Sanrio Puroland has announced that this year’s PURO RAINBOW CHRISTMAS event will run from November 13 to December 25. The theme for 2020 is “Rainbows,” and this time around, the event can be enjoyed both at the park and online.

Colourful and Kawaii Christmas Food

Sanrio Puroland will once again serve up a special Christmas menu of ten items, with iconic characters like Hello Kitty, My Melody and the Little Twin Stars wearing colourful Santa Claus hats.

Food includes dishes like “Hello Kitty’s Christmas Gift Curry” with Hello Kitty holding a Christmas present, the snow white “Rainbow Christmas☆Snow Omelette Pasta,” and more. There are also desserts such as “My Melody’s Pink Yule Log Cake” and “Pochacco’s Pistachio & Strawberry Tree Parfait.” The multi-coloured menu line-up takes up Christmas classics like chicken and snow.

Cute Rainbow Coloured Merchandise

Mascots | ¥1,650 Each (Tax Included)

A collection of different mascots from Sanrio Puroland each wearing colourful Santa outfits.

Confectionery Set | ¥1,080 (Tax Included)

An assortment of confections served in an eye-catching box featuring familiar Sanrio faces.

Christmas Illuminations – “Rainbow Santa’s Christmas Eve”

An exciting Christmas illumination show will take place at Puroland Village to the sound of Christmas-y Puroland music. Lights will brighten up the place with in a kaleidoscope of colours.

PURO RAINBOW CHRISTMAS Special Greeting

Visitors will be able to meet and take photos with the Sanrio characters in person for one whole minute. The cast will wear Christmas red outfits from November 13 to December 1 and change into white costumes from December 5. This will take place on the first floor Event Corner and will see Hello Kitty, My Melody, Pompompurin, Cinnamoroll, Wish me mell, and Dear Daniel make an appearance.  It will be carried out using social distancing measures.

Enjoy Puroland Christmas at Home

This year, Sanrio Puroland will stream past popular Christmas events held at the park on the Japanese video streaming site SHOWROOM on December 12. Shows include “HAPPY GIFT CHRISTMAS” from 2016, “The Puro Christmas” from 2019, and more.

Infinite Online Greetings

Sanrio Puroland launched online content back in June in response to COVID-19 which included getting to meet the characters online. They will host a special Christmas version on December 22 also on SHOWROOM where the characters will wear their white costumes from the Christmas show “The Puro Christmas.” Participating characters include Hello Kitty, My Melody, Pompompurin, Cinnamoroll, Little Twin Stars (Kiki & Lala), Wish me mell, and Dear Daniel.

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Tokyo Midtown has announced that its winter event ‘MIDTOWN WINTER MOMENTS’ will run from November 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021.

“ANOTHER WORLD” is the concept for this year’s rendition of the annual event, which will see new winter illuminations, Christmas decorations, the opening of an ice rink, and plenty of other fun experiences for people to enjoy throughout the entire day, right into the evening.

MIDTOWN WINTER LIGHTS

A highlight of the event will be the “MIDTOWN WINTER LIGHTS,” warm illuminations to light fires in hearts during the cold winter season that will create a dazzling spectacle the likes of which cannot be missed.

Path of Light – An Illuminated World

The pedestrian walkway will welcome a strip of gorgeous golden lights affixed to towering trees to guide your way. More golden lights than ever before are being prepared this year to pull visitors into a romantic and dreamy world.

SNOW LIGHT GLOBE – A World of Snow

The SNOW LIGHT GLOBE is a giant 3-meter tall and 4.5-meter wide snow globe inside which glistens sparkling snow, crystals, and aurora. The lights are ever-changing throughout the day, presenting itself differently every time you look at it.

STEP LIGHT – A Colourful World

STEP LIGHT is a fun and interactive illumination display with lights that light up when you step on them, creating a colourful walkway.

Running: November 19, 2020 – February 28, 2021

Time: 17:00-23:00 (Until 24:00 around the plaza)

Location: Midtown Garden

MIDTOWN ICE RINK – A World of Ice

MIDTOWN ICE RINK is something people in Tokyo look forward to every winter. This year, the rink is opening in November. It’s one of the biggest ice rinks in Tokyo and provides real ice for people to skate on, welcoming everyone from children and beginners to pros. The rink will be open into the evening too when it will be lit up so people can enjoy a little night skating session.

