Mari - diary

The popular Tokyo souvenir 2005

I've written about popular souvenirs at the JR Tokyo station before. They've released the 2005 version. Here it is.

No1 - Tokyo Banana
Tokyo Banana gets the top spot again. Tokyo banana is a soft sponge cake roll with banana fresh cream. Here is an English post mentioning the sweet. I think in Tokyo rarely eat it because we imagine it  as a typical souvenir item. By the way, I have no idea that such representative Tokyo souvenir sweets had such strange English on their packages. This is the old version. This is the new version.  It  says, "Oh, please don't get my hometown!". Yes I agree.

No2 - Tokyo Tamago (Tokyo Egg)
The inside is sesame paste and sweet bean paste which is surrounded by sponge cake and white chocolate. Hmm sounds yummy. Here is a site talking about the sweets, I have tried it once before. I prefer this to Tokyo banana.

No3 - Hiyoko (baby chick)
A baby chick-shaped sponge cake.  The sponge cake is a little bit hard and is filled with white sweet bean paste.  This was ranked in an older ranking.  Actually, before Tokyo Banana, I think Hoyoko was the most popular souvenir of Tokyo.  People think this is a Tokyo specialty, but originally it comes from Kyushu.  They do look very similar. Here is a comparison.  The one on the left is a Fukuoka Hiyoko, while the one on the right is a Tokyo Hiyoko

No4- - Tokyo Banana Moon Gaufrettes.
This is a thin and light kind of Belgian Waffle sandwich with a banana cream filling..

No5 - JR Train canned cockies.
I have this kind of souvenir, and I can use the package as a small box to keep memories, too.

No6 - Sazae Nigyo Yaki
Cute!!  Baically, Nigyouyaki are tiney sweet buns shaped like a god's face. This is the Sazae-san verion. Sazae san is Japanese national icon which I wrote about "Sazae san syndrome" and "Sazae san is economic index". Since the original author Machiko Hasegawa came from Tokyo and we have her memorial Museum. Sazae san Nigyou yaki is sold as a Tokyo souvenir. Usually, there is "anko" inside. But If you don't like that, they have ones with custard or no filling at all.

No7-:Tokyo Four sights with Kitty
These four sights are Tokyo Station, Tokyo Tower, Rainbow Bridge, Asakusa. Hmm, this cat is really popular. The power is big and boaderless in Japan and the world.  But! I don't like that cat.

No8-:Tokyo Banana pie
It's just a regular crispy pie.  But as long as Tokyo Banana is the number one souvenir, the other products of this company will be ranked higher than other sweets..

No9-:Tokiwado Tokyo Kaminai Okoshi
Kaminari-okoshi is the generic name.  It's a snack popular for its crispy texture.  It was originally sold by street vendors near the
Kaminarimon gate in Asakusa sometime in the mid Edo period.

No10-:Tokyo Kitty Nigyoyaki
It's the Kitty Nigyou Yaki anko version.  Japanese love anko(azuki) very much.

ear ethetic

Guess what, What is this?
Black people: 100%
European: 100%
Micronesian: 60%
Chinese Taipei: 40%
Japanese: 16%
Mongol: 12%
Korean: 85%
Chinese: 4%
Tungusic: hardly

This is the rate of "wet type ear wax". About 80% of Japanese have dry type ear wax. Actually mine is dry too. For this, we have unique ear cleaner. ( I wonder if Koreans and Chinese use the same one?) Recently there has been an ear esthetic boom. They use various types of cleaning tools and clean your ears, give a massage, cut hair, etc.  Everybody who has tried it says " it was heaven like I have never experienced!"  It cost 8400yen /70 minutes. I wanna try. I must tell you I am an ear cleaning fanatic.  ha ha ha , But I won't buy THIS at any rate.

This is the ranking of foods that match well with Mayonnaise.
1.Fried Chicken.
2.Hiyashi Chuka
3.Bread
4.Sunny Side up eggs
5.Pasta
6.Rice
7.Fried Potato
8.Pizza
9.Sashimi
10.Natto
Mayorars would love anything though. Sorry nothing special :-) xxx,  I just wondr if you would agree.

