Stay at hotel after a natural disaster and save!

A merchant association in Toda, Saitama Prefecture, is selling memberships in a kind of disaster getaway package.

Buyers choose an inn or hotel in advance, and, if the Disaster Relief Law goes into effect in the city, members will be provided accommodation up to 300,000 yen in value. The vouchers can be used at lodging in 14 locations around Japan. The annual membership fee costs 10,500 yen for a family of five, and that includes transportation.

And if nothing happens during the one-year membership? You get a free gift! Direct from one of the evacuation area regions. A 3,000 yen value.

Brochure images: blog.kogayabungu.jp

Domino’s Pizza apologizes for price increases with a flier attached to it’s pizza boxes (left). It states that due to the worldwide cost increases of flour, cheese and oil, Dominos suddenly had to raise prices. Except these three pizzas will remain at the old price.

Kentucky Fried Chicken apologizes for a 20-yen per piece increase. Mr. Donut, a 10 to 20-yen per doughnut increase

Maruha kamaboko is up 10 to 15 percent. Snow Brand cheese and butter, a 6 to 11 percent increase.

Ampontan blog lists other price hikes. MOS Burger apologizes for raising prices. (Japanese, pdf), and so does Koiwa Dairy (Japanese)

Price increase banner on Domino’s website.

List of other recent price rises.

Price increase chart (pdf).

KFC price increases.

Made (Better) in Japan ( Forked, Alan Richman, GQ, March 2008)

Also a Newsweek International Special report, The New Food Capital Of The World.

This article mentions the fascination with food on TV in Japan, and the 2007 edition of the Michelin Guide, which “gave a total of 191 stars to Tokyo, leaving Paris a distant second with 97 and New York third with 54″.

Now I understand why there’s often a line outside the local 6-seat ramen counter. [ 2008 Michelin Guide (Japanese) ]

ABC Cooking Studio is offering two desserts created from ABC recipes, at Seven Eleven stores in Japan.

The fresh ?Creme Earl Grey? and ?Grapefruit Yogurt Mousse? packages include QR codes to access the product recipe online using a cell phone. (Once you have the URL, you can also view the web page on your PC.)

Earl Gray; Grapefruit Yogurt

ABC Cooking Studio lessons in English
ABC Cooking Studio (Japanese)

Seven Eleven in Japan has also been offering cook-at-home meals.

Order a fresh meal online, pick it up at a Seven Eleven outlet, and cook the food at your home. Lots of sets to choose from, including two ?original recipe? dishes from ABC Cooking Studio.

The Daily Yomiuri reports that a ?disaster relief vending machine? which can be enabled to dispense goods for free during a natural disaster, has been installed outside a police box in Maebashi.

And the Maebashi machine is not the only one. There are 20 similar vending machines in Shizuoka.

In fact, vending machines that become free-of-charge after a disaster or major quake have been available nationally at least since 2003.

When an earthquake of 5 or higher on the seismic intensity scale, or a similar disaster occurs, and if the anti-disaster headquarters is activated, the items in the special vending machines will be offered free of charge. An emergency power supply keeps the machines operating.

Seishin venderDydo

Don’t get busted with this new candy. Here are photos of candy bars with interesting names.

Produced by An Englishman in Osaka

To attract interest from homemakers and young women, and to improve its image, the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force is publishing navy recipes on its website.

The MSDF is posting recipes for two dishes each week. Recipes for Japanese, Western and Chinese dishes that are served in the navy are being revealed.

The original recipes serve 100 people, so the MSDF had to work out recipes for four servings.

Curry is a MSDF favorite, and it has 60 curry recipes. A MSDF tradition is to eat curry rice on the weekends, to remind the ship crew what day it is.

The first curry recipe was released on January 1, 2008. The recipe includes barbecue sauce, minced white peach and a milk-like beverage.

An official of the Maritime Staff Office’s public relations office said it would be good if dishes made by the public based on the recipes helped start up conversations about the MSDF over dinner.

Photos clockwise from top: MSDF Website; crab rice pilaf; ginger pork. FULL STORY