..Thank you message..

This blog reopened one month ago...
and now it is close to 7 000 hits

Thank you so much!!

Total unique visitors: 2 385
Total different countries: 98

Top visiting countries:
USA (12,5%)
Japan (12,2%)
France (11,3%)


日本の方へ、

まだこのブログを復活したばかりなんですが、
一ヶ月でそろそろ7kヒットを越えると思います

わぁ～本当にありがとうございます
ヒット数が目的でブログやってるわけではありませんが、
たくさんの方に見ていただけてとてもうれしいんです

ちなみに、
訪問者数を国別で見ると日本は2位に入りました（シェア12.2%）
なんかビックリしましたね。わたしの英語って読めるんですか?
それとも、翻訳ツールを使って読んでるかなぁ。

とにかくの気持ちでいっぱいや!

..KFC samurai..

Funny KFC samurai...
I don't like KFCs in Japan (too expensive),
But this one definitely caught my attention!

Taken with my iPhone.

..Food addiction in Osaka..#2 回転寿司

This is the second entry of my food addiction series in Osaka
All pictures taken with my iPhone.

京の着倒れ、大阪の食い倒れ

Kyo no ki-daore, Osaka no kui-daore

Kyoto people ruin themselves on clothes,
Osaka people ruin themselves on food

回転寿司 (kaitenzushi)

Kaitenzushi litteraly means "rotation sushi" because the sushi plates come on a conveyor belt. I bet you already guessed where it was invented? Yes, in Osaka!
Most of the time, you find the following fishes on the conveyor belt:

• Salmon
• Maguro (tuna)
• Toro (fatty tuna)
• Tamago (egg)
• Hamachi (young yellowtail)
• Ika (squid)
• Tako (octopus)
• Ebi (prawn)
• Aji (horse mackerel)
• Unagi (conger eel)
• Anago (sea eel)
• Kani (crab)
• Saba (mackerel)
• Ikura (salmon roe)

Other sushi/maki/warship rolls are listed on the menu and should be requested to staff people or directly to the sushi shokunin (sushi chef).

In small restaurants the selection of fishes is also limited on the coveyor belt and you have to ask directly:

「まぐろ一丁」 
maguro icchou
"one (plate of) tuna!"

「いか・はまち二丁ずつー！」
 ika, hamachi nichou zutsu
"ika and hamachi, 2 (plates) of each!"

The sushi shokunin will confirm the order and gladly make the sushi for you.
If you are lucky, you can even see them cutting the fish in front of you! It is very impressive how fast they can do: a 2 meter-long tuna can be entirely transformed into sushi within 10 minutes!

Since I love kaiten sushi, I usally go there at least once per week and with 1 plate = 120 (1,5 USD), I usually eat for 720 (8 USD).

My favorite Kaiten Sushi restaurant near my place in Osaka Umeda:

Name: Hinomarugyokokumiai
Full name: 日の丸漁港組合
Adress: 大阪府大阪市北区堂山町6-7 ステージゴールドビル1F
Access: 東梅田駅から378m
Reservation: 06-6313-0840
Website: link

..Food addiction in Osaka..#1 お好み焼

Close-up on waraiyaki, my favorite okonomiyaki

Osaka is Japan's greatest food city
My るるぶ楽楽 ("rurubu rakuraku") travel book of Osaka mainly talks about street food and restaurants and, I must say, the number of small food shops here is amazing. Someone told me that Osaka people eat out around 7 times per week. There is even a Japanese proverb for it:

京の着倒れ、大阪の食い倒れ

Kyo no ki-daore, Osaka no kui-daore

Kyoto people ruin themselves on clothes,
Osaka people ruin themselves on food

Even if Osaka is not a main spot for overseas visitors, a lot of Japanese tourists come to Osaka for the food
A friend that works in the luxury hotel industry (Hilton, Ritz-Carlton, etc.) also told me that the highest turnover for restaurants is made in Osaka.

So today I'll start a new blog series: my food addictions in Osaka!
All pictures are taken with my iPhone.


お好み焼 (okonomiyaki)

Okonomiyaki literally means "grill what you like/as you want" and comes in the form of a big salty pancake based on either shredded cabbage (Osaka style) or yakisoba (Hiroshima style) and topped up with onion, meat (pork) or seafood (octopus, squid, shrimp).
My favorite style is made of mochi and cheese!

Okonomiyaki are served or directly made on hot plates that are built into the table : your food will never get cold and you can finish the cooking yourself by adding ingredients such as aonori (seaweed flakes), katsuobushi (bonito flakes), mayonnaise, sauce and pickled ginger.

