Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
May, 2015 (Page 9)
Daruma are a kind of roly-poly wishing doll in Japanese Buddhism. You draw one eye in while making a wish, and then fill in the other when your wish comes true. Given their sweet purpose and blob-like shape, traditional daruma are already pretty charming, but a woodcarving shop in Kagawa Prefecture has found a pop makeover makes them even more attractive, so much so that there is a 3-year waiting list to get one!
Recently, we brought you the news that you can now view an online animated sketchbook version of works by famous Japanese Ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. But what if you’re not content just looking at beautiful art online? What if you could see it every time you look down at your feet? Well, with these awesome printed sneakers from TeeFury.com, you can get some culture into your wardrobe while still looking cool!
Oh, and as an added bonus, they’ve stuck Godzilla’s ugly monster mush into the design, too!
Last year, some anime fans with extremely specific tastes hit upon the idea of taking a picture of their favorite character, whether male or female, and subtly sliding a positive pregnancy test into the image. Not everyone is attracted to the healthy radiance of approaching motherhood, though, so now there’s a new burgeoning trend for those who want to dance on the razor-thin line between otaku creativeness and creepiness: using photo editing software to slip a chained collar around an anime character’s neck.
Haruki Murakami has answered many questions from readers on his blog since it opened in January, ranging from the meaning of life to nuclear power to TV addiction, but now it has closed up shop. Murakami will be selecting the best questions and answers and publishing them plus some extras in a new book in the near future.
With the full corpus of questions and answers still available online though, some fans have gone through and discovered an interesting part of Murakami’s life that was unknown up until now: his sad marriage.
Murakami makes numerous comments directly and indirectly about his wife and their life together, and after reading all of them you really start to feel sorry for the guy.
What is the first thing you want to eat when you wake up in the morning? Rice? Granola and yogurt? Toast and jam? If the potato chip company Koikeya had it their way, your answer would be “morning potato chips.”
The potato snack company, known for their wild flavors like mandarin orange, truffle and avocado cream cheese, have decided to break into the breakfast market, announcing the release of their two new flavors: Peach and Banana.
Even in a city as packed with people as Tokyo, some places, and times, are more crowded than others. So when and where can you find the largest, densest mass of humanity? Some would say the Yamanote loop line during the morning rush hour. Others would vote for Shibuya’s scramble crosswalk intersection on a Saturday night.
But before you go awarding the crown to either of those two candidates, take a look at the massive crowds that came out for the Kanda Matsuri festival last weekend.
When the mobile game Flappy Bird was taken off the market last year, sales of mobile phones with the game installed were quickly put on auction sites to the tune of US$300 to US$90,000. The sales on eBay technically violated the site’s Terms of Service, which required smartphones and tablets to be restored to their factory settings. Many were pulled by eBay before anyone was able to drop cash on the listings.
The opening of the Tokyo Sky Tree did a lot to revive the surrounding Sumida neighborhood of Tokyo. Not only does having the highest structure and observation platform in all of Japan put the district squarely in the spotlight, the Sky Tree is surrounded by a number of other attractions that draw visitors both foreign and domestic.
In addition to the Solamachi shopping and dining complex, you’ll also find a planetarium and aquarium at the base of the tower, making it a one-stop center for anyone interested in the sky, stars, or sea. And to celebrate the third anniversary of the Sky Tree’s opening, a group of travellers will be riding the train to Sumida with some very special company: a group of adorable penguins.
Video game technology continues to find ways to make things more interactive with the recent releases of VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift and Sony’s Project Morpheus. Still, even with those immersive improvements players aren’t getting a full sense of their virtual environments.
For example, playing a first-person shooter without the actual fear of feeling a bullet slam into your chest can never quite compare to a realistic experience. And even the richest game-world textures can’t match the real thing if you can’t touch them with your own two hands.
UK development team Tesla Studios (no connection to the cars) is aiming to fill those gaps between reality and virtual reality with the Tesla Suit; a full-body haptic feedback device allowing you to touch game environments and characters and let them touch you all over your body.
Manga creator Akira Toriyama is a busy guy these days. First, there’s the recent announcement of an all-new anime continuation of his most beloved work in Dragon Ball Super. The Dragon Ball film franchise is also going through a revival, with Resurrection of F, its second movie in two years, having just had its theatrical premiere.
