Azia Phreak Mail Surver

Viral tweet suggests Japanese convenience store ripping off customers with donuts, so we investigate

Photo shows Family Mart chocolate donut looking nothing like its packaging, but was that by design?It’d be an exaggeration to say that Japan’s love affair with its convenience stores is over, but the relationship isn’t quite as rosy as it used to be. Over the last few years, the trend has been towards rising prices, shrinking sizes, and an overall lower level of satisfaction among shoppers. In some cases, major convenience store chains have come under fire for deceptive packaging or presentation

Lipton releases… Pudding Milk Tea in Japan?!?

Lipton caters to the Japanese market with an exclusive new dessert beverage.Lipton has come a long way since it was founded by Sir Thomas Lipton in Scotland in 1871, expanding to become known as a leading tea brand in countries around the world, including Japan.Like many big global brands, Lipton specifically caters to the Japanese market with exclusive offerings you won’t find anywhere else, and right now there’s a new release that will have tea connoisseurs clutching their china te

Shinto shrine will bless your bike helmet and give you a sacred bike helmet stamp

Pray to get ahead or to keep your head.Bicycle helmets have really taken off recently. In the months leading up to Japan’s stricter cycling violation penalties, I noticed many more people around me wearing them, and after the laws went into effect, they even started selling out in a lot of stores. That’s great to see as it’s a simple way to potentially save lives.But is it enough to have a carefully designed and rigorously tested artificial shell forming a protective barrier around your cranium?

Bandai cancels gacha/blind-buy system for anime cosmetics, will let fans choose what they buy

Reversal of policy for new Chara Cosme releases follows survey showing immense dislike for randomized merch purchases.Bandai is one of Japan’s biggest anime and video game publishers, which dovetails nicely with their role as the country’s largest toymaker. However, Bandai doesn’t just leverage the appeal of its anime and game casts into making plushies and figures, as they also have a cosmetics division, called CreerBeaute, that offers character-themed makeup products.For example, CreerBeaute i

Retro-style Evangelion T-shirts coming to Uniqlo sister brand GU[Photos]

Vintage-look shirts celebrate the original vintage of the landmark anime series.As one of the most popular anime series of all time, Evangelion has had plenty of remasters and visual upgrades over the years. But way back in the beginning, viewers were watching the original series on CRT TVs, either as part of its original TV broadcast in Japan or on VHS tapes (of either the fansubbed or professionally released variety).So for many long-time Eva fans, their memories of the series have a measure o

Only five branches of Japan’s beef bowl giant Matsuya serve milk shakes, but how do they taste?

Matsuya makes the step from beefy bowls to milky drinks, but only at select locations for now.Hamburgers and milk shakes have been happily coexisting on fast food restaurant menus for generations…so why not add them to the offerings at other beef-centric eateries? This week Matsuya, one of Japan’s big-three gyudon/beef bowl chains and rival to Yoshinoya and Sukiya, started serving up a brand-new line of milk shakes.▼ Matsu シェイク = Matsu ShakeWell, it sort of started serving them up. Matsuya

Japan’s Mister Donut Japan tries its hand at Taiwanese-style street food donuts

Do they live up to the hype of their Taiwanese inspiration?Taiwan has a bustling street food scene, and some of the more popular items that’ve risen to prominence are the milk donuts covered generously in a milk sugar coating.Our Japanese-language reporter Yui Imai, who often finds herself shuttling back and forth between the two countries, Yui Imai, has eaten them frequently due to how irresistibly delicious they are, so when she learned of Mister Donut selling a new type of airy donut taking i

Police in Japan summoned to deal with bank intruder…who is also a deer[Video]

Local residents thought a robbery was in progress when they saw police cars outside the bank, but something even more unexpected was going on.For the most part, Japan is a very safe country. However, there is still a universal police emergency phone number, 110, and at approximately 12:15 in the afternoon on April 27, a call came in reporting an intruder at a bank in the town of Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture.The intruder had entered the Kashiwazaki Higashi branch of regional bank Daishi Hokuet

Live-action Ghibli Princess Mononoke stage play tickets are now on sale

Advance tickets for the latest Studio Ghibli screen-to-stage anime adaptation show up earlier than expected.For a group of artists so strongly associated with a single medium, anime films, Studio Ghibli’s works have proven to be surprisingly suited to live-theater adaptations. So far My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind have all made the transition from the screen to the stage with thunderous applause from critics and audiences, and soon it’s going to be Prin

Japan enters Golden Week vacation period, survey shows one in three plan to ride it out at home

Japan’s all-for-fun spring holiday season is a little tarnished these days.Japan has three major vacation periods, but two of them come with social obligations. For both Oshogatsu (the New Year’s holiday period) and Obon (which takes place in early August), tradition holds that you’re supposed to go back to your hometown and spend a week or so reconnecting with parents, grandparents, and other extended family members.That leaves Golden Week, the string of spring holidays that straddles the end o

