Toilet Bike

Japan's (and world's) best-known toilet maker, TOTO, has just unveiled a Toilet Bike or you can translate this into 'poop-powered motorcycle'. No joke! it's as serious as their famous 'hi-tech toilet' you would find in every house in Japan. Let's make it clear, despite the look it doesn't run on human waste, nor does the real toilet used in the bike work, instead it is fueled with animal waste to travel up to 300 kilometers.

(photos courtesy of AFP)

Claimed as the world's first waste-powered vehicle, the tricycle has a toilet in place of a regular seat and huge toilet paper at the back.

Only in Japan..

(source: Tokyo Times)

Marimo in a can

It's been more than two years since I posted about Marimo and bought two canned Marimo in Hokkaido, yet I haven't got time to open and 'plant' it. It's not really like planting a tree but Marimo is a plant, it's a green algae. I just opened my Marimo and placed it in a small plastic jar and let see if it grows then I'll need a bigger aquarium.

The label says 'for sale in Japan only', but if you'd like to have one I found it on rakuten, so you can order it online I guess.

Ontama

One of my eating habits on the weekend is having brunch in the city. I am too lazy to wake up early and make my breakfast on weekend and my tummy wouldn't compromise till lunch time so having brunch around 11 AM is just perfect for me. One of my favorite places in the city for light meal is Mappen and last time I ended up slurping Ontama Soba, hot soba with Ontama (onsen tamago).

(Menya Mappen)

Talking about Ontama, a half-cooked egg originally cooked by dipping it into an onsen spring that's why it's called 'onsen tamago'. When you slurp an onsen tamago, the milky white egg and slightly set yolk would smoothly slide down your tongue and throat with a warm feel and you'd say 'oishii..!'. You can find the easy way to cook onsen tamago on the web, such us cooking it with rice cooker.

Talking about eating raw eggs, it was 6 years ago when I visited Japan for the first time, staying at my friend's house in Seki when his family prepared a dinner for us, it was the first time I ate raw egg, the Japanese way.

Get a hot bowl of rice, pour the egg over the steamy rice and dash it with a bit of soy sauce then mixed them all with a soup or Sukiyaki!

In Japan, eggs are specially checked to make sure that they are safe to eat raw. A high-tech machine taking care of the whole process automatically: cleaning the eggs, checking them for quality, sorting them for size and finally packaging them and sealing the carton. The latest machine can process 120,000 eggs in an hour! Take a look at the machine in action on Web Japan 

Maid Train

Maid Train = Train with maid cafe, if you are an otaku, you gotta love this interesting news from Japan Today

The Seibu Railway Group has announced plans to introduce a new Maid Cafe-style train service between Ikebukuro and Chihibu Station.

Akihabara's maid cafe culture is closely aligned with Japan's 'otaku' subculture that is rapidly going mainstream. As several animation houses already exist along that stretch of the railway line that runs from Tokyo to Saitama, Seibu Railway officials said they are hoping to promote Japanese pop culture in the area between those stations by solidifying its reputation as an anime production zone.

The emphasis of the new service will be to allow passengers to ride in 'New Red Arrow' trains alongside staff selected from Akihabara's maid cafes. Maid cafe games and competitions will be held and train announcements will be made by the maids. There are also plans to have small photography studio alongside shops around Seibu Chichibu station at which customers can pay to have their photographs taken with a maid.

The fare for a trip will be 3,500 yen for adults and 3,000 yen for children. Each trip will accommodate 360 passengers.

(Picture courtesy of Maid Train, train with maid cafe)

Would love to hop on the train.. can't wait to visit Tokyo again..

Only in Japan..

Maru

Today I went to Kinokuniya and found a book about Maru, the most watched cat on internet. I couldn't stop laughing watching this innocent-looking cat on YouTube.

If you love cat you gotta love this Maru blog.

Here is another link about Maru.

Deep fried Mars bar

Love chocolate..?

Well.. I do, and if you also are a fan of this addictive sweets, then you may want to try this unique deep fried Mars bar.

(Deep fried Mars bar from Sydney's Bondi Surf Seafood)

The bar is dipped into coconut butter, pre-cooked in a low-temperature oil then deep fried, served with sprinkled powdered sugar and priced at $2 each.

