Kangoku (監獄) means prison, and izakaya (居酒屋) is a Japanese style drinking restaurant.  So a kangoku izakaya is a Japanese restaurant/bar that has been styled to look like a prison! And if the thought of vicious felons and dirty prison cells doesn’t whet your appetite, I don’t know what will.

Kangoku Inshoku 42 Bou is the name of this peculiarly-themed izakaya, located in Sakae, Nagoya. With dinner courses ranging from around 2000 to 3000 yen and a nomihoudai (all you can drink) for 1000 yen, you can enjoy izakaya food similar to what you would find anywhere else, but from the comfort of a dark and spooky prison cell.

But why stop with just a prison izakaya when you can have a haunted prison izakaya! Kangoku 42 is decorated throughout with skeletons, chains, red blood-like splatters on the wall and other stereotypical haunted-house decor. It’s no wonder this place is so popular with the ladies, eh? (no, seriously, it is really popular with ladies)

At 8:00pm, there is even a nightly horror show. The entire restaurant goes dark (it’s dark to begin with, mind you, but once the show starts you can forget about eating for a while), and a spooky soundtrack starts playing. Gunshots fire off somewhere, flashes of light bounce off the marred concrete walls as an eerie voice narrates a deathly tale of… actually I was on the 2nd floor so I didn’t get a good view and I didn’t really know what was going on. Then the staff put on scary outfits and go around to the tables trying their best to spook all the customers.

It’s pricey (as are most izakayas), but an interesting experience. Might be good for dates. Definitely a great place for Halloween parties.

Come on, you know you want to… your table is waiting, prisoner! mwahahahahahahahahaaaaa!!!!

Here’s a google map for everyone:

View Larger Map
PS. For some reason they only have Heineken beer. Drink of choice for prisoners? (and exiles? *looks south*)

Japan Blog Matsuri

I’ve submitted this post to be included in the April 2010 Japan blog matsuri. This month’s Matsuri, about secret Japan, is hosted by Gakuranman, thanks!

(Translation: Lloyd used his blog as an excuse to order delivery pizza 5 times in one month.)

Anyway, let’s start with the unique way that Japan handles its delivery pizza business…

By delivery only

Pizza in Japan is basically delivery-only

In Japan, you can’t really go out for pizza. If you try to track down your local pizza place by address… you’ll find a site something like you see in this picture of a Pizza-la in Nagoya (Osu), and it will probably be in a more residential area than a commercial one. Inside, there’s a little space for you to stand and pay money (for takeout), but no place to sit down. Japanese pizza chains are pizza factories in the very literal sense of the word.

Delivery itself is handled by a mostly-young, mostly-male team of delivery staff, who speed around their store’s designated territory delivering pizzas that were ordered online or over the phone.

a Japanese pizza delivery scooter

Because young adults in Japan typically do not have their own vehicles to use to deliver, the dispatch of hot pizzas to hungry customers is done on motor-bikes like the one above.  I’d love to have one of those to zip back and forth to work… They’re like scooters but they’re better because they have a place to hold something and you’re protected from the rain.

Yummy Japanese Pizza!

How would you like a “Crab and Shrimp Mayo King” pizza? no? how does “Potato & Curry with Tartar Sauce” sound? I could really go for a “Berauma Omochi Chicken” pizza, myself. Japanese pizza has some of the most unique combinations imaginable, and even if they sound strange they usually are actually really tasty. Yes, you can find almost anything on a pizza here in Japan. …almost

Who doesn’t like Hawaiian pizza?

The Japanese don’t like Hawaiian pizza, that’s who! Even though they’re perfectly fine putting a sunny-side-up egg or a full unsliced sausage on a pizza, for some reason they think pineapple is weird because it’s “sweet” and “a fruit.” Psh! Tsk! Bah!

Hawaiian pizza is thoroughly discriminated against, too… If it’s to be found at all, it’s near the bottom of the menu. Pizza-la includes it only in their “Children’s menu” section. Pizza Hut, which is otherwise a bastion of American-style pizza arrangement, doesn’t even offer it. RAAAAGGGGEEEE!!!!

…Corn?

In contrast, Japanese have a strange fascination with adding corn to their pizza, of all things. Even the little instant pizzas that you get from 100 yen stores always come with a few pieces of corn (I’ll guess it’s partly there for aesthetic). It puzzles me a little bit but… well, whatever… it’s not bad, I guess.

5 Pizza Reviews

Over the new year while I hid myself away in my apartment and became one with Final Fantasy XIII, and during that time I ordered out for pizza 3 times (that’s in a span of 6 days), and I had another pizza about a week later and another after that with a coupon a friend gave me. In the order that I devoured these, here’s what I got and what I thought.

1.

