Pokemon Cafe in Osaka!

There's finally a Pokemon Cafe in Osaka!!  Of course, I made a reservation as soon as they started taking them in August!  I thought I might be a bit weird being a party of one...but there were quite a few others like me (though I think most of them didn't revert to about 5 years old and start squealing when Pikachu came out).


The Cafe and the new Pokemon Center DX (deluxe) just opened yesterday (along with the entire rebuilt Daimaru department store building), so it was pretty crowded.  I had to stand in line for just the elevator to get up to the 9th floor!  Then I had to line up just to shop in the DX store.  And, of course, the line to check out with my purchases.  But it wasn't too bad, really.  And I think I was reasonable with my shopping!  LOL  I got some nice freebies too.


On to the Cafe! 

The woman next to me came ready for Instagram!  She brought her own plushies to help with the photography!

The tablet on the table in the above photo is the menu and is also how you order your food.  Of course, staff is on hand to help out and answer any questions.  The tablet has settings for multiple languages, so non-Japanese speaking tourists will be able to order smoothly. 

The Gengar grape smoothie has a "mysterious" glow...which the server will warn you to be careful not to swallow!

Sorry I ate your cookie ears, Gengar!  They were yummy!  Your grape flavor was super delicious too!  I guess that brain freeze I got was your revenge!

The Halloween special Pikachu meal plate!  This was kinda 50-50 for me.  Some parts of it were alot more tasty than I was expecting, while others were a bit average.  I wasn't sure if the hat was edible, so I had to ask the Instagram lady sitting next to me (she'd ordered the same thing)!  Edible, but an awful flavor, to be honest...

But then...the highlight of the visit...  An appearance by Chef Pikachu himself!!

We couldn't take individual photos with Pikachu, due to time and space contraints.  We just had to take photos/videos and shake his hand.  I wanted to hug him, but I managed to hold myself back...  He moved to various areas of the cafe, shook hands, did a little dance.  When he walked, we all chanted in rhythm with his steps.  Pi - ka - pi - ka...  In the background, some kind of Pikachu song played (all the lyrics being just Pika Pika).  

 

Oh, the cuteness!!

Unfortunately, my visit ended a bit badly.  The staff at the register had a hard time, for some reason, and it took about 10 minutes.  I don't think she knew how to run a credit card.  I offered to pay in cash, but she was like "No, it's OK!"  But it clearly wasn't!  Or maybe it was because I ordered the meal that comes with the souvenier plate and I wanted to substitute the Halloween Pikachu plate for the regular Pikachu face plate.  The 3rd staff person finally got it sorted out!  3rd!! 


I had finished eating quickly because I knew at 3pm, there would be another Pikachu appearance - this time at the DX store.  And it would be a RARE one... the suit-wearing comedy team twin Pikachus.  They came out while I was still waiting at the Cafe register...and by the time I was FINALLY done, they were gone.  I was sad...  This is all I could capture.

Pikachu....THE ICE CREAM

"Welcome to Baskin Robbins.  May I take your order, pika?"

I know alot of people have been blogging about the special new flavor of ice cream at Baskin Robbins.  I've been on a diet for the past few months (with decent results!), so I finally decided today was the day to get some ice cream.  And what better to break my ice cream fast than with the new Pikachu Thunderbolt Fruit Mix flavor!  Plus, you get cute cup and spoon thrown in to sweeten the deal, as it were.

To get the cup, you have to order a double scoop.  In addition to the Pikachu flavor, I decided on Banana and Strawberry.  Unfortunately, they put that one on top, so it was hard to get a photo of just the Pikachu ice cream. 



Other people's blogs/news sites will have much better photos!  But it's yellow with little red chunks of candy to represent Pikachu's red cheeks.  In the official photos, there were also little chocolate Pikachu faces...where's mine?? 

