Latest news with #MrSato
SoraNews24
12-08-2025
- Health
- SoraNews24
Why a sugegasa sedge hat needs to be your Japan summer essential
Prevent heatstroke and beat the heat with a product that's been around for centuries. Every summer in Japan seems to be hotter than the last, and at this time of year social media posts are filled with hacks and tips on how to cope with the soaring temperatures. One thing you won't see influencers touting online, though, is a product that's been helping locals beat the heat for centuries. Sure, it might not look 'cool' in this day and age, but if you prefer practical solutions over fashionable ones, like our very own Mr Sato, then you'll want to pick up a sugegasa. These woven grass hats give you the temperature-lowering shade of a parasol, but allow you to keep your hands free for other things while you're out and about. Plus, unlike a regular hat or baseball cap, it doesn't trap heat, so it's seriously good. Mr Sato might have a reputation for fooling around, but he's serious when it comes to the benefits of the oft-overlooked sugegasa. Only recently, he found himself out and about on a day when the temperatures reached 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and although he first went out wearing a cap, it did very little to relieve the heat, and barely even kept the sun off his face. As the cap was black, it absorbed the rays of the sun and warmed his head to such an extent that after walking down the street for 30 minutes he started to feel dizzy. That's when he remembered he had a sugegasa in the cupboard just waiting for an occasion like this, so after returning home to retrieve it, he popped it on and immediately felt an immense sense of relief. The first thing you'll want to do when wearing one of these is wrap a tenugui towel around your head because the stand inside, known as 'gotoku', which keeps the hat stable, can leave marks on your skin otherwise. ▼ This also prevents the gotoku from slipping and absorbs sweat, making the hat even more comfortable to wear. After popping the sugegasa on your head and tightening the chin strap, you're all set for ultimate sun protection. Whereas a baseball cap only has a visor in front, exposing your sides and back to the sun, the sugegasa covers you from all angles, shielding you from intense rays and even light rain if necessary, without the need for a parasol or umbrella. The greatest advantage of the sugegasa, in Mr Sato's opinion, is the space between the hat and your head. The gotoku creates this space, allowing a nice breeze to flow through so heat doesn't build up. ▼ The breeze passing through the hat feels great! Mr Sato can't see any reason not to use a sugegasa, but he does admit some might find it bulky to carry around. His workaround is to tie the chin strings around your bag or backpack for ease of use. This look turns a short walk around town into an old-timey traditional-style journey. You'll feel like you're a traveller on an ancient highway, before cars and electric handy fans existed. We still have a way to go before summer lets up, so Mr Sato highly recommends seeking out a sugegasa to help you stay cool during the hottest days of the year. And if you thought it didn't look fashionable, think again, because compared to the flatter and rounder sandogasa he purchased in 2023, the sugegasa looks like something that could make it into the pages of a fashion magazine. ▼ Sandogasa purchased in August 2023 (left), Sugegasa purchased in July 2024 (right) Mr Sato has such a fondness for traditional items that he even went so far as to purchase a wooden comb from a specialist shop for 30,000 yen (US$202.95). Thankfully, a sedge hat like this won't break the bank, as it can be purchased at stores like Amazon Japan for just 1,770 yen (US$11.97). Related: Amazon 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 ]
SoraNews24
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- SoraNews24
Shinkansen coffee and ice cream vending machines make train travel in Japan magical
Bullet train blends you won't get anywhere else. For a lot of Japanese travellers, a ride on the Shinkansen bullet train is synonymous with ice cream, specifically Sujata ice cream. Our reporter Mr Sato is one such traveller, who says he just doesn't feel like he's on the Shinkansen unless he eats it, which is a bit of a problem as in-car sales stopped in 2021, making it more difficult to get. So when he found himself up early for a trip to Nagoya on the Shinkansen recently, he was thrilled to see a vending machine on the platform that was selling his beloved ice cream…in more than one flavour. ▼ Vanilla, Strawberry, Belgian Chocolate and Shine Muscat Grape. These were little tubs of joy for Mr Sato, and after a moment's deliberation, he decided to order the chocolate variety for 420 yen (US$2.94). ▼ The ice cream is so famous it's simply known as '新幹線アイスクリーム' ('Shinkansen Ice Cream') ▼ Within an instant, his ice cream popped out into the chute, and he noticed there was something else in there too… ▼ … a bunch of spoons. Grabbing a wooden spoon, he was just about to turn on his heel and head to the queue for his carriage when he spotted another vending machine beside it. This one contained… ▼ … Shinkansen Coffee! This was something he'd never seen before so he wasn't going to miss the chance to try it, especially when he stepped close to the machine and saw it had a choice of blends, each one named after one of the three Shinkansen that stop at this platform. ▼ The Shinkansen Kodama Blend is said to have a soft acidity, while the Hikari has a gentle bitterness and the Nozomi, the fastest train of the three, features a rich bitterness. ▼ Plus, there was an extra surprise — the Doctor Yellow Blend, named after the