Bento! #104: Premium Kuro Burger @BurgerKing - Finally!

Waiting for my burger and fries. The 黒バーガー (Kuro/black burger)
set meal comes with "M" sized fries and free "M" sized Coke Zero
 - which as you know comes with a label that is also mostly in black - for 790 yen.
The burger uses "bamboo charcoal" to make the bun black, plus a "black
ketchup," made from squid ink and garlic. You can probably see in the
illustration of the burger the black sauce.

My Kuro Burger arrives. I was surprised that it was just a small burger.
I thought it would be a special version of the Whopper. Writing this blog
article 4 hours later, I feel hungry already.

A first glimpse of the black bun burger.

After a few bites. There's lettuce, onions, tomatoes, mayonnaise and that
"black ketchup" thing.

The whole set (fries just arrived). I actually got an "L" set, that is totally 860
yen, if I remember correctly.

The verdict? It's not something I'd eat again - because charcoal is bad for you. Even if it's from bamboo. And I really would have wanted a Whopper version of this instead. Taste-wise, I almost didn't notice the difference between this and a regular BK burger like a Whopper Jr (which is essentially this burger minus the black buns and black sauce and mayo). But, I was probably just really hungry.

Useless fact: It's Burger King's 5th anniversary in Japan this weekend.

Interesting fact: This is not the very first black burger. Early this year there was The Darth Vader Burger. But, you can say that this only validates claims made by some that black buns are the new "in" thing in the fast food industry today.

Bento! #103: Yan-nyomu Chikin. Again!

But this time, instead of ordering it à la carte for 294 yen, I got almost the same exact dish as yesterday from the newer, "buffet" cafeteria plus a piece of sweet potato (just trying it out this time) - for only 240 yen. With not so much rice as usual, this meal was all just 365 yen. Yehey!

Chokoreeto! #4: Country Ma'am "Chocochip" Cookies

(カントリーマアム　チョコチップクッキー / kantorii maamu chokochippu kukkii) 

Two flavors: cocoa (ココア / kokoa) or vanilla (バニラ / banira)

Every morning, I have a pair of this for breakfast, one of each flavor. Yuh-uhm. I've also brought home a lot of these as gifts, and my friends and relatives all like 'em a lot.

Bento! #102: Yan-nyomu Chikin

Apparently there's this アジアンフェアー (ajian feaa / Asian Fair) at the cafeteria starting this week, that's why there was that Korean bulgogi dish I had earlier. And yep, you heard that right. In Japan, they refer to Asia as Ajia (pronounced ah-gee-ah), which I believe comes from the Dutch word Azië. For this "Asian Fair," they are featuring 4 dishes, two of which are Korean. Tonight, I had 今週のおすすめ / konshuu no osusume / this week's recommendation, Yannyomu Chikin (ヤンニョムチキン, or Yangnyeom Chicken) which apparently means "fried chicken" or "seasoned chicken" in Korean. But here, basically it's karaage (Japanese-style fried chicken bits) dipped in Yangnyeom sauce, and placed on a bed of lettuce. It's 294 yen, but with "L" size rice and my usual annin doufu (almond jelly) dessert, this was totally 525 yen.

Bento! #101: Purukogi Don

If you read the title out loud, and you know Korean cuisine, you know that it means Bulgogi Rice Bowl. Another more typical way to write it in Japanese is burukogi / ブルコギ. This "L" size one is 441 yen from the school cafeteria. It's yummy but I feel it comes with a poor amount of meat, hence maybe that is why it is called purukogi instead of burukogi. (Hint: I just told a joke.)

Bento! #100 - Yahoo, 100! And to celebrate - Pizza Hut! Not.

"Hatto One Box." "Hatto" because Pizza Hut is
Piza Hatto in Japan (ピザハット).

