Suntory

7-11 Japan and the department store chain that owns it, 「イトーヨーカドー」 (Ito-Yokado) are selling Suntory 「ゴールド・ブルー」 (“Gold Brew“) 発泡酒 (low-malt beer) for only ¥100 (about US$1.00) per 350ml can.

So I bought a case of them from 「イトーヨーカドー」 (Ito-Yokado). ¥100 / can X 24 cans = ¥2,400 (about US$24). A pretty good price, and the beer tastes good too!
350ml cans are a bit small though…I usually buy a case of the 500ml “tall boys”.

I know Suntory is a beverage company that makes beer, whiskey and some soft drinks…but did you know that they own Pepsi Japan and Gatorade Japan too?

Gatorade Sports Drink is originally a Florida* company? (*I grew up in Florida, USA).

Gatorade was created by the University Of Florida. Initially it was created for the University of Florida‘s football team…the “Gators“. Hence the name, “Gatorade“.

The only reason I know this is because my sister graduated from the University of Florida.

I wonder if other U.S. college football teams drink Gatorade and if they know it’s a “Florida Gators” drink?

In Japan, beer brewers release seasonal beers…ie: brews for the Summer, Spring, Autumn, and Winter.
On August 25, Suntory will begin selling their 2009 Autumn beer, called 「秋生」 (“Autumn Draft“).
It contains 6.5% alcohol.

Pepsi and Snoopy

In Japan, keychain accessories aren’t popular. But ケータイ電話のアクセサリー (cellular phone accessories) are. Especially cell-phone straps.

In your country, are cell-phone straps popular?

Last Spring, ペプシ (Pepsi Japan) gave away Snoopy cell-phone straps with purchases of 500ml bottles of Pepsi NEX.

The straps were Snoopy with 「全国おいしいものアクセサリー」 (“All of Japan Delicious Foods“). They featured Snoopy resting on food items from 24 different areas of Japan.

Tokyo’s was the best! It has Snoopy resting on 江戸前寿司 (Old Tokyo Sushi). Osaka’s was Snoopy with たこ焼き (Octopus Dumpling).

These were given away with Pepsi NEX for a limited-time only and aren’t available anymore.

But now they’re offering Snoopy with 「全国おいしいものアクセサリー第２段」 (“All of Japan Delicious Foods…Second Version“) with purchases of 500ml bottles of Pepsi NEX.

This version doesn’t include a strap for Tokyo nor Hokkaido. But there is one for 横浜中華街 (Yokohama Chinatown)…「中華まん」 (“Chinese Steamed Meat-filled Bun“).

Anpanman in the Guinness Book

There’s a very popular children’s cartoon character in Japan called 「それいけ！アンパンマン」 (“Go! Anpanman“).

2009 has been a big year for 「アンパンマン」 (Anpanman) and for his artist Takashi Yanase.

This year, Takashi Yanase turned 90 years old, he’s been a professional artist for 60 years, the 「アンパンマン」 (Anpanman) comic started 40 years ago, and the 「アンパンマン」 (Anpanman) television series started 20 years ago. (Click here to see an earlier post I wrote about this).
And now, 「それいけ！アンパンマン」 (“Go! Anpanman“) is in the Guinness Book Of World Records for having the “Most Characters In A Single Animated Series“.

「それいけ！アンパンマン」 (“Go! Anpanman“) has over 2000 characters, but the Guinness Book only recognized 1768 characters…which still sets the record as the most characters.

Here are some of the main ones:

My kids grew up watching 「それいけ！アンパンマン」 (“Go! Anpanman“). It’s a wonderful cartoon for kids!

Have you ever watched 「それいけ！アンパンマン」 (“Go! Anpanman“)? I like 「バイキンマン」 (Baikinman), 「ホラーマン」 (Horror-man), and 「だいこんやくしゃ」 (Daikonyakusha) best.

Click here to see my post about the 「アンパンマン」 (Anpanman) Exhibit we went to last Spring.

竜巻

Yesterday at about 2:00PM, a 竜巻 (tornado) hit 群馬県 (Gunma Prefecture), a couple hours north of Tokyo.

About 200 homes and shops had their windows broken and many had the roofs ripped off. A number of cars were flipped over. And other damage like that.

