TOKYOMANGO

Get your hand-printed limited edition TokyoMango t-shirt now (2 weeks only)

My friend Ben and I made a test run of TokyoMango t-shirts on Saturday. They're really nice, do you want one? If so, you can buy one here. Below are the details:

- All shirts are 100% cotton.
- Each t-shirt will be hand-silk screened by me and Ben on his Yudu machine. The shirt logo was custom-designed by Ben. Mango design courtesy of my web designer James.
- The Women's tees come in a t-shirt style (pistacio and white) and a spaghetti strap ribbed tank (yellow).
- The Men's tees come in orange and white. In the pic above, Ben is actually accidentally wearing a girl's tee, but you get the idea... the sleeves will be more manly on the one you get.
- You can choose a custom colored tee for $25. Just shoot me an email with your preference after you place the order.
- The sizes tend to run a little big (except for the tanktops). They might shrink in the wash.
- Some of you will receive a free surprise Japanese toy or gadget with your t-shirt! I'm just gonna randomly stick them into bags, so keep an eye out.
- We're taking orders over the next two weeks only, at least for this first printing. They'll ship at the end of those two weeks, when Ben & I will silkscreen them by hand.
- Last day to order is Monday, October 5th.

UPDATE: T-shirts are no longer for sale. Maybe we'll do another round sometime!

Cookie cutters in Kappabashi

My friend Garth went to Tokyo recently and took this photo at a baking supply store in Kappabashi. I have never seen so many cookie cutters!

My neighbor is a pastry chef and she fell in love with some pastry forms she saw in a Japanese book on the topic. I spent a lot of time trying to find something for her while I was there. I ended up meeting a woman at a store who, through half Japanese half English communication, helped me find a goldmine of baking supplies.

Link

Azuki-flavored Pepsi

Pepsi's newest unique flavor following this summer's Shiso flavor = Azuki, or red bean. If any of you have tried it, please let me know how it tastes.

Link

Burger King celebrates new OS with Windows 7 Whopper

What better way to celebrate the release of Windows 7 than with a giant 7-patty BK Whopper that costs 777 yen? It's a limited edition burger, available only for 7 days!

Link

Megahouse's Disney character-shaped cookie making kit

Toy company Megahouse has come out with yet another fun family cooking tool — this one's a cookie maker that makes sugar cookies in the shape of Mickey Mouse heads.

Product page (Japanese)

Related stories:
Machine makes teddy-bear shaped pastries
New Bandai somen toy is a giant slide for noodles
Toy pot sticker maker from Bandai goes on sale Saturday
Toy sushi maker for creative sushi parties

Pudding in a cup looks like a woman's breasts (maybe NSFW)

I think this may be the perviest flan packaging in the world. It's called Niigata Oppai Purin (Niigata Boob Pudding) and to unveil the nipple-like cups of flan you have to unhook the anime girl's bra.

New maid cafe lets you custom-dress girls and get slapped in the face

A new concept cafe opens in Akihabara on October 4th. It's called Cute Room, and it promises clients a 2.7-dimensional fantasy world — basically, something in between 2D and 3D, but getting closer and closer to 3D. From what I can tell from the web site, the difference between this and other maid cafes is that you can customize the fantasy by choosing a room to hang out in, a costume for the girl to wear, and the types of activities you want to do with them. Aside from the $1 a minute entrance fee, there's a long menu of paid services you can get — video game, a hand massage, a slap in the face, a love letter, a gift exchange. 30 lucky customers will get a sneak preview on Oct 3.

[Cute Room main page (Japanese) via DigiMaga] (Thanks, Hitoshi!)

Video: Two guys fly Cup Noodle into rivers and out of windows

My friend Steven sent me this Cup Noodle video that uses the same camera tech as the Ray-Ban and MSI laptop ads on American TV. In it, two guys throw a cup of noodle across crazy distances without spilling any of it. It's directed by Daisuke Izumi. Fun to watch!

Frozen corn cream croquettes

I was so happy to find these in the corner of my freezer the other day, when I had no time or patience to figure out lunch plans. I had a bowl of leftover rice in the fridge, so I ate it with that. Delicious and much better than frozen-almost-anything-else.

Korean sake bottle cell phone strap with bottle opener

This cell phone strap resembles a Korean sake bottle, and even comes with a miniature working bottle opener. Kinda neat!

Product page

How to recreate a scene from Zelda in your lunchbox

There's a wonderful cookbook in bookstores & on Amazon now called Face Food:The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes. It's a bento book that teaches you how to make delicious, nutritious meals that resemble your favorite anime, video game, or zoo animal. The art is simply amazing — here are Astro Boy and Zelda.

