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The long neglected sister site of Just Hungry is finally back!

A new article about the business side of Pocky, the chocolate covered cookie stick loved by many, is up on my new site Just My Japan. I thought about putting it on this site sinc it's about a food product, but it's more about the marketing and production of the product than the taste or anything, so I put it over there. I hope you take a look!

Pocky and the Japanese Snack Industry

My mother's sleepy hometown was only about an hour away by train from the bustling Tokyo suburb where we lived when I was young, but a world away in many ways. There was no supermarket within walking distance from my grandparents' house, and the local butcher sold no beef since people there only ate pork and chicken unless it was for a special occasion. The huge bath tub was made of rough cast iron - it was filled with water and heated from below with a wood fire, and to get in it one had to stop on the wooden lid and slowly sink it down, to avoid burning ones feet.

A post about basic sushi restaurant etiquette, plus additional thoughts about 'good sushi'.

Believe it or not, a sequel to The Just Bento Cookbook will be here soon.

What is "noodle harassment" and is it real?

A friend was wondering out loud on Facebook, why the kanji characters for fugu (pufferfish) are 河豚. She was pondering the use of 豚, the second character, which means "pig", but the first character 河 is a mystery too, since it means river - and the fugu that we know and eat today (or get all het up about how dangerous it is, depending on where you are from) is an ocean fish.

Valentine's Day in Japan is rather different.

ChefCuisine is a new method of delivering top restaurant quality meals to the home. It's intriguing...but will it succeed?