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Random Cooking Adventures Update: Q1 2025 Pt 4

Clam miso udon!

So when I attended a friend's wedding in Osaka back in January, one of the wedding favours we received was some super fancy clam miso soup that went for like 500 yen per pack which is honestly crazy.

Huge ass clams tho.

Claypot rice two-ways by my mother, with Hong Kong style at the front and Malaysian style at the back.

HK style claypot rice features Cantonese cured meats known collectively as lap mei 腊味 (sometimes translated directly as "waxed meat" - called so due to their waxy texture and glossy translucent appearance).

The Malaysian version at the back instead has a potent umami of dried mushrooms, chicken and salted fish for toppings.

My mum's HK style claypot rice uses a crazy amount of spiced liver sausage (yuen cheong 润肠), cured pork (lap yuk 腊肉) and the classic rosewater-scented cured sausage (lap cheong 腊肠).

Of course the best part is always the crispy burnt bits at the bottom - in Mandarin we call this guo ba 锅巴.

The one, the only, the legendary dongpo pork! Also made by my mother.

If you haven't noticed by now, I hardly make Chinese food bc they often require a lot of prep, advanced knifework, a strong gas stove, a wok and a huge kitchen - all of which I don't have lmao.

From prized "mutton fat white jade" 羊脂白玉 to the world-famous "meat-shaped stone" 肉形石, the Chinese have a history of comparing animal fat with gemstones and it's no wonder why lol.

I did manage to fry up some Cantonese style nian gao for the family breakfast on the first day of Lunar New Year.

My family eats Cantonese style nian gao two-ways: seared in a frying pan coated with beaten egg, or as a fritter, with batter enveloping a slice of nian gao and taro or sweet potato, then deep fried.

I love Cantonese style nian gao - there's just something exquisite about small pieces of sticky rice cakes, sweetened with sugar caramelised from repeated steaming and proofing, then turned gooey in a hot frying pan and coated in a slightly crispy and fragrant layer of fried egg.

[hurpdurpburps]

Random Cooking Adventures Update: Q1 2025 Pt 3

Dolsot bibimbap, by my sister.

Delicious. If you wanna go low-carb low-fat low-meat diet just eat bibimbap every day bc it's like 80% veggies that will fill you up real good.

Pao de queijo, also by my sister.

It's not as puffy as it should be bc she used an oven instead of an air fryer but it was still amazingly savoury and cheesy.

Chocolate chip banana bread, yep, still by my sister.

Kimchi pancake courtesy of my mother, using scallion kimchi my sister brought back from Seoul.

At this point you may be realising a pattern in this post and you're right LOL I cooked none of these things.

My sister took a barista course last year and while her latte art's kinda wonky, her coffee still tastes pretty good.

She also tried making a houjicha latte (at the back) using some expensive powder from Kyoto gifted to us over Christmas by a family friend but it looked even uglier than her regular espresso ones LOL.

Not sure if instant food counts as cooking but I did boil water LMAO.

Wanted to try this premium beef dashi udon thing and ngl it was rather good but I think I still prefer the ankake broth one, now THAT'S bussin.

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Fun fact: If you "zoom out", the whole thing looks like an eye 👁.

Probably could have saved this for when I reached it in the liveblog, but I just realized there's a pattern to this part of Satsuki's notebook.

Not sure how to describe it, but it seems like the more complex characters are to the edges, and the simpler ones are towards the center.

And it feels like you can almost see something in the middle there.

Like, there's like an oval shape in the center, not sure if it's meant to be a face, or a portal, or a window, or what. But there's definitely a shape there.

Part of me wonders if it's meant to be Satsuki...

[hurpdurpburps]

Random Cooking Adventures Update: Q1 2025 Pt 2

Fried chicken! Made at home! Just the way I like it!

No more pleading with the counter staff with requests for dark meat only lol - you have all the power when it comes to chicken parts when you're the chef.

Probably an unpopular opinion but I really don't like batter on my fried chicken.

Just pure unadulterated crispy chicken skin action, please.

Crazy ass levels of moist, plump and juicy.

To maintain the pretence of attempting to seem remotely healthy, I had greens on the side - in the form of charred broccoli, with homemade mentaiko wasabi mayo.

Absolute umami bomb. Great as an easy appetiser if you're hosting a bunch of people.

Skillet yakiniku! Had some odds and ends of various ingredients leftover in my fridge and decided that they'd make a decent midweek dinner.

Served with chilled spinach, shichimi, yuzu salt, wasabi, lemon and a gochujang-based yakiniku sauce.

Absolute insanity that I got this pack of A4 wagyu chuck for like $14 or something.

Eringi is such an underrated yakiniku side lol. Absolutely incredible especially if you have one of those charcoal grills - just brush with a little sesame oil and tap a bit of salt and shichimi over it for maximum tastiness.

I kept like an entire bowl's worth of rendered wagyu fat and made fried rice with it LOL.

Don't ever let any of that goodness go to waste.

[hurpdurpburps]

My signed copy of Volume 10 arrived today!

Warning: Minor spoilers in the image below as there's a printed illustration from Vol 10 - stop reading here if you don't wanna see it.

My Otherside Picnic Pilgrimage Pt. 11 - Junkudo Ikebukuro

Located 5 minutes away from Ikebukuro Station's east exit on foot, the 7-floor Junkudo Ikebukuro is the bookstore chain's flagship location, and also a commonly-featured location in the novels.

The next time I spotted Satsuki Uruma, I was leaving the Junkdo bookstore in Ikebukuro. We could have each headed for Kozakura's home on our own, but somehow, this just sort of ended up being our habit. I don't even remember which of us suggested it first. It was probably Toriko.

7 floors is A LOT of books lmao.

The IRL Junkudo Ikebukuro is also where many authors, Miyazawa included, host the launch of their new books. The livestreamed chat session for the release of Vol 9 last June and Vol 10 today were also held here.

Physical copies of Otherside Picnic and other Miyazawa works can be found on the third floor at shelf 41 (which is the Hayakawa section - the series' publisher in Japan).

Signed copies of the novels can also be found here. But those are usually only available in limited quantities after the release of a new volume and purchases are capped at one copy per volume per person. Signed copies also cannot be reserved via phone or online so you snooze you lose I guess.

The picture above was taken last July (about a month after the launch of vol 9) and by December only one signed copy of Vol 4 was left (which a friend picked up).

If you look up there's also a cute little autograph by Miyazawa for the release of Vol 7 lol. The top part basically says "Junkudo Ikebukuro, Otherside Picnic, Miyazawa Iori."

