Mister Donut’s strongest-ever matcha doughnuts are so intense they’ll bind with your DNA

A whole new sensation for green tea lovers.

For the past eight years, the “Misdo Meets Gion Tsujiri” series of doughnuts at Mister Donut, Japan’s premier doughnut chain, has become an annual spring tradition. As one of the country’s most longstanding and respectable green tea purveyors, Kyoto-based Gion Tsujiri brings nothing but quality to its goods, so we’re always assured the collection will be tasty, but this year they’ve truly outdone themselves, with a range that includes its strongest matcha doughnuts ever.

The five new doughnuts went on sale on 27 March, and our matcha-loving reporter Egawa Tasuku was one of the first in line to buy them all, in the “Misdo Meets Gion Tsujiri First Release Set“, which retails for 1,143 yen (US$7.55).

The collection contains three Pon-de Ring doughnuts and two “Okoi” doughnuts, so-called as as they’re “okoi”, the word used to describe something with a rich colour or deep flavour.

Let’s begin the proceedings by trying the Pon-de Ring doughnuts, starting with the Pon de Double Uji Matcha, which can also be purchased on its own for 205 yen for takeout or 209 yen for eat-in.

This one isn’t too much of a departure from the chain’s usual Pon de Ring doughnuts, which use this same shape and have the coating on the top portion of the doughnut. However, the taste of the high-quality Uji-sourced matcha in the chocolate coating elevates this variety above all the other Pon-de-Rings on the regular menu.

▼ Next up, we have the Pon de Uji Matcha Crispy Arare (216 yen for takeout; 220 yen for eat-in).

The tiny pieces of arare (literally “hail” but also the name for rice crackers made with glutinous rice) provide an intense crunch that’s totally off the scale. Egawa says he’s never had a doughnut with such an amazingly crunchy texture, describing it as a “new sensation” for his taste buds.

The Final Pon de Ring in this series is the Pon de Uji Matcha Wasanbon Warabimochi (226 yen for takeout; 231 yen for eat-in).

Unlike the previous two, this doughnut has a sandwich-like structure, with a dusting of kinako (roasted soybean flour) on the outside…

…and a filling that contains matcha whipped cream and wasanbon warabi mochi (wasanbon is a fine-grained Japanese sugar, while warabi mochi is a jelly-like bracken starch flour rice cake).

With a moist texture, fresh sweetness, and delicious, Japanese-style flavour, this was one of Egawa’s favourites in the collection, and one he highly recommends trying.

Now we move on to the chain’s strongest-ever matcha doughnuts, which are so special they’re packed in cardboard boxes.

▼ First up is the Okoi Doughnut Fluffy Matcha Whip (248 yen for takeout and 253 for eat-in).

With a matcha chocolate drizzle and dusting of icing sugar, this was a beautiful-looking doughnut.

However, the true beauty can be found inside, where a very Japanese combination awaits.

The moreishness of the adzuki red bean paste and the soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture of the rich matcha whipped cream pair beautifully with the sweet marron glacé, which is subtly mixed in with the red bean paste. Combined with the extra-rich matcha dough, this one imparts an intense green tea flavour, which is dialled down only slightly by the other ingredients.

The final doughnut in the collection is also its most impressive.

▼ The Okoi Doughnut with Thick Matcha Cream (248 yen for takeout; 253 yen for eat-in).

Another beautiful-looking doughnut, this time with a dark green matcha chocolate coating and milk chocolate embellishment.

The bottom of the doughnut is kept free of accoutrements, which led Egawa to wonder how intense the matcha might be.

Tearing it apart for a look at what it concealed inside, Egawa’s eyes were bathed in the glow of green, which was evident in the dough, the chocolate, and the cream.

The placement of the cream was a sight to behold, having been piped around the top of the doughnut, before being covered in matcha chocolate. This green-on-green-on-green doughnut provided an explosion of texture and flavours, dialling up the matcha intensity on Egawa’s taste buds to a level he never thought possible.

This was another doughnut that Egawa described as a “new sensation”, having never seen, let alone eaten, anything like it before. It was his favourite of the lot, and if you’re going to try one doughnut in the collection, Egawa says it has to be this one.

While Egawa certainly had his favourites, he had high praise for all the doughnuts in the collection, and after eating his way through all five of them he now feels as if the matcha has entrenched itself deep within his system, binding with his DNA.

As a matcha lover, he’s okay with being part man part matcha, and with the chain releasing a second, yet-to-be-revealed series of matcha doughnuts from 24 April, he can’t wait to do it all again in less than a month’s time. For now, though, this range of doughnuts will be on the menu to satisfy all your matcha cravings until late May.

Related: Mister Donut
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McDonald’s Japan made two almost identical commercials, with one tiny, touching difference【Vids】

A taste, and words, to remind everyone of home.

For the most part, companies in Japan don’t do region-specific TV commercials. The country is geographically small enough that what works in one part of the nation is generally thought to work well in another.