Almost on a weekly basis, we receive coupons and promos (i.e. promotional campaigns or just simply kyanpeen /キャンペーン/ campaign as they would call them here) for different pizza delivery services here. Yes, Pizza Hut included. This week, my colleague decided to avail of this "campaign" from Pizza Hut. Basically, for something normally around 2,740 yen, we could get the set below for just 2,180 yen under this "campaign." 

Additionally, if you ordered via the web, you get an additional 5% off. So that brought the total price down to just around 2,070 yen. Hooray for the web!

For the type of pizza, we chose this "four flavor" pizza which they call "Natural 4" (ナチュラル / nachuraru 4). The four flavors are: sausage and mushroom (ソーセージ＆マッシュルーム / sooseeji to masshuruumu), pepperoni and corn (ペパロニ＆コーン / peparoni to koon), bacon and asparagus (ベーコン＆アスパラ / beekon to asupara), and tomato and basil (トマト＆バジル / tomato to bajiru). An "M" size of this and others like it, is supposedly 10 inches in diameter, and 2,000 yen. Remember what I told you about the 250-yen pizza I eat here in Japan? They are really cheap. An "L" size, by the way, is a 12-incher:

Back to the story. We also had a choice between 4 crust types: Pan Crust (the typical Pizza Hut one / ふっくらパンピザ / fukkura pan piza), "Italian Crispy" (イタリアンクリスピー / itarian kurisupii), and for only 200 yen more, a "Cheese Crust" (こんがりチーズクラスト / kongari chiizu kurasuto) or a "Sausage Crust" (ソーセージクラスト / sooseeji kurasuto). If you've eaten more than once at Pizza Hut, you know what these last two are. We chose Italian Crispy. I don't like Pizza Hut's pan pizzas.

I opened the box, and this is what we got. Surprisingly, it's a square pizza! Apparently if you get the Italian Crispy type of crust, instead of a 10-inch-diameter typically circular pizza pie, you get a 10-inch by 10-inch square one instead. If you know math, you would know that area-wise, this is slightly bigger than a 10-inch-diameter one. Not surprisingly, the photo seems to have larger chicken pieces, and longer but thinner potato wedges, and more of them herbs, than what we actually got:

It could be better. But thank God nonetheless for
feeding me well tonight!

My colleague and I split the bill on this one, so likewise evenly split the loot. ;-D

I finished mine in about 10 minutes and my colleague was so surprised. We've been in the same department for about 2 years and she is still surprised? Haha. Anyway, after about an hour, my colleague still had two "slices" left but she couldn't finish them anymore. So naturally, she gave them to me. And naturally, I finished them in a minute. So, I had two small pieces of chicken, a few potato wedges, and 10 "slices"/mini-squares of pizza all for around 1,000 yen. Not bad, no? Beats all the bad vibes I got from that Croquette Dog I had earlier. :D

Bento! #99: Soosu Tappuri Korokke Doggu

115 yen from 3F.

Or ソースたっぷりコロッケドッグ in Japanese, that roughly translates to Croquette Dog with a lot of Sauce. At 115 yen, and compared to the companion Weiner Roll at 130 yen I ate together with this, I'm never buying this again.

Firstly, it all but confirms what I don't like about "croquettes" (at least those that I've seen here): it's mostly a bunch of fillers, mostly potatoes maybe, with practically no meat or anything else. I don't like croquettes / korokke! A man needs his protein fix. And secondly, this kind of fooled me. No, I understand now how all that sauce might have disappeared in the croquette since it had plenty of super-absorbent potatoes. But "Croquette Dog"? That made me think the croquettes had hotdogs in them! Where's the dog here? It's not even a hotdog sandwich at all! It's a croquette sandwich! It just supposedly comes with the same buns typically used for hotdog sandwiches. And that's it. Oh well, what could I do. Every place has their own brand of English. And there's nothing wrong with that. This is Japan, this is their language. This is their culture. Back to Japan 101 for me. :D

