Tokyo Station’s second-most popular bento is great because of what it isn’t【Taste test】

Unassuming inarizushi just might be the best bento to grab at Tokyo Station.

Inside JR Tokyo Station, there are a lot of…well, there’s a lot of everything. A lot of train lines (10 regular and four Shinkansen). A lot of people (almost half a million passengers a day). And a lot of bento boxed lunch options.

With too many bento options to count but only one stomach, obviously you’re going to have to narrow down your choices. Helpfully, Gransta and Ecute Tokyo (a pair of shopping areas connected to and within JR Tokyo Station) have recently released a list of their most popular, best-selling bento.

At the top of the ranking is the premium Jo-nigiri sushi set from Tsukiji Takewaka’s Gransta branch, and at number three is the Fukagawa Bento with Fukagawa-meshi, a dish where rice and clams are steamed in the same pot, from Tsukiji Kiyomura. Since the Gransta/Ecute bento rankings exclude bento from other regions shipped in to Tokyo Station, it’s not surprising to see sushi and Fukagawa-meshi in the top three, as they’re both things Tokyo is famous for. What did surprise us, though, is the second-most popular JR Tokyo Station bento: the Gransta-Exclusive Six-piece Inarizushi Assortment from Mameda.

Inarizushi is a kind of sushi in which vinegared rice is wrapped in a thin sheet of fried tofu. Different shops and restaurants will mix different things in with the rice for different flavors, but with Mameda’s inarizushi set sandwiched between the more luxurious sushi and Fukagawa-meshi bento, we wondered what made it so popular, so we decided to try it for ourselves.

Sure enough, when we arrived at Mameda’s counter inside the JR Tokyo Station ticket gates on basement level 1, there was a line of people waiting to buy their inarizushi.

▼ Inarizushi

You can order individual pieces, but we went with the Gransta-Exclusive Six-piece Inarizushi Assortment, which is priced at 960 yen (US$6.95).

That price works out to 160 yen per piece, which is a little on the pricy side for inarizushi, but not prohibitively so.

Appearance-wise, these aren’t especially different from the inarizushi you’ll find at Japanese supermarkets. The set gets you one inarizushi each with anago (saltwater eel), shiitake mushroom, wasabi, ginger, and gomoku (carrot, shiitake, and lotus root) fillings. The sixth piece gets a special filling that changes each month, and when we stopped by in July it was myoga (Japanese ginger flower buds).

We tasted them one at a time, and they were all good. However, as a simple dish that Japan’s been eating for generations, inarizushi is almost always good. Even supermarket and convenience store inarizushi is pretty tasty, and while Mameda’s is clearly a step above those, it’s not like it’s going to completely change anyone’s perceptions by reaching some sort of previously unfulfilled potential that we never knew inarizushi had.

But as we continued eating, the Gransta-Exclusive Six-piece Inarizushi Assortment’s number-two ranking started to make sense.

Like we mentioned above, Tokyo Station is the nexus of a lot of different train lines, and while it’s a commuter hub, it’s also one of the primary jumping-off points for travel to other parts of Japan. If you’re going to be spending the next few hours on a train to get to your vacation destination, you’re going to need something to eat along the way, so what’s the best thing to choose?

You want something filling, but not so heavy that you’ll still be stuffed when you get off the train. The opportunity to eat lots and lots of local regional foods is, after all, one of the primary reasons people travel in Japan. And if you’re going to be eating on the train, out of consideration to the other passengers you want something that doesn’t have a strong smell and isn’t going to make a mess.

Inarizushi checks off a lot of those boxes. It has that magical filling-but-light quality that’ll keep your stomach from rumbling but still leave you with space to go get some Nagoya chicken wings, Kyoto green tea sweets, or Hiroshima okonomiyaki as soon as you get off the train. There’s no risk of splashing and little chance of spilling anything as you eat it. Mameda’s six-flavor assortment gives you some variety to enjoy without having to run around to a bunch of different shops or hash out the selections yourself if you’re in a hurry to get to your platform, and it’s also easy to share with friends, family, or whoever else you’re traveling with.

Taking all that into consideration, Mameda’s inarizushi set really is a great choice, not necessarily as a culinary destination itself, but as arguably the ideal part-of-the-journey meal.

Shop information
Mameda (Gransta branch) / 豆狸（グランスタ店）
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Marunouchi 1-9-1, inside JR Tokyo Station ticket gates, basement level 1, near Marunouchi Chika Chuo Gate
東京都千代田区丸ノ内1-9-1 JR東京駅改札内B1F 丸の内地下中央口改札
Open 8 a.m.-10 p.m. (Monday-Saturday), 8 a.m.-9 p.m. (Sunday, holidays)
Website

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Burger King Japan’s Tom Yum Shrimp Whopper isn’t exactly tom yum kung

Not quite the Whopper we were hoping for.

