For their 10th anniversary, Wazigen Shizukuya is providing gorgeous modern hakama and yukata styles for all the men.
KK Miller
Writer After falling in love with Totoro and always thinking how delicious Satsuki’s bento looked, KK Miller continued to study about Japan all the way through university. Frequent time was spent between learning about Japanese history and rereading Harry Potter for the bajillionth time. A year abroad in Japan only cemented her decision to live in Japan, so she moved here right after completing her degree. Dressing up as a Harry Potter character every Halloween since being in Japan, KK continues to spread the magic and her love of Totoro and Harry Potter to everyone around her. While Satsuki’s bento turned out to consist of all the Japanese foods she doesn’t like (umeboshi, dembu, and whole grilled fish), she continues to enjoy Japan through traveling, photography and writing.
Posted by KK Miller (Page 24)
Some people dream about being a superhero and other people just dream about being a video game character. But why dream it, when you can be it, like this stuntman who demonstrates his skills which exactly mimic a certain Tekken character’s repertoire?
In this age of viral videos, everyone is looking for the next big hit. People constantly have their smartphones out, desperately filming in hopes that something amazing is going to happen in front of them. However, as everyone records the incredible things that occur, we only have one piece of advice: please think a little bit about your own safety!
Fans of English singer and songwriter Adele were treated to an amazing first song from her new album 25, which is being released on November 20. Titled “Hello”, the song has propelled her back to the forefront of music after a long hiatus and has already broken a number of records.
But Adele isn’t the only one garnering attention because of the moving song. A cover of “Hello” performed by a high school girl in Korea is receiving high praise as it captures the power of the new single in a most humble setting.
While the stories for Final Fantasy games generally have nothing to do with each other, there have been a few threads that tangentially tie the games together, such as magic, a character named Cid, and an airship. Another popular element is a set of characters that have been around since the third installment of the game, the humble Moogles.
So when the official Final Fantasy XV Twitter account polled its followers to see if they wanted the beloved Moogles in the franchise’s newest game, the obvious answer was a resounding, “Of course, kupo!”
English language proficiency is a tricky subject with Japanese people. There’s always an excuse about why they can’t understand it, from, “I’ll never use English,” and “It’s not interesting,” to the catch-all, “It’s too hard.” Well, it’s a good thing the Ministry of Education isn’t looking to adopt any new fonts for their textbooks as a little-known computer font developed back in 1998 is gaining some notoriety for being absolutely impossible to read by native Japanese. You might be able to read it, but can your Japanese friends?
Just as languages around the world are each unique yet beautiful, art has also developed its own flavor depending on where you are from. When comparing Western and Asian animation, there is a distinct style difference when it comes to the shape of faces, size of facial features, and the overall aesthetic. Both styles are very appealing, but when push comes to shove, all of us probably have a preference between the two.
Art is also a conversation though, and it can be transposed between two different worlds, such as Western art with an Asian flair or vice versa. One artist’s rendition of Final Fantasy characters drawn with a Western touch is making us super-excited because they look like they are ready for their Disney close-ups.
Celebrities are no strangers to lavish and extremely costly weddings. They’ve been known to spend upwards of millions of dollars on the venue, dress and jewels, and then their wedding photos get plastered all over celebrity and gossip magazines. As the wedding season wound itself down, there was still time for a few October weddings, which included the exceptionally extravagant affair celebrating the nuptials of Angelababy and Huang Xiaoming. They spent around $31 million for their nuptials! Imma let you finish, but that is more than Kim Kardashian-West and Kanye West’s wedding in 2014 and that was the best wedding of all time. Of all time!
When raising a toddler, the one thing on every parent’s mind is: Nap time is critical. When you miss nap time, there can be tantrums, screaming, crying and your sweet little one can transform into a kaiju-like terror. One couples’ child had such an incident and it resulted in the destruction of Little Tokyo by Godzilly – King of Daughters. Luckily, dad was there to capture the rampage.
“Gangnam Style”, the absolute mega-hit of 2012, came pretty much out of nowhere. The song was popular not only in its home country of South Korea, but all over the world, going on to become the most watched video on YouTube ever. Psy, the artist of this masterpiece, traveled all over the world to show the gathering masses his weird, but very iconic “horsey” dance.
And now, to immortalize this historic achievement, South Korea’s Gangnam district is proposing a grand addition: a gigantic monument positioned in the horsey hands pose.
