Ah, spring. Flowers, sunshine, and a new season of anime. Because the best thing about warmer weather is sitting indoors watching anime with the windows open, amirite? Well, Winter 2013′s anime season was decent, but Spring 2013′s anime season might end up beating it out. There’s actually one show this time that I am more than just excited for. Will you share my opinion? Maybe. Let’s find out.

Suisei no Gargantia

Just from glancing over the shows, I thought this one looked like it could have the most promise. The show takes place in the future, in space. Humanity is in a war against an alien race and the main character gets transported to a strange and distant land during one of these space battles. Confusion ensues, and only good things can happen from there.

This show seems incredibly promising and the visuals are fantastic. I know I say a lot that I think I might actually finish a series, but this time I like, really, really mean it. I want to watch the rest of this series, like right now. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Who should watch this show: People who like awesome anime shows that combine action, humor, mechs, and sweet animation.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Crazy good. If I had access to the whole series right now I’d be watching and finishing it today.

Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san

All the characters are drawn with blue outlines in this show. It’s kind of unique I guess. This show only has half-length episodes though for whatever reason. The show is about mermaids and it’s kind of funny, but also kind of stupid. The first episode is all about a fisherman who catches a mermaid and they banter back and forth about silly things. It seems like it’s just a string of gags with no real story going on. Maybe that’s why the episodes are only half length.

I wasn’t a big fan of this one but I can see how some people would get enjoyment out of it. It’s just a bit too goofy for me. I can handle goofy, but I need more of a story to hold things together. There’s very little story to speak of in this anime.

Who should watch this show: People who like mermaids and goofy banter.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Bad. One episode was enough.

Arata Kangatari

The animation in this show has kind of a soft, glowy look to it. I’m not sure how much I like that. The show’s about a high school kid who gets made fun of and bullied all the time. He somehow gets transported to another world where the monarchy gets overthrown by 12 rude dudes and the main guy somehow ends up getting blamed for it. He swaps places with someone from this other world and looks like the other guy to everyone there.

The end of the episode gives a little hope, but overall this show doesn’t really interest me. If it gets rave reviews I’ll continue watching it, but otherwise I’ll pass. I felt like it could be cool, but the way everything unfolded just wasn’t that interesting. It’s not bad, just really average.

Who should watch this show: People who like magic and strife and soft animation.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Pretty bad. Unless this anime blows up and starts getting tons of praise I doubt I’ll watch any more of it.

Karneval

The show is a bit freaky in the beginning with what happens with the characters. It’s hard to tell exactly what the show is about from the onset, but the first bad guy they encounter is really creepy. I’m not sure what the story is or where it’s going, but some people are like monsters and some people have magic powers and they’re all trying to do stuff and things.

I had higher hopes for this show, but it moved along pretty slowly. The animation is nice though, and I like the look of the characters. The show gets a little bit more interesting near the end, but not quite enough to redeem itself. I don’t really know where the story is going but I don’t really care that much either.

Who should watch this show: People who like shows about magic and monsters and prettyboys.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Okay. I might watch another episode just to see if they reveal where the story is going because I don’t feel like they revealed enough in this first episode.

Shingeki no Kyojin

In the show, humans are living inside a gigantic wall that serves to keep out a giant race of humanoids. The giants haven’t gotten inside the walls for some hundred years, so all the townspeople have developed a false sense of security. And then gigantic, super giants come and unexpectedly invade the town, tearing down the walls.

This first episode is pretty heavy. There’s definitely potential here, and the first episode sets up quite the scene. I’m excited to see where this one goes. I really like the animation in this show, it uses lots of thick lines. The action sequences are epic and the production values are great. I seriously got chills from watching the trailer.

Who should watch this show: People who like epic shows with lots of emotion, action, and style.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Great. I’m not as excited about this one as I am about Suisei no Gargantia, but this show is definitely second in line.

Hataraku Maou-sama!

The story starts back in fantasy medieval times with some knights fighting against the forces of Satan. Satan loses the battle and is forced to retreat into a portal transporting him and a follower into a modern world where they have no idea what’s going on and can’t really use their magic. This makes for a pretty hilarious and interesting premise because they have to learn the language, rent a living space, and get jobs to pay for things.

This show might end up being kind of cool. The first episode is good, but not great. Time will tell on this one, but after a few more episodes it might end up blossoming into something worthwhile. The show definitely had me laughing at parts, but I’m not sure how strong of a story will develop from this first episode.

Who should watch this show: People who like shows about demons trying to adjust to modern day society and the hilarity that ensues.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Pretty good. I think this one’s coming in third place after Shingeki no Kyojin. This show deserves at least one more episode.

