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School Lunch in Japan 【You, Me, And A Tanuki】

You, Me, And a Tanuki is a weekly featured blog run by Michelle, a Californian who is currently one of only two foreigners living in Chibu, a tiny fishing village on one of the Oki islands in Japan. Check back every Saturday for a new post or read more on her website here!

Ah, school lunch in Japan.  I’ve had some of the best meals served to me on those plastic lunch trays.  I’ve also had some of the worst.  You might remember my post from last week that talked about the worst school lunch in the world. But for the most part, school lunch in Japan is surprisingly delicious and enjoyable.

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One of my favorite things about staying at a hotel is all the complimentary stuff they let you take home. From toiletries to beverages, bathrobes to coffee makers, each visit to a hotel is like a smorgasbord of free everyday items—the only limit is your suitcase!

Some people claim that not everything in the hotel is free. That aside the cheap toiletries  everything in the room is hotel property and taking it home is “stealing.”

Yeah, sure. Even if that is true, what are they going to do, call the Hotel Gestapo?

No, but they will call the police, as one Japanese couple found out after being arrested for stealing nearly $300 worth of hotel amenities.

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A few months ago, we found the top 25 things in Japan most likely to blow foreigner’s minds. This time, we asked foreigners (all men) to tell us what makes Japan such a great place.  Those surveyed came from France, the United States, Tunisia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Malta, and Ireland.

Ranging from seemingly mundane to large-scale societal characteristics, our readers explain why they love Japan.

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Extremely Rare Hermaphrodite Stag Beetle on Display in Chiba Prefecture

Stag beetles have a special place in Japan. Looking like little monsters, children love to collect, raise, and maybe even battle them with other bugs.  An entire industry is built around these little critters in the country.

An incredibly rare stag beetle will be put on display in Chiba starting 6 October.  This beetle has the head of a male and the body of a female and may be the first ever of its kind discovered.

According to teacher Toshio Shimizu who works on the exhibit, stag beetles that are sexually divided from left to right are common, but a cleanly separated head and body hermaphrodite is a once in a lifetime find.

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Here, Have Some Chocolate Cow Poop Mochi From Hokkaido

About half of the milk in Japan is produced in the beautiful and vast countryside of Hokkaido, the largest of Japan’s 47 prefectures and northernmost of Japan’s four main islands. As such, cows have become a symbol of the prefecture. Walk into any souvenir shop in the prefecture and you’re bound to find a few locally-produced snacks with bovine-inspired packaging.

On a recent trip to Hokkaido, one of our reporters came across one such snack that was a little less run-of-the-mill than your usual butter cookies: “Cow Poop?” chocolate mochi.

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In Koga city, Shiga prefecture on October 3 at 9am a manhole cover unexpectedly shot seven meters into the air penetrating the roof over a gas station’s pumps.  The 36kg lid measuring 65cm in diameter returned to the ground luckily without hitting anyone.

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Robotic Tropical Fish Give Hope to Lazy Pet Owners

Taking care of a pet is hard work. You have to remember to feed it, clean up after it, and at the very least, acknowledge its existence. Even the number one low maintenance pet, a fish, turns into a burden after you forget to change the sludgy green water that your poor fish is no longer gliding, but trudging through thanks to the algae-filled, jelly-like consistency (shame on you!).

Lazy pet-lovers rejoice! Finally, a “pet” you can accidentally forget about without any consequences. Introducing Robo Fish, the next generation of pet care giving. Invented in Japan by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S., these little robotic fish are made to look like the real thing.  We noticed a small crack where the tail joint meets the body, but the fish’s movements is very realistic.  They even look as if they are searching for and eating food, bobbing up and down on the floor of the tank.

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Cut Into the Face of an Angel This Christmas with Fourth Limited Edition Evangelion Cake

Japanese anime production studio Khara wants to make sure you’re excited for the upcoming Evangelion: 3.0 movie and they’re proving their sincerity by serving you the Third Angel Sachiel’s head on a platter.

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Maybe Jackie Chan was wrong after all?

Amid the reports of demonstrations, mob violence and damage to property in the name of protest over the rightful ownership of the Senkaku islands, it has been difficult to focus on the facts and keep a clear head.

Yesterday, however, the Japanese government took a step towards legally resolving the dispute, producing official documentation that refutes the Chinese government’s claim over the islands, and suggesting that the Chinese side is “contradicting” itself.

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Inspiring or Inconsiderate? Foreigner Plays Guitar for Frustrated Train Passengers While Stranded in Typhoon

On Sept. 30, Typhoon Jelawat struck the eastern part of Aichi prefecture, Japan and then proceeded to move north, causing flight delays and affecting public transportation across the eastern region of the main island.

In Tokyo, train schedules throughout the city were disrupted and one section of the JR Chuo Line was even forced to shut down before trains could make it back to their stations, trapping passengers inside the cars until weather conditions improved.

Now, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that nothing can ruin a day (week?) like being held up in an unexpected transportation or traffic accident. The general mood among passengers in those stranded cars must have been pretty sour. Which is why it’s amazing one foreigner had the pluck to take out his guitar and start serenading his fellow passengers while they waited for the storm to pass.

