Eating My Way Through Tokyo

So are any of you ladies out there nearing the ripe old age of 25 and are STILL unmarried? (cue gasps of horror) If this were Japan in the 1980s, then you would be compared to a stale Christmas cake that no one wants anymore. You better hurry once you reach your "Christmas Eve" (24), otherwise no sane man will want to marry you after 25.

This is something new I learned yesterday, the kind phrases that people have coined here for women reaching their spinsterhood. I don't know if any of you out there have heard this phrase before, so if you have I'd love to hear stories. After a bit of research and reading up on the good ol' net, I managed to turn up the sad but true info. Please keep in mind though, using the "Christmas Eve"/Christmas cake phrase is VERY out of date now.

Instead, consider "New Year's Eve", where 31 is the new 25! Do you think that is really a big step for women's liberation in Japan?

(referenced from/and further reading: here, here, and here.)

Something that I think is interesting here is how many different flavors you can get from a brand that you're familiar with having only ONE flavor at home. Mostly I think it has to do with the fact that foreigners want a different flavor, and/or don't care so much for the ONE flavor at home. But here, there are different flavors of Kit Kats (ginger ale anyone?), Lipton teas, and...soda! As pictured here, Pepsi has offered different flavors before and has brought out yet another different flavor. Here we've got azuki (red bean) flavored Pepsi. If you're getting a gross-out knee jerk reaction, then please, control yourself. I know these kinds of things would never fly at home, because so many people are easily grossed out by trying something different. So how did trying this drink go? Not bad! First of all, I'm a fan of red bean and pretty much grew up on it. It basically tasted like a fizzy red bean drink with a slight splash of cola.

First off, credits to greedanddisgust for the current icon, my most favorite scene in Tropic Thunder. Future credits also go to this user for other funny icons I will be using. Seconldy, I have been remiss in keeping up with this journal. Not like I haven't been doing much, but I guess you could say the shininess is slowly wearing off. Doesn't mean I'm not having fun or puzzling over certain oddities in this country! There are still plenty of tourist attractions for me to visit. For today's post, I will be closing the chapter on Mister Donut. I might post now and then on other doughnuts from there, but here are my thoughts and mostly final verdict on MisDo.


So overall, these are the doughnuts I have tried, along with my ratings and thoughts:

• Pon de Ring: The best doughnut at Mister Donut, and not available at home. Chewy texture akin to mochi, a mixture of doughnut and bread dough. 5/5
  
• Honey Pon de Tofu (pictured below): Like the Pon de Ring, not sure if it's made of tofu but it must be? The only difference with this one is that there are black sesame seeds inside. Quite tasty. 4.5/5
  
• Choco Arare Pon de Tofu (pictured above): I don't think you can go wrong with any of the "Pon de" doughnuts. This one is a lot more subtle in flavor, but with a taste that grows on you after a few bites. The chocolate is slightly bitter and mild, but the rice on top adds a crunch to it that makes it taste like a less sweet Crunch bar. The surprise addition of black sesame on the inside adds another layer of flavors to this low key doughnut. 4/5
  
• Honey Cookie Cruller: Disappointing, nothing joyful to be found here. 0/5
  
• Cinnamon Cookie Cruller (pictured above): I think all the cookie crullers are doomed and disappointing. They're not very tasty, and more like a heavy cake doughnut. 1/5
  
• Angel French (cruller, filled with cream and half dipped in chocolate): The cream and the partial chocolate can't save this disappointing cruller either. What it lacks the most is flavor of any kind, it's as if they tried to put in as little sugar as possible. I'm not a sweet tooth hound either! .5/5
  
• Angel Choco French Doughnut (chocolate cruller, filled with cream, half dipped in chocolate): This is a bit better than the regular Angel French, mainly only because it's all chocolate. Chocolate has some flavor on its own. 1/5
  
• Choco Angel Rich Doughnut Chocolate (pictured below): This wasn't bad, it was sort of like having a cream filled chocolate doughnut. Or those Little Debbie things, with half the fat. 3.5/5
  
• Coconut Chocolate (pictured below): This was also in the "okay" category. The first few bites made me comment out loud, "Wow, this is dry." As a whole, I don't think Japan can quite do what America can for doughnuts because of ingredients and availability of ingredients. Although I also think they cut out a lot of oil from this doughnut that's supposed to make the chocolate taste rich. I think a cake from a box is richer than this, but after a few bites you start to get used to this doughnut and think it's not bad. 3/5
  

So in summary? If you ever come across Mister Donut in Japan, stick with the Pon de Ring. It's the best item on the menu, it's different, and it's truly awesome. This won't be the last time I try and sample another doughnut from here, though. My goal is to garner enough points to get one of those prizes +___+

I've gotta get going, but I wanted to post this first! Briefly, this is a festival that's been happening at this temple for about 750 years now. You can read more about it here. It's to honor the death of the Buddhist monk who founding Honmonji Temple, along with certain chants that people at the time found too stringent. It's a three day long festival, starting with a smaller parade and two streets, culminating on the second day with the neighborhood being closed and more streets with vendors.