DATE A LIVE

This show starts off with 14 year old panty shots. Promising. The premise of the show is fairly normal high school anime fare except that there are things called space quakes which are basically spherical earthquakes taking place in the atmosphere/earth. But that all changes when a bodacious babe shows up in purple sci-fi fantasy armor. Plot twist! Then some other nonsense happens.

I couldn’t care about this show at all. It was not interesting to me whatsoever. I was okay with it for the first half but when the purple sci-fi fantasy armor girl showed up I was all like, “this is stupid, I’ve had enough.” This show is nothing special.

Who should watch this show: People who like space quakes and babes from outer space.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Bad. One episode was enough for me.

Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince

This one here is another space/mecha show. The show’s main characters are a team of five pilots known as the Failure Five because they’re so bad and can’t work as a team. Then for some reason they get selected to go into actual combat and deal with the reality of fighting for real.

This show seems really cheesy and kind of juvenile. I’m not really a big fan of the animation style either. This show’s just not that interesting compared to Suisei no Gargantia which is a much better space/mecha show. To be honest it’s just not that interesting in general. I just wasn’t able to care about what was going on.

Who should watch this show: People who like sub-par shows about mechs and rooting for the underdogs.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: So bad. Suisei no Gargantia is way better so I’ll be getting my mech fix from that.

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru

This one right here is a high school show. The main character really isn’t a big fan of high school and doesn’t have a girlfriend or any friends either. His teacher puts him in a “Volunteers Club” in an attempt to rehabilitate him. There he talks to one of the most popular girls in the school. They banter back and forth until another girl joins them and then more banter ensues.

The dialogue between all the characters is interesting and occasionally funny, but overall not a whole lot happens. Most all of the first episode takes place in one room. Overall it is of average entertainment and hilarity. I might watch one or two more episodes but I doubt I’ll see this one through to the end. I can see how others would enjoy it though.

Who should watch this show: People who like shows about awkward high schoolers.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Average. I might watch one or two more episodes but probably not.

Shows that Were Less Than Impressive and a Recap

Surprisingly enough I didn’t shut off any shows within the first 5-10 minutes of watching them this season. This is the first season that’s ever happened. Overall this season had a lot of average shows but two of the ones I watched seemed like they could blossom into amazing shows so that alone makes this season a good one for me.

To recap from last season, I didn’t end up watching any of the shows all the way through. I watched like the first 5 episodes of Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, but I felt like the show wasn’t going anywhere so I gave it up. Nothing else from last season really held my interest either.

Bottom Line: Suisei no Gargantia seems like it could be a fantastic show. I can’t remember the last time I was this excited after a first episode so I’m really hoping the show doesn’t let me down. I’m trying to not get too excited so I don’t over-hype the show in my head, but I really think it could end up being a series I really, really enjoy. Guess we’ll just have to find out. You should at least check out the first episode though. It’s choice.

You should also check out Shingeki no Kyojin as well. Probably. It has promise.

So tell me, what shows look the best from this season? Any favorites that I didn’t review? What ended up being your favorite show from last season? Let us know in the comments!

Alcohol in general is very, very easy to get in Japan. You can buy sake in convenience stores, chuhai out of vending machines, and beer practically anywhere you look.

But one liquor in particular has grown in sophistication and popularity both in Japan and abroad: whisky.

You can find some of the old reliable brands of American whiskey in Japanese stores: Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, and Wild Turkey can all be had pretty easily if you know where to look.

Leo, doing his best Lost in Translation impression

There are also lots and lots of domestic whiskies, made right in Japan. And for a country with no real cultural ties to Scotland, there are a surprising number of whisky manufacturers.

In the last couple of decades, Japanese whisky has earned quite the reputation as a quality whisky, winning awards all around the world and even trouncing Scottish whiskies.

At the time, Japanese whiskies beating out Scottish whiskies was unheard of. It would be like Scottish sushi winning international acclaim.

Now though, people all over the world recognize and enjoy Japanese whisky as some of the finest out there. But a lot of people still don’t really know the different Japanese brands.

Fear not! I’m here to help you out, and show you some of the major players in the Japanese whisky market today:

Suntory

After Bill Murray endorsed Suntory in Lost In Translation, it seems like almost everybody now knows about Suntory whisky.

Suntory deserves to be well-known, too. It was the first company to make whisky in Japan, and is still a powerhouse on the market today.

Suntory whisky is everywhere in Japan. I think no matter what convenience store I went to in Japan, no matter where I was, I was able to find Suntory whisky of some kind.

