Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
2014 (Page 123)
It’s amazing how much Japan loves KFC. I pass by more locations of the world’s most popular fried chicken chain on an average day in Tokyo than I ever did in Los Angeles, and it’s even the meal of choice for most Japanese diners on Christmas Eve.
Now, just as Japan has embraced KFC, KFC is embracing Japan by expanding the number of locations where you can get your hands on one of the restaurant’s rare Kentucky Fried Chicken rice bowls.
Here at RocketNews24, we consider wasting food to be one of the most heinous crimes imaginable. Whether it be a 1,000 bacon slice burger, feces wine, or the most disgusting ramen ever, we always clean our plates or ask for a doggie bag.
And so it’s with heavy hearts that we bring you the story of a particularly disgusting crime. This suspect stands accused of buying, having his way with, and then dumping 208kg of potato chips in the wilderness, eating hardly any of them. As it turned out, this was all part of a bigger scheme to meet the talented voice actress and vocalist Nana Mizuki.
***Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of delicious snack wastage which some readers may find disturbing.***
Singing that kimchi is delicious but that she prefers her familiar cendol (a traditional dessert) and keropok (shrimp crackers), 17-year-old Joyce Chu (also known as 四葉草) from Johor Bahru, Malaysia has become quite the YouTube sensation. It’s now approaching three weeks since her song and video Malaysia Chabor (“Malaysian Girl”) about her experiences being mistaken for a Korean in her home country was first published on YouTube, and since then the video has racked up 3.9 million views and counting.
With her good looks and sweet voice, it was inevitable that Joyce would pick up a few admirers after her sudden rise to fame. One man in particular seems to be quite smitten with her, and even went so far as to create his own original response video to her song.
Who is this mysterious admirer? Keep reading to find out more and watch his video for yourself!
Men are, in many ways, simple creatures. Our two greatest desires in life are, without question, women and food.
While a tasty meal or a good-looking lass with a nice personality are both things to be thankful for on their own, it’s hard to top the bliss that comes from eating a home-cooked meal made by the girl you like. Still, just as guys have preferences in women, they’ve also got preferences in food, as revealed in a poll that asked Japanese men what dish prepared by their girlfriend makes them the happiest.
If there’s one thing that we can’t hide, it’s probably our love for Disney animated movies! And we’re pretty sure we are not the only ones who are great fans of Disney’s works. Just last week, we caught a glimpse of Game of Thrones characters in a Disney-esque setting, and this week, we found something even more intriguing…
The Internet’s celebrity feline, Grumpy Cat, is out to thwart Disney’s happily ever after endings in these brilliant illustrations!
As the art of cosplay steadily proliferates into the culture of Japan, even traditionally stodgy institutions like universities have begun accepting it at their graduations. So it would seem obvious that more “carefree” places like theme parks would embrace the costumed fun.
Tokyo Disneyland had their own cosplay event and Universal Studios Japan makes provisions for it in their park rules and regulations. Still, with these companies and others protecting their own brand interests there’s bound to be some lines one shouldn’t cross when trying to gain entrance in costume. But with no official bans on dressing up like certain characters it’s up to Twitter users to test the waters and find where these parks draw the line.
Japanese aquariums are a pretty popular destination for families during the summer break in July and August. As a part of Enoshima Aquarium’s 10th anniversary celebration, it is putting on a show called “Night Aquarium” where 3D projection mapping will make it seem like visitors have traveled to the deepest parts of the ocean.
Beginning on July 20, the special show will use the aquarium as a backdrop during the evening and project moving images of sea life around the awestruck sightseers. Although other aquariums have given visitors a rather intimate look at deep-sea creatures, this is the first time an aquarium has use this projection mapping technology and is sure to draw big crowds.
The first day of E3 2014 has come to a close and our heads are spinning from all the Gamecube throwback controllers and unexpected Just Dance participants…or are we still just a little queasy from that Oculus Rift demo (more on that soon!)? Either way, we feel so lucky to have been a part of this huge event and want share some of our favorite photos from the day.
Let the photo dump begin!
Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. was a hit almost immediately upon its release in 1985. Everyone who played it knew right away that it was fun, but what wasn’t so immediately apparent was just how solid, and therefore timeless, the basic game engine was.
You’ll find very few gamers today who remember, and even fewer who honestly care, about titles such as Comic Wartoad and Section Z, both of which saw release in 1985 and were moderate hits in their day. More than 30 years later, though, Mario still has a special place in gamers’ hearts. Now, even if you’ve played through all of Mario’s adventures, both new and old, the fun doesn’t have to stop, as Nintendo is releasing a new piece of software that’ll let you create your own Mario levels.
