Twentythree

Whatever happened to just faking a stomach ache?

In March, a restaurant in Saga City received a phone call, and when an employee answered it, the voice on the other end of the call gruffly commanded “Go check your entrance.” When the staff did, they discovered a piece of paper with a chilling message written on it:

“I have planted a bomb.”

On this same night, the restaurant had a reservation for a farewell party, in which a group of coworkers was celebrating a colleague who was leaving the organization. Obviously, the restaurant couldn’t tell customers to come on in after receiving a bomb threat, so the party was cancelled, though thankfully no explosives were found, and the threat turned out to be a hoax.

Since the party was supposed to be for a police officer in the Saga Prefectural Police, you might expect the culprit to be someone with a beef against the justice system. Maybe it was a teenage delinquent he’d busted for shoplifting, or the loyal lieutenant of a yakuza boss serving time after the officer put him behind bars. Following an investigation into the matter, though, it was discovered that the bomb threat came from the police officer himself. Why? In his words:

“I didn’t want to go to my farewell party.”

The officer, a man in his 20s attached to the central division of the Saga Prefectural Police, was supposed to be leaving the force at the end of March, meaning he had less than a month to go until he’d be free from all such after-work functions. Apparently one more after-work night with his coworkers was one too many for his tastes, though.

His base motivation isn’t so hard to understand. Work farewell parties can sometimes be unpleasant for the person who’s being celebrated, since avoiding saying anything bad about the job everyone else at the party still has, and also not coming off as bragging about their new job, can make for tense, awkward conversations. Unfortunately for the officer, who has admitted to making the bomb threat, he’s no doubt since had to have many much more awkward conversations since his actions came to light.

▼ “How come you don’t want to work with us anymore?” is still an easier conversation than “How come you threatened to blow up a building?”

The ploy even seems to have extended his time at his job, as instead of reaching the end of his duty period at the end of March, he was given a formal reprimand and resigned on April 30. His case has been referred to the public prosecutor on charges of forced obstruction of business and intimidation, though it’s unclear whether or not his case will go to trial.

So remember, whether you’re dreading going to a work function or simply have a grudge against Nintendo, a bomb threat is never the wise way to solve your problem.

Source: RKB Mainichi Hoso via Yahoo! Japan News via Golden Times
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Children’s Peace Monument is going to be a quieter place for a while.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is located in the center of Hiroshima City, right across the street from where the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945. Aside from being a tranquil green space, the park contains several monuments to those who lost their lives in or after the bombing, one of which is the Children’s Peace Monument.

The Children’s Peace Monument was built in 1958, following the death of Sadako Sasaki, who was a 2-year-old girl living in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped and died from leukemia 10 years later. The monument’s central structure consists of a statue of a child standing atop a stone dome, and suspended underneath it is a bell that visitors can ring as a symbol of their wish for peace.

As of May 18, though, the bell has been silenced, but not because of vandalism or a change in public opinion. The reason why is something much more heartwarming: a family of sparrows is moving into it.

A pair of sparrows has been seen gathering branches and placing them inside the bell in order to build a nest. The animals’ activity was first reported by a visitor to the park on May 18, and once administrators confirmed the nest’s presence, the decision was made to detach the chain by which the bell can be rung, in order to keep the nest from being shaken apart or its eventual eggs and hatchlings from being damaged.

▼ The bell’s design has a folded paper crane motif, as the tradition of folding 1,000 cranes to have one’s wish granted is heavily associated with Sasaki.

With Japan’s rainy season on the way, the bell provides a nesting spot that’s protected from the elements and also out of the line of sight of crows and other predators. The Hiroshima City government has said the sparrows are welcome to stay for as long as they need for their babies to grow large enough to leave the nest, at which time workers will remove it and replace the bell’s chain. A similar situation unfolded five years ago, when a different nest was discovered inside the bell and was left in place until its avian occupants vacated it.

Online reactions to the park’s decision have been overwhelmingly positive, and providing a place for new life to come into the world dovetails with Peace Memorial Park’s mission of being not just a place of remembrance, but also a symbol of hope for a compassionate future, and the Hiroshima City government has asked that parkgoers “Please be kind to the sparrows during your visit.”