It was reported that there were about two dozen injuries but no deaths were reported so far.
The worst injury was sustained by an elderly woman who was hit by a bicycle that was thrown by the high wind. She’s in serious condition at the hospital.

It’s unfortunate that people were injured and had their property damaged. But it’s good that there were no deaths caused by the 竜巻 (tornado)!
群馬県 (Gunma Prefecture) is a rural area. If the 竜巻 (tornado)* struck a densely populated area like Tokyo, surely there would have been alot more damage and casualties!

*(竜巻 (tornado) in Japanese literally translates to “rolling dragon“).

Fastfood Summer Campaigns

Today was a beautiful clear day, and the sounds of 蝉 (cicadas) could be heard…but it was also very hot and humid!

Definitely summer in Japan.

Alot of people like to eat spicy food in the summer. Supposedly it helps cool you off.
Whether or not that’s true, I’m not sure…but I like spicy food (especially with beer! 🙂 ).

Many fast-food chains in Japan are offering special items on the menu for the summer only. Alot of those items are spicy.

I already mentioned Lotteria‘s new burger (and special money-back guarantee) in an earlier post (Click here to see it.)

◆ McDonalds Japan is offering a 「ヨーグルト味 McShake」 (“Yogurt flavor McShake“) for only ¥100.

「ヨーグルト味 (Yogurt Flavored) McShake」

◆ McDonalds Japan also has Spicy Juicy Chicken sandwiches. They offer two flavors 「ブラック・ペッパー」 (Black Pepper) and 「赤とうがらし」 (Red Chili).

Spicy Juicy Chicken (Black Pepper or Red Chili)

◆ MOS Burger has a campaign that says: 「夏はチキンとスパイスだ！！」 (“Summer is chicken and spice!!”).
They’re offering two spicy chicken sandwiches this summer too. 「ホットチキンバーガー」 (“Hot Chicken Burger“) with salsa, and 「カレーチキンバーガー」 (“Curry Chicken Burger“).

MOS Burger's "Hot Chicken Burger" & "Chili Chicken Burger"

◆ Wendy’s Japan is also offering two chicken sandwiches this summer. One is 「和風」 (“Japanese style”) and the other is 「洋風」 (“Western style”). Their campaign poster says: 「ふたつの夏チキン、PLEASE!」 (“Two (types of) summer chicken, please!).
The “Japanese” sandwich is 「おろしチキンサンド」 (“Grated Radish Chicken Sandwich“) and the “Western” one is 「サルサチキンサンド」 (“Salsa Chicken Sandwich“).

"Japanese" or "Western" style chicken sandwiches. Which would you choose?

◆ Burger King has introduced the Angry Whopper to Japan in time for the summer. I heard that Burger King in the U.S. already had this burger…but the Japanese one is a bit different—customized to Japanese tastes. For example, the U.S. version has bacon and the Japanese version doesn’t…and U.S. one and the Japanese one have different sauces from each other.

This burger has ハラペーニョ (jalapeno peppers) and you can choose how many jalapeno peppers you want on the burger…from level one which has four peppers up to level five with twenty peppers!

Burger King Japan's "Angry Whopper"

Burger King America's "Angry Whopper"

Smallest Gundam

In Tokyo right now, until the end of August, is the biggest Gundam robot ever made.
I wrote a post about it (Click here to see it).

Well, from 2009年8月31日(月) ～ 2009年11月30日(月) (Monday, August 31 – Monday, November 30 (2009)), 日清カップ・ヌードル (Nissin Cup Noodles) will give away the smallest Gundam figures ever made.

Just like the giant 18 meter tall Gundam robot in お台場 (Odaiba, Tokyo), these figures that come in the top of the noodle package are in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Gundam‘s debut.

The Gundam figures

Only 1000 of this red and white figure will be made (making this one the most valuable):

Only 1000 of this figure will be available

日食

As I mentioned in an earlier post (click here to read it), there was a 日食 (solar eclipse) visible from Japan today.

Unfortunately, it was an overcast day (with light rain in the morning), so the eclipse wasn’t easily visible. I wasn’t able to see it at all. But I saw on the TV news this evening that many people with “eclipse glasses” waited for the clouds to part…which they did a little bit before the eclipse ended, so they were able to get a view of the eclipsed sun.