The little scribble of Sorawo beneath Satsuki is supposed to look like the hiragana "が" (ga) and is sandwiched between "あり" (ari) and "とう" (tou). So if you look at it at a glance it says arigatou (thank you).

There used to be other Miyazawa autographs on the shelves such as the one for ウは宇宙ヤバいのウ！ ("U is for the Universe is Bonkers!") and OP Vol 8 but I think they shifted those around to make space for other writers since I didn't see those during my visit in January.

ALSO! The Junkudo in Naha had a special tagline on the shelf.

"No Otherworld is scary as long as I'm with you". Aaaahhhh

Bonus 1:

You might've noticed by now that Ikebukuro is featured very frequently in the books, thanks to its location. Ikebukuro is literally the third busiest train station in the world (and in Japan), and is the main form of local connection for most of Saitama to Tokyo proper.

We had meetings in Ikebukuro a lot lately. I was at Minami-Yono on the Saikyo Line, while Toriko was at Nishi-Nippori [1] on the Yamanote Line, so when we wanted to go to Kozakura's house at Shakujii-kouen, Ikebukuro was the perfect spot.

Many locations in the novels are directly accessible from Ikebukuro (ie no transfers), including but not limited to:

Omiya, where Sorawo found her first gate and the nearest major train station to her (Omiya Station via Shonan-Shinjuku Line or Saikyo Line)

Toriko's place (Nippori Station via Yamanote Line)

[1] Note: the text from Vol 3 above says Nishi-Nippori but that was probably an oversight by Miyazawa as both stations are next to each other on the Yamanote Line. Other mentions of Toriko's place in Vol 1 and Vol 8 all say Nippori Station instead.

Sophia University, where Toriko studies (Yotsuya Station via Marunouchi Line)

Kozakura's place (Shakujii-Kōen Station via Ikebukuro Line)

The hot springs (Seibu-Chichibu Station via Laview Express)

The Farm (Hannou Station via Laview Express)

Kabukicho and other places in Shinjuku where they sometimes hang out (Shinjuku Station via Yamanote Line, Saikyo Line or Shonan-Shinjuku Line)

The Jinbocho Booktown skeletal building gate (Ochanomizu Station via Marunouchi Line)

Bonus 2:

I was going to drop by Cafe Pause (aka the cafe at which Soratori had their first fight in vol 1), which was a stone's throw away from Junkudo) but unfortunately they shut down for good on 31 Oct 2024.

We were in the cafe behind the Junkudo bookstore in Ikebukuro, where we'd gone after meeting up. Our meeting that day was supposed to be an after party, too. The table was covered with all the dishes Toriko had, yet again, ordered without thinking what would happen. There was taco rice, chocolate and sour cherry cake, matcha terrine, and a "tart of the day" topped with lots of raspberries. As for drinks, Toriko had a caffè latte, while I had ordered grape tea. I think at this point I could say that the way Toriko went about ordering was weird and wrong. She could have at least waited to finish the taco rice before ordering the cake.

Unfortunately I'll never get to try their grape tea and daily fruit tart (which sounds bussin' af) but here's some online photos I found from their Instagram and Tablelog so y'all can grieve with me T-T.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WANNA EAT IT

I NEED this pasta in my body RIP me.

And that's all for my Otherside Picnic pilgrimage journey in January 2025! There probably won't be any updates until I visit Tokyo again in January 2026 but in the meantime I'm gonna keep researching for more spots.

Thanks for sticking with me on my pilgrimage journey if you've read all of this!

Feel free to give suggestions or ideas in the comments but just so you know Tumblr flagged my account as spam(? LOL) so I'm not even allowed to comment on my own posts to reply to people rip.

My Otherside Picnic Pilgrimage Series:

Seibu-Chichibu Station & Matsuri No Yu

Chichibu Waraji Katsu Tei

Nippori Station/Yamaguchi Mansion

Aurora Sky Lounge, Keio Plaza Hotel

Jinbocho Booktown & Shosen Grande

Kitchen Nankai

Ishigaki Island Resort

Ishigaki Beef

Kokusai-Dori (International Street), Naha (1/2)

Kokusai-Dori (International Street), Naha (2/2)

Junkudo Ikebukuro

Pilgrimage list here.

Michelin guide here.

[hurpdurpburps]

Whirlwind Malaysian Weekend Escapade

Nothing screams "Singapore" as much as a cup of old-school coffee w a bowl of soft boiled eggs and a stack of kaya toast (unpictured) on the side.

The irony being this was my first meal in Johor Bahru in 20 years. Imagine spending the past decade travelling around the world but somehow never crossing the border that's a mere 15 minutes away from home lmao.

Butter coffee, or commonly known as kopi guyu 咖啡牛油 in Hokkien, is sort of a lost art in this region.

The slightly sweet-savoury nuttiness and glossy silkyness of melted butter makes for an excellent partner to the robustly rich depths of black kopi.

With origins that could be traced back to at least the 1930s, local butter coffee got overshadowed by its more mainstream counterparts that utilise condensed or evaporated milk instead.

Butter coffee had a minor resurgence amongst the retro crowd in the early 2010s, amidst the whole "bulletproof coffee" shenanigans, when more culturally savvy Singaporeans and Malaysians realised, "hey, we used to do this shit a century ago".

Compared to western style coffee, Malaysian/Singaporean kopi is much richer in terms of both texture and flavour. Robusta beans are roasted with sugar, salt and margarine (less commonly butter), resulting in heavy caramelisation and much less bitterness or acidity.

Coarse coffee grounds are brewed thickly and strongly with boiling water and stirred with chopsticks in a tall kettle fitted with a muslin bag filter.

This pitch black, almost tar-like brew is then, upon order, poured into a cup or glass mug, then diluted with hot water. The amount of dilution, and the addition of any sugar, condensed milk or evaporated milk depends on the customer's requested variation.

The humble Teochew chwee kueh 水粿, which translates literally as "water cake", is made from only two ingredients - water and rice flour.

The wet batter is steamed in metal cups until they solidify into semi-transluscent soft cakes, then topped with a savoury relish made from diced pickled radish (chye poh 菜脯) fried in lard.

Usually in Singapore you have hot sauce on the side as well but this restaurant drizzles dark soy sauce on top instead.

Cantonese style rice noodle rolls - also known as cheung fun 肠粉 - drenched in curry and topped w a dollop of chunky red sweet sauce plus a sprinke of sesame seeds.

Was kinda a weird combo ngl. Usually you have them sweet or savoury, but never together. Also the curry was a sad watery mess that barely clung onto the noodle rolls, if at all.

