Twentythree

Likely wanderer from Nara Park won’t be going back, but has a new place to live in a hot spring town.

Both the business and academic year start in spring in Japan, so right now is what’s known as the shin seikatsu, or “new lifestyle,” season, as new workers and college students move into new commuting-distance homes to start the next chapter of their lives. However, one new Osaka resident who just moved into a new place isn’t a university freshmen or a new corporate recruit, but a deer.

Last month, a deer was found wandering the streets of Osaka City’s downtown, and decidedly urban, Tsurumi Ward, where it was taken into custody on March 25 after being corralled onto the grounds of a police training facility, as shown in the video below.

This wasn’t the first recent deer sighting in Osaka Prefecture (of which Osaka City is a part). In the weeks leading up to the deer’s capture, deer had been seen in other eastern parts of the prefecture, with subsequent sightings becoming further and further west. But not only does Tsurumi Ward not have any wild deer, there are no known deer populations in the mountains that make up the prefecture’s eastern border, either.

On the other side of that border, though, is Nara Prefecture, which is famous for its herds of wild deer that are allowed to roam freely through Nara Park and its surrounding neighborhoods. So the most likely explanation for why a deer showed up on the streets of Osaka, Japan’s third-largest city, is that it wandered there from Nara, and since Nara Park’s deer are officially designated as living national monuments by the Japanese government, many people assumed that the captured deer would be shipped back to Nara so that it could return to the park.

However, the situation turned out to be more complex. When asked by the media about the prospect of transporting the deer back to Nara Park, Nara governor Makoto Yamashita said that the living national monument status only applies to Nara’s deer while they’re actually inside Nara Park. Once they step outside the park’s grounds, they’re to be treated like any other wild animal, and so Nara Prefecture, or at least its governor, was unenthusiastic about sending the deer back to its probable home.

At the same time, Osaka City doesn’t have a pre-determined protocol for dealing with captured deer, since the city doesn’t ordinarily have any wild deer. Thankfully, the deer captured in Osaka now has a new home, and also a new name: Shika-yan.

▼ Video of Shika-yan’s naming ceremony and new home. The Shika-yan name combines shika, the Japanese word for “deer,” and -yan, a sentence-ending emphasizer used in Osaka and the Kansai region, the name sound like a funny, friendly way of saying “It’s a deer!”

As of Match 27, Shika-yan has been living at Nose Onsen, a hot spring facility in the town of Nose in northern Osaka Prefecture. In addition to hot springs baths and a hotel, Nose Onsen also has a campground, and a part of it has been converted into a habitat for Shika-yan.

Last Friday, Nose Onsen’s owner, Osaka governor Hideyuki Yokoyama (who suggested the Shika-yan name), and Nara governor Makoto Yamashita attended a naming ceremony at the facility. Perhaps feeling a twinge of responsibility for his supposed former constituent, Yamashita brought presents for Shika-yan in the form of a wooden name plate and 200 shika senbei/deer crackers of the type sold by vendors in Nara Park for visitors to feed to the deer. Noting how Shika-yan sauntered over in a visibly familiar manner when the governors offered the snacks, Yokoyama bluntly declared “This deer is from Nara,” to which Yamashita replied “That is definitely a possibility.”

▼ Video of Shika-yan from the Nose Onsen official Instagram account

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Even if it could be conclusively proven that Shika-yan originally came from Nara Park, returning the animal there probably wouldn’t be the best move. Nara Park’s deer population has reached record-high levels, which experts say is causing some of them to leave the park in an attempt to find territory of their own to claim. If that’s what happened with Shika-yan, shipping the deer back to Nara could just result in it leaving again, and it might not be so lucky as to avoid automobile traffic and the myriad other risks of traversing urban areas unaccustomed to wild animals suddenly appearing. “I hope Shika-yan will be loved by everyone forever,” Yokoyama said at the ceremony.

The plan is for any visitor to Nose Onsen, not just those booking overnight camping spaces, to be able to see Shika-yan, but as the finishing touches are still being put on the habitat and the animal is still in a transitionary stage, the new Osaka Prefecture resident’s public debut date is yet to be announced.

Related: Nose Onsen
Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, YouTube/FNNプライムオンライン
Top image ©SoraNews24
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“Sakura saku” literally means “Sakura bloom” but it’s also code for something else. 

Japanese often feels like a deeply poetic language, where even everyday expressions carry layers of imagery and cultural meaning. A beautiful example is the phrase “sakura saku” (“cherry blossoms bloom”). Beyond its literal meaning, it has long been used to signify success, or passing an exam, evoking the image of blossoms opening in spring as a metaphor for achievement and new beginnings.

