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Lawson convenience stores sell a mega katsu sando, and there’s a hack to get it cheap in Japan

This beast puts convenience store egg sandwiches to shame.In a climate of rising costs and prices, it can be hard to find a good deal in Japan these days. So when Lawson announced it would be holding a “Morisugi Challenge“, which loosely translates as “Overfill Challenge“, we immediately headed out to our local branch to check it out.▼ The “Overfill Challenge” upsizes select items by 50 percent at no extra cost.The challenge began on 26 January, running over f

A look back on 40 years of Japanese schools banning stuff

Mr. Sato leads an office roundtable discussion on weird things Japanese schools have said “Nope, you can’t do that” about.As we’ve touched on recently, Japan is currently in the grip of sticker fever, with people across the nation newly enthralled with collecting and exchanging cute little adhesive seals, especially the ones with some puffiness to them. While adults are not immune to sticker fever, it’s kids who feel the appeal most strongly, and as is so often the case when kids en masse find s

Japan manners debate: Is it OK to put a Mister Donut donut back on the shelf after taking it?

Mister Donut is Japan’s most broadly loved donut chain, but this kind of behavior is more divisive.Recently, a debate broke out online in Japan regarding Mister Donut. The topic wasn’t whether or not its donuts are good, as Mister Donut, being Japan’s largest donut chain for several decades now, has got plenty of fans. No, the question was whether or not it’s OK to take a donut from the shelf, put it on your tray, and then change your mind and put it back on the shelf without buying it.For those

7-Eleven Japan sells freshly baked pizzas…but are they any good?

A convenience store find waiting to be discovered by customers.On a recent convenience store run to a local 7-Eleven, we came across a sign in front of the counter telling us that they offer freshly baked pizzas. We immediately whipped out our phone to find out more about this new revelation, and after a quick search online, we discovered it was a service that started around a year ago.▼ However, as it’s not available in all stores it remains under the radar for most customers.Always hungr

Krispy Kreme Japan’s sakura donuts are almost here!

Cherry blossom donuts scheduled to arrive well before the cherry blossoms themselves, but we’re not complaining.Even though they only bloom for about two weeks, cherry blossoms captivate people’s minds for a much longer time. As we get closer to the start of cherry blossom season, anticipation builds and builds, to the point where you can almost taste sakura.And that won’t just be metaphorically speaking soon, as Krispy Kreme Japan will be baking up batches of sakura donuts before the month is o

Take a trip to Japan’s Dododo Land, the most irritating place on Earth

Have fun and feel annoyed at the same time!It seems like these are especially stressful times, no matter where you are or what your background is. Whether it’s from unreasonable behavior, things not turning out as you expect, or being the victim of someone’s cruel actions, we all are inflicted with feelings ranging from mild irritation to raging anger every now and then.And here to celebrate this part of the human experience is Dododo Land, a temporary exhibit at the Seibu department store in To

Family Mart releases huge range of cute sweets for Cat Day in Japan

Convenience store chain wants us to bite into paw pads and cat tails in this limited-edition 17-piece collection. In Japan, cats are held in such high regard that they even have their own day dedicated to them, with 22 February known asCat Day, due to the way the numbers “ni ni ni” (“two, two, two”) sound like “nyan nyan nyan” (“meowmeow meow”).While it’s an ideal day to spoil your special fur babies, it’s also a day to treat yourself to the healing powers of

Downloads of 39-year-old Guns N’ Roses song increase 12,166 percent thanks to Gundam

Gundam and Roses.With Japanese animation having become a very big business, the promotional blitz for theatrical anime　regularly includes hyping up the movie’s ending theme. It’ll play in the background of the trailer and TV commercials, and the recording artist will usually release a statement saying how excited they were to be approached for the project, and often wax poetic about how much they’ve been enjoying the franchise or reminisce on how important anime was to them growing up.But in the

Japan’s first all-matcha ramen restaurant is now open in Kyoto【Photos】

Ramen Nishiki Sui has a very fitting name.You could make an argument that ramen has passed up sushi as Japanese cuisine’s representative dish, and matcha green tea has long been the beverage with the most cultural significance in the country. So should you find yourself wanting to experience both of them at the same time, you’ll be happy to know that Japan’s first all-matcha ramen restaurant is now open.Fittingly, this combination of two very Japanese elements that have become very popular overs

A spotlight on Japanese singles figure skating: Jumping into the 2026 Olympics【Pt. II】

In this two-part series just in time for the 2026 Winter Olympics, we’re taking a look at Japanese skaters who have shaped the sport past and present.Welcome back to this spotlight on Japanese figure skating in tandem with the 2026 Winter Olympics!In Pt. I, we explored six Japanese singles skaters that have left their mark on the sport, along with a brief intro to major international competitions and the six basic types of jumps.This time, we’re sharing brief intros of the men’

A robot joins the team at a fast-food restaurant, but in an unlikely city in northern Japan

