logo
Domino's releases new 'Crispizzaburger' in Japan

Domino's releases new 'Crispizzaburger' in Japan

SoraNews2419 hours ago
Pizza chain jumps on a viral trend with fried sandwiches to new extremes.
It's been a tough time for pizza chains in Japan, with Domino's recently closing a number of its stores due to rising prices, which have impacted the business while also forcing customers to tighten their purse-strings. In order to stay ahead of the competition, the chain now aims to streamline its lunchtime options, reducing its 'solo lunch' menu options from 60 to just 9, and rebranding it as 'DomiLunch', with a brand new product called the 'Crispizzaburger' as the star attraction.
Of the nine available lunch options, six will consist of the existing 'Pizza Bento' items, while the remaining three slots will be taken up by the 'Crispizzaburger' range. Set to become available on 7 July, we were able to get a taste of the new Crispizzaburger before it was released, so we could find out how the crispy burger pizza elements melded together.
Originally sold by Domino's Pizza in Australia, the 'Crispizzaburger'has been adapted for local tastes in Japan, with three flavours to choose from — the classic 'Garlic Bacon Cheese', 'Teriyaki Cheese', and the limited-time 'Double Cheese Beef'. Each variety comes with a side, and is available for takeout from the time of opening until 4 p.m., priced at 790 yen (US$5.47) each.
Reasonably priced for the Japanese lunch market, we can see this becoming a popular item with customers, especially as the folded style is well-suited to one-hand eating.
So what make a 'Crispizzaburger' a 'Crispizzaburger'? Well, it gets its name from the crispy pizza crust, which is topped with ingredients, folded over, sprinkled with parmesan cheese, and baked to form a delicious meal that's part-pizza, part-cheeseburger.
We tried the 'Garlic Bacon Cheese', and when we bit into it, the satisfying crunch of the crispy crust stole the show, creating an exciting mouthfeel that was packed with flavour. The cheese and bacon had a delicious richness that paired well with the thin crust, and the way it was all folded together helped the cheese stay gooey and melty.
Although it was folded, we wouldn't go so far as to say it has a burger-like feel, because the thinness of the crust makes it feel more like a crispy fried sandwich.
Still, with fried sandwiches going viral on social media, Domino's has done well to take pizza into this territory, and we have a feeling it'll find itself a legion of fans when it's released on 7 July.
Those wanting a different type of pizza experience, however, can still seek out the ONE HANDomino's, which is so exclusive it can only be found at one store in all of Japan.
Photos©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

70% of shops hit by massive Noto quake see no prospects of rebuilding
70% of shops hit by massive Noto quake see no prospects of rebuilding

Japan Today

time3 hours ago

  • Japan Today

70% of shops hit by massive Noto quake see no prospects of rebuilding

Retsuko Hirata displays products at her shop at a provisional facility in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on June 3. Seventy percent of shops and restaurants currently operating from temporary facilities in the earthquake-hit Noto Peninsula in central Japan have no prospects of returning to their original locations, a Kyodo News survey showed. Nearly half of the 46 businesses facing difficulties cited a lack of funding as the main obstacle, amid falling customer numbers and sales following the magnitude-7.6 quake that struck Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year's Day last year. The survey was based on interviews conducted in early June with 64 of some 70 businesses operating in 15 makeshift spaces or buildings offered rent-free in the region. More than 40 percent of the respondents saw their shops completely destroyed in the disaster. Of the respondents, 40 said their income fell, with 33 of them citing fewer customers. Asked about their current concerns, 44 cited declines in customers and revenues, while 23 were worried about securing funds for restarting. Retsuko Hirata, who runs a shop selling Japanese sake and clothing items at an arcade in Wajima, said revenue has dropped by 20 percent from before the quake. "I am worried whether I can carry on my business as the number of tourists has dropped and the population continues to decline," she said. The region facing the Sea of Japan has been a popular tourist destination for fresh seafood, hot spring spas and traditional artwork, including lacquerware. The quake claimed more than 600 lives, including those who died from related health issues afterward, and caused over 160,000 houses to fully or partially collapse across Ishikawa, Niigata, Toyama and Fukui prefectures. © KYODO

Nissan mulls EV partnership with Taiwan's Foxconn: source
Nissan mulls EV partnership with Taiwan's Foxconn: source

Japan Today

time3 hours ago

  • Japan Today

Nissan mulls EV partnership with Taiwan's Foxconn: source

Nissan Motor Co is exploring a partnership with Taiwan's electronics giant Foxconn in the electric vehicle sector, a source familiar with the matter said Sunday. The plan under consideration would involve producing Foxconn's EVs at Nissan's signature Oppama plant near Tokyo, which had previously been eyed for closure, the source added. If realized, the deal is expected to keep the Oppama plant in operation, reversing earlier closure plans prompted by Nissan's financial difficulties. The partnership could also give momentum to the company's ongoing restructuring efforts. Foxconn has been accelerating its EV operations, having already agreed to supply EVs to Mitsubishi Motors Corp. The firm is also in talks with Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp over the delivery of electric buses. The Taiwanese company views a tie-up with Nissan as a potential catalyst to expand its footprint in the Japanese market, the source said. Nissan's main Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, is where the firm pioneered EV production. © KYODO

In reversal, Japan now wants rice farmers to produce more. Will it work?
In reversal, Japan now wants rice farmers to produce more. Will it work?