Due to its short length and codified nature, the phrase first became widespread when it was used in telegrams to notify students that they’d passed their entrance exams, with “sakura ochiru” (“sakura fall“) being the phrase used to signify failure. It still lives on today, and is especially prevalent at this time of year, when the sakura bloom and students await the results of their entrance exams.

▼ Now, KitKat is keeping the poetic tradition alive with its latest limited-edition variety, “Sakura Saku Sakura Flavour“.

KitKat has already positioned itself as the chocolate of choice for exam season, due to the way it sounds like “kitto katsu“, which means “surely win“. With connotations of “surely win” and “sakura will bloom for you” in the name, this release is doubly fortuitous, making it the perfect gift for test takers and sakura lovers this season.

In keeping with the gift-giving theme, the nine KitKats inside each pack come in specially designed packaging. Some have messages like “キット心配ないよ” (“Kitto shinpai nai yo” [“Surely there’ll be no worries”]) and “キット出し切れる!” (“Kitto dashikireru yo” [“You can definitely give it your all!”] on them, while others are left blank for you to write on.

The ones with messages printed on the front have space for you to write a personal message on the back, while the blank ones have the words “Kitto Sakura Saku Yo” (“The blossoms will surely bloom”) on the back.

▼ While the packaging shows careful thought in its design, so does the chocolate inside, which contains beautiful flecks of pink.

This is due to the cherry blossom leaf powder that has been mixed through the white chocolate coating and the crispy wafers within, which are made with cherry blossom-flavored dough and contain pink feuilletine (crepe pieces) for extra sakura flavour.

All these cherry blossom ingredients combine to create an incredibly well-balanced treat, with hints of saltiness from the cherry blossom leaves intermingling with the sweetness of the white chocolate to help draw out the floral aromas, leaving a refreshing, springlike aftertaste on the tongue.

Every ingredient delivers perfect measures of flavour to create one of the best sakura KitKats we’ve ever had. It’s as if Nestlé has fine-tuned its sakura expertise after years of practice, giving us more nuanced flavour than the Sakura Sake variety we previously tried in 2019 and less punchiness than the Sakura Mochi KitKats released in 2020. Now we can’t wait to see what type of sakura KitKats will be coming our way when the cherry blossoms bloom in future years.

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This is one of 7-Eleven Japan’s rarest sweets, but is it worth tracking down?

7-Eleven is an ubiquitous part of Japanese cityscapes, but while you’re never too far from a branch of the convenience store, that doesn’t mean that each location has the exact same snack selection. Some 7-Eleven stores also offer the chain’s 7 Cafe Bakery line of baked goods which are finished off by the staff using the oven in-store, making them extra fresh, warm, and delicious. Even out of the branches with the 7 Cafe Bakery lineup, some are more special than others, and today we’re looking at an incredibly tasty, and even elegant, treat that can only be found at 7-Elevens in Tokyo and two other parts of east Japan.

We don’t usually expect convenience store snack runs to broaden our vocabulary, but that’s what happened with7-Eleven’s Sugar Palmier, a type of pastry that gets its name from being shaped kind of like the top of a palm tree. Palmier aren’t among the staple breads like melon bread or curry bread that you can always expect to find in Japanese supermarkets or chain bakeries. They’re usually the sort of thing you need to go to fancier specialty food stores for, so finding them at a local 7-Eleven, and with their baking finished right there in the store, is a big surprise.

After ordering one at the counter and paying the 220 yen (US$1.40) 7-Eleven prices them at, the staff finished off our palmier in the oven and placed it in a bag for us. We could feel its enticing warmth through the paper, and even after we’d arrived back home for taste-testing, it was still nice and warm.

Visually, it’s very classy, with its heart-like shape and glisten of light reflecting off the sprinkled sugar giving it an air of refinement despite its humble source, especially after we plated it.

Of course, if we stared admiringly at it for too long, it would eventually get cold, so before that happened we took a bite, and were thrilled to learn that 7-Eleven’s palmier tastes every bit as good as it looks! The rich buttery sensation, which has both a stimulating taste and aroma, melts into the sweetness that comes with a tiny touch of crunch from the sugar, making for a harmonious luxury throughout its flavor profile. The texture of the bread itself is excellent and complex. The stint in the oven right before you receive your palmier imparts a pie-like crispness to its outer surface, with a softer fluffiness, similar to a Danish’s, waiting at the center.

The buttery sweetness comes through with lightning quickness thanks to the in-store baking, and the flavor didn’t just fill us with satisfaction, but with happiness.