Good news, Thai food lovers! Burger King has just released a limited-edition Tom Yum Shrimp Whopper in Japan! Well, we thought it was good news until we actually tasted it, but we’re jumping ahead of ourselves so let’s start from the beginning, with what this special Whopper promises to be.

The Tom Yum Shrimp name is a play on tom yum kung, a classic hot-and-sour Thai dish that contains shrimp, or “kung”, as they’re known in Thailand.

▼ The new burger was released on 28 July.

Image: Press Release

According to promotional advertising for the product, the burger contains a grilled 100-percent beef patty, garlic shrimp, lettuce, onions, tomato and a “Special Tom Yum Sauce” containing lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, coriander, fish sauce, gochujang, and bean sauce. Those two last ingredients made question marks pop up around the head of our reporter P.K. Sanjun, as he knows those ingredients aren’t usually included in a typical tom yum kung.

▼ So, with a sense of trepidation, he went out and bought the burger to try it.

The Tom Yum Shrimp Whopper is priced at 940 yen (US$6.59), while the Double Tom Yum Shrimp Whopper with two patties costs 1,290 yen and the Tom Yum Shrimp Whopper Jr. is the smallest of them all, both in size and price, at 590 yen.

▼ P.K. opted for the regular-sized Whopper.

As a Thai food fanatic, P.K. really hoped the burger would have the classic hot-and-sour tom yum taste that he loves so much. He didn’t want the taste to be similar or in the same ballpark — he really wanted the chain to deliver what it promised with those big, capitalised “TOM YUM” on the posters.

▼ “Please, please be…

▼ …tom…

▼ …yum…

▼ …kung?”

As that last image shows, the flavour ended up falling flat on P.K.’s taste buds, making his palate as colourless as the photo. First of all, there’s no doubt that the “Special Tom Yum Sauce” has a Tom Yum Kung-esque flavour, in the sense that it’s both spicy and sour, but it’s difficult to say that it’s definitively Tom Yum Kung.

However, whatever flavour the sauce had seemed to be drowned out by the beef patty, which had such a strong flame-grilled flavour that it overpowered everything else in the burger. While that’s probably the way the flame-grilled beef specialists wanted it, it just didn’t vibe with P.K., who wanted to really taste the kick of tom yum kung.

Still, the patty was tasty, with a strong umami, and the shrimp had a good texture. It’s certainly a good burger, but if you’re as mad about Thai food as P.K., you might find yourself underwhelmed by the understated tom yum flavour.

While it’s understandable that Burger King would want to create a burger that appeals to a wide variety of palates, P.K. was left wishing they would create two versions of this burger — one for those who like Thai flavours, and one for those who LOVE Thai flavours. But then again, that’s just P.K.’s pipe dream — this is a man who once tried to eat his way through a two-kilo (4.4-pound) topping of coriander, after all.

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Daihatsu dealership takes down controversial tweet boasting that they like trees

I think that I shall never see a tweet as backhanded about a tree.

In this age of social media, companies often find themselves walking that fine line of trying to make interesting and engaging posts while also keeping things clean in order to protect their brand image. Just take this message that was posted to Twitter (or “X”, I guess) by a Daihatsu dealership in Ehime Prefecture.

“From the Shikokucho Dealership,
Today we would like to show you the garden of our Shikokucho Dealership of Ehime Daihatsu. [tree emoji]
Large trees stand along the road in front of the dealership. [winky kaomoji]
They change in appearance with each season and sometimes the leaves can be troublesome, but they are soothing to look at. [tree emoji]
Please use these trees as a landmark to find our dealership. [happy kaomoji]“

Attached to the tweet (Xeet?) were photos of the Daihatsu dealership’s trees. While they weren’t the most majestic of trees, they did line the front of the business like the post described.

▼ They can also be seen on Google Street View.

It was certainly nice of them to take the time to acknowledge their trees and the tweet even yielded over 11,000 likes before it was taken down (Xaken down?). The reason for the removal was likely that the head honchos at Daihatsu HQ disapproved of what was actually a thinly veiled dig at their competitors, used-car dealership Bigmotor.

Anyone who’s been following the news in Japan will likely have at least caught a bit of the avalanche of scandals surrounding this major chain, with each one appearing more outlandish than the last.

