Jessica Kozuka

Jessica Kozuka is a freelance writer and editor living in the exciting, interesting and sometimes perplexing city of Tokyo. Her work has appeared in Wine Spectator, CNN Travel, and The Japan Times, as well as numerous other print and online media outlets. She writes a column on NPO/NGOs and volunteer work for Metropolis, the largest English-language magazine in Japan, and specializes in EFL educational materials and travel writing. Kozuka is rarely to be found without a book or two within arm’s reach, though there's no telling if they will be serious literature or frivolous guilty pleasures, and she runs a monthly book club for other bibliophiles in the Tokyo area. She's also an enthusiastic if mediocre cook and daily laments the smallness of Japanese kitchens.

Posted by Jessica (Page 14)

Japan sets new world record for largest mailbox, now ready for your puny mail

A lot of world records are inherently silly. Sure, you could set a record for the most mascot characters dancing in sync, but why would you? Because you are Japan, that’s why! And now Nippon has grabbed another who-even-thinks-of-that world record: largest mailbox.

Read More

Self-styled ‘King of Psychics’ predicts major disaster for Japan, asks for new Twitter followers

Japan’s Twitterverse is abuzz with the news that US-born psychic Ron Bard has predicted a huge natural disaster in Japan with major loss of life by the end of 2013. Bard, who calls his work “parapsychological consulting”, is well-known in Japan and counts major players at companies like Sega and Merrill Lynch Japan among his clients.
Bard took to Twitter yesterday with a series of translated messages for his fans in Japan including one that read: “I predicted March 11, but no one believed me. You can save lives this time by retweeting this!”

Read More

Don’t quit meow! A compendium of cat GIFs to get you to the weekend

The weekend is so close you can taste it. Just a few more hours of starting blankly at a screen, trying to explain the interwebz to old ladies, or handing out restaurant flyers dressed as a vegetable. Whatever your particular torture of employment is, you are almost free of it for two whole glorious days! To help you get there without wishing for the sweet oblivion of death, here’s some cat GIFs illustrating all the fun things you can do this weekend.

Read More

Elderly these days: older Tokyoites are getting very sticky fingers

Tokyo police announced this week that, for the first time since they started keeping detailed statistics, the number of elderly shoplifters has exceeded the number of juveniles. So much for the “you kids these days” rant, Oba-chan.

Read More

Competitive eater Kobayashi eats a whole lot of wieners, blows competition away

Don’t let Takeru Kobayashi’s slight build fool you. That guy vacuums up food faster than a Hoover. In his most recent feat of voracity, the Japanese competitive eater gobbled down a whopping 67 hot dogs in 10 minutes. The next closest contender only managed 34!

Read More

Hands-free burger holder frees hands to put even more food in your mouth

A few days ago, we designed and field tested a shoulder-mounted, hands-free burger holding device that allowed our gluttonous Mr. Sato to eat one of his beloved burgers without missing a Tweet. Then he wondered if his free hands might allow him to indulge his other passion… Get your mind out of the gutter! We mean noodles!

Read on for the results of our experiment and instructions on how to try it yourself.

Read More

Survey shows that guys like girls who eat a lot, so long as it’s salad

I should probably preface this by saying I have never held back on ordering the food I wanted on a date. My thinking is: if you can’t appreciate the hedonistic power of a delicious meal, I don’t really want to dine with you again, or at all, really.

However, I have heard girlfriends worry about what is and isn’t okay to order on a date, so I know some women do feel judged by what and how they eat. Turns out this concern isn’t just in their minds. A recent survey suggests that guys like to see a girl eat, but it depends what is on her plate.

Read More

Twitter user finds novel use for CD tray

With the move to flash drives and cloud storage, CD trays may become a thing of the past, but don’t write yours off as a waste of space just yet. One Japanese Twitter user has found an excellent new use for his.

Read More

Every protest movement draws inspiration from the incubating culture and the desired message. Brazilians have incorporated soccer balls into their recent protests against the cost of holding the World Cup and a lack of public services. Last year, French dairy farmers protested the slumping price of milk by dumping 3.5 million liters of milk near the iconic Mont Saint-Michel. So what are we to make of the recent rise in streaking as social protest in China?