I usually eat okonomiyaki twice per week. In Osaka uni you can get them at the okonomiyaki stand for only 250 (3USD)!!
Normal okonomiyaki in restaurants cost around 900 (10 USD).
Okonomiyaki in France cost around 15 EUR (18 USD)

My 2 favorite okonomiyaki shops near my place in Osaka, Umeda:

Name: Yamamoto Negiyaki
Full name: やまもと ねぎ焼き 梅田エスト・ワン店
Address: 大阪府大阪市北区角田町2-4 エスト一番街
Access: 梅田駅より徒歩4～5分 / ＪＲ大阪駅 中央口 徒歩8分
Reservation: 06-6131-0118
Website: link

Name: Nishiki Warai
Full name: お好み焼き・鉄板焼 京都・錦わらい 梅田茶屋町店
Address: 大阪府大阪市北区芝田1-15-21
Access: 阪急線梅田駅 徒歩3分 / ＪＲ大阪駅 中央口 徒歩5分
Reservation: 06-6131-8111
Website: link

My favorite okonomiyaki shop in Paris:

Name: Happa Tei
Address: 64 rue Sainte Anne, 75002 Paris
Access: Métro Quatre Septembre, 2 minutes à pieds
Reservation: 01 42 96 60 40
Website: N.A.

..Gyaru strips..#3

© 梅宮あいこ in コミックランズキ（v．1）
Scroll down for translation

In agony...

① it's the time when I invited my boyfriend to my room

② ugh? There's something under the pillow...
② eh!?

③ oh God! My hentai comic for single person ecchi!! I forgot to hide it!!
③ this... is...
③ ah... my brother's~

④ I came up with such an excuse but that book was a super erotic Boy's Love book...
④ sorry brother... I made you look like a gay

..Best marketing campaign in Japan: ロッテ Fit's ダンスコンテスト..

How far can marketing go in Japan? 

I blogged about this back in April 2009 but since the article is not online anymore, I'll update it here

Do you know Lotte?

It is a Japanese-South korean group in the food industry , world-known for its Koala biscuits (コアラのマーチ) and many other candies

At that time, the company created a new chewing gum brand called Fit's and launched with popular idols such as 佐々木希 (Sasaki Nozomi) and partners such as Youtube a series of TV commercials to encourage people to participate in their dance contest, ロッテ Fit's ダンスコンテスト  (Lotte Fit's Dance Contest).

The dance contest as little to do with Fit's chewing gum since participants are not requested to talk about it and don't even need to buy it!
But here lies the power of Japanese marketing: creating viral marketing buzz with the dance and choregraphy

Here is the first video

What I liked back then is the diversity of the entries: all the clichés of Japan in one contest!
Gyarus, maids, robots, but also traditional women in kimono, etc...

Here is my selection

In order:
Gyaru - Maids - Futsu style - Office lady & Salaray man - Salary man
School girls - Sport uniform - Pompom girls - Little Koda Kumi - Wedding & Kimono
Kendoka - Karateka - Hip hop - Mori style - Nurses
Alluring - Belly dancers - Gaijin - 3D - Robot

The contest had a huge success, and when I checked its website last week, I discovered that they have been doing 4 seasons of it, the last one just ended this summer

What changed today?
Well it is still the same tune and still based on a dance context, but in addition to new idols, I have to say the winning process is more elaborated now:

【共演者賞】
厳正なる審査のうえ、2組にそれぞれ100万円
【再生回数ベスト5】
再生回数の1～5位までに、それぞれ 100万円、50万円、30万円、20万円、10万円
【イイネ！賞】
「イイネ！」を最も集めた人に100万円

Translation:
Group performers
After strict evaluation, the 2 best groups get 1 000 000 yens each (13 000 USD)
Hit counters
1st place gets 1 000 000 yens (13 000 USD)
2nd place gets 500 000 yens (6 500 USD)
3rd place gets 300 000 yens (4 000 USD)
4th place gets 200 000 yens (2 500 USD)
5th place gets 100 000 yens (1 300 USD)
Like counter
The video that has the most "Likes" get 1 000 000 yens (13 000 USD)


You too can learn how to dance it

Follow this link: How to Fit's dance

And if you want some more Fit's, here is the link for
entries for Season 4...

And the link for winners of Season 4

I personnaly don't like this year's winners, but well I guess that's the law of popularity on Internet