Japan Pulse

While the nation’s robots might not have been up to the task of nuclear-diaster reconnaissance, Japan’s androids are making strides in the kitchen. Suzumo Machinery Co., Ltd. has unveiled a robot capable of creating 2,500 inari-zushi rolls an hour. All the user (read: human) has to do is fill the rice hopper and place fried tofu rolls on a turntable. While we doubt anyone will be consuming that much inari-zushi any time soon, that type of efficiency is indeed impressive. Of course, this isn’t the first robot capable of dishing up Japanese food; in fact, robotics engineers seem to have a fair amount of pride in the national cuisine and program their creations to prepare all sorts of dishes,  from ramen and sushi to the potentially messy okonomiyaki. Yes, half the fun of this savory pancake is preparing it yourself, but watching a robot make it, and sing at the same time, is pretty cool, too.

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Nadeshiko serves up sushi prepared by cute young women

The appetites of Tokyo’s novelty-hungry clientele should be satisfied in October by a platter of new cafes and restaurants, running the gamut from photographer Miwa Yanagi’s pop up Café Rotten-Meier to Hooters, which is opening its first shop in Japan on Oct. 25. Whether you like a coffee served up in high style or prefer a beer delivered to your table by a cute girl with a wide smile, yet more options are now on offer for a one-of-a-kind meal in Tokyo:

• Hooters: The idea of girls singing songs, playing games and generally entertaining customers has long been the selling point of maid cafes, so we’re certain Japanese men won’t have any trouble getting their minds round the concept. In fact, we have to wonder what took them so long, given the considerable expansion of Hooters overseas. Hooters Tokyo, Akasaka Tokyu Plaza 2F,  2-14-3 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku.
• Nadeshico Sushi: The girls show a little less flesh here, with the focus instead on appreciating their delicate sushi-making hands. “Bare armed young women handling sushi will make me happy,” commented one netizen on the concept for this new Akihabara eaterie. Nadeshico Sushi (lovable sushi), which opened Oct. 1, features nigiri sushi prepared by women aged between 18 and 25. The menu includes Edo-era nigiri or super kawaii sushi rolls shaped into hearts or animal faces. Chichibu Denki Building 2F, Sotokanda 3-12-15, Chiyoda-ku.
• Café Rotten-Meier: As part of Festival/Tokyo 10, photographer Miwa Yanagi has dreamed up a concept cafe for lovers of performance art. Visitors will be served up tea and cakes by a coterie of grandmothers and over the final weekend one of the grandmothers will be played by Yanagi herself. There’s no age limit for those who want to perform as grandmother maids, but applicants must have an interest in performance and food. Rotten-Meier is the severe grandmother maid character from Heidi, so we’re not sure whether service will be delivered with a smile, but even if your tea is poured with a sneer, it’s bound to be an entertaining experience. The space will be decorated by Yanagi so expect to enter an enchanting if slightly unsettling fairytale world. The cafe will be located in front of Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space in Ikebukuro and will be open weekends only from midday till 10pm, from Dec. 30 till Nov. 28.

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How do you want your horse meat uncooked? (photo by shrk)

A new sushi shop has recently opened in a fashionable back alley of Ebisu, but don’t go expecting choice cuts of fatty tuna. Kato Meat Sushi caters exclusively to carnivores, with platters of horse meat, chicken, beef and pork, with much of it being served raw.

Raw horse meat, you say? It’s long been considered a delicacy in Japan and the concept of serving it as sashimi (basashi, or sakuraniku) has been around for awhile. It’s not too unusual to find at izakaya, especially the ones that specialize in regional cuisine. At Kato Meat Sushi, however, it’s the star of the menu. Customers can choose the grade of raw horse, just as if they would with tuna: lean, medium or fatty. The more fatty the meat, the higher the price:  It’s ¥160 for a couple of pieces of lean, while medium fatty costs ¥280.

The beef on the menu is premium Japanese beef  (wagyu), which is also often enjoyed raw, though usually not served as sushi. Unluckily for the owners, the store opened just as reports of a foot and mouth outbreak in Miyazaki were hitting the front pages, meaning that the ongoing cattle cull could make this item harder to come by.

Japanese consumption of meat has been on the rise for decades and while veggie restaurants have been taking off recently, plenty of restauranteurs are still appealing to the nation’s more carnivorous nature. Last year we saw the opening of a theme park dedicated to meat in Tokyo. Visitors to Meatrea can indulge their predilection for animal flesh in all manner of unusual forms, perhaps the most bizarre of which is a tonkatsu (pork cutlet) parfait. Those looking for more extreme sweet meat, there is raw horse meat ice cream (basashi ice) made by Ice Tengoku, which specializes in novelty ice cream flavors.

If this sort of fare whets your appetite, check out Time Out Tokyo’s guide to restaurants that serve raw meat. For those who are leery of consuming meat raw, you’ll be happy to hear that Spam sushi is also enjoyed in Japan. Personally, though, I’d rather chow down on raw horse meat, which has a sweet and succulent taste that beats the processed tinned taste of Spam any day.

Horse meat photo by shrk

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