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Cara Clegg

After discovering anime in her early teens, Cara decided she wanted to live in Japan. Of course her parents thought it was just a fad... but 11 years, a university degree in Japanese Studies, and a whole lot of culture shock later, here she is. She currently works a day job whilst writing and translating otome games in the evenings. Her hobbies include anime, manga, sci-fi & fantasy TV shows, and starting countless things that will never get finished.

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Posted by Cara Clegg (Page 5)

Despite raging typhoon, Gion Matsuri goes on as it has for over 1,000 years【Video】

The Gion Festival, or Gion Matsuri, has been celebrated consistently for over a thousand years and is one of the most famous festivals in Japan. The highlight is the Yamahoko Parade which occurs twice, on July 17 and July 24, and our competition winner’s wish was to see it happen with her own eyes here in Japan. This year, with a incoming typhoon, there were rumors swirling about the festival being cancelled, but with hardly any interruptions in its long history, this parade wasn’t about to be stopped by mere weather!
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Just how confusing is Japanese onsen culture for a first time visitor?

Onsen etiquette can be confusing for a foreigner visiting for the first time, and there are many small rules and customs that even many Japanese people aren’t quite clear on. There aren’t usually any written instructions around the baths as it is expected that everyone will already know the basic customs surrounding communal bathing. This means that things people who have grown up in Japan take for granted, such as putting your shoes in a locker when you arrive or knowing which towels to use for what, can be hard to figure out for first-timers, and your supposedly relaxing spa break can become a little bit stressful.

Check out the video below to see how our Japan Wish competition winner Ashley navigated her first ever trip to an onsen and see if she found it relaxing…or stressful!

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Does arriving in Japan meet Ashley’s expectations? Our lucky winner gets emotional

Ever imagined yourself stepping off the plane onto the Land of the Rising Sun for the first time? If you’ve not had the chance to experience it for yourself yet then you can do so vicariously with our competition winner Ashley in the video below. Warning: things get a little bit emotional!

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Fermented sushi? Two restaurants where you can get a same-day seat to try this gourmet treat

This year fermented sushi is in vogue among Tokyo’s gourmet crowd, with people raving about how the maturation of the fish brings out the elusive umami of the meat. As the name suggests, the creation of these dishes involves fermenting the ingredients to enhance the flavours and then using them to make regular sushi. This might sound strange since sushi is usually about having the freshest raw fish, but it’s actually an ancient form of sushi preparation from which the sushi we know today developed, and it’s apparently quite delicious.

However, as it requires great skill to properly ferment fish, there are currently few restaurants in the Tokyo area that specialise in this kind of food, and they’re already booked up by gourmet types leaving you to wait months before you can get a place. However, we’ve found two particular restaurants where you should be able to get a same-day reservation.

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Soaring temperatures put pressure on China’s power lines, cause TVs to explode

Soaring summer temperatures can bring more dangers than sunburn and heatstroke. In Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province, TVs, computers and fans simultaneously caught on fire in 50 apartments when the voltage of the electrical supply suddenly surged above the standard level.

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Mr. Sato travels the distance to try 100-yen takoyaki

When one of our Japanese writers grew frustrated with Mr. Sato spending so much money on his lunch while at the office, they decided to show him that it’s possible to get great food at a fraction of the cost. And not just any food, but takoyaki!

Cheap takoyaki? This place must be in Osaka, right? Wrong! Mr. Sato soon found himself on an altogether different flight from Haneda airport, bound for octopus balls and adventure.

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Karan Koron Shokudo proves meat-free doesn’t mean taste-free【Veg’n in Tokyo】

Unlike in some countries, where even a steak restaurant will offer at least one vegetarian option, it can be difficult to find meat-free meals in Japan. There are, however, some vegetarian restaurants to be found in the capital, and I’m making it my mission to go around trying them all.

Today I’d like to introduce Karan Koron Shokudo, located right next to Yoyogi Uehara Station.

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Nintendo’s Splatoon (sort of) comes to PC – Get your squid on in Splat Fortress mod

Nintendo’s Splatoon, a new IP for Wii U, was released in May to wide critical and user acclaim. Apparently the combo of squid and kid is a winner; who’d have thought it?

