With just a small bit of ingenuity, turn everyday food into something cute using Kaori’s easy recipe! With a few simple ideas, an ordinary recipe magically transforms into a cute dish. In this character recipe you will learn how to make a “Pompompurin Steamed  Cheese Bread” (labeled CHEESE STEAM UP BREAD). Did you know that recently decorating a “steamed cheese bread” is the in thing to be doing right now? So, in this recipe I will explain about how to decorate a steamed cheese bread in a Christmas fashion.   1：Ingredients 1 steamed cheese bread 1 sheet of nori (dried seaweed) Chocolate plastic Red coloring powder   2： Trace an illustration of your favorite character onto a baking sheet. I chose Pompompurin. Next, I thought it would be cute to indent the face and highlight the ears so I cut out these parts from the baking sheet. 3： Next, place the face cutout onto the surface of the cheese bread and cut the bread in line with the cutout. Remove this part and set it aside. This part will be used to make the ears and hands. The surface below the removed part might be a bit uneven so using the back end of a chopstick make this area flat. 4： Turn over the removed part and flatten this surface using the back end of a chopstick. Place the ear cutout onto the surface and cut the ears out. Using the remaining part cut out some round hands. 5：Color the plastic chocolate red and form the hat and boots. Using the white plastic chocolate, add the white parts. Using a puncher, cut out the eyes, nose and mouth from the laver seaweed. Place all of these parts on the surface of the cheese bread, and voila, your “Pompompurin Steamed Cheese Bread” is complete. Kaori invites you into her world of character-themed food dishes in her recipe series! Please check out her Instagram where she has uploaded many pictures of her character dishes!

Character cafés are an exciting experience in Japan which sees a café collaborate with well-known anime series, game series and various franchises by decorating the café interior with designs and illustrations based on them and meals and drinks inspired by them.   There are lots of themed collaborations happening this month, including Christmas ones. So many in fact that we've had to split the list into two parts! This is part one.   Pompompurin x Muffin Christmas Menu (November 1 - December 25) Christmas has fallen on the Pompompurin Cafés in Harajuku and Umeda this month with a Pompompurin and Muffin Christmas themed menu being served. The menu includes a cream stew is topped with potato potage and fresh whipped cream that’s uneven to make it look like white snow, a yule log on top of which sits a mango ice cream Pompompurin and vanilla ice cream Muffin who are both wearing raspberry winter hats while enjoying Christmas together, and much more. There's plenty of cute Christmas celebrations to be had at the Pompompurin Café this year.   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/137629     Pompompurin x Gudetama Christmas Menu (December 1 - December 25) Four Christmas food items have arrived to the Yokohama and Nagoya branches of the Pompompurin Café, two of which are collaborations between Pompompurin and Gudetama! One of these is the "Purin Santa & Gude Reindeer’s Xmas Beef Tongue Stew" which has been delivered to warm up both your heart and stomach this Christmas. This dish is a slowly cooked beef tongue stew cutely topped with our favourite Pompompurin who is wearing a Santa hat made from a walleye pollack roe mashed potato. Next to him his his trusty pal Gudetama the Reindeer who has lotus roots for antlers. Surrounding them are star shaped potatoes, carrots and assorted vegetables. A very special plate!   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/147566     Gudetama Café x Tuxedosam Christmas Menu (December 1 - December 25) Over at the Gudetama Café in Umeda, Osaka they are serving up a collaborative menu with the popular Sanrio character Tuxedosam. On the menu customers can look forward to tucking into a white stew featuring a Santa Tuxedosam sleeping under a fluffy Gudetama omelette. For dessert there are Gudetama pancakes crowned with ramune flavoured Tuxedosam sherbet. The sweet and sour mix of the colourful fruits and berry sauce match perfectly. There's other options too, and all of them are a must-have for Instagram feeds!   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/146662       Cardcaptor Sakura x Cafe THE SUN (October 26 - January 3) Cardcaptor Sakura Exhibition: Magical Art Museum is an ongoing event over at the Mori Arts Center Gallery which is located on the 52nd floor of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. As part of the exhibition which celebrates the popular manga series, a themed cafe called "SAKURA Cafe&Parlor" has been set up where they are selling a range of original dishes inspired by the series including the Star Burger, Suppi's Manpuku Curry and more. Non-alcoholic cocktails are also being served with motifs of the Cards from the series.   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/135915       Evangelion x Ikebukuro 46 Shokudou (November 16 - January 6) EVANGELION STORE TOKYO-01 is celebrating its 7th anniversary and to celebrate, they have opened an Evangelion themed izakaya in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. The concept of the bar is an “izakaya for everyone.” Fans of the series will instantly recognise the red entrance curtain and lamps in the bar as representing NERV from Evangelion. They can also enjoy some very reasonable prices on the menu. The bar has over 30 drinks and meals for fans to enjoy, and affordable lunch sets which are served until 4pm. Everything on the menu is packed with references to Evangelion.   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/141872       BT21 x BOX CAFE & SPACE (November 1 - January 14) The BT21 café is based on the BT21 character brand, a collaboration between South Korean boy band BTS and LINE FRIENDS, and it's back again in Tokyo and Osaka. The café is reservation-only. Customers who make a reservation can get their hands on a free clear file. The menu includes "RJ's Coconut Red Curry," "TATA's Hot Sandwich" and more as well as a line-up of 8 drinks based on each member's character.   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/135570     Did you enjoy part one of this list? There are plenty of cute cafes to enjoy in Japan this winter. Look forward to part two!