As of right now, the Sugar Palmier is available only at 7 Cafe Bakery branches in Tokyo and two of its neighboring prefectures, Chiba and Kanagawa, but if you’re in one of those three places, this is definitely worth tracking down.

Photos © Sora News24
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Requirement to be added to “jobs in which Japanese is used.”

For foreigners wanting to work in Japan, one of the most common paths into the country is through a Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa. Among other professions, it’s the visa issued to foreign nationals working as English teachers, either as ALTs at regular schools for Japanese children or at for-adults eikaiwa/conversational English schools.

According to a report from nonprofit organization Kyodo, citing sources related to the decision-making process, the Japanese government will be adding a new requirement to the application process that may make it much more difficult to acquire: Japanese language proficiency.

Currently, the primary requirement to obtain an Engineer or Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa is a university degree or sufficient work experience in the field of employment. Japanese language skills aren’t part of the evaluation criteria, and with Japanese employers often handling much of the paperwork filing for obtaining the foreign worker’s visa, through the Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa it’s possible to get a job in Japan without speaking even a word of Japanese. Under the new system, though, applicants would be required to have Japanese language skills equivalent to the N2 level of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test, or the B2 level of the CEFR standards.

While not full-on fluency, those are also by no means easy-to-acquire Japanese language skills. They’re not the sort of ability you can reach by taking a semester or two of intro-level Japanese class at your home-country college. Assuming you’ve got other work/educational responsibilities that prevent you from going to language school full-time, you’re probably looking at two years or more to get up to N2-level proficiency. As such, the new requirement has the potential to shut the door on a lot of plans to move to Japan for work right after college graduation unless you’ve been putting in some serious study time already.

There are, however, a few reasons to hold off on panicking if you’ve been dreaming of moving to Japan. First, it’s currently unclear if the requirement of N2/B2-level proficiency would require applicants to have passed those tests, or if alternative proof of proficiency, such as college credits in Japanese language classes, would be accepted. The language proficiency requirement would also only be required for those applying for the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services as part of their initial entry into Japan. The requirement would be waived for foreigners currently in Japan on student visas applying to transition directly into Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services status.

Also, the Japanese language proficiency requirement will reportedly only be applied for foreigners “entering into jobs where Japanese is used.” That, though, raises as-yet unanswered questions of what the criteria will be to determine if “Japanese is used” as part of a job. Would an English teacher’s job be seen as “using Japanese” if the school’s administrators, or the parents of the students they teach, communicate in Japanese? Would an engineer, whose regular work is largely technical in nature, be considered to have a “uses Japanese” job if clients communicate with the company in Japanese?

According to the source, the new requirement was prompted by numerous instances of foreign workers entering Japan on Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services but then working in unskilled labor roles, a violation of the visa terms. At first it might seem hard to see how raising visa requirements would reduce the number of foreigners working in unskilled labor positions, but, while not mentioned in the Kyodo report, there are likely two things the Japanese government hopes to accomplish through stricter standards.

Taken at face-value and in good faith, requiring that foreigners coming to Japan for jobs that require them to actually be able to use Japanese would be a logical and reasonable way to prevent situations where a foreigner comes to Japan, can’t do the job they came here to do, and ends up in a sector they aren’t authorized to work in (unskilled labor has its own separate, stricter immigration policies and procedures). In addition, by shrinking the candidate pool and making its average resume stronger, requiring Japanese proficiency would make it harder, and more expensive, for unscrupulous Japanese employers to bring workers to Japan on Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visas for jobs that are actually unskilled labor.

At the same time, significantly raising the visa requirements for language teaching positions would have major implications for ALT and eikaiwa staffing. Most jobs in those sectors are entry-level, low-paying positions, and many applicants have relatively low language skills upon their arrival in Japan, with the opportunity to acclimate to the local language often a major point of attraction in offsetting an unimpressive salary. If organizations looking for ALT and eikaiwa teachers suddenly have to limit their hiring to candidates who already have N2-level Japanese language proficiency, they may find it difficult to secure a sufficient number of workers, especially within their current budgets.

The new visa requirement would come amidst a growing governmental/societal sentiment in Japan that improved Japanese language skills are going to be crucial in harmonious integration of the growing foreign population into Japanese society, with Japanese language proficiency being considered as a new requirement for those seeking permanent residency in the country.

A formal announcement of the new visa requirement is expected to be made later this month.

Source: 47 News/Kyodo via Livedoor News
Top image: Pakutaso (edited by SoraNews24)
Insert image: Pakutaso
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Look, I’m tired. Just think up your own lede for this, OK?

