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Karen Bremer Masuda

Translation Writer/Literary Fiction Writer

I have always been a writer of literary fiction, doing translation writing on the side. Now that I have started translation writing for RocketNews24, those two jobs have switched places! I live in Shizuoka city, with my family, and part of my job is to help look after an aging father-in-law. I love taking pictures of Mt. Fuji in all her different moods, and I also love shooting clouds which create such beautiful canvases across the sky. I am KaBooM on Blogspot, a blog that has been archived, but opens up with one of my published short stories. I am ChaChuMas on Twitter and Karen Masuda on Facebook. I regularly post my pictures there.

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Posted by Karen Bremer Masuda (Page 2)

Disney’s Dreamland Illuminations in Harajuku Light up Your World, You Won’t Want to Go Home

In celebration of Walt Disney’s 110th Anniversary, Disney has put together a literal dreamland of illumination displays in Harajuku, Tokyo.  A part of the larger “Walt Disney 110th Anniversary Omotesando Harajuku Dream Together Project 2012,” these light displays are open from November 1st to December 25 and are already drawing crowds of viewers.

Our female correspondent visited the display last week and tells us that while Harajuku’s Disney Dreamland illumination event is a must see for Disney lovers, even if you aren’t a Disney fan, you will surely be impressed by this awesome display of lights.

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Send Your Message With a Smash! Smartphone App, Smash Message, Allows You to Vent Your Feelings

Have you ever been frustrated at not being able to get your anger across in a text?  Maybe you were agitated enough to feel like sending a smash that would shatter the receiver’s screen to bits.  Now, with this application, there is a place for those feelings, an outlet so that you don’t have to swallow that anger leaving it to fester under your skin!  Smash Message is for you! Read More

 

We all have our expectations of the opposite sex, the ideal of how we would like them to be.  Even though we can’t say it to their faces, in our hearts, we know that a man/woman should be able to be or do this or that precisely because he/she is a man/woman.

With that in mind, Otomesugorn surveyed their female readers to find out their expectations of men, of what is naturally expected of them, by their women.  All the young women who were asked what they naturally expected of their male counterparts were in their 20’s.  Here are their expectations, one through nine, and the comments they gave about them. Read More

New York’s Famous Restaurant Sarabeth’s Opens a Branch in Shinjuku, May Not Have What it Takes to be Popular in Japan

Sarabeth’s is a popular New York bakery restaurant chain featuring a breakfast menu loved by the locals since 1981, and has become such a huge part of New York food culture that it has influenced movies, TV, and publishing. And now Sarabeth’s has finally arrived in Japan, opening a branch in Shinjuku at the beginning of this month.

Rocketnews24 correspondent/foodie extraordinaire Kuzo went to check it out!

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Nara Noodle Shop’s Revolutionary and Fun Way to Eat Udon From a Draw String Bag!

As fall turns into winter, Japanese people look to food such as hot noodle dishes as a tasty way to warm up.  Udon noodles, in particular, are great during the winter, and nothing beats slurping up a steaming bowl of udon on a cold day.

We discovered a unique way to eat hot udon noodles at Mentouan, a noodle shop in Nara.  When you order a bowl of udon at Mentouan, you are presented with what appears to be a small pouch floating in broth…but you can’t see the noodles!

Following his report of Kyoto’s gigantic one-noodle udon, our resident foodie Kuzo went to Mentouan to try this “invisible udon” for himself. Read More

【Fail】World’s Tallest Broadcast Tower Tokyo Sky Tree Experiences Unexpected Radio Interference, Tokyo Tower Still Chugging On

Tokyo’s Skytree was to be the answer to radio interference for broadcasting companies. Up until Skytree’s completion in May,  Tokyo Tower was the tallest tower around, standing at 333 meters.  Skytree, nearly double that height, stands at 634 meters.

The transfer of radio wave transmission from Tokyo Tower to Tokyo Skytree was originally planned for January of next year, but has been delayed due to an unexpected level of radio interference that will take time-consuming measures to be dealt with.  Read More

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Beams’es Family Store B:ming Lets You Have Fun With Kinect

There are a variety of fashion select shops in Japan, Beams being one of them.  With over 70 shops nation wide, Beams is a good place to go for a fashionable selection of shoes and clothes. This spring, Beams opened a new branch called B:ming Life Store, a family oriented fashion shop.

At the B:ming in Kichijoji, Tokyo, they’ve created an exciting way to have some fun while you shop. Embedded on the wall is a huge display which instructs you to make various poses and uses Kinect to doll you up and turn you into a fashion ad on the spot!

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Have you ever looked at a guy and thought: “Gee, he looks loaded!  He must make a lot of money!”

It’s often the case that guys like these aren’t as well off as they seem. While they look like they live lavishly, they may not necessarily have the finances to support such a lifestyle.  Japanese website Niconico News recently did a survey inquiring into why guys make some costly lifestyle decisions even if they know they should be trimming the fat. Read More

ANGFA Co Ltd is a Japanese company that develops health and anti-ageing beauty products like medicinal shampoos for the scalp.

Wanting women to know the importance of good scalp care, which is reported to help keep hair beautiful five and ten years down the line, on October 19th this year the company launched a campaign called “Scalp D Hair Care ‘Scalp Revolution”.

The first part of this project focused on, would you believe it, the smell of women’s scalps.  The research included verifying the strength of the smells of the scalps of 500 men and women between the ages of 20 to 30.  They also took part in surveys and interviews with body odour care specialists.  The results were posted on a special site. Read More

Lotteria’s Tower Cheese Burger: The Reality of Five Patties Covered in Melted Cheese

Major Japanese fast food burger chain Lotteria is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year.  In commemoration, they have brought back the infamous Tower Cheese Burger, five beef patties with five cheese slices, and introduced a five layered shrimp patty burger— each for only 500 yen (about $6.25 US) !