Anyway this is very nice. The Nivea limited edition creative award. *

Abe Shinzo elected as Japan's PM

Shinzo Abe was elected as Japan's prime minister. He is conservative guy from politician family(why wiki choose that photo?), his wife seems cheerful lady though. At the moment of new PM born, each TV network had flash news and special TV program. Then what did the TV Tokyo broadcast at the time? Here it is. Abe san seems a Great Satan....I wrote a superior manner of TV tokyo before.　They never let us disappoint. :-) I like most this. At that moment, Kyushu area had very big earthquake.

Do you know UFO came to Japan in Edo period and the very detail docment is left.This English site wrote about it. Hmm very interesting.

This is the Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007 of Global Economic Forum. Japan ranks No.1 in some category like education, healthcare and engineering innovation. But Japan rank in 7th, becaues of deficit finance.

Men's is the best copy

You probably made mud balls when you were a kid. I did and it was fun to make it smoother and harder. But did you know you can make it shiny? I was surprised to read this site. Look! It's so shiny. Actually it seems a real hobby in Japan and there is the "Association of Nippon Doroｰdango Science" (Doro-dango is mud ball in Japanese). Here is the site talking about shiny mubball in English. This site has instructions  for"how to make shiny mudball". Wow don't you think you want to try? I want. I will :-)

Yesterday I read an interesting article. The products having good sales have common keyword. It's "Men's". For example, Kanebo foods released a gum "men flavor" (otoko kaoru). After eating the gum, your body smell like a rose, they said. It flied out of stores and currently they are back-ordered.  "The Handsome Tofu" (Otokomae Dofu) was the big topic because of their success. They are just Tofu maker, but they have very unique pop website and named a very tough manish name to each tofu. This is "handsome tofe", this is "Blown by the wind, tofu guy Johnny" tofu.  This summer, the authentic umbrella maker Miyatake released guy's parasol "Sara cool". They said Sara cool sold more than women's parasol this year. Thinking of "men's", I think Glico men's pocky is the first product having copy "men's".

Hmm interesting, I wonder "men's" sound "functionable", "real", "serious" to the people. I tried only that gum, did my body smell nice? No I didn't feel like that.

After a weekend camping

I went to Ngatoro are of Saitama prefecture for camping. It took only two hours or so from my home by train. But the station I got off was like this, and I could see picture-book scenery and a lot of stars in the sky. By the way, since I don't have any car, when I go camping, I must carry everything in my bag, so I have to be looked like Senju Kannon.Speaking of Senju Kannon, check this out! It's great Chinese dance group.

This is so ctuet. She blended Japanese traditional art and American comtemporary art. This is the parody of "Asakusa Torinoichi". Hmm this is interesting. Don't you think it's so natural? I don't feel any strangeness. I like this and this. This seems an irony though.

The National Science Museum will have "the exhibition of "historical monsters of Japan" on October. They will show data and collection of Tengu, Yokai, Kappa, those kind of Japanese monsters. I can't miss it! *

A new toilet

This is super cool site!!. We say "shibui" in Japanese. I wonder what is the closest word for "shibui " please let me know if you know it.

After such great art, I am sorry today's topic is a toilet.  I wrote that the Japanese Toilet is rapidly-evolving. At my work, we use walshlet of course. And the water flushes automatically when I stand up from the seat. If I need to give the toilet an extra flush, I hold my hand up to a sensor, that is all. It means that I don't need to touch anywhere. Also they have a deodorizing function, toilet noise-masking machines (to muffle your sound), warm seat.  I love those toilet systems.

Today I read  the National's news release about the new tiolet in November. This toilet has "a target." For what? It's for guys. The toilet shows the target, it is the point where it works best for splash prevention of your P. Well strange, but I welcome anything that keeps toilets clean. If they say it will work, it's fine.

I am a paper driver!

Ha ha ha This is crazy! "the public hair fashion show."

I went to the police for driver's license renewal. I broke into a cold sweat because I almost failed an eye test. If I had failed, I would have to go to get eyeglasses and then to the police again.  This is the most popular type eye test in Japan. We tell which part of circle is cut: right? left? top? bottom? We have to see at least above 0.7. If you have weak eyes, you need to wear eyeglasses or contact lenses and that information would be added to your drivers license.

