Twentythree

Snack that saved a Japanese railway gets a whole new look for a limited time.

Japanese-born fast food chain Dom Dom Hamburger has a reputation for being edgier than most, with outrageous menu offerings that take things to extreme places other chains dare not go to.

▼ Now, Dom Dom is flexing its creative muscles yet again, with a new menu item called the “Nure Senbei Burger”

In all our years of eating fast food, we’ve never seen a burger like this. Instead of buns, it uses two pieces of “nure senbei” (“wet rice crackers”), a famous Japanese snack that Choshi Electric Railway, a local railway in Chiba, is particularly known for selling. As the name suggests, nure senbei differ from regular rice crackers in the sense that they’re delectably moist instead of crunchy, and they tend to be coated in a soy-sauce based glaze, making them a very left-field ingredient for a burger.

Dubbed a “miracle rice cracker”, as the struggling railway was able to survive through nure senbei sales after it began selling the snacks in 1995, Choshi Electric Railway’s variety comes in three flavours. Dom Dom doesn’t reveal which flavour of senbei is used in the new burger, though, so to solve that mystery, and find out what a wet rice cracker burger might taste like, we headed over to the Aeon Kaihin Makuhari branch to try it out.

It’s not easy to find the new burger, as the collaboration is limited to select stores in the Kanto region. Even at branches that do offer it, the promotional marketing tends to be kept to a minimum, as we found out at Aeon Kaihin Makuhari, where we only spotted a small mention of it on a laminated sign next to the till.

▼ New releases are usually advertised on giant banners outside this store, but this burger is only advertised on a small A4-sized poster near the register.

The burger is priced at 890 yen (US$5.93), or 1,290 yen as part of a set, and the ingredients are listed as: Two pieces of Choshi Electric Railway’s “nure senbei”, two meat patties, lettuce, cheddar cheese, a fried egg, special burger sauce and mayonnaise.

About five minutes after ordering the burger, our remote buzzer went off to tell us our order was ready, and we went off to collect the burger from staff. When we got back to our seat, we couldn’t stop looking at the “Nure Senbei” sticker on the packaging, which was a very weird sight for a burger, even of the Dom Dom kind.

▼ ぬれ煎餅 = Nure Senbei

We then unwrapped the burger to find…

▼ … a burger without bread buns!

The burger sat there staring back at us, with two wet rice crackers protecting its modesty, looking more like a couple of flat pancakes rather than senbei. Even though we’d read up on the burger and thought we knew what to expect, nothing could’ve prepared us for seeing the real thing right before our eyes.

▼ Curious to see what it contained, we lifted the nure senbei on top, and were surprised to find a large piece of…lettuce?

Nure senbei and lettuce aren’t two things you’d normally associate with each other, and neither is a fried egg, two meat patties, onions, and melted cheddar cheese, which were hiding out between the crackers.

▼ There was plenty of sauce on the bottom senbei too.

After inspecting the construction of the burger, we couldn’t help but be impressed at how well the senbei looked as a burger bun. However, after taking a knife to the burger, in an attempt to check the cross-section, we were surprised to find that the senbei totally resisted the pressure of the blade.

▼ The knife just wouldn’t cut through it at all.

Whereas a normal bun would give way easily, the nure senbei pushed the knife right back, reminding us of the strength of wet rice crackers, which aren’t easy to break apart. Determined not to be defeated, we persisted with the knife until we were able to somehow create a ragged cross-section, revealing it was much flatter than other Dom Dom burgers we’ve tried, which tend to be multi-layered feasts with a lot of height to them.

▼ After conducting our visual inspections, it was now time to get eating.

As soon as we but into the burger, we knew this was going to be a very different fast food experience. The texture was unlike anything we’d ever experienced, with the nure senbei having just the right amount of moisture, soaking up the meat juices from the patties and the special burger sauce. The fragrant aroma of the soy sauce glaze was present in every bite, pairing perfectly with the egg, while the rich sauce added a mellow richness and the cheddar cheese brought everything together with a salty moreishness.

