Pronto Golden Highball

Pronto has been diversifying in recent years from simply being a coffee chain to also offering food and alcoholic drinks. They are currently offering a golden highball for 500 yen, which contains real gold leaf flakes. Gold leaf is actually not uncommon in Japan and can be sprinkled on foods to turn a fairly standard meal into something to talk about. Seeing it in drinks or having a national chain use gold leaf IS something unusual. The copy uses the phrase 大吉大利 which refers to good luck and prosperity in the new year. Obviously the image they are trying to convey. プロント ハイボール

http://www.pronto.co.jp/campaign/2013/12/post-1.html

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

Wendy's Premium Chili Burger

Part of Wendy's Japan "Japan Premium" line-up, "The Chili Burger" looks pretty nice. It isn't cheap though (780 yen). Wendy's presence in Japan is still very limited and McDonald's profits are suffering due to popular ultra-cheap offerings off its 100 yen menu. Getting people in the store and making a profit can be a challenging proposition.

http://wendys.co.jp/

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

Meiji Shrimp Butter Soy Sauce Karl

Meiji's popular Karl snack held a contest to determine which flavors to bring back. The winner was a flavor from 1999 - shrimp butter soy sauce flavor - with over 121,000 votes. Meiji Karl is one of the big brands in Japan that can get people excited over new flavors and offerings limited to specific towns or regions of Japan. 明治 カール

http://www.meiji.co.jp/sweets/snack/karl/

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

McDonald's American Vintage '50s Menu

McDonald's has introduced an American Vintage '50s menu featuring two new sandwiches - honey mustard chicken and a double beef and egg. I had no idea these dated back to the US local diner era. I thought basic burgers, fries and milk shakes were the typical offerings, and chicken sandwiches made an appearance when Americans started to be concerned about red meat. I might have to chase down the details on that. In any case, these sandwiches do look good.

http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/campaign/americanvintage/index.html

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

Burger King Teriyaki Burgers

Burger King has introduced teriyaki burgers which it calls "Japan originals". Not quite a bold as previous ideas from Burger King Japan, and something that McDonald's has been doing for years, but certainly a taste suitable to Japanese palates.

http://www.burgerkingjapan.co.jp/campaign/cp105.html

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

Meiji Kinokonoyama LINE Account

Meiji is advertising its new LINE account featuring characters from its popular Kinokonoyama chocolate brand. LINE is the extremely popular free texting/calling social media service which is monetized by selling or charging companies to offer cute "stickers" (similar to emoticons). Therefore, users who register for the Meiji account can download Meiji "stickers" to send to their friends. Use if each type of sticker is limited to several months - presumably because the companies do not want an unlimited commitment. Nearly everyone with a smartphone in Japan uses LINE and I hear that it is gaining popularity in other countries as well. 明治 きのこの山

http://www.meiji.co.jp/sweets/chocolate/kinotake/line/

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

Tohoku Limited Edition Morinaga Hi-Chew

Tohoku limited edition Morinaga Hi-Chew candies in cherry and apple flavors. 森永 ハイチュウ りんご さくらんぼ

Tohoku Limited Apple Flavored Meiji Apollo Chocolates

In Japan, apples are known as coming from this region. The old term for what roughly corresponds to Tohoku is Michinoku and that is the term used with this product. 明治 アポロ みちのく 陸奥 りんご味

Japanese Bread Crust - Huge Waste, But Cheap If You Can Find It

Anyone who buys sandwiches in Japan will have noticed that the crust has been cut off. A huge waste which is also recognized by many Japanese. Found this bag of bread crust on sale for almost nothing, 49 yen, and made some French bread strips. パンの耳

Photo - Kamakura Vending Machines from 1997

I was going through old photos and found this. I originally took this to show how many vending machines were lined up, but now many years later and upon closer inspection, it is much more interesting. At the time, I was doing basic research and didn't have much of an interest in food products.

Very grainy, but you can see from right to left UCC, Lotte ice cream, Haagen Daz ice cream, Coke, DyDo, Kirin, Suntory, Pocari Sweat (Otsuka Seiyaku), Yakult, Ito-En, Glico (Pocky chocolate sticks), Canada Dry (through Coca Cola in Japan), Asahi, and Fuji Film.

Interesting points:
1) Stevia - The biggest print on the Pocari Sweat machine says Stevia. Very interesting as this is the "new" sweetener just making it to Europe and the US 16 years later.
2) Ice Cream Vending Machines - I bet you would have to do some searching to find two ice cream vending machines side-by-side outside Japan. In this case, there is a little tent over them, but still in the summer the street pictured is blazing hot. It must have taken a lot of energy to keep them running.
3) Fuji Film Vending Machines - You almost never camera film anywhere these days, much less from a vending machine. However, here in Japan you do still occasionally see disposable camera vending machines at tourist attractions where one might want one for an emergency photo.
4) Canada Dry goes through Coca Cola here, but as you can see here, it is often bundled with different offerings from the basic Coca Cola lineup. This is probably because Canada Dry is owned by a competitor in the US, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.