But the convenience store whiskies aren’t why Suntory is known throughout the world. The company also produces more high-end brands like Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Hibiki. In fact, on its English website it doesn’t even mention its name-brand Suntory whisky.

Nikka

In business for the better part of a century, Nikka is one of Japan’s most recognizable whisky brands. Every bottle of the company’s spirits has the face of the blue-eyed, mustached W. P. Lowrie, an obscure figure in the history of whisky.

Best friends Koichi and W. P. Lowrie

Nikka is probably best known for Nikka Black, a cheap whisky available basically everywhere, most notably in convenience stores. Nikka also offers much more high-end whiskies for those with more refined tastes.

White people will give you a mustache and make you drink whisky

We actually got the chance to visit Nikka’s original distillery in Yoichi, Hokkaido while we were visiting Japan in February. (Expect a video of our visit to Nikka in the future.)

Not only did the Nikka distillery have Nikka Black and the fancier varieties, but the tasting room there offered blended whisky, single malt, pure malt, and virtually any other kind of whisky you can think of and virtually every age imaginable.

Kirin

Kirin always kind of seems to be playing catch-up. Its beer has trailed behind Asahi after the great beer wars of the 80^s, and it plays third string to Suntory and Nikka in the whisky game.

Still, Kirin has been doing its best to catch up with Suntory and Nikka, producing very respectable whiskies of its own. Its Fuji Gotemba brand has some of the most incredible single malt whiskies available in Japan.

Highballs

While Japanese whisky is widely enjoyed, it’s not the kind of thing that most people can enjoy on an everyday basis. After all, it’s expensive, powerful, and doesn’t always go down smoothly.

For those reasons and more, highballs — whisky mixed with soda water — have recently become one of Japan’s favorite drinks. Even though the Japanese have been enjoying highballs for almost 100 years, they’ve seen a massive revival in recent years.

You can find highballs in basically any restaurant that has both whisky and soda, and more and more you can find vending machines and convenience stores stocked full of the stuff.

A while back, the guys at Néojaponisme sampled a variety of canned highballs and reported the results. The verdict? Not great:

Have you tried Japanese whisky? What do you think? How well does it stack up against other whiskies? Let me know in the comments!

Further reading: Nonjatta, Beginner’s guide to Japanese Whisky

Header image by Shoko Muraguchi

I love chuhai. If I had to choose a favorite Japanese beverage genre, it would most definitely be chuhai. It’s cheaper and tastier than beer, comes in a multitude of flavors, and is readily available almost everywhere. Well, in Japan, anyway. Sadly for me and foreigners everywhere, chuhai, at least in America, is not so common. Why must my love go unrequited? Why, chuhai? WHY!?

What is Chuhai?

For those unfamiliar, chuhai is the nectar of the gods. And by nectar of the gods I mean an awesome canned alcoholic drink. The name is derived from “shochu highball” and is made with shochu and flavored soda water. Shochu is an alcoholic beverage distilled from barley, sweet potatoes, or rice, and is usually around 25% ABV. Mix that with flavored soda water and you have yourself a tasty mixed drink. Put the two together in a can and sell it for dirt cheap everywhere and you have a nationwide sensation.

Some modern chuhai use vodka in place of shochu, but if there is much difference in flavor I can’t tell. There are a ton of flavors including lemon, lime, grapefruit, apple, orange, pineapple, grape, kiwi, ume, yuzu, lychee, and peach. It’s hard to choose just one favorite, but I would say the citrus flavored varieties are the best.

Why Chuhai is Awesome

So far, you might think that chuhai just sounds like your run of the mill flavored malt beverage, like Mike’s Hard Lemonade or Smirnoff or something, right? Well, yeah, they’re actually pretty similar in flavor, but there’s a few things that really set the chuhai apart. Firstly, I don’t even think they package chuhai in bottles. If they do, it’s very uncommon. Cans are much cheaper, and this keeps the chuhai very affordable.

Pretty much anywhere, a malt beverage like the above mentioned would be the same if not more expensive than the cheapest beer. When I was in Japan, at least the area I was around, chuhai was on average about half as expensive as beer. Why get one average tasting beer when you can get two awesome tasting chuhai for the same price? Your guess is as good as mine.

Japanese beer: not as good as chuhai.

Another thing that really sets chuhai apart is their diversity, both in flavor and in alcohol content. I saw chuhai ranging from 2%-9% ABV when I was over there, with most of the lower percentages not tasting like alcohol at all. These are great for those who don’t like beer or anything that’s very strong. Perfect. And then there are the manly ones for those who both want a nice flavor and a kick.

And like I mentioned before, there are a ton of flavors. Malt beverages come in a lot of flavors too, but I’m confident that there are way more chuhai varieties than there are varieties of Smirnoff/Mike’s Hard/etc.

