Kourakuen Holdings Corporation launched a collaboration campaign together with Sanrio’s popular character Hello Kitty on September 26 which is set to run to October 25.

Hello Kitty takes over Kourakuen

For the duration of the collaboration, the Roppongi and Dogenzaka branches of Kourakuen will be decorated in all things Hello Kitty

Free folder with child meal sets

A free and exclusive A4 size folder will be given to all who order the children’s meal set. This is available at select branches only and the folders are limited in stock.

Kourakuen original merchandise

Kourakuen x Hello Kitty Soy Sauce Plate | ¥200 (Tax Included)

Kourakuen x Hello Kitty Folder | ¥100 (Tax Included)

A special line-up of original and exclusive merchandise will also be sold at all Kourakuen branches including soy sauce plates, folders, and more.

Sanrio has released a colourful new line-up of heart-focused cosmetic items—lip cream, hand cream, and lip tint—for the autumn and winter season. The packaging features everyone’s favourite Sanrio characters such as Hello Kitty, My Melody, Little Twin Stars, and many more. Additionally, they have released cute heart marks for people to put on their face.

Heart Marks (3 Designs) | ¥1,430 Each (Tax Included)

Use the heart-shaped sponge to dip into the cheek cream and stamp a cute heart on your face.

Hand Cream (10 Designs) | ¥605 Each (Tax Included)

Keep your hands moist during the colder seasons. There are five different scents to choose from.

Lipstick (9 Designs) | ｜715 Each (Tax Included)

Heart-shaped scented lipstick, each capped off with an adorable character from Sanrio’s roster.

Lip Tint (6 Designs) | ¥770 (Tax Included)

Tint your lips and keep them moisturised at the same time. Pick from red, coral pink, or pink.

Other items in the line-up include hand cream and mini towel sets, lip cream and hand cream sets, and more. Autumn and winter’s chilly months can be beaten with a little self-care, so be sure to check this collection out.

©’76, ’85, ’89, ’93, ’96, ’01, ’05, ’20 SANRIO
©’15,’20 SANRIO S/F・G

The Pokémon Café in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, is adding an apple flavoured Eevee frappe to its ever-growing Pikachu Sweets by Pokémon Café menu. The frappe will be available from October 2 to December 4.

Eevee Apple Pie Frappe

The sweet tang of the apple combines with the caramel to create a tasty dessert drink, topped with whipped cream, crunchy piece bits, and a cute Eevee tail cookie.

Buy the separate Eevee sleeve to put on your drink to make a fully complete and adorable Eevee frappe♡

© 2020 Pokémon.©1995-2020 Nintendo/Creatures Inc./GAME FREAK inc.
Pokémon, ポケットモンスター and ポケモン are registered trademarks of Nintendo, Creatures Inc. and GAME FREAK inc.

The Tokyo, Osaka, and Makuhari branches of Hotel New Otani are now serving seasonal autumn versions of their specially made pancakes at their coffee shop and all-dining restaurant SATSUKI until November 30, 2020

Fantastically fluffy pancakes

Hotel New Otani has been serving its special pancakes for the past 10 years which have become a favourite amongst guests.

The hotel’s pastry chefs have whisked up a variety of flavours in line with the changing seasons this past decade using strictly-selected ingredients including strawberry, melon, mango, chestnut, and more.

A marriage of rich chestnut and fluffy pancake

Hotel New Otani Specially Made Chestnut Pancakes 2020 | ¥2,800 (Before Tax/Service Charge)

Chestnuts are the flavourful theme for autumn 2020’s pancakes, made with strictly-selected chestnut astringent skin, sweet bean jelly, and topped with a chestnut macaron.
The pancakes are served with melt-in-the-mouth Italian ricotta. There are two different doughs, one made from coffee flour which has high nutritional value, and the hotel’s original “White Cereal” which is a combination of millets and amaranth.
The pancakes are cooked on a low heat for about 5 minutes on each side so they rise to a fluffy 5cm thickness and become startlingly smooth.

Strawberries for winter

For this year’s winter, the hotel will be serving strawberry pancakes.

Enjoy a selection of seasonal pancakes when staying at Hotel New Otani.

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!

Starbucks Coffee Japan has revealed the second beverage in its Artful Autumn @ Starbucks® series of drinks. The “Candied Sweet Potato Frappuccino®” will be released at Starbucks branches in Japan on September 23, 2020.

Candied Sweet Potato Frappuccino® | Tall Size Only – ¥590

Each drink is made using a whole chopped and blended Japanese daigaku imo candied sweet potato to serve those autumn flavours, with its marbled golden colour also reminiscent of the autumn leaves. It’s topped with whipped cream, black sesame seeds, and sweet potato syrup.

Truly the perfect dessert drink to sip on for the changing seasons.

Halloween arrived at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Japan on September 16 with the “monster HARVEST” collection of themed doughnuts. Available until November 1, the spooky lineup incorporates a selection of Japanese autumn flavours like pumpkin and purple sweet potato.

The doughnut collection is here to put us in the Halloween spirit nice and early. Krispy Kreme Japan’s popular jack-o’-lantern doughnuts are back this year, as are the new black cat doughnuts which first arrived last year. A completely new purple sweet potato flavour was also introduced to the menu on September 1.

Pumpkin Pudding Jack-o’-lantern | ¥240 (Before Tax)

The jack-o’-lantern doughnuts have been made even more delicious for Halloween 2020 by using pumpkins from Hokkaido and filling them with velvety pumpkin Japanese-style pudding. Add to that the chocolate facial features and you’ve got yourself a tantalising treat for the spooky season.

