Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Master Blaster is the two-man translating team of Canada’s Steven Le Blanc and Japan’s Masami M, a pair who in addition to writing work are in English education and created the StudyNow app for Japanese students of English.
Together they have written somewhere around 1,500 articles for RocketNews24 covering such diverse topics as Chinese men selling sanitary napkins to each other and a Japanese guy dragging an ear of corn around the Tokyo train system. A few of these were actually good, but don’t take our word for it! Here’s what our beloved readers had to say:
“One isn't always in the mood for bold tastes. But when I'm in the mood for bold flavor I turn to you.”
“Stupid article. Who cares what the Japanese think it's cool. You don't call a monkey, "gorilla".”
“You know, this is about the most cogent explanation of how a turbocharger works that I have ever seen in the non-motorsports world.”
“Thanks for the article peter!”
“It's people like you who make exploitation possible.”
“It looks yummy and the story was great. Thank you for the smile.”
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Posted by Master Blaster (Page 172)
People often ask me why I moved to Japan and I say “to be with people like me – with blonde hair and blue eyes.” Japan is a homogenous country to be sure, but a recent advertisement from clothing chain COMME ÇA ISM boldly challenges this mistaken stereotype that Japan is full of Japanese people.
It’s actually full of white people!
Tokyo Electric Power Company has lost a considerable amount of goodwill following last year’s nuclear disaster. While the level of blame that should be placed on the company as a whole is still to be determined, low level employees of the company often face the immediate brunt of the hostility.
It appears now that even the children of TEPCO employees are having to answer for the choices their parents’ employers made by their classmates. But how are elementary school students so up to speed on the nation’s energy situation?
Shuho Sato, the writer of Burakku Jyakku ni Yoroshiku, which commonly translates to “Say Hello to Black Jack,” is planning to make the award winning, 10 million copy selling manga available for free “second use.”
This means that after 15 September anyone in the world will be free to novelize, televise, create merchandise, or in any way adapt the original work for either commercial or non-commercial purposes without having to pay royalties. This is the latest move in the writer’s quest to find alternatives to the “outdated” model of intellectual property rights.
So by now all us alpha-males have purchased our bathing beauty iPhone cases, but are left wondering: How do I hypnotize the ladies with my machismo during meals? It would be rude to pull out one’s mobile phone while eating after all.
Well, picture this: Just before having dinner with that lucky lady you slowly and gently peel down the stockings along those smooth and silky legs – of your sexy lady chop sticks!
Trust me boys, the deal will be sealed after that.
The river you see here has been used by the residents of this part of Wenzhou, China daily for doing the wash. However, on the morning of 9 August they awoke to a puzzling sight.
The river had been dyed a milky white color overnight.
In addition to two months of temperatures over ３５℃, Japan has recently been hit with a spate of lightning storms. In fact, when writing a previous story my building was hit by lightning knocking out my computer and forcing a rewrite. The son of a…
Anyway, with all this lightning around and pretty much the entire population carrying cameras built into their phones, a person’s natural inclination is to try and take a picture of a bolt.
One person though was not only lucky enough to actually be able to catch a bolt in a photo, but found something far stranger.
Unlike American game makers, Japanese video game companies often sweat over every detail before selling their games overseas to make sure it fits the culture. Although the sentiment is appreciated the results are often poor, as people in other countries enjoy those cultural differences more often than not.
Case in point is Prince’s Proposal’s (Ojisama no Puropozu) treacherous journey abroad. Prince’s Proposal is an otome game where your character, a university student, has a chance encounter with six princes whom you must find romance with by making the right choices throughout the story.
Its recent westernized incarnation called Be My Princess, however, decided to replace the stylish anime princes and characters with rubbery, emotionless ones.
I have to admit, I’m the kind of guy who clings to his underwear until it’s little more than two threads attached to a stretched out, useless elastic band. Guys tend to be creatures of habit and would rather put up with worn down shorts than go to the store to buy new ones.
Freepan (short for Free Pants) is a totally new patented service prepared to send up to seven free pairs of underpants every month – with free delivery!
Catch? Yes, there are a couple catches but not as bad as you might imagine.
With mobile phones steadily evolving into smart phones the days of prepaid units may one day slip away from us. However, a new app called Burner keeps the tradition of making and receiving anonymous phone calls alive on your regular smart phone.
The app is named after a slang term for a cheap prepaid mobile phone that could be untraceably used in illegal dealings. Once the job is done, you can just toss the burner in a dumpster severing all connection with that number. This app saves the trouble of getting and disposing of a handset by putting the burner inside your iPhone side by side with your regular service. Yet this app surely can be used for legal purposes too… right?
None of us wants to live in an apartment or house where someone was killed, also known as stigmatized properties. It’d be pretty creepy in the least. However, in Japan the desire to not live in a place like that is so intense that you’d think Poltergeist was a documentary.
Oshima Teru is an up and coming website that also must be a real estate agent’s worst nightmare. Its main purpose is to map out every property where unnatural deaths occurred. Originally only focusing on the Greater Tokyo Area, they have expanded into nearly worldwide coverage including North America and Europe.
There are many pizza places in the world but very few have achieved the worldwide notoriety of Domino’s Pizza. So it’s comforting to know that they reward their workers handsomely when outstanding work is done.
In Japan, a manager deemed “excellent” by the corporation gets rewarded a Rolex watch. Granted the Rolex is engraved with the Domino’s logo in places, but it’s still a Rolex, and it’s worth a pretty penny too according to the pawn shop one was sold to.
Move over Ryohei Kato! There’s another male gymnast whipping women into a frenzy online. His name is Kohei Uchimura, and while his boyish good looks and personality scores points with the ladies, it’s a certain part of his body tucked away that sets him apart from others.