Fun fact: cheung fun 肠粉 is named thus as it's a noodle made from rice (粉) that looks similar to pig's intestines (肠).

Johor-style dry mee siam, a first for me, with a generous mound of spicy as hell sambal on the side.

The "siam" in the name of this dish is allegedly a reference to Thailand, the supposed source of cultural influence that led to its creation.

There are multiple variations of mee siam throughout Singapore and Malaysia, but all of them involve the use of tamarind (known locally as assam), calamansi and other spices, as well as thin rice vermicelli.

Personally I prefer the Singaporean version, which has the noodles drenched in a nutty sweet-sour gravy topped with hard boiled eggs, fishcake, fresh bean sprouts for crunch and other ingredients.

This trip was also where I encountered the best of lok-lok of my life.

To put it simply, lok-lok is the quintessential "food on a stick" that people think about when you shout "Malaysian street food".

There are two variations of lok-lok: deep fried or boiled in some kinda broth of your choice, depending on the establishment.

The latter is essentially "hotpot on sticks" which is boring nonsense but the former is where the magic's at.

First you grab a table, then head to the ice bar or refrigerator section where thousands of skewers are chilling at. You grab whatever you want and put them in a bowl, then pay at the counter.

The cashier will clip some sort of unique identifier onto your order, then you return to your seat or head to the condiment section to make your own dipping sauce.

Wait for a bit and your order arrives on a tray, fried to golden perfection and dusted with salt and chilli powder.

These baby soft-shell crabs were CRACK - crunchy, savoury and surprisingly meaty.

The other winner was the fried broccoli - I inhaled these like crazy (and also farted like crazy later that night LOL rip my sister).

Kale chips got nothin' on these.

There's just something magical about the way mushrooms shrivel up on the surface when you roast or deep fry them at super high temps, resulting in that satisfying crinkly outside while still being meaty and tender on the inside.

Food in Malaysia never lets you down.

[hurpdurpburps]

Random Cooking Adventures Update: Q1 2025 Pt 1

I tried to reverse engineer this really bomb ass bowl of artisanal udon that I lined up 3 hours in Tokyo for lol.

Fresh sanuki udon with house signature warm soy sauce, fermented butter, mentaiko, negi, raw egg and black pepper.

I'm kinda a vanilla girl when it comes to soup noodles tho, and nothing beats a hot bowl of kake udon comprised of just good quality noodles with a solid Kyoto-style white dashi.

Was feeling a lil extravagant so I topped this bowl with some fatty sliced beef, negi, raw egg and a good ol' dash of shichimi.

Skillet sukiyaki! I was somehow bombarded by a flurry of sukiyaki content on YouTube and in the dramas I was watching at the time so I caved in and went grocery shopping.

Nothing more luxurious than swishing A4 wagyu in a rich egg wash before sending it into your mouth.

Made pomodoro from scratch bc I was watching Sohla El-Waylly's NYT cooking series on YT.

So good but so bloody tiring to grate tomatoes by hand lol.

It was like a random Friday I think, and I was craving both sashimi and fried chicken wings, so I thought, "why the hell not?".

I sorta winged it for the chicken wings (lol geddit?) and they turned out well enough to become a prototype recipe for my actual homemade fried chicken down the road.

The sashimi was really good too. Usually I'm a basic salmon bitch but I was feeling white fish that day so I opted for some seabream and in-season winter yellowtail instead. Delicious.

I was in Malaysia last month and discovered green indomie (it uses cili hijau instead of the usual red chilli for the hot sauce) and bought home a five-pack to try.

To my disappointment, the noodles weren't neon green as illustrated on the packaging but I liked the flavour of it a lot more than the original.

Paired it with whatever was sitting in my fridge - spinach simply dressed in soy sauce and sesame oil, grilled negi stalks and roasted pork belly

Ending this post with some decadent choc-on-choc action of dark chocolate coconut gelato with chocolate pound cake, accompanied by a strong mug of Japanese green tea.

[hurpdurpburps]

土曜日の楽しみとは、和菓子と日本茶。

Chanced upon some really nice daifuku yesterday and bought an assortment for breakfast - strawberry, yuzu cream and yomogi (mugwort) - which happen to make up all the colours in a traffic light LOL.

Love the way the morning sun filters in through my window and shines onto my desk.

Usually the lighting stays this way for most of the day but there's a huge paper bark tree outside my window that's recently grown tall enough to block out the sun directly so now I only have it for an hour around 9am in the morning rip.

I'm more of a savoury person and I prefer meat over carbs, so Japanese confectionery isn't usually my thing, but I got these daifuku bc I noticed they were made with gyuhi - my favourite type of wagashi.

Well-made gyuhi has a delightfully cloud-like texture and adds a beautiful translucent quality to whatever colour you make it.

In contrast, the more common mochi is opaque and has much more of a springy bite to it, with a significantly 'rice-y' flavour profile.

That said, I think yomogi daifuku in particular has to be made with the more conventional mochi after all.

I have a special fondness for the humble steamed mugwort dumpling in all its forms - which apart from the Japanese yomogi mochi よもぎ餅 (otherwise known as kusa mochi 草餅), also includes the Chinese qingtuan 青团 and Korean ssuktteok 쑥떡.

There's nothing quite like the forest-dark emerald marbling and grassy scent of mugwort-infused sticky rice cake, wrapped around some slightly salty red bean paste, that gets increasingly savoury as you chew on it.

It's hard to find one that's satisfactory to my liking but the best one I've had in recent memory was surprisingly from the 7-11 near my hotel at Sendai station, which I enjoyed for breakfast from my ryokan overlooking a stream in the mountains of Fukushima back in January.

[hurpdurpburps]

Fungi is nue...?

Do you guys want to see my absolute favorite passage from a textbook?

[hurpdurpburps]

My Otherside Picnic Directory

This post will be pinned on my profile and kept up-to-date for easy access.

If there's some kind of obscure side content or meta lore that you want to know about or see translated, feel free to hit me up.

I can work in four languages: English, Japanese, Chinese (simplified/traditional) and Cantonese.

Pls comment/reblog on this post if you want to communicate bc I don't have access to my DMs or Asks (my posts also don't show up in tags so I guess I got flagged as a bot???). Rip the handful of people who sent me messages bc I can clearly see there's a growing number in my inbox.

