It was over 35 degrees, humid and hot as hell. These factors were hard to avoid while walking down a street in Kyoto in the middle of a Japanese summer, but as the below photo demonstrates, the sheer joy of one finding the ultimate in edible coolants:

We came across a stall outside a tea shop selling green tea ice cream floats – With a Japanese twist of course! Soft green tea ice cream dunked in a cup of chilled green tea! It was the perfect summer coolant. Yet another brilliant idea by the Japanese!

Forget energy drinks – Collagen-enhancing drinks are all the rage, only in Japan! And I thought I’d seen my share of the bizzarro. I was wrong. All the pharmacies in Japan have a ‘health drinks’ section – and that’s where I found this Collagen beverage.

In fact, I have even seen this particular bottle for sale at some everyday convenience stores like 7-11. I would give you more detail, but I can’t for the life of me read Japanese. From what the bottle says, one of my assumptions would have to be that it contains 1000mg of Vitamin C. Who knows what the other 3000mg is!

I am assuming that this product would somehow  increase one’s collagen intake? Improve skin texture? Decrease wrinkles? Improve your overall wellbeing? I didn’t want to risk having a trout pout during my trip, so unfortunately I didn’t sample this! It was still an intriguing find though, I must say!

I wasn’t really sure what to call it, but that’s exactly what it was – Soba Noodles in a bun!

We found this interesting combination of carbohydrates at a cafe in Tokyo. It was pretty much a white bread bun sliced open and slathered in thick mayonnaise, then topped with Bolognaise-flavoured Soba noodles and some pickled ginger!

As the noodles were dark brown, we thought it would have been flavoured with soy sauce or something. But strangely enough, it tasted like Bolognaise, albeit artificial.

My friend Josh didn’t like it, so I snatched the bun off him and wolfed it down. I enjoyed it – I figured I wouldn’t see or taste anything like this often so what the heck – I couldn’t let it go to waste!

The Japanese are full of quirky ideas when it comes to, well, everything. Especially pre-packaged food. One of my favourite convenience store purchases in Japan was none other than a quick fix of ‘pocket’ sandwiches! Each time I stepped foot into a convenience store, I just HAD to get a bag or two – sometimes even sneaking them into my bag quickly after I paid for them. It was getting embarrasing that I had some sort of fetish for these and had to hide it from the group!

At 200yen a pop (around $2.50), these cute little bags of fresh and fluffy white crustless sandwiches are just simply a genius idea. They are widely available at various Japanese convenience stores like Family Mart and 7-11, and come with different fillings – Egg mayo, tuna mayo, peanut butter, strawberry, blueberry, chocolate (gasp!), and custard (double gasp!). They were always fresh when I bought them – even after leaving them in my bag for a day or two! Japanese technology…

I nicknamed them ‘pocket’ sandwiches because of the way the fillings are ’sealed’ shut between two slices of bread, sans the crusts. I never like crusts, so the discovery of this sandwich ‘niche’ changed my life forever. The white bread they use is very soft and fluffy – my favourite pocket sandwich has to be the egg mayo, while the tuna mayo comes a close second! The perfect sandwich, satisfying in so many ways…

A stroll through a supermarket in downtown Tokyo was a fascinating experience! The quality and variety of the fresh produce was top notch and I was surpised to find that they weren’t too ridiculously expensive. Here are some photos I took of a few items at the supermarket:

One of our missions while in Japan was to try as many kinds of confectionery as humanly possible. We came across this adorable box of treats called ‘Every Burger’ at a convenience store. Naturally, we were curious. We found them in the sweets and chocolate isle, so they couldn’t have been savoury mini burgers complete with meat patties? Didn’t think so.

Inside the box lay 8 mini burgers. They ‘buns’ were actually biscuits, while the ‘cheese’ and ‘meat patties’ were a combination of milk and white chocolate that melted in our mouths. The verdict? Sweet, crunchy, chocolatey and gooey with no burgery aftertaste. A pretty tasty snack and for 200 Yen a box, not bad at all! Definitely satisfied the sugar and chocolate craving…

One morning during a stroll through a convenience store in Kyoto in search of a hearty breakfast, I bypassed the rice balls, bento boxes and sandwiches and decided to get a bit creative with my meal. Japanese convenience stores never cease to amaze me when it comes to variety!

