"japan" news and stories

When it comes to complementing Japanese cuisine (say, wasabi-spiked sushi or some squiggly ramen), the average drinker's gut instinct is to sip sake. But to always reach for fermented rice would deny yourself the pleasures of some of Japan's finest beers.

We're hardly extolling the virtues of Asahi or Sapporo, thirst-quenching beers just like the typical American lager. And sure, Japan's Hitachino Nest White is a superb witbier spiced with coriander and orange peel, but that's a Belgian-style ale. Where's the beer that evokes the Land of the Rising Sun? For that, we look toward Coedo Brewery, situated a shade north of Tokyo.

We told you Thursday about the seven-patty Burger King Windows 7 Whopper, but now you can see the price of eating this special one-week-only promotion to celebrate the launch of Microsoft Windows 7 in Japan.

CheapAssGamer bought two of the burgers in Akihabara, Japan, and did their best to down 'em. Check it out in the video above.

[CheapAssGamer via Eat Me Daily]

Forget Godzilla. Beginning Thursday, Burger King fans in Japan can get a mega-sized Whopper.

Microsoft is teaming up with Burger King to release the Windows 7 Whopper, our sister site Engadget reports. The burger features lucky-number-seven stacked beef patties and stands 5-inches tall.

Keeping with the seven theme, the sandwich will sell at 777 yen (or approximately $8.50) to the first 30 customers and will be available for seven days. For customer No. 31 and beyond, the tower-o-meat will sell for 1,450 yen -- almost double the promotional cost.

[Via Engadget]

Are you a sushi fact whiz? Test your food trivia smarts with this fun sushi trivia and facts quiz.

Cooking has always been considered more than just a practice of necessity. The craft, the aromas, the flavors -- all of these particulars have made it a beloved art form, whether we're talking about a fried egg or a carefully created tray of sushi. But forget all that! Why hit the kitchen when you can leave it up to robots?

Always blazing the trail for robotics -- headed by visionaries like Hiroshi Ishiguro -- the Japanese are hitting the kitchen. The above video, from this year's International Food Machinery & Technology Exhibition in Tokyo, features the coming wave of kitchen robotics. So far, they've created pancake and sushi chefs, plus a rolling drink waiter and one maniacal robot slicer.

Tomio Sugiura, President of Sugiura Kikai Sekkei, declares in the video that robots are our future, and just as we have cars now, soon we'll have machines to help out at home.

While we'd love ourselves a wiggling slicer to take care of more tedious tasks, would a real foodie want to hand it all over to robots?



[Via YouTube]