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Yuri Club Side Stories

1. Shinjuku, The First Meet-Up (新宿、初めての待ち合わせ)

2. Hasshaku-sama Epilogue (八尺様エピローグ)

3. Ochanomizu, The First Afterparty (お茶の水、初めての打ち上げ)

4. Ikebukuro, Cafe Meal For One (池袋、ひとりカフェ飯)

5. Naha, After The Big Job (那覇、大仕事の後)

6. Ishigaki Island, A Dazed Vacation (石垣島、呆然のリゾート)

7. Mercedes AMG, The Backseat (メルセデスAMG、後部座席)

8. Otherworldly Elevator, On The Way Back (異世界エレベーター、帰路)

9. Kozakura Mansion, Pizza Party (小桜屋敷、ピザパーティー)

10. Ikebukuro Bookstore, Meet Up (池袋の書店、待ち合わせ)

11. Hannou, In The Car From The Station (飯能、駅からの車中)

12. Streets Of Minami-Yono, Phonecall With Kozakura (南与野の路上、小桜との電話)

13. Ikebukuro, Department Store Basement Food Hall (池袋、デパート地下食料品売り場)

Other Translations and Meta Lore

1. Anime Bonus Audio Drama + Book Launch Livestream Archives

2. Otherside Picnic Vol 1 Special Column: Sorawo and Toriko Chit-Chat About the Original Ghost Stories (特別コラム　第１回！空魚と鳥子のだらだら会談元ネタトーク)

3. Miyazawa's "Underworld Picnic" (裏社会ピクニック / 黑道野餐) April Fool's Series

4. Otherside Picnic Vol 7 Cover Art - Kanji Deciphered

5. Otherside Picnic EN vs JP vs CN Casual Comparison

6. Miyazawa-Endorsed Anime Collab "Ultra Blue" Ramen

7. My Otherside Picnic Michelin Guide [outdated]

8. My Otherside Picnic Pilgrimage Destination List [outdated]

IRL Pilgrimage Adventures

1. Chichibu Station & Matsuri No Yu

2. Chichibu Waraji Katsu Tei

3. Nippori Station/Yamaguchi Mansion

4. Aurora Sky Lounge, Keio Plaza Hotel

5. Jinbocho Booktown & Shosen Grande

6. Kitchen Nankai

7. Ishigaki Island Resort

8. Ishigaki Beef

9. Kokusai-Dori (International Street), Naha (1/2)

10. Kokusai-Dori (International Street), Naha (2/2)

11. Junkudo Ikebukuro

[hurpdurpburps]

Otherside Picnic Volume 1 Special Column: Sorawo and Toriko Chit-Chat About the Original Ghost Stories

Remember this at the end of Vol 2?

Turns out it was a "Part 2" to a mysteriously missing "Part 1", evident from the Japanese version as seen below:

Apparently Vol 1 had a Special Chit-Chat Column as well but it was only available in very limited quantities as a Hayakawa exclusive for those who pre-ordered early prints of the Japanese edition.

Naturally there is also no English version or even general knowledge of its existence, making it somewhat of an urban legend in its own right.

Thanks to my good ol' angel donor, I have the scans for these so here's the translation.

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Special Column Episode 1! Sorawo and Toriko Chit-Chat About the Original Ghost Stories (特別コラム　第１回！空魚と鳥子のだらだら会談元ネタトーク)

Written by: Miyazawa Iori

Translated by: @hurpdurpburps

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・Kunekune (From File 1)

Sorawo: This is a ghost story about a white figure that wiggles around rice fields or on beaches, but clearly doesn’t seem human if you look closely at the way its joints bend and the speed at which it moves, making you go, “Sooo what the heck is that…?”.

Toriko: You go crazy while looking at it, right?

Sorawo: To be precise, it seems like looking at it, and somehow stumbling onto an understanding about it, drives you insane.

Toriko: What happens if someone who’s already crazy sees it?

Sorawo: Huh… I wonder.

Toriko: If someone who has Type A Crazy is affected by Type B Crazy, does it become A+B, or does A get replaced by B…?

Sorawo: I wish you wouldn’t say it like they’re stacking buff effects.

Toriko: So how exactly does it make you go crazy?

Sorawo: "Y0uR3 B3tteR 0Ff n0T Kn0W1n5" [1]

Toriko: What’d you just say?

Sorawo: Huh? I didn't say anything?

・Hasshaku-sama (From File 2)

Sorawo: As the name implies, this is a ghost story about being stalked by a mysterious, eight feet-tall - aka 2.4 metres - woman who makes strange noises like "bobobobo."

Toriko: How is this a ghost story? Isn’t it just being stalked by a tall, or rather, suspicious person?

Sorawo: Seems like she kills young boys via possession at first sight, which makes her a monster.

Toriko: So she’s into younger dudes…?

Sorawo: I guess she's someone they call an one-shota [2].

Toriko: One-sho? [3]

Sorawo: Never mind.

Toriko: Between this and the Kunekune, aren’t their names just too obvious?

Sorawo: "Eight-Foot Woman" sounds like it could be a foreign weird fiction novel.

Toriko: "Eight Light Years-sama" turns it into science fiction huh.

Sorawo: That's pretty long…

・Kisaragi Station (From File 3)

Sorawo: This is an anecdote about someone who alighted at a station that wasn’t supposed to exist, and one of the most famous ghost stories under the "stumbling into another world" genre.

Toriko: What do you mean by “stumbling into another world genre”, and are there really so many of them?

Sorawo: Yeah, there are. There’s always been an abundance of ghost stories about people getting lost in a different world since the old days. Trends vary depending on the era, such as the otherworld being set in the mountains or a fourth-dimensional space. The number of such stories has increased since Kisaragi Station was published in 2004, so I think that's one of the reasons it became so popular.

Toriko: Pretty cut and clear that it happened in 2004, huh.

Sorawo: Kisaragi Station was a ghost story that was updated in real time on the internet, which is why we know exactly when it happened. The person in question wasn't able to escape and there’s been no word from them since.

Toriko: Did you catch the live updates, Sorawo?

Sorawo: No way, I was a grade-schooler at the time.

・Time-Space Man (From File 4)

Sorawo: This is a ghost story about suddenly finding yourself walking in a deserted area and having an old man who’s dressed in some sort of work uniform yell, “What are you doing in a place like this?! Get out of here!” angrily at you.

Toriko: Wouldn’t that just be an actual old man?!?!?!

Sorawo: Erh, you have to at least find yourself lost in a strange world as a precursor to encountering the old man.

Toriko: Oh, this one's also under the “stumbling into another world” genre?

Sorawo: Yep! This ghost story first appeared in 2005, the year after Kisaragi Station happened. Since then, there’s been quite a few incidents regarding encounters with the old man, and it's said that he might be a guardian who keeps people from entering the otherworld.

