Oh you fancy, huh?

Normally the meal of choice for hard-up college students, salarymen who’ve blown through their weekly food allowance, and late night boozers with poor impulse control, the original high-salt, low-cost instant noodle phenomenon Cup Noodle launched a new line of “luxury” flavors last year to appeal to—presumably—more discerning palates.

We scoffed a bit at the time, but the new flavors proved to be a spectacular hit, selling about 14 million cups to date. Unsurprisingly, the company has decided to expand the series, and this week, they announced the latest flavor: rich abalone and oyster stew.

Available nationwide on April 24, the new flavor boasts the freeze-dried noodles you know and love in a “thick, rich oyster sauce-based soup flavored with abalone soy sauce, topped with abalone-seasoned bok choy, king oyster mushrooms, cloud ear mushrooms and red bell peppers.”

Japan’s biggest Korean barbecue chain adds two set meals for Muslim meat fans.

Gyu-Kaku is one of Japan’s most popular yakiniku (Korean barbecue) chains, with locations all across the country. However, Gyu-Kaku is also an internationally minded company, having expanded to the U.S., Canada and other parts of Asia as well.

While Gyu-Kaku is yet to reach the Middle East, it is ready to start accommodating Muslim diners at its new branch in Tokyo’s Akasaka neighborhood. When it opens on April 17, the Akasaka Gyu-Kaku will be the first to offer halal course meals, in accordance with Islamic dietary customs.

Appearing on the menu are the 4,500-yen (US$41) Muslim-Friendly Gyukaku Course, and the more upscale 6,500-yen Muslim-Friendly Wagyu Course. Both feature a variety of vegetable and meat dishes, but neither contain nor are prepared with any sort of pork products/extracts or alcohol.

In keeping with halal principles, the cooking and eating utensils involved are used exclusively for the Muslim-friendly course meals, and bear a mark of certification from Islamic Center Japan.

▼ Even the dipping sauce containers and drinking vessels are halal-certified.

▼ The dishes, glasses, and cookware for the halal meal are also hand-washed separately from those used for Gyu-Kaku’s non-halal meals.

We stopped by the restaurant for a pre-opening taste test of the Muslim-Friendly Wagyu Course, which includes beef, chicken, and seafood.

The first order of business was to compare the flavor of Gyu-Kaku’s standard dipping sauce, made with mirin (a sweet cooking rice wine that’s extremely common in Japanese cooking), to the halal sauce which uses sugar instead.

▼ Standard sauce on left, halal sauce on right

We’re extremely familiar with Gyu-Kaku’s sauce, having eating at the chain dozens of times. And yet, we honestly couldn’t tell the difference, as the halal version tastes just like the original.

Next up: kimchi.

▼ Standard on left, halal on right

Again, the two versions’ flavors were remarkably similar. If we had to make a distinction, we’d say the halal version was just a touch spicier, but we only noticed that because we we’re eating them at the same time. Had we just walked into a Japanese yakiniku restaurant and been given Gyu-Kaku’s halal kimchi without knowing about its special status, we would have simply thought we were eating ordinary, extremely tasty kimchi.

It’s back and is looking better than ever!

No one does cheesecakes quite like Osaka-based “fresh-baked cheese tart” chain PABLO. Part of what makes their cheesecakes so special is that they are baked to your desired level of firmness. PABLO founder Masamitsu Sakimoto wanted to produce a cheesecake that could be served with different textures, much like a steak, and from there, the original recipe was created and perfected.

Now, what could make a perfect cheesecake even better? The one thing that makes everything better – matcha green tea. PABLO released their matcha cheese tart for a limited time last year, and now it’s back to grace our taste buds yet again.

The matcha cheesecake will be available from this Saturday, April 15 at PABLO locations across the country, for 1,111 yen (US$10.20) per 15-centimeter (six-inch) tart.

The batter is thoroughly infused with just the right amount of aromatic Uji matcha powder, from the Uji area of Kyoto. Inside is plenty of tsubuan red bean paste and shiratama rice flour dumplings. The combination of slightly sweet red beans and rice flour dumplings with the bitterness of matcha gives the tart a uniquely Japanese flavor.

Come with us as we take you through the ultimate collection of all the Pringles flavours ever produced in Japan.

If there’s one thing we can’t get enough of in Japan, it’s the amazing array of limited-edition flavours produced by international brands specifically for the Japanese market. From drinks to chocolates and even burgers, some of the special releases you’ll find here aren’t available anywhere else, making them some of the most exclusive and sought-after products in the world.

One of the big international brands to delight our eyes and our tastebuds with their creative designs and flavours is well-known potato chip brand Pringles. After seeing some of their unique offerings on supermarket shelves recently, we decided to get in touch with the company to find out exactly what types of limited-edition flavours they’d produced in Japan over the years. The result is a mammoth collection of colourful tins so beautiful they would look right at home on the walls of a museum.

With only the 2017 collection currently available on the market, gazing over the entire range of Pringles released in Japan was a test of strength as we weren’t allowed to open any of the varieties from earlier collections. Still, that didn’t stop us from fawning over all the unique designs, which was exactly what we did, as we chronicled the entire collection from 2015-2017 for you below!

No need to wait until the workday is done before knocking back a cold one, and it just might lead to a full-time position.

Internships can be an invaluable way to kick-start your progress along your desired career path. While many of them may not be long-term enough for participants to significantly boost their technical skill levels, there’s nothing quite like the confidence and dependability you can gain through the experiences of having actually worked alongside professionals in your field of interest.

Doing an internship can also help you accept which bad habits from your student days you’ll have to grow out of, such as procrastinating, showing up late, or giving in to your temptation to enjoy a refreshing beer before you’ve completed your assigned tasks.

Actually, wait. You can hold onto that last one as long as your internship is with Japanese web developer Technomobile. The company, whose offices are located in downtown Tokyo’s Minami Aoyama neighborhood, is now accepting applicants for its Beer Intern position.

Don’t worry, Technomobile isn’t planning to make interns spend all day running back and forth to the convenience store to pick up chilled cans of Yebisu Beer for the regular employees. This is a legitimate internship in which you’ll be using the Ruby on Rails application framework to complete web development assignments. You’ll just be doing it with a beer in one hand, as the program aims to “help clear away tension by having a beer, and let interns experience the working atmosphere at Technomobile and see if they’re compatible with it.”

Giant statues, themed food, and exclusive merchandise are all part of the event at Roppongi Hills.

The Mori Tower, which stretches to the skies above Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills entertainment complex, periodically hosts art exhibits in its 52nd-floor observation area. In the past, we’ve stopped by for such events saluting such Japanese pop cultural phenomena as the anime of Studio Ghibli, Sailor Moon, and Puella Magi Madoka Magika.

The source material for the celebration going on at Mori Tower right now, though, comes from across the Pacific. On April 7 the Marvel Age of Heroes Exhibition began, filling the event space with more than 200 pieces of memorabilia from the American publisher’s comic books and movies.

We took the elevator up to check the exhibition out for ourselves. Greeting guests at the entrance is a gigantic, five-meter (16.4-foot) statue of Iron Man, which caused just about everyone in the crowd to whip out their phone or camera and snap a picture.

▼ Given Tony Stark’s love of the limelight, we think he’d be pleased with all the attention.

The exhibit leads you through five different areas, beginning with History before passing through Heroes, Cinematic Universe, and Art before finishing in Culture. Each features a variety of artwork and props, from costumes to original comic artwork.