Pepsi Christmas Cola in Japan

Japan is famous for its unique and unusual Pepsi flavours that come out to celebrate the different seasons and events here in Japan. Popular past flavours include Pepsi Pink Cola for cherry blossom season in spring and Pepsi White Cola for winter. This year, news has come out that Pepsi will be releasing a special Christmas Cake flavoured Pepsi for Christmas in Japan.

Christmas Cake is the highlight of any Christmas meal in Japan, typically served at the very end of the meal. Back home in Australia, Christmas Cake is a heavy fruit cake that is full of dried fruit and nuts. Here in Japan, Christmas Cake is typically a gorgeous sponge cake, frosted with whipped cream, topped with strawberries, and elaborately decorated for the Christmas season.

Christmas Cake in Japan

The Japan exclusive Pepsi Christmas Cola looks very similar in appearance to the Pepsi White Cola from a few years back, but has a totally different taste flavour-wise. Inspired from Christmas Cake in Japan this unique tasting Pepsi mixes white cola with sweet cream with tangy strawberry flavours.

Pepsi Christmas Cola

Pepsi Christmas Cola will be on sale from November 21 for a limited time only. What do you guys think? Do you plan on getting your hands on a bottle of this unique cake-flavoured cola? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Suntory Japan 

Personalised Kit Kats in Japan

Kit Kat is huge in Japan and a popular souvenir among the many visitors to Japan every year with a wide variety of exclusive seasonal and regional flavours on offer. A new vending machine in Kyoto now gives you the chance to personalise your own Japanese Kit Kat.

The fancy vending machine is located in the “Omiyage Kaido” (Souvenir Highway) inside JR Kyoto Station near the west entrance. The unique and one of a kind Kit Kats are called “Travel Memories Kit Kat” and will only be available for a limited time.

The vending machine allows you to print one of your own images via your mobile phone onto a pack of Uji Matcha Green Tea Kit Kats, creating a personalised memento of your travels in Japan. The pack even comes with a special stand inside the box allowing you to beautifully display your personalised Kit Kats. The whole process is quick and easy, taking just five minutes to create your own box of Kit Kats.

A box of personalised Japanese Kit Kats

 How much does this amazing personalised Kit Kat cost, I hear you ask. It costs just 400 yen (USD$3.50) to use the service, which include the box of Matcha Kit Kats. This unique service is only available for a limited time until mid-April 2018. Remember to give it a try if you are in Kyoto and hopefully it can spread to other locations around Japan.

Nestle Japan 

Rare Craft Matcha Green Tea from Japan

Material Matcha Uji, one of the most disruptive tea companies of recent years, launch their unique craft Matcha green tea after a year of patient development and hard work.

Material Matcha Uji (MMU) produces insanely good Matcha Green Tea. Collaborating with traditional tea-masters and using ancient, nearly forgotten blending techniques with the highest quality tea leaves from Uji, MMU creates the most exclusive blends of matcha ever offered to the world.

From corporate jobs to the fertile lands of Uji 

Material Matcha Uji is the brainchild of two Frenchmen & longtime expats in Japan, foodies at heart, who after years in finance & IT gave up their big corporate jobs to go on a quest for purity: to find and create the greatest matcha green tea ever.

The Founders, Morgan & Etienne

Etienne Denoual, co-founder at MMU, explains: “It all started from a deep wish to reconnect with nature and authenticity. When I went back to Kyoto, a city I had lived in for years before, it was a revelation. We just had to do it.”

The Team at Material Matcha Uji

Becoming a tea-maker 

Making high grade Matcha is no walk in the park. Indeed, they faced serious issues: while so-called matcha is booming worldwide (it is often low quality green tea dust), its production has seen a steep decline in Japan. Farmers are facing increasing expenses, weak demand for superior quality matcha, and lower sales value. Even more worrying, the aging tea-making community faces successor problems, endangering its very existence.

Grinding Green Tea

The two founders, who willingly admit that two years ago they knew next to nothing about tea-making, and were both rather coffee people, took a fresh look to the issues and devised an innovative development model: if superior matcha doesn’t work in the domestic market anymore, they would take it abroad for the first time, where foodies are thrilled by Japanese delicacies.

Rare Craft Matcha 

Their matcha blends, the result of more than a year of hard work in the fields and in their workshop, are uncompromising, bold, sophisticated, and probably unlike anything you have ever tasted before. Straying from the very classical image of Japanese tea ceremony, their craft matcha belongs to the realm of guilty pleasures, not unlike artisanal chocolate or micro-distillery whiskey.

