Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
2014 (Page 192)
Chinese dating company Baihe.com has taken the unusual step of producing an ad that attempts to guilt-trip young women into marriage. In it, an elderly woman who is steadily inching closer to death pesters her granddaughter to find a man and tie the knot, constantly asking, “Are you married yet?”
Eventually – and we swear we’re not making this up – the troubled young woman resolves that she should stop “being picky” and decides to marry right away.
The full WTF? video after the jump.
The Pokémon with YOU Train is a collaboration between JR East and Pokémon that’s been bringing smiles to the faces of kids affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and this week it made a special appearance in Chiba!
We’re not kids any more, but having seen how awesome it is, we really wish we could take a ride on this thing!!
We’ve covered the strange world of gachapon toys on this site before. They are those vending machines that spit out an item in a plastic egg, and any bank of gachapon machines in Japan is sure to have a few bizarre offerings. Twitter user @dradon3 recently spotted this mystifying toy depicting the Statue of Liberty feeling free enough to let it all hang out. Says the ad copy, “Be free from all restraints that bind you.”
Japan takes customer service very seriously, something that’s easy to see when even convenience store clerks are so dedicated to their job they’ll ask if you want your hot and cold purchases bagged separately, or else build a protective barrier between them. Hospitality standards are no joke, either, as illustrated by the tasks traditional innkeepers are expected to perform, such as carrying the dishes and utensils for full-course meals into and out of guests’ rooms.
It’s no surprise, then, that travelers in Japan have plenty of stories to tell about attentive inns and hotels, such as the 12 below from an online survey by web portal My Navi Woman in Japan.
Last Sunday, while the Tokyo area was still blanketed in white from the previous day’s snowstorm, we braved the cold and made the trip out to Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture for the winter installment of Wonder Festival. The bi-annual model expo is packed with the latest anime and video game-inspired figurines, including a fully-operational robot suit and hyper-realistic sculpture of one of Attack on Titan’s monsters from the torso up.
But the Attack on Titan figure wasn’t the only giant bust on display, as there was also a life-size statue of voluptuous anime character Super Sonico. In keeping with her exotic dancer-quality figure, though, her display area had some strip club-style rules, such as no groping allowed.
The official channel for Hayao Miyazaki‘s final feature film, The Wind Rises began streaming two English television commercials on Monday.
They say America is the land of opportunity, but India seems well on its way to taking that crown. Where else can a man acquire a group of followers for having a 37cm (14.5 inch) tail of hair growing just above his butt crack?
As any student of Japanese will tell you, its use of Chinese characters known as kanji can be a nightmare at times. And although they can be really useful at deducing the meaning of complex words, they give little in the way of clues as to how one should pronounce them.
Take the kanji for Japan (日本) for example. Even a first grader can tell you what it means, but ask a group of adults how to pronounce it and you might get a mixture of “Nihon” or “Nippon” and maybe even an occasional “Yamato” if one of those people happens to be a smart-ass.
The opening of McDonald’s first restaurant in Vietnam on Saturday drew massive crowds, as well as a live DJ, face painting and various performers.
Hundreds of people began camping out at the new location in Ho Chi Minh City hours before its 8 a.m. opening to get their first taste of a Big Mac and fries made in their own hometown, according to Liberty Voice.
Attention, die-hard Attack on Titan fans! The producers of the upcoming live-action Attack on Titan movie slated for release next year are looking to recruit suitable extras. Since there are unfortunately no titans available for casting in real life, they’ll have to make do with humans and a bit of CGI magic. So why not give it a shot? Just be sure to confirm your eligibility beforehand with the requirements listed on the official recruiting announcement (which is itself quite amusing).
Do you think you’ve got what it takes to transform into a convincing titan?
In interviews with entertainment news websites Collider and ComingSoon, director Jaume Collet-Serra, who was previously in talks to work on Warner Brothers‘ stalled live-action Akira film project, mentioned that he’s still working on the film, and that he hopes it will be his next one.
