I don't know exactly why some kind of Sengoku-era craze is sweeping Glorious Nippon, or for that matter if it's particularly new, but I'm more than happy to blame Sengoku Basara for these awesome-looking bento meals.

Fully microwaveable, these "Ikusa Bento" ("War Lunch") are aimed at 20-somethings and salarymen, the boxes are reusable and decorated with the emblems of the samurai they represent. The meals inside are also themed.

The best-looking one is the meal representing samurai warlord Naoe Kanetsugu. The character "Ai" (love), which was printed on his soldiers' banners, fully adorns the rice, inflaming the soul with manly power and energy. Other meals are themed around the newly minted icons Date Masamune and Sanada Yukimura.

Gigazine theorizes that were these bento made prior to the Sengoku Basara phenomenon, the meals would instead be centered around more traditionally remembered figures of the era such as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Ieyasu Tokugawa. I'm inclined to agree, though a Nobunaga-themed meal would have to be quite demonic and poisonous to achieve the full pop-culture association.

I should be used to these types of ads from Japan by now, but for some reason I never get tired of laughing at them. I love the expression of the guy crying his eyes out laughing while he uses this little device. Uh, what are you doing there, sir?

This thing in the picture is called Mugen Tokoroten and is a gadget which dispenses the summer snack with little happy faces imprinted on the ends. Made by Bandai Asovision, it's one of those things no one needs, but inevitably someone will want. I've personally never tried tokoroten before -- have you?

[Via Japan Trends]

UFO catchers sell a lot of things. Plush dolls, capsule toys, candy, cigarettes and even game consoles have all, at one time or another, been sold in crane games. It was only a matter of time until gourmet pastries went under the claw. That time is now.

Wired's Game|Life found this "SweetsCraneGame" at One on One, an amusement center in Osaka. The machines themselves are refrigerated to preserve the pastries, but all are apparently guaranteed fresh.

Well-trained claw jockeys can snag fresh doughnuts, roll cakes, and even pieces of Baumkuchen, a rich layered type of cake. Dangerous as it might be to your waistline, this is probably one of the best things ever.

It is delicious cake. You must eat it.

Summary: A clumsy girl who's always been the screw-up of her family gets admitted to an elite chef school.

This show can be evaluated in two ways: as a shoujo anime, or as a brilliant piece of propaganda put out by a secret society of bakers who aim to take over the world.  Their plan is to get so many people salivating over the elaborately-made pastries on this show that bakeries all over the world will be flooded with customers. Filling their war chest with this ill-gotten sugar-money, while simultaneously giving everyone diabetes (and suddenly, the state of health care in the U.S. starts to make sense), they triumph.  As the climax of their scheme, they will build a layer cake high enough to reach the moon, and populate it only with the elite, ruling class;  the future of humanity is a sea of chefs' hats, brightening the lunar landscape, as far as the eye can see.

Now that I think about it, I kind of wish the above were true because this plot for world domination is so much cooler than most of the ones going on currently.  Today's secret societies need to get their act together; it's stupid to fight your war with explosives when you can fight it with marzipan instead.  But you should probably hit the jump if you'd like to find out how Yumeiro Patissiere rates as an anime, as opposed to a conspiracy theory.

Eating is one of my favorite things to do in life, and anyone who doesn't feel the same way I feel a little bit bad for. I mean, look at this! We've seen many cute bento boxes over time as they seem to be something that the Japanese derive a lot of pleasure out of, and if you're creative perhaps you can whip one up yourself just by looking at a picture, but for those slightly less gifted, we may need help to create something this cool.

Face Food Recipes is an upcoming book from Mark Batty Publisher, who also made Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes. It contains tons of step-by-step recipes on how to make these yourself, which could be pretty handy if you want to impress the hell out of your coworkers or surprise a friend or loved one with one as a gift. The book just came out and retails for $14.95, so if that sounds like your type of thing, you can score one here.

Alright, New Yorkers. Time to saddle up and make your way down to Chinatown. New York City will be holding its first Dumpling Fest on October 24th in the Sara Roosevelt Park off of East Houston Street down in Chinatown from 12-5pm. What will be there, besides tasty food? Peter Tatara, of course.

Chef Wai Hon Chu (The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide) and Jaden Hair (The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook: 101 Asian Recipes Simple Enough for Tonight's Dinner) will be on hand for autographs, along with an East Village dumpling tour, dumpling making classes and a dumpling eating contest.

Sounds like heaven. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

They'll also have a world tour of dumplings from other countries. So that means gnocchi, tamales, idli, bao, perogis, and more. Oh my stars and bars. The one thing I'm worried about is that it's supposed to rain heavily on Saturday. I really really really hope that it doesn't happen. I want to eat until I explode.

Ah, Japanese game tie-ins. They're sometimes so strange that they seem misguided and pointless. Still, they're fun to talk about.

This one ties together Marvelous Entertainment's upcoming game Rune Factor 3 and Japanese Karaoke bar chain Pasela. The pitch? A Rune Factory-themed food menu for the bar, says Andria Sang. Really, though, this special Pasela X Rune Factory 3 Collaborate Menu looks pretty good. There's pasta, pizza, drinks, and a cake, all game themed, but what looks the best (and cutest) is the Mokomoko chocolate mousse, which is designed to look just like the character's face.

Those that order off the special menu between October 27th and November 26th will receive a promotional clear file featuring art from the game.

Hey, I like games and karaoke and chocolate mousse!

This is a real thing that is happening.

Burger King Japan's commerative burger for the release of the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system has...7 beef patties. They're really going to sell this thing, starting today, October 22nd. 

For the first 30 people to order, this monster will cost only 777 yen. For everyone else after that, the cost goes up to 1,450 yen ($15.89). Well, that and the cost of a good antacid. 

This big bastard weighs about 1.7 pounds, and the caloric intake on this is more than you should probably eat in a day, at 2,120 calories. 

[via Makoto Style]

When people talk about how Japan is the "best country ever," they're usually thinking about something silly, like the anime, or cosplay girls, or how games come out there first.  All of that is silly, sorry. For me, I'm fine without those things. For me, it's the food. It's how you can walk into a convenience store and get fresh baked bread and custards anywhere. It's corn on pizza. It's the oddest junk food ever. Oh, and now, it's delivery paella.

Damn it. The offerings at Viva Paella look incredible. They bring this to your front door? Garlic Paella with Thick-cut Bacon and Zucchini? Oh God, yes. And 2,900 yen for a Large? Here, take my money. See you tomorrow. 

What really sent me over the edge is finding out that this place also has deliver tapas. Grilled Pork with Pink Pepper? Cream Croquettes with Ham? Jesus.

HHHHNNNNNGGGGGGHHHH. I guess I'll go order some dogsh*t pizza now. In America.

[thanks to Cheapy D for rubbing it in my face]