A regional treat opens our eyes and mouths to a new dimension of baked goods. Over the last few years, foodies from around the world have fallen in love with Japan’s fruit sandwiches, enchanted by the idea of swapping out savory fillings for sweet ones. However, putting pieces of fruit and cream between slices of bread causes one to eventually start asking questions on a conceptual level, to wonder at what point a sandwich ceases to become a sandwich and becomes a cake instead. That’s something contemporary philosophers have yet to settle on a consensus regarding, but even as that debate continues, we’ve now discovered something that blurs the cake/sandwich line even further: Japan’s cake sandwiches. ▼ The castella sandwich (カステラサンド) If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard about these before, they’re not a Japanese bakery staple like melon bread or curry bread. Instead, they’re primarily a Niigata Prefecture thing, and even there they’re not always easy to find. As a matter of fact, our Japanese-language reporter Udonko, who’s a Niigata native, had never heard of the Castella Sandwich, as the cake sandwich is more properly called, until just a few days ago when she popped into The Niigata, a store in Tokyo’s Ginza neighborhood that stocks a rolling inventory of Niigata regional products. Startled that she hadn’t been aware of the existence of cake sandwiches in Niigata until now, Udonko checked the package and saw that the Castella Sandwich is produced by Nakagawa Bakery. It’s unclear how long they’ve been baking cake sandwiches for, but the company itself has been around since 1952. However, the company is headquartered in the town of Sado, on Sadogashima Island, and this remote location has probably been a limiting factor for distribution for much of its history. ▼ Sado And no, there’s no clever wordplay going on with the Castella Sandwich name, as it really and truly is two slices of bread with a slice of castella sponge cake in between. Opening up the wrapper and going in for a closer look, Udonko was happy to see that this isn’t one of those paper-tiger sandwiches where the filling is much skimpier than it looks from the outside. The slice of castella goes all the way from one end of the sandwich to the other, and there are even layers of cream between it and each of the slices of bread. Udonko expected the flavor to be sweet, and upon taking her first bite she immediately found out that it’s even sweeter than she’d initially imagined. The cake is rich and moist, and the combination of its soft, fluffy texture with a custard-like flavor is an extremely enjoyable combination. Having experienced the revelation of cake sandwiches, Udonko found it even more regrettable that she’d never known that these things were available in her home prefecture. As if to drive home the point of how she could have been enjoying these treats for years, not long after stumbling across the Nakagawa Castella Sandwich Udonko was back in Niigata and doing a regular neighborhood supermarket run when she walked past the bread aisle and saw… …another brand of Castella Sandwich!?! ▼ Though the label says “castilla” in Latin letters, カステラ is how “castella” is written in Japanese. This Castella Sandwich is made by Yamazaki, one of Japan’s biggest bread makers with a highly developed nationwide distribution network. However, their Castella Sandwich appears to be a regional offering, with no mention of the product on the company’s website. Obviously, Udonko needed to buy one for comparative taste-testing purposes. In terms of appearance, it’s very similar to Nakagawa’s version and the baseline flavor is close too. If pressed for a difference between the two, though, Udonko would say that the texture of the bread Yamazaki uses is lighter and airier than Nagagawa’s, so much so that when eating the Yamazaki Castella Sandwich, the cake and bread have the exact same consistency. Oh, and Castella Sandwiches are easy on the wallet, too. The Nakagawa version cost Udonko 346 yen (US$2.30), and the Yamazaki one was even cheaper, at just 149 yen. So, is there anything not to love about these cake sandwiches, in Udonko’s opinion? Well, they’re both pretty high in calories. The Nakagawa Castella Sandwich has 667 calories, about as much as an entire restaurant-size beef bowl, and the Yamazaki one has 523, so these aren’t exactly diet-friendly snacks…but that’s probably to be expected with a concept like cake sandwiches. The other issue, of course, is their limited availability, especially if you don’t happen to be in Niigata Prefecture or a specialty shop like the one in Ginza. That’s suddenly become much less of a problem, though, as just this week Nakagawa has decided to open an online store where you can buy Castella Sandwiches! They’re currently available only in a pack of 12 for 3,980 yen here, which means you’ll have to order a dozen at a time, but that sounds like a pretty sweet obligation to us. Related: Nakagawa Bakery online shop, The Niigata Photos ©SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