The Pizza: Large Half-and-Half Giga Meat + Chiki-Teri (Chicken Teriyaki)

Yes, that’s broccoli on the pizza. No, I’m not kidding, seriously: broccoli. Oh, and the white stuff? That’s mayonnaise (Japanese mayo, mind you, not that white paste that gets passed off as mayonnaise in America… but that’s another blog post). Yep, this is the kind of perverted stuff that Japanese like to do to pizza. Strange? a little. Delicious? Hell yeah!

2.

The pizza: Medium Hawaiian Delight

Although they push it down to the kids menu, Pizza-la provides expatriates the only real Hawaiian pizza on this island. It was so delicious I forgot to take pictures before I dove in…

3.

The pizza: Large UFO (4-mix), Berauma Omochi Chiken x Spicy Tuna x Hawaiian x Super combo with sausage crust.

Aoki’s is the most exotic of the major pizza chains in Japan. They have the most unique menu, and they’re the only place that will allow you to mix and match 4 pizzas from their regular menu with their “UFO” deal (other pizza chains only let you do half and half). Aoki’s is great if you’re looking for a delicious pizza that is also kind of an adventure.

One interesting tidbit about Aoki’s: they don’t cut the pizza all the way to the edge of the crust on purpose, to hold the pizza together for delivery. However, I think they should cut it… Domino’s, and Pizza Hut and Pizza-la all managed to deliver the pizza just fine with the slices.

Some of Aoki’s seasonal or regional specialties and limited edition pizzas don’t even resemble pizza…

4.

The pizza: Large half-and-half Super Korean Purukogi + Bacon Mushroom with cheesy roll crust.

Japanese Pizza Hut is probably the most “American”-style pizza out of this bunch. Their menu has some Japanese favorites like seafood and mayonnaise, but nothing too outrageous. Pizza hut is also the most generous with their tomato sauce (other pizza places tend to be a little lacking).

I highly recommend checking out their Super Korean Purukogi, by the way. My local pizza hut has a half price day every month (on some of their menu, take-out only), and I always get the Purukogi.

5.

The pizza: Large Seafood Italiana

Yeah, I know I’ve already tried a Pizza-la pizza, but a friend of mine gave me a coupon for Pizza-la so I decided to get a second opinion. This seafood pizza comes with shrimp, shellfish and squid, among other things.

Ordering Pizza Online

I could have called in my orders, but for this blog I decided to do everything online. All four of these pizza delivery chains allow you to order online.

Screenshots (Feb 12, 2010)

Domino’s (left) – Pizza-La (right)

Pizza Hut (left) – Aoki’s (right)

Although Aoki’s pizza’s online ordering system was down yesterday when I went to take a screenshot, it was working over New Year’s holiday when I made my order. Even then, though their order system was outsourced to a pretty primitive looking 3rd party website. I hope Aoki’s gets their online act together soon.

As for the others, they all offer pretty much the same ordering experience. You locate which store you need to order into by searching your postal code, then select and order your pizza and you’re done. Domino’s takes credit cards but none of the sites require payment before delivery.

Here’s a quick table I’ve compiled to compare these 4 chains and their sites…

	Pizza Hut http://www.pizzahut.jp/	Domino’s http://www.dominos.jp/	Pizza-La http://www.pizza-la.co.jp/	Aoki’s Pizza http://www.aokispizza.co.jp/
Requires Registration to order?	no	yes	no	n/a (site wasn’t working)
Large pizza size?	31cm / 10 slices	36cm / 12 slices	36cm / 12 slices	35cm / 12 slices
Medium pizza size?	25cm / 8 slices	25cm / 8 slices	25cm / 8 slices	25cm / 8 slices
Mix and match?	Half & Half only	Half & Half only	Half & Half only	Half & Half or 4-way (UFO)
Online deal	Free drinks (tea)	5% discount*	Free side dish	Free drink or side dish
Menu in English?	Pizza names only	Downloadable	Yes (link)	No
Hawaiian???!	No	Yes, with corn.	Yes!!!	Yes, but HUGE pineapple chunks
Overall online order experience	★★★★	★★★★★	★★★	★
Overall pizza satisfaction	★★★	★★★★	★★★	★★★★★
Unique touch	Adequate pizza sauce	Style and selection	Scratch card game	Epic Japanese pizza
Weak point	Large size is small	A little pricey	Poor selection	Crappy website

* Domino’s also offers a free 1-liter coca-cola coupon on their site and you can win other coupons that you can use right away by playing their flash games.

Which do I recommend?

Now that I’ve tried all four, I can see that they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Which one I recommend depends on what the pizza objective is:

• Exotic and delicious? = Aoki’s
  • All around, Aoki’s offers a superb pizza with excellent options, and out of the box they are absolutely beautiful works of art.
• I WANT MEEEEEAAAAT!!! = Domino’s
  • Domino’s also offers a wonderful pizza and is the most generous with their toppings.
• Hawaiian = Pizza-La
  • Something about Pizza-La’s menu items just don’t appeal to me. They all look good, but when I actually go to order I feel like there’s only a couple I would really pay for. But, they offer a good Hawaiian pizza with no surprises.
• Half-price day pizza = Pizza Hut
  • In terms of pizza, Pizza Hut doesn’t have much to say in their defense other than that they use more sauce. But if you’re in Japan and your local Pizza Hut offers a half-price day (not all do), then plan ahead and get yourself one of their Purukogi pizzas!