Kaiten-zushi, or conveyor-belt sushi, has got to be one of the most fun styles of restaurant anywhere in the world. Who doesn’t love watching delectable, bite-size portions of sushi that are all yours for the taking spin around right in front of their eyes? Many tourists make it a point to stop by a kaiten-zushi place when they visit Japan. The fact that you can fill up on delicious sushi without breaking your wallet makes the experience even better.
While these kinds of restaurants can be found outside of their original home, the quality of Japan’s kaiten-zushi is so good that, whether right or wrong, many foreigners claim that any place outside of Japan is a fake. However, what if you took the concept of the conveyor-belt serving style and applied it to a different national cuisine? Well, that’s just what one restaurant in France decided to do. Now you can enjoy quality conveyor-belt French cuisine at a restaurant in Paris!
We were so intrigued that we recently send one of our Japanese reporters to check it out.
With Japan’s reputation as a country serious about train travel, train stations are a ubiquitous sight across Japan where they serve as gateways to the country’s extensive rail network. And these gateways have their own little quirks that give each station its own unique personality. From one station’s catchy “here comes the train” theme tune to an insane rush of comic book geeks running through ticket gates, click below for five quirky looks at train stations across Japan!
Some hardcore fans of manga comics take their devotion to an almost religious fervor. So strong is their enthusiasm that Osamu Tezuka, the medium’s more prolific and prominent pioneer, is commonly referred to as “The God of Manga.”
Manga, however, is far from a monotheistic religion, and in the 25 years since his passing, other artists have seen their creations go on to achieve the same fame and popularity as Tezuka’s. A recent survey of 24,420 Japanese comic fans recently chose four other artists for the pantheon.
As much as we’re reluctant to feed into more negative stereotypes of an entire country, it’s – sadly – time for yet another gross food-related story out of China.
A 58-year-old woman in Jiangsu Province was admitted to the hospital with severe abdominal pains after a marathon binge eating session left her with a ruptured stomach. The rupture was allegedly so bad the woman’s entire stomach had to be surgically removed for an emergency replacement, leading some of the more sensational news outlets and our click-hungry headline to refer to the woman’s stomach as having “exploded.”
“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Jaaapaaaan! Happy birthday to you!!! Yah! Now, blow out your candles! All 2,674 of them!”
Today is a national holiday here in Japan: It’s Kenkoku Kinenbi, or National Foundation Day in English. The day is a celebration of the foundation of Japan, which occurred on February 11 in 660 BCE.
Or was it?!
So Japanese dudes dating digital anime girls has been a big thing in the western media lately because “OMG weird Japan!!,” but if there’s one thing the news stories get right it’s that there are a whole lot of “digital girlfriend” apps available for a very specific type of person.
One such app hopes to encourage users to slim down by dieting with their digital girlfriend – the idea being that the more you diet, the more she diets, and the slimmer and more attractive she gets. Never mind that some people don’t actually adhere to those cliched classical standards of beauty and might actually prefer a girlfriend that isn’t horrifically skinny (and may, themselves, not actually want to be horrifically skinny); the developers made a far more glaring error in coding the game to allow players to do the exact opposite of what the game’s title suggests.
As you may know, Japan, specifically the Kanto Region, has been hit by the largest snowstorm in over a decade. Netizens in the area haven’t been shy about sharing the wonderfully bizarre and beautiful sights the several inches of snow has brought, but there’s one photo in particular that has us tickled. Showing Mr. Cup Noodle himself shoveling snow on one of the whitest days in Yokohama, this picture has been making the rounds on the Internet and delighting those who aren’t quite used to this much of the cold stuff.
As its popularity continues to grow, Attack on Titan seems to be seeping into the real world more and more, whether with figurines (in both hyper-realistic and, well, potato versions) or replicas of the heroes’ 3-D maneuver gear. Soon, though, fans will have a chance to reverse the trend and experience the world of the hit anime first-hand at a series of Attack on Titan-themed escape games.