Toriko: He’s probably not so useful if there are so many people getting lost, is he?

Sorawo: I think so too.

Toriko: They’re probably running short of skilled employees.

TL Notes

[1] The Japanese here is spelled with alternating hiragana and katakana as 「わカらナいホうガいイ」 so I decided to spell it in leetspeak to carry over the jumbled vibes.

[2] "One-shota" (おねショタ) is a portmanteau of "onee-san" and "shota", which is probably self-explanatory if you've come across enough Japanese subculture, even in passing.

[3] Toriko's not a weeb tho so she doesn't get it and hears "one-sho" (おねしょ) instead, which is "bedwetting". I decided to keep "one-shota" as is instead of translating it to the English slang "cougar" to reflect this.

[hurpdurpburps]

Forget Otherside Picnic, do you know about Underworld Picnic?

I recently found out that Miyazawa Iori has a tradition of posting synopses of his spoof series "Underworld Picnic" (JP: 裏社会ピクニック, CN: 黑道野餐) on April Fool's every year. As of 1 Apr 2025, there are 9 'installments'.

Underworld Picnic is set "in near-future China" and utilises a lot of wordplay between Japanese and Chinese, so I thought it would be fun to translate and dissect these tweets.

The original tweet in Japanese, its English translation and Translator's Notes for further linguistic context will all be included.

Links to his tweets (are they still called tweets on Bluesky???) are hyperlinked at the start of each section.

Introduction

おかげさまで『裏社会ピクニック／黑道野餐』シリーズも９まで行きました。 このシリーズは「裏世界ピクニック」が「裏社会ピクニック」[1] と読み間違えられることをネタにした著者自身による二次創作で、毎年4/1に発表されています。

Thanks to the support of everyone, the "Underworld Picnic” series has now reached its ninth installment.

This series is a spin off by the author himself, based on how often "Otherside Picnic" is misread as "Underworld Picnic" [1], and is released every year on April 1st.

[1] "Otherside" is read as Urasekai (裏世界), while "Underworld" is Urashakai (裏社会).

1. Underworld Picnic | 裏社会ピクニック／黑道野餐

冴えない学生の空鱼（コンユー）[1] は、スラムで殺されかけたところを鸟子（ニャオズ）[2] に助けられた。鸟子はいい儲け話があると空鱼に吹き込み、マフィアや殺し屋がひしめく危険な裏社会での犯罪者狩りに誘い込む。近未来中国が舞台の暗黒百合小説！（ヤヤカワ文庫NV）[3]

Dull student Kongyu [1] is nearly killed in the slums when she’s saved by Niaozi [2]. Niaozi tells Kongyu that she has a lucrative business opportunity and lures her into hunting criminals in a dangerous underworld teeming with mafia and assassins. A dark yuri novel set in near-future China! (Yayakawa Bunko NV) [3]

[1] "Kongyu" (空鱼) is the Mandarin reading of "Sorawo" (空魚).

[2] "Niaozi" (鸟子) is the Mandarin reading of "Toriko" (鳥子).

[3] A goofy riff off Hayakawa, publisher of the real series.

2. Underworld Picnic II: Last Resort | 裏社会ピクニック２／黑道野餐II Last Resort

元公安局員小樱（シャオイン）[1] の協力を得た空鱼（コンユー）と鸟子（ニャオズ）。鉄老大に囚われたCIAを救い、コンゴ・ニンジャ部隊[3] の暗殺者〈猫〉（ニャウ）[2] を撃退した二人に謎の女・冴月（フゥユエ）[4]と〈超青幇〉[5] が忍び寄る。暗黒百合小説第２弾！

Kongyu and Niaozi receive assistance from former Public Safety Bureau officer Xiaoying [1]. After rescuing the CIA held captive by the railroads, and defeating an assassin named “Neow” [2] from the Congolese Ninja militia [3], the duo is approached by a mysterious woman named Huyue [4] and the "Ultra Green Gang" [5]. Second installment of the dark yuri novel series!

[1] "Xiaoying" (小樱) is the Mandarin reading of "Kozakura" (小桜).

[2] I'm not sure what's going on here bc Miyazawa gave the reading for Cat (猫) as "Neow" (ニャウ) but it's supposed to be "Mao" in Mandarin. Maybe it's a cross between "nyan" and "meow"...?

[3] I had to Google this but apparently there really is a militia from Congo called the Ninjas LMAO.

[4] "Huyue" (冴月) is the Mandarin reading of "Satsuki" (also 冴月).

[5] "Ultra Green Gang" (超青帮) is an obvious reference to the UBL, but there's a bit of a fun wordplay behind this. 青 means blue in Japanese, and (light) green in modern Chinese, respectively.

3. Underworld Picnic III: Master of the Ghost Mountain | 裏社会ピクニック３／黑道野餐III 幽灵山主

深層ウェブにアクセスした空鱼（コンユー）と小樱（シャオイン）が路上で拉致された。二人を追って鸟子（ニャオズ）が辿り着いた迷宮のような屠殺場跡は、〈超青幇〉に繋がる洗脳カルトの本拠地だった。地獄の脱出行が始まる――！　暗黒百合小説第３弾！

After accessing the deep web, Kongyu and Xiaoying are kidnapped on the streets. Niaozi follows their tracks and arrives at the labyrinth-like remains of a slaughterhouse, which turns out to be the headquarters of a brainwashing cult connected to the Ultra Green Gang. Their escape from Hell begins! Third installment of the dark yuri novel series!

4. Underworld Picnic IV: Candlelit Night Escapade | 裏社会ピクニック４／黑道野餐IV 秉燭夜游

自宅を襲撃された空鱼（コンユー）は鸟子（ニャオズ）と共に都会を離れる。しかし〈超青幇〉の腕は長かった。双子の殺し屋〈人〉〈牛〉[1] に追われ、廃墟となった歓楽街で一夜を明かす二人。だがそこで鸟子の様子がおかしくなって――!?　暗黒百合小説第４弾！

After her home was attacked, Kongyu leaves the city with Niaozi. However, the Ultra Green Gang's reach is long. Chased by twin assassins "Human" and "Cow" [1], the duo spend the night in an abandoned entertainment district. But Niaozi starts acting strangely?! Fourth installment of the dark yuri novel series!

[1] 人 means "human", while 牛 means "cow". When you combine them, you get the kanji for kudan (件), which is the cow-human hybrid monster that Soratori encounter during their overnight trip in vol 4.