Green Tea fields of Uji in Kyoto

Because Matcha is a precious and pure material, they package their blends in different raw materials honoring the minimalism of Japanese craft & culture. "We consider our packages and vessels as something one lives with, a celebration and everyday ceremony of the purity of Matcha." explains Morgan Josset, co-founder.

Material Matcha Uji Vessels

Support their Kickstarter's Crowdfunding campaign 

Backed by a devoted community and now ready for production, they are asking backers to help them buy a whole year of harvest of several plots of land that are especially promising. Providing tea farmers financial stability and peace of mind, they push them to always favor quality over quantity, and hope that younger generations will one day take up the torch!

You can help support their Kickstarter Crowdfunding campaign by visiting the following link https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/materialmatcha/rare-craft-matcha-green-tea-from-japan

Top Spots in Tokyo to Eat for Free

Tokyo is a great place to eat out, with a bewildering choice of exciting restaurants and new, surprising flavours. One great way to try out many new flavours without splashing too much money away is to visit places that generously give out small samples to customers. It means you can try many types of food, and take your time to find the right snack or meal for you. It’s also useful for picky eaters, as it means there is less chance of ordering food that won’t get eaten!

With my new book, Super Cheap Japan: Budget Travel in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima and Surrounding Areas, I have made a guide to show exactly how you can travel on a budget in Japan. I have been all across Tokyo and collected a list of free sample spots, which I included in the book. Here are some of my top spots for free food!

Walking past the wide number of choices

Shinjuku is a good start to experience a bit of free food. The two main department stores, Isetan and Takashimaya, both have huge food courts on their basement floors. Isetan is a little more upmarket and seems to have an ever changing selection of stalls and shops, so it’s worth visiting more than once. Takashimaya, next to the tax-free Tokyu Hands variety megastore, has a good range of bakery goods and snacks to take home as souvenirs.

Head a few stops down on the Yamanote Line for more options in Shibuya. Tokyu Food Show has lower prices than the above department stores, and also has a few stalls offering free samples. There is also a good choice of western food, as well as Japanese twists on western favourites, such as cheese fondue and pasta dishes. Also located on the lower level, it can be accessed via Shibuya station.

Trying some Kimchi in Hikarie, Shibuya

Another awesome spot for free samples in Shibuya is Hikarie, also connected to the station. Only a few years old, the higher levels are full of fancy items, with prices more reasonable than most department stores. Downstairs there are two fabulous floors, full of many original snack creations, such as a macaron inside a taiyaki! The shops here are still eager to establish themselves, and are very generous with their free samples. You might not even need a proper meal after visiting here…..

Shopping in Isetan, Shinjuku

Outside of Tokyo, Chinatown in Yokohama has several stalls offering free samples to tourists on the main street, as well as to customers lining up. Favourites here are the Nikuman (meat bun) and Gyoza (Chinese dumplings). All the free samples are a great way to save money here, as the restaurants can be a little pricey.

Finally, remember to ask for tax-free shopping if you buy lots of items, as all the shops in this post have tax-free for tourists!

This post was written by Matthew Baxter, author of the new book Super Cheap Japan: Budget Travel in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima and Surrounding Areas. It's the ultimate budget travel guide to Japan, full of the most useful, up-to-date information for a cheap holiday in Japan. With extensive tax-free shopping, crazily discounted train passes and an unbelievable exchange rate, there has never been a better time to visit. The book shows you exactly how, where and when you can save money. Go shopping for $4 clothes in Tokyo, enjoy inexpensive hikes in Nikko, or visit Kyoto’s beautiful shrines and gardens on the cheap; all with this super helpful guide.

*** Competition Time ***

To celebrate the release of the new book Super Cheap Japan: Budget Travel in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima and Surrounding Areas, we want to know what your best money saving tip is for traveling in Japan. The top idea will get a free copy of this awesome new book! Know a great place to eat on the cheap? A super way to save on accommodation? An unbelievable travel hack to get something for free?

Just leave your tip in the comments and we will select the lucky winner from the responses. Good luck!

Entries close on Sunday, 8 October 2017

Sake Kit Kat in Japan

Hot on the heels of the news about a new Nestle factory opening up in Japan for flavoured Kit Kats comes news of a new premium sake Kit Kat in Japan.

