Convenience Store After the Rain

In Miyazaki prefecture’s coastal Hyuga City I drove past this Family Mart convenience store basking in the last glow of the sun just after a rain squall.

Calpis Hyuganatsu

This has turned out to be the year of the Hyuganatsu! In case you haven’t heard of that particular citrus fruit you are probably not alone. The Hyuganatsu (日向夏) is a sweetish lemon like, sour fruit from Miyazaki prefecture in southern Japan. It’s a fantastic fruit and my current favorite, and recently we’ve had quite a few hyuganatsu flavored soft drinks and juices available in stores. This one is new limited edition version of the classic Calpis soft drink. I had to try one and of course it was excellent! Don’t miss it if you like the ordinary Calpis! I took this photo in a local Family Mart convenience store.

Demons in the Convenience Store – Setsubun

When winter hits Japan I go into hibernation and there’s not much that can rouse me out of warm cocoon that is my futon from January to February, hence it is not a mystery that there is one major folklore event in Japan that I know nothing about, the setsubun! I leave it to brother Wikipedia to explain it to you, but trust me in telling you that it involves demons in shorts that can only be fought off by a well placed barrage of beans. During the first week of February there’s demons all over Tokyo and many shops put on nice setsubun decorations that I always tend to miss. It was hard to miss this scowling demon guarding a Familymart convenience store in Asakusa earlier this week though!

Cute Ice-Cream

My latest ice-cream find! Tre Buono, Italian inspired ice-cream from Family Mart, a popular convenience store chain all over Japan. It reminds me of ice-cream I used to eat as a kid, strawberry, banana and melon, triple flavored. The package design is lovely, doesn’t it look just like the old Parappa the Rapper game characters?