5. Underworld Picnic V: Madam Eight-Feet | 裏社会ピクニック５／黑道野餐V 八英尺夫人

かつて空鱼（コンユー）と鸟子（ニャオズ）が倒した誘拐組織のボス〈八英尺〉が死の淵から戻ってきた。ビルの崩落に巻き込まれて折れ曲がった８フィートの長身を引きずり迫る〈八英尺〉。そこに猟犬を連れた謎の老婦人が現れて――暗黒百合小説第５弾！

Madam Eight-Feet, the boss of a kidnapping organisation that Kongyu and Niaozi once defeated, has returned from the brink of death. Madam Eight-Feet approaches, dragging her eight feet-tall body that has been twisted from being caught in a collapsing building. Then a mysterious old woman with a hunting dog appears. Fifth installment of the dark yuri novel series!

6. Underworld Picnic VI: Mr. T | 裏社会ピクニック６／黑道野餐VI Mr. T

謎の男「T大人」の気功[1] で記憶喪失になった空鱼（コンユー）。鸟子（ニャオズ）は小樱（シャオイン）たちと共にT大人を追う。カーチェイスの果てに〈超青幇〉の地下廟で対峙する一同。茜理（チエンリー）のジークンド[2] ーは通用するのか!?　暗黒百合小説第６弾！

Kongyu loses her memory after being subjected to qigong [1] by the mysterious man known as “Lord T”. Together, Niaozi and Xiaoying pursue Lord T. After a car chase, they come to a showdown in the underground tomb of the Ultra Green Gang. Will Qianli's Jeet Kune Do [2] come in handy? Fifth installment of the dark yuri novel series!

[1] Qigong (气功) is a form of meditative martial arts that focuses on breathing techniques, but in fiction (especially wuxia works) it's popularised as some kind of chakra-esque everything-jutsu.

So here it's kind of funny bc T-san's attack is quite literally exhaling hard in someone's face with a Hah!

[2] Qianli (茜理) is the Mandarin reading of "Akari" (also 茜理).

And I guess Miyazawa converted her karate skills to the Bruce Lee-invented Jeet Kune Do for good measure LOL.

7. Underworld Picnic VII: Funeral Under the Moon | 裏社会ピクニック７／黑道野餐VII 月下白事

〈超青幇〉の女・冴月（フゥユエ）が死んだ!?　突然届いた葬儀の案内状。敵の意図を怪しみながらも、空鱼（コンユー）と鸟子（ニャオズ）は、因縁浅からぬ小樱（シャオイン）、露娜（Luna）[1] と共に冴月の葬儀会場へと乗り込む――！　暗黒百合小説第７弾！

Huyue, the woman from the Ultra Green Gang, has died?! A funeral invitation arrives out of the blue. Although suspicious of the enemy's intentions, Kongyu and Niaozi, along with Xiaoying and Luna [1], with whom they shared a deep connection, head to the venue of Huyue's funeral! Seventh installment of the dark yuri novel series!

[1] Runa doesn't actually have a kanji for her name, so Miyazawa gave her a Chinese homonym (露娜), read as Luna.

8. Underworld Picnic VIII: Birds of a Feather [1] | 裏社会ピクニック８／黑道野餐VIII 一丘之貉 [1]

謎めいた言葉を残して鸟子（ニャオズ）が姿を消す。戸惑う空鱼（コンユー）を襲う、鸟子によく似た女。鸟子は一体何者なのか？　二人いたという彼女の母親とは？　相棒の謎を追ううちに、空鱼はいつしか鸟子の家の前に立っていた。暗黒百合小説第８弾！

Niaozi disappears after leaving behind a cryptic message. A confused Kongyu is attacked by a woman who closely resembles Niaozi. Who exactly is Niaozi? And who are her two mothers? While investigating the mystery behind her partner, Kongyu suddenly finds herself standing in front of Niaozi's home. Eighth installment of the dark yuri novel series!

[1] The sub-title "一丘之貉" is a Chinese counterpart to the English phrase "birds of a feather". A literal translation would be "raccoon dogs on the same hill".

9. Underworld Picnic VIIII: Chimera City | 裏社会ピクニック９／黑道野餐VIIII 奇美拉之城

空鱼（コンユー）と鸟子（ニャオズ）は訓練のため、民間軍事会社〈炬光安保〉[1]と共にかつてカルトの拠点だった屠殺場跡へ赴く。しかしそこで露娜（Luna）が取り乱し、罠だらけの屠殺場の奥に姿を消す。二人は露娜を救えるか――暗黒百合小説第９弾！

Kongyu and Niaozi head to the remains of a slaughterhouse that was once a cult's base with the PMC, Torchlight Security [1], for training. However, Luna becomes upset and disappears into the depths of the slaughterhouse, which is full of traps. Can the two of them save Luna? Ninth installment of the dark yuri novel series!

[1] The "torchlight" used here is written as 炬光. 炬 specifically refers to wooden torches.

Bonus:

You might've noticed that the vol 9 title above was written with the erroneous roman numerals "VIIII". Miyazawa has an explanation for this:

よく見たらナンバリングがVIIIIになっててウケたのでIXに直そうかと思ったけど昔はVIIII表記だったらしいしこの作品らしいのでわざと違和感のある表記をしたんですよという顔で行くことにしました（創作の秘密）

Upon looking closely, I noticed that the numbering was written as VIIII and thought about changing it to IX instead, but apparently it used to be written as VIIII in the past, and since it seems to fit this story, I decided to roll with it and come across in a way that says, "I deliberately made it look weird" (secret to creativity).

Hope you guys had fun reading this! It was a blast to translate and break down this thread.

[hurpdurpburps]

Otherside Picnic Drama CD and Vol 9 + 10 Book Launch Livestreams w Miyazawa Iori

1. Otherside Picnic Drama CD

Some of you may already know this, but there was a bonus audio drama that came with Blu-ray purchases of the anime back in the day. I couldn't find any uploads of it online so I decided to translate it myself.

You can watch it here.

Note that this takes place after Episode 10 (the second anime-original episode written by Miyazawa himself).

Subtitles are available in four languages: English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

I kinda did this in a sleep-deprived state so let me know if you spot any errors.

2. 8 June 2024 Livestream

For the launch of volume 9.

Watch it here.

Lots of previously-unrevealed illustrations and concept art by Shirakaba were also shown for the first time during this stream.

Cleaned screenshots of the illustrations compilation can be found here.

Audio is entirely in Japanese without any subtitles.

3. 20 March 2025 Livestream

For the launch of volume 10, and held in collaboration w Twinstar Cyclone Runaway.

