According to a statistics, 70% of sweets buyers are men and most of them buy at Konbini store. The reason behind is simple, men want to buy sweets but still it's a little embarrassing for a man to sit in a pretty cafe and eat a cake surrounded by women or to be seen him choosing some cakes for himself in front of the show case of a patisserie.

This statistics shows the place where people buy sweets. The blue is men and the pink is women. Needless to say, there are more men buyer than women and the most common place for buying sweets is Konbini (the fourth from the top), then supermarkets (the third) and cake shops (the top) come third.  

Otoko no Tiramisu Shuu(Man's tiramisu chou á la créme)

Konbini solves all these problems.

Last June “Men's Sweets” series released from one of the Kobini store, FamilyMart in Japan. The targets are sweet tooth men. For not to embarrass them, the packages are simple but at the same time they focus on the ingredients and the texture of the products. Most of the sweets are less sweet than normal products by using for example bitter chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Also the packaging is important. Men's Sweets series has manly, chic based on black simple packaging. FamilyMart is growing its sales especially with chilled sweets such as cream puffs and almond pudding.

Kobini store is the saviour of Japanese sweet tooth men. Some makes a comment “there are many men sweets lover but they are either embarrassed to go to a cake shop or too busy at work going to a shop during the day. So being able to buy good quality sweets at Konbini store is really a good news for sweet lovers”

Otoko no Annin Dofu (Man's almond pudding)

The photo is another one of the most popular man sweets “Ore no Ekurea (my éclair)“

“Men's Sweets“ as it shows are sweets particularly developed for men since there have been many men who are “secret sweets lovers“ in Japan.

Normally the sweets are made for women and the problem is its size. Those tiny pretty sweets are just not enough to satisfy sweet tooth men. But don't worry, “Men's Sweets” have launched.

First, its size. Compare to a stapler on the desk…

Huge… getting your teeth into this must feel like a dream…

It's big enough to fill even a man's stomach.

Of course what you can expect from this sized éclair is… calorie. It has 566 calories. Considering that an adult man need 2,000 calories a day, just one sweet can give you a huge intake.

For those who love sweets, there are some clubs such as “Danshi Sweets Club” (Men's Sweets Club) which is founded in one of the Japanese trend magazines called DIME. They talk about new sweets products, new trend in sweets, search for new cake shops or evaluate famous patisseries. They even have forums and puts recipe for Konbini sweets. This is a respectable club for sweet tooth men.

Here is one of their recipe by using a Risou no purin (Ideal Pudding). So easy that anyone can make it!

Ingredients are Risou no purin and a slice of bread.

[Risou no Purin]

[Pan]

1. Score the surface of the sliced bread

2. Pour over the pudding

3. Sprinkle some dry fruits and put it in the toaster

4. It's done, so easy

5. Sprinkle some powder sugar to finish up

Keichitsu (啓蟄) is the third of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars and is called Jingzhé (驚蟄) in chinese, 경칩 in Korean and Kinh trập  in Vietnamese.

In the Gregorian calendar, it is between around the 5th of March and the 20th of March.

The literal meaning of Keichitsu is awakening of hibernated insects. All the insects and animals started coming out of the underground. Plants are also shooting up baby leaves. 

Apart from now, the weather is becoming mild and warm. It is the beginning of the spring.

Saisen Bako (賽銭箱, contribution box). Saisen is the money contributed to the God or Buddah and Bako (Hako) means box in Japanese.

When you go to a shrine and make a wish, you first put a coin in Saisen Bako then clap your hands twice and bow once then wish your wishes, not at loud but in your mind.

Depens on the Shrine, the size of the box are distinct. The photo below is the one at Meiji Jingu (Tokyo). Since they have so many visitors, of course they have a huge Saisen Bako. Sometimes, people throw the coin as they can't get close to the box, and it may hit your head if you are unlucky.

"Please make me win at horse race and get enough fund from it." Hmmm. 

After writing your wish, there is a place to hang it.

This tradition came from Nara perido (710-784). When their wishes came true, they devoted horses (considered as a vehicle for God) as a gift. However as not everyone could afford to donate a horse, those who are less rich started giving the shrine a paper horse, a painted horse or a figure of the horse instead. And it's been carried on until now.

Nowadays, Ema is used to write the wishes and some shrines are specialized for some particular purpose. For example the second photo shows an Ema for having a child (Kodakara).  

During the entrance exam season, many students and their parents go to a shrine and hang their wishes like the third photo.

Once a year, shrines collect all Ema and burn them by thanking and purifying the spirits at the same time.

Nigiri-zushi

In the early 19th century it was invented in Edo as a fast food. Since all the fish used for this sushi came from the Tokyo Bay, it was called Edo-mae-zushi (Sushi from the sea in front of Edo) and still is called that way. 

Gunkan-maki

Some ingredients such as sea urchin or salmon roe are difficult to make Nigiri and Gunkan-maki is invented for those. Gunkan means warship in Japanese. With Nori (seaweeds) around it, it does look a ship.

Temaki-zushi

This is a typical home party style sushi that you can make your own sushi. Temaki means wrap with the hand in Japanese and as it says you pick your favorite ingredients and wrap with Nori. You can also order in Suhi restaurant.

Futomaki-zushi

One of the types of Maki. Futomaki menas fat roll in Japanes and as you can see, there are many ingredients inside a roll. Often they make patterns as they layout the ingredients and when it's cut it appears like the photo. These are called "Kazari-zushi" (decorated sushi).

Chuumaki-zushi

The difference from Futomaki is Chuumaki has only a few ingredients including some seafoods. Chuu means medium size in Japanese and with the recent healthy boom, salad roll can be seen often.

Hosomaki-zushi

This is the standard maki served in Sushi restaurant in Japan. Usually it has only one ingredients such as cucumber (Kappa-maki), Negitoro (minced tuna and leak) or Natto-maki (fermented soybeans).

Kaisen-Don

This is not really a type of Sushi but is commonly seen in the restaurant. Kaisen means fresh seafood and Don is a bowl in Japanese.

Chirashi-zushi

This is the most common Sushi which is made at both Sushi restaurants and home. The ingredients put over the vinegared rice is various, shiitake mushroom, fine cut eggs, shrimps, salmon roe etc.. Chirashi is often made for the celebration.

Oshizushi

Instead of making a shushi one by one, this Sushi is made in a box like a cake. Oshizushi means pressured Sushi and as you see in the photo below, put the rice and fish in this wooden mold and press it until the ingredients gets stuck together. This is also called Battera, originally made in Kansai area in Japan (western part of Japan) and mackerel and kelp are usually used  but recently there is one with salmon which is made in Hokkaido (the most noth island in Japan).   

Saba-zushi

The method is the same as Battera and the difference is Sabazushi is wrapped in bamboo leaves instead of putting in a wooden box. Saba is mackerel in Japanese. 

Masu-zushi

A type of Oshi-zushi, made in a box made of bamboo and wrapped in the bamboo leaves. Masu is trout in Japanese and this Masu-zushi is a specila product of Toyama prefecture in Japan.

Inari-zushi

This is another Sushi which is made at home quite often. The rice is wrapped in a deep-fried bean curd, slightly sweet taste. Sometimes the rice is mixed with other ingredients like the photo.