For just 298 yen you could be enjoying some watermelon Kit-Kat candy right now! When I think of candy in Japan I think of Kit Kat because it’s popular here and comes in a variety of flavors. Skittles needs to launch a world wide campaign! Everybody should know that Skittles it the #1 candy, great for all occasions, and they should be sitting here hanging out with the Kit Kats!
That’s right, eel is all the rage this summer!! At least it was in July. Here’s some eel I feasted upon at a restaurant that serves mostly eel! It’s squishy, kind of like soggy fish, but not like ludafish. I was hungry, at ate this meal like it was my last, and it was good. If you haven’t tried it I recommend doing it at least once. If the taste reminds you of a dirty hippy, you know “earthy”, then you lost the unagi lottery my friend… so try again! If you’ve never had the earthy flavored eel, it’s like eating good eel with a handful of dirt (give it a try!).
Hiding Unagi
Unagi Uncovered!
Unagi Close Up! Delicous!
This is my first experience with Chugen. Chugen (also called Ochugen) was originally a day that people gave gifts to the ancestral spirits. Shopping at Iwataya was amazing, there was one huge area dedicated to picking out gifts and a waiting area for sending them out. We sent the gift of… fish eggs! I took this picture with my camera phone. I didn’t think of taking a picture of the entire store, doh. The first picture were the choices we used, the 2nd picture are the eggs and fish stuffed with eggs.
I’m back after an extended time away and I was going to write something later this evening but I saw this in the news and thought it was pretty interested so I wanted to share. Eel is popular right now in Japan because of the hot weather. I haven’t done any research but apparently eel is packed full of goodness to help you get through these hot times. Either way, it’s pretty good! Sometimes it tastes like barbecued goodness, and other times it tastes a little earthy. I’m not to keen on the earthy flavor but I can deal with it. However an eel flavored drink? I’m not that into that so much. Eel can be a large part of a meal and I don’t think meat flavored drinks sound that appealing.
Forget cola, lemonade or beer – Japanese people sweltering in the summer heat now have a new canned drink to quench their thirst – made out of eels.
The fishy drink Unagi Nobori – which translates as “Surging Eel” – contains eel extract and vitamins found in the fish. The fizzy yellow liquid is believed to be the first mass-produced drink of its kind made in the country.
I quoted The Independent
You can see similar articles and pictures of this drink at Yahoo News and sulekha.com
I’ll be on the look out at my local stores for this drink so I can give it a try. Who knows, even though I’m skeptical it could be good. If you’re not sure what “unagi” (eel) looks like, here are a few photos.
Photo’s courtesy of: toyohara (1st), adactio (2nd), venuste (3rd)
I was craving a bubbly soda and I’ve hit the jackpot! I’ve seen soda in the (estimated) 16oz/500ml plastic bottles just like the U.S. but they run about 150 yen. A while ago I went from convenience store to convenience store to see what the different stores offered and I found a 500ml can of Coca Cola at the Daily Yamazaki for just 100 Yen!
I’d say it’s smaller than this huge Coke I saw at a crepes store. And it’s only 47 yen more than the 160ml can of Coke I found at Sunny (a grocery store chain).
First of all before your journey you’ll need 100 Yen. That’s right, tax is already included in the price!
Next, you’ll need to find a Daily Yamazaki convenience store. It looks like this (I got the picture from Wikipedia)
And here are some pictures of the beast of a drink!
For the ultimate cheap snack I recommend this 100 Yen Coke and the 105 Yen Tiramisu. Both combined are cheaper than the Ishiyaki Imo from the back of the traveling guy’s truck.
If you’re ever in Japan and you’re craving something cold, sweet, and cheap I highly recommend the Tiramisu which you can find at Family Mart. This inexpensive Tiramisu is made with one layer of chocolate cake, one layer of vanilla pudding, and coffee + cocoa sprinkled on top.
The price… 105 Yen.
The satisfaction… 80%
It seems to have more pudding and fluffier cake than the 300 Yen Tiramisu’s at 7-11, but it’s nice because it’s light, sweet, and delicious. I took some pictures so you can see it in action!
This what 105 Yen looks like. This is all you need to get this party started. Reminds me of a quarter and a big penny with a hole in it.
And this is what a Family Mart looks like (picture taken from Wikipedia)
And this is the Tiramisu. The conbini clerks also give you tools to conquer your quests. Today’s weapon of choice is a tiny tiny spoon.
As I open the container I see it has Japanese writing on each side. I can’t read it so I assume it says “Tastes great! Only 105 Yen hellz yeah! Fat free and calorie free, just like the State Fair food you eat once a year back home! You should try to put it on a stick and deep fry it some day. Enjoy! / 140ml”
And here it is in the final stage of life. It took 2 minutes to devour with the tiny spoon. I like the spoon… it forces me to slow down and enjoy things.
When we first moved to Fukuoka we stopped by Costco with some friends. One of the items I bought was 9 pounds (4.08 kg) of Quaker Oats which I eat for breakfast a lot. I ran out this week but luckily we went to Costco a few weeks ago and I grabbed another box. Sure you can buy these online at a few places in Japan but it costs an additional 500-700 Yen for the box. Buying direct from Costco costs around 1200 Yen for this box. Anyway, it’s huge. The box is huge, the amount of Oatmeal is insane, and I say this because I’m more adjusted to smaller things and less quantity. I thought I’d share some pictures so you can see what it’s like.
Here are the directions. As you can see there are instructions for food service preparation and the two bags come to a combined total of 102 servings.
Here’s the box with the 2 bags of Oatmeal that was inside.
Here’s are some details.
This is after I filled up my small container that lasts about 2 months. Now I’m good to go!
Yeah… I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it or not but I’m 15 minutes away from 6 Starbucks Coffee shops here in Fukuoka. Now that’s going north, south, and east. I haven’t checked west yet…. there’s probably 3 more that way somewhere. One of the Starbucks is across the street from another Starbucks and about 3 blocks or so from another one down the side street.
So here we are… going into the Starbucks that’s inside Tsutaya.
For the record… Tsutaya is pretty sweet. It’s 6 stories and you can rent DVDs, CDs, buy them, get books and magazines, and enjoy some Starbucks. The DVD releases that have been out for a while usually run on a special that’s 4 DVDs for 1000 Yen. I’d say about $9-10 US.
Here’s kind of a cool photo (You can buy a Starbucks mug like this online).
And here’s a picture I took from Starbucks of Starbucks across the street while enjoying some coffee with some friends.
By having so many Starbucks so close to me I’d have to say