Christmas is fast approaching, which in Japan means that lots of festive cakes, drinks and other delectables are starting to pop up for the holiday season.   Here's our 7 recommendations to check out for Christmas 2018. Christmas Fair 2018 Tokyo Xmastation Christmas has arrived early at Tokyo Station’s Gransta and Gransta Marunouchi malls with Christmas Fair 2018 Tokyo Xmastation which is running until December 25. They are selling a range of delicious Christmas cakes including one made in the image of the Tokyo Station building, another inspired by the Suica IC card penguin and much more. They are all a must-see♡   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/141020     Afternoon Tea - "Strawberry Christmas Cake Parfait" Afternoon Tea is set to release a string of new desserts for Christmas, beginning with the two apple desserts based on the apple Christmas tree ornaments which were released on November 6. This will be followed by a Strawberry flavoured "Christmas cake parfait" that is layered strawberries, pistachio cream, strawberry jam, chocolate sponge and berries. It's also mixed with a cream cheese gelato and elderflower jelly and is said to go perfectly with black tea!     Grand Hyatt Tokyo - 2018 Christmas Cakes The luxury Grand Hyatt Tokyo hotel is now selling a line-up of exquisite Christmas cakes for a limited period. The menu features 9 cakes including 4 new entries to this year's range. The ‘Sparkle’ cake features an extravagantly adorned cake with a scrumptious row of eclairs on top that have been sprinkled with sparkly decorations. The ‘Crystal Fruits Shortcake’ has a beautifully and intricately crafted dome inside which sit jewels of colourful fruits. There's plenty more mouth-watering delectables where that came from too, so check the link below.   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/139223   Harajuku & Umeda Pompompurin Café Christmas Menu The Harajuku and Umeda branches of the Pompompurin Café are celebrating Christmas with a Pompompurin and Muffin character themed menu that is being served all the way up to Christmas Day. The menu items featured extravagant names such as "I’ll Give You a Present ♪ Fluffy Snow Cream Stew," a cream strew topped with potato potage and fresh whipped cream that’s uneven to make it look like white snow with Purin Claus and his little reindeer helper Muffin are handing out presents atop their Christmas sleigh. There's exclusive merchandise to get your hands on too.   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/137629     Starbucks Christmas Beverages The Starbucks holiday season began on November 1. The first line of Christmas drinks hitting the coffee chain this year are the Christmas Strawberry Cake Frappuccino® and Christmas Strawberry Cake Milk. To ensure you get that full strawberry texture, both delicious drinks are made with a sweet ‘n sour strawberry sauce that leaves in plenty of the strawberry pieces. The standout feature of both is their gentle flavour which has that feeling of comfort milk has. They are also made to look like sponge cake. An enjoyable texture is also made by adding well-baked biscuits.   Be sure to check out the other Christmas treats you can enjoy at Starbucks this year too.   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/137601     Krispy Kreme Christmas Doughnuts Krispy Kreme released five Christmas themed doughnuts in Japan on November 14: Santa, Reindeer, Snowman, Milk Tea Box and Sprinkle Wreath. The Santa and Reindeer doughnuts take on a cute square shape as does the Milk Tea Box which is made to look like a Christmas present. These make for a perfect gift to hand out♡   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/135400     Hilton Tokyo Odaiba - "Girls’ Sweets Coffret Christmas Buffet" Hilton Tokyo Odaiba brings a Christmas buffet this year called the "Girls’ Sweets Coffret." It’s inspired by the “Christmas Coffret” cosmetic sets that are sold during the Christmas season only which tickle the hearts of girls across Japan. The buffet is overlooked by a bright pink Christmas tree under which are all presents a girl could hope for including a dress, jewel box, flowers and more―all edible. A cute Santa Claus, reindeer and snowmen also decorate the table in all their delicious dessert glory. The colour palette is girly but stylish, with pink as the main colour and blacks and whites everywhere else. An absolute must-post on Instagram!   Full Details: https://www.moshimoshi-nippon.jp/134994     Did you enjoy this list? If you're in Japan this year be sure to eat all of the Christmas goodies you can find.