the town of Hita is part of, is primarily famous for its hot springs, and once again we’ve got a unique museum experience. Hita is the hometown of Hajime Isayama, the manga artist and creator of the smash-hit series, and the city’s museum houses a collection of original Attack on Titan artwork donated by Isayama, as well as the work desk at which he drew during the series’ serialization.

I was kind of surprised that the museum has a whole exhibit of Attack on Titan stuff, and was really impressed by how extensive it is. Obviously it’s great for hardcore otaku, but it’s cool even for people who are more casual fans, and combining a visit to the museum with seeing some of the fall leaves in the town shows that thee’s more than hot spring to Oita’s appeal. – Takashi Harada

● Dragon Maze
Website

It’s hard to say what the most impressive thing is about this maze in the hills of Unnan, Shimane Prefecture. Its massive size? The fact that it’s built by hand? The way it keeps getting bigger because the owner keeps adding on to it, based on visions he has in his dreams? Really, there’s no other place in Japan quite like the Dragon Maze.

I think almost all of the giant mazes like this that you used to be able to find in Japan are gone now, but this one in Unnan is a survivor. It first opened in 1987 and then closed down in 1999, but it was relocated and reopened in 2007. Every year since then the maze has gotten bigger and more and more people have come to try it, turning it into a beloved local amusement attraction.

The whole thing is hand-built, but it’s so complex that’s it’s a serious challenge even for adults. I’d actually wonder if little kids can find their way all the way through to the goal? When it first reopened, the maze had a total area of about 1,000 hectares, but by 2022 it had grown to seven times that size. At this pace, it’ll be 10,000 hectares before long.
– Mr. Sato

● Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
Website

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, a.k.a. Tocho, is essentially Tokyo’s city hall, but there are plenty of reasons to go there besides taking care of local government paperwork. Each of its towers boasts an observation floor at the top with panoramic views of Tokyo and even Mt. Fuji, and it’s even a great place to grab a bite to eat.

For years, I’ve been dropping by here when I’ve got spare time. Both of the observation floors are free to go up to, and the view from each is slightly different. Once you’ve had you fill of that, you can head to the cafeteria. It’s the same one used by workers in the building, so the prices are really reasonable, and there’s a neat inside vibe to it. You can get drinks and snacks in the observation floor too, and I like having something to sip or munch on while watching the sunset. Once it’s nighttime, they also sometimes have projection mapping shows on the outside of the building, so there’s something cool to see even after you come back down to street level. – Go Hatori

● Arakawa Amusement Park
Website

You don’t need to go all the way out to Disneyland for a day at an amusement park in the Tokyo area! Known as Arakawa Yuen in Japanese, this old-school amusement is located in a suburban part of Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward, along the bank of the Sumida River.

This place is a hidden gem, and a lot less crowded and touristy than other amusement parks. The Ferris wheel is really nice, but my personal favorite attraction is the Sky Cycle, where you ride pedal cars on an elevated track that goes around the park. It’s surprisingly fun to feel like you’re biking through the sky! They also have special events, like the zoo event when I went with my kids last summer and we took that picture with the sloth.

The biggest surprise though is how reasonably priced this place is. Admission and unlimited rides is just 1,800 yen (US$11.30) for adults, 1,000 yen for junior high students, and 700 yen for elementary school-age kids! There’s enough stuff to do here to spend the whole day in the park, so it’s a great deal, and they even have discounted tickets for entry after 4 in the afternoon. The place looks really pretty when it’s lit up at night too, so it’s seriously tough to beat. – Yoshio

● Small Worlds
Website

Not to be confused with the Disneyland attraction of a very similar name, Small Worlds is a unique miniature art exhibition facility in Tokyo’s Ariake island neighborhood in Tokyo Bay. Each area has huge, intricately detailed dioramas of cityscapes both real and imagined, including the Tokyo-3 anime metropolis from Evangelion.

I came to this miniatures museum to see the Evangelion exhibits, but the other areas, like the space center, airport, and whimsical European-style village, were all way more detailed than I’d expected and drew me into their little worlds. Each one of them has a massively convincing sense of place.

The adult admission price is pretty high at 3,200 yen, so I wasn’t sure how much I was going to enjoy this place, but there was so much cool stuff to see that I was totally satisfied. Eva fans especially will have a blast here, but I think it’d be a fun visit for anybody.
– Takamichi Furusawa

● Imperial Palace Outer Gardens
Website

Also known as the Kokyo Gaien National Garden, this outer layer of the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo requires no ticket to get into, and the park-like atmosphere, but without the crowds of more famous downtown green spaces like Ueno Park, earn it a place on our list.

