Nobumasa Takahashi Wasanbon Sugar Skulls

Still looking for unique Halloween items for your upcoming gathering? These wasanbon sugar skulls would make a great conversational piece.

Designed by Nobumasa Takahashi, the sugar skulls are made of wasanbon, a very fine and expensive Japanese sugar with a texture resembling icing sugar. Wasanbon has a buttery creamy taste and can only be made in the Winter months, when it is dry. The sugarcane used to make wasanbon is harvested in December and the sugar is processed no later than February. The production of this sugar is complex, and the entire process takes approximately 20 days and is all done by hand.

Wasanbon means “Japanese three trays”, where at one point in the 8-step process, the sugar is laid out on a tray to be polished. This is done by adding water to the sugar and then kneading it until the sugar crystals are polished into a fine granular texture. Traditionally, this 'polishing technique' was done 3 times, hence the name wasanbon (bon meaning tray and san meaning three).When the sugar is polished, it has to be dried that same day to prevent molding.

The Nobumasa Takahashi wasanbon skulls are offered in a package of 18 pieces - 9 white and 9 black. They are all natural and bamboo charcoal gives the black ones their dark color.

The skulls can be purchased at Spoon & Tamago’s online store.

 

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Monkey Servants

We landed in Christchurch today, and the first thing I did was book myself a hydro therapy massage at the Polynesian spa. Did I enjoy it? Not really. While someone is massaging you, a bunch of shower heads are spraying water all over your body. While it did feel somewhat relaxing, I was stressing the entire time about the amount of water they were wasting. Next time, I'm just going to stick with a plain jane swedish massage.

Before getting our massages, we got a chance to soak in their hot mineral baths. They had 4 lakeside pools, and the temperature range was 36 - 42 degrees Celsius. The baths get progressively hotter, and you choose which one you are most comfortable with. The beauty of travelling in the off season is that no one is around. We basically got these hot baths to ourselves, it was great.

After the spa, I decided to take a short nap. An hour later, I woke up to New Zealand news, and this monkey servant story was the first thing I saw. I thought it was pretty hilarious so I wanted to share it with you.

Sick of bad waiters, and tipping for their bad service? Head to Japan where your waiters are not necessarily human, but all you have to tip are boiled soya beans.

The Japanese sake house, Kayabukiya Tavern, has employed two Macaque monkeys to help serve their customers. The two monkeys, Yat-chan and Fuku-chan, hand out hot towels and serve drinks to customers.

The two monkeys were originally kept as household pets. However, the owner soon realized that Yat-chan and Fuku-chan could be useful as waiters when Yat-chan starting mimicking him. Out of curiosity one day, the owner handed Yat-chan a hot towel, and the monkey immediately brought it to the customer.

For the animal activists out there, Yat-chan and Fuku-chan are certified by local authorities to work at the tavern, and the pair of monkeys will work no longer than 2 hours a day due to Japanese animal rights regulation.

This video will give you a good idea of what these monkeys are capable of:

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