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Master Blaster

Writer / Translator

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 196)

Custom Made Notebooks Going Like Custom Made Hotcakes

A bookstore called Sanseido, in the Jinbo book selling district of Tokyo, on 1 April announced that they would be selling custom-made notebooks, and it wasn’t a joke.  In fact, they have been flying off the shelves, which is good because these books are ready to take away moments after ordering them.

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Newly Developed Memory Could Make Your Smartphone Battery Last 10 Times Longer

Good news for users of smartphones and other portable devices constantly frustrated by batteries that don’t seem to last the day.  A new type of energy saving memory has been successfully developed that can extend your battery life from 5 to 10 times.

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Hakone Opens an Evangelion Themed Souvenir Shop, Hopes They Don’t Get Overrun With Fans Again

Following the opening of Evangelion Store Tokyo-01, and with the release of the third installment of the reboot series, Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo, a new Evangelion souvenir shop is scheduled to open in the town of Hakone on 14 July.

Hakone, which serves as the backdrop for the Evangelion story (where it’s renamed as Tokyo-3), is happy to be home to the second official Evangelion store, called “Eva Shop” but is also hoping they don’t get a repeat of what happened two years ago.

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Researchers Identify Protein Responsible for the Effects of Aging, Rather than a Fountain of Youth, We May Need a Syphon of Old

A research group headed by Professor Kazunari Komuro at Osaka University believes they have found the chemical responsible for effects of aging like deterioration of muscles.

The nasty chemical responsible for making us old and frail is called C1q. Being able to regulate it in our bodies can possibly lead to treatments and prevention of more serious health problems like heart attacks and strokes.

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We Travel to China to Investigate Their Fabled Melt-Proof Ice Pop

Legend has it that in China there exists a frozen treat so incredibly powerful that it never melts, even if left in room temperature.  RocketNews sent a reporter into the mysterious country to learn more about this potent popsicle of the gods.

The following takes place between 3:40pm and 6:50pm. Events occur in real time… if you’re really slow at reading.

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You Can Have Your Very Own Whale Party on iPhone Messages In Just a Few Simple Steps

If you’re an iPhone user you probably are very familiar with its Messages app which allows you to easily send instant mails to friends and family.  Even if you don’t have an iPhone you’ve probably seen it in one of the many funny pictures of auto-correct gone wrong floating around the net.

Here’s a little trick that’s also been circulating the internet on how to make a cute little whale using the iPhone Messages speech bubble format.  It’s so easy anyone can do it.

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[Quiz] How Well Do You Know Your Japanese Hand Gestures?

Recently we ran an article about obscene gestures in many parts of the world, but now RocketNews would like to turn the lens inwards for a look at Japan’s hand gestures.

You may have some experience with these from spending time in Japan or from Japanese film and manga, but how well do you really think you know the gestures of this country? Take this quiz to find out.

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Smartphone Vs Wine Bottle: Can this New “Shockproof Film” Save the Mobile Device?

While attending Wireless Japan 2012 this year, we were able to see some offerings by the best companies of the mobile industry.  But many times, it’s the small to mid-sized businesses that really aim to make a name for themselves.

Enter Sun Crest Ltd., who shocked many with their line of shockproof screen film protectors.  Although it’s not officially released, we got ahold of a sample and put it to the test with some whacks from a wine bottle.

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Breakthrough Material Can Alternate Between a Solid and a Liquid Simply by Shining a Light

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST for mercifully short) has announced the development of a new material that can be used as an adhesive product.

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New Kit Helps You Get Lint Out of Your Belly Button More Safely Than the Fork You Usually Use

Hesogoma Karametoru (Belly Button Sesame Mixer-Catchers) has been flying off the shelves of major department stores all over Japan recently, and it’s no surprise. This product fulfills a basic human need to clean one’s navel, otherwise known as “the forgotten orifice.”

Before the egg-head biologists write in and complain: no, the belly button is not an orifice, but it certainly needs cleaning like one. In further medical news, Japanese people don’t have sesame seeds in their navels. It’s just the slang term for belly button lint.

