Mister Softee is parked in Tokyo

Chocolate banana, off the secret menu

Mister Softee has joined Auntie Anne's, Ben &Jerry's, and Bubby's in conspiring to keep me well (poorly) fed in Tokyo. (Yes, there's a new-ish Wendy's, but I don't really care about it and its foie gras stuntburgers. Which, incidentally, may not be doing so well, as they had people standing on the street handing out coupons this weekend. You heard it here first!) I helped our writer put a little story about it on Japan Pulse, and then I headed over to see the place for myself over the weekend. I expected a certain dissonance in seeing that classic logo nestled among expensive Italian chocolate-covered figs, but it worked. The woman who runs it, Andrea Fisher, was very friendly and totally impressive. There's a long version of her story, but the short version is that she loves ice cream and brought Mister Softee here by sheer determination. She's also a Julliard-trained flautist and runs her own bag company and didn't stop driving her ice cream truck around Brooklyn even when an angry Armenian slashed her tires. (Alex and I left feeling excited by the reminder that there are people out there getting stuff done in a big way and more guilty than ever about our own little unfocused projects.) She's coming up with new flavors to make in their fancy mix-in machine every day. She told us a few of the ones she's working on to add to the lineup of berry, cactus and apple pie. There's one in particular in the works that I don't think I'm supposed to reveal. But I have a feeling that once she starts selling it, you'll hear about it.