It is said to have been invented in the Haven Chip Bar in Stonehaven, near Aberdeen on Scotland's northeast coast, in 1995. The chocolate bar is typically chilled before battering to prevent it from melting into the frying fat.

In Sydney, you can find this at Bondi Surf Seafood on Bondi Beach's beach-front road.

735-yen iPad?

Only in Japan..

A unique product from Gifu, here is the news from Mainichi:

A company run by students here is enjoying brisk sales of its "Padnote" -- a notebook which looks just like Apple Inc.'s iPad tablet. The unique product has been developed and released by Gocco. -- a start-up business established by students at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS) in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture.

"When we develop new software, we often start by drawing a design image on a piece of paper. We thought, 'A notebook in the same size as iPad would be convenient,' and developed the product," says Ryosuke Kimura, 31, company president and a second-year graduate student at IAMAS.

The notebook with gridlines is designed to facilitate drawing. In collaboration with a printing firm near the college, they have managed to imitate the exterior appearance of the iPad, including its texture and control buttons. The product went on sale online in May, and gained unexpected popularity for its unique design and cheap price of only 735 yen apiece.

The notebook has been available at Tokyu Hands department stores nationwide since June, and the company had sold a total of some 2,000 notebooks online and over-the-counter by the end of July.

"We copied the detailed design (of the iPad), and the notebook is apparently attracting people apart from software developers due to its uniqueness. I would like to exchange various ideas with my colleagues and offer them to the public," Kimura says. The company is also planning to release a memo pad designed after the iPhone sometime in the future.

The Padnote costs 735 yen a piece. Inquiries about the product can be made by e-mail at info@coccojapan.com.

And here is my new toy..

Actually it's my very first Apple's product! I never owned iPod nor iPhone, I am just not a fan of Apple's but this time somehow I ended up buying this iPad.

Guilty-free Japanese food

I read this interesting article on Sydney Morning Herald couple days ago,

Sydney chef Yukako Ichikawa cooked up a radical solution to food waste after a favorable newspaper review brought too many of the wrong kinds of diners to her restaurant door. Six weeks ago, at Wafu, her 30-seat restaurant in Surry Hills, she began offering a 30 per cent discount to patrons who ate all the food they had ordered.

She and her staffs tell dinners that if they do not leave clean plates, they will not be welcome back. "Finishing your meal requires that everything is eaten except lemon slices, gari (sushi ginger) and wasabi." says the menu which is tagged "guilty-free Japanese food". "Please also note that vegetables and salad on the side are not decorations; they are part of the meal too," it says.

Launching a campaign this week, the NSW Environment Minister, Frank Sartor, deplored the 800,000 tonnes of food waste generated annually in the state's households, on top of 300,000 tonnes dumped by businesses

Those buying her takeaway food, which is organic and free of gluten, dairy, sugar and eggs, must bring their own containers.

Her toughness has inspired some bad reviews, but some of her regular customer simply say " She is laying out her philosophy and methodology."

I've never been to this Japanese eatery but surely I'd love to try their 'guilty-free' Japanese food, and I'll keep in mind not to order too much otherwise..

Eating is fun!

My love for Japanese food is not merely for their great taste, freshness and healthiness but also for their creativity in decorating and presenting the food which makes eating is more fun. I am always fascinated with any Japanese food, not only sushi and sashimi or bento box, but also the light meal such as Japanese-style sandwich or burger. One day we found a book about decorating bread meal including burger or sandwich style on the shelf in Kinokuniya, actually they call it 'mook', between magazine and book. This 'mook' is in Japanese with no english at all but it's very easy to understand and follow the steps in creating delightful light meals made from bread, sausage, ham etc. One thing is I don't know the title nor the author but I found this mook sold on rakuten for 980 yen and it's called 'Heart for sand painting and set pretty big pan', not sure whether it's a proper translation since I only use google translate :) After browsing around, found two cool foodie blogs that may belong to the authors, Momoka and Ichigo.