If you’ve got a heavy laptop, it’ll get you a hefty discount at this Tokyo Station pop-up. Pricing at bento boxed lunch shops usually works in one of two ways. At shops where you pick out the contents yourself, the price is based on how many items and which type you choose, and at others the price is fixed because the chefs have already arranged the contents ahead of time. However, there’s a bento shop opening this month in Tokyo where the bento ingredients are set, but the price isn’t, because the price depends on what kind of laptop you have. The Bento Shop Where You Buy Bento with Your Computer will be opening inside Tokyo Station on October 29. Its high-tech name comes from the surprising fact that the bento shop is operated by Japanese computer manufacturer Fujitsu. Fujitsu has just launched the newest, lightest version yet of its FMV Note laptop series, the FMV Note U (UX-K3). According to Fujitsu, the new FMV Note U is the world’s lightest laptop with a 14-inch screen, weighing just 634 grams (1.4 pounds). So to celebrate its release, Fujitsu has also created a boxed lunch with the same weight, filled with luxurious foodstuffs such as crab from Fukui Prefecture and sukiyaki with beef from Yamagata Prefecture. The ingredients are even arranged to resemble a series of edible business graphs. Fujitsu calls it the FMVentoU, a pun based on how the Japanese language doesn’t have a V sound and instead pronounces the letter like a B. The FMVentoU has a base price of 1,000 yen (US$6.70), with payment by cashless methods only. There’s an unusual way you can get a discount, though. If you show up to the shop with your current laptop, the staff will weigh it. It’s a given that your laptop will be heavier than the new FMV Note U (UX-K3), and the bigger the difference in weight, the bigger discount you’ll be given for the bento, up to a maximum of 700 yen off. ▼ The bento shop will also have a display space for the new Fujitsu laptop. Since the primary purpose is to promote the new laptop, the bento shop is a pop-up operation, and will be open from October 29 to October 31, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. It’ll be located inside the JR Tokyo Station gates on basement level 1 of the Gransta Tokyo section. Source, images: PR Times ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

So very, very takai. Cup Noodle instant ramen has a lot of things going for it. It keeps for a long time, it’s quick and easy to make, and it’s tasty. But you can’t sing the praises of Cup Noodle without also devoting some of the lyrics to how cheap it is, right? It turns out, though, that there’s a place in Japan where Cup Noodle is startlingly expensive, though not without reason. Before we get to the main dish of this article, let’s pause for a quick linguistic appetizer. In Japan, the word takai, written as 高い, means “high.” In addition to talking about physical heights, takai can also be used to talk about high prices, and our reporter Go Hatori recently dined on what he’s pretty sure is the most takai (expensive) Cup Noodle in Japan, and he did so in what he knows for certain is the most takai (high) place in Japan. Ogiya is a mountain hut at the summit of Mt. Fuji, Japan’s tallest mountain. While hiking Fuji during this year’s climbing season, Go found his stomach growling, so he stopped by Ogiya to get something to eat. Looking over his options, he spotted the familiar Cup Noodle packaging… …but at a very unfamiliar price: 1,000 yen (US$6.70). And no, this wasn’t some special limited-edition Cup Noodle with gourmet ingredients or collectible packaging. It was the exact same standard Cup Noodle that you can find in any Japanese convenience store or supermarket for around 200 yen, and quite a bit less if it’s on sale or you’re buying in bulk. Of course, it’s a very long walk from Ogiya to the nearest competing store, so Go handed over a crisp 1,000-yen bill. That premium pricing does get you a bit of service, at least. The Ogiya staff adds the boiling water to the cup and brings it to you on a tray with chopsticks. Granted, convenience stores often provide chopsticks and offer free hot water from a dispenser too, but having the instant noodles served to you on a tray is a nice touch. Since they bring you the Cup Noodle as soon as they pour in the water, you’ve still got to wait for the noodles to cook… …but on the plus side, you’ve got an incredible view to admire while you wait. Go actually wondered if, because of the altitude of some 3,700 meters (12,139 feet) he was at, the noodles would need more time to cook. But as soon as the standard three minutes were up, he peeled back the lid, and saw that the always-reliable Cup Noodles were ready to be eaten! Picking up a mouthful of noodles with his chopsticks, Go blew off some of the steam… …and took a bite. So how did they taste? Heavenly. Technically speaking, they didn’t taste any different from Cup Noodles purchased at the regular price and eaten at an ordinary altitude. But between the serenity from being up above the clouds, the feeling of accomplishment from having hiked all the way up here, and the hunger he’d worked up along the way, the absolute joy Go felt from the overall eating experience of eating Japan’s most takai Cup Noodles at the summit of its most takai mountain is going to be hard to top. Photos ©SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

What’s behind the Shibuya slide as a spot to grab a drink? Japanese restaurant information website Hot Pepper recently conducted its latest user survey, and among the questions it asked Tokyo-area residents is which neighborhoods they like to go out for drinks in. Downtown Tokyo’s Shinjuku was the top pick for the sixth straight year, followed by the Tokyo Station surroundings and Ginza in second and third place, which swapped positions since last year’s poll. However, there’s one internationally famous part of Tokyo that’s no longer anywhere to be found in the top 10: Shibuya. A total of 2,858 responses were collected from residents of Tokyo and its neighboring prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama between the ages of 20 (the legal drinking age in Japan) and 59. Though it squeezed into the top 10 last year, in this year’s survey Shibuya dropped two places, down to 12th overall and behind eight other Tokyo neighborhoods. Shibuya even lost out to Omiya in Saitama, often derided as one of the least