▼ It was way tastier than we ever thought it would be – who knew that the meaty flavour of a burger and senbei could go together so well?

The burger was so good it didn’t take us long to devour it, but before polishing it off, we remembered we were here to solve the mystery of the nure senbei flavour. We’d come prepared with one of each flavour of the original senbei, purchased from the railway store before arriving, so we opened them up to try and identify the flavour of the one in the burger.

▼ Choshi Electric Railway’s nure senbei comes in three flavours: Red Rich Soy Sauce, Green Sweet, and Blue Light Soy Sauce.

So…which one of these was being used for the burger?

▼ Let’s start with the Red Rich Soy Sauce.

On its own, this senbei was incredibly delicious, but we held back on devouring it all, instead taking small bites of it alongside the nure senbei used in the burger. Immediately, we could tell this one wasn’t it, as the aftertaste was stronger and obviously different.

▼ Next was Green Sweet.

The moment we popped this one in our mouth, we thought, “Could this be it?” It was very close, but after going back and forth between them several times, we started to sense that the aftertaste was subtly different.

▼ And finally, Blue Light Soy Sauce.

▼ Yep, this is it!

Or was it? Since we couldn’t completely rule out Green, we continued alternating between Green, Blue and the “Nure Senbei Burger” in small bites. This confused our taste buds even further, but in the end, we settled on the conclusion that for us, the Blue Light Soy Sauce was definitely the closest match.

▼ After this taste comparison, we also discovered another fun fact: the nure senbei used in the burger seemed to be slightly smaller than the standalone varieties.

This led us to believe that this nure senbei was likely to have been made specifically for the burger. As for the flavour, though, we ended up being right on the money, as the day after our visit, the chain announced that the flavour being used in the burgers was indeed Blue Light Soy Sauce.

The announcement gave us extra faith in our abilities as taste testers, and by our judgment, this is a burger that’s definitely worth trying. The creative concept behind the burger is matched by the skill used to execute it, creating a unique burger with a very Japanese twist that you won’t be able to enjoy anywhere else.

On sale from 10 August, the burger is only available at seven stores in the Kanto region listed below:

• Kaihin-Makuhari Store
• Higashi-Narashino Store
• Ichihara Elephant Kingdom Store
• Mobara FC Store
• Noda-Ungapura Plaza Store
• Aeon Style Akabane Store
• Higashi-Ojima Store

Sure, other fast food chains might test the boundaries of the burger by swapping out buns for rice patties, but only Dom Dom could reach for a wet rice cracker and show us that it deserves a place in the burger world. Hopefully the chain will be able to somehow give it a permanent place on the menu so that Dom Dom fans in other areas will be able to discover the joys of a Wet Senbei Burger too.

Related: Dom Dom Hamburger, Choshi Electric Railway
Photos ©SoraNews24
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Two classy fall flavors are on their way, but might require some travel to taste.

We’re still in the middle of a very hot summer in Japan, but Krispy Kreme is already looking ahead to autumn, though not necessarily out of a desire for cooler weather. No, what they’re looking forward to is seasonal fall ingredients, with two fancy new donuts that you can only get at one Krispy Kreme branch in all of Japan.

Once again it’s Krispy Kreme Premium Nagoya, located inside the JR Nagoya Takashimaya department store near Nagoya Station, that’s baking up the exclusive treats. Earlier in the year this location began offering special lemon and peach donuts, but soon they’ll be shuffled off the menu to make room for the tastes of chestnut and fig.

The first of the two new donuts will be the Waguri An Butter. Pictured above, this is a fluffy donut with cream and an (sweet bean past) inside, both enhanced with the taste of waguri (“Japanese chestnut”). The cream and an will be sandwiched around a pat of butter, a nod to Nagoya’s penchant for pairing butter and an for a decadently rich sweetness.

Sweets fans across Japan eagerly await the annual wave of chestnut desserts that come out every fall, but debuting alongside the Waguri An Butter is another uniquely autumn flavor that doesn’t get as much confectionary representation.