It started with accusations of insurance fraud in that Bigmotor was inflating the costs of repairing vehicles. It later emerged that this wasn’t simply a matter of cooking the books like some other companies might get caught doing. Employees were reportedly instructed in elaborate ways to simulate damage, such as using a golf ball in a sock to recreate hail damage.

▼ This video shows a Bigmotor employee instructing how to puncture a tire in a way that looks natural when reported to insurance companies. “Think about how it looks in a photo,” he says at the start.

The scale of fraud that is believed to have taken place over the past five years is said to be “outrageous” and insurance companies are currently trying to unravel it all. Meanwhile, other accusations of harassment against staff, as well as coercion of subcontractors, have also been steadily emerging.

But perhaps the most cartoonishly absurd evil deed allegedly done by Bigmotor is the intentional killing of trees along public roads in front of their dealerships. Since at least 2022, urban planners around Japan have found roadside trees dying en masse in front of Bigmotor lots. An analysis in Ota City, Gunma Prefecture, found traces of herbicide at the scene.

The theory is that Bigmotor wanted the trees gone because they were obstructing the view of the vehicles for sale, but the company had initially denied this, saying that it is up to individual dealerships to maintain their lots. However, they added that the possibility existed that herbicides may have accidentally been used too close to public trees, where weeds should have been pulled instead.

Despite the denial, many people online have been using Google Street View’s “See more dates” function to find several Bigmotor locations where there were once trees but now aren’t. The Street View below is often brought up online as evidence of Bigmotor employees being caught in the act, though in their defense, they appear to be doing normal maintenance with rakes and tongs. Nevertheless, this scene is from 2017, and in current Street View images those trees are now all gone.

Following resignations at the top executive levels earlier this week, Bigmotor has since changed its stance and announced that after an investigation they found that some trees probably had died as a result of their herbicides. They also declared that they would work with local governments towards replacing lost trees and maintaining existing ones.

With all this in mind, it’s easy to see how Daihatsu’s love of trees might be seen as a snarky dig at Bigmotor. And considering how easy it is to look up the botanical records of the area surrounding every dealership in the country, it’s understandable that the company doesn’t want to rattle a potential hornets’ nest.

Online sleuths have already uncovered a Netz (Toyota) dealership on Street View with disappearing trees just after opening, and Daihatsu is a subsidiary of Toyota. That’s not to say anything nefarious necessarily took place there, but social media managers in glass dealerships probably should be careful when throwing tweets or Xeets.

Source: TV Asahi, Friday Digital, FNN Online Prime, NHK News Web, Big Motor, Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso
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Cup Noodle releases new Tomica “car” collection

Designed to replicate an open-top vehicle, complete with ingredients on board.

Nissin is well known for thinking outside the box, or cup, when it comes to marketing its popular Cup Noodle brand of instant noodles. One surefire way to attract attention is to collaborate with another big company, and the more unlikely the partnership the better, as evidenced by its latest collaboration with Takara Tomy’s toy car brand Tomica.

Tomica is a household name in Japan, where many people have grown up playing with Tomica cars. However, the brand is now making us rethink what constitutes a toy car with this collection, which puts Cup Noodles on wheels.

▼ There are seven models to collect in the series, with six flavours in the “Dream Tomica Cup Noodle Collection” and one “Dream Tomica No.161 Cup Noodle W Tab“.

Each model is about one-third the size of an actual Cup Noodle, and the exterior has been designed to resemble the real product as much as possible, with details like the logo and nutritional and allergy information printed on the outside.

▼ They measure 35 millimetres (1.38  inches) wide, 41 millimetres high and 35 millimetres deep.

On the inside, the model replicates the setup of an open-top bus, with a window for the imaginary driver’s seat on the bottom level, and up top, the “W tab” lid — a two-tab lid that resembles animal ears —  opens up to reveal the ingredients on board.

▼ Seafood

▼ Curry

▼ Chili Tomato

▼ Miso

▼ Spicy Noodles

▼ Aromatic Coriander Tom Yum Kung

While the six models above will be sold in blind boxes, both Takara Tomy and Nissin know demand will be great for the original Cup Noodle, so that model is being sold as a separate product from the blind-box range.

▼ The Dream Tomica No.161 Cup Noodle W Tab

Suitable for ages three and up, these Cup Noodle cars? buses? cups on wheels? will be popular with both children and adults. Priced at 880 yen (US$6.22) each, it could be a pricey endeavour trying to collect all seven, but if you’re willing to try your luck, they’ll be available to purchase from early September at Tomica retailers around Japan and at online shopping sites such as Takara Tomy Mall.