Nestle is releasing a new type of high-class Kit Kat with the help of esteemed Toyama-based sake brewery, Masuizumi and former Japanese soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata, a passionate sake fan. The new premium sake Kit Kat will be made for refined tastes and has been a year in the making.

Masuizumi sake brewery based in Toyama Prefecture was chosen from over 100 sake breweries in Japan to provide the premium sake used in these new Kit Kat. Masuizumi has a history dating back to 1893, making a great choice for these premium Kit Kat. The white chocolate wafers of the Kit Kat combine perfectly with the crisp dry finish of Masuizumi’s sake, creating depth of flavour and a distinct sake aroma.

The new premium Kit Kat containing 0.4% alcohol is called Masuizumi Japan Sake Kit Kat and will be sold in distinctive red boxes containing nine individually packaged bars. The tagline for the product is “The elegant taste of sake, wrapped in the gentle sweetness of white chocolate. Enjoy the rich, satisfying flavour of sake”.

Masuizumi Japan Sake Kit Kat will go on sale at souvenir stores around Japan from mid-September and will retail for 700 yen ($USD6.50). Kanpai!

Kit Kat Japan Website  

Nestle Factory for Flavoured KitKats

Snacks and chocolate are big business in Japan with KitKat, the country’s top selling chocolate brand. The Japanese love the different seasonal and regional flavours of KitKat that can be found around the country, and with 300 different limited-edition varieties released so far, the choice seems endless.

Some of the more popular flavours of KitKat in Japan include Green Tea, Cherry Blossom and Yokohama Cheese Cake. On the other hand we have also been inflicted with weird and quirky flavours such as Wasabi, Soy Sauce and Okinawan Sweet Potato.

A selection of KitKat from Japan

KitKat was first introduced to Japan in 1973, and instantly become a hit with the name “KitKat” sounding like the Japanese “Kitto Katsu”, which means “You will surely win”, making the chocolate a popular choice for students hoping to pass exams. The different flavoured varieties have been a success due to the omiyage (souvenir) culture in Japan with travelers bringing back the regional specialties to their family and co-workers.

Japan has already seen the opening of fancy KitKat Chocolatory Boutiques around the country selling a “premium artisan” variety of KitKat created by renowned Japanese pastry chef Yasumasa Takagi. The limited edition flavours have been a big hit with KitKat aficionados with high-end flavours such as raspberry-infused dark chocolate and orange chocolate rum.

KitKat Chocolatory Boutique Store in Tokyo's Ikebukuro District

Now, we have news that Nestle, who make the popular wafer chocolate snack will build a factory in Japan dedicated to producing weird and wonderful flavours of KitKat. The new factory in Himeji City, famous for Himeji Castle will help satisfy the ever increasing demand for exotic local KitKat flavours both in Japan and overseas.

KitKat Japan Website

KitKat Purple Potato

New Tourist Train, the Royal Express in Japan

This July a new tourist train, the Royal Express started operations in Japan. The royal blue luxury train is Japan’s newest and biggest tourist train and is operated by Tokyu Corp and Izukyu Corporation.

The train aimed at tourists runs between JR Yokohama Station in Kanagawa Prefecture and Izukyu-Shimoda Station in Shizuoka Prefecture. The eight-car train with a capacity of 100 passengers will take in the spectacular scenery of the Izu Peninsula with the ride taking around three hours. The Izu Peninsula is a popular vacation destination with hot spring resorts and scenic coastal views of the Pacific Ocean. Izu is a stunning location with beautiful nature and this new train will bring further joy to the small communities located along the railroad where it’s running.

The Lost Coast of Izu Japan

The new train has been designed by Eiji Mitooka, who also designed the famed Seven Stars luxury express train for Kyushu Railway. It is easily recognizable by the gold line running along the side of its royal blue carriages. The train is decked out with a dining car as well as a multipurpose car designed for wedding ceremonies, exhibitions and small concerts. Sounds like a lot of fun!

Source: Japan Today

The tickets for this incredible new train are limited and are not covered by the Japan Rail Pass. You can find various travel packages using the irregularly operated train on offer now in Japan.

