Review of Burger King's "Black Burger"

September 25, 2014- Tokyo, Japan:

Today, McDonald's in Japan announced its plan to have a black burger to rival competitor, Burger King.  Last week, while on international travel in Japan, I had the opportunity to take in the Japanese's version of Burger King.  I am happy to report that the standardization of Burger King's char-grilled beef patties are consistent, whether you are eating at a Burger King in my hometown of Taylors, South Carolina or my wife's hometown of Tokyo, Japan.

As it turns out, the Japanese currently have a preference and taste for a "Black Burger".  That is, a burger that is char-grilled to a well done like normal but with the unusual caveats of cheese that tasted like regular American cheese but had a blackish appearance.  The burger I had came with a teriyaki-like sauce known as Shalyapin Sauce.  which pretty much has made its way into the average American's every day diet.  Also, I'm sure that we all have had pumpernickel bread at one time or another in our past, and the bun for this "Black Burger" was something along those lines.

In Japan, they were offering two "Black Burgers".  One offered lettuce, tomato slices, onions, and mayonnaise with the Shalyapin Sauce which is the one that I went with.  The other didn't offer the toppings.

All and all, the "Black Burger" from Burger King was tasty, came with fries that you would find back home at your neighborhood Burger King.  The promotional for this burger was a Coke Zero which was the beverage as well.

A tad on the small side which is consistent with most American fast food eateries when implemented in Japan, I was glad that I broke away from my "sushi at least once a day" routine to take in this unusual offering from restaurant that I grew up with.

I recommend that Burger King in the US offers this "Black Burger".  It would be a great way for the stagnant eatery to differenciate itself from the competitive scrum while remaining true to the one thing that Burger Kings does best-- chargrilled beef patties without firing up the grill in the backyard.  Have it your way?  How about have it Godzilla's way!

Black Burger set on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.  From left to right:  Coke Zero, Black Burger in it's wrapping paper, and fries.

The Black Burger unwrapped with the blackish cheese revealed.  Picture was taken on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

The Black Burger unwrapped with the blackish cheese revealed.  Picture was taken on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

The size of the Black Burger wasn't huge by any stretch of one's imagination.  However, it was filing.  Picture was taken on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

A friendly Tokyoite didn't mind taking a picture of me holding the Black Burger during a lunch rush.  Picture was taken on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

The Black Burger came with a decent amount of lettuce, two tomato slices and a healthy dab of mayonnaise.  Under the cheese was a teriyaki like sauce.  Picture was taken on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

Towards the back end of the Black Burger, the toppings were scarce, however, I was not hungry after completing this set.  Picture was taken on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

The Black Burger came in a black wrapper with the similar markings found in the US for those that have to have it "their way".  Picture was taken on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

The Black Burger by Burger King debuted in Japan on Friday, September 19th, 2014.  I went to Burger King the following day during the breakfast rush and wasn't able to get the Black Burger since it doesn't get served till 10:30am.  However, all meal trays come with this paper advertising the the "Kuro Diamond", top left and the "Kuro Pearl", bottom left.  To the far right, is a discription of all the components of the burger that are black.  Picture was taken on  September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

I had the Kuro Diamond which I point out in this picture.  Picture was taken on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

Here's a close up of the Kuro Diamond advertisement.  Picture was taken on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

The other Black Burger was the Kuro Pearl.  It was heavy on the sauce and light on the toppings which was the reason I went with the other one.  Picture was taken on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan.

The components of the Black Burger are explained in this photo.  From left to right are pictures and explanations in Japans of the black bread, black cheese, black patty, and black sauce.

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-14

Japanese airline service

Who is the founder of the Hakata Ikkousha ramen chain? I saw an excellent documentary on the plane courtesy of ANA. I received the best service ever in economy class thanks to the ANA team.

