Random Picture #83

This past Monday was a national holiday in Japan, "Sports Day." To celebrate, the overwhelming majority of adults go shopping or sit at home and watch T.V. Kids sometimes take part in school sports activities. The holiday was created after Tokyo got the 1964 Olympics. It's too bad that Tokyo didn't get another one or we may have seen another national holiday hit the calendar. Of course, since all of the holidays were moved to Mondays (or Fridays, but usually Mondays), and my usual days off are Monday and Tuesday, it doesn't tend to do me any good when there's a national holiday.

My husband and I spent the day walking around Shibuya fighting crowds and taking pictures. This was a sign that we saw outside of a restaurant. The joke tells itself, but I feel it is encouraged by the fact that these are red balls that look like they might explode in your stomach.

Lotte Black Ghana

Ages ago, I did a comparison of all of the basic chocolate bars in Japan. The three basic bars from the big confectioner's are Lotte's Ghana, Meiji, and Morinaga. I rated Ghana the highest, though for basic chocolate, I think "Vessel in the Fog" and Dars are the best. Vessel in the Fog, incidentally, has reappeared in shops with the end of summer. It is often hard to get, but worth picking up if you see it. Given my favoring of Ghana's basic chocolate bar, this looked intriguing.

The types of snacks (especially gum) that are sold in this type of packaging are generally more expensive than those sold in paper and foil wrappers or cardboard boxes. I'm not sure if that's because they are supposed to be better value, or if you're paying for the plastic. Either way, they generally do not represent better value than buying such things in other packaging even when you consider the increased volume. For this reason, I tend to avoid these, but I found these on sale at Okashi no Machioka snack shop for a mere 129 yen ($1.67) and decided to give it a go.

Black Ghana is a small (82 gram/2.9 oz.) canister of 38 cube-shaped pellets. The whole lot is 482 calories so one piece is 13 calories. This is reasonable for the portion size. The advertising boasts "extra cacao", so this is supposed to be richer than regular Ghana. That's the selling point that lured me in. What it is is a semi-dark chocolate with a high fat content. It's a little more intense than a milk chocolate, but not as bitter as a true dark chocolate.

I'm not a dark chocolate fan, but this blend was pretty much right where I would enjoy darker chocolate. It comes up just short of being too bitter and could be seen as a version which is approachable for milk chocolate fans. It's still stronger and more intense than regular Ghana, and it still has a familiar Japanese chocolate aftertaste (kind of like how your mouth feels after drinking coffee), but I liked these and I'd buy them again.

Bakauke Cream Cheese Sembei

I didn't realize this, but both of the snacks that I'm reviewing this week are white. I guess that is a reflection of the seasonal change, or perhaps I'm just turning into some freaky snack racist. It's a good thing that my next review isn't the "White Boyfriend Cat's Tongue" cookies or I'd start to feel acutely uncomfortable with my choices.

I haven't reviewed sembei (rice crackers) for awhile because there haven't been much in the way of new flavor combinations. I've actually tried quite a few new things including new kinako and wasabi crackers, but the truth is that I don't know that my readers are served well by hearing about every iteration of these types of flavors. Yes, each is a little different, but not markedly so. This is the first time I've seen cream cheese flavor sembei, so I figured it was a good time to spotlight a long neglected category of Japanese snacks.

I found these at Okashi no Machioka snack shop for about 160 yen ($2.07). The package, which has illustrations of red leaves on it to let you know this is an autumn release, says that this is a product of Niigata. Based on the Wikipedia entry about Niigata, I don't see how cream cheese relates to that area, but rice is their principle agricultural product. I'm guessing it's the cracker that is from that area, not the cream cheese.

The crackers smell a bit cheesy which shouldn't be surprising, but somehow it is. As I've said before, I've lived in Japan long enough to have no confidence in naming. If it says "cream cheese", I know that there is a broad range of tastes outside of cheese that could be on hand. These do, however, have a nice cream cheese flavor. What is better though is that they taste like a cream-cheese based dip which is flavored with other savory elements like vinegar, onion powder, and meat flavoring. It's like the dip is conveniently included in the cracker.

