Chinese customers continue to buy large quantities of European and Japanese infant formula while traveling abroad. This is most closely linked to the lingering distrust of the domestic industry following the melamine scandal of 2008 which reportedly affected upwards of 300,000 infants.
The result of Chinese demand in other countries is empty shelves and upset customers. That is the reason you see signs like this one (Japan) limiting purchases to 8 per person. Similar signs can be seen in European countries.
In a typical example of Japanese insensitivity, the notifications are only given in English and Chinese.
With product imagery as beautiful as always, Haagen-Dazs has introduced Murasaki Imo 紫いも or purple fleshed sweet potato ice cream. Murasaki imo is a regional favorite from southern Kyushu and it sweet enough to be eaten freshly baked, as is.
This product derives its color naturally from the ayamurasaki variety of murasaki imo which is high the anthocyanin color pigments.
Key Words: Haagen-Dazs, Murasaki Imo, Ayamurasaki, Purple Sweet Potato, anthocyanin, ハーゲンダッツ アヤムラサキ 紫いも アントシアニン
http://www.haagen-dazs.co.jp/murasaki_imo/
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
Following up on the Kobe Beef burger I came across the other day, I looked back and found this Lotteria promotion from last year. It is a monthly rotation through 10 of the regional Japanese beef brands. This brings up an important point - while in outside Japan, Kobe Beef is the well known brand, within Japan, Wagyu or Japanese Beef is what people know and value. Within this Japanese Beef category there are many regional brands, only one of which is Kobe Beef. Therefore I think I will take this opportunity to introduce a few different Japanese beef brands as selected by Lotteria.
1) Kobe Beef 神戸牛 (Kobe City Area)
2) Bungo Beef 豊後牛 (Oita Prefecture)
3) Saga Beef 佐賀牛 (Saga Prefecture)
4) Hokkaido Beef 北海道和牛 (Hokkaido Prefecture)
5) Yamagata Beef 山形牛 (Yamagata Prefecture)
6) Sendai Beef 仙台牛 (Sendai City Area)
7) Tochigi Beef とちぎ和牛 (Tochigi Prefecture)
8) Hida Beef 飛騨牛 (Gifu Prefecture)
9) Matsusaka Beef 松阪牛 (Mie Prefecture)
10) Omi Beef 近江牛 (Shiga Prefecture)
Key Words: Lotteria, Kobe Beef, Japanese Beef, ロッテリア 神戸牛 和牛
https://www.lotteria.jp/news/archive/2015/news01160001.php
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
Asahi Beer shot to number one in Japan on the back of Asahi Super Dry beer which was introduced in 1987. They have been riding the popularity of that beer for almost 3 decades now. In recent years, they have been pushing Dry Black as a new type of beer or an alternative to standard black or stout beers. They explain that the Dry Black has a more clear and less complicated taste. While many people drink stout beers exactly for that reason, Asahi is trying to show how this clear taste can be used in new ways.
Super Dry Black Bar Style promotes starting with a glass of ice, adding Asahi Super Dry Black and topping it off with a slice of citrus and mint.
The suggested variations are as follows:
Lemon Black
Lime Black
Orange Black
Sudachi Black (sudachi is a Japanese citrus fruit)
Pink Grapefruit Black
as well as non-citrus variations
Wilkinson Shandy Black (a shandy made with Wilkinson carbonated soda also sold by Asahi)
Double Cultured Black (with added Calpis, an Asahi subsidiary)
Cafe Black (with coffee)
Cinnamon Black
Almond Black
Certainly something new to try at least once, but oddly, I don't see it on the menu of the Asahi beer hall in Tokyo.
Key Words: Asashi Super Dry, Dry Black, Bar Style スーパードライ ドライブラック バースタイル
http://www.asahibeer.co.jp/dryblack/barstyle/
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
Tractability and ingredient sourcing have become concerns worldwide. In Japan, incidents involving imported ingredients have been the main cause for increased consumer attention. Burger King Japan has posted a chart of the origin and processing locations for all their ingredients and components. Here I give the translation of the first half of the chart. The processing location is in parentheses.