There were A LOT of people on the second day, so much so that they had special buses and trains to carry them all in. There was also a good variety of food, from Greek kebabs/gyros, to Korean chapchae, jijimae, and tukbogi. There was also cotton candy, shaved ice, ice cream, fried spaghetti, and churros just to name some non-Japanese items. And of course there were the usual takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakitori and soba. Since there was so much food, I'm only going to highlight the top two things I ate there.

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, this tops my list. And trust me, I ate A LOT of food here. They have a lot of gigantic potatoes, which is of course, a rarity in Japan. Here they bake and sautee it a bit in butter. Then, they give you a huge hunk of butter (about 1/3 cup), salt it, corn, and you have the option to add mayo (or at some places, miso). This was delicious obviously because of the butter (my motto is "Butter makes it better!"), but just because it's a classic and simple yet so good. I'm also a huge fan of potato, so win win!

A tie on this list is osakayaki. Pictured here is in it's uncooked form. Osakayaki is basically a snack sized okonomiyaki. Yet it was absolutely wonderful. It was fluffy and tasty but in a more portable size. A definite plus. Close behind was this really good omu-soba (soba in an omelet), but I only have so much room here!

I've been a bit lazy about posting more often. Certainly doesn't mean I've been eating any less! :D No food focus today, but commentary on how different Chinatown is in Japan. There are two here in Japan, one in Kobe and another in Yokohama. Both are port cities and were first opened for foreign trading way back when. Makes sense to have Chinatown too then, right? The one in Yokohama is one of the oldest Chinatowns out there (I think the one in the Philippines is the other one). First of all, I've read in a few tourist pamphlets that claim this Chinatown to be "possibly the largest in the world". Whoever's written this stuff hasn't been to San Francisco yet! I bet it was something back in the day, but now? A huge tourist trap with very few Chinese people left living there. Sure, the ones in America (this includes Canada) have their tourist sections, but it's still thriving with commerce where people actually live and buy their groceries. Here, it's mainly for people to look and pay an arm to try some "Chinese" food.

Besides the lack of Chinese people and grocery stores, it was also very quiet (no sound of cricket toys), VERY clean, and VERY EXPENSIVE. One regular sized mooncake ran about 500 yen, and all-you-can-eat dim sum was about 2500+ yen. Dishes were mostly 1400+ yen, and it would be a deal if you could find meat buns for 200 yen (average was 300-500 yen). Opposite of what Chinatown usually stands for, right? Walking around Chinatown also felt a bit weird, because the buildings were right, but something was off. I'm pinpointing it with the landscaping. All the plants, trees, and set-up are very Japanese. It has it's own distinct flavor.

Another thing that was different, was that there were chestnut vendors EVERYWHERE. I think they don't have these at home because chestnuts aren't as cheap as they are here (er, I'm guessing), but I've never seen any in all of the Chinatowns I've been to. Overall, it was an interesting experience, but doesn't have any nostalgia to it at all. I hope the people who only ever experience the Chinatown in Yokohama don't assume that's how they are everywhere else too.

I came upon a newly opened takoyaki place while exploring the hood. It was really cool to see how they made it, and how the guy had to quickly flip each individual piece to get it evenly cooked and round. Pretty tough and hot work!

So I've only ever had takoyaki once or twice, and those few times definitely don't compare to the freshly made takoyaki here. It's gooey soft on the inside with a surprise piece of octopus lurking in the center. Combined with the sauce, seaweed and mayo (optional for anti-mayo peeps!), mmmm~!

Basil fries at First Kitchen. Mmmmm~ Very basil flavored crunchy deelish. Add the provided garlic mayo, double yum. Mayo is here to make me fat. Other flavors at First Kitchen: bbq, teriyaki mayo, cheese, fish eggs. Apparently they introduce a new flavor ever year, but only keep a few. Darn you!

Drinking tea is a bit different here. Now, I'm used to drinking hot tea without sugar. I prefer it that way, straight up green tea or whatever like the Chinese do. But cold tea drinks? I like 'em with sugar. But the Japanese don't do sugar at all in their tea, hot or cold, unless it's a cold Royal Milk Tea or tea latte. The cold jasmine or other tea (non Lipton)? No sugar. The same goes for their bubble tea apparently.