I don’t think there’s a better “if you know, you know” place in Tokyo than this. It’s located just a couple of blocks from Tokyo Station, but the atmosphere is so laidback and relaxing, a little peaceful oasis so close to one of the busiest places in the city that a lot of people forget it’s there. There’s a lot of historical significance to the place too, and it’s fun just to walk around, and it’s perfect for an autumn afternoon with good weather. – Yuichiro Wasai

● Hitachi Seaside Park
Website

Located in the coastal town of Hitachinaka in Ibaraki Prefecture, this sprawling park is a nice in spring and summer too, but if you can plan for an autumn visit, you’ll be glad you did. That’s when the park’s hills of kochia shrubs turn a dramatic shade of crimson, becoming an utterly unforgettable and unique addition to Japan’s fall-color scenery.

Ibraraki might be two prefecture away from Tokyo, but if you time your train and bus transfers right, you can get from the capital to Hitachi Seaside Park in about an hour and a half. The park is huge, with forested areas, bicycling paths, and reconstructed farm houses, but nothing compares to the surreal impact of seeing the kochia in fall. The hills aren’t very steep, but they’re high enough that once you get to the top you’re rewarded with a view of the sea of red from a different perspective, so make sure to make the walk up. – Casey Baseel

Want even more places to see this fall in Japan? We’ve got a forecast of when the leaves are forecast to change colors across the country right here.

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Japan’s luxury bread loaf boom was supposed to have died down, but apparently no one told this Ginza bakery.

A couple of years ago, premium-priced loaves of bread were all the rage among foodies in Japan. Luxury bakeries sprang up one after another, with long lines of customers waiting to get in and drop 1,000 yen (US$6;30) or so on a single loaf, several times more than what you’d pay for the same quantity at a supermarket.

As is often the case, though, after a while the fad faded, and pricy bakeries began to gradually disappear and be replaced by new tenants chasing the next foodie trend. One of the survivors of the luxury bread loaf glory days, though, is Ginza Nishikawa.

▼ Ginza Nishikawa’s flagship branch in Ginza

With half of its name coming from Tokyo’s fashionable and wealthy Ginza neighborhood, you’d be correct in assuming that the bakery chain hasn’t abandoned its high-quality, high-cost philosophy regarding its baked goods. While many other purveyors of 1,000-yen loaves of bread have had to fold up shop, Ginza Nishikawa has recently begun offering a bread loaf set, which it calls Shigoku (“The Supreme”), with an eye-watering price of 10,000 yen (US$63)!

This quickly caught the attention of our Japanese-language reporter P.K. Sanjun. However, while P.K. and his stomach were in agreement that he should definitely try the Shigoku for himself, his wallet had a firmly dissenting opinion on the matter. Luckily for P.K., this deadlock was resolved, or rather rendered irrelevant, when he was able to snag an invitation to a tasting event for the 10,000-yen set held at Ginza Nishikawa’s Ginza branch, which is the exclusive location offering the Shigoku.

Upon arrival, P.K. learned that the Shigoku is a set of two loaves of bread, meaning that they’re essentially 5,000 yen each. This still makes them the most expensive loaves of bread that he’s ever tasted, though.

Why are they so expensive? Because of the ingredients Ginza Nishikawa uses. The first of the two loaves is the Kumamoto Yamaeguri Bread, made with chestnuts from Kumamoto Prefecture, and the other is a loaf of Hand-churned Cultured Butter Croissant Bread.

P.K. tasted slices from each loaf both as-is and toasted. Starting with the Kumamoto chestnut loaf, P.K.’s initial reaction was that more so than bread, it feels like some kind of midway point between a loaf of bread and a poundcake, but closer to the latter.

This is, of course, not a complaint. There’s a very generous portion of chestnuts in every possible slice, and with whipped cream mixed into the batter before baking, the bread itself is rich, moist, and delicious.

The similarities with cake, though, make for kind of an unnatural sensation when eating the Kumamoto chestnut bread as toast, so P.K. recommends just slicing off a piece to eat without any extra cooking or crisping.

On the other hand, the hand-churned cultured butter loaf feels 100-percent like bread.

Sure, there’s a very smooth richness coming from the butter, which is produced by Yamanaka Dairy Farm in Hokkaido, Japan’s premiere prefecture for dairy products. But whereas the Kumamoto chestnut bread feels like a sweet snack or dessert, the hand-churned butter loaf still works best if used like normal bread, which means its toasts up very nicely too.