Read More

Tempura-fy your face with noodle chain’s photo app

It seems like everybody and their brother is releasing some kind of promotional app these days. Most of them never really take off, but a noodle chain called Marugame has an app called Marugame’s Photo Shop where they say you can “decorate your photos with tempura”, though why you would want to do so is a little unclear. However, true to Japanese form, it’s turning into quite a hit on Twitter because it is so very bizarre.

Read More

‘Fruity’ Shibuya art show features hairy apple, disco pineapple and more 【Photos】

The Shibuya Diesel art gallery is currently featuring an exhibition by Berlin-based artist Sarah Illenberger in collaboration with creative director Miho Kinomura. The show, titled Reality & Fantasy, has some decidedly bizarre re-imaginations of everyday objects that nevertheless radiate a childlike charm.

Read More

Gut-busting 6kg ramen destroys stomachs, self-esteem

There’s a ramen noodle shop in Akasaka, Tokyo, appropriately called Akasaka Ramen, that’s been around for ages. One of the reasons it has lasted so long is a menu item that gets a lot of press: the Jumbo Spare Rib Challenge. If you can polish off this bathtub-sized bowl of ramen in 20 minutes or less, you will get 10,000 yen (about $100), and probably a stomachache.

Think you’ve got the guts to get the glory? Well, you probably don’t.

Read More

The Sayama Incident: Kazuo Ishikawa’s half-century struggle against a wrongful murder conviction and Japan’s backward legal system

In 1963, Kazuo Ishikawa was convicted of the murder of a high school girl in Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture. A member of the Buraku, Japan’s historical untouchable caste, Ishikawa grew up poor and uneducated, and the police built the case against him by taking advantage of his naivety, by capitalizing on social prejudices, and by manipulating an already unfair legal system to their advantage. Now 74, he is still fighting to clear his name and to make sure others have access to a fair trial.

Read More

Incidences of thyroid cancer on the rise among Fukushima children

According to Kolnet, an online media source focused on the Tohoku region of Japan, the number of under-18s in Fukushima Prefecture diagnosed with thyroid cancer has increased to 12, while the number of possible cases has reached 15.

Read More

Finally, proof that real-life Pikachu is feline 【Video】

If you grew up with Pokémon, you probably spent years wishing deep down that they were real and you could have one. Let’s be honest, you still want one, no matter if PETA thinks you’re a monster for doing so. Well, a couple of guys from California went on the hunt to find a real Pikachu, not in the Viridian Forest, but around their neighborhood, and you might be surprised at what they found.
Read More

Food Rage: Korean Deported Over In-Flight Ramen Brawl

Over the weekend, a Korean businessman got into hot water when he complained about his in-flight meal on a trip to the United States. Apparently, he wasn’t satisfied with the taste of his ramen or with the service, and expressed his displeasure by assaulting one of the cabin crew. As a result, he was turned over to the FBI and prevented from entering the country.

Here’s what we know about this bizarre incident. Read More

Construction Worker Finds Human Skeleton During Road Repairs

The picture above shows the kind of sound-deadening walls installed along the Tomei Expressway in Kanagawa Prefecture. Yesterday, a construction worker performing repairs removed one of the panels and got a grisly surprise: a headless human skeleton. Read More

Huge Crack Opens in Shizuoka Hill, No Sign of Legions of Hell… Yet

A 150-meter long crack has suddenly widened on the ground of a Shizuoka Prefecture tea farm, while officials evacuated six local households over fears of a landslide. Read More

Not So Smooth Criminal: Woman Tries to Pay With Obviously Photocopied Yen

An unemployed young woman was arrested in Shizuoka Prefecture this week after she tried to pay at a convenience store with an obviously photocopied counterfeit bill. The master criminal’s excuse? “I was in a bind because I didn’t have any money.” Read More

Nerd Fantasy: Play Your Favorite Online Game With a Hot Girl (For a Fee, Natch)

A new service is gaining popularity among Chinese gamers. For the small fee of 15 yuan an hour (about US$2.40), you can play your favorite online game with a beautiful woman. Strait News reports that male game fans are calling it “good news.” Read More

  1. 1
  2. ...
  3. 11
  4. 12
  5. 13
  6. 14
  7. 15
  8. 16
  9. 17
  10. 18
  11. 19
  12. 20