But McDonald’s Japan recently produced two versions of their newest ad, one for Kanto (east Japan), and one for Kansai (the area around Osaka).

See if you can spot the difference.

▼ Kanto commercial

▼ Kansai commercial

Both commercials show a young woman who’s just moved out of her parents’ house and is off to the big city, either for college or work. Feeling daunted by the unfamiliarity of her new surroundings and lifestyle, she steps into a McDonald’s branch for some comfort food and an atmosphere she’s used to. “Everything feels different in this town. But in here, it smells the same as it did in my hometown”, her narration says.

The difference comes at the 24-second mark, when she says, “When you’re homesick, McDonald’s makes you feel a little better.” Ordinarily, in Japanese this would be “Makudonardo wa homushikku ni sukoshi kiku,” but even Japanese people feel like “Makudonarudo,” the Japanese pronunciation of “McDonald’s,” is a mouthful. That’s why in conversation, most people just call the chain “Makku,” which is why the woman in the commercial says, “Makku wa, homushikku ni sukoshi kiku.”

Or at least that’s what she says in the Kanto ad. That’s because “Makku” is the chain’s nickname in Kanto. In Kansai, “Makudo” is the nickname that’s stuck, so McDonald’s went to the trouble of rerecording the commercial’s last line for the version airing in Kansai, with the woman saying “Makudo wa, homushikku ni sukoshi kiku.”

You can also spot the two different nicknames in the on-screen text at the end of the commercials, with マック/Makku in the Kanto video and マクド/Makudo in the Kansai one.

Even though the Makku and Makudo nicknames are localized, petty much everyone in Japan has heard of both of them, and so McDonald’s didn’t really need to make two different versions of the commercial for its narration to be understood. But with the comfort of what you’re used to being their theme, it’s nice that they went to the extra effort to make them feel extra-familiar to whoever’s watching.

Source: YouTube/マクドナルド公式(McDonald’s) (1, 2) via IT Media
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Japanese company uses “crow language” to keep them away from garbage 【Video】

Crow scare crow.

Over the years, people in Japan have been having an increasingly hard time co-existing with the sizable crows here. I mean “sizable” both in terms of population and the fact that they’re pretty big. They’ve been known to cause trouble for everyone from Pokémon GO players to our own staff, but they’re especially problematic on trash day.

When everyone puts their garbage bags curbside it becomes a paradise for the scavenger birds, who tear through the bags with their large beaks and pluck out whatever they want, leaving a huge mess in the process.

The standard method of prevention is to put a special net over the bags that makes it hard for crows to get into the bags. However, being the clever birds they are, they’ve been learning how to pull the bags out from under the nets through the sides.

▼ I caught these guys having a garbage party the other day. I’m not sure if they lifted the yellow net right off themselves, or if the person just forgot to put it on.

In Adachi, Tokyo, this has been an especially pressing problem, and local officials have been hard at work finding alternative countermeasures for these big birds.

Studying crow behavior, it was found that they have a high regard for personal space and don’t like things coming in contact with their bodies. So officials tried hanging objects like brushes to dangle just above the trash piles. Initially, the crows were hesitant to bump up against the obstacles, but over time got used to them and it was back to business as usual.

This is where CrowLab, a crow damage consulting firm in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture, was called in to help, with their CrowController system. Developed by studying crows for 20 years and collecting over 10,000 of their voice samples, CrowController is a shoe-box-sized speaker that literally tells the crows to go away in their own language.

CrowLab was able to isolate the specific cries that crows use to communicate when a threat such as a cat or hawk is nearby. If a crow comes close to CrowController, a motion sensor triggers an audio recording of that cry to tell the real crows that the area is not safe. In a trial period from June to September of last year, Adachi found that CrowController had immediate effects in some of their most crow-ravaged garbage collection points.

▼ CrowController in action: It’s the little grey box off to the side.

Not only that, but it seemed to have improved human behavior as well. Since people also trigger the CrowController sound, they also think crows are nearby and become extra careful about putting the garbage more properly and securely under their nets than before.

While the results are very promising so far, readers of the news online are skeptical that crows can be fooled forever.

“Crows are smart! It works for now…”
“I hope it works for a long time because crows have a lot of intelligence.”
“That’s impressive, but I’m worried it’ll lead to an ecological imbalance.”
“I want a crow-translation machine too!”
“I’m sure they’ll learn soon.”
“Caw! Caw!”
“It would be nice if the crows never got used to this.”

Perhaps the effectiveness would boil down to how sophisticated CrowController’s design is. If the motion sensor and audio files are always the same, the birds might be able to recognize the patterns eventually and find a way around them. But, if there’s an element of randomness when, where, and how the crow cries are played, it could keep them on their toes for a while.

Ultimately the proof will be in how prevalent CrowController becomes across the country. Adachi has already purchased five units and if they continue to work as well as they have been, one of these boxes may come to a street corner near you in the future.

