But this winter, the good people at Kirin are not resting and have released a special Apple chu-hi this Christmas season.

Chu-his can be very sweet so Kirin has “50% offu” (means half the calories) and chu-hi zero (which has no calories). Some people don’t fancy the saccharine taste but if you’re a Diet Coke fan, you would think it rocks.

I’ve been trying to figure out why they are so popular and my conclusion is that it’s available in every conbini (convenient store), it’s affordable (250JPY for a regular can), it’s refreshing and it definitely packs a punch even after one or two, so don’t be fooled by its light taste.

To me, chu-his mean party in parks, cozy get-togethers at home, awesome music festivals, and lazy nights in front of the telly.

Top chu-his in my list:
Apple
Cherry
Kiwi

Photos: Kirin

My friends and I were all pumped up at dinner in an izakaya in Shibuya and went onto pocketing chu-his and beers for the train ride to “the middle of nowhere” (which means anywhere outside the JR Yamamote Line or central Tokyo).

Photo: Markiemarc

*These photos were not of the night I went and it was forbidden to bring in cameras. Unfortunately, the camera in my mobile phone kind of sucked, too, so many thanks to the great photographers at Flickr.

UK spinmeister Armin van Burren was spinning the main set and was slated to begin at 330am. The two DJs before him were excellent at working up the crowd to a frenzy.

Photo: switchstyle

The stage was massive and the main dance floor felt like two basketball courts. We did some exploring in the beginning — there were a couple of small rooms with alternative tunes and a spacious poolside bar that was absolutely rocking despite the stinging cold (people just bopped around the huge heaters erected around the water’s edge).

It’s been awhile since I heard such great music blasted from a top-notch sound system so it felt great to dance for hours.

…Till 430am. My body just shut down and I elbowed my way out of the heaving crowd to find a seat. I was kind of like this dude over here.

Photo: soleada

One useful tip for non-nocturnal animals like me: Don’t share a locker with anyone. You can’t return to the premises once you step out and the locker room is outside. I wanted to go home at about 530am but we couldn’t find the last guy who shared a locker with us until much later. With booze-addled brains and half-shut eyes, we stumbled around looking for our equally drunk friend.

Also, if you are clubbing in winter: make sure you bring along a warm coat. It may not look cool but you get to stash in lockers. I, for one, was a little too vain and was decked out in a short dress, a cardi and a thin jacket, which made me shiver my ass off and fall sick after my Ageha escapade.

There are shuttle buses that depart every half hour from Ageha back to Shibuya where most people can catch a train back home. The JR and metro start at 430am from Shin-kiba station so you can take off before dawn if you want to.

My take on Ageha: Fantabulous clubbing experience and you should at least check it out once if you are remotely interested in good electronica.

Photo: Hiroki Blue

High street Swedish giant H&M created a retail frenzy in Tokyo this November, despite economic woes. The news reported insane queues and disappointed shoppers who couldn’t find their sizes despite waiting for hours.

Photo: kuschti

The lines at the Ginza store looked scary, so I decided to wait till the hype died down a little.

Photo: Guy Flaneur

But there were more crowds at the second opening in Harajuku - check out a short video about it here. Some of my fashionista friends went crazy over the Comme de Garcons/H&M collection and were determined to get at least one piece. Apparently, they look a lot more wearable than the ads make them out to be.

Photo: tokyofashion

It takes about an hour and a half to try something on in the dressing room and another hour or so to pay for your goodies, so a trip to H&M would be a whole-day affair.

Does this sound familiar? Krispy Kreme gave birth to impossibly long queues for their fabled double-glazed donuts — for a year.

Photo: joellymo

Anyway, this is indeed a breath of fresh air in the fashion scene and would make staples, like Zara, Gap, Uniqlo, sweat under the collar a bit.

I suppose quiet comfort in the train in important in Japan because there’s such a huge number of people commuting and it’s common to travel as long as two hours from your home to the office. If you have somebody who has loud music blasting from their headphones or taking up two seats instead of one, you would feel thoroughly annoyed after a couple of hours, I suppose.

The Manners series kicked off with “Please do it at home” and among these my favorite is this one below. I have definitely seen women fixing their makeup with a big hand mirror for their entire train journey and the average travel time here is about 30 to 45 minutes within Tokyo. But I don’t really see how this would affect other passengers unless said culprit keeps jabbing her elbows into her neighbor’s ribs.

Summer brought on this one and it’s the coolest so far in the series. I’ve definitely seen salary men transform into action heroes as they leap between closing train doors.

I only ever see rowdy peeps on the last train after a night of drinking, though it seems the norm to take a tall can of beer on the shinkansen (bullet train) even if it’s 10am in the morn…

I wonder how many more quirky posters they would come up with….?

Photos: courtesy of Jean-Marc Rocher

A friend who lives there declared Ippudo was her favorite after eating her way through many ramen shops in the Big Apple. With such a vote of confidence, I had to try this tonkatsu (pork broth) sensation when a couple of friends were in town for a visit.