Running: November 19, 2020 – February 28, 2021
Time: 11:00-21:00 (Last Entries 20:00)

*Opens at 17:00 on November 19 and is closed on January 1

*Opening hours subject to change depending on weather
Location: Tokyo Midtown
Prices:

General (High School Students and older) – Weekdays ¥2,000 / Weekends & Public Holidays ¥2,500

Children (Junior High School Students and younger) Weekdays ¥1,500 / Weekends & Public Holidays ¥2,000

Midtown Christmas Trees

Various Christmas trees will be set up in the Tokyo Midtown garden area, indoors, and elsewhere to set in the holiday season mood.

Running: November 19, 2020 – December 25, 2020

Present Christmas Tree – A World of Fantasy

The Tokyo Midtown garden will welcome a mysterious kind of Christmas tree for the first time every this year—one which sprouts presents. 25 presents will be grown, and in December one will be given out each day.

Time: 17:00-23:00
Location: Midtown Garden

Santa Tree – A Miniature World

Around 1,800 individual Santa Claus ornaments will make up the 4-meter tall Santa Tree inside the Tokyo Midtown Galleria

Time: 11:00-Midtown
Location: Galleria 1F Tree Shower

Choose! Choose! AR Tree – An Original World

Tokyo Midtown also has something for people to enjoy at home. They can use an app that makes use of AR tech so that a Christmas tree can appear when you go to take a photo which you can decorate with an assortment of ornaments. There’s over 1,000 possible combinations. More details about this will be posted on the event website in early November.

Major bookstores across Japan are rolling out the Rilakkuma Book Fair where fans can get their hands on short Rilakkuma fairy tails, exclusive merchandise, and more.

In line with the event, Fruits Parlor & Bakery Season & Co., a cafe in Umeda, Osaka, is serving up a special menu with the theme “Rilakkuma Book Cafe” from October 30 to November 30. This includes a afternoon teas which also celebrates the cafe’s 1st anniversary, more exclusive merchandise, and novelties for customers who order from the Rilakkuma menu.

Rilakkuma Zukin Afternoon Tea | ¥4,000 (Before Tax) *Reservation-only

A special afternoon tea featuring 13 different goodies from desserts to a sandwich, quiche, and more. It comes with a fruit iced tea welcome drink too.

Rilakkuma Yuki Hime Afternoon Tea | ¥4,000 (Before Tax) *Reservation-only

A different afternoon tea that serves up 12 items. This also comes with a fruit iced tea.

Rilakkuma’s Honey Apple Smoothie | ¥800 (Before Tax)

A honey apple smoothie topped with refreshing vanilla ice cream, smooth fresh cream, and a Rilakkuma jelly candy.

Rilakkuma’s Royal Chocolate Milk Tea | ¥1,200 (Before Tax)

Classic royal milk tea served with chocolate Rilakkumas. Eat on their own or dip into your tea!

The cafe is now taking reservations for the afternoon teas. Bookings must be made two days in advance by telephone or the official website.

Japanese bakery and pastry company All Hearts Company opened orders for its new Christmas cakes at its cat-shaped cheesecake store Neko Neko cheesecake on Thursday. The cakes are a collaboration with HEART BREAD ANTIQUE, a bakery in Japan known for its Magical Chocolate Rings.

Xmas Neko Neko W Cheesecake | ¥2,800 (Before Tax)

A rich-tasting Christmas cake as fluffy as a cloud, made using cream cheese and mousse cheese and topped with fresh strawberries.

Xmas Neko Neko Cheesecake (With 2 Paw-Shaped Madeleines) | ¥2,000

A cheesecake lathered in apricot jam served with two paw-shaped madeleines and wearing a cute Santa Claus hat.

Xmas Neko Neko Cheesecake Strawberry (With 2 Paw-Shaped Madeleines) | ¥2,200

Covered in sweet and sour strawberry jam, this one’s a must-have for strawberry lovers.

Have an a-meow-zing Christmas this year with a slice of Neko Neko Cheesecake.

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.

Halloween in closing in, so for this recipe I’ll be using pumpkin to make delicious cookies—crunchy on the outside and moist in the middle. This recipe rolls the dough into a ball, so it’s a great alternative for people who aren’t good with shaping or cutting cookies.

