watashi to tokyo

Ramen burger and weird Kit Kat

This is a part of TV show to intoroduce some local B class groumet. They show ramen burger. And it looks very delicious to me. Ramen dough will be crispy, barbecued pork will be soft and they will match to chicken soup jerry. What do you think?

This is a post that Japan has some seriously weird Kit Kat flavours. Here is wikipedia that tell the detals of Kit Kat flavours and here is Japanese Nestle site.

Until I check those pages, I didn't think we would have such weird kitkat but maybe yes...I found they release "ginger ale Kit Kat". And of course we love green tea "variation" like Maccha tea, Maccha Kyoto special, Uji Maccha tea, Maccha Milk houji tea,, etc,. And of course red beans "variation" too like Azuki, Azuki sand wich(what is that? It is just sandwich of sweet red beans), Oshiruko(sweet red beans and rice cake soup) etc,.

And we can find more unique one in Japanse local special kit kat series. This is Yuzu kosho kit kat(Yuzu citurs and pepper paste). This is Miso kit kat, since we have miso, of course we have soy sauce kit kat too! Actually it is Tokyo special.(I have never eaten before though...) Which one you wanna try? :-)

Did you read this news? Finland tops global prosperity index and is followed by Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Canada is 7, U.S is 9 and Japan is 16! I know...this society is stessful, city area is so crwoded, rash train in the morning is hell, prices is high, the gap between rich and poor widens...Butit's sad to know such low index we have.

Tsukimi day

Today is Jyugoya, it means 15th night and known as the full moon of autumn, was traditionally celebrated as Tsukimi ( watchin moon) n the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the old lunar calendar. In Japan and another Asian countires, we say rabbit lives on the moon. 　So today, googl mark design is this one.

And now McDonald Japan has autumn special burger "Tsukimi burger". They used cooked round egg as moon. Here is ad of Tsukimi burger. 

mille feuille pork recipe

My mom made a great food, similar to mille feuille, but with sliced pork and eggplant. First you need some sliced meat, preferably pork. I think some Korean store in the US will have it. Then you need some eggplant, which you cut into long thin slices. You take the meat and eggplant and layer them alternately, like a lasagna, in a fry pan. Then you cover it and steam is so the juices from the eggplant and meat mingle. It sould make one shape, like a pie. So you slice it and serve with some sauce, which is made from sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, and dashi (bonito stock). Please try it. It's delicious. You can include sliced onions, cabbage, or napa cabbage too.

Nippon (Japan) all stars in McDonalds

To get people excited about the Sydney International Food Festival and celebrate international food, national flags of participating countries were recreated using popular local foods of each nation.

McDonald Japan started "Nippon (Japan) all stars" campaign. It means tMcDonald sell again Japan original Burger that was very popular in past. Now it is Tsukimi Burger and from 25th it will be Chicken Tatsuta. Tsuta age is marinated fried chicken, checken is marinated in soy sauce and sake before fired. I like tatsuta burger.

This is funny "Things The 80’s Child Shouldn’t Have Thrown Out". This might be a list of North America. In Japan, talking of 80s fashion, it will be bodicon (Body constious), girls in disco wore so tight clothes to show their body shape. And Shibu casi(Shibuya casual), casual fashion who hung round in Shibuya where is mecca of pop music or pop culture was called Shibu casi. And also I should pick DC brand (designers and character brand), representetive brand would be Comme des Garcons of Rei Kawakubo and Y's of Yoji Yamamoto. Even such big brand have lost power, many DC brand disappeared already.

Rare custom cars in Japan!!

Rare custom cars in Japan!! It's funny.

popular ice cream in Japan

I read that this video was hot: "Japanese News Program Uses Toys To Re-Enact Crime Scene." Ha ha… the driver of a loading shovel tried to run from police.

These are the results of questionnaire asking about one’s favorite ice cream at supermarket:
1. Haagen-Daz: One cup cost around 300 yen. Usually cup-type ice creams cost about 100 yen in Japan.
2. LOTTE SOU: SOU adds crushed ice to the cream so it tastes lighter than regular ice cream.
3. Choco Monaka Jumbo: Monaka is a crisp wafer made from mochi. Japanese people like it very much.
4. PINO: Small truffle type of chocolate ice cream.
5. Giant Cone: the cone part is crispy. I like this one.
6. Yukimi Daifuku: this type, the combination of mochi and ice cream is pretty good.
7. Essel super cup: a long selling item
8. Mow: Milk-rich creamy ice cream. “Mow” is the sound of cow's call in Japanese.
9. Papico: It's close to a tube-style smoothie.
10. Mona o: Another Monaka-type ice cream.

This list is so different rankings of ice creams that people buy the most. As for best selling ice cream, the number one rank is always held by Gari Gari-Kun. One bar is only 60 yen, but it is a pretty good size.
Ha ha ha, I like this: "15 Suggestive Photos of Nature."

tamagoyaki

Wow cute fruit memo pad! Kawaii :-).

A few very interesting a foreign news items: "Little girl who does not age hides secret of everlasting youth" and "26-year-old man with body of a two-year-old."

