The Ring milkshake

In Japan, haunted houses and horror movies are popular in the summer.

Cool drinks, such as shaved ice and milkshakes, are also popular in summer in Japan.

So, starting next weekend, the Japanese fastfood chain, Lotteria, will sell a special ラムネ (Ramune) / chocolate milkshake that is supposedly inspired by the Japanese horror movie “The Ring”.

タワーチーズバーガー

I wrote a post last October about Burger King Japan’s Whopper 7, which was a giant burger that Burger King in Japan offered for a limited time that had seven patties.

(Click here to read that post).

Well, now they’ve been outdone by the hamburger chain ロッテリア (Lotteria Japan).

At Lotteria you can buy the 「タワーチーズバーガー」 (“Tower Cheeseburger“).

If you order this burger, you pay the basic price of a cheeseburger (¥160) and then an additional ¥100 per patty that you want added.
Up to a total of ten patties can be on your “Tower Cheeseburger“.

Lotteria's ten patty "Tower Cheeseburger"

But if you order the full ten patties, they’ll give it to you at a reduced price of ¥990 (rather than the full ¥1,060).

I didn’t try Burger King’s “Whopper 7” so I definitely won’t be buying a ten patty one either!
But a double cheeseburger costs ¥260 and a triple cheeseburger costs ¥360…

The double burger would be alright...but even a triple is too much, I think.

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"

Recent news

A few things:

• The world’s oldest man, Henry Allington from England, died today at the age of 113 years and 42 days.
  He had been the world’s oldest man for only 29 days before he died. Before Mr. Allington, the world’s oldest man had been Japanese Tomoji Tanabe (died at age 113 years 274 days). I wrote a post about Tomoji Tanabe when he died…click here to read it.  Now the world’s oldest man is Walter Breuning from America. He’ll turn 113 years old on (2009) September 21. (The world’s oldest person is Gertrude Baines, also from America. She’s 115 years old.)

• As with most kids all over Japan, my daughters began their school’s 夏休み (summer vacation) today. They will return to school on August 25…so they’re off from school for about five weeks.In Japan, the new school year begins in April, not after summer holidays…so they’ll return to the same class.
  Also, in Japan, kids get alot of 宿題 (homework) to do over the summer.

• My oldest daughter also started her first day of work at her first part-time job today. She began working at Domino’s Pizza.

• To attract families with kids to travel by 新幹線 (bullet train) to go somewhere during their 夏休み (summer vacation)…新幹線 (bullet trains) in Japan have been painted with pictures of characters from the 「ポケモン」 (“Pokemon“) cartoon.

  

  

• The fast-food chain, Lotteria, in Japan has started a “money-back guarantee” for it gourmet 「絶妙ハンバーガー (“Zetsumyou (Exquisite) Hamburger“).  If you buy one and don’t like and return more than half of the burger, they will give you a new one (in case the first one simply wasn’t prepared properly)…if you’re still not satisfied (and return more than half of the second one), your money will be refunded.

TSUTAYA

Do you live in Japan? Do you have a Tsutaya membership card?
Tsutaya is the biggest video-rental (I guess I should call it DVD rental now) chain in Japan.
It’s kinda like Blockbuster Video in America. (Is Blockbuster still in America? Is it still popular?)

I’ve had a membership card with Tsutaya for years now…ever since the one near my house opened.

I don’t remember what they have at Blockbuster Video in America (I don’t recall anything except videos)…but Tsutaya in Japan has rental DVDs (used to be VHS), and rental CDs (in Japan, you can rent a CD after it’s been on sale for one year (it used to be rental LPs and cassettes!)), and many branches of Tsutaya also sell CDs, DVDs, magazines, books, video games, etc.

Also in Japan, many credit cards also double as point cards / membership cards for a store. Do credit cards in your country work like that?
I have a Visa, Master Card, and a JCB credit card. They’re all point cards at different stores, too. Meaning, if I either shop at that store or use the credit card, I get points on the store’s membership card!

My JCB credit card is also my Tsutaya membership card. So, anytime that I buy or rent a CD or DVD from Tsutaya or I use the credit card…I get points on the Tsutaya card.

If I get 190 points, I can rent a DVD or CD for free. Recently, I rented the new “Indiana Jones” movie for free (I’m glad it was free! That movie’s a disappointment! 😦 ).

Did you know, though, that Family Mart convenience stores, Lotteria Fast Food restaurants, and a few other stores have recently started giving Tsutaya points to their customers who show their Tsutaya card when they purchase something?

If you live in Japan and have a Tsutaya card, don’t forget to show it when you shop at places that have Tsutaya‘s “T” logo displayed!

(Looks like mine, but this image is from Tsutaya’s website)

草鹿式

As I mentioned in an earlier post (here), we just finished a three-day weekend because yesterday was a holiday. (It was 体育の日 (Sports Day)…(see my short FAQ about it here)).

We went to two festivals. One was on Sunday (at this post) and the other one was yesterday.

The event that we went to yesterday wasn’t really a festival but more of a ceremony.
It was the 草鹿式 (Archery Ceremony) at 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine).

The literal translation of 草鹿式 would be “Grass deer ceremony“. This is because the archers, wearing traditional outfits and speaking in traditional 日本語 (Japanese), shoot arrows at a stuffed deer. Not a real deer…a fake one.
The arrows don’t have arrowheads so that they can use the target deer every year.

Like 相撲 (Sumo), this event has alot of ritual and tradition that is done before each shooting.

It was fun to watch…not as exciting as 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery), but still fun. (Click here and here to read my posts about 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery)).

Here are a few photos I took:

Here are some videos:

Because 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine) is where all who have died fighting for Japan are enshrined, it attracts Japan’s right-wing extremists.

But they are a minority. Most visitors to 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine) are just like visitors to war memorials in other countries…only there to honor the sacrifice and the memories of soldiers who died in battle. (See an earlier post I wrote about 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine) here).

After we left there, we went to the nearby 昭和館 (Showa-kan).

The 昭和時代 (Showa Period) in Japan was when the current Emperor’s father was alive and was Emperor. The 昭和館 (Showa-kan) is a museum that focuses on how life in Japan was during and just after World War 2.

I couldn’t take any pictures inside but it was very interesting. Japan has changed alot since then and there were many hardships back then. But some things, like the food that Japanese people eat, is still quite the same.

The museum’s website is here (日本語 (Japanese) only).

Over the years I have seen many American celebrites do television commercials in Japan. (Kinda like in that overrated movie “Lost In Translation“. (I thought that was a painfully boring movie…but some people, it seems, liked it alot. C’est La Vie. Did you like it?)).

Tommy Lee Jones has been making humorous commercials for Boss Coffee for awhile now.

Most of the American celebrities just say a few lines in English or they may say a couple words of Japanese…but they usually slaughter the language if they do. Tommy Lee Jones speaks Japanese pretty good in his commercials though.

From there, we walked past the 日本武道館 (Nippon Budokan Arena). Along the walk, I took these pictures:

On the way home, we stopped for a break at the Lotteria Fast Food Restaurant. We ate dinner at home, but just took a “coffee break”. They sell Japanese style snacks…Green Tea Shake, and An-bean and mochi pastries. So we had one each.