fashionable prefectures of Japan. ● Neighborhoods respondents want to go drinking in 1. Shinjuku (Tokyo) 2. Tokyo Station area (Tokyo) 3. Ginza (Tokyo) 4. Shinbashi (Tokyo) 5. Ueno (Tokyo) 6. Yokohama Station area (Kanagawa Prefecture) 7. Ikebukuro (Tokyo) 8. Ebisu (Tokyo) 9. Minato Mirai (Kanagawa Prefecture) 10. Akasaka Mitsuke (Tokyo) 11.Omiya (Saitama Prefecture) 12. Shibuya (Tokyo) ▼ By the way, if you’re wondering why Tokyo’s Roppongi isn’t in the top 12, the neighborhood has long been a more popular hangout for foreign tourists and expats than for Japanese locals. It wasn’t all that long ago that Shibuya was considered one of the top drinking spots in Tokyo, right up there with Shinjuku and Ginza. So what’s happened? Hot Pepper’s researchers have some theories, pointing out a couple of things the survey’s top rankers have that Shibuya doesn’t. The first thing Shibuya is missing is a well-developed underground entertainment center. This might seem surprising to anyone who’s walked through the long tunnel that stretches northwest from Shibuya Station’s subway gates for multiple blocks, but Shinjuku and Tokyo Stations’ are on a whole other level, not only providing easy access to much of the neighborhood’s above-ground pubs and restaurants, but also having plenty of their own within the subterranean centers. Shibuya Station’s tunnels, on the other hand, don’t have any restaurant rows of their own, and they mainly run along the outside edge of the neighborhood, making them less convenient for navigating to places to eat and drink in Shibuya’s interior, especially if you’ve got a moderate or larger-sized group of people meeting up. Of course, you could always go up to the Shibuya streets and walk from there, but that leads to another aspect the researchers think is hurting the neighborhood in the rankings: a lack of identity. Once again comparing with top-ranking Shinjuku, Shinjuku itself has a handful of distinct sub-neighborhoods within it. Kabukicho is the place for rowdy, or some might even say sleazy, bars. Sanchome, with its fashion-conscious department stores and more elegant eateries, attracts a clientele of young women. The west side of Shinjuku Station has plenty of down-to-earth izakaya pubs for crowds of thirsty salarymen to stop in at on their way home from the office. Shibuya, though, is more of a hodgepodge these days, in terms of how it’s laid out. The neighborhood has fast food joints and clothing shops that appeal to teens and early twenty-somethings, office skyscrapers with older adult professionals, and, in recent years, no shortage of souvenir and specialty shops clearly aimed at accommodating the massive inflow of foreign tourists who come to Shibuya to take photos in front of the statue of faithful dog Hachiko and then film selfies as they walk across the world-famous Shibuya Scramble intersection with their phones in their outstretched hands. Unlike in many other neighborhoods that ranked higher in the survey, Shibuya’s youth, mature adult, and international traveler-oriented attractions are all kind of mixed together geographically, which makes it hard for the neighborhood to have sub-pockets with their own identities, the researchers say. It’s not that Shibuya feels bland or dull, but the lack of a defining atmosphere, even at the zoomed-in level, can mean it doesn’t really feel like the perfect spot to any one demographic. But even if Shibuya isn’t someplace as many people are thinking to go out of their way to grab a drink in, what about the employees of companies with offices in the neighborhood? Shouldn’t a lot of them already be in Shibuya five times a week, making it, by default, where they’ll grab a beer or two after their shifts end? Not necessarily. As the researchers point out, many of the largest corporations with offices in Shibuya are in the IT industry, in which partial work-from-home options are more prevalent than other fields, and the work also tends to attract less traditionally gregarious individuals than, say, sales work, all of which could be contributing to Shibuya’s declining popularity as a place to drink among the survey respondents. ▼ When you work from home, there’s no need to go to a pub for a drink if you’ve already got a couple of cold ones in your fridge. And while it’s only tangentially touched upon by the researchers, the recent perception of Shibuya as a site of overtourism can’t be ignored. “If you go to Shibuya, you’ll see more foreigners than Japanese people” is a common comment in conversations among Japanese locals these days, and while that’s exaggerating the situation, it is true that Shibuya has some of the densest concentrations of foreign tourists in Japan these days, and with the weak yen continuing to provide favorable exchange rates, there’s a growing sense that Shibuya is significantly more touristy and expensive than it was just a few years ago. Shibuya’s slip in the survey rankings has similarities with Kyoto’s recent decline in attractiveness for domestic Japanese travelers. It’d be going too far to say that no Japanese people go drinking in Shibuya or take trips to Kyoto anymore, but current circumstances are undeniably causing a dip in their popularity, and they might not be rebounding to their former images for some time. Source: Business Insider (1, 2) via Yahoo! Japan News via Jin Top image: Pakutaso Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2, 3) ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

