Starbucks Refreshers Japan

Starbucks Refreshers hit the store shelves on June 25th in Japan. They are a new kind of energy drink made by Starbucks and can be found at Seven Eleven’s across Japan. The drink is fruit juice based and lightly caffeinated with green coffee extract to pick you up. Designed mainly for the female market and as a light afternoon pick-me-up as opposed to a full on energy drink. They are available in two different flavours ~ Cool Lime and Very Berry Hibiscus.

The drinks contain real fruit juice along with green coffee extract, ginseng, and vitamins B and C.

They come in a 200ml can and cost 200 yen (USD$2.00).

How do they taste?

Cool Lime ~ Very fruity and you can really taste the lime. The fruit juice makes it seem more like a soft drink but it’s very refreshing.

Starbucks Refreshers Cool Lime

Very Berry Hibiscus ~ A lot sweeter than the Cool Lime and you can really taste the berry flavours. Definitely our favourite of the two and easy to drink.

Starbucks Refreshers Very Berry Hibiscus

Have a look at our video to see the new Starbucks Refreshers in Japan

Okonomiyaki Burger at Lotteria Japan

Lotteria Japan is famous for its unique burger selections such as the Ramen Burger and the recent Twin Burger. This week they released their latest creation, the Okonomiyaki Burger. Okonomiyaki is a type of savoury Japanese pancake that is popular all over Japan. It originates from Osaka and is sometimes called Osaka Soul Food. Okonomiyaki is derived from the Japanese word “okonomi” which means “what you like” and “yaki” which means “grilled” or “cooked”, so it can contain just about anything you like! In modern Okonomiyaki, a wide variety of ingredients are used such as shrimp, squid, octopus, pork, cabbage and vegetables. It is usually served with a special sweet sauce and Japanese mayonnaise.

The Okonomiyaki Burger (お好み焼きバーガー) went on sale on August 19 and comes in two different versions. The “Hanjuku Tamago) 半熟タマゴ , which includes a soft-boiled egg, and The “Modern Style” モダン風 , which comes with stir fried noodles. The burgers will be available until late September in Japan. The Hanjuku Tamago costs 320 yen (USD$3.20) while the Modern Style costs 290 yen (USD$2.90).

The Okonomiyaki Burger at Lotteria

The Hanjuku Tamago (半熟タマゴ) comes with a soft-boiled egg, okonomiyaki patty and okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise.

The Modern Style (モダン風) features chukka-men (Chinese egg noodles), shredded cabbage, okonomiyaki patty and okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise.

The Modern Style (モダン風) Okonomiyaki Burger

The modern style seemed more like your traditional style Okonomiyaki for us, so Japan Australia gave it a try! We ordered a Modern Style Okonomiyaki Burger with small fries and small drink for 640 yen (USD$6.40).

The Modern Style Okonomiyaki Burger Wrapper

The Okonomiyaki Burger Okonomiyaki Patty

The Okonomiyali Burger topped with cabbage, sauce and mayo

How does it taste?

Not very good! Disappointing in fact!! The Okonomiyaki patty is doughy and lacks any Okonomiyaki flavour, while the fried noodles are soft and lack crunch (kari kari). Give us a regular Okonomiyaki any day of the week! It is a big disappointment after the high standards set by the recent Twin Burger.

If you are in Japan and want to try something different and unique then this might be the burger for you. 

Lotteria Japan Website

Summer Snacks in Japan

One of the great things about living in Japan is the seasonal food and drinks that come around every year, and summer in no exception. Summer 2013 in Japan has seen a great range of summer snacks hit the shelves at conbini (convenience stores) and supermarkets around the country. A few of my favourites have been:

Summer Pocky

Two new summer flavours of Pocky came out for summer 2013. These are Tropical Pocky and Coconut Pocky. Tropical Pocky is very fruity with the Pocky stick covered in mango cream and infused with bits of pineapple. Coconut Pocky features the Pocky stick covered with chocolate and coconut. It was delicious and definitely is our favourite of the summer Pocky.

Coconut Pocky & Tropical Pocky

Passionfruit / Cookies & Cream KitKat

Two new summer versions of KitKat also hit the shelves this summer. Passionfruit KitKat and Cookies & Cream KitKat. Passionfruit KitKat is very sweet and has a strong fruity passionfruit taste. Perfect for any passionfruit fan. Cookies & Cream KitKat is best eaten cold straight out of the fridge or freezer, and is very sweet and delicious. It's hard to beat our all time favourite Matcha Green Tea KitKat but these come close.

Passionfruit KitKat

Cookies & Cream KitKat

Crunch Caramel & Vanilla

Crunch Caramel & Vanilla is also recommended to be beaten cold and is super sweet. It has a great texture and is very good.

Crunch Caramel and Vanilla

Watermelon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Watermelon or Suika is an extremely popular summer flavour in Japan and you will find it in all sorts of things.These Watermelon Chocolate Chip Cookies are a very interesting idea and taste pretty good.

Watermelon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Calbee Salty Lemon Potato Chips

These have been our favourite summer potato chip with a great lemony taste that is just perfect with a cold beer.