So in the end, is the supreme Shigoku set worth what Ginza Nishikawa is asks for it? It’s a tricky question to answer, since 10,000 yen is so far beyond the normal price point for bread that it messes with the sense of psychological scale to try to weight whether this, say, 20, 30, or 40 times more satisfying than a regular loaf of bread. On the other hand, if someone were going to spend 10,000 yen on bread, P.K. thinks this would be a fine, very tasty way to do so.

As you can probably imagine, Ginza Nishikawa doesn’t just bake up a bunch of Shigoku loaves every morning and set them out on the shelves in case someone wants to buy a set. Instead, you have to order the set ahead of time, with at least five days’ advance notice required. A total of 1,000 sets will be offered between October 20 and December 25, and reservations can be made online here.

Related: Ginza Nishikawa
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Totoro and the Catbus are ready to help you get started on wishing for good luck and happiness even before we get to nengajo season.

Japan doesn’t really do Christmas cards, but the country does have a custom of New Year’s cards, or nengajo, as they’re called in Japanese. The end of the year tends to be an especially busy time, though, especially since the end of December/start of January is a vacation period in Japan, meaning people are often scrambling to wrap up work or school projects.

So for anyone who needs a hand getting their New Year’s cards looking extra-nice, there’s a very helpful assistant on the way: Totoro!

Studio Ghibli specialty shop Donguri Kyowakoku has just released its lineup of nengajo stamps for this year, with four different designs featuring adorable My Neighbor Totoro artwork. Pictured above is the big forest spirit himself, playing his ocarina while his Small Totoro counterpart is perched on his head and one of Japan’s phrases for “Happy New Year” appears written in kanji characters.

▼ The phrase geishun, used in written greetings, is made with the kajnji for “welcoming” (迎) and “spring” (春), harkening back to classical Japanese seasonal concepts in which spring was considered to start soon after the new year.

Of course, you don’t have to use this stamp exclusively for New Year’s cards. Put a little scrap of paper or some other sort of cover on the part of your inkpad where the contours of the kanji would come into contact with the ink, and you could stamp just the Totoros anywhere you’d like.

Similarly, while this stamp with the Small Totoro riding a ram, the Chinese Zodiac animal for 2027 (which Japan starts recognizing from January 1), will still be cute year-round, and could also work as a decorative accent at the lunar New Year

The Soot Sprite design, with a stylized Catbus too, sports an array of traditional Japanese good-luck items (a fan, top, and gourd), which are especially appropriate at New Year’s, but wouldn’t be out of place on any note or letter you’re giving to someone who you’re wishing good fortune on.

And last, the Catbus solo stamp has the famous feline dashing towards Omedetou gozaimasu, a version of “Happy New Year” for both spoken conversation and written correspondence, rendered all in phonetic hiragana script, making it a fun message that should be easy to read for any acquaintances who’re starting their journey towards Japanese proficiency.

The Small Totoro/ram and Soot Sprite/Catbus stamps are priced at 792 yen (US$5) each, the Catbus solo stamp 1,265 yen, and the Big Totoro/Small Totoro design 1,540 yen. They’re all available through the Donguri Kyowakoku online store here right now for anyone who’s getting a very early start on their New Year’s Cards, or for anyone who needs Totoro’s help with some other arts and crafts projects right now.

Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Top image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3, 4)
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Does the taste match its simple appearance?

Being too busy, lacking energy, the store having a fantastic campaign going on, or having the last time you set foot in the kitchen being known as “the day the frying pan begged for mercy”…there are a multitude of reasons why you would pick up a meal to-go from a nearby store. For students in particular, these ready-to-eat meals can be a lifesaver, so when there’s also an option that comes in at a low price point, it could very well be anointed as a divine blessing.

Our Japanese-language reporter Seiji Nakazawa has long been a fan of takeout bento, but prices have risen considerably since his days as a sprightly young lad. He used to be able to regularly find simple, no-frills boxed lunches for as little as 300 yen (US$1.89), but now even the cheapest options at many major chains start above 500. So when Seiji heard there exists a store selling a 200-yen bento, off he went to pay a visit to the ultra-budget bento shop known as Sandaime Kacchan in Osaka.

Seiji strolled through the Kyobashi Chuo Shopping District, also known as Rib Street, and about a five-minute walk north of both JR and Keihan Kyobashi Stations (and a couple more minutes from Kyobashi Station on the Nagahoritsurumiryokuchi Subway Line) he soon spotted the store front’s sign with a menu of its products displayed outside.