Will I Ever be Reunited with my Precious Chuhai?

Chuhai and I have a special relationship.

I’m pretty sure that chuhai is actually available in some parts of the United States, but nowhere close to where I am. I don’t really see it being imported anytime soon either. Sure we get the top three beers from Japan, but strangely, chuhai seems to go by unnoticed.

But if you ever have the chance to try it, PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO SO. Let me live vicariously through you. Actually, Hashi just told me the other day that one of the first things he did after getting off the plane in Japan was find himself a chuhai to drink in my honor. You’re a true friend, Hashi. Good man.

And since somebody needs to keep all the Tofugu things from falling apart while the guys are gone, my own trip back to Japan will have to be taken some other time. Hopefully sooner than later. Wait for me, chuhai. We’ll be together soon.

So tell me, have you experienced the glory that is chuhai? Have any particular flavors you want the team to look out for while they’re over there? Share your love, suggestions, and comments down below!

With the new year comes yet another new anime season. Last season (Fall 2012) boasted a pretty solid lineup, but how will Winter 2013 fare? I watched the best looking ones I could find, and the results might surprise you. Will this be another home run of an anime season, or will this winter be a bland one as far as animated entertainment goes? Let’s find out.

Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru

Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru is a long name for a show. Anyway, it’s about a kid studying to get into a public medical school. He seems to be living with his aunt and he has a little girl sidekick who follows him around. She’s his childhood friend. He’s very serious about his studies and not looking for romance at all but he ends up having his classroom seat reassigned right next to the most beautiful and popular girl in school.

As far as production values and style, everything is pretty solid, but nothing really stands out either. It’s good, but nothing really unique or different. The turning point in the first episode is pretty hilarious and after that point the show becomes a lot more interesting. It seems like this one could be good for at least a few more episodes, but past that we’ll just have to see. Pretty solid, this one.

Who should watch this show: People who like shows about atypical romances with funny surprises.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Really good. I might not finish this series, but it deserves a few more episodes at least.

Cuticle Detective Inaba

This show is off to a pretty strange start. It’s about a pseudo-werewolf detective who takes down criminals and solves crimes by using strands of hair. I was expecting a different sort of show based on the first scene, but the show is surprisingly weird. The main characters all have some sort of goofy fetish. For example, the main dude the Cuticle Detective has a hair fetish.

I think the show is funny, but it’s more like a way over the top this is too ridiculous to believe kind of funny. It’s just lolwtf all over the place here. For me, this is not really a good thing. I don’t think I would be able to handle any more episodes of this show, but I can understand how some people would enjoy it.

Who should watch this show: People who like shows about weird fetishes, unexpected characters, and hair.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: No thanks. One episode was enough for me.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha

I saw a captioned picture of this anime and that was what reminded me that it was about that time of year again. Anime roundup time! However, the scene they used was a bit questionable, but I try to go into these shows without too many preconceived notions. Anyway, I like the animation and colors in this one. It’s one of the better looking shows this season from a purely artistic standpoint I think.

I was expecting more action from the show, but the first part of the first episode was pretty much all about the benefits of war, in this case between demons and humans. It’s actually more interesting than you’d think, so I was pleasantly surprised. The negotiations that take place are pretty funny. There’s definitely a lot of wiggly boobs to be seen here though, so be prepared.

This show seems like it might actually be pretty cool. The whole first episode was all talking between the two main characters, but it was still really interesting. I’m actually pretty excited to see what happens once they get out into the world and start adventuring and stuff. This show might be one to follow.

Who should watch this show: People who like shows about the economics of war, or demon/human romance? I’m actually not sure what direction this show is going in.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Most certainly. I don’t know what to expect from the next episode, but I really like the feel of the show so far.

Senran Kagura

Haha, boobs. No, but seriously, fanservice all over the place right from the get go. There are plenty of “OH COME ON” sort of sexual innuendos to be found in Senran Kagura. Anyway, the show is about five busty modern day ninjas and their day to day lives.

This show has lots of female on female boob grabbing. There’s actually so much fanservice in this show that it made me a little uncomfortable. Definitely do not watch this show if there is any chance of someone walking in on you. The animation is fine and the characters are pretty. The story is vaguely interesting, but the over the top fanservice is actually a bit distracting. I don’t plan on following this one, but if ecchi is your thing, this anime is for you.

Who should watch this show: People who like ecchi.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Bad. Pros can’t outweigh the cons for this one.

Tamako Market

This is a really pretty looking anime. I really like the colors and the character designs. I think it’s by the same people that did K-ON. It’s just a nice show to look at. The show looks like it’s going to be centering around a girl and a strange talking bird. Past that, I dunno what to expect.