You’ll have to travel to Marugame Seimen locations across Japan to try each dish in its respective prefecture. Following the success of udon specialty chain Marugame Seimen‘s Wagamachi Udon 2025 (“My town Udon 2025”) campaign last year, a whole new lineup of locally inspired udon dishes will hit menus on October 21. Chefs around Japan helped concoct over 300 new dishes over the past year, which were gradually whittled down to only 47 final menu items–one representative for each of the 47 prefectures. These individual dishes will be available for a limited time only at Marugame Seimen locations in their respective prefectures (so if you were looking for a good excuse to take a road trip across Japan, now’s your chance!). Before anything else, here are some helpful terms to help your noodle understand the different ways that udon can be prepared and served out there. ● Ankake udon: udon in broth thickened with kudzu ● Bokkake udon: udon in broth with salty-sweet beef sinew and other toppings ● Bukkake udon: udon with chilled broth poured over it ● Kake udon: udon in hot broth ● Maze udon: udon without broth that’s mixed with sauce and other toppings ● Mizore udon: udon in hot broth with grated daikon We were lucky to get a sneak peek of the upcoming lineup at a recent press event for the media, and the collection of udon was truly a sight to behold. Yup, that’s truly oodles of noodles all neatly gathered in one place. Each of the dishes makes use of famous local ingredients and the food culture from its place of origin. What was even more impressive was that they were all real, fully edible dishes–not the plastic food samples you frequently see at Japanese restaurants. We know you’re eager to slurp up the dishes with your eyes, so now we’re proud to present a handy visual guide for all 47 of Marugame Seimen’s new udon dishes! Hokkaido Prefecture: “Umami of the Earth: Potato Butter Udon” Regular size: 890 yen (US$5.92), Large size: 1,070 yen Aomori Prefecture: “Towada Grilled Beef Rib Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen Iwate Prefecture: “Milk Carbonara with Iwate-sourced Milk Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Miyagi Prefecture: “Sichuan-style Mapo Tofu Ankake Udon (Served with a small portion of rice)” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen Akita Prefecture: “Miso Champon Ankake Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Yamagata Prefecture: “Atsumi Turnip and Pork Shabu-shabu Mizore Udon” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen Fukushima Prefecture: “Kitakata-style Rich Umami Meat Soy Sauce Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Ibaraki Prefecture: “Grated Lotus Root Curry Udon” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen Tochigi Prefecture: “Rich Umami Soy Milk Sesame Broth with Tofu Skin Udon ~Served with Tofu Skin Tempura and Boiled Gyoza~” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Gunma Prefecture: “Handmade Cutlets with a Rich Demi-glace Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen ▼ We briefly interrupt this programming to inform you that the cutlets were HUGE! They could have practically served as an actual lid for the bowl. Saitama Prefecture: “Fukaya Green Onion and Pork Miso Udon” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen Chiba Prefecture: “Fragrant Yuzu Asari Clam Tempura and Nori Umami Broth Udon” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen Tokyo Prefecture: “Marinated Tuna Tempura and Grilled Green Onion Negima Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Kanagawa Prefecture: “Boiled Whitebait and Kakiage with Grated Daikon Udon“ Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen ▼ The kakiage (mixed vegetable/seafood tempura) was also ginormous! Niigata Prefecture: “Snow Country Maitake Mushrooms, Meat, and Egg Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Toyama Prefecture: “Scorched Soy Sauce Meat and Egg Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Ishikawa Prefecture: “8-ingredient Kanazawa Oden Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Fukui Prefecture: “Taniguchiya Oban Kitsune-age Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen ▼ OK, this slab of kitsune-age (deep-fried tofu) takes the cake. It’s meant to resemble an oban, a large gold coin used as currency in the Edo period (1603-1868). Yamanashi Prefecture: “Shingendori Chicken and Burdock Umami Broth Udon ~Served with Suridane Spicy Seasoning~” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Nagano Prefecture: “Azumino Wasabi and Rapeseed Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 790 yen, Large size: 970 yen Gifu Prefecture: “Hida Beef Simmered with Ginger Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen Shizuoka Prefecture: “Sakura Shrimp and Sea Lettuce in Grated Yam Soup Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Aichi Prefecture: “Offal Stewed in Hatcho Miso and Egg Tempura Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Mie Prefecture: “Yokkaichi’s Tonteki Pork Steak-style Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Shiga Prefecture: “Junjun Hotpot-style Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen Kyoto Prefecture: “Dark Roasted Shichimi Spice-scented Kinugasa-style Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Osaka Prefecture: “Pork and Cabbage Chiritori Hotpot-style Maze Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Hyogo Prefecture: “Beef Sinew Bokkake Udon” Regular size: 790 yen, Large size: 970 yen Nara Prefecture: “Spicy Umami Stamina Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Wakayama Prefecture: “Kishu Kinzanji Miso and Nankoume Apricot Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen Tottori Prefecture: “Daisendori Chicken and Various Green Onions Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Shimane Prefecture: “Umami Spicy Akaten Fish Paste Maze Udon” Regular size: 790 yen, Large size: 970 yen Okayama Prefecture: “Yellow Chives and Meat Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen  