Latest news with #P.K.
SoraNews24
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- SoraNews24
Yoshinoya's new ramen doesn't smell like it tastes【Taste test】
We head to the beef bowl king to try their first attempt at beef mazesoba. We recently found out that Yoshinoya was adding ramen to its menu, and it was surprising for multiple reasons. First, Yoshinoya is, quite famously, Japan's favorite beef bowl joint, and they've never had a noodle dish served by the entire chain before this. Second, Yoshinoya was promising that it would be a 'refreshing' meal that's 'perfect for the hot summer.' Looking at preview pictures of the Gyutama Stamina Mazesoba, though, we weren't so sure about that claim. See, in Japanese foodie jargon, 'stamina' is often used to refer to garlic, which is indeed thought to help cope with heat exhaustion by some people in Japan, but isn't exactly a taste that most people would describe as 'refreshing,' and the pre-release photos were giving us the impression of a boldly flavored but also heavy-feeling meal. But hey, what were we going to do, not eat ramen? So when Yoshinoya started serving the Gyutama Stamina Mazesoba on July 4, our Japanese-language reporter P.K. Sanjun sauntered over to try it for himself for 767 yen (US$5.30). Before we get to the taste test, though, let's unpack that name. Gyu means 'beef' and tama here is short for tamago, or 'egg,' and the Gyutama Stamina Mazesoba's toppings include Yoshinya's famous simmered beef strips and an egg. Mazesoba, meanwhile, is a kind of no-broth ramen where you mix (mazeru) everything together in a bowl before you start eating. You might feel a twinge of disappointment when the tray placed in front of you doesn't look like the picture on the poster, but that's because the garlic sauce and egg come in their own separate dishes, and you combine everything yourself. ▼ That's better. Speaking of the sauce, it's pretty pungent stuff. As P.K. poured it into his noodle bowl and began to stir with his chopsticks, he could feel the sharp garlic notes prickling his nose. The garlic aroma was strong enough that P.K. braced himself for a powerful punch to his taste buds as he took a bite, only to be swiftly startled by a much smoother flavor profile than he'd expected. That doesn't mean that it's bland, and the flavor that's here is quite nice. It's just that the way Yoshinoya's mazesoba looks and smells had P.K. building up an intense image for how it was going to taste, and when what he actually got was the exact opposite, it was kind of hard for his brain to process right away. But then again, the flavor is entirely in keeping with how Yoshinoya itself told us the Gyutama Stamina Mazesoba was going to be: 'refreshing' and 'perfect for the hot summer.' There are ways to dial things up a notch here, and if you want to Yoshinoya recommends adding a side order of extra green onions with rayu (chili oil) or kimchi to the bowl. But for what it is, and for what Yoshinoya says it is, its first noodle dish does the trick. 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 ]
SoraNews24
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- SoraNews24
A Pokémon fan's eye-opening experience of Japan's national championship
'Is this even the same game I play?' Like most competitive games, Pokémon has had many tournaments over the years, both within Japan and internationally. However, despite being an obsessive fan of Pokémon Go , our Japanese-language reporter P.K. Sanjun had never attended the Pokémon Japan Championships, also known as PJCS, which originally started back in 2009. PJCS was held on June 21 and 22 at Pacifico Yokohama, in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, as the official tournament to decide the top Pokémon trainers in Japan across four divisions: the Pokémon video game, the trading card game, Pokémon Go , and Pokémon Unite . At its most fundamental level, the Pokémon games are focused on 'collecting,' 'training,' 'battling,' and 'trading,' but at these tournaments the focus is specifically on the battling aspect. P.K., however, generally avoids battling in Pokémon Go , unless it's absolutely necessary, and so has never taken much of an interest in the competition. This year, a high school student who he knows was competing, so he decided to tag along as a sort of guardian. ▼ Participants in the games receive a sticker. Having gathered competitors from across Japan, who had successfully made it through the regional qualifiers, the venue was brimming with an intense fighting spirit, which in combination with many thoughtful touches by the organizers scattered about, created an exciting environment for both players and spectators alike. Even though everyone was there to cheer and compete in the matches, there were plenty of things to keep people occupied during any downtime. ▼ If you place a trading card on the device, it will display an enlarged version on the screen next to it—perfect