The other day, I was talking to someone I hallucinated about the importance of sleep. In these days, where the world never seems to stop moving, it can be hard to carve out the recommended seven to eight hours a day. We tend to think of this time as wasted, rather than as a crucial function of our body to maintain health.

It’s a problem medical equipment makers at ResMed work hard on, and as a way to gauge which countries need to understand this the most, they’ve been holding the Global Sleep Survey each year. This survey asks 30,000 people in 13 countries about their sleeping habits and knowledge, and for the fourth year in a row, Japan was found to sleep the worst.

Looking at the key factor of hours of sleep per night, Japan was the shortest on average, with only six hours and 23 minutes. There was some stiff competition this year, however, with the USA not too far behind, resting for six hours and 29 minutes, and the UK getting only two more minutes per night than them. Countries with the longest night’s rest were China, with seven hours and 14 minutes, and Brazil, clocking in at seven hours and seven minutes.

Japan also ranked dead last in terms of sleep knowledge, probably because everyone was too tired to learn about it. Just 63 percent of respondents in Japan knew that sleeping well can prolong life expectancy, the lowest of all participating countries, and well below the 84 percent average. People in Japan were also least aware that sleep deprivation can lead to conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

When Japanese respondents were asked what they did to help sleep better, the number one answer was “nothing”, at 38 percent. It was followed by a warm bath at 34 percent, which honestly feels more like a cop out, because that’s more of a custom than something done solely to get to sleep. When asked what sleep aids were used, the majority of Japanese respondents essentially said “Ummm…” at 57 percent, with “blackout curtains” in a distant second, at 20 percent.

If you think Japan’s famously grueling work culture is to blame, you might be correct. Only 26 percent of respondents in Japan said they felt their supervisors cared about their health, and 24 percent said their workplace put a priority on rest and recovery, nearly half the global average in both cases. In addition, 62 percent of people in Japan said they’ve never taken a day off work due to fatigue, more than double the global average of 30 percent.

▼ You haven’t truly lived in Japan until you’ve napped on a toilet at work.

The one area where Japan is leading the world in is the ominously named “sleep divorce,” with 57 percent saying they sleep in different beds than their significant other. Studies suggest that this habit can result in higher quality of sleep, but ResMed warns that sleeping alone also means no one can pick up on possible symptoms of disorders like sleep apnea syndrome that could lead to more serious health problems.

Suffice it to say, the people least surprised by these results were the people of Japan. In comments about the news, a majority felt that overwork was the main cause, while others felt the sheer amount of addictive entertainment may be partly to blame for it all.

“Go to bed!”
“We have the longest working hours in the world too, so this is no shock.”
“I think everyone is on edge here because they can’t get enough sleep.”
“It wouldn’t be this way if we could get home before sunset.”
“I get home at the same time, but I’m having trouble falling asleep. My sleep time is decreasing each year.”
“Everyone’s blaming work, but I bet most of you are staying up on your smartphones.”
“I feel pretty refreshed after six hours and 30 minutes.”
“We could work less hours, but that’s less money and a more difficult life.”
“If we sacrifice sleep, our work declines, and we need to work more, and we sleep less…”
“There’s too much good anime on late at night. I’m unemployed and still busy.”
“We are a nation of wasted effort.”
“I only sleep for about 5 hours a night and nap like a dolphin during the day.”

In case you’re not a marine biologist, dolphins literally sleep with one eye open all the time. Because they’d likely die from drowning or predators if they perfectly went to sleep, they can manage to just shut down half of their brain at a time to give it some rest. Quite frankly, that is a trick I would love to learn myself, and it could help a lot of other people in Japan by the looks of things.

Until we somehow master that art, ResMed suggests that the society and government of Japan view sleep deprivation not as a personal problem but something that everyone must tackle together as a people. And until that happens, it’s important to monitor your own health and well-being as best you can to ensure you don’t miss out on sleep like the people of Japan are known to do, but instead live a long life… like the people of Japan are known to do…

Hang on a sec…

Source: PR Times, My Game News Flash, Maidona News
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Cozy Corner unveils a mini-Pokédex’s worth of adorable Pokémon desserts.

Variety is the figurative name of the game in the Pokémon franchise. Even if you’re not aiming for full-on caught-em-all Pokémon Master status, any capable trainer knows that it’s important to acquire a Pokémon roster of diverse Types and skill sets, so that you’re prepared for anything that an opponent might throw out against you in battle.

And you knew where else diversity can be extremely desirable? Desserts.