I was hoping that this show would be a bit more interesting since it has such a nice look to it, but it seems to be moving along kind of slowly. I found myself getting a bit bored while watching it, just waiting for something redeeming to happen. Some parts are pretty funny, but overall it was a ho-hum sort of viewing experience. This show was unfortunately pretty disappointing. It’s not necessarily bad, it’s just not so good.

Who should watch this show: People who like pretty looking shows with colors and talking birds.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Not good. This show was too slow and not interesting enough for me.

Amnesia

The show gets off to a sort of confusing start with not much being explained right away. The main girl seems to have some sort of amnesia, hence the title. Other than her having a sort of spirit guide only she can see and that she needs to remember who she is again, there’s not much story to go off of so far here.

The way the characters’ eyes are colored in this show is really interesting. They’re simple, but different enough from the usual run of the mill anime eyes that they seem really cool. It’s a nice touch.

Unfortunately the show has kind of a strange feel to it and wasn’t as exciting as I was expecting it to be from the opening scene. I kept waiting for something cool to happen because I felt like the show contained promise somewhere, but nothing really cool happened at all. This show was a pretty big letdown.

Who should watch this show: People who like characters with pretty eyes and girls with amnesia.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Not so great. This show was slow and pretty boring.

Vividred Operation

Within the first minute there were two very gratuitous female butt shots. Anyway, the show is taking place in the future focusing on an inventor’s family. An unidentified weaponized machine is approaching the island they’re on, and the military is having trouble dealing with it. The grandfather makes a hilarious mistake, and the show really gets going from there.

The colors and animation style are very pleasing to the eyes, however Vividred Operation does like to show female butt shots for no good reason every once in a while (but really, what anime doesn’t?). Besides that, the show gets off to a pretty cool start. I was kind of surprised, for whatever reason I wasn’t expecting much from this one but it actually seems like it might be worth watching. I’m interested in seeing what happens next.

Who should watch this show: People who like ermines, technology, and butts.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Very good. This show seems pretty interesting and I like the feel of it so far.

Mondaijitachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sou Desu yo?

Here’s another show with a name I think is too long. The show on the other hand gets off to a pretty interesting start. I like that. The show is about a few individuals with extraordinary powers that get transported to another world. The three main characters are invited to participate in something known as the Gift Games where people with such powers compete for fabulous prizes.

This show is pretty funny. From the stills I was expecting something a little less impressive, but the show actually seems pretty neat. The animation is nice as well and the pretty colors are always appreciated. The characters are interesting and the show has a very light and enjoyable feel to it. This could be another good one.

Who should watch this show: People who like otherworldly powers and bunny girls.
Likelihood of me watching another episode: Good. The show grabs you right from the start and stays interesting throughout. I want to see where this one goes.

Shows that Made me Vomit and Bleed

Yes, this is an actual still from Ai Mai Mi.

Every season there are a few shows that just don’t sit right with me and I abandon them before they’re done. Some are unhappy to see that I treat some shows this way, but these are just my first impressions. If a show doesn’t grab me and get me engaged within the first 10 minutes or so, I’m moving on. Sorry.

Also either I found a type of show that didn’t exist before or I somehow missed these in earlier seasons, but some shows are only like 3 minutes long. Each episode is only 3 minutes long! All of the “shows” like this that I saw were bad. Why would they do this to me?

Sasami-san@Ganbaranai: The way this show is colored is very interesting. I’m not sure how much I like the style, but it’s definitely different. The main character seems to have a strange relationship with her brother. He feeds her, bathes her, and dresses her. Also, the brother never shows his face, he always has something in front of it or something on his head covering it.

This show doesn’t really feel like my thing. I got about 10 minutes in before I decided to just shut it off. Sorry guys, I just didn’t feel like seeing this one through, but this was the only full length episode I abandoned this season. That’s better than usual.

Ai Mai Mi: Anime about 3 aspiring mangaka girls. Pretty generic anime fare, but kinda funny. If it was a full episode I don’t think I’d be able to handle it.

Mangirl!: Magazine club with 4 girls. This was even less interesting than Ai Mai Mi, so – pretty bad.

Yama no Susume: I felt kind of interested in this one, but I don’t understand why it’s so short. I might have liked it if it had been a normal sized episode, but with it being this short I just don’t care for it much.

And as usual, there were also a handful of shows that I just didn’t check out and a handful of sequels that I never watched the original for (sorry!).

