Sushi is at its most delicious when it’s simple. Obviously years of training is required to become a master sushi chef and details matter immensely but you can boil down the essence of sushi to rice and fish. Yum, however you slice it. But could you make sushi even simpler? One sushi chef did. He used a single grain of rice to create flavor packed nibbles.
     |
It turns out that "fish wholesaler" and "toy designer" are not mutually exclusive professions: Kazuyoshi Watanabe, a Tokyo fish wholesaler, created this wooden tuna to teach people how to properly gut the fish.
| |
If you’re trying to eat healthier, it’s a good idea to know exactly what goes into the food you consume. And while that’s not exactly the goal Bandai had in mind when it created these sushi transformers that turn into what they’re made from, it’s justification enough to collect all five.
| |
Conveyor belt sushi restaurants are usually only worth going to once in your life. The sushi is hardly ever amazing since it spins on the belt over and over again while the dishes you actually want might be snatched ahead of you so you never get to eat it. Not to mention plates stacking on your table, plastic covers getting in your way and the lack of personalized orders. It’s a gimmick! It’s okay though, Japan has figured out those problems with this next generation conveyor belt sushi restaurant.
| |
Man who catch fly with chopstick, accomplish anything. Man who catch most sushi with chopstick, become ChopsticKing. That idea behind – I mean that’s the idea behind Chopsticking, an Arduino-based board game made by NYU ITP students Christina Carter and Jess Jiyoung Jung. It’s a two-player game where you compete to grab the greatest number of sushi.
Chopsticking consists of two pairs of chopsticks, a board with a circular receptacle and tokens that look like sushi. There’s a metal plate that obscures part of the bin as it rotates, making it harder to fish out the tokens. Before you play the game, you first have to hold the chopsticks in the proper manner – your index finger and thumb must be resting on the upper stick while the lower half of your thumb anchors the lower stick in place. The Chopsticking sticks have sensors that detect if your fingers are in the right areas, so no cheating by using a fork or your fingers.
When the game begins, you pick up sushi tokens as fast as you can, but you also have to dip them in “soy sauce”, which is actually an RFID reader that detects the tags on the sushi. The player is awarded two scores at the end of the time limit. One is for the number of sushi you were able to dip in the sauce while the other is for how well you held the chopsticks.
Christina and Jess showed off Chopsticking at the World Maker Faire in New York City. It must have been a hit-and-miss affair.
[Chopsticking via MAKE]
I love good sushi. Since I’m land-locked in the Midwest, it’s not exactly easy to get good fresh sushi-grade fish here, but there are definitely some places that fly it in daily at least. Still, I haven’t seen any sushi joint around here who serves it this way…
Yes, that’s a tank made of raw fish, rice and seaweed.
I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the business end of a slice of cucumber, would you? Though if the ammo is made from smoky salmon roe, I suppose I could handle it. Just don’t come at me with that shrimp turret – unless you want to see me go into anaphylactic shock.
These tank-shaped sushi plates were made by a Kurisakiya as a tribute to the anime Girls und Panzer. Why? Because in Japan, anything is possible!
[via Kotaku via Archie McPhee]
We saw these interesting Sushi Transformers from Takara Tomy Arts at the International Tokyo Toy Show 2013.
It’s called the Osushi Sentai “Syarider”(“Syari” means “sushi rice” and “der (da)” means “is”) – “It is the sushi rice sushi ranger”…
They are a team of fighters facing risks to the sushi world and they consist of Tamago (egg), Ebi (shrimp), Toro (Tuna’s fatty part), Salmon, and Saba (mackerel).
Press the back of the sushi, and they will transform from Sushi Mode to Hero Mode.
Of course, there are peace-threatening bad characters as well. The top of the team is Anago (a kind of eel), executive member is Ikura (salmon roe), and other combatants Kappa-maki (cucumber roll), Natto-maki (natto roll), and Tekka-maki (tuna-roll).
The release day is TBD. It won’t be for a while yet.
Cats have always had their place in history. The Ancient Egyptians regaled them as sacred deities and they were much-loved pets during the Chinese Song Dynasty. The close relationship that cats have with man continues up until today, where felines feel free to express their emotions (hello Grumpy Cat) and are spoiled rotten (have you seen this or this?)
Then along came the Sushi Cats.
Contrary to what the title will have you believe, Sushi Cats is not some new exotic dish on the menu. Rather, it’s a quirky photo series featuring adorable and cuddly cats that are dressed to the nines as sushi – and not just the edible kind, since some of them are topped with accessories and random objects like a handbag, knitting needles, a tie, and even cold hard cash.
Sushi Cats was created by Japan’s Tange & Nakimushi Peanuts and they’re available as photo prints, post cards, and fans in the company’s online store, although they only ship within Japan.
They even put together a couple of humorous videos detailing the history and the adventures of the Sushi Cats…
If you live outside of Japan, fret not. Tange & Nakimushi Peanuts love the cats so much that they launched an mobile game app featuring none other than the felines themselves. You can download the Sushi Cats app for iOS here and for Android here.
[via WTF Japan Seriously via Laughing Squid]
Japan is home to all sorts of weird and wonderful items, and why stop now? While I’ve enjoyed building models since I was a little kid, I’ve typically stuck to cars, motorcycles, airplanes, and the occasional robot. But in Japan, you can build a model of a fish. But this isn’t just any fish model, no. It’s a model that can be deconstructed into a meal. This is the fish that the guys at iFixit would order if they could.
When it arrives, the foot-long fish model looks like an ordinary Maguro tuna. But pull it apart and you’ll find all of the cuts of fish you might find on your dinner table. Though if you are into eating sushi, I can’t guarantee that these plastic pieces will taste as good as the real deal. The model even ships in a styrofoam container that makes it look like freshly-packed fish, along with a replica of a sushi knife and cutting table.
Not that I was planning on running out and buying one of these, but the ¥29,000 (~$240 USD) price tag has definitely eliminated any such thought that might have entered my mind. Though I do think I’ll have some spicy tuna rolls for lunch today.
[via Hobby Media (IT)]
And this single image, my friends, is why I love Japan…
What you’re looking at here is the latest food innovation since the potato chip picker-upper. The Smart Han comes from Japan’s Takara Tomy, and provides you with a whole new way to look at food – by putting an entire meal in a tube! Or as they like to call it “Rice & Material!” And yes, they even make Doreamon and Hello Kitty versions!
That’s right, just fill up this ingenious gadget with rice and any food material you want, snap it together, and come lunch time, you can squeeze your lunch into your mouth. Extra win! Just look at all the places you can eat your lunch that you never thought of!…
And in case you can’t figure out what sort of foods you’d like to turn into a Push-Up pop, they’ve provided an array of suggestions up on their website. Me, I’d like to fill it with lime Jell-o. Or maybe chocolate pudding.
It might take some work to find these here in the states, but I’m sure that someone like the Japan Trend Shop or White Rabbit Express can help you out if you’re in the mood for some totally tubular food.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