elusive, bright yellow inspection bullet train. Due to its rarity, spotting a Doctor Yellow is said to be a sign of good luck so that's the coffee Mr Sato went for, hoping it might give him some fortune. Available in a 'Big Size' for 500 yen, the beans for this blend are medium roasted, like the others, but with a strong acidity as their main feature. After pressing the button for his coffee, the brewing process was displayed on the screen at the top of the machine, giving it a nice, live feel. As he waited, he felt a sense of warmth and care from the sign that alerted customers to the possible 95-second wait time, preventing them from missing their train. Sure enough, after about 95 seconds, his Doctor Yellow Blend was served. The cup even had a yellow design around it to signify the special train, which was a very cute touch. With his ice cream and coffee, Mr Sato was a very happy passenger as he slid into his seat on the train. Lifting the lid on his coffee, it had a fantastic aroma, and when he took a sip he found it had a pronounced acidity, just as the flavour chart had indicated. Personally, he would've preferred a stronger bitterness, but for a vending machine coffee, it was incredibly good. Now it was time to dig into the ice cream… literally. You see, this ice cream is renowned for being incredibly hard — spoons have been known to get stuck in the tub, failing to retrieve ice cream as they should — earning it the nickname 'Shinkansen Sugoi Katai Ice' (Super Hard Shinkansen Ice Cream). The struggle to eat the hard ice cream has long been part of its appeal, but this time, Mr Sato found it was rather easy to dig into. According to the manufacturer, the Sujata vending machines can only reach a low of -25 degrees Celsius (-13 degrees Fahrenheit), so the ice creams aren't as rock-hard as they once were. Although the ice cream may no longer be firm enough to make it from Tokyo to Nagoya without melting, it still tasted fantastic, especially when paired with the bitter coffee, and he was glad he bought both of them. The machines can be found at platforms 14 and 15, 16 and 17, and 18 and 19 at Tokyo Station, and Mr Sato highly recommends trying them if you can. He says they're wonderful travel companions. 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
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- SoraNews24
Udon Doughnuts boom in popularity, get a whole new look at Japanese restaurant chain
Behold the Udonuts, with a texture like no other doughnut in Japan. In June last year, udon chain Marugame Seimen transformed noodles as we know them by releasing an innovative new sweet called 'udonuts'. Made from udon noodle flour, these doughnut bites have been selling like crazy, with over 15 million sold in the ten months since their debut. Now, the chain has quietly opened a specialty store called 'Marugame Udonuts-ya', with 'ya' being the word for 'store'. At this special branch, there's a custom menu you won't find anywhere else, with options to add your own toppings and sauces, so our doughnut-loving reporter Mr Sato set out to pay it a visit. Located at the Marugame Seimen Kasugai Nishiyamacho branch in Kasugai City, Aichi Prefecture, the specialty store is a bit of a trek from Tokyo but around a 20-minute drive from Ghibli Park. ▼ Studio Ghibli's popular theme park isn't far from the Udonuts location. Luckily for Mr Sato, he was in the area when he found out about the store, so he was able to hop on the Chuo Main Line from Chikusa Station… ▼ … to Kasugai Station. Then he had to hop on the Aoi Kotsu Toukadai bus, but in his eagerness to try the doughnuts he'd failed to plan accordingly so had to wait 40 minutes for the next bus. ▼ With his stomach now rumbling, Mr Sato was finally able to board the bus… ▼ …but after getting off at his stop he still had to walk about a kilometre (0.6 miles) to his destination. It definitely would've been better to get here by car, but for Mr Sato, the more challenging the journey, the more delicious the reward, so when he finally spotted the Kasugai Nishiyamacho branch, he immediately began salivating. Heading to the car park, he found Udonuts-ya, standing there like a beacon of joy against the grey skies. Opened on 15 May, the store was less than a week old when Mr Sato visited, and there was already a line of customers out the front. Looking hungrily at the menu, Mr Sato spied a few things he wanted to try, and although the Udon Fries were something he'd never seen before, his heart was set on something sweet. The main draw here is the 'Mocchi-Mochi Satisfaction Set' (300 yen [US$2.09]), which allows you to customise a trio of Udonuts with three out of 11 toppings and one of four sauces to create your perfect combination. The available toppings are: kinako (soybean flour), anko (sweet red bean paste), chocolate sprinkles, mini pudding, whipped cream, custard cream, sliced almonds, fruit mix, vanilla ice cream, chocolate ice cream, and matcha ice cream. The four sauce options are: chocolate, strawberry, mango, and kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup). The options cover a wide range of Japanese and Western-style flavours, and if you have your heart set on one topping, you can even request it three times to strengthen the flavour. For Mr Sato, variety is the spice of life, so he opted for fruit mix, whipped cream, chocolate ice cream, and chocolate sauce. This was his first time trying Udonuts so he wasn't sure if his choices would go well together, but after trying a bite, he quickly realised that the doughnuts are so good they'd go well with anything. The first thing he noticed about the Udonuts was how 'mocchi' or 'chewy' they were. It's a unique, addictive texture you can't get from regular donuts, and it's all due to