for a photo opportunity with your favorite partner Pokémon. While keeping an eye on the preliminary rounds of the high schooler he was accompanying, P.K. wandered around the venue until he heard thunderous roars erupt from one section. Going over to investigate, he discovered that the source of those cheers was Pokémon Unite. Throughout the entire day, the most visibly hyped area was undoubtedly the Pokémon Unite zone. P.K. wasn't all too familiar with the game, and being a relatively recent addition to the franchise, he'd assumed it might have had the fewest spectators of the four areas. However, just based on the sheer energy emanating from the crowd, it was incredible. According to a Pokémon Company staff member P.K. spoke to, ' Unite always gets super hyped like this,' suggesting that it's nothing out of the ordinary for fans of the game. Perhaps it's in part due to the pro teams who also compete? Nevertheless, he was impressed at the scene of all of the fans cheering with towels that bear their favorite team's names. In terms of short peaks of excitement, though, Pokémon Unite couldn't hold a candle to the Pokémon video game division. The crowd numbers were through the roof, which is to be expected from the original core of the franchise, and the video game section being the main event was an undisputed fact. On the other hand, the trading card division felt less like something that would have had people jumping out of their seats, but more like something people watched with deep concentration. Naturally, there were cheers and applause, but despite the impressively-sized audience, the atmosphere wasn't full of squeals of excitement. Instead, the surroundings resonated with deep rumbles of appreciation. P.K.'s beloved Pokémon Go had perhaps the most subdued of all of the crowds. In terms of numbers, the fans watching the Pokémon Go division were clearly in last place. If someone unfamiliar with the event happened to walk by, they might assume that it was the least heated part of the competition, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The battles were seriously intense. P.K. was captivated by the mental warfare and mind games that were underway before the match had even started, and was blown away by the elite techniques on display and incredible pressure where not a single mistake was allowed. It was almost inconceivable to him that these top competitors were playing the same game he plays every day. The quality and intensity of matches just didn't correspond to the energy exhibited by the crowd. P.K. could understand the low hype if the battles were boring, but with the skill on display, it simply didn't make sense. As a fellow Pokémon Go trainer, P.K. hopes that everyone can rally together in the future to hype up the battles more. The winner of the Pokémon Go tournament, Takumi Tanaka, commented, 'Once you start battling, catching and trading Pokémon becomes even more fun.' Takumi also hoped that the tournament format—playing nine rounds and the people with six wins going through to the next stage (known as the 6-3 format or Swiss rounds) will be available to play in the game itself sometime in the future. Summing up his experience at PJCS, P.K. was surprised at the level of excitement around Pokémon Unite , and comparatively how underwhelming the crowd at the Pokémon Go matches were. Overall, though, he was moved by the thought of how thousands of people in a single space shared their love for Pokémon. If you didn't happen to catch any of the championships in Japan, the World Championships will be held in Anaheim, California, from August 15-17. However, spectator tickets are no longer available, so if you're looking to join in the excitement, you'll need to catch one of the livestreams through the official Pokémon account. If beating down the competition to become a Pokémon Master is more of your thing, it's never too early to start brushing up on your skills for next year's championship. I've already started practicing in the hope that Pokémon Sleep gets added to the roster of games to compete in; I've a good feeling I've got a chance at first place. 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 ]
SoraNews24
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- SoraNews24
Investigating the mysterious 'Shake Pippi' at Marugame Seimen udon restaurants
