Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

Food and Drink

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London calling

Lovers of Japanese food in London are currently up in arms over a chef preparing a pricey dish round the back of a restaurant and next to some dustbins. A spokesperson for the local council commenting, “While preparing food outside is not strictly against the law certain measures need to be taken to avoid the risk of contamination.”

Japanese food

Yet as the restaurant, cleverly called ‘eat Tokyo’, is supposed to be a supplier of authentic Japanese cuisine, customers and the council alike should learn to stop being so squeamish, especially if it’s the real deal they are after — some blue fin being hacked up in far from hygienic surroundings simply the starting point for faithful fare.

A point perfectly proven at Tokyo’s Shin-Koiwa station last week, as a noodle stand served up its delicate breakfast dish of curry and noodles without knowing that an 8-centimetre-long rat had somehow positioned itself in the pot. The manager of the stall only finding out there was a foreign body in his breakfast broth after the animal got lodged in the ladle when the curry was being stirred; by which time it was already 8:30 a.m. and 18 people had happily wolfed down the hearty treat.

Not one of them making a complaint.

Japanese food

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Hurried hoarding?

With millions of people travelling on Tokyo’s trains everyday, the price for real-estate and rental properties inevitably increases the nearer to a station one gets — regardless of how big or busy it is. A system that is presumably the same as far as advertising space is concerned, meaning that the costs at stake make producing a perfect promotional poster a prerequisite.

Tokyo advertising

Which, as well as concerns about the looks and the layout, should probably include at least a little look at the language being used.

Tokyo advertising

Especially if it’s a restaurant — or even a cafeteria — that primarily provides ramen rather than a place popular with police officers.

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Mayo mayhem

The Japanese love of mayonnaise is nothing new, with the egg-based dressing used on a whole host of foodstuffs — fried chicken being the top choice by all accounts. Yet a new restaurant in Nagoya has taken this love to a whole new level, basing the whole menu on mayonnaise; the establishment making sure there are no mistakes in regards to its methods by naming it Mayomayo.

japanese mayonnaise restaurant

For creamy connoisseurs not able to quite finish off a whole tub in one sitting, the restaurant offers a ‘bottle keep’ service, allowing customers to write their name on the unfinished container and have it kept for a month.

japanese mayonnaise bottle keep

Meaning those whose cholesterol levels have dipped from hazardous to merely high can quickly pop back in and boost it back up. A nice dish of mayonnaise tofu perhaps doing the trick.

japanese mayonnaise tofu

Or for something on the sweet side, a cone of mayo ice cream could be ideal.

japanese mayonnaise ice cream

A devotion to dressing that some of the restaurant’s regulars appear to take a little too far, rather worryingly combining creamy consumption with cosplay.

japanese mayonnaise cosplay

(via the FG forums)

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Japan Unwrapped #1: Lame loaves?

Dear Tokyo Times,

I realise that Japan’s staple food is rice, but I’ve heard that loaves of bread over there are pitifully small — like a measly 10 slices or something. Is it true?

Sam, London

Sadly Sam, a 10-slice loaf is the stuff of dreams, with those of us partial to a bit of flour-based foodstuff forced to buy packets containing a measly 6 slices — or perhaps 8 if we are really lucky.

Japanese bread

And whilst admittedly the pieces are on the plump side, a lunch hedging towards the hefty will invariably result in yet another trip to the supermarket; although such a shortage of slices is apparently ideal for a welcoming wicker basket display.

Japanese bread

Yet as hard as it is to believe, Japanese baking behemoth Yamazaki has opted to take this worrying trend even further by introducing a far more thrifty 3 slice option.

Ideal for single people apparently.

Japanese bread

For a single day no doubt.

(Any similarly banal questions — or even interesting ones if you have any — would be gratefully received, as it would negate the need to make any more up mys pester people for ideas. You can submit them here or alternatively leave a comment below.)

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Butler-related babble

“The cafes fulfil a woman’s underlying desire to be rich and lavish by providing a special atmosphere and offering a realistic but temporal relationship with butlers.”




Japanese economist Shinichi Shinano from the Hamagin Research Institute amply proving that he has way too much time on his hands by attempting to explain the popularity of the nation’s burgeoning butler cafes.

Quite how realistic or indeed temporal the experience at a butler cafe may be is unclear, but with a simple cup of tea costing 1,050 yen (4.5 pound), the rich and lavish aspect is clearly indisputable.

swallowtail butler cafe tokyo

Yet what Shinano-san fails to mention is the underlying theme of ‘boy love’ said to pervade such places — albeit in a refined and butler-like manner.

Swallowtail’s vast majority of visitors it seems are women in their 20s and 30s, with Ayako Abe of K-Books — which runs the cafe and has several shops that sell manga depicting love between beautiful youths — explaining the market for such establishments by saying, “Our shops’ prime target customers are not women in their teens and 20s, but those in their 30s and 40s who got used to ‘boys’ love’ comics while they were young, and come to the stores with their daughters.”

For the rest of the article* just click here.

*Includes a bonus maid picture for those a little bashful about the ‘boy love’ business.