Ingredients

50g pumpkin (mashed and skin removed)

20g-25g sugar (I used sanonto sugar to bring out the sweetness of the pumpkin, but white sugar is fine too)

30g unsalted butter

A pinch of salt

60g weak flour

1

Combine and mix the steamed pumpkin, room temperature butter, and sugar. Then incorporate the salt and flour and mix again.

2

Now to shape everything. For pumpkin decorations, roll the pumpkin together and create a little depression in the top. Use a toothpick or something similar to create five indents around the outside as pictured above.

To make Pooh Bear, simply roll round and add the ears.

3

Bake at 150℃ for 20-25 minutes. Leave to cool, then decorate Pooh’s facial features with a chocolate pen.

Kaori invites you into her world of character-themed food dishes in her recipe series. Be sure to check out her Instagram where she has uploaded many pictures of her character dishes!

Japanese food tech company Cookpad Inc. is set to co-host the “P.O.P” Fes Food Court at Japanese pop group Perfume’s upcoming Perfume Online Present (“P.O.P”) Festival which will be held on September 21, 2020. Cookpad has also opened applications for fans to submit the recipes that they want Perfume to eat at the festival

“P.O.P” Festival Breakdown

With concerts and music festivals forced to be cancelled or postponed as a result of COVID-19, Perfume too had to cancel their Japan dome tour. September 21, 2020 marks the 15th anniversary since Perfume made their major debut, and the 20th anniversary since they formed. Since their tour was cancelled, they still wanted to celebrate in some way, which is how the “P.O.P” Festival was conceived. The online event will feature both free and paid content with a full timetable for the day.

“P.O.P” Fes Food Court

Food is an indispensable part of music festivals, so the event will have its own interactive “P.O.P” Fes Food Court which encourages fans to submit the recipes that they want Perfume to eat. The chosen recipe will be displayed on the food court page of the event’s website and Perfume will actually make and eat it in a video. Fans can prepare their own food at the same time so they can sit down and eat with Perfume. Details on submitting can be found on the official website in Japanese.

Perfume | Comment

“We’re happy to announce the Perfume Online Present Festival  which will take place on the 15th anniversary of our major debut, September 21. We’re starting applications for the food court, so we’re waiting for your submissions. We’ll pick one recipe and actually try making it ourselves! We’re going to get found out that we actually did this during lockdown period, but we also think it’s good for you to see our normal lives, so we will give it out all and hope you enjoy.”

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.

Today’s recipe will show you how to make a simple ice cream made with frozen strawberries and a blender.

Ingredients

500g frozen strawberries (either store bought or self-frozen)

120ml condensed milk

Sliced white chocolate to make Hello Kitty

1.

Defrost around 3/10 of the frozen strawberries until they are more soft than frozen, allowing them to be blended more easily.

2.

Throw the defrosted strawberries into a blender along with the condensed milk and blend.

3.

Place the blended mix into a ziplock bag and place into the freezer. After about an hour, massage the mix while it’s still inside the bag. Repeat this whole process 2-3 times. Doing this will make the ice cream tastier.

Once fully set, place into a serving cup of your choice, use sliced white chocolate to make your chocolate Hello Kitty, and serve!

Kaori invites you into her world of character-themed food dishes in her recipe series. Be sure to check out her Instagram where she has uploaded many pictures of her character dishes!

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 recipe, you’ll learn how to transform a store-bought roll cake into a kawaii Hello Kitty cake which contains gyūhi – a form of traditional Japanese sweet which is a variety of mochi.

Ingredients

50g refined rice flour
100ml water
70g sugar
potato starch
strawberries and whipped cream to your liking
sliced chocolate (for Hello Kitty’s face)

1

First, make the gyūhi by mixing 50g of refined rice flour with 100ml of water. Mix well to avoid lumps.

Once this has been mixed, add 70g of sugar and mix again.

2

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave at 600W for 2 minutes.

3

Stir the mixture with a rubber spatula and microwave again for one more minute at 600W.

4

Use a rubber spatula to stir the mixture until it clumps together in one piece. Put a large portion of potato starch onto a tray and place your gyūhi on top.