MUJI Hotel to Open in Ginza in 2019

MUJI one of Japan’s most popular brands will open its first hotel in Tokyo’s posh Ginza district in spring 2019 ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

MUJI is a Japanese retail company which sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods. Its natural and simple design has made its products popular with not only the Japanese but with people from all over the world. MUJI designs are distinguished by their minimalism with emphasis placed on recycling and the avoidance of waste in production and packaging. It maintains this minimalist approach with a no-logo, or no-brand policy.

The new hotel will be located in a beautiful tree-lined street just a short two-minute walk from the Tokyo Metro Ginza Station. The 10-story building will be home to MUJI’s new global flagship store with the store to occupy one basement floor up to part of the sixth floor. The rest of the building space will be dedicated to a hotel overseen by the company.

Source: The Yomiuri Shimbun

The tentatively named Muji Hotel will be the first of its kind in Japan and will be decked out with all that MUJI furniture and amenities we just love. There are also plans to open two hotels in China in the near future.

The building will be constructed by publisher The Yomiuri Shimbun and real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan Co., MUJI hopes the hotel will become “a place where customers can thoroughly experience MUJI product lineups.”

Official Website 

 

Sacred Island of Okinoshima

The sacred Japanese island of Okinoshima in south-west Japan received UNESCO World Heritage listing last week on July 9, 2017.

The island was submitted for future inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List back in 2009.

The culturally important island chronicles the progression of traditional worship rituals from the 4th to 9th centuries, which were conducted to pray for safe sea voyages.

Okinoshima is part of Munakata City in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, and is situated midway between the south-western island of Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula.

Okinoshima is located between Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula

The entire island is considered a Shinto kami (god) with various religious sites and shrines dotted across it to appease the gods to protect the surrounding waters, which served as an important trade route in the region between China and Korea. The sacred island is off limits to women and male visitors must strip naked before going ashore. The island’s main shrine, Munakata Taisha Okitsu Shrine is carefully maintained by a single male employee.

Munakata Taisha Okitsu Shrine

The shrine located in the southwestern portion of Okinoshima was established in the mid-17th century as a sacred natural site. The shrine has gone through several repairs and rebuilding phases over the centuries with the current structure remaining in pretty much the same condition since the Showa Period (1926-1989).

The island covers an area of 97 ha (240 acres) with its highest peak reaching an elevation of 244 m (801 ft). Okinoshima is not currently open to the public and can only be viewed from a distance offshore.

The sacred island of Okinoshima from the sea

Official Website

Japan’s Amazing Bike Vaults

Tokyo is one of the world’s great cities offering a huge diversity of attractions and experiences with pretty much something for everyone. One thing that it does lack is space, with over 13 million people living in Tokyo, space is at a premium. Many people rely on public transportation to get around the city, but more and more people are taking to two-wheels to travel. The Japanese Transport Ministry estimates that around 14% of the commuting traffic in Tokyo is on bike. While on the surface biking around may seem like a good idea, it has led to the inconvenience of bicycle’s being parked on already crowded pavements further reducing the already rare and precious space in Tokyo.

Friday Night in Tokyo

One company has come up with an ingenuous solution to help solve this problem by creating high-tech underground bike parking that simply store the bikes 40 feet underground. Dubbed the Eco Cycle, the 23-foot diameter storage facility can house up to 204 bikes. The solution is a win-win for everyone with no more clutter of bikes up on the streets, and owners resting easy with the knowledge that their bikes are locked in a safe place, away from thieves and bad weather.

From street level, an Eco Cycle looks like a small kiosk. In reality, they are gateways to futuristic subterranean parking lots.

The underground storage systems work in a simple but effective way. Place your bike onto the runway, swipe your membership card onto the reader, push a button and stand back as the automated system takes care of the rest. In less than 8 seconds your bike is stored away in its slot, and can be retrieved in around the same time. Membership costs 2,600 yen (USD$25) a month.

Eco Cycle Underground Bicycle Parking

Another key point of the underground bike vaults apart from being a shelter from bad weather is that they are completely safe from earthquakes, a regular occurrence here in Japan.

Today, there are around 50 Eco Cycle Stations across Japan with plans to expand overseas in the near future.

What do you think about Japan’s high-tech bike vaults? Please leave your comments and feelings below in the comment section.

Traditional Tatami-Style Starbucks to Open in Kyoto

Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto is famous for its many tourist attractions ranging from historic temples, colourful shrines, and sublime gardens. Now, it can add a new one to list with the world’s first traditional tatami-style coffee shop under the global Starbucks brand.