Prefecture: “Dotenabe Hotpot-style Oyster Miso Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Yamaguchi Prefecture: “Fragrant Chicken with Iwakuni Lotus Root Udon” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen Tokushima Prefecture: “Addictively Spicy Deep-fried Chicken Thighs Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen ▼ It’s been a while since we saw a good hunk like this–but we never forget a hunk. Kagawa Prefecture: “Mochi with Red Bean Paste Tempura and Sea Bream Chikuwa Fish Cake Tempura Kake Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Ehime Prefecture: “Boiled Broth Large Jakoten Udon” Regular size: 790 yen, Large size: 970 yen ▼ This jakoten small fish paste tempura is another solid lid contender. Kochi Prefecture: “Chicken Nanban with Aurora Sauce Bukkake Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Fukuoka Prefecture: “Hakata Motsunabe Hotpot Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Saga Prefecture: “Squid Tempura and Fragrant Nori Udon” Regular size: 790 yen, Large size: 970 yen Nagasaki Prefecture: “Egg Tempura with Turkish Rice-style Udon” Regular size: 890 yen, Large size: 1,070 yen Kumamoto Prefecture: “Taipien Soup-style Udon” Regular size: 790 yen, Large size: 970 yen Oita Prefecture: “Garlic Chives with Pork Bukkake Udon (Served with a small portion of rice)” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen Miyazaki Prefecture: “Karamen Spicy Noodle-style Udon (Served with a small portion of rice)” Regular size: 790 yen, Large size: 970 yen Kagoshima Prefecture: “Chiheitan Chicken Black Soup with Fragrant Black Sesame-style Udon” Regular size: 790 yen, Large size: 970 yen Okinawa Prefecture: “Taco Rice-style Maze Udon (Served with a small portion of rice)” Regular size: 840 yen, Large size: 1,020 yen …And that’s a wrap with Marugame Seimen’s 47 new udon dishes. It’s truly a crazy concept to be realized. In terms of our immediate reactions, Mie’s “Yokkaichi’s Pork Steak-style Bukkake Udon” wins the prize for “most insane” with its addition of potato salad on top of the soup. Meanwhile, Nagasaki’s “Egg Tempura with Turkish Rice-style Udon” wins the prize for “most chaotic” with its eclectic collection of side dishes masquerading as a noodle dish. Before we left the press event, we were able to sample Tokyo’s entry, the “Marinated Tuna Tempura and Grilled Green Onion Negima Udon.” It was inspired by the negimanabe hotpot dish that originated in the city of Edo (now Tokyo). The fish tempura and green onions were the most striking parts of the dish… …but the edible chrysanthemum and enoki mushroom tempura also left a visual impact. Its sweet and rich broth paired wonderfully with the tempura and udon, creating a holy trinity of refined flavors. As a whole, it was a solid dish selected to represent modern-day Tokyo. Not only are all of the above udon dishes available at Marugame Seimen locations throughout Japan for a limited time, but individual branches will have a limited quantity of their local version each day. Therefore, if you’re dying to try a particular bowl, you’ll want to get there nice and early. If all else fails, you can always eat noodles to your heart’s content in the prefecture most famous for udon. Reference: Marugame Seimen All images © SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Better early than never. It’s autumn once again in Japan, and that means sweet potatoes are in season, the leaves on trees turn a beautiful crimson, and cherry blossoms delight many with their gentle hues. You might have thought cherry blossoms were a spring thing, but nature likes to keep us on our toes every once in a while. On the morning of 17 October, visitors to Garyu Park in Suzaka City, Nagano Prefecture, were surprised to find a scattering of sakura among the autumn foliage. Garyu Park is famous as one of the best parks for cherry blossom viewing in Japan, but currently, the small flowers have been very patchy compared to what’s seen in the spring. Still, clusters of as many as 10 blossoms could be seen. ▼ “In Garyu Park, near the zoo, cherry blossoms are blooming out of season. If you’re lucky, you might spot some.” 動物園のある臥竜公園内では季節はずれの桜がちらほら咲いています見つけられたらラッキーかも？#須坂市動物園#須坂市#桜 pic.twitter.com/3R8RtowfK0— 須坂市動物園【公式】 (@suzakazoo) October 17, 2025 ▼ “Believe it or not, cherry blossoms bloomed in Garyu Park. Real autumn sakura. So, I went out for a walk at 6am and took some photos. Someone who was out walking their dog told me this happens every year.” なんと須坂市臥竜公園で桜が咲きました、まさに秋桜ですね()ということで今朝6時ごろに早速散歩がてら撮影してきました。たまたまワンちゃんの散歩に来ていた方が教えてくださったのですが、実はこれ結構毎年レベルで咲くらしいです。#須坂市 #臥竜公園 #桜 #秋桜 #異常気象 #α57 #SONY pic.twitter.com/MYuaRl1YkM— お米大好き２ (@OKOME_X2) October 18, 2025 Locals were very excited about this unexpected blooming, but also expressed concern that it might affect the actual cherry blossom season that usually occurs in and around April. Readers of the news online were also concerned about this unusual phenomenon and shared other out-of-season appearances in their areas. “I saw several blossoms on the tree behind my office the other day.” “I wonder if they’ll still bloom in spring too.” “I heard cicadas in Saitama.” “I heard cicadas. I can’t tell what season it is anymore.” “This feels like an end-of-the-world kind of thing.” “There’s a lot more mosquitoes out now too. They’re changing from summer insects to autumn ones.” “Our four seasons are now early summer, intense heat, lingering heat, and winter.” “30 degrees is pretty cool! I’m going to start getting used to saying that now.” “Being able to enjoy the cherry blossoms of spring and cicadas of summer in autumn is a great value.” “Words like ‘kuruizaki‘ and ‘kaerizaki‘ have been used to describe this phenomenon for