Bento! #97 + #98: Biggu Chikin Katsu Bento + Okura to Enoki no Okaka Ae

Big Chicken Cutlets Bento

Okra and Enoki Mushroom Okaka sauce

The bento is 498 yen, but I had to eat some more rice to match the large chicken katsu. Enoki mushrooms are small white mushrooms with long necks/stalks. Okaka, a.k.a. katsuobushi, is dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna. I've previously referred to this simply as dried fish flakes. They're also used to top okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and even yakisoba. Okaka ae is translated by Google as Okaka sauce, but I think it is not referring to the okaka as the sauce; i.e. the whole thing is like an Okaka sauce. There are other types of okaka ae, like one made primarily using cabbage (i.e. kyabetsu no okaka ae), and so on. I didn't do it that way, but I guess I should have topped my rice (or my chicken?) with this, treating it as like a sauce.

Also, okaka ae is written as おかか和え where the a is the same as the wa (和) in wagyuu (the expensive beef famously from Kobe) and wafuu (our/Japanese style). I don't know why yet. Do you guys know?

Anyway, guess why I had to have all of this for dinner... Well, it's because I just had that very light "cheap" pizza for lunch. :D

Bento! #96: Another one of them inexpensive pizzas in Japan

Another one of them 250 yen pizzas from the supermarket. This time it says "Arutobaierun" - apparently the Japanese romanization for "Alt Bayern," or "Old Bavaria." Alt Bayern is presently in Germany near the Czech Republic and Austria. I'm just guessing but it might be referring to the sausages? I am also reading that it is Napori Fuu - Napolitan Style, plus it has 3 kinds of cheese: chedaa, gouda, and mottsarera (cheddar, gouda, and mozzarella). As usual, I sprinkled parmesan, crushed black pepper, and Tabasco (タバスコ/tabasuko) on it and ate it, sandwich-style, with some Pepsi and half of a 50 yen bunch of shredded cabbage with parmesan, crushed black pepper, and Caesar salad dressing. Yeah, I don't like cabbage too much as a salad, too, but hey, this is a pretty good lunch all for only around 300 yen.

If you're looking for stuff like this at your local supermarket here in Japan, the brand name apparently is "La Pizza," or ラ ピッツァ, or ra pittsa. In many cases though, note that the Japanese would pronounce pizza as piiza or ピーザ, as in the Leaning Tower of Pisa with the 's' as 'z'; not as pittsa. Oh and by the way, these pizza pies are approximately 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter. 十 or 10-インチ, or 二十五 or 25-センチ.

Chokoreeto! #3: Choko Baamu

I guess this is a Bourbon brand snack. The Japanese characters read "funwari choko baamu." Funwari, I believe, means fluffy. Choko is short for chokoreeto, chocolate, of course. Baamu is short for baamukuuhen / バームクーヘン, which is the Japanese form of baumkuchen (pronounced baum-coo-hen), a German word (and probably now also an English word) for the type of layered cake similar to the one in the photo above, except it's usually made in a donut-like shape that is then cut to pieces such that they become almost square/cube-like in shape and become easier to eat without having to use a knife and a fork. This type of cake is actually quite popular here in Japan. I even saw some being sold at the Narita departure area. I guess it's for the Japanese who might miss their dose of baum as they visit other countries. I am not sure though how baumkuchen tastes in other countries - like in Germany. But all the baumkuchen I've tasted here are quite yummy, this included. This one actually comes with two flavors; "choko" (chocolate, obviously) and "howaito" (white - white chocolate, I guess). I have two of these, one of each flavor, for breakfast together with coffee and a banana. Actually, I usually have chocolate chip cookies, but since there weren't any the last time I went to the grocery, I had to settle for this. But, like I said, they're yummy.

If you're staying in one place in Japan for more than a week, you should probably try their baumkuchen here. If not, I suggest you just try the more traditional Japanese fare.