Takara Tomy Mall is accepting reservations for the collection now, although you won’t be able to choose which one you’ll receive when purchasing from the Dream Tomica Cup Noodle Collection. We’ve gotta say, the Dream Tomica series — which has previously given us “dream” vehicles such as Jiji on wheels from the Studio Ghibli anime film Kiki’s Delivery Service — just seems to be getting weirder with every new collaboration, so we can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with next!

Source, images: Press release
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Dare to dream deeply with the support of these two new giant Pokémon Huggers

“Pokémon Yogibo used Rest! It was super effective.”

Yogibo, an American maker of super-comfy bean bag chairs and other home relaxation goods, has teamed up with the Pokémon Center in Japan to release two new unbelievably cute and practical home goods on August 4.

First, Yogibo Hugger Ditto was inspired by Ditto’s ability to transform itself into any shape. You, too, can stretch the Hugger vertically or horizontally to morph it into whatever pose best suits your current mood for relaxing.

▼ The perfect pose for perusing Pokémon manga or playing the games

Second, Yogibo Hugger Snorlax was designed to also accommodate a variety of poses so that you can relax however you’d like. However, we’re fairly certain that the following pose is the one that customers will opt for most of the time.

▼ Hasn’t everyone at one time or another dreamt of sleeping on Snorlax’s or Totoro’s tummy?

The Huggers are truly the perfect in-between size that are easily portable and won’t block your doorway. Both of them cost 39,000 yen (US$276) and will be available to order on the Pokémon Center Online Store on August 4 at 10 a.m. JST. Please note that there are currently no plans to sell them at physical Pokémon Center locations or on Yogibo’s online store.

▼ They also arrive in fun packaging!

Before the word gets out much more, maybe we should hide the news of these giant Huggers from our Japanese-language reporter P.K. Sanjun. After all, the last time he bought a comfy Yogibo sofa for his home, his work productivity took a deep dive.

Source: ITmedia Inc.
Images: PR Times
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Japanese city announces their firefighters can use convenience stores, netizens are shocked

Don’t be shocked to see someone in uniform at the conbini.

It seems only yesterday that firefighters in Chiba Prefecture’s Kimitsu City were permitted to use convenience stores, and now even more Japanese cities are asking for the public’s understanding. Sagamihara City in Kanagawa Prefecture made an official announcement that their firefighters are permitted to use convenience stores while on the clock.

Amid yet another sweltering Japanese summer, emergency calls are increasing, leaving not much time for rescue workers to grab a bite to eat. That’s why you may see emergency vehicles parked in convenience store parking lots at times.

▼ The sign they’ll display features an illustration of a rescue worker bowing.

救急隊員のコンビニ利用　消防局が発表　理解求めるプレートも作成 https://t.co/W7amZek5Gc

— 毎日新聞ニュース (@mainichijpnews) July 27, 2023

The city has even gone so far as to make a sign for firefighters to display on their dashboard when stopping by a conbini: “We are visiting the convenience store to purchase food and drinks. Thank you for your understanding.”

Many netizens were shocked to hear this news and weren’t afraid to weigh in with their own opinion.

“Who the heck would even make an official complaint about this?”
“What a country we live in–even bus drivers receive complaints when they eat lunch.”
“Sometimes they even get complaints if they drink liquid that’s not clear.”
“This world is becoming harder and harder to live in.”
“There are too many idiots who think you should work without food or drink.”

Sagamihara’s announcement says that while their workers are encouraged to bring their own food and drink, there may be instances late at night where they haven’t brought enough. They may even use the eat-in corners at some convenience stores. “It’s energy they need to save lives,” according to the official statement. Do what you need to save lives, firefighters!

Sources: Mainichi Shimbun via My Game News Flash
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Tokyo all-you-can-eat tonkatsu pork cutlet restaurant is all we need for a happy meal

Free refills are often part of the deal at tonkatsu joints, but usually not for the cutlets themselves.

If you’re in Japan and extra-hungry, tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlet) is usually a good call. Not only is tonkatsu delicious and filling, in a lot of restaurants the tonkatsu set meals come with free refills of rice, cabbag

We recently stumbled across an even better tonkatsu deal for when you’ve got a big appetite, though: a restaurant in Tokyo that offers all-you-can eat tonkatsu itself!

We found this great deal at Tonvege, a restaurant in the Lumine Est shopping center that’s attached to Shinjuku Station in downtown Tokyo. Tonvege is primarily a shabu-shabu restaurant, so we were unsure if they’d know what they were doing with tonkatsu. A little research, though, told us that Tonvege is a sister restaurant to the Inaba Wako chain of tonkatsu specialty restaurants, and so we decided to give their all-you-can-at tonkatsu a shot.