5

Once the gyūhi has cooled, cut it to the size of the palm of your hand and use a rolling pin to stretch it out into a flat shape.

6

Leave your gyūhi to cool. In the meantime, bring out your store-bought roll cake piece and fill the inside with strawberries. When done, top your roll cake piece with whipped cream.

*If your forget to add the whipped cream, the strawberries underneath will be visible through the gyūhi layer!

7

Place the gyūhi layer on top of the roll cake and press the dough together at the bottom of the cake to seal it.

8

Shape two pieces of remaining gyūhi dough into triangles and affix them to the top of the cake to create Hello Kitty’s ears. Use the sliced chocolate to create whiskers, eyes and a nose for Hello Kitty’s face and cut up a strawberry to make her bow.

Once you have finished putting all the decorations in place, you’re done!

Kaori invites you into her world of character-themed food dishes in her recipe series. Be sure to check out her Instagram where she has uploaded many pictures of her character dishes!

Mister Donut Japan is releasing recipes over on its official website on August 7 which will show you how to make three of their popular doughnuts. The simple recipes are twists on the “Honey Dip,” “Old Fashioned,” and “Pon de Ring” doughnuts.

The doughnuts can be whipped up for breakfast, as a daytime snack or an evening treat, so customers can enjoy the taste of Mister Donut from the comfort of their own home.

The “Morning Ring Toast” recipe is the perfect wake-up treat made with honey dip, eggs, and ham, all of which complement each other deliciously.

“Old Fashioned Parfait” combines the irresistible crunchiness of the Old Fashioned doughnut with ice cream to create a real summertime dessert.

Finally, “Pon de Agedashi” is an indulgence for after dinner, bringing together Pon de Ring doughnuts with grated daikon radish. It’s a great snack to have with an evening drink.

Mister Donut Japan will release the recipe as well as a how-to-make video over on their official website this Friday, so be sure to try making your own at home.

Together with soy sauce and miso, mirin is a fundamental condiment in the Japanese kitchen and for many recipes for Japanese food. It’s a sweet rice wine that has lower alcohol content and higher sugar content when compared to sake, adding a sweet flavour to dishes.

Today, we’re taking a look at a recipe that uses “Mikawa Mirin,” a brand of mirin made from high quality rice, to make carrot and cream cheese chawanmushi. Chawanmushi is a savoury egg custard dessert eaten in Japan.

Carrot & Cream Cheese Chawanmushi

Chawanmushi is made using mirin and has a smooth texture to it as well as a subtly sweet flavour. It’s the perfect accompaniment to a hot summer’s day.

Ingredients (Serves 1)

●Chawanmushi
60g carrots
240ml dashi
20ml soy sauce
120ml Mikawa Mirin
8g sugar
18g cream cheese
1 egg

●Okra-an
Okra
30ml dashi
0.5g salt
3ml Mikawa Mirin

Method

We will start by making the chawanmushi.

1. Slice the carrots and boil them until they become soft.

2. Add the soy sauce, sugar, and lots of mirin and cook through the dashi.

3. Cook for approximately 20 minutes on a medium heat, then cool with ice. Add the cooled carrots, cream cheese, and 20ml of the dashi into a blender and bend.

4. Add the egg to the mix and steam the mix for 12 minutes on a medium heat.

While the chawanmushi is cooling, we’ll make the okra-an.

5. Mix together the okra-an dashi, mirin, and salt together. Add watered potato starch and thinly sliced okra. Leave to cool in the refrigerator.

6. Add the okra-an to the cooled chawanmushi and tuck into your cute two-layered dessert.

Carrot & Cream Cheese Chawanmushi

The dessert is an enjoyable mix of the sticky texture from the okra-an and smooth chawanmushi. It’s great to have not only at lunch or dinner, but at home parties with friends too.

–How’s the taste?

Misa Kimura: “It works really well with the mirin. The chawanmushi is like a sweet treat. It’s super easy to make too, so I think I’ll be making it at home!”

Mirin is indispensable to any Japanese cupboard and can be used in many ways, whether it be a classic Japanese dish or a dessert like this one.