Bubble tea is a bit hard to find in Japan. From what I'm told, it's not really well done either. So it's no surprise this bubble tea from First Kitchen was a bust. First of all, it comes out like a Starbuck's styled drink, with soft serve ice cream on top. Second, their tapioca is of the medium/small variety and is a bit too soft (overcooked). Third? The tea wasn't sweetened AT ALL. The only way this drink was palatable was by mixing in the ice cream.

But then we found another bubble tea place in Saitama, and they were the closest to getting it RIGHT. Pictured is a small, which is half the size of a regular in the States. A large apparently isn't any larger, and far more expensive. The peach bubble tea was actually decent, and the coconut milk tea wasn't too bad (although the coconut was quite strong).

I had been planning to write more about things that are different in Japan, but now I can't remember them all. I'll get back to that when I remember.

After a five hour hassle with the cellphone people giving us trouble for trying to get a phone (because we're foreigners, and I guess the small branch wasn't used to us), we ended up eating out. Again. At this point, cheap (as usual?) was the option. So Jonathan's it was.



(this isn't the actual one we went to, but they're everywhere)

Jonathan's is what you would call a "family restaurant". They're similar to Denny's and IHop, except that their portions are smaller and they have a drink bar. A drink bar is not for alcoholic drinks, but where you can keep refilling your tiny glass as often as you want with whatever you want. There's a good variety from the usual coffee, sodas, healthy fruit drinks, Calpis, and yummy green tea latte (which tastes like hot melted green tea ice cream). So if you like lots of drink, want to hang out and study/work, or something bigger than a small glass, it's worth it. As for their menu, it's a mixture of Japanese-ish food with fried snacks and American style breakfasts. Since I've already tried their breakfast (which I will post another time), and wanted to try something different, I chose something rare for Japan.

This, ladies and gentleman, is a Tofu and Hibiki Healthy Hamburger. It's made with tofu and NO meat. Japan isn't a very vegetarian friendly place (if you happen to be one), and sometimes their idea of vegetarian comes with bacon. So this dish comes with a tofu burger consisting of tofu, mushrooms, peas, and possibly some daikon, surrounded by eggplant and mushrooms, topped with daikon and wasabi. This was a surprising dish, especially for Japan's equivalent of IHop, because it was very tasty and flavorful. The tofu actually tasted like ground pork (there wasn't any, I checked), and well matched with a variety of Japanese mushrooms and eggplant. I wanted to savor every bite slowly and to not ever have it end.

I forgot my camera today, which I regret a lot. SO you'll have to excuse me for borrowing some images from the main site of Mos Burger! But no worries, I definitely plan to return here and take some actual pictures next time.


I was craving really badly something fried and fatty, and wanted to go out to eat. For budget reasons, we ended up going to a fast food joint called Mos Burger. This place and Lotteria, I believe, make up the Japanese fast food burger places besides the ubiquitous McDonald's. I swear, there's a McD's on every corner. The golden arches are the Walgreen's and Starbuck's of this place. Pictured here is a limited time Chickan Namban Burger. This is supposedly special chicken from some southern province (forgive me, I forget where). I also got large fries to go with it. So how was the burger? Absolutely DELICIOUS. The chicken is pretty large, breaded, fried, and slathered in some special sauce. The chicken is really, really tender and juicy, and the sauce has a tangy sweetness to it that definitely makes the burger. I consider myself a big enough mayo fan, so the copious amounts of mayo, chopped onions, and shredded lettuce overall made this one burger I'm definitely returning for. Again. And again. Comparing this to American chicken burgers? Hands down, Mos Burger wins. I've never had something so tender, as if they didn't mess with it, and the sauce is super tasty. If you're curious about how actual hamburgers compare, I've been told that it lacks an oomph of meatiness. This can be explained by the fact that they use a mixture of beef and pork to make their burgers. I believe McD's still uses all beef, but that's because they're McD's.
But comparing the fries and price to home? Hah, nothing can really compare to our Super Size now, can it? In terms of cost, it was cheap for Tokyo, 350 yen for one burger. Add in fries and a drink for about another 350 yen, you got a total of 700 yen. That's not really too bad, but large fries here are about the same size as a small at home. And the drink? It comes out in a small glass, the free water in an even tinier glass. Not only that, you have to request ketchup, and that comes in a small dipping dish. It's just not done to have a lot of ketchup or any at all, which I don't think people here are used to. We really are the fatty fast food leaders, which is kind of sad.