Bottom Line: This season is pretty so-so. Unless I managed to miss all the other good ones, Maoyuu Maou Yuusha and Mondaijitachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? seem like they might be the only ones worth seeing all the way through. Maybe. Vividred Operation and Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru showed some potential, but only time will tell if those will be worth it or not. Did I miss all the other good ones? Please, if I missed any other good shows let me know!

So tell me, how do you think this season compares to the last one? Any new shows look good to you? What’s your favorite one so far? Share your thoughts down in the comments!

When it comes to Japanese food, we usually think about fancy or traditional food; cuisine that is steeped in centuries of tradition and requires years of training in order to make it correctly.

And then there’s Japanese junk food.

You may think that junk food is junk food, no matter where it’s made and sold, but the Japanese do it a little differently. Soda, candy, fast food and other junk food might not have been invented in Japan, but the Japanese have been able to put their own twist on these low-end foods.

A lot of these foods are only available seasonally or for some limited time so when they’re gone, they’re gone for good. Here’s a roundup of some of 2012′s most enticing, disgusting, weird, and delicious Japanese junk food.

Fast Food

Japan is a great place for fast food. Aside from Japanese-style street food that’s ready to go in a jiffy, there’s also home-grown Japanese fast food chains (which we’ve written about before) and American chains.

These American chains usually offer food in Japan that you won’t be able to find anywhere else.

KFC’s Bacon Potato Fritter

It’s pretty surprising that KFC Japan would offer a dish more American than its American counterpart, but then you haven’t seen the Bacon Potato Fritter. Full of all of the heart-stopping cholesterol-filled goodness that we Americans hold near and dear.

Domino’s Prestige Quattro

Pizza pricing is usually a race ot the bottom — get three medium pizzas for $15! Two large pizzas for $20! Add another pizza for $5!

But Domino Japan’s Prestige Quattro isn’t cheap. In fact, the gourmet pizza that has crab, shrimp, and Mangalitsa pork, is $50.

Burger King

After a six year hiatus in Japan, Burger King has returned to the country with a vengeance. It seems like every other week I’m hearing about some new, novelty product from Burger King Japan that’s unavailable anywhere else.

Black Burger

Even though a black burger looks like it was left in the oven for too long, it’s only colored by bamboo charcoal and squid ink. Fortunately though, the flavor of neither of those are very prominent in the burger, so just close your eyes and imagine you’re eating a Whopper.

Pumpkin Burger

As we wrote about earlier, Halloween is quickly becoming an absurdly commercial holiday in Japan. To cash in on that, Burger King Japan released a burger with kabocha pumpkin slices. Nothing says Halloween like fast food!

Candy

Coffee Gum

This year, Suntory’s Boss Coffee celebrated its 20^th anniversary by collaborating with various other Japanese companies, including Lotte, who created the unholy abomination that is Boss Special Coffee Gum. I thought gum was supposed to make your breath smell good?

Soda

In Japan, it seems like you can’t walk more than a block without passing handfuls of vending machines stocked with some of the most delicious and delectable sodas you’ve ever seen. The availability of these sodas means that it’s even more important to stand out among the crowd.

Espressoda

The linguistic genius at Suntory who came up with the portmanteau “Espressoda” should be given a raise, a corner office, and a bonus. Unfortunately, the beverage itself isn’t as genius as the name. Eryk from This Japanese Life reviewed it for us and gave us this verdict: “The result is a kind of a totally unsweetened root beer . . . Not awful, but unpleasantly confusing. Would not drink again.”

Pepsi

Pepsi, more than other western soft drink companies, really seems to get the Japanese market. Instead of pushing things like Mountain Dew that do well in the US, Pepsi has adapted to Japan’s tastes and comes up with seasonal and novelty products.

Salty Watermelon Pepsi

Eryk from This Japanese Life also reveiwed this oddball summer selection from Pepsi for us in a guest post earlier this year. The verdict? “[I]t’s a liquified watermelon Jolly Rancher with seltzer . . . Too sweet. Would not drink again.”

Pepsi Special

Pepsi Special helps you poop.

Well, kind of. It’s marketed as a fat-blocking soda but in reality, it’s chock-full of of dextrin, a soluble fiber. The theory is that you won’t gain any weight because all of the food you eat basically passes right through you. Bon appétit

Pepsi White

The yet-to-be-released Pepsi White is a special winter variation of the cola. It’s white, has snow people on the label, and tastes like mandarin oranges, a seasonal favorite.

And that was just this year. Who knows what these Japanese alchemists have in store for us next year!

Before I moved to Japan, I imagined carbonated lakes, rivers running thick with bubbling sugar, a snack-food nation governed by Willy Wonka-san. Japan really is a refreshment paradise, and I’m excited to taste whatever drinks the mad scientists are brewing up every few months.