Perusing the bento for sale, Seiji was impressed with how many different varieties come in under the cheapest boxed lunches available at major chains. Seiji noticed that Sandaime Kacchan’s menu also includes a statement about how the store has been featured on television as “Osaka’s cheapest bento shop,” so now he was really keen to try it out.

As if the menu wasn’t indication enough of Sandaime Kacchan’s low prices, they have also pasted an announcement of the rumored “200-yen bento” on the glass next to the entrance, so any visitor will know they have come to the right place.

Entering inside, Seiji took in the scene of various bento lined up before him, with his 200-yen bento goal on the far left, and the options increasing in price the further right they’re placed. Seiji picked up on the fact that the “200 yen” claim was accurate, although it indicates the pre-tax price, so a customer would actually be handing over 216 yen to dine on the store’s offerings.

Scanning over the rest of the bento, they all looked pretty appetizing, such as the pork fillet cutlet bento (432 yen), grilled fish bento (486 yen), and special hamburger steak bento (540 yen). The most expensive item in the store was the Mega Serving DX Hamburger Steak Set for 842 yen, containing a hamburger steak and two fried shrimp, which looked like it would be a great deal.

The other customers in the store came in, picked up various bento, and appeared to leave happily, but Seiji was here for one reason: the 200-yen bento, so, here it is.

Rice with chinjao rosu (Japanese-style pepper steak made with pork and green peppers), macaroni salad, and pink pickled radish. The lack of volume and color in the ensemble was very much evocative of its price of 216 yen, especially when compared to its more impressive-looking siblings being sold alongside it.

However, when Seiji took a bite, he was struck by how delicious it was. A sweet and savory taste with a sharp, spicy kick that went well with the peppers and meat. Considering that the bento cost 216 yen to begin with, Seiji was simply impressed by the fact that the chinjao rosu actually contained meat to begin with.

Despite its lackluster looks, the bento did not taste like a 216-yen meal. It tasted far beyond that. In fact, there were some among the customers that Seiji saw that bought it as an add-on item for something like the pork fillet cutlet bento, and seeing as how the two items together costs 648 yen, it now seemed like a really smart option to get a delicious and filling meal for a low cost. Combining this with the atmosphere of the shopping district where Sandaime Kacchan is located, which Seiji thought felt like a run-down back alley, he feels that just from this little outing alone he got a taste of whole other side of Osaka’s food culture.

Store information
Sandaime Kacchan / 三代目かっちゃん
Address: Osaka-fu, Osaka-shi, Miyakojima-ku, Miyakojimaminamidori 2-4-22
大阪府大阪市都島区都島南通2-4-22
Open 24 hours

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It was just too good to be true.

Despite constant efforts by police and government organizations in Japan, the wave of “special fraud” (tokushu sagi) seems to continue unabated. And as the years go by, the tactics employed by these thieves seem to constantly evolve from pretending to be an elderly person’s son to pretending to be Mick Jagger or an astronaut in orbit.

One would think the more outlandish these premises get, the less likely they are to succeed, but they do time and time again. Just take a look at the case of a man in his 70s living in the city of Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, who was taken in by an extravagant offer for his sperm.

According to an investigation by the Mie Prefectural Police, the victim met “a woman” online and last April she sent a message over social media, offering nine million yen (US$57,000) if he provided her with his semen.

After a tentative deal was reached, the woman put the man in contact with “her lawyers” to set the terms and finalize the deal. From this point on, the woman’s legal team continuously requested payments from the man for things such as a non-disclosure agreement and to unfreeze a bank account. The man was instructed to do so by purchasing prepaid electronic currency cards.

▼ People claiming to be police or lawyers while asking for something like WebMoney cards is one of the bigger red flags of these scams.

Nearly 600 prepaid cards and about 38 million yen ($240,000) in payments later, the man suspected something was wrong and consulted an actual lawyer. The attorney recognized this as a case of special fraud and advised the man to go to the police, who are currently investigating the matter.

They say the crime was accomplished in a manner similar to a romance scam, where a strong relationship is built up over a long time before the actual fraud begins. They didn’t explain how this situation played out, since that would essentially be teaching us all how to commit a crime, but it really must have been a truly elaborate ploy to convince someone they could sell their semen.

Online comments were also baffled by how things could have gotten to the point they did.

