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.

McDonald's Tsukimi Burger

McDonald's will sell the tsukimi burger again next month. For a long time after coming to Japan, I kept seeing the tsukimi burger offered over and over again. Deja vu over and over as they say. It certainly has become a tradition, this article says that McDonald's Japan first started selling it in 1991 as a seasonal offering.

As can be seen the the picture, the tsukimi burger employs an egg in the same form seen on Egg McMuffins. Tsukimi means viewing the moon in Japanese, so I suppose the yolk is supposed to represent the moon, although the round shape of the egg might also be what is being referred to.

Sapporo Classic 2008 Furano Vintage Beer

With a name that long it has to be good, I suppose.

Sapporo Classic 2008 Furano Vintage Beer is a limited production (30,000 cases) beer. They claim a fresh taste due to hops which has not been processed in any way.

Furano is an area of Hokkaido, and I believe the Vintage refers to the harvest of the hops and barley in that area during 2008, under special licence of Sapporo.

Interestingly, despite the name Sapporo, the head office has long been in Tokyo. Last year a special product development office in Hokkaido and this is one of the first results. Interestingly, due to that move, the development received regional development assistance from the national government.

Nisshin Foods and Chicken Ramen

Nissin Foods is celebrating 50 years as a company (not counting the small, in house operation that started 10 years earlier) and along with it 50 years of Chicken Ramen, their first product and still a big seller.

Momofuku Ando's story is well known, he developed the method of producing instant noodles and the resulting company he started enjoyed almost overnight success with the introduction of chicken ramen.

It was considered a luxury in post-war Japan, but is now a convenience and can be found world-wide. Happy birthday chicken ramen!

Region Specific Marketing

Many people new to Japan are often surprised that on one hand while menus across the country look pretty similar, there certainly are styles and seasonings that vary from region to region.

Almost everyone is familiar with the "omiyage" which are supposed to represent what is "famous" from a specific area, and which are usually food and packaged in a way to be made convenient for the obligatory present to co-workers upon return from a vacation. These "famous products" from various regions usually have historical basis, but a lot of hype is required to keep them going.

Another regional variation most people are familiar with are items like ramen or okonomiyaki which differ by region - Sapporo ramen, Osaka okonomiyaki, etc.

Most food companies on the other hand are faced with more subtle variations which can make or break a product. Many products are limited to Eastern or Western Japan simply do to their appeal in one of those areas.

Major, nation-wide food companies often introduce new products in just one regional market 1) because that area was found most promising in consumer research, 2) in order to evaluate a product in a test market with specific characteristics (Shizuoka is known for being somewhere between Osaka and Tokyo in its preferences and is thus the preferred test market), or 3) with no intention of going nation-wide (usually these are seasonal and are marketed to make the people of that region feel special - people in other regions cannot buy the product).

I am not sure which of the above applies to the new mushroom burger from Mos Burger, but it is only being introduced in Western Japan. It is said to have an Autumnal flavor. Announcements like this are hardly rare, but they are interesting to follow up on. Chances are those of us in Eastern Japan will not get a chance to buy this mushroom burger even though there are Mos Burgers on almost every other corner.