Otaku International

CureMaid Cafe has a promotional event for all the Gurren Lagann fans out there. This event will last from Friday 22nd August and will last till 15th September. Customers can get to try specifically designated menus as well as purchase character goods from the cafe. For those who are going to be in Japan during this length of time, then maybe you have the opportunity to try out this interesting event at the cafe. It sure looks good in my eyes and I wish I could go.

Here is a video showing a tour-like display of the cafe:

News Via: alafista

For those of you who remember my posting on an eel based beer, well apparently there is another odd beer developed in Japan. This particular beverage is developed in Hokkaido, Japan and it is known as “Bilk,” which pretty much means Beer and Milk. That is right folks, this particular beer is a derivative of Milk! Hokkaido is known for its farming industry, milk is largely developed over in Hokkaido and in recent years there has been a surplus in milk supply.

A brewery there has succeeded in producing a low-malt beer with milk, after the drink was suggested as a product that would help use up surplus milk. Since one-third of the drink is milk, the drink has been viewed as a good way to use up milk in the town.

Ahh nothing like an Eel Beer for the summer months, and a Milk Beer for year round consumption to make one’s life fulfilling. I don’t know about all the other people out there but I would definitely try this, a nutritious beer sounds like a good idea to me.

There were some interesting Bento boxed lunches I found while surfing the net, these were just too cool not to show off. For those who do not know what a Bento is:

Bentō (弁当 or べんとう, Bentō?) is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquer ware. Although bento are easily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops (弁当屋, bentō-ya?), train stations, and department stores, it is still common for Japanese homemakers to spend considerable time and energy producing an appealing boxed lunch.

A very nicely made Naruto Bento

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Unusual ice cream flavors from home and abroad are drawing families to the Aisukurin Hakurankai (Ice Cream Expo) at Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse. Over 100 kinds of unique ice cream, made with local delicacies such as ox tongue, sea urchin, eel and horse sashimi, is available during the expo that will end on August, 10.

Now if you think you had some weird flavors, well you would be in for a surprise. Personally speaking I would try most of these if not all just out of principle to see how they taste. I am Asian myself and I have had Red Bean, Soy Bean, all those unique flavors that Americans are not accustomed to. And I enjoyed them perfectly fine, of course Red Bean is nothing like ox tongue but who knows.

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Ahhh…Nothing like kicking back with a cold cup of eel after a hard day at work!

At least that would be the case in Japan. It’s not enough for beer to be the official drink of the oppressively hot Japanese summer, one beer company is hoping to tie-in with the traditional food of summer, unagi (eel). Miyashita Sake Brewery is launching a “Suitable for Unagi” black beer that matches the color and richness of the grilled eel coated in sticky and slightly sweet sauce. You can find this being sold online at a pack of 6 for 2,425 Yen.

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In order to celebrate the Ikki Tousen Great Guardians PSP game, the Cure Maid Cafe has added an interesting milk pudding dessert to their menu called “Haku fu no gyuunyuu purin”, which translates to Hakufu’s milk pudding in English. This dish is named after the main character in Ikki Tousen, thats right it is named after Sonsaku Hakafu. I like the attention to detail that they even topped it yellow to match Hakafu’s yellow top and not to mention if you look closely at the dessert you can notice a little bulge in the nipplerish area. Now that is art my friends, true art.

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I have to thank CScout Japan for finding such an interesting piece of info.

I am sure everyone who loves or knows anything about Japan would know about vending machines. Unlike here where I live in the United States, Japan has vending machine for just about anything you would want. And not to mention they are around the corner in busy city streets. Boy sometimes I wish there was one right around the corner from my house. Luckily for me though I live in NYC, so most places would have a convenient store not too far off.

But enough about that, back to the topic. It turns out that Japanese ingenuity has come up with the Japanese Veggie vending machine. Ahh finally an answer for those busy city folks that can’t make it in time to buy their veggies before the store closes. I personally am just wondering how fresh are these vegetables? And I sure hope these vending machines are keeping them well refrigerated. Now if only we had an entire supermarket inside a vending machine, man that would be so awesome!