Following a Tokyo Game Show announcement, Sega is moving forward with a Sonic Forces and Hooters collaboration that brings the supersonic hedgehog to the big chested wing joint. Starting November 16th and running until December 10th, Hooters Japan will feature Sonic decorations at their Shinjuku, Ginza, and Akasaka locations. The main offering of the promotion is a special chili dog, Sonic’s favorite, and blue citrus drink modeled after the speedster himself. Source: PR Times 『ソニックフォース』×HOOTERSコラボイベント、本日10/16（月）よりスタートです！ コラボメニューをご注文いただいたお客様にはオリジナルコースターをプレゼントしております！ ↓詳細はコチラからご確認ください！https://t.co/UHR92CbuLz pic.twitter.com/iMbBhE2Dww — ソニック委員会 (@sonic20th) 2017年10月16日 The staff will also perform a dance to “Fist Bump”, the Sonic Forces theme song "Ma'ams, please move ten feet that way, I'm here for the blue Hedgehog."…

This time of year, Japanese food retailers and shops have a ghoulishly good excuse to concoct their most colorful and tasty creations in the spirit of Halloween. For example, we’ve seen Krispy Kreme Japan come out with a collection of sweet and spooky donuts, Baskin Robbins Japan made a glow-in-the-dark Halloween ice cream and McDonald’s Japan sent shivers down our spine with their pumpkin and chocolate sauce-drizzled fries. As these examples indicate, Halloween is very attractive to foreign brands operating in Japan. However, Japanese brands have also begun to embrace the holiday and this even includes a few traditional Japanese confectioneries. Suehiroan, a wagashi manufacturer based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture,…

Japan has had its share of unique and surprising collaborations between food manufacturers and manga, anime, characters, or films. We’ve seen examples such as Cup Noodles teaming up with Final Fantasy XV for a unique promotion, Ghibli Studios and tea retailer Lupicia getting together to offer tea in decorated tins, and Morinaga collaborating with Rilakkuma for a Valentine’s Day chocolate cake. However, sometimes these collaborations can get a bit far-fetched. Nicolas Cage recently being featured on an Umaibo snack comes to mind. Well, Morinaga Milk’s latest collaboration with shojo manga masterpiece The Rose of Versailles is about as far-fetched as they get. To promote a three-day challenge campaign for Mainichi…

The original classic Pocky may have just been a simple chocolate pretzel stick, but the worldwide love the flagship Japanese snack enjoys has seen Pocky expand to a lineup of countless delicious (and often adventurous) flavors. Perhaps inspired by a trend of bars and restaurants serving Pocky in dark beers and alongside cocktails, however, recently Glico has released Champagne-flavored Pocky, and most notably, an “Adult Pocky” made to be paired with whisky. Now Glico is adding a special new vino-inspired Pocky to their adult flavored lineup with Goddess’s Ruby Pocky, designed to be paired with red wine. Source: Glico Truth be told, you could probably enjoy a glass (or bottle)…

When it comes to cute video game characters from Japan, Kirby, with his pink, spherical body, stubby arms and legs, pink cheek blushes and oval eyes, undoubtedly ranks near the top of most people’s list. His popularity has inspired gas tanks painted in his image and even a line of Kirby lingerie and loungewear. However, perhaps even more prevalent are Kirby-inspired desserts. Officially, we’ve already seen Kirby pancakes and macaron cookies at a limited-time Kirby Cafe. Fans of Kirby have also expressed their love of the pink “puffball” by creating colorful Kirby sweets and cookies. Now, another sweet creation by a Kirby fan has garnered attention. In a flash of…

It’d be a bit unfair to label all hospital food as slop or totally unappealing, but it sure feels like the image of unappetizing food in hospitals has at least earned some of its reputation. This is partly due to the grueling demands of a hospital, but also because some hospitals forbid their cooks from tasting the food they prepare. As imgur user Hahahah1111111 will attest, however, Japanese hospital food doesn’t face such an unappetizing image. Reflecting a change that Japan made in school lunches following World War II called the School Lunch Act, which partly focuses on making cafeteria lunches deliver nutritional education, Japanese hospital meals are designed to…

Grilled sandwiches have been enjoyed around the world for nearly a century. For example, in the US, Thomas Edison invented a line of sandwich grills in the 1920s, and Americans have been enjoying grilled cheese, grilled ham and cheese and tuna melts ever since. From the 1970s, panini grills became popular and grilled panini sandwiches with their characteristic grill lines entered into fashion. There’s hardly a country in the world where you can’t enjoy a grilled sandwich. In Japan, the most standard form of sandwich is made with slices of Japanese square white bread, known as shokupan, often with the edges cut off. This is the type commonly found in…

