Casey Baseel

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Casey Baseel spent his formative years staring in frustration at un-subtitled Japanese TV programming shown on Southern California’s international channel. Taking matters into his own hands, he moved to Tokyo to study the language, then found work in Yokohama a decade ago teaching, translating, and marketing hotels he can’t afford to stay in. When not participating in the eternal cycle of exercising to burn the calories form his love of Japanese food, Casey scours used comic and game shops for forgotten classics, drags his wife around the country in a quest to visit all its castles, sings karaoke not nearly as well as he thinks he does, and counts the days until the summertime bars open on Enoshima Beach.

Posted by Casey Baseel (Page 420)

Sailor Moon cloth masks are here to protect you from germs the magical girl way!

As we head into winter, you can spot more and more people out and about in Japan wearing cloth masks. The main reason is to prevent the spread of germs during cold and flu season, but recent research suggests that for women, wearing a pink mask could make them appear twice as attractive.

Based on that, we can only assume that anyone wearing one of these new Sailor Moon masks instantly becomes three times as good-looking.

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Sailor Moon earns Guardian title with accessories that protect your smartphone jacks from grime

Although everyone just calls it Sailor Moon, the official title of the anime and manga franchise is Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon, which translates out to Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. A couple of years back, though, Sailor Moon’s producers decided they’d prefer for it to be called Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, a shift which irked anime purists and linguists alike.

Still, “Guardian” is a fitting title for the inspiration of these new smartphone accessories, which protect your phone’s plugs from dirt, dust, and grime while also adding a touch of Sailor Moon style.

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Can’t make it to the Rurouni Kenshin musical in Japan? Preview video gives a taste of the action

We recently took a look at the first photos of the upcoming Rurouni Kenshin stage musical cast in costume, and looking at the comments for that article, more than a few fans of the hit anime and manga franchise are wishing they see the show in person. But if a trip to the Takarazuka theater in Tokyo or Hyogo Prefecture doesn’t fit into your schedule, there’s still a way to get a taste of the all-female performing troupe’s live-action spectacle, as the theatre company has released a preview video of the cast showing off their fighting moves and crossing swords!

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Nintendo’s first smartphone app creates a virtual you that does social networking all on its own

Last month it was announced that the Pokémon franchise would be coming to smartphones in Pokémon GO, an ambitious augmented reality mobile title. But while Pokémon is often associated with Nintendo, the brand itself is managed by The Pokémon Company, a semi-independent subsidiary of the video game hardware and software giant.

Today, Nintendo revealed the first stage of plans for its long-awaited Nintendo-branded smartphone apps, but those hoping for a new game starring Mario or Link are going to have to keep waiting. As a matter of fact, Nintendo’s first official smartphone release isn’t a game at all, but a system by which to make a virtual recreation of yourself that will autonomously talk about you in the social media sphere.

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Don’t call it Boys’ Love! Japanese fujoshi finds a new term for her favorite anime trope

The international anime fan community has adopted a number of Japanese loanwords for concepts that originated in Japan and don’t have succinct, ideal vocabulary equivalents in other languages. English-language discussions between foreign fans are peppered with terms like otaku (fans whose enthusiasm for their hobby is so strong it affects their life balance), tsundere (a person whose expressions of emotion towards an object of affection run hot and cold), and moe (a feeling of devotion and protectiveness, often in response to a display of innocence or purity), just to name a few.

Now, though, the shoe’s on the other foot, as one woman in Japan with a soft spot for anime showing deep, emotional bonds between male characters is calling for the popularization of an English loanword to help her avoid being mistaken for a fan of homoerotic anime and fan fiction.

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Japan is so polite that even this adorable raccoon dog gives thank-you presents

There’s an annual autumn event in Japan called Shichi-Go-San, which is a celebration for children aged three, five, and seven. My brother-in-law’s youngest daughter is seven this year, so on the special day my wife and I gave her a small monetary gift. Sweet kid that she is, she immediately thanked us, but as we left the party my brother-in-law handed us a small cake to express his appreciation as well.