The Fig and Black Tea Mont Blanc has the traditional ring donut shape, but its toppings are rather innovative. Sitting directly on top of the donut is black tea cream, presented in coils like the candied chestnut cream of a Mont Blanc dessert, and sprinkled with shredded Uba tea leaves. Swirled on top of the cream is a circle of fig jam, and altogether they promise a sophisticatedly complex mixture of sweet, astringent, and tart notes.

The Waguri An Butter and Fig and Black Tea Mont Blanc are identically priced at 389 yen (US$2.40) and both make their debut at Krispy Kreme Premium Nagoya on August 21, where they’re slated to be available through early December.

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
Featured image: PR Times
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times
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Sumo and chanko nabe are just some of the highlights of this new Japanese culture experience.

Despite its worldwide fame, not a lot of people actually get to watch sumo. Not only are tickets incredibly hard to get – the official site is so busy when sales start that it’s virtually impossible to access and everything sells out within minutes – but tournaments are only held during very limited periods at certain locations each year, which might not match up with the time and place of your visit.

Now, though, there’s a convenient way to get a taste of the sport, thanks to a brand new restaurant experience called Tokyo Sumo Club Entertainment. After opening its first branch in Sapporo last summer, the restaurant is now coming to Tokyo due to popular demand.

▼  Located on the fifth floor of Tokyo Tower’s FootTown, the restaurant offers more than just sumo and a meal.

Every diner will get to enjoy a “Traditional Japanese Musical Instruments and Dance” performance, a procession by Oiran courtesans, a performance of a famous Kabuki play, and a festival with a lion dance and traditional music. There’ll also be a tradtional bon odori dance and mochi pounding, which guests can take part in.

▼ Learn about kabuki…

▼…and oiran.

At the centre of it all, though, is sumo, with visitors able to watch an entrance ceremony, practice sessions, and serious bouts. A salt-throwing experience and Q&A session is also included, as well as a “Challenge Sumo” experience where you can wrestle with a sumo wrestler.

The venue contains a real clay sumo ring, with diners seated around the ring in a way that mimics the seating at a real tournament venue.

While other sumo restaurants exist in Tokyo, this one is unique in that it’s said to be the only one in Japan officially endorsed by two yokozuna: the 63rd Yokozuna Asahifuji and the 70th Yokozuna Harumafuji.

▼ Asahifuji speaking at the grand opening.

The endorsement of two sumo champions – yokozuna is the title given to the highest-ranking wrestlers – makes this a sumo experience like no other, and Asahifuji has even given his endorsement to the authentic chanko nabe (sumo stew) served at the restaurant. There are three dining options available, all of which include chanko nabe, differing according to seating tier.

▼ Standard

▼ VIP (different dish in the bottom right-hand section of the box)

▼ V-VIP

▼ A vegetarian option is also available upon request.

There are four performances each day, at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., with each experience lasting around 90 minutes. The venue has 177 seats, and reservations can be made online, although walk-ins are also possible if seats are available.

Prices start at 12,000 yen (US$75.32) for children and 16,000 yen for adults in standard seats. VIP seats cost 14,000 yen for children and 20,000 yen for adults, while V-VIP costs 25,000 yen, regardless of age. Each plan includes all the performances, as well as a Japanese meal, one drink, a commemorative photo and a souvenir.

So if you’ve always wanted to see sumo firsthand but haven’t been able to secure tickets to one of Japan’s six annual tournaments, this might just be the next best thing. Not only is it much easier to book (tickets can be purchased here), but you also get to experience a number of other Japanese cultural events at the same time, and while you’re there you can cap off your visit with a trip up Tokyo Tower.

Restaurant Information
Tokyo Sumo Stable Entertainment / 東京相撲部屋娯楽
Address: Tokyo-to, Minato-ku, Shiba Koen 4-2-8, Tokyo Tower Foot Town 5F
東京都港区芝公園4-2-8 東京タワーフットタウン 5F
Website

Source, images: Press release
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Pikachu, the original starter trio, and one more old-school Pokémon are getting ready to warm fans’ hearts and satisfy your sweet cravings.