the addition of udon flour. ▼ After trying the first of his three Udonuts, he could understand why they were so popular. It was a treat to be able to enjoy the unusual doughnuts with an array of toppings, making this one of the tastiest sweets he's had in a long time. With doughnuts this good, he has a feeling this specialty store might soon be expanding to include other locations, and might even rival doughnuts at convenience stores and specialty stores like Randy's. After making the trek to find them, Mr Sato now has his fingers crossed that the extra toppings will soon make their way to a branch much closer to home, like this one that first brought the Udonuts to Tokyo. Store information Marugame Udonuts-ya Kasugai Nishiyama-cho store / 丸亀うどーなつ屋 （丸亀製麺 春日井西山町店） Address: Aichi-ken, Kasugai-shi, Nishiyama-cho 3-14-18 愛知県春日井市西山町3-14-18 Open: 11:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. Website 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
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- SoraNews24
How to make Japanese melon pan out of any type of bread
Easy recipe turns even sliced bread and curry pan into this famous sweet snack. Melon pan are sweet round buns with crunchy scored exteriors, fluffy soft interiors and a faint taste of Japanese muskmelon, and they have a cult following amongst people in Japan and tourists who visit from overseas. If you've ever visited Japan and tasted a melon pan ('pan' is the word for 'bread' in Japanese), chances are you'll be craving it when you return home. Now we've found a super easy way you can get a taste of it wherever you are in the world, with a recipe you can make in your own kitchen, using any type of bread you can find at your local store. All you need, in addition to bread, is the following five ingredients: Butter — 50 grams (1.8 ounces) Caster sugar — 50 grams Granulated sugar — for dusting Cake flour – 100 grams One egg (yolk only) Melon pan is essentially bread wrapped in a cookie-like casing, so what we're making with these five ingredients is cookie dough. You can find easy recipes for this online, but for our purposes, we'll be mixing the caster sugar and egg yolk into room-temperature butter… ▼ …and then adding sifted flour to the mix. ▼ Once it's all mixed well together, leave it to sit in the refrigerator for around 30 minutes. After the dough has cooled, it's time to get out your breads. We purchased a few unusual varieties to see how they would taste as melon pan, so feel free to stick to plain bread or get as weird and wacky as you want. ▼ We chose a bun filled with sweet red bean paste, a curry pan, and some good 'ol sliced white bread. ▼ Now it's time to get wrapping! Starting with the red bean paste bun, we simply placed it on a thin layer of the cookie dough and gently wrapped the dough around the bun, being careful to not break it. Then we scored it diagonally both ways and sprinkled it with granulated sugar… ▼ …and the result looked so much like melon pan that even we were impressed! It looked exactly like a melon bread you'd buy at a store, although you'd never guess that a sweet red bean bun was hiding inside. Following the same process, we achieved a similar look with the curry bread, and although there was no hiding the sliced bread, it looked pretty good too. As the breads are already baked, the baking time doesn't have to be long — simply in line with the oven time for cookies. ▼ So, after 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius (338 degrees Fahrenheit)… ▼ …the melon breads were ready to eat! The result wasn't bad for a first attempt, and now the only thing to do was enlist some taste testers to give us their verdict on the melon breads. We lined them up beside the pre-transformed breads, which we'd simply toasted, for a taste comparison. Sitting in as our judges, we have Seiji Nakazawa, Mr Sato and P.K. Sanjun, all of whom are sweet connoisseurs. So what did they have to say? ▼ 'I don't want to admit it, but…it's good.' ▼ 'Yeah, it's done well.' ▼ 'This is…it's unexpectedly good.' When these adjudicators began the taste test, they said they would only have a mouthful of each bread, but after tasting them, they kept on eating them. ▼ A testament to how good these breads were. When asked to choose their favourites, P.K. praised the red bean bun, saying: 'The exterior was nice and crispy and the bread seemed like a normal melon pan bread, but the red bean paste was a delicious surprise!' Seiji liked the curry bread, saying: 'It's surprising that curry bread and sweet cookie dough go so well together. The curry bread's outer layer is thick so it delays the curry flavor, but if the curry were directly under the cookie dough that would've been amazing.' Mr Sato said: 'Everything was good. It's a shame the cookie dough couldn't have been a little thinner, though.' ▼ In the end, there was one winner, with the red bean bun melon pan getting two votes, and the others one each. ▼ The red bean bun melon pan is so good that specialty stores should add it to their menus. So kudos to our reporter Ikuna Kamezawa, who was in charge of making the breads, which made her the most popular person in the office for the day. Not only did she introduce our reporters to new ways to enjoy melon pan, she surprised herself with how simple they were to make, and how good they tasted. With this being her first attempt, she reckons that with a bit of practice she could get even closer to the look of a melon pan in future. The results were so good that she's now keen to experiment with more bread varieties like convenience store hot dog buns and the world-famous peanut cream sandwich…if you have other ideas for her to try, be sure to let us know! 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 ]