Face Food:The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes by Christopher Salyers

More book reviews & recommendations on TokyoMango

Bamboo dining set teaches kids table manners

I love this dining set for kids made by Funfam. Everything's made of bamboo and is reusable (huge amounts of wooden chopsticks are used and thrown away every day in Japan), but not only that, the embedded cutlery design automatically teaches your kids how to set a table! It's one less thing you have to teach them &mdash not to mention that it's just an extremely cute design. The only caveat: it costs $200.

Product page via Designboom

Japanese snack-matching game for when you're bored

TokyoMango reader Ian S. just sent me this silly web-based game he made, where you have to match Japanese snack cards with each other. The ones you acquire get skewered on the left. It's pretty basic but may be fun if you're bored at work and like to think about eating Japanese food.

Link

Recipe: gyoza made out of ice cream

Ice cream gyoza! They actually taste like ice cream and cookie dough. There are detailed instructions on how to make them here.

Evil Mad Scientists via Boing Boing

Ashtray made out of coffee grinds

What a great idea &mdash an ashtray made out of coffee grinds, created by Ryohei Yoshiyuki. So you don't have to have that stinky stale smell sitting in your living room all day.

via Moco Loco

Amazing Mario cake

This Super Mario wedding cake is amazing. Actually, I'm not sure if it's even a wedding cake. It should have its own category &mdash amazing cake. I want it as the centerpiece for my dining table.

More pics at Supersizedmeals.com (Thanks, Kris!)

Smart design-y spill-proof tray carries eight wine glasses

The stem glass tray is a smart product from a small restaurant in Oita Prefecture specifically designed for carrying multiple wine glasses at once. It's a tray with little holes in it that you can hook up to eight wine glasses in, and a 9th hole for the thumb.

Product page (Japanese)

Flying Fish at Zushi Puzzle

I ate part of this guy's body for dinner last night. It was yummy!

Bento Love: how to cook Japanese food that fits into a lunch box

When I was in elementary school, I was always jealous of the kids who had them &mdash all I wanted in my packed lunch was a sandwich, a fruit roll-up and a juice box in a brown paper bag. Later I found out that the kids who had brown paper bags wished they had the bento box in a cloth purse that my mom always made for me, even though it made me a little embarrassed that my mom cared so much about what I ate. Funny.

But if you're the PB&J type and are looking for an alternative for lunches, a new book called Easy Japanese Cooking: Bento Love might help you. In it, there are dozens of easy delicious Japanese cooking recipes that can fit right into a standard, rectangular bento box. Some examples: Salt-Grilled Chicken Steak Bento, the two-tiered Spicy Miso Pork Stir-Fry Bento, Stir-Fried Spaghetti Bento. Even if you don't end up packing it as a lunch, it's a great resource for simple Japanese meals.

Easy Japanese Cooking: Bento Love by Kentaro Kobayashi

Related stories:
Gourmet bento for dogs now sold at a highway stop near you
Review: Japantown bento
Froggy lunch wins top spot at award show

Instant habanero soup

This instant soup (add hot water, wait one minute) supposedly tastes like super-spicy habanero chilis. I wonder if it's tasty? If anyone has tried it, please let me know.

Product page (Japanese)

Drink bottle looks like the Yamanote Line

Shibuya246 spotted these JR Train Drinks at a store. Has anyone tried it? What does it taste like? Trains? Tea?

Link

Blue beer from Hokkaido

This blue beer from Hokkaido is a real product. It contains 5% alcohol and spirulina.

Product page via NotCot

Hamura Saimin, the best noodle place on Kauai

I just got back from Kauai, and ate twice at this restaurant, Hamura Saimin. It was started by an enterprising Japanese wife and husband, and I think it's now run by their daughter. They make saimin, a Hawaiian version of ramen with spam, cabbage, eggs, dumplings, etc. I love how Hawaiian food is a delicious assimilation of the best parts of different cuisine. And yes, I think Spam is delicious, you just can't think about what's in it.

Gadget makes perfect sunny side up eggs in the microwave

Do you suck at making eggs? Some people just do, and that's okay. That's why there's this gadget (or is it just a container?) that helps you make a perfect sunny side up egg. All you have to do is crack the egg into this bowl and stick it in the microwave for 60 seconds. Easy. You do have to know how to crack an egg without breaking it, though.

Skater (Japanese, via Impress Watch)

Related posts:
Breakfast gadget makes eggs three different ways in a microwave
Egg holder protected by armed ceramic soldiers
The perfectly microwaved boiled egg
Egg-shaped digital photo frame

Toy pot sticker maker from Bandai goes on sale Saturday

On Saturday, Bandai will release a new culinary toy. It's a pot sticker maker &mdash all you have to do is stick the ingredients in a little box and lay the skin flat in between the two rollers, then turn the lever for a perfectly wrapped gyoza.