Sounds like great value for anyone with a carnivorous appetite, and, in case five patties sounds too overwhelming, you can also knock the tower down to three or four. Either way, they stack ’em high!   …or they try, at least… 

As you can probably tell from the picture above, we recently found out that reality isn’t always what the advertisements make it out to be.  Is this supposed to be a lesson in facing up to the truth? Read More

Tokyo Flashmobs Leave Japanese Smiling and Wanting More

It is a seemingly uneventful sunny afternoon in the park filled with the usual kinds of people who come out to enjoy themselves.  Suddenly there is a street performance before your eyes which looks utterly spontaneous as more and more people join in. That’s right! Flashmobs have finally come to Japan! Read More

The word “Bonsai” needs no translation. It is renowned internationally as a beautiful form of art which condenses nature into enjoyable little plants.

Recently, exports around the world of these little trees have increased by leaps and bounds. Hugely popular across Asia, Europe, and America, Bonsai exports to these areas have hit a record high, 10 times what they were only ten years ago.  With the onset of autumn, as exports reach full-scale, people who work in the bonsai business hope that bonsai can regain some of its popularity domestically as well.

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Tokyo Station Newly Renovated to Its Former Splendor, But Where are the Remaining Four Zodiac Signs?

Tokyo Station, with its attractive red brick structure, is a place where eastern and western Japan come together.  People from all over the country and all over the world pass through Tokyo Station daily.  It is representative of the extensive Japanese railway system which branches out to all places in Japan.

Anybody passing through the station within the last few years probably couldn’t help but notice the sounds and wonder about what they were doing behind those walls.  After five years of this construction, renovations were finally completed on October 1st.  Tokyo Station has been restored to its original splendor from when it first opened 100 years ago. Read More

Meanwhile, in Taiwan, Pro-Japanese Sentiment Has Endured: A Japanese Businessman Experiences Unaffected Kindness

There is no doubt that tension stemming from territorial disputes between Japan and both China and Korea is making East Asia a volatile area.  Even Taiwan, which has been known as a pro-Japanese country, sent fishing boats to the Senkaku Island area in protest of Japan’s nationalization.

But while mainland China is pulsing with anti-Japanese sentiment, Taiwan’s pro-Japanese stance has yet to waver and Japanese business men could be comforted that China’s influence on Taiwan did not reach so far as to change it.  We spoke with one Japanese business man—we’ll call him Mr. T—who was in Taipei when anti-Japanese sentiments on the mainland were at their highest.  

What he found was a higher level of pro-Japanese sentiment than we could have imagined.  We’ve assembled Mr. T’s experiences for you below: Read More

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 Mr. Kazumasa Hirayama, a representative from the Cooking Technology Research Society, claims that washing wilted produce in 50℃ water (122°F) will restore its freshness.  Could it be true?

This magical method is now all the rave in food preparation circles.  The technique was contrived by Mr. Hirayama, who began spreading the word making it a recent hot topic among restaurateurs   According to Mr. Hirayama, its use is not only limited  to fruit and vegetable produce, but also works with a number of other food products as well and can even make food taste better. Read More

 

Chopstick culture is something unique to Asia. Japanese chopsticks, or hashi, are especially beautiful. Any foreign tourist can vouch for the allure of the hashi shop, a great place to linger and enjoy the attractive displays of hashi and their cases.

You would think that anyone living in Japan would get used to eating with chopsticks simply by using them over and over. Well, they do, but it may not necessarily be the correct way. There is in fact a proper way to eat with chopsticks, and even some Japanese adults—two in three people in their 30’s, to be exact—continue to use them incorrectly

Using chopsticks incorrectly can make it more difficult to bring food to your mouth, and it just looks bad too. Fearing the Japanese national image may be at stake, 33-year old reporter with Nikkei.com decided to see if long years of mistaken hashi holding could be fixed.

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In Japan, goukon, are mixers meant to set the stage for finding a mate.  They are designed to help young adults find at least a relationship, if not a suitable marriage partner, and are often organized by businesses like in the ad above.

The average goukon brings together around three to five people of each gender and takes place at a restaurant or izakaya (Japanese-style bar). Groups are seated randomly, usually with seats alternating by gender so everyone can get to know each other better.

Business organizational skills aside, most women know that the chance of a relationship forming from a goukon depends on the efforts of the participants.  A certain protocol must be followed if a man wants a woman to give him the time of day.  If he is too out-of-place, then it could cause embarrassment all around.

Japanese website Otome Sugoren surveyed their female readers to find out what kind of guy they think shouldn’t even bother showing up to the goukon party.  Men: be sure to pay attention so you know what not to do at your next goukon.  After all, while you may be there to play the field, women are serious about finding someone!   Read More

 

In the past few months, several of the anti-Japan demonstrations in China have turned into riots, many of which resulted in extensive damage to Japanese companies all over China.

But what is it that got the Chinese people so worked up? Surely not everyone is that passionate about the Japanese nationalization of the disputed Senkaku Islands. Perhaps people just got carried away in the mob mentality?

According to one Chinese demonstrator, the Chinese government may have something to do with it, claiming that Chinese officials mobilized people to join the Anti-Japan demos by offering them payments of 100 yuan, or about $15 US.

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It was discovered that a Microsoft factory in China was pre-installing viruses through malware, or malicious software, during the manufacture process. Among this malware was a variety that extracted bank account information from network banks. Read More

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