Either way, I'd like to try one of these rice burgers later. I've made rice burgers before, but to actually have it done in a more pro way? Yes, please. I'll be coming back for you Mos Burger, and with a camera too +____+

Oh Japan. Apparently Umbilical is a whole baby clothing line. How...cute?? I'll go for slightly disturbing. Today's post will be a bit long, since I didn't post anything yesterday. First, let's drool over food.



So, you can buy croquettes pretty much anywhere. At a little alley way bento shop. In a bakery. Or even at your local conbini (convenience store)! Pictured above is a pretty tasty croquette from 7-11. Yep, I wish our 7-11 sold that! Then again, conbinis here are different from home, with more variety and less of a cheap-late-night-gas-station feel. They're also located everywhere (more than Starbuck's), truly living up to it's "convenient" name. And instead of hot dogs, microwaveable food, and slushees, they've got a nicer selection of baked goods and pastries. I guess this says a lot about American food, huh?




Without further ado, ( Tokyo Game Show behind the cut! )

I've got cleaning and stuff to do today, so no Tokyo Game Show post for now. Just another semi-quick post, on yet another Mister Donut conquest! Now for a short history on Mister Donut. Some of you already know that Mister Donut was once an American franchise. It was founded in the 1950s and was a big competitor against the great Dunkin, until they also got bought out and changed their names to Dunkin Donuts too. Currently only one supposedly exists in the US, and that's in Illinois. In the early 1980s, a Japanese company got the rights to Mister Donut and their original doughnut recipes for Asia, and now it reigns nearly supreme with their little lion mascot.


Continuing my doughnut quest, pictured here are the 'D-pop' (donut holes) and 'Cookie Cruller Honey'. Evan tried the D-pop, while I had the Cookie Cruller. According to Evan, the D-pop was ok, basically a collection of doughnut holes from other bigger doughnuts. The chocolate ones had the most flavor, and the strawberry one the least (and worst). While I generally like the fact that Asian pastries aren't as sweet as America's, I have to agree with Evan on these doughnuts. They're just not sweet or tasty enough. My shiny love for Mister Donut is starting to fade a bit as each one fails me. The cookie cruller was ok, it tasted like a cake doughnut. Nothing special or improved upon, it was too heavy and blah for me. So far, the pon de ring is still a winner.

Quick post for today, I need to run off in a bit for an event and I will be posting about Tokyo Game Show (the equivalent of E3) later. For now, DOUGHNUTS! Currently there is a 100yen sale on doughnuts at Mister Donut, and I wants to try them all +___+ Pictured above are two different kinds of crullers, the 'Chocolate French Angel French' and 'Angel French', along with Mister Donut's gem, the pon de ring. My 'Angel French' dipped in chocolate with cream filling wasn't that good...even though there was powdered sugar on it and a lightly sweet cream filling, there sadly wasn't enough sweet. This would be good if you're REALLY not a sweet tooth and like it bland. But I wouldn't consider myself one either, so this was quite disappointing because it didn't have that extra glaze on it. Next time, I'm going to try a honey glazed and cookie one. The chocolate one was a bit tastier, so thumbs down for the 'Angel French' and a meh for the chocolate.


But this 'pon de ring'? It's the pièce de résistance. They compare the chewiness of the dough to mochi, and indeed they're right. This is no regular doughnut. Each little piece can be ripped off, or eaten however you like, and it's sweet like a honey glazed. Yet somehow, they made the dough to be soft and chewy, with a pull to it just like mochi. Not only that, if you become a member and get enough points, you can get the Pon de Lion!



I'm already planning which doughnuts to get tomorrow, and will work on getting enough points to get one of these prizes. I think I have about 180 doughnuts to go...

There's plenty of food to keep reporting on, but it occurred to me that I haven't really commented much on the trip itself or what it's like being here. Most of you who actually *read* my LJ are already in the know, and I prefer to share my love for food. But I'll make a few quick comments about my observations of Japan:

1. It's hard for a foreigner to find a place to live (as in renting a place, apartment or furnished monthly). It's not difficult, but your choices are limited. I didn't realize this until I started this trip, that a lot of places don't like to rent to foreigners because of stereotype and preconceived notions.

2. It's loud here. As in, everyone likes to yell and advertise like crazy in a store, or further advertise and make announcements on speakerphones through the streets. Also, it's kind of cute that they play music to mark the end of the work day.

3. Things are expensive as you'd expect them to be, although eating out is actually quite cheap. I wish a Target existed here. Anyone want a can of Spam for 500 yen (appx. $5+)?