Bento! #95: Cheapest (ham+"soft salami") pizza in Japan

I love pizza. A typical 12" pizza here though would run me around at least 1500 yen. And that probably wouldn't be the typical pizza I'd eat elsewhere; it would probably be more suited to the Japanese palate. I do know of this place near Meguro which serves Sunday lunch buffet for just 1000 yen (or at least, two years ago when I last went there, they were doing that), and their pizza is quite good. Meguro though is like a 2-hour commute from home so I don't go there often. Only when I go to the church there. I do have friends who are members of CostCo, the popular American members-only store. At CostCo, a very delicious 16" real pizza is only around 1000 yen. While there's one that's just about an hour from my place, I don't get to go there that often because I am not a CostCo member. So, how do I satisfy my craving for pizza? Well, I settle for this:

I buy this pizza from the supermarket. Guess how much this sells for. It's just 250 yen. Or well, it's fluctuated between 238 yen and 258 yen. It's not yet exactly ready-to-eat, though. So I use my microwave/oven-toaster (many microwave ovens here are microwave and oven toasters in one), and have it toast for about 7 minutes (there's just one temperature setting, typical of small oven toasters). I leave it in the oven for about a minute to let the heat cook it just a little bit more, and then voila. I sprinkle some parmesan cheese, black pepper, and Tabasco sauce, and I have me a pretty heavy breakfast or a light, quick lunch. It has a very thin crust, and what I usually do is fold it in half and eat it like a sandwich or a taco. If it's for lunch, I usually eat it with Coke or Pepsi so that I can feel full sooner. In this case, I ate it for lunch with some lettuce and bell pepper salad with Caesar dressing (and parmesan and black pepper). Totally, that's a pretty good meal for under 400 yen. Yum.

The toppings on this pizza I got is "ham and soft salami." Next time, I'll show you the sausage/weiner version, and the four-cheese and "margherita" versions. I forgot the exact brand name of this thing, but it seems that at every supermarket I've been to, there's always something like this that is between 240 to 260 yen in price. Before buying, make sure you have a microwave+toaster thing first, though!

Lastly, I should warn you. So I have one (or two) of these at least once a week. When I went back to the Philippines (or went to visit CostCo) and was able to taste "real" pizza, you really get to feel the difference. But yeah, at 250 yen, and out of my love for pizza, that's reason enough for me to buy this thing at least once a week. It makes for a very cheap, quick meal, too!

Bento! #94: Ebi Chiri Don

「えびチリ丼」

Ebi = shrimp. Chiri = chili (in this case, as in like using a Chinese/Asian-style sweet chili sauce). Don = you should know what this is by now ;-)

I guess this roughly translates to chili shrimp rice bowl. It's 398 yen from LOPIA, our local grocery store. But if you noticed there's a sticker with a red outline on top of the original label - it actually says it's half off. I guess they prepared this in the morning, no one has bought them yet (at around 5pm), and so they had to sell it soon so that it still tastes great. They also have 20% up to 70% off on all bento and other freshly made food items at around 15 minutes before closing time (i.e. at around 7:45pm). It went through a little bit of tumbling while it was riding home on the bicycle with me. There're also scrambled eggs in there and some negi / spring onions. There are 5 pieces of shrimps in some tempura-like coating. It was yummy, and for under 200 yen, this was quite good. If I got this at 398 yen, I'd say it's just fine, or maybe a little bit overpriced (as most things are). Obviously this isn't sufficient as a full meal for me; I had some reruns of stuff I've already previously blogged about.

Bagels on your forehead, anyone? #Japan

First saw this on LikeCool. Thanks to MC for sharing this link!

Bento! #93: Some chicken bento

398 yen from Lawson.

Delicious fatty chicken with some sweet sauce and tartar sauce, some nori shreds, rice, and scrambled eggs.

Bento! #92: Cafeteria food - Kuriimu Chiizu Menchi

Two pieces of cream cheese and minced meat croquettes with fries is 294 yen. You can probably guess now what is Kuriimu Chiizu and Menchi. I got too much rice and oranges (and some broccoli) from the salad bar, and this was all around 578 yen.