Japan Today

time3 hours ago

  • Japan Today

In reversal, Japan now wants rice farmers to produce more. Will it work?

By Kaori Kaneko For more than half a century, the Japanese government has encouraged its rice farmers to grow less of the crop so that prices of the national staple grain remained relatively high and steady. Now, under an ambitious agricultural policy announced this year, Tokyo is preparing for a reversal, envisaging a future of bountiful output that would secure the country's food security without sending prices into freefall and hurting its politically influential farmers. The new direction has taken on an unexpected urgency as Japanese grapple with a shortage of the all-important staple, which has prompted a historic spike in prices, a flood of imports, and interest from President Donald Trump, who has renewed pressure on Japan to buy U.S. rice as part of the allies' elusive trade deal. Kazuhachi Hosaka looks at his rice farm in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture. Image: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon It is a policy that many farmers like Kazuhachi Hosaka welcome in principle, but with trepidation because questions over how it would work in practice remain unanswered. The government is aiming to complete a roadmap by the middle of next year. "We'd want the government to make sure there's some kind of a safety net for producers," Hosaka said at his farm in the northern prefecture of Niigata. "It's easy enough to switch rice for feed or processed foods to staple rice. But tilling land for new paddies or switching from wheat or soybeans would require labour, machinery and all kinds of investments." This year, Hosaka allocated all but 10 hectares (25 acres) of his 180-hectare land for staple rice, reducing feed-use rice by 20 hectares given the attractive prices. But he worries that prices could plunge if Japan's overall production goes unchecked under the new policy, set to be implemented from the 2027 crop year. "I do feel conflicted," Hosaka said about the doubling of retail rice prices to above 4,000 yen for a 5kg bag this year in what has turned into a national crisis. "It's important that rice prices settle at levels acceptable to both producers and consumers," he said. Hosaka hopes prices would stabilise around 3,000 to 3,500 yen - a level Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also hopes would be palatable for voters. Supermarket prices fell for a fifth straight week, to 3,801 yen in the seven days to June 22, but were still 70% higher than the same period last year. Rice paddies in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture Image: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon NATIONAL CRISIS For Japanese people, rice is more than just a staple food. Cultivated in the country for more than 2,000 years, rice is considered sacred in the indigenous Shinto religion and is deeply ingrained in local tradition and culture. The Japanese are famously proud of their short-grain Japonica variety, protecting the market with trade barriers. So when rice turned into a luxury item this year, consumers fumed and policymakers - facing imminent elections - worried. With an eye on voters ahead of an upper house election on July 20, the government has been releasing emergency rice from its stockpile to sell for about 2,000 yen per 5 kg. Farmers - also traditionally an important voting bloc for Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party - were told it was a dire but necessary move to protect Japan's food security and prevent consumers from switching permanently away from homegrown rice. But for most of the past 50 years, Japan has poured its energy into doing the opposite: providing subsidies to farmers to grow crops other than staple rice so as to prevent oversupply and a fall in prices. That system backfired last year when the farm ministry misread supply from the heat-damaged 2023 harvest, resulting in a severe shortage in August. The ensuing surge in prices made Japan an anomaly against a fall in global prices, and exposed the risks of its approach. The new policy, if successful, would prevent a recurrence by allocating 350,000 tons of rice for export in 2030 - an eight-fold jump from 45,000 tons last year - that could be redirected to the domestic market in the event of a shortage, the government says. Some agricultural experts say the policy is unrealistic. The idea of selling expensive Japanese rice abroad is counterintuitive, especially when even Japan is importing record amounts of the grain despite the 341 yen per kg levy that had previously priced foreign products out of the market. Japanese have also acquired a taste for U.S. Calrose rice, while imports from Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam have also been popular with businesses and cost-conscious consumers. "Expensive rice might sell to niche markets, but getting that up to 350,000 tons would require price competitiveness, and there's a long way for that," said Kazunuki Ohizumi, professor emeritus at Miyagi University and an expert on agricultural management. The government aims to provide some form of support but also expects farmers to make their own efforts to consolidate, and make use of artificial intelligence and other technologies to lower production costs. Meanwhile, Hosaka said, prices of fertilizers, pesticides and fuel have shot up, sending production costs through the roof. "It's tough," he said. "The government has released quite a bit of stockpiled rice, so I'm very worried about prices falling even further." © Thomson Reuters 2025.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store