Press release (Japanese)

Related stories:
New Bandai somen toy is a giant slide for noodles
Toy sushi maker for creative sushi parties

Review: Japantown obento

I ate a bento from Japantown the other day. Not bad. Presentation is pretty. The hamburger and egg were really good. The veggies, not so much.

Pyramid-shaped watermelon for sale for $500

If you're hungry for watermelon and very very rich, you might consider buying this pyramid-shaped watermelon, grown by a farmer in Hokkaido, for 52,500 yen. That's just over $500. The farmer attained this shape by putting the watermelon in a pyramid-shaped plastic casing and hanging it upside down. There are sixteen of them for sale now.

Link

Dashi is the secret to Japanese cooking, but Safeway doesn't know it

Contrary to popular stereotypes, the most important staple secret ingredient in a Japanese kitchen is not soy sauce. It is dashi, or bonito fish broth. Apparently, most mainstream American supermarkets have not caught onto this important distinction. I was at Lucky supermarket during lunch today buying groceries and thinking that surely a modern grocery in the diverse city of San Francisco would have dashi, but was surprised to find that their "Asian Foods" section had a dozen different brands of soy sauce and not a single box of dashi.

When I got home, I called the neighborhood Safeway to try my luck there.

Me: Hi, do you sell dashi? You know, bonito fish broth.
Safeway lady: Excuse me?
Me: It's a staple in any Japanese kitchen.
Safeway: Hold on, let me get someone to help you with that.
(She puts me on hold forever. I get sick of waiting and hang up.)

Interesting... I guess I have to go to Japantown to get some.

Order spider pizza in Okinawa

Spider pizza was featured on a Japanese TV show recently &mdash it's a real dish that you can order at a pizzeria in Okinawa, owned by the guy who runs an association that promotes insect-eating. I bet if you can get over your arachnophobia it's crunchy and delicious. He makes beetle pizza, too.

via Japan Probe

Takeru Kobayashi shows off his belly full of hot dogs

The annual Coney Island hot dog eating contest was this past weekend. Once again, the two frontrunners were American Joey Chestnut and Japan's Takeru Kobayashi &mdash Kobayashi had six victories under his belt before declaring he had jaw arthritis and then tying with Chestnut last year. Chestnut beat him this year with 68 v. 64.5 hot dogs in ten minutes. Yeah, gross.

Anyway, this photo proves that, even after all that eating, Kobayashi's belly is still not that huge.

Link

Beautiful fruit-shaped designer sticky notes

I love these sticky notes shaped like fruits. They are called kudamemo (kudamono = fruit in Japanese, plus memo) and you can buy them individually or in crates of six. They're so pretty!

D-Bros via Moco Loco

Colonel Sanders without his makeup

Remember the story from a few months ago about the Colonel Sanders statue that came floating onto a riverbank after being stolen from a KFC in Osaka over 20 years ago and chucked overboard? Well, here's a picture of him next to a newer version of himself. I think he looks much more approachable without the glasses and the makeup and the white suit. The happy human behind them is the president of KFC Japan, who no doubt eats a lot of chicken... or does he?

via Mainichi

Oishinbo, a famous manga that teaches you all about Japanese food

I read a lot of manga when I was growing up, and so did my mom. She was obsessed with this one series called Oishinbo, a story about a food critic and his culinary adventures across the country &mdash it was so detailed and precise that you learned a ton about Japanese food and how to enjoy it just from reading.

Several volumes of Oishinbo are already available in English &mdash Oishinbo: Ramen and Gyoza, Oishinbo: Sake, Oishinbo: Izakaya--Pub Food, and Oishinbo: The Joy of Rice are some of them.

I can confidently say that, if you want to learn about the intricacies of Japanese food, or if you want to know why Japanese people are so obsessed with white rice (last winter, I went to a restaurant in Tokyo where their specialty was white rice), reading this series is the best and most fun way to do it. The newest volume, Oishinbo: Fish, Sushi, and Sashimi, comes out in July and is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Oishinbo, Volume 1 by Tetsu Kariya

Video: Cute tabletop robot girl makes coffee

In this adorable YouTube video, a black-haired miniature robot girl named Hina grinds and makes coffee from scratch.

Clockwork main page (Thanks, @Bauldoff!)

Panel to seriously discuss ramen later this month

For those of you in SF who love ramen, there are no awesome ramen joints in the area but there will be a panel discussion, For the Love of Ramen, at the Ferry building on June 24. It will feature a pretty interesting panel of academics and journalists who have given serious thought to the sociocultural and gastronomic significance of ramen.

More info here. (Thanks, Daniela!)