It's only natural to want to shake your pippi. Hot off the huge success of their Udonuts, donuts made from leftover udon noodles, restaurant chain Marugame Seimen announced that a new product would be hitting stores this month. This was great news to our reporter P.K. Sanjun, who got an invitation to a pre-tasting and wondered whether it would be something cool for summer or more of their great piping hot dishes. ▼ Marugame Seimen The name, however, did little to clarify things for him. All he could do was stare at the promotional poster and try to comprehend what 'Marugame Shake Pippi' was supposed to be. Since a good chunk of his accumulated knowledge deals with Pokémon , he could only assume this had something to do with Clefairy, who's called 'Pippi' in Japanese. The information Marugame sent him made no mention of a collaboration with Pokémon , though. So he was left without a clue until he arrived at the tasting, where a table was set up with what looked like sacks of French fries and different seasonings. He was then given a bag that read, 'We went and fried some udon: Marugame Shake Pippi.' This shed a lot of light on the matter. Much like with their Udonuts, it appeared that Marugame was taking some of their excess noodles and deep frying them, much like one would with French fries. ▼ Here are some udon noodles as they're normally eaten as a frame of reference. The 'Shake' part of the name made sense too, since these are like shaker fries where you add in either consommé, salty seaweed, or sugar butter seasonings and shake the bag to spread it around. P.K. tried some salty seaweed Shake Pippi and enjoyed their light mouthfeel with a crispy texture. Since they're made of noodles, they don't have that easily identifiable flavor of fried corn or potato snacks, and felt a little alien at first. However, the fact that they were very freshly made and used very delicious seasonings more than made up for that and made these a very delightful dessert. It was so good it almost made P.K. forget what he came here to learn: What does 'Pippi' mean? According to a Marugame rep, 'pippi' means 'udon' in the dialect of Kagawa Prefecture (the part of Japan most famous for udon) and is often used when talking to children, like: 'Make sure you eat all your pippi!' It seems that they're targeting children with this snack in particular and are keeping prices low at 190 yen (US$1.30) a bag, so kids can enjoy it more easily. Having enjoyed this new food and learned what 'pippi' means, P.K. felt very satisfied with his trip to Marugame Seimen, and you can too since Marugame Shake Pippi is on sale nationwide as of 24 June. Photos ©SoraNews24 ©2025 Niantic, Inc. ©2025 Pokémon. ©2025 Nintendo / Creatures Inc. / GAME FREAK inc. ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! [ Read in Japanese ]
SoraNews24
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- SoraNews24
Our reporter tries nuikatsu for the first time, but is he too old for this otaku lifestyle hobby?
P.K. and Pokémon Pansage make their nuikatsu debut. Let's start things off with a little Japanese linguistics lesson about katsu. If you're a foodie, you might know katsu as the word for 'cutlet,' especially pork cutlets, which are some of the greatest things in life. But today we're talking about a different katsu, and this one is used to talk about life in a different way. This katsu, written with the kanji character seen above, refers to a lifestyle or life activities. You can combine it with all sorts of other words to talk about different categories of lifestyle activities, including one that our Japanese-language reporter P.K. Sanjun recently dipped his toes in for the first time: nuikatsu. So what's the nui part mean? It's short for nuigurumi, which means… …stuffed animal, or plushie, to put it in anime/video game-merch jargon. Nuikatsu goes beyond just collecting plushies and giving them regular squeezes, though. The core nuikatsu activity is taking and sharing photo of your plushies living their best lives. P.K. was recently beckoned into the nuikatsu world by a circle of friends he's made playing Pokémon GO, and so of course their cuddly creatures of choice are all various breeds of Pokémon. That suits P.K. just fine, as he has a favorite Pocket Monster species, Pansage, who P.K. respects for his laid-back innocence and aversion to wearing shirts. So when P.K. and his Poké-pals had a recent meetup in Osaka and decided to go get some Osaka-style okonomiyaki for dinner, it wasn't long until everyone busted out their nuigurumi for a nuikatsu photo session. 'You try it too, P.K.!' his friends encouraged him, and so P.K. put his photojournalism-honed skills to use… …and snapped an impressively high-level nikatsu photo for a first-timer. It was a lot of fun, and P.K., who's been a father for more than a few years now, felt a rush of youthful energy…which also brought some mixed feelings with it. Most of his friends at the table are a fair bit younger than he is, and a lot of them are women, and so P.K. started to feel a little self-conscious about indulging in nuikatsu, going so far as to say he thinks he looks 'creepy' in this photo where he's smiling while snapping a picture of Pansage. It might be hard to imagine that P.K., who if you remember, has engaged in no fewer than two wrestling matches in our office (one against Hello Kitty, no less), gone around and asked each and every one of his coworkers for a hug when he was feeling cold, and dressed up in a full-body bear suit for a Starbucks run, would every feel awkward or embarrassed, but those were all things that took place behind closed doors or with his face (and expression) covered. Apparently smiling with glee while taking photos of stuffed animals in public is a line he's not sure if he's ready to cross, so he's not sure whether or not he'll be continuing down the nuikatsu path. It's something he recommends trying at least once, though, and if you'd like to put his mind at ease, let us know if you think it's OK for him to look as happy as he wants while posing with Pansage, and we'll pass your approval on to him. 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 ]