We recently found out that McDonald’s is going to be offering Happy Meals with crossover Hello Kitty/Godzilla figures later this month at its branches in the U.S., and while we’re obviously happy that people will have their burger and adorable toy needs covered, there is still one critical culinary component missing: dessert. Thankfully, after having your appetite whetted for adorable Japanese pop culture tie-ins, you can continue right on to Krispy Kreme, which has revealed that it’ll soon start selling Pokémon donuts in the U.S.

Offered as part of the ongoing 30th anniversary celebration of the Pokémon franchise, Krispy Kreme will be baking up a half-dozen different themed treats, starting with, naturally, a Pikachu donut featuring vanilla icing and a lemon cream filling.

All three of the Gen 1 starters are here too, Bulbasaur’s donut is the simplest, essentially one of Krispy Kreme’s flagship Original Glazed donuts enhanced with colorful vanilla icing and “leaves” made of frosting.

The Charmander donut gets caramel icing and a toasted marshmallow filling as a nod to the Fire-type’s powers.

Squirtle’s is the most elaborate-looking of the three starters’ donuts, with a swirl of cotton candy-flavor buttercream and sanding sugar.

The above-listed quartet often serve as ambassadors for the Pokémon franchise as a whole, and when there’s room for one more in a collection, the nod often goes to Eevee or whichever Pocket Monster species is having a moment, like Snorlax or Ditto are right now with their prominent roles in Pokémon Sleep and Pokémon Pokopia. However, Krispy Kreme has instead recruited Jigglypuff, who serves as the inspiration for a strawberry buttercream-topped donut with strawberry cookie crumbles.

Finally, rounding out the lineup of a half-dozen Pokémon donuts is an Original Glazed cosplaying as a Poké Ball thanks to vanilla and chocolate icing plus a whole bunch of crimson sprinkles.

Each of the species-specific Pokémon donuts also comes with a little paper decoration of its associated Pokémon. They’ll also be gracing the cups of Krispy Kreme’s donut holes…

…and Pokémon-theming will be showing up on Krispy Kreme boxes as well.

Krispy Kreme’s Pokémon donuts go on sale in the U.S. on August 18, the exact same day as McDonald’s Sanrio/kaiju Happy Meals.

Source, images: Krispy Kreme
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Spoiler alert: Your taste buds aren’t ready for this convenience store katsu.

One of the great things about convenience stores is their wide variety of hot food, giving us a simple way to pick up a snack that’s easy to eat while on the go. Not all the hot food is that easy to eat, though, as we recently found out when we stumbled upon 7-Eleven’s “Super Spicy! Taiwan Mince Cutlet”, which practically burnt the taste buds off our tongue with a level of spiciness we weren’t expecting.

Things started off easy, as we spotted the fried cutlet in the hot food display and were instantly drawn to its fiery red appearance. As ardent spice lovers who’ve rarely been challenged by self-proclaimed “super spicy” products before, we casually picked one up to find out how mild it would be, but when we took a bite we immediately swallowed our pride.

From that very first bite, it felt like a flame had been ignited on the tip of our tongue, and the fire quickly spread to cover the entire palate, burning with an intensity that never let up. Surprisingly, it wasn’t just the fried coating that delivered the spicy hit, as the heat came from inside the minced-meat filling as well, giving us double the burn, for twice as long.

▼ Amidst the pain, our taste buds battled against the heat to assess the flavour, because for us, that’s the true marker for a really good hot product.

As it turns out, the flavour was one of the highlights – the filling contained a generous amount of juicy meat, with garlic chives adding an extra element of taste to make the whole thing even more delicious. Perhaps because of the minced meat and garlic chives, the cutlet had a vaguely gyoza-like flavour. Either way, both the taste and the heat were excellent, especially when combined with the wonderfully crispy coating, which crunched satisfyingly between the teeth with every bite.

▼ However, there was one thing that eluded us: what exactly makes it “Taiwan”?