I've tried this before and well, it was fine, but it wasn't something I really look forward to trying again. But so that I can blog about it and you guys can learn about it, well here I am. :D  I like cream cheese, and that's what makes this thing surprisingly taste better than it looks, but well, it's far from being one of my favorites. Oh and guess what sauce they put on those things - yup, it's デミソース / demi soosu / demi-glaze sauce.

I also previously thought that menchi meant minced/ground beef, but looking at the meat in this thing, it felt more like pork than beef. But I'm still not sure. I also feel like there's a lot of other fillers in there, like potatoes maybe, but again, I'm not sure. That all said, it's something interesting enough to try at least once; I recommend you try it when you get the chance and you haven't yet.

Bento! #91: Cafeteria 'buffet' food - Hamu Katsu to Chikin Tatsuta

Whoa, was this expensive. Hamu katsu = ハムカツ = Ham cutlets. I just found out that Katsu is indeed short for katsuretsu. Chikin tatsuta = チキン竜田 = Japanese tatsuta-style fried chicken. I also had some spinach (hourensou; ほうれん草), cherry tomatoes, and that rice balls and sweet bean paste dessert thing again. This time, I also had 中華汁 / chuukashiru / Chinese-style soup, which had egg, seaweed (not the same as the nori in sushi), and a non-miso-based broth. This was all rather expensive at around 539 yen, I think because it had too much meat.

Bento! #90: Yasai Tappuri Tonkotsu Raamen

This one is 483 yen at the cafeteria. 420 yen for a regular size,
plus 63 yen to go 大盛り (oomori), or to "up-size" it.

The whole thing means "ramen/Chinese-style noodles in boiled pork bones soup topped with plenty of vegetables." Yasai = 野菜 = vegetables. Tappuri = たっぷり = plenty, full of. Tonkotsu = とんこつ = broth/soup made by boiling pork bones for a long period of time. Raamen = ラーメン = ramen. The Chinese-style soup spoon, by the way, is called レンゲ (renge), if I remember correctly.

Bento! #89: Cafeteria food - Syake Tatsuta

This is totally 439 yen. The rice is around 150 yen, and the miso soup is 31 yen.  Syake is Nihongo for salmon. Tatsuta  - oh check out my earlier posts. :D  I also got this new kind of dessert they have, which has some rice cake balls and sweet red bean paste. By the way, I took this photo already halfway into my meal - sorry about that!

These are the prices at the "buffet" cafeteria. For the soup (choice of miso or Chinese-style soup), 31 yen per cup. For the rice, 50 yen per 100g. For everything else (the "buffet" part), it's 140 yen per 100g. At the top, the "ビュッフェ　コーナー" or "byuffee koonaa" - buffet corner.

Bento! #88: Natto Teishoku

I previously talked about a rather Western-infused breakfast I had at Yayoiken, but this time, I had the chance to try their more traditional Japanese-style breakfast. This one is "ナット定食" which roughly translates to fermented soy bean set meal. This one's a very high protein-laced breakfast with "nama tamago" or raw egg, and four kinds of soy-based products: miso soup, the natto, tofu, and well, the soy sauce which I used for dipping the nori (seaweed). I wanted to call it the fourfecta of soy, but well, there's no such word. Plus, there's no edamame (the soy beans themselves, ready-to-eat) so it's not really a complete picture of the soy family in Japanese cuisine. Anyway, together with the all-you-can-eat rice, this is all just 350 yen and it was a yummy breakfast. I guess officially I now have acquired taste for natto; this is the most I've had in one sitting! What's best though was that this meal was free, thanks to my friend, Rei. ごちそうさまでした！

Bento! #87: Saba Tatsuta Don

Or "サバ竜田丼". Saba = mackerel. It is not usually written in katakana, though. Saba tatsuta = fried mackerel. I previously blogged about "Chikin tatsuta don," which is essentially the same as this one, which uses chikin (chicken) instead. Tatsuta seems to mean that the fried item is flat and closer to a square shape than, say, kakiage (flat but circular shape) or karaage (closer to a ball shape). Don = oh you know what that means already. The other difference between this and the chikin tatsuta don that I previously tried is that this comes with egg and some lettuce where as the chikin one only comes with negi or (spring) onions. I also expected this to be boneless - not the case. It wasn't too much though, so I'd order this again next time. Plus it's only 409 yen with "L" size rice (eru saizu raisu). With the miso soup, this is all just 440 yen. Yummy.