There was the legendary Cucumber Pepsi, and a soda that tasted like Menthol. There are yogurt drinks and sodas with slimy chunks of aloe. Late-night carousers can snag a turmeric-flavored energy drink, while tee-totalers can take some nicotine juice along on that smoke-free train ride.

There are sodas, milk drinks, experimental beers, canned coffees, canned teas, canned tea-coffees, soda-beers, milk-sodas, coffee-milks and coffee-milk-sodas (but as of yet, no coffee-milk-beers).

Most drinks come and go with the seasons. Companies can (and do) throw anything they’ve got onto the shelves when product runs are limited to a few weeks. Whenever the temperature drifts up or down a few degrees, food fans scour konbini shelves for new formulas or pop-up brands before they disappear.

Summer is prime time for scoring a can of Japan’s weirder drinks: Sales of cold drinks rise, and companies race to find the most “refreshing” formula to beat the summer sweats. I popped down to my local konbini to sort out this summer’s batch.

Salty Watermelon Pepsi

I’m a totally voracious consumer of Kit-Kat and soft drink news. When I first heard rumors about this drink on the Internet, I was skeptical but intrigued.

I’ve got a peculiar fondness for flavors that sound kind of revolting. Delicious soft drinks are easy, but it takes an especially whimsical product manager to whip up something truly risky. Take the brilliant tobacco company employee who thought carbonated menthol – a terrible drink, but a beautifully ambitious one.

Salt, watermelon, and Pepsi? Yes, please. Every day I’d scour the konbini shelves. I was distracted by the gruesomely named (and somewhat flavorless) alternative, the low-calorie &lduqo;Pepsi Black Lemon.” Finally, on an ill-timed jaunt to Thailand, a friend Instagrammed a photo of my great white whale.

Unfortunately, Salty Watermelon Pepsi is not a mixture of salt, watermelon and Pepsi. In fact, it’s not Pepsi at all. Much like this winter’s variety, “Pepsi Pink” – a strawberry-milk flavor – the only thing “Pepsi-ish” about it was the carbonation.

Really, it’s a liquified watermelon Jolly Rancher with seltzer. Green melon soda is a fixture of fast-food chains here, so watermelon soda was a pretty tame offering.

The flavor wasn’t even salty. In Japan, and across Asia in general, people salt fruit to bring the sweetness out. It’s also suggested to help if you’re sweating a lot (and we are) – the idea is that you lose salt when you sweat. Traditionally, people here eat salty plums (ume boshi) that are sour and salty. This summer, salt is everywhere – we even have “salty chocolate” Kit-Kats.

Verdict: Too sweet. Would not drink again.

Asahi Red Eye – Tomato Beer

If you love gazpacho but hate that it’s not beer, you’d have been delighted for the six or seven days that Asahi Red Eye was available. It’s literally tomato juice and beer. It’s red. Bits of tomato float around. The slogan may as well be, “We dare you.”

This isn’t the first beer that’s taunted me into drinking it. Last February, “Red Romance” hit the market, a seductive blend of red wine and beer that sold for 100 yen per can. No Valentine’s Day is complete without a cheap, experimental mix of undrinkable wine-beer.

Red Eye is a confusing name. A Red Eye is a cup of coffee with a shot of espresso, or the last overnight flight. It seems like tomato beer is recommended for breakfast, like a Bloody Mary with beer instead of Vodka, or a tomato omelette with beer instead of eggs.

But I was shocked by how much I liked Red Eye. It was sweet and vinegary, a very Japanese flavor combo (I don’t see Japan’s carbonated-apple-vinegar shops taking off in America). The flavor was more tomato than beer, but the tomato had a sharp taste that cut into the beer flavor and made this beer almost dangerously easy to drink.

Tomatoes are valued for their sweetness in Japan, particularly cherry tomatoes, and have a strong summer connotation. A shop in my town was selling cherry tomatoes wrapped in chewy mochi and served cold, which were delicious.

If you come to Japan, you might be able to find a few discount cans of Asahi Red Eye around, but tomato season is waning. Even the mochi shop is switching cherry tomatoes out for grapes. Let’s hope Asahi doesn’t take that as a hint.

Verdict: Pleasantly surprised. Would drink again, if free.

Suntory Espressoda

The pun-derful “Espressoda” is, as the label says, “A twist of bold coffee and refreshing soda.” The cap twisted, excited bubbles rise to the surface, delivering the scent of fresh coffee grounds before mellowing into a light fizz.