For kicks, I decided to patronize the very first shop built in Ippudo’s chain, which is located in Ebisu, a chic well-heeled neighborhood known for its cool nightlife and culinary delights.

There wasn’t a line to get in (phew…) but it was pretty full of salarymen and OLs (office ladies). I got a seat immediately and pointed to the fabled Akamaru set. Being Singaporean, it was the natural choice as it’s topped with a spicy paste that is not in the Shiromaru one which is just plain tonkatsu soup.

Large bowls of spicy preserved spinach and bean sprouts were placed at every table — this simple but yummy appetizer whetted my taste buds for what was to come.

The rich, savory flavor of the ramen made everyone at the table slurp in silent appreciation. Oishiiiii (delicious)… The noodles were al dente and slippery, while I was just floored by the complexity of the soup — it was a melange of mysterious minced beans (probably from the spicy paste) and punchy meatiness.

You’ve got to try the sui gyozas (steamed pork dumplings) which swim in a clear, light broth and spring onions. Since I’m Chinese by ethnicity, I’m quite critical of gyozas and these little babies were definitely a five-star experience.

What’s unusual about the yaki gyoza (pan-fried pork dumplings) was it had a smidgen of yuzu (Japanese mandarin) paste on the side. The citrus bite completely transformed its heaviness and you’d feel you could stuff in just a few more.

Did I see the Ramen Gods in Ippudo? Almost, just almost. I’ve yet to find another shop that’s better and it’s no wonder that it’s touted as the best ramen chain in Tokyo.

-

Address: 1-3-13 Hiroo, Hainezu Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-5420-2225
Opening hours: 11am – 4am daily
How to get there: Take the West Exit from Ebisu JR station and head towards Meiji-dori. You’ll spot the shop next to a post office.

Even though I’ve been here for two years now, I still get a bit starry-eyed when I see the William Gibson-esque skyscrapers right next to ancient Zen temples. Japan is a living, breathing oxymoron that’s a fascinating creature to watch whom no one can quite figure out.

I’m familiar with the city and can get around without a glitch, but it is a huge metropolis and I’ve still got loads to discover. So come with me and follow my exploration of this adopted home of mine and hope you enjoy the ride. Feel free to give me feedback or ask me a question about Japan.

OK maybe not. Actually those are all lies, but it’s fun at least. The truth is Metblogs is the largest network of locally focused blogs on the web, covering almost 60 cities around the world and we’re looking to add a few new bloggers/writters/authors to this fine site. If you wanna know more about us check out this wikipedia entry but it’s kinda boring so I won’t waste time repeating it all here again. If you wanna write for us, here’s the scoop:

• All author positions are volunteer. That means you don’t get paid.
• You must live in (or very near) the city you plan to write about.
• Anything you post must relate to the city somehow. That means you shouldn’t post a movie review, but talking about going to see a movie at a local theater is fine.
• There’s no requirement for how much you can or should write, but we ask that if we set you up as an author you make about 3 posts a week.
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At Shinjuku Stn when entering the Mosaic Street that leads the way up to the MyLord (to be pronounced Merôd) department store you can find the so called MyLord Box. It is an interactive light instellation, that is especially nice when it is dark outside. The programm is changing every few minutes: sometimes it is all blue with white light-clouds appearing whenever you touch the screen, then it is snowing and the snowflakes are piling up around the spot where you touched it, and the other time it is gray with colourful lights popping up. It is quite entertainig to watch it and how the passer-bys react and interact. I thought it is quite amazing how many people, no matter what age was curious, tried to touch it, giggled, watched it for a while..
For all those of you who don’t have the possibility to see and touch it live and direct i uploaded a video here [click!].

Tokyo really is a place where more or less everything is available if you are willing to pay (sometimes a lot) for it. This can be wonderful: shopping or even just walking around and have a look at all the beautiful, delicious, strange or funny things is a lot of fun! Especially when it comes to food I often feel like in heaven here. However there are things of which I think they are just not right! Minke whale-, bear- or sea lion curry are definitly part of those things!
Don’t get me wrong: I also love to try food that I never had before. Give me some veggie I’ve never seen before and I will be happily excited like kids on christmas. But I am absolutely not appreciative of eating animals that are in danger of extinction, especially when people from an affluent society with plenty of other foods eat those meatproducts just out of curiosity or fun! It is not like someone is starving here without whale meat.
Furthermore I guess no one buys this in an endeavour to appreciate the meat - canned and soaking in curry sauce it surely won’t have any distinctive flavour. So it is all just about the idea of eating some “exotic” animal and about the colourful packaging. I found those cans in a shop for presents and all kinds of knick-knack - not in a grocery store - I don’t want to know how many people bought this as a oh-so-funny christmas present… I guess most of the cans will never be opened, they will just get dusty on the kitchen shelves of the presentees. What an unhappy end for a grand whale…

Happy holidays!