On a previous trip to Japan, I visited a shop called Curry Land, which is dedicated to selling pre-packaged instant curry from all over the country. The plan is to eat and review every single one, and this time it’s WHALING SHIP CURRY.
What that means is the curry is the kind served on a particular whaling ship. It contains no actual whale meat.
However, what it does have as its first ingredient is actually thresher shark meat. I looked that up, and apparently it’s sustainable and not one of the ones that are over-fished. The meat had a chewy texture that’s different from something like tuna, and felt somewhere in the vein of fried dace or salmon jerky.
As soon as it touched my tongue, I could feel the hit of saltiness and spice. I would call it barely spicy at best, with maybe a slight lingering of peppery heat at the very end. Overall, it was nice and savory and didn’t have the overwhelming artificial taste of some instant curry.
Overall, the only really unusual thing about it is maybe the thresher shark, which gave a pretty decent curry a different texture than what I’m used to. I would probably eat it again, but would prioritize trying different curry styles.
This is my very first review of the instant curry I bought from Curry Land! Up is Pink Curry, from Tottori. I mostly bought it because of the Rose of Versailles–style art.
It sure was pink! It reminded me of the blue Sonic the Hedgehog Curry, if it was themed after Amy Rose instead. The taste was all right but much saltier than I expected. The Ingredients include chicken meat, chicken bouillon, and chicken extract: triple chicken power.
Pretty unremarkable aside from the hue, but I felt like I knew that going in. It’s a fun gimmick, but I’m not sure I’d have it again over something more interesting.
As part of a trip to Japan earlier this year, I ended up eating a lot of curry, both Japanese-style and otherwise. Some were places I had scouted out, but others I just happened to find by happenstance. One such instance happened on an evening walk back to my hotel, where I got lost. While trying to find my bearings, I ended up in front of the original Hinoya Curry. A sign proudly boasted that it previously won an award for best curry in the Kanda area of Tokyo. Given that the area has some pretty stiff competition, I changed my dinner plans and went in there instead.
The decor was unpretentious and inviting. There were seats at a counter where the chef prepared curry, as well as a counter facing a wall, and a few tables for groups. The menu was full of items that sounded interesting (like the raw egg curry and the beef tendon curry), but I decided to go with what seemed to be a signature item of theirs: menchi katsu curry, or minced-meat cutlet curry.
The sauce was rich in flavor, spiced well but not extremely spicy. It sat on the rice well, and was neither super thin nor super thick. I bet if I had just gotten a plain curry, I would’ve been pretty satisfied, but then the menchi katsu elevated it to something superb.
The cutlet was enormous. While sometimes portion sizes in Japan can feel a little small even when ordering large sizes, that was not the case here. It was a middle ground between a pork or chicken katsu and a hamburg steak, and as someone who loves both and can sometimes feel conflicted over which one to get, the menchi katsu was just a wonderful thing to have, with its satisfying combination of tender meatiness and crispy breading that borders on fried fish batter.
Hinoya Curry has stores throughout Japan now, and they’ve also expanded overseas with locations in Malaysia, China, and even San Francisco. Next time I’m in the bay area, I might just decide to check it out again and see how the American branch stacks up.
While walking in Tokyo, I happened upon a restaurant that had pages from a manga on its windows. Upon closer inspection, the comic was actually depicting that very restaurant: Boys Curry.
Located in Jinbocho—which is something of a curry epicenter in Tokyo—Curry Boys looks and feels like a restaurant from another generation. That makes sense, since it turns out to have started in 1982.
Going in, you’re immediately greeted by a horseshoe-shaped counter, and everything from the cooking to the service was done by an old man and an old woman. I love restaurants like this, as it reminds me a lot of Manhattan Chinatown, especially in years past.
The menu was about as simple as it gets, and I ordered their recommended combo: curry rice, ginger pork, and ketchup spaghetti with a side of broth for a nice hot drink. It wasn’t a mind-blowing experience, but everything was incredibly solid and for a decent price of 1,300 yen. If there was a quintessential Japanese curry that wasn’t trying to keep up with current trends, this was it. Flavorful but not very spicy, it was a welcome throwback, as was everything else.
This was actually my very first time eating ginger pork, despite the fact that it’s apparently second to tonkatsu in terms of Japanese pork dishes! I definitely understand the appeal now, and it’s not nearly as gingery as I was expecting based on the name.
At the end, I asked the owners what the manga on the windows was, and they told me: Boukyaku no Sachiko. It’s been running since 2014 in Weekly Big Comic Spirits, and it’s currently over 25 volumes! I haven’t read it at all, but I’m considering doing so and maybe even posting my thoughts on the blog.