That’s right. Women can’t seem to get enough of Uchimura’s arm pit hair. In fact, there’s a lot of talk of using it a garnish as one person commented “I want to sprinkle his fresh pit hair over my soba and savor the taste.”
In these dog days of summer it’s a pretty good idea to carry around a bottle of water or sports drink to stay safe from heat stroke. However, in China, home of the melt-proof ice pop, people are into a much more low tech way to keep cool.
One of our reporters was standing at a traffic signal in Shanghai when he spotted an attractive businesswoman rummaging through her purse. Finding what she was looking for, she pulled out a huge cucumber and started munching on it as nonchalantly as one would drink a cup of coffee from Starbuck’s. Mildly aroused, he decided to investigate this spontaneous act more deeply.
Have trouble getting to sleep? The sensory depriving qualities of a sleep mask might be just what you’re looking for. Sure, you may think eye masks are for wealthy dowagers and other fuddy-duddies. However, these masks cater to the hip, urbanite otaku in all of us with patterns ranging from mainstream (Sailor Moon) to the obscure (Black Butler).
There seems to be something about the yakuza that appeals to the people of Thailand. First, we witnessed a brand of possibly yakuza themed tea: Chakuza. Now we are presented with Yakuzaaa Man Man Japanese Kitchen, which seems to be a hit with local youths and foreigners. You might be thinking from the name that it’s a gay restaurant, but it’s not.
At least I’m pretty sure it’s not…
In these days of digital media the world is losing more and more brick & mortar shops, which is a shame. Take ebooks for example. Sure they’re infinitely more convenient and less space consuming. But half the fun of reading is going to the book store to find hidden gems and what could be your next favorite. No matter what book store you go to you can’t help but get filled with a sense of elegance and tranquility.
With that in mind, photographer Koach, before capturing the second most beautiful bookstore in Argentina, started his journey in Portugal at the oppositely designed but equally beautiful, Livraria Lello & Irmão (Lello for short).
It must be hard to be an Olympic athlete with all that pressure to perform with the eyes of the world watching you and asking you to do your very best in that one moment. Not to mention that most of them are far from home in a strange land with strange customs.
For many, the best way to relax the mind and get reconnected to your homeland is by music. And there’s no better way to deliver this acoustic tranquilizer than through a pair of the increasingly popular brand of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. Unfortunately, electronics giant Samsung wants to take those away from the athletes.
When robot vacuum cleaners first hit the scene about a decade ago, they appeared to signal the end of lugging around traditional upright models. However, with a pretty hefty price tag and comparatively limited cleaning ability, they haven’t exactly caught the world on fire.
Seeing this, Sharp has developed a robot vacuum cleaner destined to light a fire under consumers: ladies and gentlemen, meet COCOROBO (also affectionately known as, RX-V100W). So what makes COCOROBO so great? Well, for starters, it’s remote-controlled and able to talk with people.
A 19 year-old male university student was arrested on suspicion of violating the Minor Offenses Act for attempting to video tape inside another female university student’s room.
The shocking part was how he came to be arrested. Before starting the story, I would like to emphasize that this criminal was enrolled in an institution of higher learning, which should imply a certain level of intelligence.
Tokyo’s famous Comic Market (Comiket) 82, the world’s largest doujinshi convention, is set to kick off on 10 August. We can be sure to expect cosplayers and original comics a plenty, but one particular creation has be stirring up a fair bit of hype weeks before the gates open – the PC game Sutra Master.
Sutras are, in a nutshell, short pearls of spiritual wisdom like something you might find in a high-brow fortune cookie and are often compared to prayers in other religions. Taken from Buddhist texts and often chanted during meditation or religious ceremonies, sutras are generally treated with solemn dignity but Sutra Master takes them to a weird new place.
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Japanese-style accommodation at the new Premium Dormy Inn hotel in Asakusa will blow your mind
Mikado Coffee is a 76-year-old coffee chain with a major celebrity connection
Japan’s summertime towelket pillowcases are even better with the addition of Ghibli stars【Photos】
Ghibli Park now selling “Grilled Frogs” from food cart in Valley of Witches
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
Should you add tartar sauce to Japanese curry rice? CoCo Ichi makes diners an unusual offer
The oldest tunnel in Japan is believed to be haunted, and strange things happen when we go there
Gacha capsule toy paradise for adults appears at Akihabara StationForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsJapanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social mediaRed light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
New private rooms on Tokaido Shinkansen change the way we travel from Tokyo to Kyoto
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy day
Beautiful Ghibli sealing wax kits let you create accessories and elegant letter decorations【Pics】
Secret Kitchen bento serves Japanese flowers, birds, wind and moon in a box, but is it worth it?McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese thingsJapanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
Studio Ghibli releases Kiki’s Delivery Service chocolate cake pouches in Japan
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutions
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in TokyoMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappointForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
Should you add tartar sauce to Japanese curry rice? CoCo Ichi makes diners an unusual offer
The oldest tunnel in Japan is believed to be haunted, and strange things happen when we go there
Gacha capsule toy paradise for adults appears at Akihabara Station
Japan Travel: Mysterious landscape found near a park with severed heads
Häagen-Dazs brings back its popular mochi ice cream line with two classic, luxurious flavors
Resol Poshtel: Cheap capsule hotel in Tokyo is a hit with overseas visitors, and we find out why
New chain of Kirby takeout dessert shops opening in two Japanese cities for hungry Nintendo fans
Is Japan’s new Asahi Super Dry beer better or worse than the original formula?
AI-generated swimsuit/lingerie model makes debut in Japan’s Weekly Playboy magazine【Photos】