Source: Chugoku Shimbun, FNN Prime Online
Top image: Wikipedia/Taisyo
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Sacred fire saved from non-sacred fire on Miyajima.

Hiroshima Prefecture’s Miyajima Island, famed for the torii gate that stands in the water just off its coast, is home to one of Japan’s most beautiful and historically significant concentrations of shrines and temples. Among them, though, Daishoin Temple is especially noteworthy, as it’s the oldest Buddhist temple on the island, founded by traveling monk Kukai (a.k.a. Kobo Daishi) in the year 806.

Located on Mt. Misen, along a popular hiking trail that leads up to the mountain’s peak, Daishoin receives many visitors. On the morning of May 20, though, a call came in to Japan’s 119 emergency response number reporting that the temple’s Reikado hall was on fire. Firefighters rushed to the scene, and after roughly two hours the blaze, which had also spread to part of the neighboring forest, was largely suppressed, but sadly, the hall burned to the ground.

Thankfully, though, the Reikado’s fire was unharmed.

To unravel this confusing situation, it’s helpful to know that Reikado translates as “Hall of the Sacred Flame,” and also that the building’s official name is Kiezu no Reikado, or “Hall of the Ever-burning Sacred Flame.” Housed within the hall was a flame that’s said to have been burning for more than 1,200 years.

▼ The Reikado’s sacred flame (prior to the fire on May 20) can be seen at the point queued in this video.

After the hall caught on fire, a quick-thinking monk transferred the sacred flame to another section of the temple where no unwanted fires were occurring, preserving its streak as it progresses towards the 1,300-year mark.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the fire, though the hiking trail as well as the ropeway to the top of the mountain were shut down as a precaution. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire.

This isn’t the first time for the Seikado to burn down but its sacred flame to be saved, as the same scenario also unfolded in 2005, with the rebuilt hall then opening in 2006. Daishoin’s abbot Masahiro Yoshida, though, says that the newest rebuilding will likely take more than one year to complete.

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, FNN Prime Online
Top image: Wikipedia/Bgag
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New system would prevent non-residents from buying certain items from Pokémon Center Online.

Scalping is becoming an increasingly big problem for the Pokémon franchise in Japan, and we’ve been seeing increasingly inventive attempts to counter resellers’ attempts to snatch up in-demand items and flip them for profit, such as stores making shoppers pass a Pokémon quiz before they can make a purchase or taking scissors to the packaging afterwards. Now the Pokémon Company itself is considering possibly the strictest measure yet: requiring would-be Pokémon card buyers to show a government-issued ID card before buying packs.

While Pokémon is an even bigger deal in its home country than in the many other nations around the world where it’s phenomenally popular, this wouldn’t be a card issued by the Japanese government specifically for Poké-purchases. In a statement posted to the official Pokémon Trading Card Game website on Thursday, the company says that it is looking into requiring buyers to confirm their identity via their My Number Card. Introduced in 2016, the My Number Card is an ID card that includes the bearer’s name, address, date of birth and photo, along with a 12-digit unique personal identification number.

As of 2021, My Number Cards also include an embedded IC chip, and it’s this technological feature that the Pokémon Company wants to apply to the purchase of Pokémon cards via the Pokémon Center Online, the Pokémon franchise’s official online store. Under the system, would-be buyers would use a third-party service to read their My Number Card’s IC chip and confirm their identify, after which they would be authorized to make the applicable purchases.

▼ A My Number Card interfacing with a smartphone

The Pokémon Company isn’t planning to make My Number Card verification a requirement for any and all online purchases, but the announcement says it would be applied to “the purchase and lottery registration for certain items,” most likely referring to new releases and high-demand items (which are often offered through a lottery system in which purchase rights are randomly awarded if demand is expected to be much greater than supply).

Ostensibly, this system would allow the Pokémon Company to more easily identify scalpers who are buying in bulk and block them from making further purchases. However, there are other groups which would also be shut out from making purchases by a My Number requirement, starting with people who aren’t Japanese residents. My Number Cards are only issued to Japanese citizens and foreign residents of Japan, so tourists or overseas shoppers would be out of luck. This might actually be an intended effect of the system, though, as there’s a perception in Japan that foreign resellers make up a sizable portion of the scalper demographic.