I didn’t know what to expect from “Chronicles of hololive Nexus Gate: Act 1.” Sure I’ve been to booths and events centered around hololive, but this seemed…different. It wasn’t a cross-promotion with a restaurant or anything. It was held at the American Dream Mall in New Jersey, the second largest mall in the United States after the Mall of America. And from what I heard, it was supposed to be in some ways similar to the online hololive role-playing event series ENigmatic Recollection.
The description was bizarre enough that I wasn’t sure I would make the trip in the first place, but I went just to see what the deal was. What I got was a multipurpose pop-up booth that provided five different forms of interaction.
First, it was a shop where you could buy both general hololive merch and stuff directly related to this whole Nexus Gate thing. I bought a little Nexus Gate–themed passport-style stamp booklet.
Second, it was an exhibition of fan works (art, cosplay), as well as a place to leave a record by adding a sticky note to a wall.
Third, it featured a series of brain-teasing puzzles that netted a prize in the form of a hololive STAGE ‘25 card for the hololive TCG.
Fourth, it was a gallery of the Nexus Gate concept, which was about the girls of hololive English entering a mysterious and mostly barren world.
And fifth, it was also a screening of a drama that played out like a series of visual novel chapters, all exploring how each EN member approached the element most core to their beings. Also, because I went on the last two days, we also got to see an Episode 0 that showed how everyone ended up there.
The main drama, titled “Act 1: The Portal Awakens,” consisted of script readings not unlike the audio dramas they sometimes sell on their online store, it didn’t quite have the off-the-cuff feel of something like ENReco. It was likely another alternate world where facets of them remain, blending kayfabe lore with aspects of the EN girls’ personalities established through their streams. This lasted a lot longer than I anticipated, but it was probably the highlight of the trip. I do have to say that the special miniature lawn (?) chairs set up for viewing were comfortable at first, but being on them too long was not entirely pleasant for my crotch area.
Perhaps the most interesting things were the way this other world seemed to be connected to three girls in particular: Baelz Hakos and Ouro Kronii of the old hololive Council generation, as well as Koseki Bijou. The former two seemed to recognize the world beyond the gate as being either in some primordial state of creation or nearing the end of its life. Bae and Kronii’s lines gave a lot of hints that both the rest of Council departing over the years and everyone’s desire to step back from essentially godhood would affect things significantly. As for Biboo, she seemed to hear something he others couldn’t, perhaps tying into her backstory as a sentient jewel who has a strong connection to emotions.
The biggest question to me about Nexus Gate is that if this was Act 1, where and what will Act 2 be? Are booths going to show up all over the US and perhaps the world, all situated in malls? How many will there be? What is the ultimate purpose of all this? I found it all to be pretty cool, but I can’t help but wonder what the overall goal is.
As for the curry, it was definitely Japanese curry from a mall food court
When I visited Japan’s Railway Museum last year, I wasn’t able to eat at the museum itself. However, I did stop by the gift shop, where they were selling two different kinds of instant curry! I brought them home with me, and now I’m here to give my report.
The first item is the Shinkansen Nostalgic Beef Curry, meant to replicate the actual curry served on the Shinkansen for decades before the dish was retired in the 2000s. It’s also something you can order at the aforementioned museum restaurant.
I was pleased with the flavor—while it’s not the best curry I’ve ever had, it definitely ranks very high among microwaveable versions. The curry didn’t taste artificial at all, and it even had a surprising kick, especially given that Japanese food tends to shy away from spiciness.
The second item is the Beef Tongue Tasty Curry, which advertises itself as using 30 different spices.
This one was noticeably less spicy than the Shinkansen Curry, though the key ingredient, the tongue, gave it an interesting depth of flavor. While the package didn’t have a ton of meat in it, the amount was still pretty substantial, and it had visible slices of beef tongue. Once again, I came away satisfied.
(Broccoli not included).
Overall, I think they were fine purchases. I just hope I can go back to the museum and try the real deal someday.
I recently picked up Volumes 2 through 5 of one of my favorite manga in recent years, Mogusa-san. Featuring a girl who eats anything and everything and has developed seemingly superhuman skills in order to get as much food in herself as possible without anyone noticing, it’s basically a series made just for me. One question that arises from reading Mogusa-san is, how do you keep this premise going? What kinds of characters do you introduce as complements or foils to Mogusa herself? The answer is, a closet picky eater who has some of the qualities of a tsundere without necessarily falling squarely into that archetype.