Here is the mook:

One of the funny birthday breads on the book

And here is one of our creations , well I should say my wife's creation, she did the best for this :)

I call it 'tanning crab', copied from the book

Timbertown

I had been busy with a few stressful things needs to be sorted out yet I managed to escape to a small nice town of Port Macquarie in the mid north coast region of NSW last weekend. Nothing much to do apart beaches, tomato and strawberry farm, wineries, and Timbertown. What's that Timbertown? Well it's sort of large theme park, actually it's an entire village of an authentic heritage township located in Wauchope, about 20 minutes drive from Port Macquarie downtown. It's a unique village where you can experience life in the 1880's where the bullocks team still hauls its heavy load and steam powered sawing machine still working. You'll need $5 only for the admission fee, enjoy free wine tasting in the cellar and if you'd like to bring home a bottle or two it costs around $10-$15 per bottle.

The entrance to Timbertown

The steam train

Three-holer Dunny

The bullocks transporting heavy timbers

A bottle of local wine I brought home

Besides Timbertown, there is a Ricardoes tomatoes and strawberries farm located about 10 minutes drive from Port Macquarie downtown. Unfortunately we were not allowed to go inside the tomato farm but we still can go into the strawberry farm and pick the strawberry we'd like to buy.

Edelweiss Chocolate

It's not a Japan or Japanese food-related post, just about an irresistible liquor-filling chocolate I found recently. I was browsing around Melbourne airport to kill the time before boarding my flight back to Sydney and came across this 'World of Chocolate' shop around international departure terminal. I love chocolate! So can't help buying one for myself, the Edelweiss liquor filling chocolate is the most interesting one for me. It's a smooth milky chocolate with crunchy filling and smooth liquor, an Edelweiss liquor. This product of Swiss costs $17 for a small pack of 12 pieces.

Edelweiss liquor chocolate

If you are not familiar with Edelweiss, you can find it in Wikipedia

Hokkaido Corn

This morning I went to Padys market and found interesting juicy looking corns, what so special about this corn? While the normal corn sold as 'sweet corn', but this un-normal corn labelled as 'super sweet corn', the corn looks a bit different with a few white kernels among the yellow ones, that's way in some country they call it 'pearl corn' as the white kernel looks like a pearl.

Pearl corns

The above corns I found this morning reminds me of corns I tried in Otaru last year-end.

Hokkaido corn, that's what it's called in Japan since it's a special and premium produce from Hokkaido. The Hokkaido corn is famous for its sweetness and even local people say that we can eat the corn raw and tastes so sweet. Steamed or roasted? Try the slightly roasted corn smothered with butter and soy sauce, a really tasty combination, heard that's the favorite way to eat the corns in Hokkaido. I proved myself that this favorite food in Hokkaido has an outstanding sweetness

Hokkaido corns sold on the streets of Otaru

Ready to eat Hokkaido corns in Otaru

Marimo

What is Marimo?

Here is the definition I found on wikipedia: Marimo literally means seaweed cone, also known as Cladophora ball or Moss Balls is a species of filamentous green algae found in a number of lakes in the northern hemisphere. A marimo is a rare growth from of the species where the algae grow into large green balls with a velvety appearance.

The plant was named "marimo" by a Japanese botanist Tatsuhiko Kawakami in 1898. Mari is a bouncy play ball and Mo is a generic term for plants that grow in water. The native name in Ainu are torasanpe (lake ghost) and tokarippu (thing that rolls in mud), they are sometimes sold under the name 'Japanese moss balls'.

Marimo colonies in Lake Akan, Hokkaido rank among the strangest plant communities on Earth. The growth rate of Marimo is about 5 mm per year, in lake Akan they grow particularly large, up to 30 cm.

Marimo souvenirs from Hokkaido

Marimo, the most unique souvenirs I got from Hokkaido. I bought two marimo, one is the key ring with fake marimo and the second one is real marimo in a can, I need to 'plant' this marimo in a jar with water, I even bought the 'food' for marimo but unfortunately I haven't got time to 'plant' this Marimo and I left them in my hometown.

There is a Marimo Matsuri in Hokkaido, this unique festival featuring Marimo has developed into a major event of Hokkaido and is even referred to in the following way, " The Sapporo Snow Festival is the champion of festivals in Western Hokkaido and the Marimo Festival is the champion of festivals in Eastern Hokkaido." Both festivals were held for the first time in 1950.