centuries.” Although quite rare, it’s true that cherry blossoms in autumn are not unheard of throughout Japanese history, and the mechanism behind it is well understood. Sakura trees usually develop their buds throughout the summer, but just before the buds are ready to pop open, they’re held back by a hormone called abscisic acid. Abscisic acid is delivered to the buds by the leaves of the tree, and by the time the leaves naturally fall from the tree, the temperature is low enough to keep the buds in a state of dormancy by themselves. However, sometimes the leaves fall off prematurely due to other factors, the most common being the strong winds of typhoons that tend to make landfall in September and October. The combination of enough lost leaves and stubbornly high temperatures well into mid-October in many parts of Japan may strip away all of the natural checks that would prevent a sakura from blossoming, causing some to trigger prematurely. Luckily, Garyu Park boasts some 600 trees and should still have more than enough to put on its usual display next spring. It’s also expected to finally cool down in the following week, so if your part of Japan was recently hit by a typhoon, you might want to quickly check out cherry blossom trees near you and see if a little early sakura is waiting. Source: NTV News, My Game News Flash Top image: Pakutaso ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Yakiuo Ishikawa Ginza Rinkaro serves up a very unique crossover of meat and seafood traditions. At Japan’s yakiniku restaurants, customers dine on strips of grilled meat, which they grill themselves at a grill set within their table. The term makes a lot of linguistic sense, since yakiniku means “grilled meat,” but that’s also why we were confused when we were invited to a tasting at a Tokyo restaurant that says its concept is “Yakiniku without grilling meat.” But a certain amount of confusion is a necessary in order to also be intrigued, and so we made our way to Yakiuo Ishikawa Ginza Rinkaro, which opened on the 12th floor of the Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza neighborhood late last month. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll just be calling it “Ishikawa” for the rest of the article, but the Yakiuo part of its full name means “grilled fish,” and hints at what the restaurant’s culinary goal is: adapting the yakiniku style to slices of fish. Unlike at yakiniku restaurants, at Ishikawa the chef handles the grilling. As this this tasting, they were serving us the Sanshokudon (“Three-color Bowl”) Course meal, and they wasted no time wowing us, starting off with an amazingly thick cut of tuna, succulently marbled and looking like a little wagyu steak after it had been kissed by the grill’s flames. It’s then placed atop a rice bowl along with ikura (salmon roe) and uni (sea urchin), making for a ludicrously luxurious combination. Ishikawa is a sister chain to long-established Tokyo sushi restaurant Tsukiji Aozora Sandaime, and their eye for quality seafood meant that the uni was decadently rich, the ikura enticingly firm, and the tuna mouthwateringly melty, our taste-testing Japanese-language reporter Yayoi Saginomiya reports. The bowl is accompanied by a selection of condiments that you can add to taste, such as wasabi, citrus, and pickled garlic leaves. This was still the opening act of the multi-course meal, however. Next, the chef brought out a platter of sliced fish, with each cut larger than what you’d find in a traditional sashimi spread. The chef then proceeded to cook them on the yakiniku grill, timing each morsel’s duration on the fire perfectly. The results not only tasted fantastic, they were fascinating to look at too, since they so closely resembled slices of meat. ▼ Fugu (blowfish), seasoned with garlic and salt ▼ Marinated tuna, which took on the texture of short rib ▼ Otoro (extra-fatty tuna), served with a raw egg to dip it in, in the style of sukiyaki beef Not only did each and every type of fish taste great, the chef thoughtfully served them in an order that helped each individual bite flourish. Juicy, oilier kinds of fish were interspersed with lighter types with clean finishes, so that the taste buds never become saturated with any single sensation. The side dishes were all excellent as well, and featured a salad of spinach, enoki mushrooms, and chrysanthemums, a pureed soup of okra and tofu, and even a dish of sashimi. It was a special meal, and also one that comes at a special-occasion price of 15,000 yen (US$101). Still, it was a unique experience and one that left Yayoi thoroughly satisfied, and if you’re not quite so hungry or deep-pocketed, a la carte orders are an option too. Restaurant information Yakiuo Ishikawa Ginza Rinkaro / 焼うお いし川 銀座凛華楼 Address: Tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Ginza 4-6-16, Ginza Mitsukoshi Shinkan 12th floor 東京都中央区銀座4-6-16 銀座三越 新館12階 Open 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5 p.m.-10 p.m. (weekdays), 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (weekends, holidays) Photos ©SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