Japan's treasure to the world has been and will always be its ability to implement customer service a do so better than anyone else in the world. When traveling with a child under the age of 2, it is things like this that determine who gets one's business. There were many choices on who to fly with when we decided to return to Japan. We chose ANA since the Japanese airlines have a reputation for excellent service from start to finish. The only thing that I wish that they would have done, and maybe they did, and I was preoccupied with my daughter was to make sure that the immigration paperwork was filed out on the plane instead of doing it alone. My wife and daughter are both Japanese passport holders, and we got separated at immigration. I had to give the name of the hotel without the phone number since I didn't have that information with me, my wife did. Anyway, we are staying at the Tobu Narita Hotel near the airport since we arrived after 8 pm and knew that we would be exhausted after flying 13 hours from Chicago. We are smart to have done so, and the service from the hotel rivals that of ANA. The bus was on time, the driver diligently and cheerfully greeted us at the stand, and expeditiously placed our bags in the storage compartment. At the hotel, the driver did the same thing and did so without expecting a tip for his service. As soon as I turned around, a hotel employee was pushing up a cart and immediately placed our bags on the carriage. Before I could figure out what was happening, I had been led to the front desk. The employee waited patiently while her coworker checked us into the hotel.

Then, we were led to the elevator. Since there was another couple, the employee informed us that she would be up on the next elevator with our bags. In our room, the crib was already set up, allowing us to decompress and transition to the next 14 days in Japan with an infant. In closing, don't forget to bring a converter for your laptop charger. Also, if you will be renting a cell phone, do so knowing that after 8 pm at Narita Airport, these sorts of stores close for the day. This required us to make a special trip to a store in Tokyo's center city area later today. Today is Japan's "Respect of the Age" day. What a great way to reunite with my mother-in-law and allowing some long-overdue quality time with my daughter. The Divine Wind Vaulthttp://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-14

CNN's Talk Asia Program- Ken Hirai 平井堅

Unfortunately, I didn't catch Ken Hirai's interview from the beginning. I only got parts 2 and 3.

Part 2:

Ken Hirai is interviewed for CNN's Talk Asia in 2006 and discusses his unique looks for a Japanese male and how he was mistaken for a Westerner as a youth in Tokyo. This clip ends with Hirai performing at the Saitama Super Arena.

Part 3:

 

Ken Hirai is interviewed for CNN's Talk Asia in 2006 and discusses his time meeting and performing with R & B legend, Stevie Wonder. performing at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York and his work with Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds.

The Divine Wind Vault

http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com

(C)2006-14

Focus on the Good Things that people are saying

Never ever give up. Why settle for mediocrity when you deserve the very best!!

 

 

 



Feedback:

JET Alum: Congratulations. It's a big achievement and impressed with what you've done while pursuing the degree as well.

Classmate from CSUDH: Congratulations for the graduate! Proud of you Dan!

Sister: I would like to congratulate my brother Daniel Stone on completing his master's degree & graduating today. Hate we are not there to celebrate. We will be soon!! So very proud of the man you have become!

JET Alum: おめでとう！

Shipmate from USS Valley Forge: You helped me just as much, if not more, than I helped you. Anyway, enjoy the time in the spotlight. You've more than earned it. I only regret not being able to attend the ceremony.

Former ELS Employee: Congratulations! You have accomplished so much and you will continue to do great things in the future! I hope all the best for you and your beautiful family!

Childhood friend's mother: You're looking good graduate!

Childhood friend: Good job. Congrats

Former ELS Employee: I congratulate you on completing your MBA!! What a wonderful accomplishment. I also admire that you did not stop, but pressed on and saw it through to completion, even in the midst of challenging circumstances. Your resilience will serve you as well or more so, than the degree. When you put the two together, I am very excited about your future. I wish you all the best!

ODU Department Head: Thanks, Dan, for helping our students to complete field hours and, in some cases, gain employment in TESOL. Good luck in your new endeavor.

ODU Employee: Congratulations on all of your accomplishments! Good luck in your new position!

Former ELS Employee upon learning that I would no longer serve as her supervisor. English is her second language so please pardon the errors, September 2012: I hope you are doing fine. I have been missing you a lot. Many time I cry. It's been week I have not sleep good. Every morning when I pray you and your baby is in my pray.

XXXXXX is very happy for sure. I did want to call you I didn't have your personal number.

JXXX and I were talk about you lot. We had lot of work contact with you now they just throw us our own. I hope things will go well with you.

Just think positive. God may have give you better chance to be close to your family. You can spend time with your baby worried free. Let me know when your baby comes if you allow me I will come see your baby. Also I will come on your graduation.

Remember, I always have respect for you.

ODU Employee upon receiving word of my official last day at ODU in May 2014: Please stop sending me these emails.

