Here's some more pictures from Okinawa.
Okinawa's local beer, Orion!
It was good, it was clean, it was refreshing and it was forgettable. I enjoyed drinking it but it didn't make me go "wow, I wish this was available in Tokyo".
If you have tried it also in Okinawa, did you feel the same way?
Finally, a new Cola product that doesn't suck as hard as Pepsi Blue Hawaii did.
It's difficult to say how it tasted. It was good, kind of creamy. Give it a try if you come across it.
Do you remember the Zeppin Burger at Lotteria?
It's still around, but now it has brought it's big brother to the battle of the burgers in Japan.
Now we have the Double Zeppin Burger and it's so bad that it's good.
Here we have the burger under it's unassuming cover with Medium Fries and Drink for ￥780.
Bam! A double helping of that meaty goodness that makes me scream for more. Real meat & real cheese, not that Frankenstein creation they serve at McDonalds.
Nom Nom Nom. Oh it's good.
I'm not sure if these babies are out for a limited time or not, but if you have the chance DO NOT go past the opportunity.
Look what arrived through the post!
For this Australian guy, sometimes feeling a little home sick, my loving wife knows how to cheer me up! An assortment of 10 pies came via frozen delivery for ￥3800 + ￥900 for delivery and have proven to be a real "taste from home".
Recently Kentucky Japan released a new boneless chicken using their original recipe batter, so I thought I'd try it out. What a shock I was in for, they were so small!
Their advertising makes it look big, juicy & tasty, right? ￥180 a piece or ￥1000 for six seems good value, right?
When in reality it's only about 3x bigger than a chicken nugget!
While the batter is their own original style, you would get better value and taste with McDonalds "Shaka Shaka" chicken with a seasoning pouch for ￥100.
Sorry Colonel, please try harder next time. OK?
Recently we visited our favourite local restaurant. Previously I have written about Dinner there and Lunch there too. It had been a while since I popped my head in there, so I felt I needed to show that I hadn't forgotten about them. My wife often meets there with other members of the family, but I can only go on my "weekend".
In Australia Ice Coffee means milk, chocolate syrup, ice cream, whipped cream and coffee. Here in Japan it means Coffee on Ice! Of course they give you a tub of UHT milk & Gum Sugar to adjust the taste. My son LOVES to pour in the milk and stir to watch the colour change.
The soup and salad that came with my dinner. While I am usually a fan of the Goma (Sesame) dressing (left) I went with the Italian dressing (right) this time.
I had the Cheese Chicken Cutlet with steak and bacon & demiglasse sauce. The chef knows that I love his spicy potato and often changes my order to include it. But tonight I think I'd have preferred the vegetables that come with this meal.
On the left we have some fried calamari pieces. Probably the best that I've had since I've come to Japan.
My wife had the hamburg grill.
This was a difficult photo to take, anyone who knows me in real life will know how I hate Banana. Even the smell is enough to make me want to throw up. But with the way this dessert for my son was prepared and presented, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show you.
It's great how I can spend only ￥590 on a "premium" bento and between ￥480 - ￥520 for a regular bento. There is so much competition for the lunch time yen that prices are quite reasonable and have been for a very long time.
Back in Sydney the only place I'd expect to be able to get a similar size lunch for the same price would be McDonalds. Now considering that a Medium BigMac Set goes for ￥620 in Tokyo, the bento is actually quite good value. Except for the drink, but do you really need another dose of sugar today?
Now I can definitely understand why there is such an obesity problem in Australia. With the rising cost of housing and the necessity of a dual income family just to make the mortgage payments, it's difficult to expect parents to come home and cook a decent meal for the family. (I say parents because I feel Dad's should pull their finger out too)
Here in Japan the exhausted parent can simply come home with a couple of bentos, one to suit each family members tastes and it's not that much more expensive than preparing it yourself. Alternatively the lone student or office worker can also provide themselves a decent meal without having to resort to Junk Food.
Fast Food doesn't need to be bad. However I do wish they would cut down on the use of disposable chopsticks and plastic bags!
Usually I am able to find many interesting product names here in Japan. But sometimes companies can't take the time to create something inspiring, something to make me want to really buy the product.
Deep Harmony by Roots. Just your average can of coffee that over promises. At least it's a better name than Georigias Deepresso coffee.
At what level of uninspired boredom do you choose to call your new product "Product"?
Yesterday we had Pepsi Hawaii Blue, a disgusting yet interesting product. Here we have two decent canned coffees with uninspiring names. Sigh...
Summer in Japan gets quite Crazy.
There are many promotions, it's the best time to find free crap attached to your plastic soft drink bottles at the convenience store and it's when new flavours are released. Pepsi is rather famous for releasing a new flavour each year.
Cucumber Pepsi last year and Pepsi Carnival the year before. This year the retarded monkeys at Pepsi have released Blue Hawaii.
Oh God it was terrible!
I don't think my taste buds will ever forgive me for subjecting them to this artificial monstrosity.
Here we have the selection at the local Family Mart. ￥147 was about to be flushed down the toilet.