However, while the title being exclusive to the Wii U has been helping to boost hardware sales for Nintendo, PC gamers who are unwilling or unable to shell out for a new console have been left out of the loop. But for those desperate for some inky multiplayer action, there’s a free option coming to PC soon: Splat Fortress.

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We get lost in a world of steamy boy-on-boy fantasies at Ikebukuro’s BL cafe

Boys’ Love (BL) is a genre of fiction in Japan, usually taking the form of manga and anime, that depicts men in romantic relationships with one another. These homosexual stories are generally produced by and for women who want to fangirl over impossibly beautiful men getting frisky with each other.

Like with the maid cafes that cater to male otaku in Akihabara, it was only a matter of time until fictional fantasies started spilling over into the real world. My fellow reporter, Evie, and I went to visit a BL cafe near Otome Road in Ikebukuro, an area filled with stores catering to female otaku and fujoshi.

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Students of Japanese despair – you’ve probably been writing some of the simplest kanji wrong

Remember when you decided to study Japanese because kanji characters are just so much fun to learn? No, me neither. While it’s true that kanji can be fascinating, and they do get easier to learn and make more sense as you progress, sometimes you’ll come across something that makes you feel like you’ve been sent all the way back to the beginning again.

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Digimon Adventure tri. teases new info, but still no release date

Digimon Adventure tri. is one of the most hyped anime series this year, but so far not all that much info has been released. However, the official website has finally unveiled some tantalizing details … of when we’ll be able to find out more details.

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Nine things that may shatter your dreams of living in Kyoto

Kyoto now welcomes 50 million tourists a year who come to experience Japan’s traditional culture and architecture, plus catch a glimpse of the city’s famed geisha. But, as anyone who lives in a tourist hot spot knows, living there is not the same as a short visit.

As such, the following is a list of some of the things that Kyoto locals probably have the urge to remind tourists of from time to time, so allow us to shatter your illusions with some of the realities that come with living in Japan’s ancient capital.

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Treat your cat to this tiny IKEA bed and they might just love you for it 【Pics】

IKEA is the go-to place for anyone looking to furnish their home on a budget, while keeping it stylish and homogeneous. And they don’t just cater to humans anymore!

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Spotted in Japan: seriously stylish Japannequins

Someone in this store has been having a bit of fun with the mannequins; or should we say Japannequins. These mannequins seem unusually flexible, even boasting poseable fingers, and have been contorted into poses that many Japanese people would recognize – but do you?

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On Sunday 5 April Kanayama Shrine held its annual Kanamara Matsuri, a traditional Japanese festival of Shinto origin that incorporates a phallic parade and has now become quite the tourist magnet. And there were penises everywhere.

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Does this goat have better hair than you?

Kamanoko is a goat from a in a zoo in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and he’s sure to be a hit with the lady goats thanks to his hip hairdo that sets him apart from the herd.

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Top tip for saving money in Japan: visit the supermarket just before closing time

Today we’re going to tell you a super special tip for getting the most out of your local supermarket here in Japan. It’s actually something pretty simple, but that you might not know about if you always go during the day.

You see, you should totally go to the supermarket just before closing time. Why? Because when it gets close to closing time they start to discount their food! 

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10 weird and wonderful things you can find in a Japanese drugstore

As we all know, Japan is full of many weird and wonderful things. A simple trip to the supermarket can turn into hours of wondering what this is and what that does, and the same goes for the drug store. We picked up 10 things from our local drugstore that might shock, amuse, or confuse foreign visitors.

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Frills and poofy dresses galore at an international lolita fashion tea party in Tokyo

Is there a place for tea parties and frilly dresses for women in the 21st century? The answer is a resounding yes from these lolita fashion ladies!

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The top 10 manga Japanese people want to see turned into anime

Every season there’s a wave of new anime shows, many of them based on some other form of media such as a manga or light novel series. Most reasonably popular manga titles seem to make it onto the screen in animated form at some point or other, so it can be galling when your favorite series is passed over by the animation studios time and again in favour of yet more giant robots and impossibly large and buoyant chests.

Read on to see which manga series Japanese readers most want to see animated, and let us know what your own picks would be.

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