This Week in Tokyo – 1 June 2021

Welcome to ‘This Week in Tokyo’, a review of the Maction Planet week that was and a look ahead to what’s coming up in the city. Hosted by Mac, our Founder and Lead Guide, you can check out photos from our tours and read insights into our explorations as we get under the skin of the World’s Greatest Metropolis, and beyond! This week: Smile and the world smiles etc; Iwate Meijo Sake Success; Whisky KitKat; Japanese Sake Tips That All Sake Lovers Should Know and Kei’s Tendon Test.

Featured image – Smile and the world smiles etc: When this cup of coffee was served, I did wonder if this was an attempt to draw me. Either way, the team at Analog Cafe in Ebisu made me smile even more.

Iwate Meijo Sake Success: On Monday I co-hosted the first Kanpai Planet event – an online tour and tasting of the Iwate Meijo sake brewery. It was a huge success!

Iwate Meijo started sake brewing in 1858 and merged together with several sake breweries, and began production under their current name, in 1955. Lucky participants got to experience something special as brewery-head-to-be Oikawa-san showed us inside the brewery, including some sealed-off areas exclusively revealed for this event!

Overseas guest received a tasting set with three delicous sake:

• Junmai Ginjo Yumefubuki
• Tokubetsu Junmai Iwate Homare
• New Iwate Homare sake

After the ‘formal’ tour, we headed into a breakout room, where Kanpai Planet guests continued to enjoy their sake and ask all the sake-related and Japanese culture questions they have been afraid to ask!

This event was focused on the European timezone. For our global fans, keep an eye out on Kanpai Planet social media for details of future events. You can follow Kanpai Planet on YouTube | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn and Pinterest!

Whisky KitKat: Finally, you can achieve your lifetime ambition – you can watch a Japan whisky expert review the limited-edition Japan-exclusive Whisky KitKat! That’s right, I conducted a taste test of the Whisky KitKat, under stringent Kanpai Planet conditions, followed by a head-to-head of the Whisky KitKat vs a Japan-exclusive Islay whisky.

Kit Kat was launched in Japan in 1973. It took until 2000 for Nestle Japan to release its first non-chocolate flavour, strawberry, and since then, around 400 flavours have been released – passion fruit, wasabi, cookies and cream, soy sauce, chilli flavour, baked potato, ginger ale… Japan consumes up to 5 million KitKats per day in Japan. If you’re not happy with what’s currently out there, you can even make your own custom KitKat bar in Shibuya, Tokyo.

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Japanese Sake Tips That All Sake Lovers Should Know: Japanese sake is taking the world by storm. Yet, even though many people drink it, it remains a misunderstood drink. You may know your dry wine from your sweet wine, but what about the difference between ginjo and daiginjo? Find out in my second article for Tokyo Weekender, which outlined some sake tips to help you improve your knowledge significantly and quickly.

This article was partly based on my video ‘5 TIPS to INSTANTLY up your JAPANESE SAKE GAME‘:

Kei’s Tendon Test: The recipes for Maction Planet x At Home with Nahoko Cooking Classes are tested on some of Tokyo’s most discerning eaters, and they don’t come more discerning than Kei Sanami, Nahoko’s husband, who has given his approval for our TENDON recipe, which we are teaching on 13 June 2021 (JST).

As well as creating this delicious dish together with us, you will learn some pro-techniques to take your culinary skills to the next level!

Two classes, at 08:00 and 18:00 JST cater to all timezones! [For guests in North and South America the class will be late afternoon/evening your time on 12 June.]

More details here. Email info@mactionplanet.com to sign up! 

This will be the final regular Maction Planet x At Home with Nahoko Cooking Class. We hope you can join us, and our incredible community of guests from six continents, so we can thank you ‘in person’ for being part of this incredible journey over the last 12 months. We couldn’t have done it without your support. A huge DOMO ARIGATO FROM TOKYO. Itadakimasu, and we continue… 

Maction Planet runs bespoke Private Tours and Experiences in Tokyo, and beyond. To book yours, or to purchase a gift card, contact us at info@mactionplanet.com

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