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Bye Buy Butter

Thirty-five years ago, it was toilet paper. Now, consumers and bakeries are hunting butter as Japan is suffering a butter shortage.

Supermarkets are limiting butter to one per customer. At OK Mart, Hokkaido butter brand was available, up 100 yen from it’s previous price of 199 yen. Buyers were allowed only one package of the precious gold.

Manufacturers are apologizing as usual.

Bakeries and restaurants have been having butter troubles since late 2007.

Falling butter production in Japan is due to a variety of factors since 2006, including government efforts to maintain prices for local milk farmers, dairy closures, a decline in milk consumption, excessive import tariffs, and worldwide grain-feed price rises.

French bakery chefs are concerned: “We’ve had to come up with some new items that use less butter, like cookies. But you’re talking about flavor. How can you replace butter?” says a pastry chef at a bakery in Tokyo. la times

Butt Shortage Not First

Japan went into “oil shock” in 1973 when Arab members of OPEC set policies that would quadruple the price of oil. Reports predicted a shortage of goods, including (more…)

Experiment Confirms Transparent Swimsuit Concern

Swimsuits that can be “Photoshopped” see-through may distract Japanese Olympic swimmers at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

The Shukan Post quotes a spokesperson for the Japan Swimming Federation. The spokesperson says that following the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, official swimsuit manufacturers were asked by the JSF to “ensure their products would not become see-through when filmed in infra-red.”

Asics, Descente, and Mizuno are the official suppliers to Japan’s swim team. Speedo’s high tech LZR bodysuit, which the team may be allowed to wear, is also susceptible to digital manipulation.

Descente developer Toshiharu Tsubouchi told The Shukan Post the Descente swimsuit utilizes polyurethane for adhesiveness, and adds “depending on the way light shines on it, the color can brown a bit. That may make it look a little bit transparent.” He points out a tight fit is essential for athletes, thus some body parts will bulge out more than others.
Shukan Post Via Daily Mainichi: Faustian swimsuit gives Japanese swimmers the edge while revealing the points
more:
Japanese denied ‘high-tech doping’ Speedos
Japanese swimmers could do U-turn on bodysuits

The Wine Advisor reads the bar code on the bottle label and offers food recommendations to match the wine. The electronic scanner terminal is installed over wine racks at the 10 newest Peacock supermarkets in Japan.

Newsweek International reports the machine recommended roast beef, Maribo and Samsoe cheese and pain de campagne to go with a Bordeaux. This digital sommelier is also available in Queen’s Isetan.
source: When The Sommelier’s A Machine

Track Your Meat

A computer terminal in many AEON supermarkets offers domestic meat traceability, and tells you the animal’s birthday, where it was born, its birth weight, what it grazed on, and maybe even its favorite TV program.

Too Technical

Let Asimo shop for you.

Happiest Advertising Laughs Edition

10Mizuho Bank Happy Photo
9Kewpie Monthly Happy Present
8Calpis Happy Refresh
7Microsoft Happy Digital Life
6Docomo Happy Lucky
5Happy Lawson
4Rent-A-Car Happy
3Indy Japan Happy Bowling
2Daiwa Happy Hug House
1Happy Period

Most Attractive Gifts Announced

Found a beautiful gift in Japan? How does it compare to winners of the second “Attractive Souvenir” contest held by The Visit Japan Campaign (Yokoso Japan)?

Some winners:

Food Category, using regionally produced ingredients
Gold Prize - Nambu Hand-baked Senbei Rice Cracker Set
Bronze Prize - Kameya Grated Wasabi Mustard

Crafts & Skills Category
Gold Prize - Edo Kiriko Glass Furin Wind Chime

Cool Japan Category
Gold Prize - Artistic Japanese Erasers

All prizewinners here.

The objective of the Contest is to promote tourism in Japan by selecting particularly attractive souvenirs in terms of quality and design as seen by foreign visitors, that will lead not only to nurturing and finding attractive Japanese souvenirs, but to promoting regional brands, and conveying through such merchandise the beauty and the appeal of Japan.

Real or fake?