We weren’t sure what the “Taiwan” in “Taiwan Mince Cutlet” was referring to, but after checking 7-Eleven Japan’s official site, we learned that the filling is “Taiwan Minchi” (“Taiwan Mince”) a spicy seasoned minced meat originating in Nagoya. So, in the end, the “Taiwan” in the name refers to the spicy and savoury minced meat filling used in dishes like Taiwan ramen from Nagoya’s famous Misen restaurant.

That’s also why it’s called a “minchi cutlet” rather than “menchi katsu”, which is the usual term for a Japanese-style minced-meat cutlet. It’s also the reason why the filling contains garlic chives, which you don’t normally find in a Japanese-style menchi katsu.

What started out as a chance encounter turned into an exciting journey of discovery, as we not only found out that the cutlet was hotter than any other convenience-store hot food we can remember trying, but also that its name pays homage to the “Taiwan” mince associated with Nagoya’s famed local food culture.

Priced at 189 yen (US$1.18), the Super Spicy! Taiwan Mince Cutlet really does live up to its name, so be sure to stop by your local 7-Eleven soon if you’re game enough to try it, as it’s only available for a limited time.

Images ©SoraNews24
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Anime’s growing international popularity is affecting name choices overseas.

Popular storytelling tropes and traditions mean there’s often a degree of overlap among anime protagonists, but the characters that leave the deepest impressions tend to bring their traits together in some singular way that makes them stand out from the pack. So while, for example, anime has plenty of hot-blooded martial artist heroes, there’s only one Naruto, right?

Except, actually, in Indonesia, there are well over 100 Narutos. And no, this isn’t the result of somehow amplifying the power of bunshin/shadow cloning techniques, but part of a trend of actual people in Indonesia having the name of anime characters.

Earlier this month, Indonesia’s Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration (a.k.a. Dukcapil), part of the Ministry of Home Affairs, released its latest census data and found a surprising number of residents whose names clearly come from the anime/manga world. The most common anime name among the people of Indonesia is Uzumaki, with 190 people using Naruto’s surname as their name, while another 157 Indonesian residents are named Naruto. Hailing from the same series, the Dukcapil found 158 Sasukes and 152 Uchihas, creating totals of 347 people who owe their name to “Naruto Uzumaki” and 310 to “Sasuke Uchiha.” The census also turned up 60 people named after Boruto, Naruto’s son and star of his own sequel spinoff.

Doraemon also had a strong showing for inspiring names, with 181 people named Nobita, after the series’ lead human character. There are also 16 people in Indonesia named Doraemon, and another 8 share the name of Nobita’s wealthy associate Suneo.

Pirate saga One Piece’s popularity has resulted in 79 people named Luffy and 37 named Usopp. 65 people are named Shinchan, as in the titular tyke of Crayon Shin-chan, and Indonesia is also home to 23 people named Inuyasha.

To be clear, these tallies aren’t for people who use the anime character names as a professional name, nickname, or alias. The census counted official, legally registered names, meaning that any passports, driver’s licenses, or other official forms of ID issued to these people really will list their name as “Naruto” or “Inuyasha.”

The publicly released census data doesn’t seem to account for whether or not the people with these names are native Indonesians, but it’s unlikely that many of them are ethnically Japanese foreign residents. Naruto isn’t really a name that’s used in Japan, and Uzumaki is an incredibly rare family name, with estimates that there are fewer than a dozen Uzumakis in all of Japan. Sasuke is an actual given name, but one that’s very old-fashioned (we’re talking “immediately calls up images of ninja from hundreds of years ago” old-fashioned), and Uchiha doesn’t appear to be an actual surname name. The closest name out of those listed above that you’d be likely find an actual Japanese person with would be “Shin,” but even then, no Japanese person would make the affectionately diminutive suffix “-chan” part of their legal name.

Taking all that into consideration, it appears that these names really are the result of anime’s popularity in Indonesia, and with the medium’s global fanbase continuing to grow, we might be seeing even more anime names in the real world in years to come.

Source: Jiji, Yomiuri Shimbun, International Business Times, Myoji Yurai.net (1, 2)
Photos ©SoraNews24
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