Taira Chigumi is the president of Mogusa’s class, and a seemingly strait-laced, no-nonsense individual. However, she harbors a deep, dark secret: she has the palate of a 10 year old. That means hamburg steaks and gummy candies are in, tomatoes and fish are out. Of course, she has an image to uphold, so she’s learned to basically keep gross foods in her mouth without swallowing them, and then force them down with a helping of coffee milk.
It makes sense in a way: opposite a girl who eats anything is a girl who eats almost nothing, and the added twist of giving her the taste buds of a child makes her rather endearing. When Koguchi (the male POV character) discovers her secret, she responds by violently attacking him. On the surface, this appears to be the stereotypical tsundere reaction, but it’s a little too active and conscious for that to be the case. Tsundere characters are usually based around having an almost involuntary reaction to embarrassment and having their true selves revealed (as parodied in the manga Mozuya-san Gyakujousuru, about a girl with tsundere as a form of clinical disease). Also, rather than having her priorities be love or the denial thereof, Chigumi simply wants to be friends with Mogusa because she sees how Mogusa just seems to love food more than anything else, and maybe, just maybe, if she spends enough time with her, that this quality will rub off on Chigumi as well.
Chigumi isn’t the only character who adds to the world of Mogusa-san, as it also features a little sister who eats character-shaped foods as if she were a Titan from Attack on Titan, and even an eating rival. Suffice it to say, I recommend this series 110/10. No, that’s not a typo.
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The magazine Comic Zenon has recently announced a special Fist of the North Star-themed curry based on Souther, the strongest of the various practitioners of Nanto Seiken, the Sacred Fist of the Southern Cross. Souther, who uses the “Nanto Houou Ken” or “Southern Cross Phoenix Fist” style, is known for fighting without stances, having his heart on the right side of his body instead of his left, using child slave labor, and riding a three-wheeled motorcycle with a throne on top (sometimes affectionately called a “thronercycle”).
More specifically, the curry is based on the recent parody manga of Fist of the North Star titled Fist of the North Star: Strawberry Flavor. Fist of the North Star is considered one of the most significant, influential, and popular shounen manga series of all time, making it a prime target for parodies both official and otherwise. In this case, Souther is specifically “Supervising Director Souther.”
Fans of Souther and Fist of the North Star will notice that the pyramid shape of the rice is a direct reference to the character. In the original manga, Souther uses his child slaves to build a pyramid in honor of his dead master, which then becomes the site of his and Kenshiro’s final battle.
The curry is available at Cafe Zenon in Tokyo and Kichijouji until January 15th. Other foods include Supervising Director Souther’s Strawberry Sweets and Hyui’s Blue Hawaii Lassi. Stickers, metal badges, and other products are also available.
I like food, and I like shameless advertising involving food, but it’s often hard for the two to make sense. Sure, there was the Saki Tacos promo, but rarely do the components of edible promotion actually line up so well, instead usually involving some logos or stickers slapped onto the wrapping of a biscuit. Luckily, we now have Strike Witches rations, so that you can simulate the feel of being a teenage girl with propellers strapped to your feet fighting a war.
Japanese blog “Kyou no Gogo kara Honki Dasu” has a photo review of the product, which appears to come with “biscuit bars” and some kind of jelly to go with it. According to the reviewer, the biscuits are absurdly sweet, though I don’t know by what criteria he’s judging it (American candy tends to be sweeter than Japanese desserts for instance).
I’ll be honest, unlike Saki I don’t really know much about Strike Witches. I’ve only seen two episodes, but even so, I still feel compelled to buy this product, if only because it really exists.
Cardcaptor Sakura is by far one of my favorite anime, and I am quite fond all of its characters, which includes its main heroine, Kinomoto Sakura. Back when I first watched the series though, one thing about her struck me as rather odd. In an early episode, Sakura decides to treat herself with some money she’s saved up. You begin to think, is she going to get a doll, or maybe some kind of dessert or candy? How about a nice dress? But no, Sakura’s gets pancakes. And not even pancakes at a restaurant or something, but pancake mix, and she actually gives away some of her pancakes.
I remember thinking, wow, Sakura, you sure have no idea what it means to indulge yourself.
But recently, I’ve been feeling a bit pressured by impending deadlines, and as I struggle a bit to get my work done, I sometimes think of treating myself. Do I go to a restaurant, maybe get a nice bowl of noodles? Or maybe take a trip out to another city, perhaps even another country? No, instead I say to myself, “I’m going to buy some ground beef!” which as you know is like pancake mix, only made of cows. Sometimes it’s chicken breast.
So there I am, thinking that a delightful reward for myself is food which takes time to prepare and even more time to cook, though thankfully I don’t have an older brother’s friend whom I have a crush on who’d be getting like half of my cheeseburgers.
Sorry, Sakura. I understand you a little better now.
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