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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.

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Posted by Casey Baseel (Page 521)

Last weekend the inaugural CharaExpo, a celebration of Japanese animation, comics, and video games, was held in Singapore. The event hosted artists, musicians, and voice actors, plus independent dojinshi producers and cosplayers, and also had an array of exhibit booths from a variety of game and anime companies.

At one booth, fans could take photos with some of the characters from Touken Ranbu, the computer game that’s been winning the heart of female otaku for the way it turns historical Japanese swords into handsome young samurai hotties. But while taking a picture with a flesh-and-blood celebrity crush means he might affectionately put an arm around you as you smile for the camera, you can’t ask a cardboard cutout to do the same. However, one attendee has shown that with a little creativity you can take a photo that makes it look like you’re in the passionate embrace of your inanimate anime crush.

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Transform your bottle of tea into Sailor Senshi with these cool Sailor Moon covers from Mini Stop

Heat and humidity are as much a part of a Japanese summer as festivals and fireworks. With the threat of dehydration always looming, it’s a smart idea to always carry a cool, rehydrating beverage with you, but if you’re sweating profusely, you can bet the plastic bottle your drink is in is doing likewise.

To keep the rest of the contents of your bag from getting damp, you could wrap the bottle in a hand towel. A more effective alternative, though, is to slip a specially designed cover over it, and if you’re going that route, why not use one of these cool Sailor Moon costume covers that you can get for free with a bottle of Japanese tea at Mini Stop convenience stores?

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New model PlayStation 4 is lighter and more energy efficient, hits stores this month

Sony had a pretty impressive E3 this year, with the company basking in the adoring gaze of gamers around the world who imagined themselves playing the remade Final Fantasy VII, back-from-the-dead Last Guardian, and long-awaited Shenmue 3 on the PlayStation 4. As a matter of fact, Sony’s strong showing no doubt has plenty of holdouts thinking that now is the time to finally upgrade to the great-grandson of the original PlayStation.

And as if those upcoming titles weren’t incentive enough to pick up a PlayStation 4, Sony is sweetening the deal with a new version of the console that’s lighter on both the scale and power consumption.

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In any situation, it’s important to dress appropriately. It can be tough to get all the little details just right, though, especially when dealing with articles of clothing you don’t have occasion to use very often. If you’re still a student, for example, you might have trouble tying a nice, crisp knot in your necktie, and even if you’re an adult working in a suit-and-tie business environment, you might not know all the finer points for more formal accessorizing, such as where to position a tie bar or the proper way to fold a pocket square.

Or, if you’re going to meet up with your fellow samurai, should your sword point upwards or downwards?

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June 21 was Father’s Day, so hopefully everyone took a moment to appreciate all the things your dad has done for you. But while a father’s job includes providing loving support and teaching some of life’s most important lessons (such as how to believe in yourself, have empathy for others, and drive a manual transmission), it takes more than just kindness to be a good parent.

Sometimes, a dad has to give his child a push in the right direction, which is why it’s appropriate that one day after Father’s Day, June 22, 2015, is the in-anime date of the first time Neon Genesis Evangelion’s mad and sad scientist Gendo Ikari looked at his son Shinji and told him to get in the damn robot.

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Samurai Toothpicks with bite-sized language lessons will help you look and sound like a swordsman

If you watch a lot of samurai movies or TV shows, you might have noticed that a toothpick is about as common a costume accessory as a set of paired swords. The reason isn’t because samurai were particularly fastidious about dental hygiene, though. Many fictional samurai stories re set in the Edo period, when the end of Japan’s centuries of civil war caused the warrior class’ power and prestige to begin slowly but surely eroding.

The samurai were a prideful bunch, though, and were loath to admit the new societal reality that swordsman had suddenly become a far less lucrative profession. So even if they couldn’t afford to regularly fill their stomachs, many would still lodge a toothpick between their teeth to give the impression that they’d just polished off a lavish meal fit for a man of high rank.

Of course, it takes more than just a toothpick to transform yourself into a samurai. You’ll also need to talk the talk, which is why these traditionally made Japanese toothpicks come individually wrapped with period-correct samurai phrases, and even helpful English translations and pronunciation guides.