Here we have the bottle in my hand, with the Anpanman Rug as a back drop. It's BLUE!
And here we have a refreshing drink of artificial flavourings and colourings. I won't go into much more detail than to say DISGUSTING. This is the 3rd year in a row that Pepsi Japan has made me want to throw up with their Summer Flavour.
If you are in Japan for a holiday during summer, give it a try - you won't soon forget. If you are living in Japan, keep away and chuckle at the tourists giving this disaster a taste test.
It's time for my opinions
After all, that's why I write a blog. If I didn't want to inflict my thoughts upon the world, I wouldn't.
Recently I have been lamenting how McDonalds just doesn't taste good any more. I have tried everything on the menu here in Japan and it just doesn't do it for me any more. This has been a slow deterioration as I have found less and less flavor in their products.
Is the service good? Oh yes, much better than I would expect than in Australia. Is the service fast? McDonalds Japan is outstanding with it's speed of delivery. Is the food cheap? I am often armed with a coupon book and never refuse a new one, so I never pay the standard price.
Is the food good?
No. It's bland and tasteless and makes me question my child hood memories.
So what's the alternative?
MOS Burger, that's what! It's expensive and slow compared to McDonalds, but OH BOY is it good. The chips still actually taste like potato. The burgers are very flavorsome and are quite enjoyable.
But the servings are small and a little on the expensive side. The flagship Mos Cheeseburger with small chips and drink will set you back ￥640. You end up with less food than, say, a BigMac with Medium chips & drink for ￥610, but considering it tastes so much better - it's worth it.
Also another thing to consider, when you have "Eat In" they serve regular sized drinks in either a glass or a coffee cup, when you consider the reduced paper cup & plastic usage, this is quite good. Also when you get "Take Away" they provide you with a paper bag, not plastic.
A Note.
However one thing that bears pointing out, MosBurger's hamburger patties consist of a Pork/Beef mix which is not suitable for people of certain religious groups. McDonalds with it's 100% beef patty is the better choice here, and I don't go for the conspiracies that McDonalds "Cuts" their patty with other products. However MosBurger does offer chicken and fish burgers too, so they are definitely worth checking out.
Recently I have been spending too much of my free time in the evening reading notalwaysright.com. It has always brought a smile to my face to read about how sales staff & tech support employees have had to endure stupid customers.
Today I realized that it has modified my behavior. On weekends I pop into my local Starbucks on my way to work and pick up a Tall Mocha in My Tumbler. I'm quite predictable as to my order, the time of my arrival etc. The staff there have become quite accustomed to my routine.
Recently the weather here in Japan has started getting warmer and I have made the switch from Hot to Ice. Today I ordered an Ice Mocha for my tumbler but just as the barista was pouring milk, I noticed he had made it hot. I could easily imagine myself getting annoyed with him over this, after all it would potentially delay my caffeine fix and slow me down getting to work.
However I found myself gently letting him know that I had ordered Ice, not Hot and saying it was OK and simply heading off to work with my Hot coffee. It was only after I got to work that I noticed the change in my behavior. Having had less than 6 hours sleep last night I wasn't the most cheerful of people this morning, yet I behaved in a manner completely different from what I'd expect of myself.
Has Japan changed me into a softer, more subdued person? I can't say. But reading the stories of customer service horror on notalwaysright.com certainly has made me think twice.
Yep, McDonalds Japan has done it again. Produced yet another burger that looks good on the menu board and yet is almost completely devoid of flavor.
Here we have the Value Set; Burger, Medium Drink & Medium Fries for ￥620 (￥580 with a coupon, naturally)
And here we have the innovation, cheese INSIDE the meat. None of this lazy put it on top of the meat when constructing the burger, no. Have it done at the factory!
While a neat looking idea, it didn't add anything to the experience of eating this bland burger.
Though the wrapper does have quite a bit of English on it, though it's fair to say that "tender and juicy pork inside" is false advertising.
Still, it's one of those Only In Japan things, so I wrote about it for all of you who dream of visiting the Otaku Holy Land.
Tonight I thought I'd give the new Spicy Teriyaki burger at MOS Burger a try.
Here we have the burger, ready to be eaten. I love how MOS Burger provides you with real glass for your drink. It gives it a better taste.
Up close and personal with the burger. Although the advertising was stating about how spicy the burger was, for me it was a joke. I could barely register any appreciable level of spiciness at all.
Though the chicken was fresh, not frozen so I could taste the difference there. But the sauce was a big let down for this Curry Addict.
Here we have the traditional MOS Chicken. A piece of rather juicy fried chicken for only ￥220.
So the set was ￥610 for burger, regular chips and drink but I used a coupon to bring it down to ￥500. Everything was cooked slowly and served to me fresh in typical MOS Burger style, but I was disappointed that the level of spiciness failed to register.
Today I was shopping at Besia (where you can also find DrPepper & Engrish Bins) and I found some Engrish for you to enjoy.
Dear Apple, Dear Orange. How sweet you two are, I cannot choose.
