Krispykreme has arrived in Japan. The first shop opened on the south side of Shinjuku and there were long lines as expected. Not as long as for the Wii or PS3 though. I tried a Krispykreme doughnut in Hong Kong but failed to see what the big deal was. I was told that they taste best when they’re fresh off the fryer and with so many people buying them I figured I would be able to get a fresh one, so we lined up for about 40 minutes. On the pamphlet, the doughnuts are advertised as アツアツ or “piping hot.” However, the original glazed I got was friggin’ cold. It was like they put it in the freezer before giving it to me. Even though they had the machine on the first floor pumping out doughnuts, I saw a couple guys bringing carts full of them from another location down the street. It seems like they were packaging up the fresh ones for people who were taking out and giving cold ones to people eating there. What gives!? Completely illogical. I wonder how long they will last in Japan? More coverage of the opening here.
“However, the original glazed I got was friggin’ cold”
Hahahahaha… man, that sux!
Is this shop right opposite Takashimaya (over the bridge where Franc Franc is)?
Krispy Kreme has closed all their stores in Canada, but maybe just because they couldn’t compete with the juggernaut that is Tim Horton’s:
http://www.timhortons.com/
My husband said that there were boxes of pre-made glazed donuts stacked up pretty high in the shop. I’m guessing that they are made ahead of time to help speed up distribution during this period of high demand.
However, he also said that the Krispy Kreme people were giving out fresh, hot donuts to people waiting in line when he waited there Saturday morning (the wait was only 15 minutes between 9:00-9:30 am) and they lived up to their reputation.
Since my husband works so close to the shop, it’ll be interesting to see how long the long lines last.
i see what you mean roy. the krispy kreme here in my town was open for a couple of years. It’s true that the dougnuts are good when they are fresh, but the glaze are the only really good ones. I think that might be their weakness.
im from phoenix arizona us and we had Krispy Kreme here for the longest time. i love those dougnuts espcially when they come off the line hott. they have a big doughnut neon light and when its on that when they have hott doughnuts available. if that light was on then im there. and yeah when your trying to decide what you want they do offer you the hott doughnuts.
but for some reason the announced that they were going bankruprt and they could no longer be able to opperate the buissness.
consider your selves lucky. i wish we still had them here.
I find this somewhat puzzling. I remember Japanese people not being able to eat things because they were “too sweet.” Now, in this case, they seem to be serious about catching up with Americans in the race to be the world’s most obese and unhealthy regardless of how it goes against their own taste. Woe the power of the media. Maybe the Krispy Kreme customers look at it similar to the way some of us look at natto—unpleasant to an extreme at first but with persistence an acquired taste. Fools.
Eddie: From what I can tell from the photos it looks like you are right. The shop is in the Southern Terrace in the same building where the Italian restaurant used to be on the left of the pedestrian bridge as you face Takashimaya and Tokyu Hands. Franc Franc is (was?) on the right of the bridge.
I had one of these bad boys when I was visiting my family in Canada. YES, they are the best donuts in the world, and YES my family in Canada are all overweight.
I can’t wait to go there and try a hot one. But it’ll have to be before NYE because that’s when my ‘diet’ starts (again).
Krispy Kreme 上陸！
This weekend marked the opening of the first Krispy Kreme store in Japan. It opened up on Friday in Shinjuku, at the Southern Terrace. Now I love me some Krispy Kreme as much as the next guy, but I’m not…
A Krispy Kreme Original Glazed fresh off the line is an AMAZING thing to enjoy.
That’s it. And as along as you don’t eat an entire box at each sitting, Japanese won’t catch up with the US for “most fat” anytime soon.
And anyone who thinks that Krispy Kreme arriving in Japan is the beginning of the end of civilization, I can just say “baka”…
Donuts schmonuts…
I got mine fairly warm … quite thankful considering evening was fairly windy & chilly. Quite yummy … Now got to go workout and burn off that 200 calories !
Mnygghhh - i dont approve!
When I went to Tokyo, i was shocked at how slim everyone looked, and then i thought it was because of the food.
Seems like US style fast food is trying to take over the world!
Gimme a Yoshinoya any day!
It never ceases to amaze me how a subject like donuts can generate so many comments. What’s with all you people? ;-)
As to the reason why Japanese people are so thin. This not because Japanese food is healthy. In fact, there’s tons of fried food in Japan. The reason, as any Japanese person will tell you, is because the intestines of the average Japanese is about 3 feet longer than other races and so therefore their bodies spend more time processes all the food. ;-)
Uh, Roy, don’t you mean their intestines are 3 feet SHORTER? That way, there’s LESS chance for fat/calories to get processed. Also explains why they’re shorter overall.
Either way… not a great joke really
Av4rice, ok if you want to get technical…
Here’s one article that talks about the claim of Japanese intestines being longer. I’m not making this up.
http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2004/0129/cn10-2.html
And as for why longer intestines should make make a person less fat, digesting food burns a lot of calories so if your body spends more time digesting food than your body using up more energy and thus more calories. Of course, I’m just simplifying it.
Huh? How does “Japanese rethink menu after ban on US beef” relate to Japanese intestines being longer? I guess beef tripe could be considered intestines but I don’t believe there are many Japanese people alive today who have beef intestines instead of human ones. I’m puzzled. Are you sure you’re not making this up, Roy?
Of course I don’t really believe it myself. I was just pointing out the fact that Japanese people do say this about their intestines.
I got my free sample donut fresh off the line. What I did was line up at around 6:55 in the morning. Yes, I was feeling a bit ill from drinking the whole night in Shinjuku, but it still tasted pretty damn good.
I just had to get in one this since everyone else did. NO mass market donut shop will ever beat the little mom and pop bakeries with an old fashion style donut.
I go to a place called ‘Grandma’s Bakery’, nuff said. The KriCreme nearest my home lasted not quite a year.
My bad. It took me quite a while to find this paragraph in the link you posted, Roy: “In 1987 then Agriculture Minister Tsutomu Hata claimed that Japanese intestines were longer than those of Westerners and therefore unsuited to digesting American beef, but that did nothing to ruin Japan’s appetite for affordable foreign beef.”
By the way, I can’t help wondering what kind of fat tubs would be considered normal if Japanese people are seen as slim. No, Japanese people are not thin. On average, they are of a normal weight for their height. At least for now.
I was wondering when this was going to happen, but I’d be surprised if it were to last longer than a few years.
Certain companies have been able to stay in Japan by altering their menus to suit Japanese tastes. McDonalds ran into this problem by thinking they didn’t have to change and wound up losing a lot of money in the process.
Then getting to the other points:
1) The Japanese intestines thing isn’t true, although a lot of Japanese people think it is. These are the same people that think Japanese snow is different from foreign snow and that Japan is the only country with 4 seasons.
2) The Japanese are thin compared to Americans, hell they’re practically anorexic compared to Americans at least the older generation is. The younger generation is starting to pork out a bit and you’re starting to see a lot more fat kids out there than you did before. And Yoshinoya is not a good example of Japanese food. Fat stringy beef served over white rice has the same caloric content as a Big Mac.
3) Krispy Kreme is a bad example of a doughnut. They’re not even doughnuts, they’re grease bombs that sit in your stomach like a rock. While in Japan, I’ll take a Mr. Donut anyday over a Krispy Kreme.