The Divine Wind Vault

http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com

(C)2006-14

The Graduate

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014

Columbus, OH- Tickets are available for the 2014 Ohio Dominican University graduation ceremony held on Saturday, May 10th, 2014 in Columbus, OH.

Daniel J. Stone

Master in Business Administration

http://daniel-j-stone.blogspot.com

(C) 2009-14

The unbelievable demands and complaints made by parents in Japan

LINK By Preston Phro

Lifestyle Apr. 16, 2014 - 07:02AM JST ( 24 )

TOKYO —

“Monster parents” aren’t anything new in Japan – the complaints by and about overbearing, demanding mothers and fathers have been on the increase for nearly a decade. But thanks to a report by the Fuji TV program “Nonstop,” the issue has catapulted squarely back into the public conscious.

The show posted some of the crazier complaints allegedly made by these loudmouthed parents to schools and their kids’ teachers, sparking angry and bewildered comments online. We’ve collected some of the best (worst?) below.

To begin with, what, exactly, are these parents getting so upset about? If we’re being totally honest, no education system is perfect–with the possible exception of North Korea, perhaps–so maybe they have some legitimate grievances. We shouldn’t immediately dismiss someone without at least getting an idea of what they’re saying, right?

Well, here’s a list of some of the complaints reported by Nonstop.

“Don’t make my child take part in school cleaning. Hire a janitor! [In Japan, students ordinarily clean the school every day after class]“

“Why weren’t the cherry trees blooming at the school entrance ceremony?”

“Separating my boy from his friends at pre-school creates trouble. I want them to be together all the time.”

“My daughter got a sunburn on field day.”

“My daughter wants to be an idol, so don’t put her in a seat by the window!”

“School lunches lack flavor.”

“Don’t make my child say ‘Itadakimasu!’ before eating! [“Itadakimasu” literally means “I humbly receive,” and it used before eating by most Japanese people. It could be compared to saying grace, but there aren’t the same religious undertones to it.]“

“My son got hurt, so I demand the school pays for his medical bills. And for our dinner!”

“I can’t believe my boy got bitten by a bug! Don’t let insects come near him again!”

“Give my child an instrument that stands out!”

“My child can’t use chopsticks properly!”

Some of these are, for want of a better word, unbelievable. How could anyone complain about the cherry trees not blossoming during the entrance ceremony? And what, exactly, did they expect the teachers to do about it? Glue petals to them? Trick the trees into thinking spring had arrived?

Of course, not every parent in Japan is a monster parent. And plenty of people are annoyed by their behavior. Not that explaining the problem helps – another TV show documented some of the monster parent types in 2010, including a “gyaku gire” (reverse anger) mother. In the show, a group of mothers came to watch their children’s classes, but instead of paying attention to the teacher, they stood in the back and chatted among themselves. When the teacher finally asked them to be quiet, one of the mothers, feeling singled out, became irate and berated the teacher for creating a class so boring she felt compelled to chat instead of listen.

So, how did Internet commenters react to the “Nonstop” report?

“If you going to be like that, don’t send your kids to school!”

“Just looking at monster parents pisses me off!”

“The children of these parents are bound to be worthless”.

“Does anyone know how to make cherry trees blossom?”

“Teachers should snap at these kinds of unreasonable parents.”

“These monsters are scary. I wonder if there is any end to their reproduction…”

“Aren’t they bothering their own kids as well?”

“When my daughter was in elementary school, the parents would go and clean the bathrooms…”

“This can only lead to fewer teachers…”

“These parents need some mandatory education!”

“This is where useless people who can’t survive in society come from. Seriously.”

“Where’s a monster hunter when you need one?”

“‘Itadakimasu!’”

Sadly, a lot of these complaints probably don’t sound uncommon to people outside of Japan. We understand that parenting is hard – and probably a little scary – so it’s not surprising that some people go a bit overboard and demand a lot from the schools they’re sending their kids to, but no one can control when the sakura trees blossom. It’s no wonder teachers feel so exhausted in Japan.

Well, at least we know where all those monster new employees are coming from.

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-14

Japan's Biggest Organized Crime Syndicate Now Has Its Own Web Site and Theme Song

By Jake Adelstein and Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky

April 1, 2014 | 4:25 pm

Japan’s largest organized crime group, the Yamaguchi-gumi, recently launched its own website. But if you're hoping to see guys with crazy tattoos, dramatic gun battles, bloody sword fights, and fingers being chopped off — and who isn't? — it may disappoint.