"Shined on the pink carpet!" Seriously, WTF??
"Luminous Youngstar" Eh? I have to wonder what the hell the original meaning was, as I have NO idea with this translation.
Lastly, some Twinings tea for Penguin. Remember how I found some tea at CostCo for you? Well here's something a little easier to obtain and more sensibly packed. ￥258 for Twinings Ceylon Orange Pekoe, Darjeeling or Lady Grey tea at Besia.
"Have a Nice Day! The love to you is alive in me."
So cute, I want to be sick.
"Have a Nice Day! The love to you is alive in me. You are aside of me every day"
Here we can see the rest of the message. Nope, I still feel sick.
And just the thing to do it! A 4 liter bottle of Nikka Black Clear blend. Only 37% but doesn't burn the pipes too badly.
Not a particularly exciting weekend. It rained pretty much all day yesterday and today was occupied mostly by shopping. Though I did go for a walk in the morning and again in the afternoon with my son. It was nice to be able to watch the trains go by so close with him on my shoulders.
I found this item of Chinese junk today.
Yep, it's a "Wee" not a "Wii". Just your regular crappy Chinese DVD player doing it's best to sound like something popular. Heck it doesn't even do DivX.
For ￥4980 it's a cheap DVD player with a rip-off name. No I didn't buy it.
2.7Litres of 40% Whiskey for ￥3450. It's environmentally friendly as the container uses less energy to produce / recycle and I end up saving ￥450 or so against buying the same volume in individual bottles.
It's no fine whiskey, but for something to mix with Dr Pepper it's quite passable.
Tonight I did it, I finally managed to buy some stuff at CostCo. In reality it's no big feat but compared to the disaster on Friday, it went quite well. It was still quite busy but nowhere near the madhouse that I experienced Friday.
This afternoon I came home from work a little early and I decided on the spur of the moment to head out and try it again. Naturally I took my son along for the ride and left the wife at home. I figured she could use a break. The drive took 25 minutes instead of over two hours like Friday, so that was a vast improvement. And I was able to get a parking spot on the roof quite quickly also.
Inside there were still quite a lot of people, but again, not as bad as Friday. Even while shopping, I can't stop thinking of blogging.
A selection of tea. As we can see there are two types of tea bags and loose leaf. There were others that wouldn't photograph as well on my SO903i. Penguin, this one is for you!
Though in true American style, the coffee section way outdid the tea section!
Here is what I ended up buying, nothing too exciting for people living in Australia or America. But for a guy like me living in Japan, being able to buy such basic products felt like a total luxury!
XXXX beer, 24x330ml cans ￥2998. DrPepper, 24x355ml cans ￥1038 (The casing doesn't have any soft core porn like the Japanese edition), Granola ￥1288 (The same like my friend bought for me), 5Pack of Pringles ￥858 (I forgot the ￥300 coupon), 25 pack of Shlick razor blades ￥998, National Geographic April 2008 ￥768, Bilingual Kids cardboard Truck & Car book ￥998.
Feel free to look up exchange rates and compare these prices to what's available in your country.
The view behind me before I went to the checkout. As you can see, still quite busy. But only 1-2 people lining up for the checkout.
The "FoodCourt" is a selection of Pizza slices, Chicken or Bologa bake, Clam chowder, Cesar Salad, Hot Dogs, Twist Churros or Ice Cream. Once again, nothing exciting but it's just different from what is usually available to me.
So with my Mission Accomplished, a cold can of XXXX in my stubby holder, and Pringles crumbs on the table I have been able to experience a little slice of American life in Japan.
Yesterday when I was killing a bit of time before I met Lina and her family, I decided to pop into Dotour and get a coffee and read a book. But I saw a sign at the Lotteria next door that diverted my attention.
There was a new Premium Cheese Burger at Lotteria, so I dived in to try it. At ￥300 + ￥350 for Coke & Fries it was a little on the expensive side. And when it was in my hand, disappointingly small. But when it was between my teeth, I could taste the value.
High quality cheese with decent beef on a tasty bread roll, it was probably the best ever hamburger I've ever eaten from a chain fast food restaurant. Nothing like the revolting thing I ate at Wendy's once.
See that? That's real cheese, not the usual processed stuff. And totally yummo.
It's that time of year again! When the big beer companies begin to release their new beers for the spring / summer drinking season.
The advertising caught me on the train. A picture of a dude eating fried food and drinking beer? My idea of heaven!
I picked up a can tonight on my way home from work, it was quite good for a happoshu type beer.
Usually I am quite fond of Kirin's other happoshu type beers like Nodoguchi and Enjuku. But when I tried Kirin Zero the other day I was appalled. It was like drinking a 50/50 beer/soda water mix. Plenty of carbonation and next to Zero with flavor.
Stay tuned as I review more Low Calorie beers this drinking season!
I am looking forward to meeting Lina from Urutora no hi next month, so I've bought a little something for her.
Just some Japanese green tea, but I hope to see a photo of this package on her blog some time next month. (like Jamaipanese and the calendar On Mine, On His)