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We all know that tomato juice with its frosty phlegm-like consistency can really bring down the best of days.  Even the much needed boost it received as a diet fad appears to be quickly waning due to its general crappiness.

Now, researchers on the dime of beverage companies Asahi and Kagome have discovered that it can also bust up anyone’s party by reversing the effects of alcohol.

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Pepsi Highlights Underground Worldwide Fruit Trend with Their Newest Designer Flavor, “Salty Watermelon”

The newest in a line of seasonal limited edition Pepsi flavors has been announced by Japanese distributor Suntory.  Set to debut on 24 July is the red-colored Pepsi: Salty Watermelon.  Hopefully this is as awesome as Pepsi: Pink was.

But after reading the announcement I had to do a double-take.  The watermelon’s salty?

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Let Us All Keep Dry Under the Leafy Protection of Vegetabrella

The staff of an umbrella shop in Tokyo recently must have their work cut out for them these days as they explain to confused customers why boxes of lettuce are sitting in their displays.  The answer, of course, is Vegetabrella; a fusion of two completely ordinary yet completely unrelated objects, an umbrella and a head of lettuce.

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TripAdvisor Japan to Give Away T-Shirts Full of Overseas Obscenities, We Examine Their Meanings

Popular travel website TripAdvisor is giving away 100 free T-Shirts to lucky visitors to their Japanese website. What’s the catch you might ask?  They are covered with hand gestures deemed obscene by other countries’ peoples.

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Have a Double Dose of Nostalgia Listening to the Dragon Quest Theme Played On a Moog Synth Courtesy of Google’s Latest Doodle

On May 23rd, the world awoke to a new Google doodle daring us not waste our time pushing keys and turning knobs to make funky new sounds.  This doodle was of course a recreation of a Moog Synthesizer developed by Dr. Robert Moog who would have turned 78 had he been alive.

Thanks to one highly talented keyboardist, we were also treated to two blasts from the past, a flawless rendition of the Dragon Quest intro music as played on a Moog on Google’s top page.

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Denta-Pride’s Electronic Tooth Brushing Coach uses Bluetooth to Make Teeth White, But May Go On A Power Trip

We probably all feel comfortable with the way we brush our teeth; after meals just like we were always told.  But how long do you brush for?  Do you brush with the right amount of pressure?  Are you sure you’re giving each part of your mouth its fair share of brushing time?

A recent development in electric toothbrushes the Oral B Denta-Pride 5000 allows us to answer these impossible questions, but then hits us with another puzzle – why 5000?

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Interview With the Man Who, Rather Than Bottled Water, Received A Mysterious Remote Control from Vending Machine

May 16th was a day like any other on the platform of Koiwa Station in Tokyo.  But for a Musician/DJ who goes by the name Soeda Dyjean, a simple purchase of a bottle of water turned into a one-way ticket – to the Twilight Zone.

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Mitsubishi’s Newest Line of Cars Asks: Guys, Just How Comfortable Are You With Your Sexuality? Hello Kitty Comfortable?

What ever happened to the days of cars that weighed several tons, burned obscene amounts of fuel and had some style and personality to them.  Most cars these days look like blandly colored Tylenol gelcaps devoid of any of the raw machismo of their forefathers.

That’s why Mitsubishi’s third annual My i-MiEV Design Wrapping line of i-MiEV electric cars deserves applause for bringing some personality and more importantly testosterone automobiles once again.

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For the first time this season the legendary Yubari King melons have gone to market and the bidding was fierce to get a taste.  Yubari Kings are sometimes referred to as the “Cadillac of melons” for their beautiful design, sweet taste, and exorbitant prices. In this instance one pair of melons fetched a winning bid of 1,000,000 yen (US$12,500).

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Lakeside Resort Accentuates their Scenic Beauty with Some Freakishly Huge Funhouses

A lot of older people complain that the younger generation spends far too much time on their Z-Boxes and Nintendo Wee-Wees.  It’s not hard to imagine why when younger people are presented with fantasy worlds full of castles and dungeons they aren’t too keen to go to the farmer’s market.

Finally, Sagami Lake Resort is doing something about it by adding two colossal real world attractions to tempt kids to give their thumbs a rest and take their legs out for a spin instead.

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