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Clever bathroom graffiti explains why smoking in the boys’ room is grossly inconsiderate

At my old job, my coworkers and I shared bathrooms with a half-dozen or so other companies that had offices in our building. For the most part, the men’s room stayed relatively clean, but about once a week, I’d walk into one of the stalls and find a pile of cigarette ashes on the floor.

Frankly, it was disgusting and exasperating, especially since the building had a smoking lounge. But hey, I guess the perpetrator who couldn’t resist the self-pleasing siren song of simultaneously taking a puff and a dump didn’t see what the big deal was. Here with a handy explanation, though, is some surprisingly wise Japanese bathroom graffiti.

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Sailor Moon facial powder gets a sequel with this beautiful Crystal Star Compact replica

A while back, we took a look at a replica of Sailor Moon’s Transformation Brooch which held cosmetic powder formulated to give you the look of anime-like perfectly unblemished skin. Die-hard fans, however, know that the brooch breaks shortly after the end of the anime’s first major story arc.

Early in Sailor Moon R the brooch is upgraded to the Crystal Star Compact, and if you’re looking to keep pace with Sailor Moon herself, now you can order a faithful recreation of her second transformation item that’s also filled with facial powder.

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New Attack on Titan movie will hit audiences with lights, wind, and water, also has moving seats

The second Attack on Titan theatrical feature has been a long time coming, but the film, subtitled The Wings of Freedom, is finally opening in Japan this month. Since the movie is a condensed version of the second half of the anime TV series, there probably won’t be too much in the way of new plot developments. What audiences can look forward to, though, is a movie experience augmented by moving seats, gusts of wind, and other awesome effects.

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Sailor Moon birthday cakes come with chocolate Senshi, are fun for kids from 1 to 987,654,322,110

The Sailor Moon manga began serialization in 1991, and the anime debuted soon after in 1992, so it’s safe to say many people have grown up following the adventures of the Sailor Senshi. If you’re getting ready to celebrate having completed another year of your life as a fan of the perennially popular magical girl franchise, why not do it with these soon-to-be-released Sailor Moon birthday cakes, topped with chocolate versions of the series’ characters?

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Even as a guy who’s spent all of his adult life, and before that a good chunk of his juvenile one, studying Japanese, I’ve never been completely sold on the concept that the process of learning a foreign language has to be made “fun” at each and every stage. While you can break high-level linguistic concepts into intermediate ones, when you get down to a language’s most fundamental components, they’re really just a collection of arbitrary sounds that a group of people implicitly decided to use in the same way in order to give them meaning.

As such, there’s always going to be a certain amount of rote memorization involved with becoming actually proficient with a foreign language. But once those core concepts are introduced, they’re definitely going to stick in your memory better if they’re presented and demonstrated in a colorful way, which might be the logic behind this textbook for learners of Japanese that contains dramatic tales of romance, disease, and devotion.

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With the recent announcement of a Final Fantasy VII remake, gamers are already starting to imagine which parts from the RPG classic will be making the trip to the PlayStation 4. While they haven’t been officially announced, we’ll probably once again see the scene where Sephiroth flashes video gaming’s most memorable stink eye in front of a fiery backdrop, the moment when Cloud and childhood friend Tifa share a heart-to-heart talk in a starlit playground, and also that one part where the spikey-haired hero wades into the water holding Aerith (I think he was trying to teach her to swim or something, but I don’t remember exactly).

But while none of those have been officially confirmed for the new game, there is one thing director Tetsuya Nomura has made clear. The part where the main character dresses up as a woman to infiltrate a brothel? Totally going to be in the new Final Fantasy VII.

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Steve Jobs…manga hero???

To many, comic books are strictly for far-fetched make-believe. Quite often, that holds true for Japanese comics, too, since at any given time many of the top-selling manga feature transforming robots and magical powers, not to mention women with larger breasts and men with more finely delicate faces than any you’ll find in the real world.

