Random Japan

Elephant nose ice cream: The treat with a trunk

   Michelle Lynn Dinh

If you’re looking for a fun way to eat your dessert, look no further than Zou-No-Hana Cafe in Yokohama, Japan. The house specialty, the zou no hana (elephant nose) ice cream has been enticing regular visitors and tourists alike with its cute, albeit strange, face and oversized waffle cone ears.

Elephant nose ice cream is ridiculously cute – who knew plain old soft serve, or “soft cream” as it’s called in Japan, could take on so much whimsy. And as you can probably tell, Zou-No-Hana Cafe has perfected the art of the nose lift:

STATS

   47

Strikeouts by New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka in his first five major league starts, a club record and the third most by a rookie in MLB history

684

Number of artists, actors and sports figures awarded spring decorations by the government, including a record 282 women

50.1

Percent of first-year workers at Japanese firms who say they would accept an overseas assignment-a record low-according to the Tokyo-based Japan Productivity Center

FACELIFTS

Officials at JR East say they’ll replace the roof over the platform of tracks Nos. 5 and 6 at Tokyo station-for the first time since the station opened 100 years ago.

Leaders of a shopping association in Setagaya-ku have festooned a local shotengai with 82 streetlights in the shape of TV superhero Ultraman Taro.

Authorities at the government’s newly created Healthcare and Medical Strategy Promotion group say they want to “computerize every medical service at hospitals.”

Officials at the finance ministry say a record 28,135 counterfeit brand items were seized by customs workers last year, yet this represents only “a small portion” of the total.

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High School Girls

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Adult, occult books given government support as part of Tohoku restoration project



MAY. 17, 2014 – 06:33AM JST

Back in 2012 the Japanese government earmarked one billion yen for the Kindigi project which grants subsidies to publishers so that they can digitize their works to sell online. The ebooks are intended to allow people in regions affected by the Tohoku earthquake to get easier access to information. As an added bonus, it was hoped this would give Japan’s ebook market a shot in the arm all over the country as well.

However, one year after the digitization of 64,833 works was completed with tax money having paid for half the cost, a group of people involved in the publishing industry have been distributing flyers and organizing meetings over the handling of Kindigi. They found that among the thousands of ebooks were several that they deemed controversial including 100 “erotic” works such as “Aan… Ecchina Kaikan Ai” (Unn…Dirty Pleasure Love).