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While there are still a few kinks to be straightened out, and it’s not quite the life-changing service that Apple have been claiming it to be, the iPhone’s PA program Siri is still capable of making a few users chuckle.

Perhaps just seeing what their new iPhone’s electronic assistant could do can do, or perhaps just immensely bored one day, a Japanese iPhone user told Siri something about herself–

“Tomorrow’s my birthday…”

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Lotteria’s Tower Cheeseburger Returns and It Brought Friends: Value, Shrimp, and Puns

Japanese fast food chain Lotteria is celebrating its 40th anniversary by bringing back the Tower Cheeseburger!  Yes, the Tower Cheeseburger is nothing new: RocketNews24 has reported on it before and, of course, made an ungodly sized burger out of it (pictured above).

Worry not though, as Lotteria has a lot more in store for its big 4-0.  For starters, the price of their 5-storey (five beef patties and five cheese slices) Tower Cheeseburger this year will cost a measly 500 yen! (US$6)

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Tableware Made Out of Recycled Glass Coca Cola Bottles on Sale in Japan Starting October 31

You might remember Japanese design company, Nendo, from their Starbucks Journey pop-up store in Harajuku.

Nendo is at it again, this time collaborating with Coca Cola to bring Coke fans everywhere a unique set of tableware.  Made exclusively of Coca Cola’s signature green-tinted glass bottle, “Coca-Cola Bottleware” will be available starting on October 31st.

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Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji Fish Market saw some intense bidding this week when two rare gold-colored saury from Iwate went on sale, proving once again that people are suckers for things that glitter. Read More

Meanwhile, in Taiwan, Pro-Japanese Sentiment Has Endured: A Japanese Businessman Experiences Unaffected Kindness

There is no doubt that tension stemming from territorial disputes between Japan and both China and Korea is making East Asia a volatile area.  Even Taiwan, which has been known as a pro-Japanese country, sent fishing boats to the Senkaku Island area in protest of Japan’s nationalization.

But while mainland China is pulsing with anti-Japanese sentiment, Taiwan’s pro-Japanese stance has yet to waver and Japanese business men could be comforted that China’s influence on Taiwan did not reach so far as to change it.  We spoke with one Japanese business man—we’ll call him Mr. T—who was in Taipei when anti-Japanese sentiments on the mainland were at their highest.  

What he found was a higher level of pro-Japanese sentiment than we could have imagined.  We’ve assembled Mr. T’s experiences for you below: Read More

Creepy, Creepy, Creepy: Technology Forces Smiles on Sad-Faced Humans, Wins Award

Ah, so this is how Skynet starts…

Scientists at the University of Tokyo Sony CSL (Computer Science Labs) have come up with an ingenious way of cheering people up- forcing them to smile in exchange for easy access to their food.

Attaching a device called as a “Happiness Counter” to a regular refrigerator, Sony’s scientists are hoping to make us happier people.

The technology, which scans a person’s face as they stand in front of their food treasure trove, detects whether or not they are smiling and, reading anything other than a big, cheesy grin, makes the door difficult to open.

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  • Oct 4, 2012

The Gundam Tofu Saga Continues – New Z’Gok Tofu Now On Sale (And Leave Some Room for Dessert Too!)

You may remember the article we posted earlier this year when a Mobile-Suit machine from the popular anime series Gundam was turned into a tofu product. People in Japan were surprised and amused by the idea of edamame-flavored green tofu shaped like the head of Zaku, one of the large humanoid battle machines that appear in the anime. Despite its unique appearance (or maybe because of it), “Zaku Tofu” was a big hit, selling out in many stores across Japan, and in very short supply at one point.

Well, to the delight of fans, the Gundam tofu saga continues, thanks to tofu manufacturer Sagamiya coming out with new additions to the Gundam tofu family. Yes, Sagamiya proudly announces their new mobile-suit inspired creation, the “Z’Gok Tofu for Hot Pots” (Nabe-yo! Z’Gok Tofu), now available at supermarkets and shopping malls in the Kanto Area around Tokyo. Read More

 

When I was a kid, there was a period of about a week in school when everyone became obsessed with making “jokes” using “What’s the definition of…?” set-ups.

As well as failing to make anyone laugh, they rarely made much sense and were always both immensely long-winded and contrived…

Allow me to share an example:

“What’s the definition of ’cheeky’? Throwing a brick through someone’s window, then knocking on the door and asking for it back!”

Oh my sides….

Thankfully, though, a 16-year-old in Wakayama prefecture, Japan has done us all a favour and made an example of himself, putting an end to the eternal mystery “what’s the definition of ‘stupidity’?”

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Hitachi’s New Quartz Storage Technology Lets You Keep Your Data Safe for a Long, Long Time

At the recent International Symposium on Optical Memory in Tokyo, Hitachi, working with Kyoto University, presented their new type of digital storage.  It works on a principle similar to CDs but with a few added benefits like withstanding over 1000℃ temperatures.

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