Bento! #86: Ika Kakiage Don

Thanks to Okada-san for taking this photo!

Or "イカかき揚げ丼" in Japanese. Ika = squid, although it is not usually written in katakana. Kakiage = a round, flat kind of tempura made from vegetable strips (usually carrots, potatoes, onions, etc.), usually with shrimp instead of squid. It is similar to the Filipino "okoy." The age part, is similar to that in karaage (Japanese-style fried chicken). Don = short for donburi, bowl and in this case, a bowl of rice. With "L" size rice, this is just 409 yen. But as you might guess, it's not very heavy. So I had spinach, cherry tomatoes, and fried potato wedges from the salad bar to go with it. It's all delicious, nonetheless.

Chokoreeto! #1 and #2: Bourbon Almondrush + Glico Almond Peak

To start the new month, I'm starting a new series on the Japan! Japan! blog, and it's called "Chokoreeto" which is essentially Japanese for "chocolate." I'm not sure if I can sustain this series though, because I have to cut down on beans (including soy-based products and food extenders) and legumes (peas, etc.) and peanuts - but I'm not quite sure yet if I should likewise cut down on other kinds of nuts because they're not on this list of things that I should best avoid.

Anyways, here's a couple I picked up this week from the grocery, and well, they're two kinds with almonds. I usually get macadamia nut chocolates but those weren't available so, here we are. I usually take chocolates as an energy booster or a hunger buster in the morning for breakfast, late in the evening hours after dinner, or in-between meals. There is a huge selection of chocolates here in Japan - ever heard of Wasabi Kit-Kats and their many other variants? And some of the chocolates are only limited edition or seasonal. These two appear new to me, or at least their packaging seem to be new.

Bourbon (brand) Almondrush / ブルボン アーモンドラッシュ / burubon aamondo rasshu (above) and Glico (brand) Almond Peak (below).

Bento! #85: Burger King's Fresh Avocado Whopper

I'm lovin' it. :D

Actually, I went to BK and didn't notice that they have this new whopper burger that uses black bread, made from squid ink and some, I think, green tea "charcoal" or something like that. I'll try it out next time. By the way, in Japanese, this is フレッシュアボカードワッパー, "furesshu abokaado wappaa."

Bento! #84 - Yuzukoshou Hanbaagu

Or "Yuzukoshou Burger." With "M" size rice, this is only 399 yen from the school cafeteria. According to Wikipedia,

Yuzukoshō (柚子胡椒?, also yuzugoshō) is a type of Japanese seasoning. It is a paste made from chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt, which is then allowed to ferment.[1] It is usually used as a condiment for nabemono dishes, miso soup, and sashimi. The most famous types of yuzukoshō come from Kyushu, where it is a local specialty.

Yuzu is by the way a kind of citrus fruit found in East Asia. According to me:

Yuzukoshō Burger is sweet, sour, and yummy.

Also, this one had a rather huge, larger-than-usual burger patty. It's not 100% beef though, of course. It came with some lettuce and a cherry tomato. I dressed the lettuce with some Italian Dressing which I think complemented the Yuzukoshou sauce quite well.

Speaking of beef, I think I might have said in previous posts that the Pawaa Don (Power Rice Bowl) is like gyuudon (beef rice bowl) with egg. It actually contains pork, not beef.