But apparently Toriyama’s creative juices are flowing strong, as publishers have announced a brand-new manga series coming from the Dragon Ball creator, who’s teaming up with another famous manga icon with a heavy nostalgia factor for the project.
At a vocational school in Chengdu (the provincial capital of southwestern Sichuan Province), China, potential candidates must undergo a rigorous training period in order to pass the test required to be a flight safety officer.
For those of you reading this from the comfort of home, sit back and be thankful that you’re not among these recruits, for whom daily training involves large quantities of mud and broken dishware!
I’m going to be honest: I’m not a huge fan of going out to eat. It’s expensive, loud, usually not very healthy, and the stress of tip calculation gives me nightmares. In order for me to want to eat out, the place has to be special. It has to offer an experience that I would be unable to get anywhere else.
Yume wo Katare in Boston does just that. It’s an authentic Japanese-style ramen restaurant with a unique twist: you’re supposed to eat your massive bowl of ramen with a dream in your heart, then when you finish, you stand up and announce your dream to everyone inside. The waiters then judge your bowl based on how much you finished, and if you ate a lot then your dream just might come true.
Hearing that, we had to give it a try. So come along with us on our visit to Yume wo Katare!
Step by step China has been steadily gaining on Japan in various facets of life. The country has surpassed Japan to become the second biggest economy in the world and they are currently making strides in bullet train development and infrastructure.
But now a video from a Thai traveler gives us a glimpse at yet another way China is looking to overtake Japan, and it is one that may cut closest to the bone. We’re talking of course about fancy toilet technology.
Remember back in the day when all of your older relatives and the kids you knew from school but never speak to any more would send you invites to play Farmville? Remember how seeing a new notification on your Facebook toolbar that just turned out to be yet another invitation to play f’$%ng Farmville would fill you with impotent rage?
Well think about how different your reaction might have been if your “friends” hadn’t been backhandedly asking you to help them raise their not-actually-existent virtual ducks and cabbages, but were in fact asking you to help them put real, actual food in their mouths.
One Japanese startup, Telefarm, is hoping that the future is online games that reward players for good performance with actual products delivered to their door. And they’ve been running a farming simulator prototype for a little over a year now to test that model’s feasibility.
Remember those traditional Japanese sweets from last summer that were simply divine? Oh, and let’s not forget those cupcakes that were almost too beautiful to eat!
Japan sure knows how to elevate its food to an unparalleled level of art, and today we’d like to introduce you to the works of another master Japanese craftsman of sweets. His life’s passion is creating exquisitely detailed animal-shaped candy, which are so astoundingly intricate that it probably won’t be long before a museum asks to put them on display!
Pretty much every man, woman, and child in Japan works hard. Professionals throw themselves into their jobs, homemakers take on just about every domestic responsibility by themselves, and kids are expected to not only keep up with their regular studies, but also attend cram schools after their normal classes get out in the afternoon.
But is the Japanese work ethic so infectious that it caused a group of industrious chickens to lay an entire batch of double-yolk eggs?
With Digimon Adventure tri. representing the first new animation for the franchise since 15 years ago, fans whose passions for the series has continued burning bright for the last decade and a half were no doubt excited by the announcement of the new movie series. But being passionate doesn’t always mesh with being easy-going, and some fans who aren’t enjoying the new art style have taken it upon themselves to redo tri.’s as-yet released visuals in the manner of the original Digimon Adventure. Along the way, they’re also giving more relaxed animation fans an eye-opening lesson in how razor-thin the difference between acceptable and “f***ing disgusting” can be in the eyes of some long-term Digimon fanatics.
Japan has a reputation for outstanding customer service, and as such you’ll usually find courtesy and pleasantness on both sides of retail transactions. As polite as clerks are, most shoppers are just as respectful towards the hard-working individuals who’re ringing their purchases up.
Still, not every customer is a joy to deal with, and one young women working at a convenience store thought she was encountering an extremely rude male customer who refused to be served by her. As it turns out, though, the man she’d mistaken for a chauvinist was simply following his own particular code of chivalry.
If you’ve been a PlayStation fan from the very beginning, chances are you still have an original console collecting dust somewhere in the house. Sure, it’s outdated now, but who wants to throw all those fond gaming memories away?
Now there’s a creative solution that will let you get some use out of your old grey console and give you an excuse to look at it regularly throughout the day. It’s time to feast your eyes on the PlayStation clock. Unavailable in stores, but easy to make in your very own home!