The internet isn’t all trolls and memes. Sometimes, out there in the wilds, there is genuine human connection and empathy to be found. And in this case it’s surfaced on Japan’s own version of Yahoo! Answers, of all places. Read on for one man’s saddening plea for help with his struggling marriage, and the moving advice he received online.
One of Japan’s most beautiful hot spring towns announces new limits on number of day trippers
Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke teams up with Foxfire for outdoor apparel collaboration【Photos】
Flying dango: Unique tourist site where Japanese sweets are flown to you over a gorge
Mario Kart Happy Meal toys arrive at McDonald’s Japan, and SoraNews24 has the whole set!【Photos】
Mickey Mouse in now a transforming robot created by the designer of Gundam【Photos】
After cancelling Halloween, Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood cancels New Year’s Eve too
Made In Japan Fender Limited Edition Hello Kitty Stratocaster now on sale in Japan
Sanrio and magical girl anime PreCure join forces for new merch line【Photos】
Samurai ritual suicide contest cancelled by organizer in west Japan
Domino’s Japan has all-you-can-eat pizza isn’t an Internet rumor, but it is hard to findSanrio and magical girl anime PreCure join forces for new merch line【Photos】One of Japan’s most beautiful hot spring towns announces new limits on number of day trippersGhibli’s Princess Mononoke teams up with Foxfire for outdoor apparel collaboration【Photos】After cancelling Halloween, Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood cancels New Year’s Eve too
Japanese job-quitting service contacted by other job-quitting service because employee wants to quit
New Ghibli papercraft kit gives you a little Princess Mononoke forest on your desk【Photos】
Tokyo restaurant isn’t kidding about the name of its overflowing rare wagyu-ju【Photos】
Beautiful Japanese garden green tea crepes waiting in Tokyo’s historical Asakusa neighborhood
Ghibli Park debuts first winter illumination display with Howl’s Moving Castle theme
Tokyo park’s sea of clouds, nighttime illumination, and cosplay days make now perfect time to visit
Nintendo’s controller capsule toys are so cool, even the machine you buy them from is awesome【Pics】
Tokyo Disneyland loses top-attendance crown for Japanese theme parks for second year in a rowGhibli Park debuts first winter illumination display with Howl’s Moving Castle theme
Pringles releases a limited-edition sweet flavour in Japan
What’s the deal with akebi, the perfectly purple, alien-like fruit that’s in season now in Japan?Sanrio and magical girl anime PreCure join forces for new merch line【Photos】One of Japan’s most beautiful hot spring towns announces new limits on number of day trippersGhibli’s Princess Mononoke teams up with Foxfire for outdoor apparel collaboration【Photos】After cancelling Halloween, Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood cancels New Year’s Eve tooJapanese job-quitting service contacted by other job-quitting service because employee wants to quit
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
Japanese convenience store Family Mart announces abolishment of eat-in spaces
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】
Studio Ghibli releases free-download board game — Here’s how to play it without reading Japanese
After cancelling Halloween, Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood cancels New Year’s Eve too
Made In Japan Fender Limited Edition Hello Kitty Stratocaster now on sale in Japan
Sanrio and magical girl anime PreCure join forces for new merch line【Photos】
Samurai ritual suicide contest cancelled by organizer in west Japan
Domino’s Japan has all-you-can-eat pizza isn’t an Internet rumor, but it is hard to find
The new Ranma 1/2 anime is here! So is it worth watching?【SoraReview】
Weird Japanese vending machine find of the day: Cream in cans?
Japanese job-quitting service contacted by other job-quitting service because employee wants to quit
Line of foreign tourists leads us to Akihabara’s meatiest fatty ramen【Taste test】
Cup Noodle’s Nissin develops space ramen, space curry rice for astronauts to eat among the stars
Beautiful Japanese garden green tea crepes waiting in Tokyo’s historical Asakusa neighborhood
Cheeseburger rice bowls arrive at Japanese beef bowl chain Matsuya, and in our stomach【Taste test】