Mikawa Mirin 700ml: ¥1,122 (Tax Included)

This authentic brand of mirin is made using a traditional method of Japanese brewing which blends in the delicious taste of rice. It’s so delicious that you just want to drink the whole bottle. A high quality mirin, it has a distinct sweetness, colour, and texture. It has a rich flavour, and the taste of the rice elevates the flavours of its ingredients.

Mikawa Mirin Official Website: http://www.mikawamirin.jp/
Official Online Store: http://mikawamirin.jp/product/product_step1.php?m=n
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikawamirin

Recipe

This recipe was conceived by ITEMAE, a famous restaurant serving Japanese cuisine that is listed in the Michelin Guide.

Model: Misa Kimura
Photographer: Haruka Yamamoto

Japanese bridal company ESCRIT INC. launched its new “Rilakkuma Bridal Fair” on July 22, 2020 in collaboration with Sun-X’s popular character Rilakkuma. This will be the first ever wedding service produced in collaboration with the beloved relaxed bear.

All who join the service will receive a free “Rilakkuma & Korilakkuma Ring Pillow.” Moreover, all brides and grooms who get married through this bridal fair will also receive a welcome board, cake topper, decorative stickers, soup with a design of San-X’s Kiiroitori character, and a Rilakkuma dessert—all specially prepared for and exclusive to this service. There is also a “Greeting Plan” whereby Rilakkuma and Korilakuma will visit your wedding service on the day of the wedding to celebrate with everyone. This is a dream come true for any fan of Rilakkuma.

If you’re planning to get married in Japan, and love Rilakkuma, then how about it?

©2020 San-X Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Tower Records is collaborating with Rilakkuma for “Rilakkuma x TOWER RECORDS Campaign 2020” which will run at Tower Records, TOWERmini, and Tower Records Online in Japan from August 1 to 30.f

For the campaign, Tower Records selling a range of merchandise with exclusive designs illustrated for the event, and there’ll even be Rilakkuma themed cafes. Tower Records began collaborating with Rilakkuma on merchandise in 2009 and has done so every year since. This year sees the arrival of Chairoikoguma for the first time too.

Yhose who use the Tower Records app to show their coupons in-store, they will receive the above-pictured selection of must-have exclusive goodies including a mirror, postcard, bag, and bookmark. These are available on a first-time, first-served basis. Additionally, Rilakkuma themed cafes will be held at TOWER CARDS CAFE branches in Omotesando, Nagoya SKYLE, and Sapporo PIVOT which will have entirely original menus and bonus items for dining there.

Collaboration Merchandise

The merchandise collection will drop on August 1 and will include a range of Tower Records exclusives. Pre-sales opened on July 15. You can see the full list here.

Available at all Tower Records branches and Tower Records Online

Exclusive to Tower Records Shibuya, Tower Records Sapporo PIVOT, TOWER RECORDS CAFE Omotesando, TOWER RECORDS CAFE Nagoya SKYLE, Tower Records Online

Exclusive to Tower Records Online

Rilakkuma and the Honey Forest’s Concert Cafe

The entire cafe menu line-up is so cute you’re completely spoilt for choice.

Rilakkuma and the Honey Forest’s Concert Dessert Plate: ¥2,500

“Honey Forest Concert” is the theme of the cafe, and this image is captured in the adorable dessert plate which is topped with various desserts and fruits. Everyone who orders one of these also receives a free sticker.

Rilakkuma’s Meatball Stew: ¥1,580

This hot meatball stew is served in a cute bread cup with Rilakkuma poking his head out from inside.

Kiiroitori’s Omurice: ¥1,580

Kiiroitori’s face is made from omelette and rice. Served with a side of healthy veg.

Rilakkuma’s Honey Lemon Drink: ¥850

A sweet and sour mix of honey and lemon.

Korilakkuma’s Strawberry Calpis: ¥850

Strawberries are Korilakkuma’s favourite, and that’s the flavour of this refreshingly sweet Calpis drink, topped with Korilakkuma vanilla ice cream.

There are lots of other dishes to look forward to in addition to the ones above, making this cafe one to go back to many times. And you can special free merchandise when visiting and dining there too.

Collaboration Cafe – Participating Stores

Omotesando/Nagoya SKYLE: August 1, 2020 – August 30, 2020

Sapporo PIVOT: August 1, 2020 – August 17, 2020
Official Website: https://tower.jp/rilakkumacafe

©2020 San-X Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.