Kirin Yokohama Fruhlingsfest

Grand Kirin will have a booth at this week's Yokohama Fruhlingsfest or Spring Beer Festival which is being held in the historic red brick storehouses in Yokohama called Akarenga (through May 6th). It looks like this festival is related to the larger Oktoberfest in Japan festival. キリン フリューリングスフェスト オクトーバーフェスト

http://www.okt-fest.jp/okt-ykhm2014-1.html

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

Suntory Tokyo Hakushu Midpark Cafe

Suntory has set up the outdoor Hakushu Midpark Cafe in Tokyo Midtown, which features Suntory Hakushu Whiskey and Hakushu Highballs and smoked meats like the assorted platter shown in the photo (2,000 yen). This cafe is open through May 25th. 白州 サントリー ハイボール

http://www.suntory.co.jp/whisky/hakushu/style/mpc/index.html

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

Suntory Tokyo Tower Highball Garden

Beer Gardens are very popular in Japan, even though they do not always work all that well in the height of summer due to the heat and humidity which makes sitting outside even in the evenings not as pleasant as you might otherwise think. Therefore while there are beer gardens in some of the major parks in Tokyo, Osaka, etc., other beer gardens are indoors. Outdoor beer gardens work much better in northern Japan (Tohoku and Hokkaido) where the evenings are much cooler.

The highball boom in recent years has led to Suntory opening some highball gardens as an alternative. This location at the base of Tokyo Tower is open daily until late September. サントリー

http://www.suntory.com/

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

Kirin Danone Volvic Drink 1 Give 10 liters for Mali

Volvic is the water brand now owned by Danone. In Japan, it is sold through Kirin. The water business in recent years has tried to associate themselves with public good, to counter negative perceptions such as essentially selling tap water at huge mark-ups in environmentally unfriendly containers.

Since 2006, some proceeds from the Volvic business in some European countries, North America and Japan (over 1.2 million US dollars to date) have gone to clean water and public health projects in Mali. The project name is "Drink 1 Give 10" and promises to make 10 liters of clean water available for each 1 liter purchased. Very nice, but it doesn't capture all the activities such as working to eradicate guinea worm. キリン

http://www.kirin.co.jp

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

Glico Pucchin Pudding Earrings

Glico is asking for feedback on prototype earrings modeled on easily recognizable shape of their popular Pucchin pudding brand. Are you a big enough pudding fan to hang advertisements from you ears? If so, you probably go one step beyond what most companies refer to as loyal customers. グリコ プッチンプリン

http://www.glico-dairy.co.jp/

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

Haagen-Dazs SpoonVege Ice Cream

Haagen-Dazs Japan will be introducing two vegetable flavor ice creams on May 12th and has been doing a good deal of advance advertising. Certainly an interesting idea, and National Public Radio in the US mused, wrongly, that kids could get their vegetables for dessert instead. But actually no health or nutrition benefit is being claimed. Although there is some tomato paste and condensed carrot juice added, this is not a vegetable substitute. In fact, you could think of this as the opposite of telling kids to eat their vegetables because they are good for you. In this case, you get the vegetable flavor without much added nutrition. I suppose this could be marketed as a "healthy choice", meaning it is arguably more nutritious than the alternative due to the added vegetable concentrate. Commendably, Haagen-Dazs is not taking that angle.

In a move that fits with Japanese sense of food and color, each vegetable is paired with a similarly colored fruit - tomato/cherry and carrot/orange. ハーゲンダッツ スプーンベジ

http://www.haagen-dazs.co.jp/

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

MOS Morning Menu

MOS Burger is also trying to compete in the breakfast time slot (7:00-10:30). Their menu does not look all that different from the regular menu though - besides coffee, you have rice burgers and smaller sandwiches with coffee. Not very good photos on the website, but here is a photo of the MOS Morning Vegetable Burger. 朝モス モーニング野菜バーガー

http://www.mos.co.jp/

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

KFC Karaage Specialty Shops

Kentucky Fried Chicken entered Japan in 1970 and built a market many others thought impossible. After all, the Japanese had their own traditional way of frying chicken, called karaage (bite-size fried chicken pieces seasoned in a variety of ways). Now KFC is using their special seasoning to go after the karaage market also. They have opened 2 stores in Tokyo and one in Yokohama specializing in karaage. These karaage come in 4 seasonings: original KFC special seasoning, extra spicy, soy sauce flavor, and sesame seed/garlic flavor. Very interesting move. 唐揚げ ケンッタキーフライドチキン

http://www.kfc.co.jp/

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

McDonald's Limited Avocado Sandwiches

McDonald's is offering limited edition avocado sandwiches in three varieties: hamburger, chicken sandwich and ebi (shrimp) burger. All sandwiches feature large cut slices of avocado and Italian-style ciabatta (チャバッタ) bread. The hamburger uses a wasabi containing soy sauce, and the other two sandwiches use a Cobb salad style sauce. マクドナルド アボカド

http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/

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

Morinaga Kraft Sernik Cheese Cake

Kraft, which goes through Morinaga in Japan, has introduced a cheese cake flavored processed cheese product in the familiar 6 piece, individually wrapped portion boxes. This is part of a series where they are bringing tastes from around the world to Japan. This product is based on the Polish cheese cake called sernik and has an apple and honey flavor. In Poland, sernik is make from a fresh cheese called twarog, but I assume reproducing that aspect in Japan would be impractical. クラフト 森永 チーズケーキ

http://www.morinagamilk.co.jp/products/cheese/

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