For starters, the site looks like it was created in the late 1990s. Still, the criminal syndicate is hoping it'll serve as a recruitment tool as the membership of yakuza organizations shrink and public support for them falls. And the branding reflects this; the site at first appears to be for an organization known as the Banish Drugs and Purify The Nation League — or Drug Expulsion of Land Purification Alliance, as Google translates it. The "purify the nation" thing is potentially unsettling, but it still doesn't sound like a criminal organization.

But it was founded by one. The then-leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi founded it in 1963 as a group “dedicated to the eradication of amphetamine abuse.” Sources familiar with the syndicate told VICE News that the site was launched under the Banish Drugs… monicker to, one, remind Yamaguchi-gumi members to behave themselves, and two, to convince people that the Yamaguchi-gumi is not “an anti-social force,” as they're called by police, and are instead a “humanitarian organization.”

However, veteran police detective told us that they suspect the site may be a signal that the Yamaguchi-gumi plans to expand their operations. Japan has 21 designated organized crime-groups — the yakuza — each with their own corporate logo, office, and business cards. The groups are patriarchal pseudo-family organizations structured like a pyramid, with the top boss known as the oyabun ["father figure"] and those under him known as kobun ["children"]. They each control different regions of the country.

The yakuza retains a significant foothold in Japanese popular culture, with two monthly fanzines and several weekly magazines that glorify their exploits. According to the National Police Agency, from 1992 to 2010, the number of yakuza members and associates remained steady at roughly 80,000. But extensive crackdowns by police and the tightening of laws have resulted in a major decline in numbers since then; this year, the yakuza reached a record low of about 60,000 members. The Yamaguchi-gumi, based in the western city of Kobe, is by far the largest syndicate with about 25,600 members. As recently as 2008, however, it boasted more than 40,000.

A Yamaguchi-gumi video, complete with theme song

Whatever the true purpose of the site, the Yamaguchi-gumi isn't screwing around with its anti-drug message. When amphetamine-based stimulants came onto the Japanese market in 1931, they were used for everything from fighting low blood pressure to motivating kamikaze pilots. At the end of WWII, huge military stocks were dumped onto the civilian market, making it popular to combat fatigue and hunger, leading to an explosion of consumption between 1945 and 1955. Meth addicts predictably committed a number of horrendous crimes, and the public demanded government control.

Kazuo Taoka, the Yamaguchi-gumi oyabun who founded Banish Drugs and Purify the Nation, had great disdain for drug use. And the current oyabun, Tsukasa Shinobu, shares those views. Drug addicts among the Japanese mafia are generally dismissed, and drug dealing is perceived as a more harmful crime than prostitution, gambling, blackmailing, or racketeering. The yakuza believe that drugs harm people, drug addicts are prone to violent actions, and drug use creates a weak country. Dealing drugs is also considered to be an activity that lacks initiative and intelligence and is unworthy of the “noble yakuza.”

At the top of the homepage is a video of the Yamaguchi-gumi upper echelon making their first 2014 visit to the local shrine, and playing in the background is the group's newly released theme song, Ninkyo Hitosuji [“Devoted To Chivalry"]. The first refrain goes something like:

“With nothing but my courage / and this body / I’ll trust myself to the life of a yakuza / and follow this path I’ve decided on / in Nagoya / The Yamaguchi-gumi emblem is our life / dedicated to chivalry / that’s the spirit of a man”

A moving message — but maybe not a tune that'll appeal to Millennials.

The various sections of the web site offer glimpses into the gang’s daily life and efforts to get along with the community. There are videos of Yamaguchi-gumi members pounding rice cakes at the end of the year, showing that they're good neighbors. There are also photos of the emergency relief provided by the syndicate after the Kobe earthquake in 1993 and after the Tohoku Earthquake in 2011.

The true purpose of the site is probably known only to the upper echelon of the syndicate — and, judging by the way the site looks, they may also have been the ones who built it. That said, we strongly suggest that you do not make any disparaging comments on the site. Trolling the yakuza is not a good idea.

The Divine Wind Vault

http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com

(C)2006-14