I really enjoyed these, and I am also pleased with the number of calories since each packet of two  crackers is only 35.5 calories. Since the crackers are fairly big, one or two packets is a pretty satisfying serving. My guess is that these will only be around for about 4 months. The Bakauke brand seems to be slowing down a bit in Japan as I see more releases from Befco (the company that makes this line) which are fairly generic-looking crackers rather than the distinctive banana-shaped Bakauke style. I'm not sure why this is, or how it relates to the seasonal nature of this flavor, but there it is. At any rate, I'd say give these a shot if you're a fan of savory flavors and cream cheese. They're very tasty.

Random Picture #82

I've written before about portion sizes in Japan, and how they often package things to make it easier for people to eat less. This does not hold true in all cases. In fact, one of the few food areas in which large sizes is not uncommon is baked goods which are sold in convenience stores or markets. Those packaged bread-based products are often huge. One of these enormous specimens was available at the awesome discount shop Tsurukame and I paused and had my husband get a picture of it using my arm as a point of comparison. This is about 16.5 in./42 cm. of refined carbohydrates mixed with sugar and damaged fats. If you were to gobble it all down at once, you'd be ingesting 1233 calories. Of course, I'm under no illusion that this is meant to be eaten by one person. Chances are, it's a family pack type of thing and this is meant to be divided into as many as 10 servings. Either way, this is one monster "cream bread" pastry for the bargain price of $2.

Shironbo

A lot of people have fond recollections of their mother's home cooking and will reminisce about this or that food which no one made like mom. My mother, who grew up in a generation and location among people who felt that chicken which had any moisture in it whatsoever was a dangerous vehicle for salmonella, is a terrible cook. Every steak was suitable to sole a shoe. Every vegetable cooked to a state of mush, unless it came from a can in which case it was marginally heated and plopped in a wet, soggy blob on the plate.

There is, however, one thing which she made in a manner which I enjoyed and remember with fondness and that was her sugar cookies. Unlike most of the sugar cookies other people make, they are not crispy, super buttery or sweet. They were soft, doughy, lightly sweet, and had a unique texture which was a happy menage a trois of cookie, pie, and cake. They were excellent plain, though she also used them as part of a filled cookie. My favorite was dreadful canned blueberry pie filling, which added some sweetness, but mainly left a mild, moist blue indentation in the middle after I pulled the cookie apart and ate the filling as if I were dealing with an Oreo.

The distinctive aspect of my mother's sugar cookies, besides the texture, was the way in which white flour seemed to meld with the other ingredients to form a wonderful baked good flavor that one wouldn't expect from something so simple. Usually, the flour, fat and sugar are a base for other flavors, not the main attraction, but it worked in her cookies. And, it works in these cookies.

This style of cookie, called a "bo" or "stick" in Japan, is extremely common as a "kurobo" (black stick) version. In fact, you can find the brown sugar version in nearly every store in Japan. My husband really likes them, and they're supposed to be healthy because of the alkaline content. My guess is that these lack the nutritional boost, but I really don't eat cookies as part of a well-balanced diet. I'm really not that delusional.

The outside of the cookies is covered in an very thin, lightly crispy glaze of white sugar. The cookies themselves are dry, but soft, with a nice biscuity texture. The ingredients list is very short and includes flour, eggs and sugar as the main components. They're a very simple cookie made in a way that simply "works", just like my mother's simple sugar cookies.

I found these cookies at Takehachi, a shop which specializes in various Japanese delicacies with an emphasis on seafood. They also sell some dishes. They have a main store, but most of their outlets are in department stores. The main drawback to these cookies is that they are on the slightly expensive side at 315 yen ($4.09) for 10 cookies. The second drawback is the limited availability. Still, I'd certainly buy these again. If you see them, I'd recommend buying them while you have the chance.