One.  I got ONE little chocolate Pikachu.  And at the very bottom of the cup, no less.  I actually thought a little about complaining...LOL


So, how does Pikachu ice cream taste?  Well....the ice cream part was really good.  I was worried it might be a bit tangy or something, but it was a nice smooth fruity flavor.  I didn't like the red candy bits though.  Mixed into ice cream, they were sticky like hard candy that's been sitting around during the summer.  Maybe if they changed the hard candy to fruit bits instead?  Though, to keep with the red cheeks theme, it'd have to be cherry and I hate cherry so...

Tanabata

Today was Tanabata.  Not that we did anything special, but I just wanted to show a few of the special things you'll find during this time at school. 

You will definitely see one of these in front of the 1st grade classrooms.  Sometimes they're displayed at city hall or some shopping centers as well.  Children write their wishes on rectangular pieces of paper and tie them to the branches. 

This kid wants to get better at swimming. 

Some of the wishes can be pretty interesting and they're a good sign of each child's personality.  Many of them want to get better at some school subject or have better writing.  Some of them write what they want to be in the future (soccer player, pastry chef).  Other kids just write something they want, like it's a letter to Santa....  *facepalm*

Kyushoku gets in on the celebration as well.  This is a typical Tanabata soup.  Includes star shaped...whatever the heck that is...and okra (which is naturally star shaped).  Not terribly delicious, in my opinion, but it's tradition. 

Kyushoku #2

As promised, more pictures of Japanese elementary school's lunch!

A more Japanese-style lunch.  Rice, miso soup, dry crunchy beans with kinako, and fish in a slightly sweet sauce.  There was also "wakame furikake", but I generally prefer plain rice so I opted out. 

Bread with chocolate spread, chicken & quail eggs, "bi-fun" with veggies.  OK, I have to explain some of this...  First off, chocolate on bread is super delicious!  I never had this before coming to Japan.  Next, I had to look up "bi-fun" and I came up with "rice noodles".  It's a kind of noodle from China.  Finally, the quails eggs.  When my mother visited Japan many years ago, I brought her with me to school and we had quails eggs.  She was surprised to see them in school lunch because back home, these kinds of eggs are much more expensive than regular eggs.  I bought some once, but trying to peel the shell of those tiny things was much more trouble than it was worth!

Seriously, I recommend trying chocolate on bread.  You can try cake frosting, if you have it!  Or if you're in Japan, many grocery stores have chocolate spread, in the same section as peanut butter and jam.

Kyushoku! #1

Some of you may have heard things about Japan's kyushoku (school lunch).  I've mentioned it a bit in previous posts.  It's definitely healthier than the average lunch in US schools!  But what's in it?  Maybe you've seen something in one of those "isn't Japan wacky?" news reports.  School lunches differ according to area, as they usually try to use locally grown produce as much as possible. 


Here are a few samples:

You KNOW I'm gonna start of with curry and rice!  My favorite lunch of all time!  They usually pair it with a salad or fruit gelatin.  I mix my rice into the curry.  Kyushoku curry is just the right level of non-spiciness, but without falling into the "sweet" category.

Sorry, I should've rotated this one!  Anyway, it's "kokuto" bread (made with a darker sugar, but not Western style "brown sugar"), harusame (clear noodles) soup, and a piece of fried(?) chicken with lemon sauce. 

This is another favorite.  Tuna and potato salad, bread, cheese slice (to make a sandwich) and minestrone soup.  I love that soup!  So much better than any store bought one.

Pot-au-fu (forgive me if I spelled that wrong!), "American dog", and bread.   Wait, what??  American DOG?  That's what corn dogs are called here! 


Well, today's lunch photos are mostly Western style with bread.  I'll be posting more photos in the future, so stay tuned!  As long as I remember to snap a photo before I dig in...  LOL 


What's your favorite lunch from today's blog?

You gonna eat that...?

The other day, I received a "lucky" school lunch!  What made my lunch so lucky? 

Yup, that's a piece of carrot cut into a heart shape.  Daycares and elementary schools often add some specially cut veggies (usually carrots) to soups as one way of getting kids excited about veggies.  In addition to hearts, sometimes there are stars or flower shapes.   