Non-residents wouldn’t be the only ones affected by this system, though. Japanese citizens/residents aren’t legally required to have a My Number Card, and need to file application paperwork in order to obtain one. As such, there’s a portion of the Japanese population that doesn’t have a My Number Card yet, and simply uses other forms of ID, such as a driver’s license, insurance card, or foreign resident card, instead. My Number Cards also aren’t normally issued to children under 15 (though that probably won’t make a difference for buying things from the Pokémon Center Online, since kids that young won’t have their own credit card either).

The Pokémon Company says it’s also planning to make My Number Card identification verification a requirement for registration for certain official Pokémon Card Game tournaments in Japan. This seems like it could present a problem for younger competitors, but it’s likely that official registration requires a parent or guardian’s consent, and so the adult’s My Number Card would be used as a proxy form of identification.

The Pokémon Company’s announcement says that the goal of the My Number system would be to “ensure fair opportunities and safe, secure service to all customers,” and while the Pokémon Card Game website says that they are “looking into the introduction” of the system, the Pokémon Company’s official Twitter account is firmer in its declaration that they “are planning to introduce” a My Number Card requirement. The system is projected to be in place as early as August, and with application processing time sometimes taking up to two months, passionate fans will need to get their paperwork started soon.

Source: Pokémon Trading Card Game official website, Pokémon Company official Twitter account via Kinisoku
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Local sweets-fan favorite serves as inspiration for one of two donuts not available anywhere else in the world.

You’d think it’d be hard for a city of nearly two and a half million people to get overlooked, but that’s the position Nagoya often finds itself in. Despite having some very cool stuff (like a castle and good access to the Studio Ghibli anime theme park), Nagoya is often skipped by travelers and pop stars alike, perhaps because it can’t match the big-city glamor of Tokyo and Osaka, but also doesn’t have the same traditional mystique as Kyoto or Nara.

But you know who never forgets about Nagoya? Krispy Kreme. The donut chain’s Premium Nagoya series is a selection of special, extra-decadent donuts that are only offered in Nagoya, and specifically only at the JR Nagoya Takashimaya branch in the Takashimaya department store that’s attached to Nagoya Station.

With the weather getting warmer, two new Nagoya-exclusive treats are on their way, one of which makes use of the city’s best-loved sweets themes: an (sweet bean past) and butter.

The Krispy Kreme Nagoya Premium Lemon and An Butter is a bun-style donut that wraps around a filling of sweet and tart lemon jam, an, and butter. While many Nagoya sweets shops combine butter and red an (such as in the an butter toast served by many cafes in the city), for this donut Krispy Kreme uses white an, which has a more refined sweetness and cleaner finish. Add in the richness of the butter, and you’ve got a complex flavor profile that also promises to be refreshingly citrusy as we head into the hottest time of the year.

Joining the lemon an butter donut on the menu will be the Krispy Kreme Nagoya Premium Peach and Vanilla. Aichi actually supplies quite a bit of Japan’s produce, including white peaches, and this donut is filled with peach jam with pieces of fruit in it, and also vanilla cream. You also get a swirl of cream around the top of the donut plus a pistachio accent, making the Nagoya Premium Peach and Vanilla very pretty to look at in those scant few seconds before your willpower crumbles and you dig in.

Both donuts are priced at 389 yen (US$2.50), go on sale May 27, and are projected to be around until late August, giving us all two more reasons to visit Nagoya this summer (though if you can’t make it, McDonald’s Japan has a way to bring some Nagoya flavor to the rest of the country too).

Shop information
Krispy Kreme Donuts (JR Nagoya Takashimaya branch) / クリスピー・クリーム・ドーナツ（ジェイアール名古屋タカシマヤ店）
Address: Aichi-ken, Nagoya-shi, Nakamura-ku, Meieki 1-1-4 JR Nagoya Takashimaya 1st floor North Block
愛知県名古屋市中村区名駅1-1-4ジェイアール名古屋タカシマヤ1F北ブロック
Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Website

Source: PR Times
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Honouring a centuries-old tradition with a modern twist. 