Not every popular manga is a flight of fancy, though, as there’s also an audience that likes reading about such down-to-earth topics as starting and running a successful business. Oftentimes the companies and executives portrayed are fictional, but not always. That’s why a thorough list of today’s popular manga protagonists doesn’t just include One Piece’s Luffy and The Seven Deadly Sins’ Meliodas, but also Apple founder Steve Jobs.

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Red is the new black (burger) as Burger King rolls out sandwiches with crimson buns and cheese

When Burger King first rolled out its black hamburgers in Japan in 2012, we thought the company had gone insane. It turns out Burger King really is crazy…crazy like a fox. And not just any fox, but some sort of super-intelligent fox with an advanced degree in marketing, since the black burgers caught the attention of media outlets around the world and were such a hit that they’ve been brought back in multiple updated forms.

The black burgers will once again be returning to Japanese Burger King locations in 2015, but before they do, this summer the chain is debuting a line of bright red burgers with crimson cheese and something called “Angry Sauce.”

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The Pokémon series spends a lot of time focusing on how its adorable fighting monsters become stronger as they gain experience, but what about their human trainers? Sure, they may not be throwing any punches, but the core characters of the anime and video game franchise leave home at an early age to wander the world on foot and subdue wild beasts that, cute as they may be, can breathe fire, produce high-voltage electricity blasts, and squirt poison.

You have to figure the child mortality rate for would-be Pokémon Masters is astronomical, and those kids that do survive would become incredibly fit by nature of all death-defying physical activity their lifestyle demands. So maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised that retailer Bandai has just announced a shirtless figure of one of the most well-known human beings in the Pokémon universe, and it turns out he’s pretty ripped.

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First video ad for 2015 Pikachu outbreak event reminds us how adorable last year’s was

Roughly half an hour south of Tokyo by train, the city of Yokohama is a great place to hang out in the summer. The city boasts great dining and beautiful parks, plus most of its attractions are located near the harbor, which is regularly caressed by cooling breezes.

Of course, it’s not just people who enjoy heading down to the bayside capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, but Pokémon as well. Just like they did last year, packs of Pikachus will be spending their summer vacation in Yokohama, and the first ad for their upcoming visit gives us a taste of what’s in store.

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Totoro and No-Face come out to play in the rain on Ghibli umbrellas that change patterns when wet

Unless you’ve got a bitter aversion to the cold, odds are you’ll find early summer to be the least pleasant time of year in Japan, weather-wise. Not only is it hot and muggy, it’s also the country’s rainiest period, and just about any time you’re stepping outside you’ll want to carry an umbrella with you.

Thankfully, there’s a way to make the rainy season a little more enjoyable, as a new line of Studio Ghibli-themed umbrellas means a summer squall is just the beginning of a Totoro hunt as the beloved forest spirit magically appears on the umbrella’s fabric when it gets wet.

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Just in time for the peak summer travel season, website TripAdvisor has released its annual list of the highest-rated spots in Japan from its foreign users. With 30 amazing locations on the list, you’ll want to start your journey as soon as possible if your goal is to see them all, so let’s dive right in and take a look at this year’s picks.

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Sailor Moon sundresses, skirts, and more are here to help you have fun in the sun

Summer is here, and with its warmer temperatures it’s the perfect time of year for stepping out in a lightweight dress. Of course, summer also means it’s time for summer vacation, thus removing the school uniform from the clothing options of fashionistas, anime fans, and monster-fighting magical girls alike.

There is an elegant way to combine the two looks, though, with these new Sailor Moon sundresses, which are part of a new line inspired by the anime hit that also contains blouses, cardigans, and skirts.

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Just how clean are Japan’s high-tech public restroom bidet-equipped toilets?

After cars and video game consoles, fancy toilets just might be Japan’s best-known technological achievement. In a society that prizes cleanliness, it’s no surprise that being able to push a button and have a warm stream of water wash your backside has become one creature comfort many can’t do without.

As such, just about everyone in Japan is happy to have a washlet, as bidet-equipped toilets are called here, in their home. Some people can’t help but wonder, though, if they’re spraying someone else’s fecal matter back up on themselves when they use a washlet in a public restroom.

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