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Food
Mister Donut ready to make hojicha dreams come true in latest collab with Kyoto tea merchant
Last month, Japanese donut chain Mister Donut launched the latest incarnation of its Misdo Meets confectionary collaboration series, this time a partnership with Kyoto tea merchant Gion Tsujiri. However, as we all know mankind’s desire for donuts and tea-flavored sweets knows no limits, and so Misdo Meets Gion Tsujiri is back with another batch of brand-new temptations… Read
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
Tokyo is an amazing city from just about any angle, but it’s especially impressive wen viewed from above, high up enough that you can get a sense of its massive scale. So when we heard that a new sky lounge had just opened up in downtown, we were eager to check… Read
Fermented foods sustain both microbiomes and cultural heritage
Many people around the world make and eat fermented foods. Millions in Korea alone make kimchi. The cultural heritage of these picklers shape not only what they eat every time they crack open a jar but also something much, much smaller: their microbiomes. On the microbial scale, we are what… Read
We tried Japan’s Strawberry Daifuku? liqueur, one of three dessert-themed liqueurs
Japan is definitely the place to look for unique liqueur flavors like cherry blossom and matcha, but did you know you can find dessert-themed ones as well? Japanese alcohol company Ume no Yado recently released a series of three dessert-themed liqueurs–Strawberry Daifuku?, Apple Pie?, and Pineapple Cake?–and our Japanese-language reporter Maro knew she had to try the… Read
Roast Italian sausages over potatoes and peppers for a flavorful one-pan supper
Traybakes are a great dinner solution when you can’t or won’t spend time at the stovetop. With this mostly hands-off technique, the ingredients are combined on a single baking sheet, then roasted in the oven. In this recipe from our book “Cook What You Have,” which draws on pantry staples… Read
Kyushu-exclusive Black Mont Blanc goes nationwide in a 'Special' way
Across Japan there various regions that are said to produce food with a quality or certain flair compared to the rest of the country. And then, there are some foods that don’t even exist outside of certain regions. One example of this is Black Mont Blanc. This bilingually oxymoronic ice cream bar can… Read
Japanese convenience store packs whole bento into onigiri rice ball
Japanese convenience stores are great places to pick up an onigiri rice ball, but you’ll need some extra muscle to pick up the newest one at Lawson, which crams an entire bento inside it. Released on 2 April, the “Whole Mentai Noriben” contains all the same ingredients as a nori bento, more… Read
Your morning coffee may be more than a half million years old
That coffee you slurped this morning? It’s 600,000 years old. Using genes from coffee plants around the world, researchers built a family tree for the world's most popular type of coffee, known to scientists as Coffea arabica and to coffee lovers simply as “arabica.” The researchers, hoping to learn more… Read
We try out Chan Ramen, an underground type of ramen popular in the ramen community
Our reporter P.K. Sanjun loves ramen a bit more than the average person. He loves it so much that he tries to learn about all types of ramen out there, even the more obscure ones like chocolate ramen. He recently learned about Chan-kei Ramen (the suffix kei literally means “group”, and is used… Read
Starbucks adds matcha and pistachio milk tea latte to menu in Japan for limited time
With the cool weather continuing in Japan, summer still seems a long way off, but that hasn’t stopped Starbucks from getting ahead of the season with a new summer-exclusive beverage. Called the Matcha & Crushed Pistachio Milk Tea Latte, the new beverage will be on the menu at the chain’s Tea & Cafe branches. Currently,… Read