This pattern of giving someone a gift to say thank you for the gift they previously gave you is fairly common in Japan, where gracious manners are always held to be of the utmost importance. As a matter of fact, it’s such a part of life in the country that apparently even one animal, a thankful tanuki, is following the custom.

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The latest work by Japan’s hottest anime studio…is on the new Toy Story Blu-ray?!? 【Video】

I’ve actually never seen any of the Toy Story movies. I hear they’re entertaining and poignant, but my extremely busy lifestyle only leaves me so much time for watching cartoons, and I generally prefer my animation to be hand-drawn and Japanese.

But I may just have to check out the newest Toy Story Blu-ray release, since it contains a piece of original animation from Trigger, one of Japan’s hottest anime studios.

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Anime Contact lenses will give you the shimmering eyes of a manga heroine 【Photos】

The first thing that many people notice about the eyes of anime characters is how big they are, but that’s not the only thing that makes those 2-D peepers special. Through the magic of Japanese animation, anime eyes shine so brightly they almost look like they’re made of crystal or some other equally lustrous precious stones.

Of course, real eyes aren’t so reflective, but if you’ve got your heart set on your eyes sparkling like your favorite anime heroine, you can now achieve the look with the just-released line of anime-style contact lenses.

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Anime voice actress arrested for suspected cocaine possession, has name scrubbed from series cast

When it comes to celebrities and drug-use, Japan doesn’t have the same forgiving attitude that many other societies do. Last year, for example, when pop singer Aska was arrested on drug charges, the Studio Ghibli-animated video for the vocalist’s song “On Your Mark” was removed from an upcoming boxed set of Hayao Miyazaki animation.

Now there’s been another intersection of anime, music, and illegal narcotics, as idol singer and voice actress Ai Takabe has been arrested for drug possession, and the anime she most recently performed in has been pulled from online streaming as producers scrub her name from the cast.

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Heroic bus driver prevents roadside suicide on bridge in China 【Video】

Self-driving cars are getting closer and closer to becoming a reality, While there will always be those who prefer the freedom of driving themselves, the technology seems like it could have some serious advantages for public transportation. In the case of a bus, for instance, it doesn’t seem like it would be too hard to program the vehicle’s software to travel along a fixed route and stop at the predetermined bus stops to pick up and drop off passengers.

But while self-driving buses may one day become safer and more efficient than human operated ones, they’re a lot less likely to heroically prevent roadside suicides, as this bus driver in China just did.

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Nintendo’s 8-bit Famicom getting first new cartridge in 21 years with chiptune album 【Video】

As we head towards the end of the year, video game publishers are pulling out their big guns. But what if the modern gaming world leaves you feeling cold? Maybe you’re burned out on multiplayer first-person shooters, and open-world game sandboxes hold as much appeal to you as the pet poop-concealing one in your neighborhood park.

In that case, you’ll be happy to know that this December, Nintendo’s 8-bit Famicom, the Japanese version of the NES, is getting its first commercial cartridge release in more than two decades.

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Why does Japan love Halloween so much, and is it celebrating the holiday the right way?

As we’ve seen, Japan is really psyched about Halloween. The holiday has been steadily growing in popularity for the last decade, and with October 31 falling on a Saturday in 2015, this year’s celebration is likely to be Japan’s liveliest Halloween ever.

But how did Halloween become Japan’s second favorite foreign holiday, right after Christmas? And also, is Japan staying true to the spirit of the holiday, or is forcefully pressing it into its own domestic mold, as the country is wont to do with cultural imports?

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Anime huggy pillows “walk” down the red carpet at Tokyo International Film Festival 【Video】

The Tokyo International Film Festival, as per its name, hosts luminaries of the movie world from around the globe. Kicking off the event is a gala ceremony in which guests walk down the red carpet to greet their fans and the press.