Four easy steps on how to create the ultimate D.I.Y. convenience store meal:

1. A packet of cooked rice – readily available from the cold food isle.

2. One serving of pickled cucumbers, seaweed and white bait.

3. A can of smoked sweet Mackerel.

4. Bring purchased items to a nearby park, combine ingredients and serve.

Okonomiyaki is a savoury Japanese pizza or pancake – Unlike its western counterpart, the Okonomiyaki is made on a thin pancake-style base that almost resembles a crepe. This unique dish is very popular in Osaka and Hiroshima, and we were fortunate enough to get a chance to savour the Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki during our travels in Japan.

The chef-lady started by spreading the pancake mixture on the hot plate, creating the pancake. To be honest, it tasted more like crepe than pancake. Next came the shredded raw cabbage – lots of it.

We found an Okonomiyaki stall in a building in town. In fact, there were about 10 or more Okonomiyaki stalls in this one building, spread out between 2 floors and all right next to each other. We took a chance and randomly picked one. The stall we picked was run by a father-daughter team and they were more than happy to serve a bunch of gaijin - the father was so enthusiastic about having westeners in his restaurant, he even changed his TV channel to a Michael Jackson concert to apparently suit our western tastes…

She worked very quickly – in fact, she laid down all 7 pancakes in less than 4 minutes. Next on the topping list came the beansprouts, spring onions and bacon strips. Our daily intake requirements for lipids, proteins and vegetables were met by this stage.

The stall was set up in such a way that the seats wrapped around the cooking area, very similar to Teppanyaki so we could witness the creation of these magnificent pancakes right in front of us. Generally, the Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki already comes with the standard shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, spring onions, bonito flakes, bacon, Japanese sweet sauce, mayonnaise and Yakisoba noodles. On top of the ‘base toppings’, we get to choose a main topping: scallops, shredded beef, fish, prawns, squid, oysters, pork, chicken and so on. I opted for the oyster version.

The dried bonito flakes were next! Making Okonomiyaki is an art in itself.

The carbs were next on the list – enter Yakisoba noodles. As you can see, the servings were pretty hefty! and we had one each! The noodles were fried and seasoned with salt, pepper, and yes, Ajinomoto. Someone from the group had ordered the seafood topping which I believe were prawns and squid. Basically everything is cooked in front of you, very similar to Teppanyaki minus the egg-throwing. While the noodles were frying away, she flipped the Okonomiyaki over onto the topping side to get the bacon cooked. Watching her flip something with loose vegetable shreds and not have them fly into your eyes and lap was quite amazing!

The end result: A towering inferno of pancake, cabbage, sprouts, bacon, bonito flakes, yakisoba noodles, omellete, sweet sauce, spring onions and my main topping of succulent Japanese oysters. It was a large serving enough for 2, but yes I wolfed it down on my own in one sitting. I really enjoyed the combination of textures in this dish.

Being a foodie means trying everything – even if that ‘everything’ means a quick fix at McDonald’s. While in Hiroshima recently, I had to give the Japanese McDonald’s an international taste-test. Mind you, their menu actually looked reasonably appetizing! At least they use Kewpie mayo in their burgers – now that is something. Whether they actually use off-cuts of Wagyu beef for their patties, I’m not so sure about.

I was loitering outside the restaurant for a few moments before this giant poster advertising their Tamago Double Mac caught my eye:

I examined this for a few seconds and decided to give it a shot since I like egg in my burgers. I proceeded to the counter for my order. Of course, me no habla Japanese so naturally ordering from their picture menu involved lots of pointing. The poor girl at the counter just nodded her head vigorously while she took my order.

Hmmm… when I got it on my table I just stared blankly at this dubious, paper-wrapped parcel, half-expecting it to pounce at my face, its hot oozing cheese blinding me permanently in one eye and the beef patties causing greased-force trauma to my forehead. It was a decently sized burger, somewhere between a double-quarter pounder and a big mac. After I managed to get rid of the horrific visions of a burger-induced injury out of my mind I unwrapped it:

First of all, the burger was upside down. And secondly, why does the advertising always look better than the real thing? I poked and prodded the burger to make sure it was dead and wouldn’t pounce on me. After a few seconds I realised that the burger was indeed lifeless (probably from overcooking), I took a bite. Contrary to the unappetizing photo, the Tamago actually tasted good. The patties had a strong seasoning, and the mayo was a tangy seafood-flavoured Kewpie mayo which tasted like lobster and the egg just made my day. Usually, a meal at McDonalds is always followed by grease-induced nausea but for some reason unknown the feeling never eventuated. Yes, the Tamago Double Mac has my heart-foundation tick of approval!