Prices

Pizza in Japan is very expensive by western standards. A medium pizza typically runs 2000 to 2500 yen ($22-27 USD), a large pizza will cost 2900-3600 and up. Dominos has a reputation as the most expensive and certainly their top end is higher (Large Prime Seafood = 3950 yen) than other chains, but most of the pizzas on their menu don’t vary much when compared to other chains.

…But remember!

In Japan, you don’t need to tip the driver.

Japan Blog Matsuri!

イッツ・ア・祭り～ぃ！ I’ve entered this blog post in this month’s JapanSoc Japan Blog Matsuri! This month’s host is Muza-chan’s Gate to Japan! (Thank you, Muza-chan!)

Let’s all celebrate this month’s Matsuri with a delicious pizza!

A bottle of Azuki-flavored Pepsi

Azuki is a bean commonly used in traditional Japanese sweets. I’m not sure if the bean itself is sweet or not, but it is nearly always used with a ton of sugar.

Azuki beans

Personally, I’m not really a fan of them. I like sweet things but Japanese candies made with azuki are usually just too sweet for me. But, since I have a blog about Japanese stuff I kinda feel obligated to try these things.

So, how is it?

Not bad. Better than the pizza-flavored instant yakisoba I had recently and the flavor does resemble azuki if you use your imagination a little. But something about it didn’t seem quite like azuki to me, so I checked the ingredients list for a hint…

Ingredients list on the back of the bottle.

A-ha! So that’s your secret: grapes. Actually, after reading that my mind picked up on the grapey-ness of the drink a lot better, and now I actually think it tastes more like grape than azuki. So, if you’re a grape soda fan, give azuki Pepsi a try! The drink contains no actual azuki, so it’s not like you’re drinking anything disgusting (well, not any more disgusting than a regular Pepsi).

Actually, Pepsi releases flavors that no one wants on a seasonal basis, probably in an attempt to try and build brand awareness and grab market share from Coca-cola, who is much more strongly positioned in the Japanese market. You can read more about stupid Pepsi flavors here: Shiso Pepsi and links to other silly flavors.

For now, here are a couple random shots from my travels so far…

Music from back in the good orld days.

Look out for the cutely drawn raccoons.

The construction zone frog!

15,750 Japanese Yen = (Apx.) 178 USD = 111 GBP = 200 AUD = 121 Euros = way too freaking much. But damn do those look like some fine grapes…

Japanese sometimes translate things too well for their own good. How many westerners are actually familiar with the word alight, I wonder?

Okay, that’s all for this short post. I’m looking forward to getting back to updating nihonshock more regularly, but that won’t be until next week.

The box

Note: Pizza-la is a Japanese pizza chain store (I have to say store instead of restaurant because Japanese pizza is 99% delivery)

The product

For those of you looking at the above image and thinking “there’s no way that tastes like pizza,” you’re correct. I decided to become a guinea pig for the sake of science and tried it myself. The actual flavor as far as I can tell is primarily pepper, kind of mixed with an artificial-meaty flavor… Cheese? Tomato Sauce? Sorry…, not on this “pizza.”

Oh well, I wasn’t expecting too much (it is just a box of instant noodles, after all). I pretty much just got a cheap dinner and an easy blog post out of the deal.

The verdict: leave this product alone, you’re not missing anything. It’s not so different from any other instant noodle. Not that it’s really bad, but it’s not anywhere close enough to pizza to be as interesting as the box implies.

However, somewhere in logical order of things there is a line of miniaturization for certain things which need not be crossed… that is, except by the Japanese.

On a quick trip to the supermarket last night I picked up four examples of miniaturization gone wild, but I’m sure there are plenty more lurking all over this country.

1. 135ml (4.5oz) Asahi beer = 100 yen

Here, let me help you put that in perspective…

I guess this is one option for staying within the legal limit…

2. Mini-Mayonnaise = 67 yen

And again, in perspective…

Share it with a friend to save even more calories.

3. Mini Instant Noodles = 95 yen

Happens to be just about as big as my coffee cup…

For these noodles, the “instant” refers to the time required for eating.

4. Potato Chips = 78 yen

Mmmm… don’t those look yummy?

Too bad you have to eat at least 3 at a time to get the sensation of having something in your mouth.

I’ll try to find some more mini things.

PS. Anyone remember Zoolander’s mobile phone? Mark my words, the Japanese will build it. It’s just a matter of time…