Canned coffee is a Japanese vending machine mainstay. The coffee is universally unappealing – I can never escape the (probably imaginary) aftertaste of aluminium, and the scent of coffee residue lingers on your breath for hours.

I expected Espressoda to be canned coffee with bubbles. Shockingly, the coffee base for Espressoda is actually better than the coffee inside most canned coffees, probably because it’s “Espresso.” It’s in a plastic bottle, so there’s no tin-can placebo effect on my taste buds.

The result is a kind of a totally unsweetened root beer. You know how root beer tastes a bit like sarsaparilla with vanilla? Imagine sarsaparilla with coffee, and you’d have Espressoda nailed.

I got through the entire bottle, but not without second-guessing my commitment.

Verdict: Not awful, but unpleasantly confusing. Would not drink again.

Lazy Afternoon Root Beer

Root beer is an endangered animal in Japan. You can find some A&W in import stores, but I have never met a born-and-raised Japanese person (outside of Okinawa, where it’s basically everywhere) who enjoyed the taste of root beer. I’ve even heard it described as “America’s Natto.”

For what it’s worth, only North Americans and Okinawans seem to like Root Beer. It disgusts Europeans as much as it disgusts Asians. No one seems to know why, but most people think it tastes like medicine – which was precisely why I hated Menthol Soda. It was like drinking Vap-O-Rub. I couldn’t get past it.

So it was surprising to find that there’s a company making micro-batches of root beer in Kyushu. Lazy Afternoon is only lightly carbonated, but it’s a creamy brew with what I’d call “deep textures,” if I knew what that meant. And unlike the imported brands, Lazy Afternoon lacks the throat-burning sweetness of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

It also, notably, smells like a richer, deeper root beer than most canned root beers, which may be an attempt to shift it away from the medicine-ey flavors reviled by the Japanese.

Verdict: Will drink again.

For more, check out This Japanese Life!

Header photo by uzaigaijin

It’s hot. Maybe it’s not that hot in your area, but in central Ohio at least, it’s pushing 90 degrees. Not exactly comfortable. But we all know that Japan is more than happy to come up with interesting solutions and inventions for everyday issues such as this. So what did Japan come up with for beating the summer heat? Freezing foam. And it’s been all the rage in Japan since last summer.

What are These Things?

These foams have been around in Japan for years, which comes as a surprise to me, since I hadn’t even heard of them until just recently, but they’ve become pretty popular in Japan lately. Since last summer, Japan has been making an effort being to conserve more electricity during the summer months. Tokyo summers are brutal, and the Japanese make good use of their air conditioners.

In an effort to use less electricity and not abuse their air-con units so much, Japanese convenience store shelves have become packed with these cooling foams and gels along with a slew of other products including cooling body wipes. They’ve been available in Japan for a while now, but just recently started to become popular.

Some of these foams can be rubbed onto the skin to make the area cool, while other foams harden and can be molded into wearable shapes and accessories. They look pretty crazy to me, but they’re definitely more fashionable than carrying around a spray bottle with a fan attached to it, that’s for sure.

So How Do They Work?

There are many different varieties of these cooling foams, but most of them work in a similar manner. Some of them don’t last very long, and others can keep you feeling cool for a good long while. Some work similarly to ice packs, while others create expanding air pockets within the foam that release cool air against your skin when they pop. I just wish I could get my hands on some of these to see (and feel) them in action.

Some are designed to be sprayed directly on the skin, while others are made to be sprayed on towels or articles of clothing to cool them down before they are applied to your body. I really wish that I’d known about these things when I was in Japan because I’ve the feeling they’d be a fun way to beat the heat.

A few of them don’t seem all that effective to me, though. The hard foam that you can mold into shapes says that the cooling sensation only lasts for about five minutes. That seems pretty short to me. I can’t say for sure since I’ve not been able to use these products myself, but it would seem that most of them are designed only for temporary relief. Either that or very frequent applications.

But Which One is Best?

With so many cooling foams on the market, how do you know which one is best? Thankfully Megwin (you may remember them from an earlier post) has taken all the guesswork out of the equation. Well, kind of. Okay, not really. I wouldn’t say his method is the most scientific, but it is probably the most entertaining.

And like I said, these products have been available in Japan for a while now, but they don’t seem to have caught on anywhere else outside of Japan just yet. It’s too bad, really. They sure would be nice to have on hot summer days like these.

But if you’re going to Japan this summer (or if you’re already there) be sure to give these products a try. Some of them might not last as long as you’d like them to, but they look to be a lot more fun to use than boring old fans and junk.

So tell me, have you ever seen these cooling foams before? Ever used them yourself? Wish you could buy them in your home country? Let us know down in the comments!

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Via Japan Trends