Japanese bakery chain Cozy Corner has a penchant for nine-piece cake sets, and this time they’re drawing from the ample inspiration available in the Pokédex. Starting at the center of the above photo we’ve got a Pikachu cake, banana-flavored and loaded with popping candy to recrate the tingle of his Thunderbolt attack.

Also part of the set are Psyduck, whose confusion perhaps stems from the complexity of the lemon tea whipped cream…

…Jigglypuff, a tart made of strawberry custard (“purin” being both the Japanese word for custard and Jigglypuff’s name in Japan)…

…a chocolate caramel Eevee, complete with little Poké Ball cookie…

…a blueberry cream Ditto, with chocolate sauce facial features…

…a “soda” (citrus cider) Piplup, with a bit of extra mousse to recreate the Bubble Beam attack…

…a Bulbasaur roll cake, with the flavors of muscat grape and yogurt…

…Gengar, who bends the rules by escaping the bounds of cake-dom with what Cozy Corner describes as “a gelatin with a suspicious aura” and the taste of peach and grape…

…and, finally, Charizard, unleashing a Flamethrower attack of mango whipped cream.

▼ And yes, even the box they come in is cute.

Of course, no single Pokémon species is as adored as Pikachu, and so the face of the franchise’s face also is the muse for a larger, but still individual-sized, cake.

This isn’t just a scaled-up version of the Pikachu confection from the nine-piece set. Instead, it’s a sponge cake with a custard cream topping and inner layers of whipped cream and caramel sauce.

However, all of those delicious cream fillings and mousse toppings mean that these cakes probably won’t keep very long or travel long distances very well. So if you’re, for instance, looking for souvenirs to being back from a trip to Japan, the more practical option might be one of Cozy Corner’s new sets of Pokémon cookies, madeleines, and financiers.

The eight-madeleine Eeeve Friends and 12-piece Party Box set, which also has edible illustration cookies and Poké Ball-shaped financiers, are both eye-catching, but the sturdiest, and easiest to reuse, container comes with the 10-piece Pikachu Can set.

The cake set and individual Pikachu cake are priced at 3,654 yen (US$23) and 777 yen, respectively, while the baked goods bundles are 864, 1,512 and 1,890. While pre-purchases aren’t explicitly required, between limited in-store quantities and the perennial popularity of all things Pokémon, reservations are the smart strategy and can be made through the Cozy Corner website here as of April 5 and until May 2, with in-store pickup dates available between April 10 and May 7.

Source: Cozy Corner, PR Times
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: Cozy Corner, PR Times
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Perfect for the shinobi who wants to stay out of the sun and snack on sweets.

Japanese clothing brand Sara’s catalog includes a zip-up hoodie that’s officially named the “Perfect Parka.” The company also uses a second name they use for the garment, perhaps because perfection is a subjective concept, or maybe because they realize that when people see it, they’re naturally going to call it the “Ninja Parka.”

The true purpose of the Ninja Parka, though, isn’t chic shinobi style. It’s to provide protection from UV rays. See, in addition to being the land of the rising sun, Japan is also a land of harsh sunlight during the warmer months of the year. Staying in the shade isn’t always so easy to do, though. Without daylight savings the sun comes up very early in Japan, and a reliance on public transportation means that, at the very least, you’re going to be spending a chunk of time walking to/from the train station or bus stop when venturing out. Between the Ninja Parka’s UV-resistant material, long sleeves, hood, and mesh mask, though, you can keep the sun off of yourself, while still seeing where you’re going.

But wait, what if at the same time that your skin is seeking protection, your stomach is clamoring for snacks? No problem, because the mask is also equipped with a zipper.

Simply slide it down when it’s time to take a bite or sip of whatever refreshments you’re indulging in, then zip it back up when you’re done.

▼ Even ninja love Starbucks Japan, it seems.

There’s also a mesh section at the nape of the neck, to help with air circulation when you’ve got the hood up.

In addition to the full Perfect/Ninja Parka, Sara has also added a “Breezy See-through Parka” to the lineup, which shares the same basic construction but with a mesh abdomen section. Pairing it with a crop-top, as the model in the photos below is doing, looks like it’s still put you at risk of burns in the belly button area, but wearing it over a regular-length top would essentially give you the same protection as the full Ninja Parka while keeping your midsection cooler.

And if all you really want is the hood, Sara offers it by itself too.

▼ Again, the ensemble shown in the photo seems like it’s putting some parts of the body at considerable risk of sunburning while providing maximum protection to others, but I suppose individual needs vary by wearer.

Sara offers all three of the items through Rakuten, with the Ninja Parka here for 16,280 yen (US$105), the breezy version here for 15,180 yen, and the hood here for 5.390 yen.

Source, images: PR Times
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