New product will make you feel like you’ve ripped the clock right out of the wall.  If you’ve ever visited the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, you’ll know just how charming it is, with enchanting details waiting to be discovered throughout the complex. One of the most iconic details is the large clock near the ceiling, which can be seen from the central hall. ▼ The clock has been ticking away since the museum opened 25 years ago. Whether viewed from the ground floor or one of the upper platforms, the clock creates a charming scene, with the numbers made from colourful mosaic tiles embedded in the earthen wall. ▼ The numbers were created by plasterer Kazuhiro Yokoyama. The whimsical shape of the tiles adds a lively, animated charm to the clock, and now you can bring that whimsy home with you in miniature form, thanks to the release of the Ghibli Museum Mosaic Tile Clock. The attention to detail is incredibly impressive, with the tiles and hands of the clock beautifully replicated to resemble the real thing as closely as possible. ▼ The earthen wall is charmingly replicated as well. The battery-operated clock comes with two wooden rods and a rope attachment, so you can either display it on a table or side board… ▼ …or hang it on the wall. The attention to detail extends to the sides of the clock, where you’ll find fossilized elements to conjure up a sense of the history embedded in earthenware walls. The clock is made with polyester resin, cotton, iron, wood, and brass and weighs 798 grams ( 28 ounces). Measuring 18 centimetres  by 19 centimetres (7 by 7.5 inches), it’s a near-perfect square with organic edges that makes it look like it’s been ripped out of the museum wall. Born from the design concept of ​​”transforming your memories of the Ghibli Museum into something you can take home with you”, this mosaic tile clock fits the brief beautifully and it can be purchased at the Mamma Aiutto store inside the museum and online for 13,750 yen (US$91.68). Source: Ghibli Museum Featured image: Ghibli Museum Insert images: Ghibli Museum (1, 2) ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Dance Towns & Dragons. Nagasaki Prefecture is a rather popular tourist destination and even placed in very respectable 11th place in the prefectural attractiveness ranking this year for its many sights and culinary delights. And if you ask our writer Mariko Hanabatake, one of the best times to visit is 7, 8, and 9 October, when the Kunchi (also known as Okunchi) festival is held. When most people inside Japan and abroad think of festivals in Nagasaki, the most likely one to come to mind is the Lantern Festival held during the Chinese New Year. But for residents of the prefecture, Kunchi is often the favorite. That’s why when talking to people outside of Nagasaki, Mariko was shocked that hardly anyone even knew about Kunchi. To her, it was every bit a major event as the Gion Festival in Kyoto or the Sapporo Snow Festival. It was especially surprising since only until recently, the Lantern Festival was a rather minor event compared to Kunchi, but somewhere along the way, something changed. The festival is so big there kids are sent home early from school so they can participate in it or watch it on TV. Working adults who also perform during the festival are pretty much guaranteed a day off to do so. One thing that makes Kunchi a unique festival is the Odoricho or “Dance Towns.” In Japanese, the suffix “-cho” is often translated to “town,” but in big cities, it usually just refers to a neighborhood. A popular example would be Kabukicho in Shinjuku, Tokyo. In Nagasaki City, each neighborhood acts as a team in order to give a performance at Kunchi. There are currently 58 towns, down from 77, but they’re divided into seven groups and only one group performs each year. This means a town has seven years between performances and is given lots of time to plan and prepare for its moment in the spotlight. ▼ This year’s lineup of Dance Towns The styles of the performances can vary quite a bit, but they tend to fall into the following categories: dance, hikimono (pulled floats that are often boat-shaped for this festival), standard Japanese mikoshi floats, dragon dances and other carried things collectively called katsugimono, and torimono processions. ▼ This dragon dance is classified as a katsugimono. ▼ Dances come in all shapes and sizes. Each town tends to do the same thing each year, and with so many towns, you’re usually guaranteed to see a dragon dance or hikimono each year. However, there are also a few performances that can only be seen once every seven years, like the whale float that shoots water out of its spout or the Kokodesho, where a group of people throw a massive, one-ton float into the air and catch it with one hand. On the bright side, because of the seven-year gap between performances, a lot of effort is put into the makeup and costumes, so the performers often look spectacular. ▼ This boat-shaped hikimono float has a skirt around the wheels to simulate the ocean. Notice how it syncs up with the bottoms of everyone’s robes. Venues for these performances include Suwa Shrine and Nagasaki Station, but some, such as the Niwasaki Mawari, also literally take the show on the road and perform in front of shops and homes around the city for three days. You can tell where the performances will happen because the buildings will have special noren-style curtains hanging out front. ▼ The curtains look like this. ▼ A performance often lasts less than a minute, but there are many stops, so it can be tiring for the performers. Notice how there are curtains in front of all three shops behind the dancers. They stop in front of each one and do a separate performance each time. It’s a festival that takes over the whole city, and wherever you go, you can hear the sounds of a festival like traditional nagauta music. You never know when you’ll get swept up in a procession or dragon dance, either. ▼ You might come out of a shop to see these guys passing by… ▼ …or suddenly become a member of a torimono procession with scores of other people. When performances finish, you’ll usually hear cries of “Yo-yah!” which is a regional dialect similar to “Bravo!” or “Mottekoi!” which is like “Encore!” Nagasaki was one of the first areas opened to international trade, so influences from Chinese and Western culture can be seen in many places. The Kunchi festival also reflects this unique heritage, for a Japanese festival unlike any other. And yet, despite the exotic feel, Mariko was surprised to find that people from outside of Nagasaki rarely come to experience it. That’s why she’d like to recommend everyone visit during October and share the joy and culture of Kunchi, adding that it’s also not nearly as rowdy as other festivals in Japan. Festival information Kunchi / くんち Nagasaki-ken, Nagasaki-shi 長崎県長崎市 7, 8, 9 October each year Website Photos ©SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