日食 (solar eclipse) over Tokyo

Today’s 日食 (solar eclipse) was a 100% eclipse visible from southern Japan. From Tokyo, it was about 70%.

The TV news said that the next time that a partial eclipse will be visible from Japan won’t occur for another 26 years. And the next time that a full eclipse will be seen in Japan won’t be for about 300 years!
So today’s eclipse was something special!

The Original Moon Walk

Today is the 40th anniversary of the first and only* manned landing on the moon. *(I’ve been corrected).

On Sunday, 1969 July 20, the world watched on live television as the Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong exited the craft and walked on the surface of the moon and planted the American flag and said his famous line:

That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong (RIP August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012)

I was born in 1969, a few months after this occurred…so I have no experience seeing it.
How about you? Did you see man land on the moon in July 1969?

***

I didn’t see the Apollo 11 land on the moon…but I grew up in Florida and I remember the first reusable Space Shuttle. It was the “Space Shuttle Columbia” and it flew it’s first mission in 1981.

Since I grew up in Florida, which is where NASA launches the Space Shuttles from, my high school used to have all of the students and teachers go outside whenever a Space Shuttle was scheduled to be launched because we could watch it in the sky from the schoolyard.

Since we were teenagers, most of us were bored of watching every single Space Shuttle launch. So on Tuesday, 1986 January 28, I remember being outside to watch another launch…this time of the Space Shuttle Challenger (which had the first female astronaut and Japanese-American astronaut on board).

It was just another launch to us teenagers…until it exploded in midair!

We all ran inside and turned on the television news.
All seven of the crew perished in that tragedy.

RIP.

(Also, the entire crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia (the original Space Shuttle) died when the craft disintegrated on re-entry in 2003).

The Sea and The Sun

今日は「海の日」 (Today is “Sea Day“).

It’s the Japanese holiday in July to appreciate the ocean and sea life…many people go to the beach on this day.
(You can read my short FAQ about this holiday on my website by clicking here).

We’re not going to the beach today.
My wife and second daughter are at the shopping mall now, but I’m at home waiting for our youngest daughter to come home from basketball practice at her junior high school (she’s on the girls’ basketball team) and my oldest to come home from her part-time job.

My youngest daughter will be home about 2:00 and my oldest will be home around 3:00…at which time we’ll go to the mall to meet my wife and other kid.

++++++++++++++++

On 水曜日 (Wednesday), 2009 June 22, the longest total 日食 (solar eclipse) of the 二十一世紀 (21st century) will be viewable in Japan (and other parts of Asia).

In southern Japan, at just before 11:00 AM, a full eclipse will be visible.
Other parts of Japan will be able to see a partial eclipse.

Over Tokyo at about 11:10 AM on Wednesday, a 70% eclipse will occur.

Here’s a map of Japan showing the approximate percentage of 日食 (solar eclipse) will be visible from around 10:45 – 11:15 AM on June 22 (I got this map from Japan Guide):

(click to enlarge)

If you will be in the area to see this 日食 (solar eclipse), don’t forget that looking at a solar eclipse without the proper equipment can damage your eyes permanently (and taking a photo of it without the proper equipment can damage a camera).

うな丼

今日は「土用の丑の日」 (Today is “The Day of The Ox“)…which is the day in summer that people eat ウナギ (freshwater eel). Usually the eel is prepared as 「うな丼」 (Eel on Rice).

The うな丼 that I ate today.

Eating ウナギ (freshwater eel) in the summertime is said to give you stamina to stand the hot, humid days.

I wrote a post about 「土用の丑の日」 (“The Day of The Ox“) last year. Click here to read it.

We are eating 「うな丼」 (Eel on Rice) for dinner today.

It’s quite delicious!

Have you ever tried eel? ウナギ (Freshwater eel) is different from アナゴ (Saltwater eels).

ウナギ (Freshwater eel) is richer tasting and, in Japan, is usually prepared with a sweet sauce and eaten on rice. アナゴ (Saltwater eel) is the eel that is used on 寿司 (sushi), in Japan.

Both are good…but I think ウナギ (freshwater eel) is better.