I haven't gotten a lucky lunch in so long, I'd forgotten about them!  But school lunch isn't the only place to find cute veggies.  Special veggie cutters are available in stores so parents can also encourage their kids to eat cute veggies in their boxed lunches too.


But I admit...Japanese kids are alot better with eating vegetables than I was as a kid.  American vegetable dishes are AWFUL.  Just plain boiled veggies in US school lunch!  Japanese school lunches are designed with kids' taste buds in mind, while still being healthy.  I think my favorite added flavoring is sesame dressing or oil.  The various soups, stews, and curries make veggies easy to eat!


More on school lunch to come!

Children's Day chimaki

One of the national holidays during the Golden Week period is Children's Day.  I always look forward to this because it's the only time I can get chimaki.

"What the heck is this?", you may be thinking.  This is chimaki.  It's soft, somewhat sweet, mochi wrapped in a leaf.  Being wrapped in a leaf seems to give it a fresh grassy smell and flavor.  Sounds weird, but it's good!

This is often included in the school lunch as a treat just before or after the Golden Week period, but because the holiday is extra long this year, we didn't get any (at least not in the city I work in).  I was talking to the teacher in charge of the school lunch about this last week and...she ordered some just for us teachers!  So, that's something to look forward to when I have to go back to work next week! 

Curry!

Most of you probably think of curry as a food from India.  And it is.  BUT, Japan has its' own version and it's one of the most popular dishes for both kids and adults.


If you ask any Japanese kid in elementary school what their favorite menu is for school lunch, most of them will tell you "curry".  It's my favorite lunch too! 

Japanese curry is pretty much a spicy stew (though with varying levels of spiciness) with meat and veggies.  There are many variations based on seasons and local specialties.  Usually it's eaten with rice (hence, being called in Japanese "kareraisu" - curry rice).  It's so different from Indian curry, you could really call it Japanese food!


You can find curry on the menu of many family-style restaurants, as well as curry-based restaurants.  I think the most famous is CoCo Ichibanya. 

Here is my daughter on our most recent visit.  She's got one of the kids' plates, featuring curry along with some french fries, chicken nuggets, corn, sausage, and some fruit jellies.  My favorite at this place is the "buta shabushabu" (sliced pork) curry with scrambled egg topping.  Yummy!!

For more info on how Japanese curry came to be, check out the Wikipedia entry.

TACO BELL in Japan!!

I love tacos....but I can't handle spicy food, so Taco Bell level Mexican food is just right for me.  I was so happy to hear that there are Taco Bell restaurants in Japan!  Most of them are in Tokyo, but there are two in Osaka.  I went to the one in the Dotonbori area.  It's next to the Shochikuza （松竹座） Theater (well, there's a Family Mart in between) on the 2nd floor.  You can look out the window and see the famous giant crab and all the tourists taking selfies.

The inside doesn't look at all like a typical fast food place.  It's a bit dark, quiet...a nice place to relax a bit during a busy day of sightseeing perhaps.  Another positive difference is the ability to choose what type of meat you want: beef, pork, or chicken.  This allows people who can't eat certain types of meat for religious reasons to still enjoy their tacos!  If you're vegetarian though...I guess you could try the Chocodilla?


The last time I went, I got a Chalupa...which was the most amazing thing I've ever tasted.  I was really looking forward to eating one again, but this time, it was gone.  WHY?!?!?! 

The wrapping shows that I chose beef and mild spiciness.  Number 3 is the number of the item on the menu, I think.

So, I decided to try something new again and ordered a Crunchwrap Supreme.  Meh... I don't know why it has "crunch" in the name.  And it smelled burned.  I guess next time, I'll just go with regular tacos.


Despite, this recent less-than-satisfying experience, I still recommend it!  Being in a tourist area, the staff were calling out order numbers bilingually and I'm pretty sure the register staff today wasn't native Japanese (we spoke Japanese - don't ask don't tell).


You can check out the menu, prices, and locations here.