Local artists aren’t excluded from the festivities, though, and this being Japan, a number of high-profile anime works are also screened at the festival. But what do you do when your most recognizable star is a cute 2-D girl?

Simple, you walk down the red carpet holding an anime huggy pillow of her.

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Rice, rice baby! Strains of Japanese rice get turned into cute anime girls on new packaging

Japan likes to think of the food it produces as being the highest-quality in the world, and that goes double for rice. As such, many bags of domestically grown rice are decorated with iconic Japanese imagery, such as a crane, the rising sun, or Mt. Fuji.

But in today’s modern age, there’s no surer visual shorthand for Japan than cute anime girls, which is exactly what you’ll find on these bags of rice from Yamagata Prefecture.

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Bookstore-styled Tokyo hostel has 1,700 books to read, bunks in the shelves to sleep next to them

Last summer, we heard about what sounded like the perfect place for lovers of travel and literature: a hotel in Tokyo designed like a bookstore and filled with reading material. It might sound like a fictitious flight of fancy, but Book and Bed Tokyo is very much real, and with its grand opening just days away, not only have pictures have surfaced of the unique accommodations, we now know how much it will cost to stay there and a little more about what kind of books it will have.

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Nintendo taxis?! Peruvian cabs outfitted with Mario Kart 8 setups for rear passengers to play

Japanese taxis are pretty nice. They’ve got those cool doors that swing open and shut at the touch of a button, and the lace doilies they usually have across the rear parcel shelf add a nice touch of class.

Still, we’re finding ourselves feeling a little jealous of taxi patrons in Peru, where one company isn’t just providing swift transportation, but entertainment with a fleet of cabs equipped with Nintendo Wii U game consoles for passengers to play in the back seat during their ride.

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Japanese cell phone provider gives same-sex couples with Partnership Certificates family discount

Cell phone service in Japan isn’t exactly cheap, and if you spend a lot of time on your smartphone talking with clients, chatting with friends, or otherwise keeping in touch with the rest of the world, it’s not hard to run up a monthly bill in the neighborhood of 10,000 yen (US$84). Thankfully, Japanese providers offer a variety of discounts to help soften the blow, with reduced rates for family members being a huge help.

Now, as part of the changing societal concept of what constitutes a family, Japan’s largest telecommunications provider has begun offering family discounts to same-sex couples who present documentation of their union.

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Getting married in Japan? You might need to give your fiancé three rings, jeweler says

Japan is pretty fond of Western-style wedding traditions. Far more people choose to have their ceremony in a chapel than a Shinto shrine, with the bride and groom dressed in a wedding dress and tuxedo instead. Other popular foreign introductions are taking a honeymoon and wearing wedding rings.

Of course, it’s also customary for a guy to present his sweetheart with an engagement ring when he proposes. But one Japanese company says there’s room for even more jewelry in the transition from boyfriend and girlfriend, and has introduced the concept of a marriage ring, which is not to be confused with a wedding ring.

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Step aside, fortune cookies! Here come fortune cat rice crackers from Japan!

Fortune cookies can be sort of anti-climactic, can’t they? Most of the time, that little slip of paper just reminds you of some pearl of wisdom to help you make yourself a better person, instead of giving you the inside information on the future that you really wanted so that you could succeed in life without all that bothersome self-improvement stuff.

On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine anyone being disappointed if they cracked open their snack to find an adorably chubby cat figurine.

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Japan has rabbits that cosplay each fall…as other rabbits?!? 【Photos】

I think we can all agree that rabbits are already pretty adorable, right? And they’re much beloved in Japan, where they’ve got their own cafes and even an island.

But still, bunnies’ popularity regularly lags behind that of cats and dogs, so we could understand if they felt the need to step up their cuteness game. As a matter of fact, right now one breed of Japanese rabbit is winning new fans by appearing to cosplay…as another rabit?!?

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