Black Cat Caramel | ¥250 (Before Tax)

A black cat made with big white chocolate eyes and a dark chocolate face topped with crunchy almond pieces and stuffed with caramel cream.

Muchimochi Purple Sweet Potato Mont Blanc | ¥240 (Before Tax)

The tasty, chewy, and hot purple sweet potato doughnut is made with sliced sweet potato and coated in powdered sugar. It’s served hot which makes the flavour even more intense.

Halloween Dozen (12 Doughnuts) | ¥2,000 (Before Tax)

Share a dozen with friends this Halloween which includes not only two of each of the ones already shown, but Krispy Kreme’s popular “Chocolate Sprinkle” and “Original Glazed®” too.

Halloween Mini Box (20 Doughnuts) | ¥2,000 (Before Tax)

There’s also a colourful box of 20 mini versions of the doughnuts too.

Grand Nikko Tokyo Bay Maihama is a new hotel which opened on July 1 this year. Easily spotted by its pink exterior, the hotel offers Grand Nikko’s brand concept of guests releasing all of their sense to enjoy a relaxing and sophisticated time while providing a refreshing resort-like experience.

This Halloween, the hotel’s all-dining restaurant Le Jardin will serve up its “Happy Halloween Sweets Buffet” from October 10 to 16.

There will be 20 different desserts to pick from all in pastel colours, offering a different kind of Halloween vibe. Desserts are decorated with cute Halloween motifs like Jack-o’-lanterns, ghosts, and pumpkins. The chefs will also be certain desserts in front of guests like pumpkin mont blanc, praline mille-fuille, and pavlova.

There will also be a savoury menu too like roast beef in onion sauce, seafood acqua pazza, bread, salad, soups, and more, as well as soft drinks and non-alcoholic cocktails.

The restaurant will be restricting the number of people allowed in the dining area at once to protect diners during the pandemic.

Hotel Gajoen Tokyo, a museum and hotel combination, is home to New American Grill “KANADE TERRACE,” the hotel’s restaurant popular for its food grilled in the open kitchen, its afternoon teas made with seasonal ingredients, and cocktail lineup.

This autumn, Hotel Gajoen Tokyo is serving up its new “Shine Muscat Parfait,” an richly-sweet and elegance-scented dessert made using Shine Muscat grapes.

Shine Muscat Parfait ¥2,800 | With Champagne ¥3,600 (Before Tax & Service Charge)

The parfait is layered with Kyoho grape and shampagne jelly, crémet d’Anjou which is made from fresh cheese, and maqui berry granola. It’s topped with blackcurrant sherbet and tuile.

Sanrio Puroland’s Halloween event “PURO HALLOWEEN PARTY” is now on and is set to run up to Halloween Day, with everyone’s favourite characters dressed in their spooky attire ready to greet guests, themed food and decorations, Halloween illuminations, and more.

Sanrio characters greet guests in their Halloween costumes

Masquerade Party is the theme of this year’s Halloween event at Puroland.

“Miracle Light” Halloween illuminations

Photo Spot

The event welcomes a new illumination show to the beat of Halloween tunes as well as a photo spot that combines cute pastel and stylish dark themes for the Masquerade Party theme.

Meet characters dressed in Masquerade Party outfits

There’s also a chance to meet your favourite characters dressed in Masquerade Party attire for one minute by yourself.

There’s plenty of pastel and dark inspired food and merchandise too, available both at the park and the Sanrio Puroland Online Shop. The park is also carrying out video calls for visitors who can meet the Sanrio characters online using talkport.

Pastel & Dark food menu

The spooky menu includes the “Hello Kitty & Dear Daniel Dark Masquerade Beef Curry,” “Sleepy Pompompurin’s Halloween Beef Ramen,” and more.

©1976, 2009 SANRIO CO., LTD.  ©1976, 1989, 1993, 1999, 1996, 2001, 2020 SANRIO CO., LTD.

Ginza Cozy Corner has revealed its new Disney princess cake based on the 2010 animated film Tangled which will be available to order at all branches in Japan from October 1, 2020.

Tangled Dress Cake | ¥3,500 (Before Tax)

The cake is centred on the golden-lock beauty Rapunzel, with her dress as the foundation for the cake. The cake is made with cream chess, strawberry jam, and blueberries, while Rapunzel’s iconic hair is lemon flavoured.

Decorate the cake yourself

The cake comes with the parts for you to decorate yourself. This adds a whole new level of fun to parties!

Exclusive Rapunzel design box

This cake was actually sold earlier this year during the Hinamatsuri festival in Japan, with all 1,000 cakes being sold out. It is now returning on October 1 and is made-to-order only.

Chun Shui Tang, a chain of Taiwanese bubble tea stores, is adding a new limited-time drink to the menus of all branches in Japan on September 16: the “Tapioca Sweet Potato Milk Tea.”

Tapioca Sweet Potato Milk Tea | ¥650 (Before Tax)

The beverage is made with annouimo sweet potatoes grown on the island of Tanegashima in Kagoshima Prefecture. The potatoes are known for their high sugar content, adding a delicious natural sweetness to the tea. It’s blended with a high grade sugar syrup and topped off with whipped cream and sweet potato chips to create a dessert drink.

Those who order the drink via the Smatapi (スマタピ) app from September 9 can get the drink early before its general release on September 16.

In Japan for the autumn season? Enjoy the tasty autumn flavour of sweet potato with the Tapioca Sweet Potato Milk Tea.