Restaurant owner gives free meals to students in exchange for dishwashing

Sadahiro Inoue is a restauranteur in Kyoto with a unique policy: anyone is welcome to dine at his joint for free, provided they do 30 minutes of dishes afterward. It's something he thought of after receiving a helping hand himself nearly 40 years ago, when he and his wife moved there and didn't have that much money. When he finally got his career of the ground and opened up shop, he put up a handwritten sign that reads:

Those of you who cannot afford to pay for your meal: eat your fill here.

Dozens of students at two nearby universities come to his restaurant to earn their meal with a half hour of labor. I think it's a neat idea &mdash it works out great for those who don't have time for a regular job, and Inoue keeps in touch with many of his dishwashers, adopting them as family and keeping track of their progress during and after school.

Link

New next week: green tea-flavored coke

If you thought shiso-flavored Pepsi was odd, well, now Coca Cola Japan is coming out with green tea-flavored coke. The release date is next Monday. The bottle is beautiful. It has zero calories, and lots of catechin. Healthy coke! (?)

Actually this probably isn't that bad. I know people that put coke in their tea because they like it.

Press release in Japanese (Thanks, Yushi!)

Colorful self-standing ladels for artsy kitchens

Look at these beautiful colorful ladels designed by Mikiya Kobayashi. They're spoon-shaped, but with flat bottoms so you can stand them up. Smart!

via Spoon and Tamago

Shiso-flavored Pepsi sounds delicious

The newest Japanese flavor of Pepsi is shiso, or plum leaf. I'm actually willing to bet that it tastes pretty good. If anyone has tried it, please report back.

via Japan Probe

Microwaveable Cup Noodle to debut in two new soupy flavors

Two new flavors of Nissin Cup Noodle will be released on Monday, both themed after favorite western soups—minestrone and clam chowder. Yummy!(?) Also, these are microwaveable, so you don't need to boil water. Japan has microwave everything...even boiled eggs!

New site reviews Japanese curry joints in the US

My friend and colleague from Wired, Chris Kohler, started a web site that exclusively reviews Japanese curry restaurants in North America. It's awesome, I want to try them all. So far Go Go Curry in NY has the most stars.

Americurry main page

Reader photo: I am beer machine. And you?

Ying Hao writes:

This is a vending machine in a hostel called J-Hopper's that I stayed in with my friends from college, when I was being a tour guide and showing them around Hiroshima.

Photo by Ying Hao Lai

Juice boxes look like the real fruit

Look at these beautiful juice boxes by industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa. He made each container resemble the look and texture of the fruit it embodies—here, we see (from l-r) soy, banana, and strawberry, and kiwi (below).

Thanks, Paul!

Different flavored umaibo

Umaibo is a Japanese snack frequently found at dagashiya, traditional Japanese candy shops, and more recently, at maid cafes. Five friends and I won this lovely selection of different flavored umaibo when we went to one and beat our waitress in a Jenga-like number game. I think they were shrimp, corn, chocolate, spicy jalapeno, and...monkey clown?

How to make cream puffs that look like Totoro

Anna the Red has a great tutorial with pictures on how to make delicious cream puffs filled with custard that look like characters from Hayao Miyazaki's iconic anime, My Neighbor Totoro.

(Thanks, Walter!)

Hello Kitty beer

I'd imagine Hello Kitty beer would taste like cotton candy. Yuck.

via Gizmodiva

Designer sushi roller

This neat-looking sushi roller machine by designer Osko & Deichmann will be on display at the Kitchen Ecology Exhibition in LA this June.

via Designboom

Breakfast gadget that makes egg three different ways in the microwave

Hario's microwave egg cooker is a little egg-shaped container that allows you to make things like scrambled eggs, onsen eggs, or poached eggs with just your microwave. No need to dirty pots and pans.

Product page (Japanese, via Impress Watch)

Related stories:
The perfectly microwaved boiled egg

Five-fingered sauce bottle for food decoration

Magic Five is a sauce bottle that squirts out whatever you put in it in five thin lines instead of one big blob. Pretty awesome. Read Steven's review and how he and I both ended up with one each on BBG.

New Bandai somen toy is a giant slide for noodles

Bandai's new somen-making toy looks like so much fun. It's basically a slide for "nagashi somen," thin somen noodles that are served in a stream of water. The noodles come out of a little house at the top of the slide and end up in a strainer at the bottom. To be released tomorrow, 4/18, in Japan. What's better than a toy you can eat off of?

Press release via Impress Watch (Japanese)

Donburi Mania, a cookbook for bachelors who love rice bowls

Donburi Mania is a fun Japanese cookbook full of creative recipes for rice bowls. I haven't tried any yet, but I really want to make a killer oyakodon and I also kinda wanna try the Melty Cheesy Meat Sauce Donburi.