Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

Food and Drink

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Modified mascot

Whilst the pink and perky Kewpie doll may well have made its first appearance in a women’s magazine in the United States, its fame in Japan appears to stem from a close connection with mayonnaise; a company bearing the same name closely associating its egg, oil and vinegar based speciality foodstuff with the big-eyed baby.

kewpie mayonnaise

In fact, as well as Kewpie appearing prominently on mayonnaise packaging, it even enhances the entrance to company buildings.

kewpie

Such a close affiliation to the character however means that the soon to be released variations on the Kewpie theme by amusement firm Buildup may not exactly be greeted with the trademark open arms.

Well, the old man and melting models may not cause too much distress.

kewpie dolls

But the fat, and in particular the anorexic version, are quite possibly a different story altogether.

strange kewpie dolls

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Beverage blues

“Conducting a survey to find out what drives people to kill themselves is the first thing that needs to be done, but we also should not wait to implement actual preventive measures.”

Yasuyuki Shimizu of anti-suicide group Life Link on what his organization feels should to be done to try and lower Japan’s disturbingly high suicide rate.

The likes of work-related stress, financial concerns and the seemingly never-ending wait for the PlayStation 3 may all rank highly in any such survey, but thanks to the pioneering research of An Englishman In Osaka, another — thankfully more manageable — cause has been unearthed; rather bizarrely in the form of canned coffee.

deeppresso coffee

After years spent teaching the world to sing, parent company Coca Cola now appears intent on inducing a heavy sigh rather than a song, although to be fair, its advertising campaign doesn’t attempt to suggest anything different. The promotional picture below presumably leaving canned coffee connoisseurs in little doubt who has been indulging in the Deeppresso.

deeppresso poster

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Big and bouncy

Something of a legend in the hugely competitive world of overly large fruit, Takao Hoshijima has once again produced Japan’s most prodigious pumpkin, with his latest entry comfortably winning the top prize at a competition in Kagawa Prefecture last Sunday.

big pumpkin

Weighing in at 357.8 kilogrammes, the phenomenally-sized fruit — along with its owner presumably — will head off to Oregon next month to represent Japan in the world pumpkin championship, where the hopes of a nation will rest heavily on the 71-year-old’s fragile frame.

Yet despite his obvious proficiency with pumpkins, Hoshijima-san has allegedly confessed that he’d be much happier getting to grips with some big and juicy melons, or perhaps more surprisingly, swapping the outdoors for the oven and trying his hand at some big buns or baps.

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Showy shops

Due to its famed fanciness, people flock from far and wide to visit this opulent outlet, the young family pictured on their way in having apparently travelled over two hundred kilometres — all for a quick fancy foodstuff foray before the long journey home.

fancy shop

But after being cajoled by the chance of buying badly labelled biscuits,

engrish cokkies

who can blame them?

(click images for showier shop and, erm, colossal cokkies)

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Fowl food

In the obsessive world of over-sized snack production, the residents of Kawamata in Fukushima Prefecture are currently flying high — which is more than can be said about their ingredients, as the town’s record-breaking yakitori required the use of around a dozen game fowl.

jumbo yakitori

Measuring a trouser-tightening 12 metres 27 cm, the flame-grilled foodstuff got the official nod from a member of a national yakitori association, who was conveniently on hand to verify the record. A result that whilst delighting the inhabitants of Kawamata, dismayed those of Hidakagawa, Wakayama Prefecture; the latter’s reign as yakitori kings lasting a measly 12 days — a gallant effort of 11 metres 7 cm simply lacking the necessary length to hold on to the celebrated title.

However Hidakagawa Deputy Mayor Senya Yamamoto vowed to fight back, although his allegedly disparaging comments concerning girth and his counterpart’s apparent lack of it have yet to be confirmed.