Just in Time for Easter!

Japan has a long history of adopting holidays from other countries (usually America) and religions (usually Christianity). This year Easter has arrived in Japan. Yes, just like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Halloween before it, Easter is now being promoted as a fun holiday that everyone, regardless of religion, should take part in.* And just like all those other holidays it is being promulgated by corporations.

Someone said to me the other day, “You know how Japan manages to get the holidays they adopt so wrong? Very calculatedly.” You might find it strange that the tradition in Japan is to eat fried chicken to celebrate Christmas, but remember that this “tradition” was all started by a Kentucky Fried Chicken ad campaign in 1974.**

Well this year, I am excited to be witnessing this artificial tradition-making process first hand! Not only are many major candy brands coming out with Easter themed sweets, like these Apple Pie with Carrot Kit Kats:

Notice the reallllly clever pun in Japanese “Iisutaa de ii sutaato wo” (Get a good start with Easter!)

But  Lotte has released an online ad about how to “Enjoy Easter” with your kids. Hint: Forego the plastic eggs, just hide candy bars and cookies in their original packaging around the house for your wee ones to hunt down!

They also have a dedicated site with tips and tricks for making your Easter “treasure hunt” more successful. And be sure not to miss the link to “Happy Egg Easter Recipes” using Ghana brand chocolate, including such classics as omlette rice with chocolate-ketchup ‘demi-glace’ sauce.

http://lotte-chocotv.jp/enjoyeaster/

I suppose we will have to wait until next year to see how well this new Easter tradition catches on, but for this year at least we can enjoy the sugary ride.

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*(Not that anyone should be banned from celebrating any religious holiday if they choose to. It’s just strange to be promoting Easter as a non-religious holiday when that’s not really the case.)

**(This is basically common knowledge by now, but you can read about the details here: Why Japan is Obsessed with Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas)

Weird Food Roundup 2014

Maybe it dates back to the ancient Japanese aesthetic idea that true beauty can only be fleeting. Maybe it's a nod to this country's all important four separate and completely different seasons. Or maybe it's simply a byproduct of a consumer-driven economy obsessed with fads. Whatever the reason(s), Japan loves special edition and limited-time-only food products.
And weirder is always better.
Here are some of the best and weirdest foods I tried in 2014.

Let's start things off in the traditional arena of sushi. The export of this most iconic of Japanese foods has led to some very non-Japanese versions of sushi in other countries. I'm sure most people are aware that the "California Roll," "Philadelphia Roll," and any sushi roll that has been deep-fried was not invented in Japan. But did you know that Japan does, in fact, have weird sushi of their own? At one kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurant chain in particular, called Uobei, there are all sorts of non-aquatic and not raw ingredients topping the rice. Examples include their standard hamburger patty sushi as well as these two delicious, seasonal gems:

Butakakuni nigiri, braised pork belly sushi.

Chijimi nigiri, Korean pancake sushi.

Meanwhile in the snack food arena... Potato and tortilla chips are so often updated with special flavors, pretty much any taste you could think of has or will soon be a chip flavor in Japan.

Eggs Benedict potato chips.

Brunch is finally catching on in Tokyo, so I get where they were coming from, but these were pretty gross tasting.

Corn Cream Stew Doritos

Not only are these Doritos "Corn Cream Stew" flavored, they are also shaped like Christmas Trees. Because everyone knows you eat corn stew on Christmas...(?) These may be the weirdest chips I have ever seen, but they were shockingly not as bad as you'd expect. Also, in case you can't see it in the picture, it says "Doritos Rock'n' White" on the top of the bag. (???)









Now on to the drink category:

Pink Pepsi?
Oh, like, for Breast Cancer awareness month?
No, it came out in December...
???

In Japan, Pepsi is known for producing limited-time-only flavors. (I've tasted many weirdos in the past including Salty Watermelon and Baobab Tree, though I never had the opportunity to sip the infamously disgusting Ice Cucumber flavor.) 2014 was surprisingly slow for strange Pepsi flavors, however, but they did manage to put this "pink COLA" out in December. CLEARLY marketed toward the Ladies, it tasted of strawberries and perfume...bleh.

Gari Gari Kun Sour

I came across a Gari Gari Kun Sour at an odd izakaya that specializes in weird meats (think camel, raw goat, and crocodile tongue). That in and of itself isn't so special, but the popsicle in the drink is one that is famous for coming up with crazy flavors for all the kiddies to try. Past Gari Gari's have included Corn Potage Soup and Neapolitan Pasta, in addition to lots of lovely normal flavors like Mikan with actual chunks of fruit.








And finally, we come to the hamburgers. In September, the Burger King Black Burger was big news all around the world. After (and, I assume, thanks to) that, there were black-bunned burgers coming out from all the major burger players! Here's the rundown.

BK Black Burger

Contestant #1

The first of the black burgers, came out in September on the same weekend as Tokyo Game Show (so all the foreign games journalists were able to have awesome "unwrapping" videos...Ugh, is that still a thing? I only just found out that that was a thing when I saw three different games journalists who were not in my party, which included two games journalists, doing it at Burger King when I was there and I am already over it...). Anyway, they had two versions, "Pearl," which was just the black bun and black cheese (dyed with bamboo charcoal), and black garlic sauce (dyed with squid ink), as well as the "Diamond," which was all that plus tomatoes and lettuce. I thought the latter would taste better, and turned out I was right (I guess?). All in all it tasted like a normal, fast food burger.

Black Witch Burger and White Ghost Chiken Sandwich.
Ooooooohhhh, Halloweeeeeeny

Contestant #2

Following BK's burger smash hit, MacDonald's came out with both a black AND white burger for Halloween. The black burger, meant to be reminiscent of witches, you see, was a cheeseburger with spicy sauce and fried onions. The white ghost burger was a fried chicken fillet with camembert cheese sauce. Both were indescribably delicious (though that may have had something to do with the fact that they were consumed on the afternoon following a housewarming party where MUCH alcohol was consumed...). Also, please note that these were cut in half and split between two people, so only one MacDonald's sandwich was consumed per person. But anyway, ooooohhhh, spoooooky!

GHOSTBUSTERS BURGER!!!!

Contestant #3

J.S. Burgers Cafe (owned and operated by Japanese clothing brand Journal Standard) and Ghostbusters collaborated (for some unclear reason) on a "Black Buns Mozzarella Burger."
Now, the Journal Standard clothing shops don't offer anything I'm interested in, but for some reason I have yet to discover, both their pancake restaurants and hamburger restaurants are top notch. (Yes, I know that seems weird that a clothing store has two separate restaurant chains devoted to pancakes and hamburgers respectively, but the food is really good, so who am I to complain?)
Anyway, this burger was up to their normal, much better than fast food (journal) standard, but not neccesarily better than anything else they serve.
I suppose that means that this burger should win the 'most delicious black-bunned burger' award, but that's not a real award anyway and I'll be damned if anything tastes better than junk food on a hungover afternoon...

That just about sums up the weird foods of 2014 that I ate, though there were many more that I didn't have the chance to try. Here's hoping that 2015 will be just as ridiculous and delicious.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!