Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
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We’ve talked before about kaitenzushi, Japan’s class of restaurants where customers grab whatever sushi they want off a conveyer belt that parades the plates before them. Quick, easy, and fun, kaitenzushi has seen its popularity soar in the last couple of years.
But as kaitenzushi joints proliferate across the country, one restaurant in Mie Prefecture has decided to take the system and give it a completely new menu, by creating a revolving yakiniku, or Korean barbecue, restaurant.
Japanese Internet shoppers thought they got an amazing deal last month when they paid just 1,000 yen (US$10) for a 18,840 yen package of three premium Japanese steaks. Word of the 95 percent discount on the shopping site Rakuten Ichiba spread like wildfire with a flurry of tweets, blog posts and message board announcements. Alas, things were not quite as they seemed.
While hamburger chains like McDonald’s Japan may be forever shaving yen off their prices and launching campaigns like free hamburgers and coffee, stores like Yoshinoya and Sukiya, home of the original Japanese fast food, gyūdon, are about to become a little more expensive.
The stores, which have been locked in fierce price wars for years, have, until recently, hoped to attract customers by offering rock-bottom prices and seasonal offers, but are beginning to feel the strain.
Is the businessman’s staple dish about to get a dash of sophistication? Or will the same-old beef bowl simply receive a bigger price tag?
Going into a Yakiniku restaurant (a Korean-style BBQ joint) in Japan, you’re usually greeted/slapped in the face with a long menu with many different choices – various parts from various edible animals. Actually, unless you have some strong or specific dislikes, choosing at random can still be a very delicious and fun experience. You may even start to remember which cuts of meat you prefer. One restaurant has now come up with a clever way you can enjoy a taster from all the various parts of a cow while learning exactly where they all came from. Read More
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