I want to hear your voice!
This week in Tokyo: a mass vaccination attempt fails and a 100-yen store item
Hello from Tokyo!
If you don’t read the post, at least please take my anonymous survey.
not the normal post...
Hello Hello! This is the 12th official post… it feels like I have been writing for a while, but it really has only been about 6 months. To get to the point, I am thinking about doing some rebranding and reassessing of the blog content before moving forward. To figure out how to best move forward the next couple weeks, I will include slightly different content, including...a guest writer and a (everyone’s favorite) survey`!
a BIG ask!
I know surveys are not fun. Yet, organizations keep sending them out. Why? They are effective (to a certain extent).
I would LOVE your feedback on this blog AND to show my appreciation, I will send three respondents a special letter from Japan, straight to your address. (For those that provide contact details, decided via lottery).
This survey is only 5 questions long and should only take 2-3 minutes. Any feedback, suggestions, or comments are welcome. I know you are all busy people, so I would like you to know that your time is truly appreciated.
If any of you have a background or are interested in branding, please let me know!
CLICK HERE FOR THE ANONYMOUS SURVEY
In the meantime, please enjoy a short news update and this week’s unsolicited recommendation (I know you didn’t ask for it)
the news
To help speed up the vaccination of young people, the Tokyo metropolitan government set up a young person-only a mass/large scale (daikibo 大規模) vaccination center. This center opened on Friday (August 27).
Long story short, thousands of young adults showed up…only to get turned away1
What happened?
This “large scale” center was only vaccinated 200 people…that day. As a result there were many upset and angry people. I saw on NHK news, one of the few people who got vaccinated had lined up at 3 am that morning.
Why did this happen?
“…we simply didn’t expect this many (people)” — Emi Shibuya, a Tokyo Metropolitan Government staffer
For some reason, the Japanese government thought young people didn’t want to get vaccinated…
Quite frankly when I saw this on the nightly news, I didn’t really have much to say…now they are starting a lottery system. But this is a whole other mess2…
unsolicited recommendation #11
One thing Japan’s pretty famous for is 100 yen shops. Pretty much the equivalent to a dollar store, pound land, and the 1 euro store. I’ll go into a little more depth in a later post, but for now, I would like to introduce a favorite (one of many) 100 yen item.
Presenting… a grater with a container!!!
Wait, out of all 70,0003 items you chose that!? Yes, I did. That being said, there are other items that might rank just as high or higher, but this is the current item that I am in love with. The main reason I use this grater is for Daikon, Japanese radish. The amount of daikon oroshi (grated daikon 大根 おろし) I consume...is very high...let's just keep it that. I put it on everything. My mother, on the other hand, uses this for garlic and ginger when she makes her karaage (Japanese fried chicken).
why you should use this grater with a container
Please allow me to explain why this little tool is so amazing
It’s strong. Have you cut a radish? Those vegetables are dense. And this tool handles it just fine
A lid so you can store it in the fridge (perfect when you want a little bit of oroshi)
There is rubber on the bottom to keep it from sliding
What more can I say, oh yes, it’s 100-yen.
I checked out Daiso’s locations and found out that they have an online store... it was kind of interesting. However, since the prices are higher (in the US store), I kind of feel like it defeats the purpose of the 100-yen store.
That being said, I wouldn’t recommend this, if I did not feel that it was valued over 100 yen. I would easily pay 500 yen for this. If it was priced higher, I would have to consider substitutes.
All in all, I really do love this tool, EXCEPT THE COLOR. I should have waited for more availability but in that moment in the store, the desire to have daikon oroshi was too strong and I bought the only color. (Oops)
If you like Japanese food, I highly recommend trying out these uses with a grater!
Tempura sauce with daikon orishi
Cold soba with grated nagaimo (Japanese “mountain potato” 長芋). It has a “slimy” texture, but please don’t worry about that and just try it. Trust me
Ginger pork shogayaki (生姜焼き)
Do you have a favorite 100 yen or 1 dollar/euro/pound store (or whatever currency equivalent) item? If so, let me know! And please take the survey!!!