Studio Ghibli releases new anime keychains that are like miniature figurines

Special collection includes the Spirited Away train that lights up at the push of a button.In Japan, keychains are hardly ever dull and boring, and right now Studio Ghibli is showing us just how good they can be, with a brand new release through Donguri Kyowakoku, the studio’s specialty retail chain.There are three new keychains to choose from, covering three of the studio’s most popular films. Making them even more special is the fact that each one has a cute interactive element, so

Japan’s new Pokémon jackets give you the look and powers of the Kanto starter trio

Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle jackets won’t be available in stores, though.Over the years, there’s been quite a lot of Pokémon fashion for fans to wear. But while most Poké-pparel is only concerned with the aesthetics of popular Pocket Monster species, a new line of jackets looks to give you a taste of their powers too.These creative designs are part of a collaboration between Pokémon and beverage maker Suntory’s Boss canned coffee. Boss has been giving away branded jackets as part of its

War in Iran threatening Japan’s pudding production

If you don’t end the war, you can’t have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don’t end the war?!There are few desserts as beloved in Japan as pudding, though I always have to go through the long-winded discussion that this “pudding” is actually purin. It’s a type of firm custard served with a caramel topping and similar to a creme caramel or flan in other countries.Its soft texture and gentle sweetness make it a treat that people of all ages can enjoy, and it has earned a long-stand

Tokyo store makes you to pass a quiz in order to buy Pokémon cards as part of anti-scalper policy

As new shipment of Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion packs comes in, Bic Camera makes a new rule.In a perfect world, the launch of a new Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion would be a time of unmitigated joy. New cards give veterans additional strategies and gameplay wrinkles to ponder and experiment with, and also give new players an occasion to jump into the game, which should lead to a healthy, robust fanbase.And yet, the modern world being what it is, new Pokémon cards also attract scalper

Dorayaki from 89-year-old Japanese confectionery shop is one of the best sweets hidden in Tokyo

Filled with a special “phantom butter” from Calpis, you won’t find a treat like this anywhere else in Japan. If there’s one thing we love as much as the bright lights and modern convenience of Tokyo, it’s the old retro finds you can discover in between. In these little hideaway areas you can get a feel, and a taste, of Japan the way it used to be, and one place that retains that old-school charm is a confectionery store called Sennari Monaka.Established in 1937, thi

An interview with Evangelion’s composer, Shiro Sagisu

Our anime-loving musician reporter sits down for a talk with an anime music legend.Two of our Japanese-language reporter Seiji Nakazawa’s favorite things in life are music and anime. So when he checked his email inbox and saw that he’d gotten an invitation to Back to Neon Genesis, an Evangelion musical retrospective held in Osaka held at the end of March, there was no way he was going to say no…even though he felt a little nervous about the trip.See, Seiji wasn’t just going to be attending

Make-them-yourself Pokémon frappes arrive at Japanese convenience stores, can be mixed at home too

Family Mart’s Pokémon Pokopia dessert drinks are supposed to be mixed in-store, but there’s an alternative.Japanese convenience store Family Mart gave us not just one, but two reasons to stop by on April 28, with the release of a pair of Pokémon-themed dessert drinks. Additions to the chain’s Famima Frappe line, these two new beverages are tie-ins with Pokémon Pokopia, the town-building Pokémon spinoff in which you play as a community-minded Ditto, and both the Strawberry and Ramune Soda Famima

Finnish design brand Iittala partners with Pokémon for a golden first collaborative tableware set

The brand’s Origo line of bold-patterned tableware makes for a shockingly good partner with the world’s favorite Pokémon.Finnish design brand Iittala, originally founded as a glassware company in 1881, is bringing its design A game to Pokémon’s 30th anniversary party this year.Three collaborative products are being released under the brand’s series of Origo tableware in Japan, which is beloved for its bold, striped patterns and functional designs that blend in effortlessl

Second-generation sumo burger coming to Burger King Japan with return of Baby Body Burger

New collaboration with Japan Sumo Association is even more deacdent than the last.Sumo is a cultural tradition with centuries of history of ceremony, and also a deep, complex sport with dozens of power, footwork, and strategic techniques compressed into every bout. And yet, it’s almost impossible to watch a sumo match and not be thinking, at least a little bit, about food.That’s an unavoidable side effect of a sport in which sheer mass is a prerequisite for reaching the highest levels of competi

This Mother’s Day, why not give the gift of a single, really expensive, never-picked mango?

Get your mother the mother of all mangoes.Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and some of you might be in a bit of a panic, trying to think of the perfect present. You’re probably already given her some novelty fishing lures or a backpack shaped like a steak, and wonder what original gift could there possibly be left.Well, we have just the solution for what to give the mother who has everything: a mango!This is hardly your average mango, however. It is a Miyazaki Ripe Mango (Miyazaki Kanjuku