The Anime Blog - We Go Beyond Anime!

When you’re having fun on the go and you’re looking for snackage, food which is as mobile as you is always a good thing. In Japan, country of a thousand festivals, food mobility is an important factor to enjoying the celebrations. Many festival snacks come in ball form (takoyaki), on a stick (yakitori) or both, making carrying around your food without making a mess easy. These two snack attributes are best personified in a treat almost as old as the festivals: dango.

Dango are dumplings which can be either savory or sweet and are often, but not always, served on a bamboo skewer. Savory dango are many times covered in some type of soy-based sauce, which can either be sweet, salty or both, and can be served with nori sprinkled on top or completely wrapped in a sheet of seaweed.... Continue Reading...

In part one of “Man, What’s Up With Manju?”, I gave some background on manju, aka man, and listed a few varieties of man common in Japan. If you’d like to play with your own manju recipe, here’re two basic recipes to toy with and finesse to your preference. I’ve also included four complete manju recipes as well.... Continue Reading...

Man, there’s this Japanese food called manju, and it’s crazy how many different varieties of this snack are out there. There’s An Man (anko filled manju) Kare Man (curry flavored manju filled with curried meat) Niku Man (meat filled Chinese-style manju) and even Pizza Man (this is one manju that really delivers!) This versatile food is a filled, or plain, steamed wheat dough bun which has its roots in Chinese cuisine. ... Continue Reading...

Senbei, okaki, and arare, the elusive Japanese rice crackers. Or I should say, good senbei, okaki and arare are elusive. I’ve had my fair share of senbei and arare mixes, most of which have been underwhelming in terms of excitement and enjoyability. They all seem to taste the same with varying differences in texture and size. Everything tastes like shoyu (soy sauce), nori and sugar. These flavors are great, but given the huge diversity in appearance and packaging, shouldn’t there be just as many flavors to match?... Continue Reading...

Last year, I posted a brief write-up of Valentine’s Day in Japan. To refresh our memories: ... Continue Reading...

Halloween and Christmas this year were one and the same as David made my Pocky dreams come true by buying me a Halloween Pocky variety pack with Pumpkin Pocky!!... Continue Reading...

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