For today's eats, it's not a delicious eat, but a disgusting one. Observe.

What looks like an innocuous bottle of Italian dressing, is an oil disaster in disguise. Silly me to think Italian dressing would be a safe option. Salad dressing is a Western concept to begin with, that should have been the tip off to be wary. And who would have thought that the same makers of very delicious mayonnaise could mess up? Unfortunately, they should have stuck with mayo. No matter how hard you shake, the dressing doesn't want to mix. The taste? Well, the oil is quite prominent, along with a heavy dash of pepper. That's it, you're wondering? Yep. It's basically like eating lettuce with heavily peppered vegetable oil. There is absolutely NO flavor. I'm not sure what else this can be used for now except for maybe cooking or adding to pasta. Unless someone would like to be the owners of a very cute and foreign dressing bottle??

So I'm exploring another neighborhood, and what do I discover inside the JR station?



POUTINE! (pictured here, 'Teriyaki Mayo' and 'Tuna Corn')

Of course, what's pictured isn't traditional poutine. What caught my eye was that these were fries topped with stuff. And then I read the katakana claiming it to be "poutine". If you don't already know what poutine is, let me introduce you to this wonderful greasy fast food dish! According to dear wiki, it originated in Quebec in the 1950s. Traditionally, it's fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. Voila!

Back to the point. As you can tell, I'm a huge fan, and yes, I've had the original French-Canadian kind (including at Costco's and McD's heh). So I couldn't resist and went ahead to try one of the variations.


I decided not to get the traditional gravy kind this time, since I already know what the real thing tastes like. Instead, I chose the Tuna Corn Poutine. There are five total flavors, the others varying in meat sauces and teriyaki toppings. I'm sure to some of you out there, this looks absolutely gross. But to me, it was absolutely fatty heaven. The fries are skinnier than called for, but they were the right amount of crispy drowning in melted cheese, mayonnaise, tuna drenched in more mayo (consistent with Japan's love for mayo!), all topped with corn. All in all, worth every yen I coined out.

Becker's, prepare yourself, I will be returning to try every flavor.

For my second post in Japan, I will start it with something most of you may be familiar with.



Okonomiyaki. (before cooking)

If you don't already know what okonomiyaki is (which I believe, loosely translates to "as you like it"), it's a sort of dinner pancake with shredded cabbage and whatever ingredients you want. You can have any meat or seafood of your choice (sorry vegetarians, I don't think veggie only exists in a restaurant). You can even get dessert okonomiyaki at some restaurants, like this one that I went to in Shinjuku. What you see pictured above is the "before", all the fixings are there in the bowl. You order what you want, and they bring the bowl of ingredients out for you. You then heat up the grill, and proceed to cook it, using a little timer to make sure both sides are well cooked.



I haven't been able to find a single restaurant in the US yet that does okonomiyaki the right way, where you can cook it at your table. Everywhere I've been brings it to you all finished, either on a plate or on a grill to keep it warm.
( Continue to see the finished product! )

So, here I am in Japan. The details aren't important, except that I am going to eat my way through Tokyo. I don't have a lot of money, but I will be posting pictures and comments up here when I can of various food and drinks.

For today's first post, I will introduce the Tomato Curry Bread.


( (read on for the taste!) )

This is a bit late, but finally posting up the commissions I did from Anime Expo! I'm a bit short on posting time, so just click on the link to see some piccies.

( pictuuuuuures~~~ )

I was also asked to do an interview with two other artists for Anime News Network while at AX. You can read the interview here. Just for clarification, I haven't submitted anything to Del Rey yet ^^;;;;

Thanks to Lincy (and other inspirational art), I've been wanting to practice more and try out speed-painting. Now I've finally joined the ranks of people who draw on Tegaki! For those who don't know, it's a website (there are numerous) where you use a simple paintbucket type program to draw and paint.

Wheee, Fanime is over~! THANK YOU to everyone who visited by table and chatted with me. I saw some friendly familiar faces and new faces too, and got to hang out with awesome artists! The con was pretty tiring, this was the fourth of the year >_< If you don't have an idea of what the con schedule is like, it's pretty much you sit there from morning (generally 9 or 10am) until the evening (unless they decide to close really late, like 8pm or 12am). The chances of you taking a break or walking around are very slim if you're by yourself (or very busy), unless you want to play hooky and not make any business (which I've done occasionally when I really wanted to go to an awesome concert or panel). All in all, going to con is like another world of nonstop work and fun. When it's over, it's back to reality~ T_T

Alright, enough chatting, ( on to the commissions! )