This year I have been something of a glutton for Godzilla and kaiju related snacks and foods, but in general I haven’t been very impressed with most of the offerings. I didn’t care for the Shin Gojiramen snacks from the Oyatsu Company, nor the Limited Edition Yaki, and while the Yokosuka Godzilla Curry was better, I don’t care to eat it again. I actually enjoyed the Godzilla Butamen, but it has already disappeared from the market. I picked up the Godzilla Arare Crackers (ゴジあられ) from a company called Folcart when I visited a Godzilla exhibit back in August of 2016, but given the underwhelming flavors featured in other Goji-snacks so far, I wasn’t exactly scrambling to eat the stuff until I noticed that they were going to expire tomorrow (November 1)! Thus I partook with haste, and boy this might be my favorite Godzilla food yet! (more…)

Along with any decent large scale summer release, Shin Godzilla (2016) in Japan came along with quite the variety of products and snacks and promotions to capitalize on the return of everyone’s favorite tyrannostegosaurus. Along with the Shin Hot Dogs and the Lotteria Shin Gojira Set (among other snacks) are the Baby Star Dodekai Ramen Shin Gojiramen, a cheap chip-like snack by the Oyatsu Company. The snack is supposed to taste like ramen noodles I guess and is probably made from similar ingredients, and the packaging has some amusing wordplay, including the combination of “gojira” with “ramen” and a tag line of “Anata tai Shin Gojira”–you vs Shin Gojira, with “shin” written with the kanji for “spicy,” taking advantage of the deliberately vague title of Hideaki Anno’s new movie (“shin” doesn’t just mean “new,” and when Anno named the movie that, he was going for several meanings at once). I bought my Shin Gojiramen recently at an Aeon Mall where they were relegated to the half-price bin, so I guess we can safely conclude they aren’t selling well.

That lack of sales may be due to the underwhelming quality of the snacks, at least as judged by my discerning (?) tongue. The black pepper flavor (ベビースタードデカイシン・ゴジラーメン- ブラックペッパー味) certainly is very black peppery, with an unhealthy dose of salt. I am not really complaining about the flavoring, though I am no big fan of black pepper chips. The source of my mild disappointment stems more from the bland texture of the ramen chips themselves. While the chips are certainly visually appealing as they curl and twist like so many edible ribbons blowing in the wind, the actual crunch lacks punch and struck me as having the mouth-feel of slightly stale potato chips. I grew tired of them after just a few bites. This snack is pictured at the top of the review.

The hot chili flavor (ベビースタードデカイ シン・ゴジラーメン-ホットチリ味) was better, at least to my tastes. The chips themselves are less messy as they don’t have so much salt to fall off onto your fingers, and the chili flavoring seems to have been applied with a slightly sweet sauce and cooked in, so your fingers may feel a little sticky after a munch session. The flavor is hotter, but not scorching–enough to make me thirsty. Still, neither flavor was enough to make me want to buy more. This snack is pictured below.

Enterprising individuals can also send a post card in to the company with name, address, sex, age, etc, to get either a poster or a press pamphlet, neither of which are being sold in stores. The packaging doesn’t show what the poster or pamphlet look like, but it’s a nice addition to a simple, fairly underwhelming snack. Still, for the curious, these are cheap snacks to feed your growing kaiju belly.

In Japan, if you are Japanese, when you go traveling, especially any significant distance, there is a special burden placed upon the weary traveler in addition to packing, lugging around suitcases, endless hours on the road or in the air, lost sleep, and the other usual headaches of vacation. In Japan there is a strong social expectation that the lucky traveler should bring back local snacks or souvenirs for all their close friends or even sometimes acquaintances, depending on mysterious (to me) social duties and ties. These souvenirs, called omiyage, are big business in Japan, and all the big train stations have ample omiyage stores for last-minute purchases by desperate and busy vacationers. (more…)

I really love curry.

Over the last several years, my love of curry has blossomed more and more as I have been exposed to the plurality of flavors of Indian, Thai, and even Singapore curries. My workplace in Japan has a fantastic cafeteria that always has curry, and I often grab me some curry to go with their other often scrumptious dishes. In Japan, curry is a very popular dish, though I am not especially fond of Japanese curries themselves. Nevertheless, Japanese curry packets (pop them in boiling water, then open the packet, empty over rice and add any condiments you like, boom, a meal!) are one of my favorite ways to save time on making dinner. Still, I was not expecting to find that Godzilla had his own curry, the Yokosuka Godzilla Curry (横須賀市 ゴジラカレー) from Dream Planet Japan. (more…)

The Oyatsu Company really capitalized on the release of Shin Godzilla in the summer of 2016 and released a number of Godzilla-themed snacks, all of which somehow include ramen for some reason–the Baby Star Dodekai Shin Gojiramen (in two flavors, hot chili and black pepper), the Godzilla vs. Evangelion Baby Star Ramen Box (which includes another couple flavors–garlic and spicy chicken), and the subject of today’s review, Godzilla Butamen (or pork ramen), the flavor of which is “extremely spicy tonkotsu.” (more…)

As a promotion for Shin Gojira, aka Godzilla Resurgence (2016), Aeon Cinema has created two varieties of hot dogs for sale at their theaters that they have dubbed “Shin Hot Dogs” (シン・ホットドッグ). These hot dogs don’t really look like Godzilla, though the creative consumer can try to come up with parallels to the new Godzilla design (Godzilla’s tail is really long in this movie, so maybe the long hot dogs are symbolic of his tail! The tomato and veggies hot dog has a lot of red sauce on it, so maybe that is supposed to symbolize the mysterious red gloop in the movie!) But really, the dogs are just dogs so far as I can tell. No monster symbolism. (more…)

Located at 1800 Divisadero Street (San Francisco, CA 94115), a short drive away from San Francisco’s Japan Town, one can find “Godzila Sushi”. I had driven past the location many times, but despite the name I never gave it a second thought. Godzilla named foods are not all that uncommon, High Tech Burrito has their Godzilla burrito for example. Furthermore, sushi restaurants are a dime a dozen in San Francisco. It wasn’t until I actually walked past the location that I had to do a full stop to stare inside in wonder. Godzilla was everywhere inside, and the restaurant clearly didn’t just pick a random name, but was themed around the concept. (more…)