Watch it here.

No new art or illustration was shown during this livestream.

Audio is entirely in Japanese without any subtitles.

I might get around to translating the livestreams and subtitling them on YouTube like the audio drama if I can find the time (in the distant future), but don't count on it.

Thank you @stevie257 for the internet magic as always.

[hurpdurpburps]

LMAO wtf is this hashtag sorcery

The day I started posting about #世界ピクニック百合部限定ss was the best day of my life.

[hurpdurpburps]

This too, is yuri.

earlier this week Twitter user ppuccin0 tweeted about a fashion article that advised against tops with large floral patterns, saying the wearer was in danger of looking like a "ロマンティックおばさん," or a "romantic auntie." the tweet went viral with many agreeing that a "romantic auntie" sounded like a very nice thing to aspire to be, and some even posted illustrations or photos tagged with the trend

illustration by Toyota Yuu (author of Cherry Magic)

illustration by 141shkw/Sora Midori (author of Beautiful Curse)

photos by Takinami Yukari (author of Motokare Mania and Watashi-tachi wa Mutsuu Ren'ai ga Shitai or "We Want A Painless Romance")

illustration by m:m (mangaka of Matataki no End Roll)

illustration by ooinuai (mangaka of Onikui Kitan)

illustration by ma2 (mangaka of The Reason We Fall In Love)

BONUS:

[hurpdurpburps]

Otherside Picnic Manga Yuri Club Special Story 13 English Translation

SPOILER WARNING: Takes place in the middle of File 15 - Overnight on the Otherside in Vol 4 of the novels.

Written by: Miyazawa Iori

Translated by: @hurpdurpburps

-

Chapter 13: Ikebukuro, Department Store Basement Food Hall

"Still… it's not supposed to be this crowded, even on a weekend…" I muttered, fed up with the crowd.

It was already busy when I got off the train at Ikebukuro, but now it was positively packed by the time I met up with Toriko and arrived at the department store basement food hall.

Toriko chided me for my grumbling. "We're part of that crowd, aren't we?"

"I know that."

I knew it was unreasonable, but I still wanted to complain about the crowds. That’s all there was to it.

"Of course it'd be crowded, it’s December after all."

"Yeah, plus everyone’s dressed so thickly since it’s winter."

Going along with flow of foot traffic at the entrance of the department store, we headed deeper inside. I was drawn to the aroma of baked bread wafting through the air, but we’d accidentally passed the bakery and couldn't head back.

I wondered how many times I'd been to the department store basement at Ikebukuro Station.

It had become routine for me to meet up with Toriko, buy some gifts here, and then take the Seibu Line to Kozakura’s house in Shakujii-Koen.

Once we cut through the crowds near the entrance, we were finally able to walk without getting swept away. Toriko and I slowed down our pace as we looked at the shops on either side of us.

"So, what should we buy today?"

"What did we get last time?"

"I think we got wagashi, like ohagi or something."

"Oh yeah. That was good, wasn’t it?."

"It was. It’s a good thing Kozakura-san had some Japanese tea laying around."

"I’m pretty sure Akari brought that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think it's because the tea Kozakura used to have was stale and nasty."

"Did Akari say that?"

"She didn’t, but that was definitely the case. Kozakura threw away the old tea leaves afterwards."

"So Kozakura-san also thought it tasted bad."

"It’s probably because she usually doesn’t drink tea on her own."

Kozakura usually drank flat cola that had been heated in the microwave, so she probably wasn’t drinking tea even if she had any at home.

Maybe the tea’s meant for guests, but if no one comes, it would just sit there for years without being used… A thought popped into my head as I pondered.

"Toriko, have you ever been served tea at Kozakura-san's place?"

Toriko thought for a moment before answering. "I don’t think so."

"Right?"

"I don’t remember it happening."

"If you don't serve tea when guests come over, it's bound to get stale."

"I guess she doesn’t treat us as guests."

"That's terrible. Even though we always make sure to buy her proper gifts every time."

"She did serve us tea recently."

"Having your guests make tea doesn't count as 'serving' them."

The conversation went on as we continued looking for today’s tribute.

Kozakura had quite a sweet tooth, so all the options we had in mind ended up being sweets.

"I think it's okay to buy something savoury every once in a while, but Kozakura-san obviously doesn’t feel the same way."

"Didn’t we get some really nice shrimp crackers the other day?"

"Oh, the round ones."

"Yeah, those were amazing."

"I was surprised at how good they were."

"Right? But Kozakura had such a muted reaction. She was just like, ‘Hmm, it's good.’"

"That's fine, we can get something savoury separately and share it between ourselves."

"Yeah, let's do that."

We’d gotten ohagi previously, and fruit daifuku before that. We went from shop to shop, discussing if we should get western-style sweets this time since we've had wagashi a couple times in a row.

Cake, chocolate, macarons, cookies. Cake always seemed like a delicious option, but I hesitated because it seemed like a pain to carry around.

As a result, I often ended up with an assortment of baked goods, but now that I thought about it, I’d never heard any complaints about bringing the same type of gifts all the time

"Of course she’s not going to say anything about that. It's game over as a human being if you start complaining about gifts."

"Well, I suppose so."

As the gifter, I had the sense that it would be preferable to get something different from before, but perhaps I didn't actually have to put so much thought into it.

Still, if I'm going out of my way to bring a gift, isn't it natural to want to see Kozakura's surprised face and her satisfaction after eating what I bought…

I was a little surprised at myself having that subconscious line of thought.

Amazing. I’m being really considerate of the receiver of my gifts.

"Toriko, I might just be brilliant."

Toriko threw me a glance at my sudden exclamation, then said, "You’re always brilliant, Sorawo."

"Oh, yeah?"

At my positive interpretation of her words, Toriko thought for a moment before correcting herself.

"Sorry, maybe not always."

TL Notes

General note: I adopted a more 'literary' prose style to match the tone of the novels. Hence, the translation in this series will be significantly more liberal than my usual analytical posts. Feel free to ask me anything. Feedback regarding translation accuracy is also welcome.

