Happy New Year!
Hello Everone,
Happy New Year!
January 04 2012 | Others | Comments Off
Cherry Blossoms - Hope in Bloom for Future
The cherry blossom season is nearly over in Tokyo. Below is the picture of cherry blossoms last week:
The Sakura Zensen (cherry blossom front) is now moving to north, the Tohoku region. Cherry blossoms are cherrying up Japanese. Nature is harsh, but it is also nice to us. Enjoy the picture of sakura!
April 18 2011 | Life and Weekly Articles | Comments Off
Spring is coming - Sakura
We have seen devastating photos of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan over the past weeks. But, we need to cheer ourselves up!
Sakura, cherry blossoms start blooming overcoming very cold winter. (It was really cold.)
The full bloom is coming. I will post the full bloom soon!
April 04 2011 | Life and Weekly Articles | Comments Off
Popular drink during the flu season
It is March. Yet, it is still very cold in Japan. There are also many people who get the flu around me…
Believe or not, Pocari Sweat, a long-standing sports drink from Otsuka, is sold well in winter. It is not because Japanese play sports frequently in this season. It is because the drink is popular to hydrate body specially when you suffer from diarrhea and have a high fever as flu symptoms.
Drinking sports drinks including Pocari Sweat and Aquarius in the flu season is spread by word-of-mouth, mainly through doctors. A couple of years ago, one doctor told me that Pocari Sweat is effective to accelerate the recovery from the influenza because the drink has electrolyte composition similar to body fluid. It works at least for me. Last year, I recovered from the flu in just one day by drinking 2 litres of Pocari Sweat. There are also people who drink Aquarius when they get the flu.
This suggests that demands for sports drinks are not limited to sporting activities. Maybe changing the category name?
March 01 2011 | Clothing, Food and Housing and Weekly Articles | Comments Off
A diet solution - Japanese way
It is extremely difficult to keep a healthy diet. In Japan There are an abundant kinds of snacks and drinks, which we can hardly ignore. Indeed, Japanese manufacturers and sellers frequently introduce new products to stimulate our demands. Yes, we want to try them as many as possible, but we also want to stay in shape.
Here is the solution. Go smaller sizes.
Tirol-Choco is a long-standing brand for petite chocolates. Individually wrapped chocolate cubes are sold mainly at convenience stores and supermarkets. The chocolate cube in the above picture is Tiramisu flavoured Tirol-Choco. It has very mild and rich taste. Just one cube is sufficient to satisfy my appetite for sweets!
It is not just about Tirol-Choco. We also has the small PET bottle (300ml) of Coca-Cola, and potato snacks containing just four pieces per bag.
Each of them does not claim itself as a low calorie snack or drink. They rather contain a lot of fat and/or sugar. For example, Tirol-Choco Tiramisu has 66 kilo calories per cube, which is much higher than one piece of dark chocolate. However, eating such a high-calorie chocolate does not make me feel guilty because the calories per serving are low (unless I eat more…).
Those small sizes of snacks used to be sold for small children at mom-and-pop stores. They are now popular among adult consumers for when they feel a little bit hungry. Japanese snacks hardly let us go.
February 22 2011 | Clothing, Food and Housing and Health Care and Weekly Articles | Comments Off
February 14: Chocolates capturing a woman’s heart
Today, February 14 is Saint Valentine’s Day. According to American Catholic, St. Valentine’s Day is ”the day dedicated to love, which has its roots in ancient Rome and on which the Church recalls a martyred saint.”
It is ”Chocolate Day” in Japan
In Japan, however, St. Valentine’s Day is the day for women to give chocolates to others. There is a tradition (created by chocolate manufacturers and sellers) that women give chocolates to men on that day. Originally, it was intended that women give chocolate gifts to men whom they have special feelings. Over the years, the definition of St. Valentine’s Day chocolates have been extended. Women give giri choco (meaning, “duty” chocolate gifts) to their male co-workers or bosses in the workplace while they give honmei choco (meaning, “true feeling” chocolate gifts”) to men whom they have romantic feelings.
Chocolates are not just for men any more
Receivers of the chocolate gifts are not limited to men in recent years. Women give tomo choco (meaning, chocolate gifts for friends) to their girl friends to thank for the friendship. There are also women who buy jibun choco (meaning, “my” chocolates) for their treats.
A good excuse to buy gourmet chocolates
What make St. Valentine’s Day chocolates so special in Japan? It is a good excuse for women, especially those who have been cutting back on their spending, to buy expensive grourmet chocolates for their special people and for themselves. Just once a year. Not a big deal.
It is not a man but chocolates that successfully capture a Japanese woman’s heart on St. Valentine’s Day. I wonder how many men feel jealous of chocolates…
February 14 2011 | Culture and Life and Weekly Articles | Comments Off
Innovation defying conventional wisdom
It is always fun to visit the snack section at a supermarket in Japan. There are always a vast number of snacks at the snack section, which complete each other as if saying “buy me!” to customers.
One snack, which caught my attention at the snack section was “Ta Pasta” from Glico.
Ta pasta IS pasta, but it is a snack made by roasting pasta. I had no idea about the taste of roasted pasta. Actually, the taste is pretty good. It has crunchy texture like hard pretzels. Glico claims that the company has submitted a patent for the pasta snack.
It is often said that the Japanese market has been shrinking. However, innovative products keep coming in the Japanese market! Innovation defies conventional wisdom.
February 07 2011 | Innovation and Weekly Articles | Comments Off