What is the most popular way of cooking eggs in your country? Scrambled? Sunny-side up? Omelet? In Japan, it is tamagoyaki, which is an egg rolled like this. I guess you must’ve eaten or seen such egg rolls at sushi or soba restaurants. To make egg rolls, you need a square omelet pan. Here is a recipe and below is a video of how to make it. You can change the flavor if you want, I like sweet ones so I add a lot of sugar.

By the way, Nifty Portal Z had a post about cooking a big egg roll that looks like Baumkuchen. Looks yummy! Baumkuchen is very popular in Japan and Nifty Portal Z also had this post: homemade Baumkuchen cooked using bamboo!

Okosama lunch

BaselWorldis a watch and jewelry trade show already. This video was made by Japanese watch maker CITIZEN and played in their booth last year. The video's name is "Infinity", it's an image of growing and changing Tokyo.

As a Tokyo and Japan video, this was an interesting one, "This is Japan", that was made by Canadian tourist. The video tells well which parts of Japan are interesting, beautiful, exotic for foreign people.
I didn't know Dekotora (decorated truck) and Dekochari (decorated bike) are in Wikipedia for English as they are in Japanese. Satoshi Minawaka is a photographer and here are his photos of Dekotora and Decochari. And you can find more on google image, there are Dekotora of India or Pakistan. They will have such a culture too.
Did I wrote about "Okosama Lunch" before? If you are a big anime fan, you know the word as Lupin the third's anemy, but originally okosama lunch meant the kid's menu in a restaurant that Mitsukoshi department store added to their restaurant menu as a "western food plate for children" in 1930s, then it spread out to other restaurants with common features later that kids will love it! I checked foreign restaurant menus but I can't find any common parts of them. So I guess okosama lunch is a unique food custom of Japan.
Generally okosama lunch is a one plate dish on a compartment plate. As the main dish, there is hamburg or fried chicken or such things kids like. Rice is served like a mountain, and on top of the mountain is a national flag (it's not always a Japanese one). Here are image results of Google. You can see those features. In Japan Denny's has such a type of kids plate too. By the way, usually restaurants set an age limit for okosama lunch ( I read okosama lunch has thin margins because it requires more time to cook) but in okay places, women who can't eat a lot or people on a diet eat okosama lunch. If you come to Japan with kids, please try it, I guess they will like it! By the way, Is this okosama lunch. No they are USB hub and USB memories Cute, aren't they?

Cup Noodle has changed

Ah...kawaii (cute), so cute. "Cat's Bitter Disappointment After Sneaking Up On Pigeon".

au has released a new phone, iida. The phone part doesn't look new, but I like this adapter charger Midori.

Did I tell you? Many cup noodles fans are so disappointed by the news Nissin will change cup noodles meat into char siu. Since today they started to release new shar siu cup noodles, I am not sure we can still buy that old one at shops. The unidentified meat is called minch cube and it is pork meat. By the way, there is the instant ramen museum in Osaka and there, you can choose topping and soup and make your original cup noodles.

At the nifty Z, one guy who loves that meat and cup noodles, went to the museum and made his dream-come-true before that meat was gone. He chose meat, meat and meat as topping and ate meat cup noodles, and also he made a lunch box with that meat. Ha ha ha, I don't need it, but I want to make my original cup noodles! It'll be fun.

When you visit Japan, unfortunately you can get tired of Japanese food during a long stay. Saizeriya will help you, it's an Italian TYEP japanese restaurant. You can eat pasta, pizza, and other foods of Italian taste at a very cheap price. Pizza is $4, Pasta is $5. I won't say they are Italian, I will say they are Japanese food with an Italian taste, but at least you can enjoy something else but Japanese :-) Since they are a chain shop, you can find it when you need non-Japanese food.

Modern Samurai and my recommendation restaurants in Tokyo

"Modern Samurai" Iso Machii cut through a pellet fired from a gun at 70 mph using only his samurai sword. Look at this video, it's great! He’s like Goemon Ishikawa.

Last weekend, I read the news that Food & Wine magazine picked Tokyo as its top city for cutting edge cuisine. I am happy that I am living in the best gourmet city in the world. If you want to try a luxury restaurant, please check out Michelin Tokyo 2009. I will pick some of my suggestions for Japanese restaurants. This site helps me a lot.

Sushi: "Bikkuri zushi." Bikkuri zushi is a chain sushi restaurant and they have two types of places. Kaiten zushi type and counter type. I recommend the counter type place.

Kaiten sushi (Conveyor Belt Sushi): I like this place most: "Meguro Sushi Katsu."

Okonomiyaki: You can eat real Hiroshima Okonomiyaki at Carp in Kanda. Try “zenbu iri" (all in one).

Tonkatsu: The very popular "Tonkatsu Maisen" is in Harajuku. I recommend Kimukatsu too, they have mille feuille katsu.

Motsu nabe: If you ask me what the best motsunabe place is, I will pick Motsunabe Arizuki in Ebisu.

Okinawan food: Churari. Here is the review for the Harajuku shop, but I like to go to the Ebisu one.

Tempura: It's a chain restaurant, but I think that Tsuna hachi is good place to eat real tempura.

Shabu Shabu: Shabu Shabu is usually expensive so it’s hard to get full, so maybe this isn’t the best choice, but at least you can eat as much as you want so I will pick this place: mo-mo-paradise

Ramen: Since Ippudo is so popular in NY, if you are not a New Yorker, try Ippudo in Japan.