No-plan Naoshima visit leaves us with regretful satisfaction. Some might say he’s impulsive, and others might call him adventurous, but in any case our Japanese-language reporter Kouhey has a tendency to fly by the seat of his pants when travelling. So when he recently found himself in Takamatsu, the biggest city in Kagawa Prefecture, he decided on a whim to mosey down to the port and see where the ferries were headed. There was one leaving soon for Naoshima, an island in the Seto Inland Sea that Kouhey recalled having heard the name of in travel recommendations, so he decided, on a whim, to hop on board. About half an hour later, Kouhey stepped back off the boat at Honmura Port on Naoshima, and he quickly remembered what the island is famous for: art. We’re not talking about woodblock prints and lacquerware here, though. Naoshima’s claim to fame is as a center of modern art. It’s an especially compelling destination during the Setouchi Triennale, an annual series of three month-long art festivals held at islands across the Seto Inland Sea, but if you’re an art lover, there’s plenty to see at any time of year. Kouhey had come ashore in Honmura, a district on the eastern side of the island. The neighborhood’s streets are lined with kominka, classically styled Japanese houses. However, some of them aren’t actually houses at all anymore, and have been converted into cafes and shops, giving the place a unique aura that’s half nostalgic and half novel. Kouhey was already enjoying himself just appreciating the architecture, but when he came across the Honmura Lounge and Archives, he decided to go inside and ask the staff if they had any sightseeing recommendations for a first-time, no-plan visitor like himself. The friendly clerk on duty quickly suggested the Naoshima Art House Project. Started in 1998, this is an initiative in which artists use empty houses, and sometimes shrines, as creative spaces, “weaving in history and memories of the period when the buildings were lived in and used.” As the sites are somewhat spread out from one another, visitors will pass through other parts of the neighborhood on their way from one to another, which the organizers say acts as “a catalyst for interaction between visitors and local residents, giving rise to many a memorable episode.” Currently there are a total of seven locations in the Naoshima Art House Project, with individual admissions priced at 600 yen (US$4). However, there’s also a multi-site ticket that can be purchased online for 1,200 yen, or 1,400 yen for the paper ticket, which gets you into five sites, and is what Kouhey opted for. Photos for publishing aren’t allowed inside the Art Houses, but Kouhey reports that they’re amazingly creative, and completely different from what one would expect looking at their exteriors. Naoshima also has more than one contemporary art museum, and Kuhey’s walk took him by two designed by celebrated Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The Ando Museum was opened in 2013, and this spring saw the opening of the three-story Naoshima New Museum of Art. Aside from the pieces on display inside, the Naoshima New Museum of Art’s hilltop location provides beautiful views out over the Seto Inland Sea, and there’s an open-air cafe where you can get a drink or snack if you need some refreshments after walking up all the stair to get here. Really, everywhere Kouhey looked he could see how conscious Naoshima is of opportunities for artistic aesthetics. The Naoshima Hall community center, for example, is a mix of traditional and modern elements… …these elephant sculptures were an adorable surprise… …and at one point he came across a crate of ceramic painted plates on the side of the road, with a bilingual sign inviting passersby to take them home if they liked them. And it turned out that Kouhey hadn’t even landed at Naoshima’s main port. That’s over on the west side of the island, in the area called Miyanoura. Thankfully, the island is compact enough that he could walk there in about 30 minutes. In Miyanoura, there are numerous outdoor art installations, including one of Naoshima’s most famous, artist Yayoi Kusama’s Red Pumpkin. So was Kouhey completely satisfied with his visit to Naoshima? Nope, not by a long shot. That’s not Naoshima’s fault, though, it’s his. Since he’d shown up with no prior planning, he already had a hotel reservation elsewhere that night, and only had five hours to spend on the island, which he says wasn’t nearly enough to spend as much time immersed in the artistic atmosphere. It’s not that he regretted going to Naoshima, it’s that he regretted not spending an entire day and night there, or maybe eve two nights. ▼ This photo he took at one of the art installations captures his frustration. So our advice is: don’t be like Kouhey. Well, actually, our advice is to be kind of like Kouhey, in that if contemporary art speaks to you, you should follow his lead and visit the island, but give yourself much more time there than he did. Related: Naoshima official tourism site, Art House Project Photos ©SoraNews24 ● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!