“To think you could swindle 38 million with something like that. I guess anything can be used for a scam.”
“How could anyone fall for that?”
“Yeah, I’ll give you 9 million, but you’ll have to give me 38 million first…”
“The fact that he had 38 million to give would suggest he wasn’t even doing it for the money.”
“At least no one got hurt.”
“Who’d want a 70-year-old’s sperm even for free?”
“And you know they’re never going to catch these people.”
“He’s either suffering from dementia or a dimwit.”

It’s easy to write this victim off as merely being slow on the uptake, but the facts would suggest otherwise.

This elderly person somehow managed to purchase 571 prepaid cards from various convenience stores over months without arousing the suspicion of staff, who are now trained to identify and stop potential fraud victims, epitomized by a senior citizen buying e-currency cards. Sure, he could have slipped by lazy clerks once or twice, but he would definitely need to have his wits about him and then some to pull off buying that many cards.

Even in general, it’s dangerous to assume these victims are merely foolish, because it underestimates the scammers’ ability to operate on an emotional level, creating a fog that blinds people to conventional logic. That kind of dismissive thinking just makes it easier for them to sneak in and exploit people’s feelings of love, fear, or loneliness.

Perhaps that’s why these crimes continue in the face of all the informational awareness-raising campaigns going on in Japan. They may never go away until everyone remembers that it’s just as important to be emotionally stable as it is to be aware.

Source: Mie TV, Itai News
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Image: Pakutaso
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On the Beef is back, but in a sense it never really left.

Burger King Japan has made a linguistically confusing addition to its menu, and it’s one that’s culinarily puzzling too. Yes, even more so than the Pickleball Burgers we looked at earlier this month.

The just-added item is called On the Beef. As we’ve previously discussed, though, you can’t eat a grammatical preposition, and while the name “On the Beef” would have one expecting some undetermined additional element being placed on beef, the On the Beef is just beef.

I suppose you could argue that because it’s prepared with a dash of salt and pepper, there technically are some granulated seasonings on the On the Beef. That still doesn’t change the fact, though, that Burger King is selling a hamburger patty for 450 yen (US$2.85), leaving out the bun, lettuce, and anything else that would be included in a burger, the very thing that Burger King claims royal dominion over. This isn’t a special, high-grade patty made of a premium breed of wagyu beef, either. It’s the same patty that Burger King uses for its actual sandwiches, with the chain saying the point of the On the Beef is to be a way for customers to get a taste of the all-beef patties that go into the chain’s sandwiches.

So spartan is the On the Beef that the regular version doesn’t include ketchup or any other sort of sauce. You can ask for a squirt of spicy tomato jalapeno, smokey barbecue, or teriyaki sauce, but there’s an additional fee, since the Sauce on the Beef, as it’s called, will cost you 550 yen.

Alternatively, the Beef on the Beef, two patties with salt and pepper, can be yours for 900 yen…

…and finally there’s the top-of-the-line Sauce on the Double Beef (which seems like it should be called the Sauce on the Beef on the Beef), two patties with sauce, for 1,000 yen.

The On the Beef has become a sort of irregular autumn tradition at Burger King Japan, and while the concept seems baffling for a burger joint, it makes a little more sense within the broader context of the Japanese food industry. Hamburger steaks are popular in Japan. People eat them with assorted vegetables and rice or bread on the side, as part of bento boxed lunches, or as a topping for curry rice. Because of that, the idea of “Hey, a patty should have a bun!” isn’t as entrenched in Japan as it is iin the U.S., and you can find pre-made, ready-to-eat hamburger steaks for sale at grocery stores.

That being said, there’s a difference between shopping at a supermarket, where people buy ingredients, and walking into a fast food restaurant, where most people are looking for a whole meal, especially since Burger King doesn’t sell rice, curry, or any of the other things one might use to build a meal around a hamburger steak, so you’ll have to prepare any desired accompaniments on your own, like we did.

In terms of price, the On the Beef is actually more expensive than the most affordable hamburger that Burger King Japan offers, its 360-yen cheeseburger. However, the On the Beef looks to use the same patty as the larger Whopper, which starts at 690 yen, so you’re saving 240 yen by jettisoning everything from the sandwich but the meat.

▼ And you get a sticker for ordering the On the Beef (while supplies last).

The On the Beef made its return on October 16, and will be on sale until October 22, though you could make the argument that really it’ll still be available after that date as long as you’re willing to pull the patty out of a Burger King hamburger yourself.

Source: PR Times, Burger King Japan
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Insert images: PR Times
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