It’s perfectly natural in Japan for a popular and well-loved anime to pair up with a clothing brand to create a sublime line of products that people will want to wear while out and about. Whether it’s jackets, jewelry, or shoes, there’s usually something for everyone.
Anime fashion site Super Groupies is one such online venue that loves to turn our favorite characters into delightful fashions. This time, they’re joining forces with the singing, dancing idol anime Prism Paradise, to create a series of vibrant and original shoes that you might want to wear even if you have no idea what Prism Paradise is.
Anime based on a successful manga series sometimes run into an awkward situation where they have to use “filler episodes” in order to give the manga time to add more story. These episodes are generally more of the same stuff fans already love, but in the back of their mind, they know nothing truly groundbreaking can happen in them.
Gintama is a special case though since the series is quite episodic and those in charge of the anime are free to add their own additional stories. Which is probably why one of the best stories from the original manga hasn’t made it to air yet. Gintama fans don’t have to wait too much longer, though, as the Assassination Arc is finally making its debut on TV this December.
Growing up with video games, there are a number of make-believe items we’d love to pull out from a bag to make our everyday lives better. Even just an ordinary potion could mean going from a sloth-like laziness to the get-up-and-go of a hummingbird. Sure, there have been plenty of elixirs concocted by drink makers that turn out to be delicious and colorful, but there’s another potion hitting the markets that we are looking to add to our stash to raise the hit points of our mood, since it’s an LED potion lamp!
Anyone who has climbed Mt. Fuji knows that besides the view, the best feeling is cracking open a drink at the summit. Is there anything more picturesque than standing on top of Japan and taking a nice long pull from a drink you most certainly earned?
Now you can bring back those memories while at sea-level with this beautiful glass that will turn all your drinks into a scene so beautiful you’ll want to write a haiku about it.
Halloween is over, so we can officially talk about all the presents we want this holiday season! A gift that has always been popular is the Easy-Bake Oven, which is one of the coolest presents ever and a great way to get young ones interested in the joy of cooking.
Baking isn’t an especially big pastime in Japan since very few households have a proper oven, but this product from Mega House is the perfect way to get kids interested and involved with cooking. It probably won’t be just kids clamoring for this kitchen aid either; adults are certainly going to want this as well because it teaches us a skill every grownup gourmand will appreciate: how to make homemade ramen noodles!
The anime series Gintama has been having a great season, starting off with a hilarious parody in which main character Gintoki re-enacted shamed Japanese politician Ryutaro Nonomura’s very public bawling session from last year. Then, mid-way through this season, there were a couple of genderbent episodes in which members of the cast were suddenly transformed into the opposite sex, including the cool and masculine Gintoki who became the cute and busty Ginko!
To celebrate the fun of that mini-arc, Premium Bandai is selling 1,000 limited-edition figures of Ginko-chan and we can’t get over how adorable she is!
The Evangelion Store Tokyo-01 is celebrating four years this November as the one-stop-shop for everything Evangelion. The store has sold a number of snazzy clothes, fashion accessories, and of course, hordes of merchandise featuring characters from the series over the years. To celebrate their success, they’re rolling out the cast in a new lineup of clothes that you can wear too! Check out the new shoes, skirts and more, after the jump.
There are millions of people living in Tokyo, and most of them moved from somewhere else to Tokyo in order to find work in the bustling city. Among these millions is a large number of people who choose to forgo a long commute and live on their own in a tiny apartment, so we’re sure many share very similar experiences at home.
A whimsical CG film entered in the 17th DigiCon6 ASIA Supreme Short Movie Contest has captured a ton of popularity for its animation style, which many say is reminiscent of a Pixar movie. But what really sets it apart is the fact that the short film shares Pixar’s playfulness as well.
Education is always one of the number one topics of conversation among citizens. People want to know that their child is given the best education that they can get, and they will pick up and move to a new neighborhood just so their kids can be in a better school.
But just how do you determine what the best school is? A strong case can be made for Aiwa Elementary School in Tokyo as the best elementary school in all of Japan, and we are going to give you three reasons why: Minecraft, edible gardens, and iPads.
We never stop talking about the different ways that people pay tribute to Studio Ghibli. Artists and designers create some amazing work that stems from the themes and ideas that the famous Japanese animation studio put on the silver screen.
One photographer from Thailand was struck with Ghibli-fluence after watching The Secret World of Arrietty and wondered, “What would life be like from the perspective of miniature people?” Take a look after the jump to see the secret world of tiny people not named Arrietty.
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