Japan Today
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
Lawson overloads some of its popular foods by doubling their amount for its 50th anniversary
By Elliot Hale, SoraNews24 When I was younger, I'd always end up still feeling a little peckish even after polishing off a regular-sized meal, so my food orders would always skew towards the larger portions. It became sort of an ingrained habit, where my eyes would always immediately drift towards the large size in the store or on the menu. Unfortunately, my stomach hasn't seen fit to keep up with my desire for more food, and I'm often left feeling stuffed about 70 to 80 percent of the way through my meal. I know I should just order the normal size, but… it's difficult. However, with Lawson's 50th anniversary campaign this month, it's time to throw those worries to the wind and gorge to my heart's content, as they are running a 50 percent extra campaign with no added cost. In times past, Lawson used to have a 47 percent increase, but amid a world full of shrinkflation, they have quietly increased the amount to a round 50, which is something food lovers the nation over can feel thankful for. The campaign is spread out over the four weeks of June, with new food items joining the lineup each week, and will end on June 30. Someone who shares my love for huge portions is our reporter P.K. Sanjun, who thoroughly enjoyed the second week's additions of the Katsu Curry and the Abura Soba with Spicy Soy Sauce (also called mazesoba, a style of brothless ramen where noodles are tossed with a savory soy sauce-based dressing, often enriched with lard or oil). P.K. loved both items so much, he was keen to give Week 3's offerings a try, which went on sale on June 16. Among the selection were things like a chicken cutlet bento, a ham cutlet sandwich, and sausage curry, which — while decent — didn't trigger his desire to run to the top of a cliff and scream 'This! Is! Amazing!' into the sunset. However, there was one product lying in wait for P.K.. One that would astound him with its presence, and shock him with its value for money: The Meat Sauce Spaghetti (646 yen). Lawson hasn't done anything fancy with the meal; it's a simple doubling of both pasta and sauce. Simple though it may be, it has transformed a once-humble meal into a monster dish weighing over 800 grams, and packing more than 1,000 calories. Holding it in his hand, P.K. was amazed by how heavy it was. How was it possible for a convenience store meal to be this heavy? Cracking out his scales, the entire dish came to an impressive 838 grams. With so much food, heating it up in the microwave required doubling the cooking time to a whole six minutes. As he watched the pasta rotate in the microwave, P.K. found himself apprehensive about the meal to come. Would he truly be able to finish everything? Half-expecting that a bigger size would mean a blander taste, P.K. was pleasantly surprised to find that the sauce had a rich quality to it. As nice as it was, with so much food the flavor did get a little monotonous after a while, so he would recommend any partakers to add some Tabasco or grated cheese to mix it up a little bit. Getting halfway through, P.K.'s stomach started to complain and threatened to return-to-sender if he persisted in shoveling more food into his mouth, leading him to decide to save the other half for the following day. P.K., well known for his attempts to eat crazy amounts of food, was defeated by an unassuming bowl of pasta, but he still came away from the experience feeling completely satisfied. For the price, the amount you get is absurd. The Meat Sauce Spaghetti is without a doubt one of the powerhouses of the campaign; just the weight alone is enough to shock you. Even among the lineup for Week 4, starting in the evening of June 23, there is nothing heavier than this meal so it's definitely worth a try. Just remember to not eat beforehand if you want to down the entire thing in one sitting. Related: Lawson Photos ©SoraNews24 Read more stories from SoraNews24. -- Lawson to bring back 47% volume-boosted foods by insanely popular demand -- Lawson Store 100 starts their own free upsize campaign to match its parent convenience store -- Japan Super Budget Dining – What's the best way to spend 1,000 yen at Lawson? External Link © SoraNews24