After the lasik operation, didn't have any eye glasses or lenses. I sense my eyes are getting weaker again, but I didn't think I could not read the 0.7 level!! Fortunately a staff lady gave me 30 minutes to rest and one more chance at the eye test. Then finally I passed it, but I must say it was a shot in the dark. Ha? you say it's scary?! Don't worry. I am "a gold license driver." There is a color belt in the expiration date part of a driver license card. The color is  green, blue or gold. The gold means the driver did not have any accidents or violence in last 5 years. Yes, that I am. But to be honest with you, I hardly drive. Maybe 5 years ago or so was the last time I drove a car. In Tokyo, we can live without a driver's license, it's no problem. I am a real Sunday driver. In Japan we call someone a "Paper Driver" who has just a license, no driving. However since the police don't know how often I drive, they give me "a gold license." By the way my American friend said he doesn't need to renew his driver license until he's 65 years old. It's convenient, but no check until 65 years old?

I found an interesting deta. The comparative chart of road accident between Japan and the U.S.
total mileage (billion mile) : 28,800(US)   4,931(JP)
injury accident : 1,963,000(US)   947,993(JP)
accident density (per billion mile): 68.2(US)  192.3(JP)
traffic accident fatalities (month) : 42,643(US)  8,877(JP)
death rate : 1.48(US)   1.8(JP)

Of course, total car mileage of the US is about 6 times that of Japan. However the number of injury accidents is two times. It means the accident density of Japan is up to 3 times higher than the U.S. And the death rate is also higher. Maybe it is related to terrible condition of the streets (narrow and crowded) and emergency medical care.

Related link : The Solution to the Japan Driver's License Problem

A new beauty trend

Since last a few years, one of beauty trends is "black hair". Many Japanese women get their hair color back to her real black. Actually I and also my friend have black hair color now. But it is easy to find damage and unkempt arrange in black hair. Hair care market is over 200 billion yen, it is called "mini bubble".

As long as I remember, Asience leaded the van of trend. They featured Zhang Ziyi in their TV ad and said "Asian beauty". Then next one was a big hit of Siseido Tsubaki (Camellia).　They added more actress, model and Olympic Gold medalist Shizuka Arakawa. Then this month, Kanebo released their new Japanese concept hair care product "ICHIKAMI" and starred Eri Fukatsu as an image character.　Check the site out, it has nice Japanese taste.

The experts said explain this. Even though it is slow, as women's participation in society proceed more and move up the corporate ladder more, Japanese women boost their self-esteem. It is not the time to long for European, American women. Returning to Asia, Japan, it is a certain trend now. Speaking of TV ads, the point is "empathy", it is not longing anymore. Actually the image character of LUX was Brooke Shields, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Charlize Theron; such gorgeous Hollywood actress before, but it is Ai Tominaga.

I tried Asience, Tsubaki and Ichikami all. Tsubaki make my hair very moist and I loved it. In Japan a compliment for glossy black hair is "color of crow's moist wings". But I like the smell of Ichikami most, it has natural wild herb smell. I welcome this trend, it might related to Lohas boom.

Crazy news

I am a little bit busy today, so today's post is about news and sites which I was hooked on today.

American Ambassador Schieffer and his wife enjoyed American beef "gyudon" at a Yoshinoya restaurant during a special one-day event in Tokyo on September 18th. Hmm Good performance. You can see it on the USA embassy site. I really can't understand this Yoshinoya news.

I laughed when seeing this "Inside Japan's surreal fetish clubs". Crazy, but funny! This is a part of Japan.

I like this news very much, it's a big challenge. By the way, I saw some of China's famed Terracotta Warriors at an Exhibition in Japan. I wonder if he was tall enough like that? But yes they were. Here are the exactly photos of his challenge. ha ha ha. What a thin disguise.

Today's my best is this post "Frog Dissection Kit from Jack Spade". Hmm weird, but it reminds me of this post. Do you think it is edible?

small topics

Guess what?. To eat Yoshinoya beef bowl, there were long long lines at each Yoshinoya Shop.

Nintendo Wii will be relesed in December. Here are movies which someone plays a game, Here, here and here.....orz. Can you imagine youself playing alone this at night in your room ??

I am thinking what is the good birthday gift for my friend. Since she loves wine, wine glasses or good wine is good. Then today I found this very interesting wine tool Clef du vin. Did you know that? I will get this for her.