The announcement this week by Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd., the Japanese arm of global coffee giant Starbucks Coffee Co, is already creating buzz over the internet here in Japan, with the store to officially open on June 30, 2017.

Starbucks coffee will be served in traditional “tatami” floor rooms in a 100-year old Japanese-style machiya wooden townhouse.

The new traditional Starbucks in Kyoto

The two-story townhouse is conveniently located near the UNESCO World Heritage listed Kiyomizu-dera Temple, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Kyoto.

The new shop can be found along Ninen-zaka, a historic street lined with traditional Kyoto shops which leads from Kiyomizu-dera to Kodaiji Temple.

Ninen-zaka Historic Street in Kyoto

Starbucks Coffee Japan Website

A Stay at Kujo Stays

We were lucky recently to stay in a fantastic machiya (traditional wooden Kyoto townhouse) accommodation in the heart of Kyoto. Kujo Stays is a set of 4 Japanese style townhouses that gives you a taste of real Japanese style accommodation and lifestyle with their authentic look and feel. Machiya are great because they combine all the advantages of a vacation rental with the authenticity of a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn).

The rooms at Kujo Stays are very quiet, peaceful and comfortable, allowing you to concentrate on the important things in Kyoto which are all the historic temples, colourful shrines and sublime gardens.

Machiya style accommodation at Kujo Stays

Located a short 5 minute walk from JR Kyoto Station, Kujo Stays is also conveniently located near a big AEON Shopping Mall. If you are looking for a bit of culture and history, make sure to check out the UNESCO World Heritage, To-ji Temple, which is only a 10-minute walk from the accommodation.

Kyoto Station

The temple which served as one of the guardian temples of ancient Kyoto is home to Japan’s tallest wooden 5-storey pagoda, as well as Japan’s most famous flea market which is held on its serene grounds on the 21st of every month.

The UNESCO World Heritage To-ji Temple in Kyoto

Kujo Stays features rooms with traditional Japanese machiya style décor such as tatami-mat floors, folding screens and hanging scrolls as well as basic furniture such as chabudai (Japanese low tables) and tansu (Japanese chest of drawers), along with Japanese ornaments and decorations such as pottery and ceramics.

Beautiful Japanese style ceramics and decorations at Kujo Stays

The rooms at Kujo Stays are minimalist and very spacious which is great for families with kids or for those looking for a traditional Japanese experience. The futon bedding is comfortable and safe for children. We didn’t have to worry about kids falling out of beds at all.

Spacious rooms at Kujo Stays

Along with the traditional Japanese rooms are mod-cons designed to make your stay all that more comfortable. The essentials are all there such as heating, air conditioning, flat-screen TV, FREE WiFi, and private bathroom/shower. We also really loved having kitchen facilities as well as a washing machine to keep on top of the dirty laundry that starts to pile up after a few days of sightseeing.

The kitchen facilities include a microwave, fridge and all the kitchenware necessary to make your stay away from home as pleasant as possible.

I also like the fact the once you have picked up your room key from nearby Ebisu Ryokan, you are free to come and go as you please without the need to drop off the key whenever you want to go out.

The highlight of the stay for me was the beautiful Japanese style Zen garden which can be found in all the Kujo Stays townhouses. Designed by the owners Mr & Mrs Shimamoto, the enclosed courtyard gardens are illuminated at night to create a magical atmosphere.

Japanese style Zen garden at Kujo Stays

The property is managed by Global Network, who also own the nearby Ebisu Ryokan where we picked up the key to our room. Although there are no staff onsite at Kujo Stays, the friendly staff at Ebisu Ryokan are happy for you to stop by with any questions you may have. The staff can speak a multitude of languages including but not limited to English, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, and of course Japanese. In fact, the onsite manager is a fellow Aussie who has spent the last 10 years working in both China and Japan, including several years in my hometown of Gifu.

Yours Truly with Mr & Mrs Shimamoto and the onsite manager

Kujo Stays might appear to be a little more pricey than say your typical accommodation, but it is definitely worth the money for the fantastic location, facilities and spaciousness. I hope you will pay them a visit the next time you are in Kyoto. Just remember to tell them that John from Japan Australia sent you.

Kujo Stays 

Address: 8 Higashikujo, Nakatonodacho, Minami-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 601-8048
Phone: +81 75-574-7100
Website: https://www.agoda.com/kujo-stays/hotel/kyoto-jp.html