Every summer, people around Japan eat eel to regain energy from the tiring heat. It’s a tradition that’s been around for centuries, with people commonly consuming eel on the Midsummer Day of the Ox, or “Doyo no Ushi no Hi” as it’s known in Japanese, which this year falls on 26 July.

With so many retailers offering eel on this day, many look for ways to stand out, and one bakery in Kochi Prefecture has everyone’s attention with a new product called “Super! Eel Bread“.

At first glance, the new product looks like sushi, but look closer and you’ll see it’s actually a whole eel, wrapped in a strip of nori seaweed around a super soft bread roll.

The eel is the star of the show, grilled over charcoal in the traditional kabayaki (sweet soy-glazed) style by Kitahama Shoten, an eel specialty shop with over 85 years of history. The new bread, which uses locally-sourced eel, is said to combine the appeal of Kochi’s regional ingredients with the playful spirit unique to Komi Bakery.

According to the bakery, the Super! Eel Bread has been three years in the making, born from an idea by the store’s head of bread and sandwich production, with the aim of contributing to the culture of Doyo no Ushi no Hi as a bakery.

▼ Kazuto Nishiyama, Head of Bread and Sandwich Production and creator of bold ideas.

Nishiyama and his team have certainly succeeded in creating an eye-catching product that honours the tradition of Doyo no Ushi no Hi while adding a unique twist that appeals to modern tastes. Komi Bakery says it plans to continue developing new releases tailored to seasonal events while also supporting local industries.

The longstanding bakery is getting ahead of peak eel season by releasing the new bread in store from 21-23 May, with reservations required three days ahead thereafter, and sales on 26 July are limited to reservations only. Given that it includes a whole eel, the bread is larger than it seems, and is priced at 2,500 yen (US$15.73), or 3,500 yen for online sales, including delivery.

Related: Komi Bakery
Source, images: Press release
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Salutes to local specialties of Hokkaido, Nagoya, and more now available across Japan.

A lot of the “Japan!” part of McDonald’s Japan’s recent offerings has come from tie-ups with popular Japanese pop culture franchises. And while we’re as happy as anyone about the Chiikawa Happy Meal toys, Gundam-themed sandwiches, and Hello Kitty-themed dessert drinks, the newest arrivals on the menu take inspiration from Japan for their actual flavors too.

The new Gotochi Mac, or “Regional McDonald’s” offerings, start off with a nod to the country’s northernmost prefecture in the form of the Hokkaido Jaga Cheese Teriyaki. With Hokkaido being home to Japan’s largest share of dairies and swaths of potato farmland, this is an enhanced version of McDonald’s Japan’s teriyaki pork patty burger, with a special filling of chunky Hokkaido potatoes and cheese, plus another slice of white cheddar for good measure.

Next comes the Tebasaki-style Black Pepper Juicy Chicken, a salute to one of Japan’s most criminally underrated local delicacies: Nagoya-style tebasaki (chicken wings). Treated with a sweet glaze with a touch of spice and plenty of pepper, this chicken cutlet sandwich lets you enjoy a taste of Nagoya without getting your fingers all sticky.

Then there’s the Hakata Mentaiko Butter Teriyaki, a teriyaki pork burger with cheese and mentaiko, spicy cod roe. A specialty of Fukuoka Prefecture, mentaiko ordinarily has a soft but gritty texture, but for this sandwich it’s mixed into buttery mayo for a creamier consistency.

And for early-risers, the Hokkaido Jaga Cheese Teriyaki also has a McMuffin variant.

Finally, rounding out the Gotochi Mac lineup is a new flavor for McDonald’s Japan’s Shaka Shaka French Fry series, in which you get a seasoning packet to pour onto your fries and shake up in the bag. The newest member of the Shaka Shaka family is Black Curry, the local-favorite type of curry in the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. Aside from its darker color (which is really more of a very dark brown), black curry tends to be spicier than other kinds of Japanese curry and also has some bitter notes to its flavor profile, so this should be a unique fry-eating experience.

The Hokkaido Jaga Cheese Teriyaki McMuffin is priced at 410 yen (US$2.65), the other sandwiches at 490 yen, and the Black Curry Shaka Shaka powder at 50 yen (added on to whatever size of fries you’re ordering). The whole lineup is on sale now.

Source: McDonald’s Japan via Entabe
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