Whopper Patty AU, NZ (AU)
Burger Patty AU, NZ (AU)
Chicken Patty TH (TH) TH = Thailand
Snack Chicken JP, BR (JP) BR = Brazil
Fish Patty US, RU (TH)
Pork Patty US (US)
SPAM US (US)
Hot Dog Sausage US, CA, JP (JP)
Bacon US (US)
Bologna Sausage US, CA, AU (JP)
Roast Pork US, CA (JP)
Buns US, CA (JP)
Tomato US, KR, JP KR = Korea
Onion JP, US (JP)
Lettuce JP, US, TW (JP) TW = Taiwan
Salad JP, US, TW (JP) TW = Taiwan
Avocado PE (PE) PE = Peru
Pickles LK (JP) LK = Sri Lanka
Lemon US
I will summarize the second half in a few days, but just looking at the distance traveled of the ingredients of a fast food meal is certainly interesting.
Here is a link to the list (PDF)
http://www.burgerkingjapan.co.jp/menu/pdf/origin.pdf
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
Burger King Japan is offering Double King (TM) sets which center on pork patty burgers which something added to make it a filling meal. One addition has just been made so there are 4 options:
1) Double BBQ - two pork patties, fresh vegetables, smokey BBQ sauce
2) Hash & Cheese - pork patty, hash brown patty, cheese, pepper Caesar sauce
3) Monster Baby (TM) - pork patty, spicy hot chicken patty, fresh vegetables, teriyaki sauce
and a one new offering that does not have a pork patty
4) Double Chicken with Tartar - two chicken patties, fresh vegetables, tartar sauce.
These items are 390 yen alone, or 490 yen as a set (drink and fries). All fast food chains push have been pushing limited offerings and sets as a counter to the obligatory cheap menu items that get people in the door.
Key Words: Burger King, Double King, バーガーキング ダブルバーベキュー ハッシュ＆チーズ モンスターベビー ダブルタルタル
http://www.burgerkingjapan.co.jp/
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
Although I do not see this being advertised anywhere, when I went to a Lotteria in Ginza recently, they had Kobe Beef burgers for sale. There was a rotating series of Japanese regional beef burgers at Lotteria from 2014 to 2015, but not only is this not noted anywhere on the website, but it is a bit more reasonable than the Kobe Beef burger 2 years ago. It was 1,500 yen/ burger two years ago, but is "only" 1,000 yen now. Of course the question remains, why take a luxury premium beef and grind it up as hamburger meat. It is definately an interesting promotion though.
Key words; Lotteria, Kobe beef, ロッテリア 神戸牛
This variation on the 130 year old Philadelphia cheese brand was developed in Japan. Morinaga has worked to produce a cream cheese which creamy, yet melts at a higher temperature making it viable as a sliced cheese variety. Their solution was to create 3-layer cheese slices where Philadelphia cream cheese is sandwiched between cheddar cheese slices (the same as regular Kraft slices). The resulting combination is twice as thick as regular slices. At 4 combined slices per pack, that roughly equals in thickness (and I assume weight) the standard 8 regular slice packs.
This is being described as luxurious alternative to standard sliced cheese and Japan's first three layer cheese slices.
Key Words: Morinaga, Philadelphia cream cheese, Kraft, cheddar cheese 森永, フィラデルフィア クラフト チェダー
https://www.morinagamilk.co.jp/corporate/release/2016/0829_3007.html
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
As can be seen in this photo from a recent night eating with coworkers, it is not uncommon to have fried fish bones be served as part of a tempura set. In fact, fried eel bones are something of a special item. The bones become brittle and crispy when fried and the addition of a little salt makes them quite good.
However, despite eating many small fish whole and frying the bones of larger fish, the traditional Japanese diet does not contain adequate amounts of calcium, which is why the Japan Dairy Association is promoting the combination of dairy with the traditional Japanese diet in a program called New Washoku, where "nyu" or "new" can be written as dairy in Japanese and "washoku" means Japanese cuisine.
てんぷら 乳和食
Details of what will happen to storefronts following the merger anouncement of Japan's 3rd and 4th largest convenience store chains. Since convenience stores are everywhere in Japan and since getting into convenience stores is very important for food brands, this is big news.
Rankings before the merger by store count:
7-Eleven 18,860
Lawson 12,537
FamilyMart 11,872
Circle K-Sunkus 6,251
Following merger
7-Eleven 18,860
FamilyMart (Circle K-Sunkus) 18,123
Lawson 12,537
However 1,000 of the Circle K-Sunkus stores will be closed or will be moved, due to business conditions or proximity to FamilyMart stores.
The final goal of the reorganization is to have all the stores branded as FamilyMart by February of 2019.
My thoughts: It will be sad to see Circle K-Sunkus go. As the 4th place player, they have always worked to provide very different selections and new ideas to compete with the big guys. Three dominant chains provides a degree of competition, but you can already see the selection at 7-Eleven becoming very predictable if not boring.
http://www.family.co.jp/