▼ The sign for the all-you-can-eat tonkatsu meal (below it is one for all-you-can-eat karaage fried chicken)

The all-you-can-eat tonkatsu deal costs 1,920 yen (US$14) after tax, a little more than you’d pay for a regular single-serving tonkatsu set, but still far less than you’d pay for two. You get 90 minutes for as many refills of cutlet and rice as you want, and you also have soup and a salad as part of the set.

When our server brought our food to the table, everything looked, and more importantly tasted, delicious, but there was still one thing we were worried about. It takes time to fry a cutlet, so how much of our all-you-can-eat time would be wasted waiting for our next tonkatsu?

Thankfully, this turned out to not be an issue at all. First, the clock doesn’t start running on your 90 minutes until your first batch of food is served, not when you place your initial order.

Second, even before we’d finished our first cutlet, our server noticed we were getting close to being done with it and asked if we wanted another. We said yes, and getting the request in early like that let us receive our second cutlet right about the time we were finishing our first.

Speaking of refills, Tonvege serves four different kind of fried cutlet: rosu (pork loin), hire (pork fillet), menchi (mincemeat), and cheese-filled chicken. Switching between them when you ask for a refill is A-OK, so we followed up our pork loin with a cheese chicken cutlet.

You also get little dishes filled with sauce, grated daikon radish, and salt, and mixing and matching the condiments lets you experience not just a decadent quantity of cutlets, but an impressive variety of flavors too.

We did notice that unlike with our first cutlet, the staff didn’t take it upon themselves to ask us if we wanted another as we got close to finishing cutlet number two, so it looks like you’ll have to flag a server down if you’re going for round three. Personally, we tapped out after our second, since we hadn’t known we were going to be doing all-you-can eat tonkatsu (or that such a thing existed) this day, but we still walked away from the table very full and very happy.

Restaurant information
Tonvege (Lumine Est branch) / トンベジ（ルミネエスト新宿店）
Address: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 3-38-1, Lumine Est 7th floor
東京都新宿区新宿3-38-1 ルミネエスト 7F
Open 11 a.m.-4:15 p.m., 5 p.m.-10 p.m.

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Sushi store makes waves in Japan for meal with a surprising 14-character katakana name

A sushi bowl by any other name wouldn’t sound as sweet.

There are some people in Japan who will look at the image above and know exactly what it is because it’s been featured on television programmes numerous times in the past.

Our reporter Yuuichiro Wasai, however, didn’t even know this product existed until he caught wind of it online, where people had been raving about it for its taste and looks…and its unusual name.

▼ The product name, on the side of the package, is written in katakana as “ドリームプレィティミルフィーユ”, which reads, “Dream Pretty Mille-feuille”.

The katakana script is used for loan words and phonetic renderings, giving this product an exotic charm, as it reads the way it’s pronounced in English. However, though it looks like a Mille-feuille pastry from France — and a pretty one at that, with its tightly bound layers — this box is actually filled with the savoury flavours of raw seafood. 

All the seafood ingredients are pretty and dreamy, and carefully selected by its creators — Sousaku Sushi Dokoro Takimoto, which translates as “Creative Sushi Joint Takimoto“.

▼ The store is located on the first basement floor of the Daimaru Tokyo department store.

While sushi bowls usually contain raw seafood on top of a bed of rice, Takimoto’s mille-feuilles layer the ingredients, so you have vinegared rice, then seafood, then rice, and then seafood again. The store sells a variety of so-called “sushi mille-feuilles”, with the Dream Pretty Mille-feuille, priced at 1,595 yen (US$11.41), being the most popular.

▼ In Japan, “人気 No.1” indicates a store’s top-selling product.

With expensive items like crab and abalone included in the pack, the Dream Pretty Mille-feuille is good value for money. As for the store’s second most popular product, that accolade goes to the “Zeitaku Mille-feuille” (“Luxury Mille-feuille”), priced at 1,890 yen.

▼ Those with more money to spend will want to go for the Crab, Sea Urchin, Salmon Roe Premium Mille-feuille, for 2,980 yen.

The delicious Mille-feuilles are a fun and unusual way to enjoy sushi for lunch or dinner. However, if you’re looking for a sushi cake fit for a special occasion, this specialty store has miniature delights that look like jewels, and this store sells birthday cakes that have to be seen to be believed. Long live the sushi cake revolution!

Store information
Sousaku Sushi Dokoro Takimoto / 創作鮨処タキモト
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Marunouchi 1-9-1, Tokyo Daimaru Tokyo B1F
東京都千代田区丸の内1-9-1 大丸東京店 B1F
Hours: 10:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m. (weekdays); 10:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. (Sat, Sun and public holidays)
Website

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