List of Yuri Club's Otherside Picnic Short Stories [my translations]:

1. Shinjuku, The First Meet-Up (新宿、初めての待ち合わせ)

2. Hasshaku-sama Epilogue (八尺様エピローグ)

3. Ochanomizu, The First Afterparty (お茶の水、初めての打ち上げ)

4. Ikebukuro, Cafe Meal For One (池袋、ひとりカフェ飯)

5. Naha, After The Big Job (那覇、大仕事の後)

6. Ishigaki Island, A Dazed Vacation (石垣島、呆然のリゾート)

7. Mercedes AMG, The Backseat (メルセデスAMG、後部座席)

8. Otherworldly Elevator, On The Way Back (異世界エレベーター、帰路)

9. Kozakura Mansion, Pizza Party (小桜屋敷、ピザパーティー)

10. Ikebukuro Bookstore, Meet Up (池袋の書店、待ち合わせ)

11. Hannou, In The Car From The Station (飯能、駅からの車中)

12. Streets Of Minami-Yono, Phonecall With Kozakura (南与野の路上、小桜との電話)

13. Ikebukuro, Department Store Basement Food Hall (池袋、デパート地下食料品売り場)

[hurpdurpburps]

If anyone else is interested/needs to know, we just called and there are only limited stock signed copies of vol 9 and 10 left, with no plans to restock signed copies of the other volumes. RIP...

My Otherside Picnic Pilgrimage Pt. 11 - Junkudo Ikebukuro

Located 5 minutes away from Ikebukuro Station's east exit on foot, the 7-floor Junkudo Ikebukuro is the bookstore chain's flagship location, and also a commonly-featured location in the novels.

The next time I spotted Satsuki Uruma, I was leaving the Junkdo bookstore in Ikebukuro. We could have each headed for Kozakura's home on our own, but somehow, this just sort of ended up being our habit. I don't even remember which of us suggested it first. It was probably Toriko.

7 floors is A LOT of books lmao.

The IRL Junkudo Ikebukuro is also where many authors, Miyazawa included, host the launch of their new books. The livestreamed chat session for the release of Vol 9 last June and Vol 10 today were also held here.

Physical copies of Otherside Picnic and other Miyazawa works can be found on the third floor at shelf 41 (which is the Hayakawa section - the series' publisher in Japan).

Signed copies of the novels can also be found here. But those are usually only available in limited quantities after the release of a new volume and purchases are capped at one copy per volume per person. Signed copies also cannot be reserved via phone or online so you snooze you lose I guess.

The picture above was taken last July (about a month after the launch of vol 9) and by December only one signed copy of Vol 4 was left (which a friend picked up).

If you look up there's also a cute little autograph by Miyazawa for the release of Vol 7 lol. The top part basically says "Junkudo Ikebukuro, Otherside Picnic, Miyazawa Iori."

The little scribble of Sorawo beneath Satsuki is supposed to look like the hiragana "が" (ga) and is sandwiched between "あり" (ari) and "とう" (tou). So if you look at it at a glance it says arigatou (thank you).

There used to be other Miyazawa autographs on the shelves such as the one for ウは宇宙ヤバいのウ！ ("U is for the Universe is Bonkers!") and OP Vol 8 but I think they shifted those around to make space for other writers since I didn't see those during my visit in January.

ALSO! The Junkudo in Naha had a special tagline on the shelf.

"No Otherworld is scary as long as I'm with you". Aaaahhhh

Bonus 1:

You might've noticed by now that Ikebukuro is featured very frequently in the books, thanks to its location. Ikebukuro is literally the third busiest train station in the world (and in Japan), and is the main form of local connection for most of Saitama to Tokyo proper.

We had meetings in Ikebukuro a lot lately. I was at Minami-Yono on the Saikyo Line, while Toriko was at Nishi-Nippori [1] on the Yamanote Line, so when we wanted to go to Kozakura's house at Shakujii-kouen, Ikebukuro was the perfect spot.

Many locations in the novels are directly accessible from Ikebukuro (ie no transfers), including but not limited to:

Omiya, where Sorawo found her first gate and the nearest major train station to her (Omiya Station via Shonan-Shinjuku Line or Saikyo Line)

Toriko's place (Nippori Station via Yamanote Line)

[1] Note: the text from Vol 3 above says Nishi-Nippori but that was probably an oversight by Miyazawa as both stations are next to each other on the Yamanote Line. Other mentions of Toriko's place in Vol 1 and Vol 8 all say Nippori Station instead.

Sophia University, where Toriko studies (Yotsuya Station via Marunouchi Line)

Kozakura's place (Shakujii-Kōen Station via Ikebukuro Line)

The hot springs (Seibu-Chichibu Station via Laview Express)

The Farm (Hannou Station via Laview Express)

Kabukicho and other places in Shinjuku where they sometimes hang out (Shinjuku Station via Yamanote Line, Saikyo Line or Shonan-Shinjuku Line)

The Jinbocho Booktown skeletal building gate (Ochanomizu Station via Marunouchi Line)

Bonus 2:

I was going to drop by Cafe Pause (aka the cafe at which Soratori had their first fight in vol 1), which was a stone's throw away from Junkudo) but unfortunately they shut down for good on 31 Oct 2024.

We were in the cafe behind the Junkudo bookstore in Ikebukuro, where we'd gone after meeting up. Our meeting that day was supposed to be an after party, too. The table was covered with all the dishes Toriko had, yet again, ordered without thinking what would happen. There was taco rice, chocolate and sour cherry cake, matcha terrine, and a "tart of the day" topped with lots of raspberries. As for drinks, Toriko had a caffè latte, while I had ordered grape tea. I think at this point I could say that the way Toriko went about ordering was weird and wrong. She could have at least waited to finish the taco rice before ordering the cake.

Unfortunately I'll never get to try their grape tea and daily fruit tart (which sounds bussin' af) but here's some online photos I found from their Instagram and Tablelog so y'all can grieve with me T-T.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WANNA EAT IT

I NEED this pasta in my body RIP me.

And that's all for my Otherside Picnic pilgrimage journey in January 2025! There probably won't be any updates until I visit Tokyo again in January 2026 but in the meantime I'm gonna keep researching for more spots.

Thanks for sticking with me on my pilgrimage journey if you've read all of this!

Feel free to give suggestions or ideas in the comments but just so you know Tumblr flagged my account as spam(? LOL) so I'm not even allowed to comment on my own posts to reply to people rip.

My Otherside Picnic Pilgrimage Series:

Seibu-Chichibu Station & Matsuri No Yu

Chichibu Waraji Katsu Tei

Nippori Station/Yamaguchi Mansion

Aurora Sky Lounge, Keio Plaza Hotel

Jinbocho Booktown & Shosen Grande

Kitchen Nankai

Ishigaki Island Resort

Ishigaki Beef

Kokusai-Dori (International Street), Naha (1/2)

Kokusai-Dori (International Street), Naha (2/2)

Junkudo Ikebukuro

Pilgrimage list here.

Michelin guide here.