Sapporo X Royce' - Chocolat Brewery

Sapporo Breweries Ltd. and Royce' Confect Co. Ltd (a Sapporo based small chocolate maker) have collaborated on a chocolate flavored beer-like drink.

The English on the label reads "Chocolat Brewery is made from roasted malt and cacao, having the characteristic of aromatic chocolate flavor and bitter taste". It is also labeled as "BITTER".

The Japanese on the advertisement translates very roughly as "Sapporo and Royce' present you with an adult brew".

The actual taste is not very bitter and is closer to a chocolate drink, and technically falls under the category of "hopposhu beer", making it taxed at a lower rate. Nevertheless, it is a premium product, selling for 268 yen per bottle at the Bic Camera discount liquor store. This product is "limited", meaning it will only be sold for several months or this product cycle.

Photo is a web capture for explanitory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.

Bikkuri Donkey and hamburger

Last night, we ate at Bikkuri Donkey, which is a"hamburger" restaurant chain. When you say hamburger in Japan, you mean chopped steak. The first time I went to a hamburger restaurant in Japan, I was surprised at the complete absence of buns - not on the menu.

　

There are plenty of fast food restaurants which serve hamburgers as I grew up to know them and those are also called hamburgers.

　

Last week, I tried to find some hamburger buns at the grocery store and couldn't find any. They are available, but you might have to visit a few supermarkets to find them.

Japanese Diet and Sustainable Fishing

There is an article at Japan Today about the effect of a potential ban on tuna exports on Japanese consumers. That leads to the subject of Japan and sustainability. I recently had lunch with a fairly high level manager at one of the large Japan seafood companies. In general conversation, several interesting points were made in reply to my questions:

1) the company he works for has stopped selling whale meet due to the negative international image which results. His attitude and that of most Japanese I know, shows little sympathy for whale hunting bans.

2) Japanese companies are engaged in a good deal of fish farming, including some tuna species, but it is not for sustainability reasons. It simply makes sense for price and supply reasons.

and

3) sustainable fishing is not something even on the radar in Japan. At present, Japanese food companies feel no pressure to protect future stocks.

I think this attitude is unfortunate, especially since the results of future collapse in fish populations will be felt more strongly here.

Family Mart using Musen Rice

I bought an onigiri at Family Mart yesterday and it had a label touting the use of "musen rice" (無洗米加工). Musen rice is produced by a relatively new process and allows for rice to be cooked directly without first washing the rice several times with water. It has become pretty popular because of convenience. It is also argued that it takes a little less overall energy. The taste is not changed though, so it is pretty confusing as to why this would be a selling point. If anything, it has a slightly less "natural" image.

Coedo Beer (Kawagoe)

We tried a new local beer (地ビール) last night - Coedo. It was on sale at the local supermarket and it was not as outrageous price of some local beers. We tried both varieties pictured here. They both had a taste closer to European beers than most major Japanese brands. Labeled "Premium All Malt Beer" and treated with low temperature pasteurization, they had the taste of live yeast.

　

I checked out the website and it really is gorgeous, if not informative. Looks like they spent a lot of money on it.

Kagamimochi and Kagambaraki

One food related holiday tradition in Japan is Kagamimochi (pictured left). These are set in the entrance of homes and work places from New Year's until the January 11th. Most are plastic but contain mochi (rice which has been pounded into a sticky paste). On January 11th, you open the kagamimochi, prepare it in some way (with sweetened soy beans to the right) and eat it. This is called kagamibaraki.

　

Literally, kagamimochi (鏡餅) means "mirror mochi" and kagamibaraki (鏡開き) means "opening of the mirror".

Karubi Bento with Okinawa Salt

This is a bento I bought the other day at Seven Eleven.

This bento had Korean style karubi pork strips, green onions and salt from Okinawa.

I didn't know Okinawa salt is special, but for some time now, convenience stores have been featuring ingredients from different regions of Japan.

Upscale Donuts

Here is an article about a donut chain, called "miel" which started in the Kansai area and is now opening a shop in Ginza, Tokyo. The donuts are baked instead of fried and contain ingredients such as collagen. The calories are 2/3rds that of regular donuts. As you can see from the pictures, the atmosphere is definitely not that of a fast food restaurant - more like Starbucks. I do not see prices for individual donuts, only donut sets with pastries which go for around 1,110 to 1,300 yen.

Soy Milk and Taste

Here is an article about new flavors for Kibun's soy milk - melon and yakiimo (grilled sweet potato). That is not too interesting, but the subject of soy milk flavoring is interesting. I cannot remember where I read this, but I did read somewhere that the approach to soy milk flavoring Japan and the US is very different. In the US, people generally do not like the taste of soy and therefore masking is objective. In Japan, people like the taste of soy, so complementing the taste is the goal.

Morinaga Chorus

There is a product renewal article on Nikkei Trendy. Not overly interesting, just a new flavor - peach - but it mentions in the article that the Morinaga Chorus product was first introduced in 1927, which was a surprise. That took the history of lactic acid drinks back earlier than I had been thinking. Sure enough, a quick search shows that Calpis was introduced in 1919.