Bento! #83 - Negi Shio Karaage Don

Or ネギ塩唐揚げ丼 in Kanji. My first Japanese meal back in Japan. Negi = onions, but more specifically, spring onions / green onions / leeks. Shio = salt. Karaage = Japanese-style fried chicken bits. Don = short for donburi, or bowl, where in this case it signifies that this is a rice bowl meal with topping (i.e. the chicken). For "L" size rice, this is 441 yen at the school cafeteria. And it was delish.

By the way, I just decided to merge my "Bento" and "Bento Breaktime" series into one "Bento!" series, and thus we are now at series number 83. Makes for easier blog posting. :D  Let's get fatter in Japan again, shall we? Hehe. :-)

MNL-NRT food

I took Philippine Airlines this time on my way back to Japan. Usually if it's a trip to/from Japan, one of the choices is a Japanese dish. Like at least on the Cathay Pacific flight from Haneda, there was at least the cold soba noodles which was a Japanese thing. The food served on this trip though was far from being Japanese. Nonetheless, it wasn't bad. I guess it's good, too, that Japanese taking this flight going home would have one last shot at the Filipino flavor.

HND-HKG in-flight views and food

We're about to take off!

R Burger

R Burger. Two things I love. "R." and Burgers.
I ate here already once or twice already,
but not this time around. R Burger is not
commonplace around Tokyo, at least; I think
it might be just a Haneda International Airport
thing.

Haneda Airport International Terminal

I'm back!

So I left Japan last September 9 to go on a holiday in my home country, the Philippines, and I promised I would blog about the Japanese food there. Well, oops. I didn't have time. It's because the reason why I went on a holiday there was actually to meet my very first, newborn son for the very first time. I was actually a week too late already but at least I got to spend time with him on his 2nd and 3rd weeks on earth. And man, if you're a parent, you know what those first few weeks entail. But, it was all good.

So anyways, I do have a few things to blog about, with some related to food in Japan. This first one is all about the Haneda (Tokyo International) Airport International Terminal from where I took off. I have lots of pictures. Check 'em all out below.

RocketNews24

Speaking of RocketNews24, their website contains a ton of English language articles that is all about Japan. Well, and the rest of East Asia. Check it out; it's a website I'd include on my "Welcome to Japan" list of articles for all of you new to Japan or looking to learn more about Japan and her culture. Check the articles out at the URL http://en.rocketnews24.com/category/japan. Or for all about East Asia (including China, Taiwan, and Korea), check out their main English site at http://en.rocketnews24.com.

A different kind of charity event... only in Japan?

First question: Is this for real? I read about this event via this article on RocketNews24, which you should probably read first, too. I also haven't heard about "oppai momi" pubs until I read this news article...

Thanks to my friend who shared this link with me! ;-)

Bento #49: Bunch of fried stuff bento

Alright. This is my last bento before I go pay a visit to my motherland. I've long tried to avoid bento with salmon, because I've had bad experience with them. I think it's only if you get unlucky and get one that's been out there on the konbini display shelves for a while already, and the salmon tastes a bit fishy/oily. But also because the salmon still has bones! Like this one did. But thankfully, it wasn't fishy/oily at all. Otherwise, I love salmon. This is another packed one. You can see the rice has been "sliced" into 10 rolls, sprinkled with black sesame seed, and topped with "divine protection" in the form of a plum. There's the salmon - baked, maybe? And an ebi (shrimp) tempura. There's an okonomiyaki-like deep-fried thing. Half a weiner. A small pork hamburger patty. Rolled egg. Lotus roots and carrots salad, and some seaweeds on the side. Only 398 yen! From 3F; where else. The quantity was not enough, though, so actually I got me a bowl of pasta to complement this meal. :)

Anyway, like I said, while on a 2-week hiatus in my home country, I hope to visit some Japanese or Japanese-themed restaurants back there and post my "bento" from those joints. Meanwhile, check out the rest of The Japan! Japan! Blog. I was here for 2 months in 2005, so I have stuff written during that time. I came back here in 2010, from whence I started blogging yet again. Until next time, I'll see you guys around.

