R.I.P.: Ando Momofuku (1910-2007)

Inventor of the instant noodles died at 96. Ration condition after World War II inspired the man to develop the first instant-noodle ever. Starting with Chicken Ramen in 1958, he followed in 1971 with the ubiquitous Cup Noodle, found in supermarket shelves as well as Cathay Pacific galleys.

Read the original article HERE.

New Year in Full Force

Tokyo awoke from her New Year's Holiday. While Christmas in this predominantly Shinto/Buddhist nation is not a big deal, New Year is. Christmas 2006, which fell on a Monday, was not a holiday, but from December 29 until January 4, most offices and businesses closed down. People fled the city or stayed at home to relax.

While major department stores already opened on January 2 with gradually longer hours, only today (Friday, January 5) did most of Tokyoites return to work in full force, and the effect could not be felt more than in one of her busiest spots: Shibuya. Just witness the major intersection with hundreds of people crossing tonight: in the past few days, this spot was almost like a ghost town.

Like major European cities, January in Tokyo means Major Sale Month. Businesses want to dump their inventory by slashing the price up to 70%, but with this city being one of the most expensive places in the world, a sale price here means just a regular price elsewhere...

On the first day of reopening, many stores features "Fuku-Bukuro," which is basically a "Mystery Grab Bag:" you pay for the said price and take a risk in getting a bag with mystery contents. This is a real bargain because the actual price of the content s is much higher than what is charged to the customers, but the risk is there: you can end up with either "treasure" or "trash," which sounds very much like a commercial "trick or treat." The Nike Fuku-Bukuro at Takashimaya, for example, included a jogging suit, a sports bag, and a pair of shoes. I am not entirely sure what happens if one does get what he wants but in the wrong size. These bags sell like hot-cakes, according to one staff member; within less than two hours, they were out of Fuku-Bukuros.

Spread the Fat

The company may be closing many locations in the U.S., but Krispy Kreme Doughnuts has decided that Asia is where the action is, especially in places that worship anything "new and Western," like Tokyo and Hong Kong. Kriskpy Kreme blamed the downturn in their fortune to the No-Carb Obsession of the Americans; perhaps they will have better luck here in Asia, whose people seem to have higher metabolism and to know moderation (although these days in China the children of the nouveaux riches seem to have expanding girth).

I was passing through the Shinjuku Southern Terrace back in December 8 of last year when I realized that there was a new addition to this commercial stretch that had already included a Starbucks and a seafood restaurant. It was the Krispy Kreme shop, and the sign said, "7 Days" until the opening, on December 15. Inside of the store, staff were working full time, doing a dry run, if you will. The machine was humming and doughnuts were being produced, and instructions were given to the underlings. At night time, with so thousands of practice doughnuts in abundance, they did not know what to do except to give them away to passersby.

Since its opening on December 15 until this article was written, the store never ran out of doughnuts and the new customers who loved them. Not only were faithfuls, new converts, and the curious patiently queued and filled the raised terrace area in front of the shop, but the line also continued at another side of the building (at the beginning of the bridge that connected the area to the Takashimaya department store), prompting the company to hire security staff to direct traffic from that line to the terrace.

I still remember in the mid-90s, when Krispy Kreme hit California. Not only was the line inside snaked all the way outside, but the drive-through queue caused traffic jam in the parking area of a mall complex in East Bay. I had my first taste of KKD in the mid-80s, when I was schooled in the South (Louisiana and Tennessee). I remember that when I went to one of the shops in Nashville, it was just like a diner, complete with at least two of the city's finest (police) perched at the counter. The shop was located in a rather deserted area, and from outside, the scene could pass for a stepsister of Edward Hopper's famous popular painting "Nighthawks." Who would have guessed that one day, I would run across Krispy Kreme at one of the hot spots of one of the most exciting metropolis in the world.

These Dogs' Lives...

The lives of those cute dogs in Japan may not all be that rosy. There are indeed plenty of adorable looking dogs popping up from some girls' handbags in the metro, or ones peeking out of others' jackets. Like the character Claudia from Anne Rice's "Interview with a Vampire," these dogs' growth and development seem to have been arrested permanently, leaving them in a perpetual state of cuteness and cuddliness. I often wonder why I had not seen many of these while living in America, but perhaps this recent article from the New York Times may shed light on how and why these dogs came to be.

Click HERE to read the entire article, titled "Japan, Home of the Cute and Inbred Dog," by Martin Fackler (December 28, 2006). Photo above by Masafumi Yamamoto for the New York Times.

Daisuke "DICE-K" Matsuzaka: The 51-Million-Dollar-Boy

When I boarded my NRT-LAX flight on Wednesday, the gate was chock full of photographers and newscasters. Turned out sitting in the same cabin as I was Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Seibu Lions pitcher known for his "Gyroball." Only 26 years old, and the Boston Red Sox paid $51.1 Million just to talk to him. You can read about it HERE.

During disembarkation, I got stuck in the gangway behind Matsuzaka-san, a rather tall figure. A handler was showing him the way through the immigration. Some passengers, upon learning who he was, started asking for his autographs. Many photographers and newcasters were ready outside of the arrival hall. The Boston Red Sox has 30 days to make up their mind about the boy.

Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images