Details, and photos from the E3 show floor after the jump!
Since the end of May a special investigative team was dispatched to Oenunto Village in Indonesia at the request of the Chief Medical Officer of nearby Kupang City. Their mission was to figure out what really happened after hearing about a woman who gave birth to her third child: a healthy, bouncing baby gecko.
While avid football (or soccer, if you prefer) fans around the world are ticking down the days until Thursday (the start of the FIFA World Cup) a popular YouTuber in Singapore is doing his part to ease their anticipation with a few laughs. He and his group of friends put together a brilliant video in which they recreate some common situations people find themselves in while watching game after game of the tournament. You can definitely relate to their list whether you’re a staunch supporter yourself or if you’re surrounded by people who are.
Which of the parodied scenarios can you sympathize with most?
As pretty much every gamer in the world no doubt already knows, Super Smash Bros. is coming to Nintendo Wii U and 3DS this year. Along with everyone else, we’re itching to play it, but every time we pictured ourselves taking a mallet to Kirby‘s pudgy pink face, the same thoughts kept coming back to bug us: Do we really have to play the game with Wii remotes or the Wii U gamepad? Are we going to have to buy those “pro” pads that we’re frankly not all that fond of?
Thankfully, a series of officially licensed controllers modelled on the Nintendo Gamecube controller that we once loved so dearly is due to arrive sometime around the Wii U game’s launch, and they’re preeetty! Details and photos direct from the E3 show floor after the jump!
Do you like dancing? How about hairy men with adamantium claws? Then we have the perfect video for you!
There’s a unique challenge for anime professionals working on a franchise with as long a history as Gundam, which aired its first episode 35 years ago. Since each new series does away with the war mechs of its predecessors, designers are always under pressure to come up with giant robots that look more powerful, technologically advanced, and, in the case of the villains’ machines, sinister than what fans have seen before.
With Gundam Unicorn’s NZ-999 Neo Zeong, piloted by baffling-named antagonist (and Toyota owner) Full Frontal, we think the animators did a pretty good job. From its sharp, angular lines, blood-red paint job, and the crevices in the sheet metal produce murky shadows, the mobile armor appears immediately menacing and dangerous.
Unless that is, you remove the head unit and replace it with a cute anime girl or kitty cat.
So, you’re at a party and having a great time. The girl/guy you’ve had a crush on since you walked in seems to be really into you, the drinks are flowing, and the host is cool. But then you realise you have to poop. Like, really bad.
You excuse yourself, get to the bathroom and do your business only to find that the party’s all-you-can-eat Indian curry and Taco Bell buffet was a little more than your body could handle. Now you’ve got 11 inches of stagnant water staring you down and the romantic interest you were hitting on is knocking on the door saying she’s next in line to pee.
Do you: A) reach for the nearby plunger, B) exit the bathroom complaining loudly about the mess that “someone” left, C) escape through the nearest window, or D) use one of these patented South Korean toilet seals to clean up the whole mess?
By far the most popular series today among Japan’s ultra-hardcore anime fans is Love Live. With a bevy of cute girls, pleated skirts, pop idol competitions, and nary a prominent male character, it’s checked off enough of the necessary boxes to give it a solid pedestal on which its charismatic cast has been placed.
Fans of Love Live even have their own nickname, as it has become common to refer to them as Love Livers. Yes, grammatically that makes no sense, but you can’t expect the franchise’s fan base to stop and correct the odd nomenclature. They’re too busy celebrating the birthdays of Love Live’s dozen-plus idol singers by buying merchandise, sending online salutations, and, in the case of one fan, getting a giant tattoo of his favorite character that covers his entire – and we mean entire – back…
With the 2014 FIFA World Cup all set to start, the 32 qualifying teams are hard at work preparing for the final tournament and getting as many edges over the competition as possible in order to survive to the end.
However, with such drive and passion it’s only natural for some teams to go a little over the line in their preparation from time to time. That’s what seemed to have happened with the Korea Republic national team who came up with the idea of swapping most of their players’ uniform numbers in their games leading up to the tournament in order to protect their strategy from prying eyes of the competition.
What’s in a name? New parents often look for a name that they hope will embody the spirit of their child or be something that their son or daughter can wear with pride throughout their life, but even the most heartfelt monicker can prove awkward when taken out of context, and can be more funny than beautiful when heard by speakers of other languages.
For Japanese parents, the meaning of kanji characters used for a child’s name are just as important as how it sounds. Recently, however, one young couple had the name they chose for their new baby daughter rejected when they attempted to register it at their local town hall. It was probably a good thing, though, since the characters they had chosen had an altogether different, rather unpleasant, meaning that the couple were completely unaware of.