OriHime arrives at a local Mos Burger to test the future of inclusive work.For technological experiments, Morioka is probably not the first choice that people would think of—in fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find it within a list of the top 20 cities people would come up with. That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with it. I used to live there myself and it’s a beautiful city with a stunning view of Mt. Iwate, but being tucked away in Iwate, one of Japan’s northernmost prefectures, it’s

Ramen shop manager arrested for punching self in the face and pretending he was robbed

He should have punched harder and knocked some sense into himself.They say times are especially tough in the ramen business, with steadily soaring food prices and an intensely competitive market that demands prices be kept low. But let’s not overlook one silent victim in all this: a would-be scam artist working in a ramen restaurant who could barely get away with skimming profit when there isn’t much to begin with. These desperate times have apparently called for some really desperate measures.O

Huge Evangelion Unit-01 head appearing in lights in Japan to celebrate anime’s 30th anniversary

The Minato Mirai neighborhood is looking extra futuristic with Eva light-up and fireworks.In the grand scheme of things, there really isn’t all that much Evangelion anime. There was the original anime TV series that ran for 26 episodes, which was followed by two theatrical features made largely of recycled footage. 1997 brought the in-hindsight ironically named The End of Evangelion film, and then there were the four anime movies collectively called the Rebuild of Evangelion, which wrapped up in

Chocolate Totoro cream puffs and cakes coming to Japan’s Ghibli bakery for Valentine’s Day【Pics】

Totoro is looking sweeter than ever.In Japan, you don’t need to be in love in order to love Valentine’s Day, since the day is as much about chocolate as it is romance. So regardless of whether or not you’ve found your soulmate, you can make some sweet Valentine’s memories with a special someone: Totoro.Shirohige’s Cream Puff Factory, the Tokyo sweets shop run by relatives of Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, has revealed its lineup of special Valentine’s Day chocolate treats for this year

McDonald’s Japan partners with anime English teacher, but did they commit a cultural error?[Video]

Ellen-sensei is the latest otaku spokesperson for McDonald’s, but there’s one organization she’d never endorse.McDonald’s Japan has been warmly embracing otaku culture as of late. Tie-ups with mega-hits such as Dragon Quest and Pokémon seem like obvious fits, but the fast food giant has also shown that it’s comfortable with franchises a little farther outside the family-focused mainstream, such as Evangelion and Kimagure Orange Road.But McDonald’s Japan is going especially deep into the otaku ic

Japan’s most famous Mt. Fuji view park cancels cherry blossom festival because of overtourism

In-home trespassing, public urination, and other bad manners bring an end to a local tradition.If you’ve got even a little bit of interest in traveling in Japan, odds are that on multiple times over the past few years you’ve seen a photo taken from the exact same vantage point as the one above, with a five-story pagoda in the foreground, a grove of cherry blossom trees at its base, and off in the distance, Mt. Fuji, with its peak shrouded in snow.It’s such a concise concentration of traditional

Act of Japanese kindness touches one man’s heart, provides hope for elevator etiquette

The fate of the first to board has long been a problem in Japan, but this could be the solution. A curious thing happens in elevators – once you’re in there, and someone who wants to board is about to miss the closing doors, you’re able to extend a gesture of kindness by pressing the “open” button so they’re able to catch the lift they otherwise would’ve missed.In Japan, though, this act of kindness can work against you, because an unspoken rule of etiquette d

Naruto jerseys coming to Major Leage Baseball theme nights, Hello Kitty to take over a field

The Brewers believe it!There are all sorts of fighting skills that come in handy for ninja, from hand-to-hand combat to proficiency with throwing stars, explosives, or supernatural ninpo spells. But more than anything, the definitive shinobi talent is stealth. True ninja must be so adept at infiltration that they can suddenly appear anywhere, even where you’d least expect them…like at a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game.We’ve still got a month-plus until the start of the 2026 MLB season, but

Three beautiful places to see Japan’s plum blossoms after starting your day in downtown Tokyo

It’s time to go out and see the ume.Pretty much as soon as the new year starts, people in Japan start looking ahead to sakura season, and with good reason, as the cherry blossoms are Japan’s most famous flowers. They’re not the country’s only beautiful flora, though, and if you want to head out and see some breathtaking blossoms without waiting for winter to wrap up, we’re getting into the best time of year to see ume, or plum blossoms.Plum blossoms tend to start blooming in late January or earl

Is China’s don’t-go-to-Japan warning affecting the lines at a popular Tokyo gyukatsu restaurant?

We investigate whether now is a good time to grab some beef cutlets in a popular tourist area of Tokyo.Given the unprecedented numbers of foreign tourists in Japan over the past year, we’ve been curious to see how the recent Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ warning to Chinese citizens not to visit Japan in the midst of a diplomatic dispute has been affecting the crowds at some of the most popular Tokyo sites for inbound tourists. We’ve also recently begun checking out the i