Lake Akanko and marimo are closely associated with the indigenous Ainu people, who lived mainly in Hokkaido, as is this festival. (source: JNTO)

Japadog

Like Hotdog? Love the juicy Kobe beef? Check this interesting news from Mainichi:

(Photo courtesy of Reuters via Mainichi)

A Japadog hot dog, using Kobe beef sausage and name after Japan's figure skater Mao Asada, is held by a customer before the Vancouver 20120 Winter Olympics in Vancouver on Thursday, Feb 11. The pair of Japadog stands are proving popular with Japanese tourists and press attending the Olympics. The hot dog is seen garnished with yuba, dried tofu skin, cut in the shape of maple leaves.

Sushi Dolls

Here are another creations from our kitchen: Sushi dolls!

Inspired by lovely miniature Sushi dolls on Hana Sushi book, we tried to make our own Emperor and Empress Sushi dolls using sushi rice for the bodies, quail eggs for the heads, wrapped in elegant kimonos made of ham and omelet for the empress. We used mustard green for the Emperor but actually I'd recommend using lettuce since it's more edible, we just couldn't find any lettuce in the kitchen so we grabbed mustard green instead. Some pieces of carrot and mushroom for the accessories, a bit of red chili and using black sesame seed for the eyes.

I give the credits for my wife for her patience creating these Emperor and Empress Sushi Dolls.

Hana Sushi book, a wonderful Sushi book full of colorful and fun creations of Sushi by chefs Akiko Namiki and Eriko Teranishi.

Brain-powered Robo

This short video is an extraordinary one from Mainchi News, shows how Taku Ichikawa, a student of University of Electro-Communication, control a bipedal combat robot by sending commands through a set of electrodes applied to his forehead that measure his neural activity, making it possible to control the 50-centimeter tall and 2 kilograms robot just by thinking. The robot will compete in the Robo-One robot fighting tournament which will open on Saturday, September 26 at Toyama Techno Hall, Toyama Prefecture.

The Sook Cut

This post is not about amazing gadget from Japan, no.. but indeed it's a really cool gadget for foodies who addicted to facebook or other social networking sites, you can stay connected while cooking at your kitchen, checking out the recipe list, snapshot your creation and share the picture on your facebook all at once.

The Sook Cut is a three-part concept designed by Adam Brodowski, a design student at Savanah College of Art and Design in USA, that makes delicious meals out of ingredients you may not know how to combine.

The cutting board (Sook Cut) contains a moisture sensor, scale, and electronic tongue to determine what food is being prepared, then sends the information to Sook Touch to generate a delicious recipe.

The Sook Touch is a touch sensitive display that lists recipes, detailed nutritional information, and stores a library of ingredients. You can touch and drag the to build custom recipe, save and upload the to the web.

The final piece is Sook Dock, not only does it charge the Sook Cut abd Touch appliances, it also work as an RFID scanner to identify what foods are nearby and then adds them to the Sook Touch database. When you finished cooking, Sook Touch takes snapshots of your creation and syncs them to your food blog!

(Source: Yanko Design)

Sook Cut

Sook Touch

Sook Dock

(All pictures from Yunko Design)

Coffee Story

Coffee and cigarette are two inseparable things, especially for men, and I just found this interesting 'Coffee Story' by Ryohei Yoshiyuki.

An ashtray made out of used coffee grinds, what an amazing idea and invention from Ryohei. The coffee's fragrance will neutralize the strong odor from the cigarette.

Ashtray made out of used coffee grinds

(Pictures courtesy of Ryohei Yoshiyuki)

Church of Color

I got this beautiful picture from Mainichi News

(Picture courtesy of Mainichi News)

Colorful LED lights iluminate St. Mary's Cathedral in Tokyo's Bunko Ward. Colorful lights and a piped organ created a fantastic atmosphere and the futuristic cathedral, which is known as a masterpiece of late architect of Kenzo Tange.

Real fruit juice anyone?

Only in Japan..

Naoto Fukasawa is one of the best-known Japanese product designers who enjoy drawing and making weird object since early age and established Naoto Fukasawa Design in 2003. His designs have won a number of design awards in Europe and America, here are some of his amazingly creative design: Real fruit juice packages!

(Pictures courtesy of toxel.com)

'I imagined that if the surface of the package imitated the colour and texture of the fruit skin, then the object would reproduce the feeling of the real skin', he said.