It’s easy to trace the roots of American football and basketball, as they’re both comparatively recently developed sports. Things get a little more difficult with soccer, though.
While the world’s most popular sport got its first set of standardized competition rules in 1863, courtesy of England’s Football Association, the game had existed in various forms for some time before that. Several countries have since claimed to be the birthplace of soccer, but one now has the official recognition of the president of soccer’s international governing body.
According to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, soccer originated in China.
This Tokyo rice ball takes 20 years to make and 2,000 yen (US$14.30) to buy, but is it worth it?
Ultimate lazy sukiyaki – Can you make the king of Japanese hot pots in a rice cooker?【Taste test】
Right now is the peak time to go to Tokyo’s most-beautiful-view beer garden【Photos】
Tokyo police arrest French man on charges of shoving, killing senior citizen in bar district
Kyoto company developing autofocus glasses for sufferers of presbyopia and other conditions
Should you warm up your convenience store onigiri rice balls in the microwave?【Taste test】
Shinjuku izakaya’s all-you-can-eat-and-drink plan is one of Tokyo’s best secret cheap eats
Soak your feet at the Spirited Away foot bath, in Tokyo for a limited time
Japan’s “Underground Temple” now up for virtual touring in Google Street View
Muji’s Sofa Made From Air review: Is Japan’s most sought-after portable couch worth the hype?
Pizza Hut adds a “Guilty Secret” sandwich to its menu for a limited timeRight now is the peak time to go to Tokyo’s most-beautiful-view beer garden【Photos】
New Jimmy Choo x Sailor Moon collaboration brings anime magic to bags, shoes and accessories
Starbucks Japan releases a new Matcha Latte with Reusable Cup for the tourist market
Studio Ghibli releases new Totoro and Jiji blankets to keep you cosy this winter
Japan’s super-cheap corn snacks apologize for second-ever price increase in 45 years
Game over for Classic Mini Famicom and Super Famicom as Nintendo announces end of repairs
The perks of drinking root beer at A&W in Japan
New Japanese Food Sample Making Cafe opens in Asakusa, Tokyo
Disney young adult novels get new beautiful shojo anime-style covers for Japan
Studio Ghibli releases free-download board game — Here’s how to play it without reading Japanese
Studio Ghibli lets you cosplay as Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle with cosy anime fashion range
New Hello Kitty McDonald’s Japan Happy Meal toys are here, and Kitty’s sister is part of the set
Starbucks teams up with the oldest of Japan’s Six Ancient Kilns to create a Bizen ware coffee mug
One of Tokyo’s most beautiful gardens gets its own moon for moon-viewing seasonPizza Hut adds a “Guilty Secret” sandwich to its menu for a limited time
Matsushima restaurant offers all-you-can-eat sashimi in as many ways as you can dream it【Photos】
Super budget-friendly retro Tokyo hotel feels like having your own 1960s Asakusa apartmentRight now is the peak time to go to Tokyo’s most-beautiful-view beer garden【Photos】
Support Hayao Miyazaki’s real-world Totoro forest with hoodies featuring exclusive anime art
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Foreign tourists on Shinkansen bullet train break suitcase etiquette, angering local passengers
[Deleted] Article written for April Fool’s Day 2018
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
Life-size vibrating Legend of Zelda Master Sword for sale from Nintendo【Photos】
Should you warm up your convenience store onigiri rice balls in the microwave?【Taste test】
Shinjuku izakaya’s all-you-can-eat-and-drink plan is one of Tokyo’s best secret cheap eats
Soak your feet at the Spirited Away foot bath, in Tokyo for a limited time
Japan’s “Underground Temple” now up for virtual touring in Google Street View
Muji’s Sofa Made From Air review: Is Japan’s most sought-after portable couch worth the hype?
10 weird and wonderful things you can find in a Japanese drugstore
Give a dog a meatball and he’ll be your wingman for life【Video】
With hand-painted faces, no two Totoro kamikogei traditional papercraft figures are the same
New Kura Sushi revolving sushi bar in Ginza is the chain’s most beautiful restaurant in Tokyo
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Free bus tours of Japan’s famous “Disaster Prevention Underground Temple” underway
Japan’s super-cheap corn snacks apologize for second-ever price increase in 45 years
Pringles Japanese egg sandwich-flavor potato chips on sale now, said to taste AND smell the part
Soup curry and onigiri for breakfast at a super tasty semi-secret spot in Tokyo’s Shinjuku