Bento #48: Egg and chicken and egg rice bowl

480 yen from 3F. One egg is sunny-side-up-like, and one is scrambled. And, talk about magic. You're looking around for which bento to eat. You see the bowl and you see, wow, this is a lot for 480 yen! But actually the egg+egg+chicken is separated from the rice. When you pour them over the rice, it fills just half (or less) of the bowl. Wow. Anyways, this "donburi" (rice bowl) bento comes with some spices, and at least a leaf of some veggie.

Bento #47: Trifecta of Kansai-area goodness

Okonomiyaki (Japanese-style pancakes), Takoyaki (Octopus balls) and Yakisoba (Japanese style fried/grilled soba noodles). 398 yen from 3F. Yum. There's 3 pieces of takoyaki. In the Philippines, some "takoyaki" shops don't actually have any tako (or they say they do but…). The yakisoba doesn't have the usual stuff with it (usually cabbage, carrots, and some meat), though it does come with pickled ginger as usual (the pink stuff on the lower right of the photo). The okonomiyaki is a simple, cabbage-only one as well, I think, and enough mayo and okonomi sauce. Okonomiyaki, by the way, means something like "grilled anything-that-comes-to-mind." "Yaki" means grilled, but in many cases, they just use a teppan grill; i.e. a big flat heated pan on which often they'd put oil - so in that sense it's really fried. Yakitori and yakiniku (barbecue chicken, and barbecue in general) though are usually charcoal-grilled. Oh, and these three things, as I mentioned come from the Kansai region of Japan (Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, etc.).

Bento BreakTime #35: Pork cutlets with Nagoya-style miso sauce

The cafeteria is open again starting this week, after their summer vacation ("natsu yasumi") hayatus. Which only means more food for less. This one's only 441 yen (but almost 1000 calories) from the cafeteria, with "L"-size rice. It's called "Nagoya miso katsu" in Japanese. Comes with shredded kyabetsu (cabbage) which I dressed with my favorite, Italian dressing (though I really like it better with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, croutons, some onions, i.e. the usual salad veggies). By the way, I should mention that at the cafeteria, when you order "large" rice, you just say "Raisu, eru-saizu." For "medium" and "small" and "super small" rice, you say "emu," "esu," "esu-esu" instead of "eru." Say all that out loud and you'll know why if you haven't yet guessed.

Bento #46: Another kind of katsudon

Sorry for the blurry photo!

This is probably the fifth type of katsudon I've blogged about already, but this one's "new," as you can see. The main difference I think between this and earlier ones are the use of pickled plums (as well as plum-colored pickled radish). Yummy and interesting and expensive, as usual. 498 yen from 3F.

Toyota Auris 30-second TV Commercial

Careful with ogling skinny young women in Japan.



Thanks to my buddy SG for sharing this link!

Bento BreakTime #34: "Umai Karaage" and "Hashudo Poteto"

I almost forgot to take a photo of this one, and when I did,
it turned out blurry!

Tasty fried chicken balls and hashed brown. 105+80 yen from 3F. Nice. I ordered these to complement my not-so-heavy main bento. There are four pieces of the fried chicken balls but I already finished one before taking a photo! :D

Bento #45: "Ebi mayo daburu chiizu sarada"

For my main course tonight, I had something that I've already shown you before - this pork barbecue rice topping thing pictured on the left above. To complement it, I tried one of the new salad offerings at 3F (which is expensive at just over 300 yen). But it's probably a complete meal already for others. Its name translates to "Shrimp mayo double cheese salad." And that's what it is. Cheese balls, with shrimp in sweet mayo sauce (mixed with a little ketchup?) topped with some parmesan cheese, and cabbage and lettuce, with a sour/vinegar-based dressing. It was a very interesting combination of tastes; I liked it. But I wouldn't get this again just because it is just too expensive being within a 100 yen less than the price of my main course (which was at 398 yen).