#h/t todayintokyo

[shoku-and-awe]

@butter-da 👀

[shoku-and-awe]

I can wholeheartedly recommend Soul Food House and Calabash (h/t @todayintokyo!). SFH is probably the best food of its kind in Tokyo and my love for it is well documented, and I still dream about Calabash’s peanut soup and chicken yassa.

I’ve heard both Kyle’s Good Finds (bakery, Nakano) and Addis Restaurant (Ethiopian, Meguro) recommended before, but Queen Sheba (also Ethiopian, Nakameguro) is a new name to me! Yeah, it’s a short list so far, but I hope to see it get longer as Black-owned businesses here grow and thrive.

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Okay, real update! Conbini oden is such an institution that I was sure was that it would survive the pandemic, if maybe move behind the counter.

However! It's now autumn 2021, the start of flannel weather and peak oden season, and I have barely seen it AT ALL. My two closest 7-11s, FamilyMarts, Lawsons, and MiniStops are all free of oden!

I thought this phenomenon might be localized to my area, which is a quiet, residential neighborhood of Tokyo, but (h/t @todayintokyo) apparently it's pretty common! According to Nikkei, while almost all FamilyMart locations served oden in 2019, in 2021, it's only about 20% and Lawson is down to 40%. COVID is a big reason, but labor shortages are also a factor.

But conbini oden isn't not totally gone; I just visited rural Kagoshima and basically every conbini there did have it. I'd be curious to hear what's happening in other parts of the country!

Convenience store chain Lawson has begun serving oden, signaling the start of autumn.

Meanwhile, it is 33 degrees, 70% humidity, and Tokyo is melting. But sure. Oden.