Calbee Salty Lemon Potato Chips

Pepsi Shuwa Shuwa Cola Corn Snacks

An unusual flavour that really does taste like Pepsi with that refreshing shuwa shuwa (fizzy bubbles) feeling! They are basically Cheetos that are covered in a fizzy cola powder.

Pepsi Shuwa Shuwa Cola Corn Snacks

What is your favourite Japanese Summer Snack for 2013? Please leave your answers in the comments below.

Obon 2013

Obon (お盆) is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of our ancestors. It is believed that each year during Obon, the spirits of our ancestors come back to this world in order to visit their relatives. The spirits visit the family household altar, where we make offerings of food and prayers. We traditionally hang lanterns called chochin in front of the house to guide the spirits home and visit cemeteries and temples together with our family. This Buddhist custom has in recent times evolved into an important family get-together or re-union, where people return to their ancestral family homes to visit and clean their ancestors’ graves. At the end of Obon, the lanterns are usually taken to the family grave-site in a practice called okuri-bon or placed into rivers, lakes, or sea in order to guide the spirits back into their world.

Obon has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance called Bon-Odori (盆踊り). Here in Gifu Prefecture, there is a famous Bon-Odori in Gujo Hachiman called Gujo-Odori. This is one of the biggest Bon festival dances in Japan. It is held on 31 nights from mid-July to early September with the four main nights in the middle of August (13, 14, 15, 16) where they dance through-out the night.

Bon-Odori originates from the story of Maha Maudgalyayana (Mokuren), who was a disciple of the Buddha. Mokuren used his supernatural powers to look upon his deceased mother. While doing this he discovered that she had fallen into the Realm of Hungry Ghosts and was suffering and in pain. Disturbed by this vision, he went to the Buddha and asked how he could release his mother from this realm. Buddha instructed Mokuren to make offerings to the many Buddhist monks who had just completed their summer retreat, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Mokuren did this and just as Buddha had said, saw his mother released from the realm. Overjoyed and grateful for her release he danced with joy and thus Bon-Odori was born.

Obon lasts for three days; however the starting date varies depending on the region of Japan. “Shichigatsu Bon” or Bon in July is celebrated from 13 - 15 July in areas such as Tokyo, Yokohama and the Tohoku region. “Hachigatsu Bon” or Bon in August is celebrated from 13 - 15 August and is the most commonly celebrated time in Japan. The Obon week in mid-August is one of Japan’s peak holiday seasons with lots of people travelling around the country. This year the peak Obon travel period is anticipated to be between 10 August and 18 August, so take note if you are travelling during this period. The busiest days will be 10 August with people leaving home and 17-18 August with people returning home.

Goju-Odori from Gujo Hachiman Tourist Association

Mister Donut Calpis Donuts

Mister Donut Japan has released a summer series of donuts in collaboration with Calpis. For those who don’t know, Calpis is a Japanese soft drink with a light, milky taste, similar to a yoghurt or yakult. Mister Donut in April released a Hello Kitty series of donuts that was very popular.

The new Mister Donut Calpis Donuts went on sale on July 7 with Calpis (ramune soda) and Calpis (strawberry) flavours available.

The donuts come in different styles such as the Calpis Star Donut Soda, Calpis Star Donut Strawberry, Calpis Cream Donut, Calpis Pon de Soda, and Calpis French Style Donut Soda.

Calpis Star Donut Soda 

Calpis Star Donut Soda (147 yen) contains Calpis cream and is topped with a soda flavoured chocolate and silver sugar. It was designed especially for Tanabata which coincides with the anniversary of Calpis. The Calpis flavour matches this donut style best in our opinion as its light and fluffy.

Calpis Star Donut Soda

Calpis Cream inside the Calpis Star Donut Soda

Calpis Star Donut Strawberry 

Calpis Star Donut Strawberry (147 yen) contains Calpis cream and is topped with strawberry flavoured chocolate and silver sugar. This was by far and away our favourite as we really liked the sweet strawberry chocolate icing.

Calpis Star Donut Strawberry

Inside the Calpis Star Donut Strawberry

Calpis Cream Donut 

Calpis Cream Donut (136 yen) contains Calpis cream and is coated in sugar.

Calpis Pon de Soda

Calpis Pon de Soda (147 yen) contains Calpis cream as a filling and is partly topped with a soda flavoured chocolate. We found this our least favourite as the Calpis filling and topping was very strong and overpowering.

Calpis Pon de Soda with the cute Mister Donut / Calpis Wrapper

Calpis Pon de Soda Donut

A look inside the Calpis Pon de Soda with Calpis Cream Filling

Calpis French Style Donut 

Calpis French Style Donut Soda (147 yen) contains Calpis cream as a filling and is partly topped with a soda flavoured chocolate. The Calpis flavour was also a good match with the French Style donut but it still has a very strong soda flavour.

Calpis French Style Donut waiting to be taken out of the wrapper

Calpis French Style Donut

A look inside the Calpis French Style Donut

Have you tried any of the Mister Donut Calpis Donuts?
Please leave your comments below.

Mister Donut website