Matsuya's 'Black Mapo Tofu Set Meal' App Notification Features Back-to-Back '‼️' Not Seen in Past New-Menu Notifications

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title: “Matsuya’s ‘Black Mapo Tofu Set Meal’ App Notification Features Back-to-Back ‘‼️’ Not Seen in Past New-Menu Notifications” categories:

• official tags:
• app-notification
• new-menu published: true created_at: “2026-09-29T11:03:44+09:00” updated_at: “2026-09-29T11:03:47+09:00” thumbnail: “https://cdn.gyumesy.com/articles/vi573c/thumbnail.webp” ogp_image: “https://cdn.gyumesy.com/articles/vi573c/ogp.png” source_url: “” editor_comment: “Two ‼️ stacked together shows real commitment. This is the kind of dish that makes you keep asking for more white rice.” description: “On September 29, Matsuya announced the nationwide launch of the ‘Black Mapo Tofu Set Meal’ via an official app push notification. The opening line, ‘＼Ku, kuroッ‼️‼️／’, uses a run of exclamation marks absent from past app notifications for new menu items, while the words ‘richness’ and ‘stimulating’ come from the official announcement published the same day.” series_key: null related_articles:
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At 10 a.m. on September 29, Matsuya used a push notification in its official app to announce the nationwide launch of its new Black Mapo Tofu Set Meal. The body of the notification opens with the emphatic phrase “＼Ku, kuroッ‼️‼️／” (roughly, “B-b-black!!”), a run of exclamation marks that had not appeared in the app’s past notifications announcing new menu items.

Wording Used in the Notification

The notification’s title read “Black Mapo Tofu Set Meal on sale from 10 a.m., 9/29 (Tue) 🔥🖤”, and the body read “＼Ku, kuroッ‼️‼️／ Rich, stimulating [Black Mapo] means you can’t stop eating white rice 🍚🔥”.

The words “rich” (koku) and “stimulating” in the body come from the official website announcement published the same day, September 29. That announcement was titled “This Blackness Is Proof of Richness: ‘Black Mapo Tofu Set Meal’ Now on Sale,” and its section heading described “authentic Chinese food with a deep umami richness and a stimulating spiciness that gets you hooked.” The notification pulls out these two words and rearranges them into a different phrase, “you can’t stop eating white rice.” It is not a verbatim quotation but an original rewrite based on the announcement’s sales pitch.

The 🖤 (black heart) added to the title and the 🍚 (bowl of rice) in the body correspond, respectively, to the “black” in the product name and the “white rice” in the body.

A Run of Exclamation Marks

The opening “＼Ku, kuroッ‼️‼️／” combines a framing device that wraps the phrase in full-width slashes (＼／) with two consecutive “‼️” marks. Past notifications in the Matsuya app announcing new menu launches (such as the Grilled Pork Loin Set Meal) had been limited to a single “❗️” as the exclamation mark. A lone “‼️” is also used in notifications about point rebates and the like, but two in a row, or the full-width slash framing, had not been seen in new-menu launch notifications.

Staged Announcements Leading Up to the Launch

The nationwide launch of the Black Mapo Tofu Set Meal was announced in stages across multiple channels. It was posted in the official website announcements on September 24; the official X account gave a day-before notice just after 6 p.m. on September 28; on launch day, September 29, at 10 a.m., the official X account posted a launch-commemoration follow & repost campaign (1,000 Matsuya Points for 30 winners by lottery, with a deadline of October 5); and the app notification arrived at 10:24 a.m.

Also starting at 10 a.m. on September 29, the “New Rice, Free Refill Fair” for set meals began at Matsuya (at Matsunoya, it starts at 3 p.m. on September 30). The same day was also a “Meat Day Campaign” day, with the Large Serving Yakiniku Beef Set Meal and the Large Serving Yakiniku Boneless Short Rib Set Meal discounted by 200 yen, and the Umatoma Hamburg Steak Set Meal and the Hamburg Steak with Brown Sauce Set Meal discounted by 100 yen (12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.). However, the New Rice Fair covers set meals in general and the Meat Day Campaign covers only the four items above, so neither is a discount on the Black Mapo Tofu Set Meal itself.

From a Limited Run at Some Stores in June to a Nationwide Launch

This is not the Black Mapo Tofu Set Meal’s first appearance. It went on early sale as a store-limited menu item at some stores from 10 a.m. on June 30, priced at 890 yen for the set meal, and was delisted after about a week. After roughly three months, it launched at Matsuya locations nationwide (excluding some stores) at the same 890 yen set meal price as before. Menu items bearing the “mapo” name at Matsuya have been a staple since the Mapo Curry and Rice of 2008, returning every few years with different ingredients and levels of spiciness; the most recent was the “Authentic Sichuan-style Mapo Tofu” in May 2025.