Wait, what’s that? Men have naughty files saved on their computers?!
The MyNavi Woman web surveys have touched upon pretty much every topic imaginable, and this time around is no exception. During two weeks in April, the site surveyed male readers aged 22 to 39 about how they hide their scandalous pictures and videos from prying eyes, receiving 104 responses within the specified time frame. So just what kinds of schemes do they use to conceal adult content? Believe it or not, some of the men surveyed actually dished their actual techniques!
Pokémon and Ikea Japan cross over into each other’s worlds with collaboration events
Tokyo turns its phone booths into free Wi-Fi hotspots, and here’s how to use them
Fading Tokyo – Searching for signs of the Showa era as local neighborhoods evolve[Photos]
Two food hacks take Japan’s convenience store fried chicken to amazing new sandwich heights
A Kyoto factory vending machine sells gourmet mystery meals at bargain prices
Licca-chan dolls released in North America for first time in nearly 60 years
Tokyo teahouse serves up a sakura matcha dessert you won’t find anywhere else
Which Gundam is the favorite for fans in different countries? Gundam election announces results
Studio Ghibli releases new free-to-use anime images to “use within the bounds of common sense”
Here’s what happens when you mix all 53 kinds of Muji curry into one crazy super curry【Taste test】Pokémon and Ikea Japan cross over into each other’s worlds with collaboration events
Famous Tokyo cherry blossom spot installs view-blocking screens to fight overcrowding[Video]
Tokyo’s best museum for foreign travelers finally reopens after being closed for four years
Pokémon lacquerware series expands for Year of the Horse with new handcrafted design[Video]
Japan now has a special desk for people who work at home with a pet cat[Photos]
Uniqlo announces new T-shirts for One Piece, Naruto and more for manga publisher’s 100th birthday
Picturesque Tokyo park plays host to millions of flowers and soap bubbles this spring
Tokyo subway and almost all Tokyo train lines now accepting credit card tap payments
Totoro and Calcifer become little light-up lanterns for Ghibli-style excursions or at-home decorFading Tokyo – Searching for signs of the Showa era as local neighborhoods evolve[Photos]Japan now has a special desk for people who work at home with a pet cat[Photos]Famous Tokyo cherry blossom spot installs view-blocking screens to fight overcrowding[Video]Uniqlo announces new T-shirts for One Piece, Naruto and more for manga publisher’s 100th birthday
Train station platform ramen store closes its doors on half a century of history in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases new My Fruit³ Frappuccino at only 34 stores around the countryPokémon and Ikea Japan cross over into each other’s worlds with collaboration events
Studio Ghibli releases Catbus pullback keychain that runs like the anime character
Krispy Kreme releases Super Mario doughnuts in Japan for a limited time
Japanese onsen egg maker from 100-yen store Daiso needs to be on your shopping list
Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura cherry blossom collection for hanami season 2026
Survey asks foreign tourists what bothered them in Japan, more than half gave same answer
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
We deeply regret going into this tunnel on our walk in the mountains of Japan
Studio Ghibli releases Kodama forest spirits from Princess Mononoke to light up your home
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
No more using real katana for tourism activities, Japan’s National Police Agency says
Licca-chan dolls released in North America for first time in nearly 60 years
Tokyo teahouse serves up a sakura matcha dessert you won’t find anywhere else
Which Gundam is the favorite for fans in different countries? Gundam election announces results
Studio Ghibli releases new free-to-use anime images to “use within the bounds of common sense”
Here’s what happens when you mix all 53 kinds of Muji curry into one crazy super curry【Taste test】
Ghibli releases a Howl’s Moving Castle that walks and lights up【Video】
It’s like the samurai era never ended at this beautiful Japanese mountain town
Starbucks Japan unveils epic Frappuccino hunt with five to find in new Star birthday campaign
Fatal stabbing at Pokémon Center in Tokyo reignites concern over rising stalking cases in Japan
Chrono Trigger comes to Japan’s capsule toy gacha machines
Uni Donuts are pretty in pink for a limited-time spring sakuramochi flavor
Pokémon lacquerware series expands for Year of the Horse with new handcrafted design[Video]
Tokyo subway and almost all Tokyo train lines now accepting credit card tap payments
The mystery of the phantom “sake pass card” at Japanese alcohol vending machines
