We find out if this cute gadget is all it’s cracked up to be.

Recently, our Japanese-language reporter Go Hatori has been spending more time in the kitchen, finessing his skills by making okonomiyaki out of oatmeal and mastering his grandfather’s recipe for umeboshi pickled plums.

Along the way, he’s been picking up gadgets here and there to help him out, and when he came across this cute egg timer at a local branch of Daiso, one of the country’s leading 100-yen chainstores, he decided to put it to the test to see if it really does what it claims to do.

▼ It’s hard to believe a product this cute could be practical.

Go recalled using a similar egg timer in the past, but this one looked so cute it had him worried that it might be a cheap gimmick. He really hoped he hadn’t just wasted his money on this purchase, so he popped it in a pot of water with three eggs to test the timer’s gauges for “soft“, “medium” and “hard“, and brought the water to a boil for a thorough investigation.

As the water bubbled away, Go began to see part of the colour on the timer gradually change from pink to white.

And then, the “soft” bar turned completely white, indicating that it was time to take out the first egg to see if it really was soft-boiled to perfection.

▼ It seemed soft after he’d peeled it…

▼ …And when he gave it a little squeeze, it gave way to reveal a nicely cooked egg white and runny centre — perfect!

By the time he’d finished inspecting the soft-boiled egg, the egg timer had now changed, indicating that the remaining eggs should now be medium-boiled.

▼ He took one out and peeled it, and found that it was noticeably firmer than the first.

▼ On the inside, the yolk was soft and jelly-like — medium-boiled to perfection!

Now, with the ‘hard’ indicator completely white, it was time to test the final egg for hard-boiledness.

After peeling, this one was definitely the firmest out of all three eggs.

Taking a bite out of it, Go found that it was…well, just look at it! Perfectly hard-boiled!

Well, there you have it – this wasn’t a cheap gimmick, Go hadn’t wasted his money, and now our reporter knows he can trust the egg timer to help him cook the perfect egg. With a 100-percent success rate at all three levels — soft, medium and hard — this is another resounding Daiso success story, and Go will happily be adding the gadget to all the other 100-yen store purchases making his life that little bit easier at home.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]