Random Japan

How to make epic pancakes with your Japanese rice cooker

Casey Baseel

Every summer, I try to spend as many days as possible on the beach at Enoshima, and each time I get out of the station and walk towards the sand, I pass a long line of people waiting for a seat at the local pancake restaurant. This isn’t Japan’s only pancake joint with a lengthy wait, either, as you can find similar eateries with comparable lines in Tokyo, too.

It used to strike me as a little weird. After all, whipping up a stack of pancakes isn’t exactly the most challenging culinary feat. It can get tedious, though, as you settle into a monotonous pattern of plopping batter into the pan, flipping the half-cooked cake, and repeating over and over again.

Or, you could bypass all that by making an entire batch of pancakes all at once in a rice cooker.

stats

• 328,000Number of patent applications filed in Japan in 2013, according to Japan Patent Office
• 825,000Number of applications filed in China in 2013
• 14.3Percent of new hires by the National Police Agency in fiscal 2012 who are women, a record high

BIG IN JAPAN

• The Disney animated film Frozen became the first movie since 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to gross ¥20 billion at the Japanese box office.
• The only other films to reach the ¥20 billion milestone are Titanic (1997; ¥26.2 billion) andSpirited Away (2001; ¥30.4 billion).
• Bret Mayer, the 32-year-old New Jersey nativewho passed the highest level of the 12-level Japan Kanji Aptitude Test, has become the host of a popular radio program in Shizuoka.
• A book of vegetarian recipes written by the chief cook at Eiheiji temple in Fukui has sold out its initial print run of 2,000 copies.

Those Words
Aren't My Words


Boxer, AV Star, Yakuza
Finger Cutter

China And Japan
Shoot Spit Balls At Each Other

NATIONAL

Cartoon soccer hero Captain Tsubasa inspires exhibition in Tokyo

AFP-JIJI

Fans were expected to flock this weekend to meet one of Japan’s greatest soccer heroes, half a world away from the action in Brazil.

Captain Tsubasa, a fictional cartoon character, is getting his own exhibition in the capital as his real-life colleagues prepare to take on Ivory Coast in their opening game at the World Cup.

But his creator said it feels like the line-drawn character is taking the pitch for real because of his similarity to Japan and Manchester United superstar forward Shinji Kagawa.