Source: CrowLab, Yomiuri Shimbun Online, Twitter/@livedoornews, My Game News Flash
Featured image: Pakutaso
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Cappuccino Ramen becomes super popular in Japan, but is it worth the hype?

An “only in Japan” type of meal is going viral on social media.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from all the weird and wonderful meals that tend to go viral on social media, it’s that sometimes their taste isn’t quite as spectacular as their jaw-dropping looks.

So when we saw that a restaurant in Tokyo called Rahmen & Onigiri Eddie was going viral for its Cappuccino Ramen, we went in with low expectations.

▼ Will Rahmen Eddie have the last laugh?

Rahmen Eddie only recently opened in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Gyoen area, but it’s already drawing customers.

Right after the store opened on a weekday, there were already about four customers in front of us, despite the fact that it was a miserable, rainy day. Still, we couldn’t think of anything better to counteract the weather than a bowl of ramen, or maybe a cup of joe, so in a sense, it wasn’t surprising.

▼ The Cappuccino Ramen is like the best of both worlds, with the look of a frothy coffee but the taste of a bowl of noodles.

Served in an oversized mug, it only took around 10 minutes to receive our Cappuccino Ramen, which cost 1,380 yen (US$9.11). It looked absolutely gorgeous, and adding even more chic sophistication to the meal was the glass on the side, which contained truffle oil.

▼ Served separately, so you can adjust the flavour to your liking.

The first mouthful is a bit of a mind-bender, because the frothy look of the topping deceives your taste buds into expecting a milky flavour, but it’s actually frothed egg whites, which, despite being termed as “meringue” by the restaurant, is neither sweet nor dessert-like.

The frothy topping acts like a vehicle for the spices to gently melt into the broth, which is creamy and packed with the rich, delicious flavour of porcini mushrooms.

The broth tasted so good we’d happily eat it on its own, but when slurped up with the noodles, which were thin and hard-boiled, the deliciously springy texture added even more excitement to the palate.

The combination of broth and noodles was wonderfully rich, and though we’d initially thought the frothy topping may have been just a gimmick, we realised that because it was piping hot, it helped to keep the ramen warm as we ate it.

Though it was delicious, some diners might feel the richness becomes a little monotonous towards the end, so the truffle oil was a nice touch, adding an accent of flavour to keep the taste buds interested.

▼ As the eatery specialises in both ramen and onigiri, we ordered two types of onigiri on the side, for an additional 270 yen each.

The restaurant recommends adding rice balls to your ramen order, and we were glad we did, because not only did they help to fill us up, they were absolutely delicious. The Egg Yolk variety is particularly popular, along with the Green Onion Chashu, and they turned out to be perfect partners for our meal, given that egg and chashu pork are often used as ramen toppings.

So in the end, Rahmen Eddie helped us to “start the day with a good laugh” while having the last laugh as well. It was a chic meal served in equally chic surroundings, and it far exceeded our expectations so we thoroughly recommend visiting. You’ll want to get in early, though, especially on weekends, as the restaurant fills up quickly, which is what you’d expect from a viral meal!

Restaurant information
Rahmen & Onigiri Eddie Shinjuku Gyoen Store / Rahmen & Onigiri Eddie新宿御苑店
Address: Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku 1-11-7, Sansara No. 5 Gyoen Building, Ground Floor
東京都新宿区新宿1-11-7 サンサーラ第5御苑ビル1F
Open 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. (irregular holidays)
Website

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New Ghibli T-shirts let you carry No Face and the Levitation Stone in your pocket

Anime secrets hidden in the pockets of these shirts add flair to your streetwear.

As much as we love to wear our love for Studio Ghibli on our sleeve, we don’t always want it to be glaringly obvious and an affront to our fashion sensibilities. That’s where Ghibli’s American casual line GBL steps in, with styles that look cool while blending some of our favourite characters seamlessly with streetwear. 

Their latest release is even more subtle than usual, consisting of two T-shirts with pockets that don’t look that unusual from a distance.

Come a little closer, though, and you’ll begin to see some unusual details.

Peeking out of the pocket is something that a passerby might admire as the rays of the sun.

Inside, though, your secret is kept safe, because nobody but you will know you’re carrying a Levistone in your pocket!

Similarly, the black T-shirt simply looks like a trendy top with a cool embellishment on the pocket to passersby.

But up close, No Face reveals itself above the pocket…

…and on the pocket, its hands are filled with gold.

Inside is another surprise…

▼ …the gold-hungry frog, Aogaeru!

Both the Levistone and No Face Poke Shishuu T-shirts (“poke” stands for “pocket” while “shishuu” means “embroidery”) are made from 100-percent cotton and produced in association with Good On, a company known for its high quality T-shirts, made with a  spacial manufacturing method.

Priced at 10,450 yen (US$69.01) each, the T-shirts will be available in small through to extra large sizes at GBL stores in Tokyo and online from 30 March.

Related: GBL Store List
Source: Instagram/gbl.tokyo
Featured image: Instagram/gbl.tokyo

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