Anyone who has visited Japan or lived here for a while knows that Japanese convenience stores are truly wonderful. Not only are they miracles of space efficiency and convenience, they are always stocked with an ever-changing variety of products. Whether you’re hankering for squid and carrot flavored potato chips or beautiful Japanese desserts, you’ll likely find it at your local “combini.” You can even buy exclusive goods created in collaboration with popular anime series. However, there is one thing that sometimes gives foreigners reason to believe that Japanese convenience stores aren’t all that convenient after all. Although they’ll happily give out disposable plastic forks and spoons upon request or automatically…

Japan made a name for itself internationally with its feats of miniaturization. The thinnest portable audio players, the smallest full-featured still and video cameras, the list goes on and on. Food is no exception. Although sometimes, the portions in Japanese restaurants may be small compared to average portions in other countries, there are actually enthusiasts who create miniature edible works of art and those who cook miniature food, a favorite being sushi. It’s astonishing to see a tray of sushi recreated in all its details and with authentic ingredients yet so tiny it could fit on a table in a doll house living room. The only disadvantage with real food,…

One of the charming and funnier points of Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation is how it used an actor of Bill Murray’s caliber to spoof the more hamfisted and sometimes absurd ways big time Hollywood actors would lend their talents to commercials in Japan to sling a variety of products in hilarious ways. The golden trio, judging from general consensus, would be Arnold Schwarzenegger turning into a gibberish-spouting mad man over an energy drink, Hulk Hogan teaching you the days of the week in order to get you to buy an air conditioner, and Nicolas Cage singing the most dramatic song about pachinko you will ever hear. Now Nicolas Cage…

For those of you who were around in Japan or visited Japan any time between 1990 and 2002, you might remember ordering a bacon potato pie at McDonald’s. With a crispy crust and the taste of smoky real bacon, chock full of piping hot potato and chopped onion in a creamy filling, it was a great way to warm up in the colder months of autumn and winter. As one of McDonald’s Japan’s most popular pies, second only to the apple pie, the bacon potato pie was hugely popular when they brought it back for a limited time last year. Now that October is here and temperatures are beginning to…

Especially in Japan, it seems there are always new ways of eating tofu and new tofu products being created. Traditionally, tofu can be eaten raw, steamed, boiled, fried, and that doesn’t even get into the variety of dishes made with the versatile soy bean product. However, you don’t need to go out of your way to find something different to do with tofu. With a bit of creativity, as demonstrated by artist, animal lover and Twitter user @inu1dog1, you can create tofu art by cutting, carving and composing your tofu in different ways! To celebrate Tofu Day, which is thus named because the sound to-fu can be interpreted as 10-2…

Japanese eccentric book and oddity shop Village Vanguard has a firm grip on the interesting pajama and room-wear corner of the market, most recently offering this cutesy bunny suit as well as a surprisingly authentic one step pair of yukata pajamas. Now they’ve taken their love of comfortable and themed fashion and combined it with the aesthetic of one of their most popular items–cushy bread beds and sofas–for a toast and egg breakfast room-wear combo that’ll turn you into one big ball of comfy deliciousness. Source: PR Times Source: PR Times It’s called the “Turn into plain bread room-wear”, but the draping pajamas feature both a bread and egg motif,…

If you’ve been following beverage trends in Japan, you’ll know that transparent drinks are all the rage. Coca-Cola’s “I LOHAS” line of mineral water and sparkling water infused with fruit and vegetable flavors come to mind. However, Suntory has been drawing a lot of attention recently through their Natural Mineral Water brand with flavors one would not normally imagine could be possible in such a transparent format. It began with the Yogurina water, which, as the name suggests, tastes like yogurt and contains beneficial lactic acid bacteria. According to their Q & A page, whereas most drinks containing lactic acid bacteria have a cloudy appearance because the bacteria is derived…

One of the major conveniences of Japan is that vending machines are around just about every corner, and outside of a variety of beverages, they sell just about everything, from sake to dashi. If you’ve ever spotted a Georgia brand vending machine, you’ll have noticed it’s owned by Coca-Cola and sells their products along with a variety of canned coffees. Now the brand is crossing streams with a vending machine exclusive Coca-Cola coffee called Coca-Cola Coffee Plus. コークご乱心!? コーラにコーヒーはアリなのか、自販機限定『コカ・コーラ COFFEE PLUS』を飲んで確認！ https://t.co/pUDOnY2GIr pic.twitter.com/wPW2xDi1cu — 【公式】リュールブ 最安値ショップ (@ryuurubusaiyasu) 2017年9月13日 If you remember Coca-Cola BlāK, you’ll know this isn’t the first coffee Coca-Cola. While it doesn’t feature the charming aesthetic of Japan’s…