Oh, Kitty-chan, you look… different! Sent to us by Madrid-based reader April, these photos of a cheeky t-shirt riff on everyone’s favourite Japanese cat are sure to raise a few eyebrows both at home and abroad.
Philip Kendall
Editor
Hailing from Liverpool in the UK, Philip Kendall made Japan his second home in the summer of 2006 after dolefully abandoning his childhood dream of becoming a ghost buster. Setting up camp in beautiful Fukushima prefecture, he brought joy to literally hundreds of junior high school children as ‘that tall, handsome teacher’ or more often ‘the one with the big nose,’ before relocating to Tokyo at the end of 2011.
Writer, foodie, gamer and eternal student of the Japanese language, Philip now works as a freelance writer and translator, submitting to Tokyo Weekender magazine and website and Learn Japanese Pod, as well as co-running Suds, Grub & Joe- a website dedicated to all things beer, food and coffee-related in Tokyo. Follow his ramblings on his personal blog or on twitter.
Posted by Philip Kendall (Page 29)
Known the world over for impecable manners and social etiquette, yet at the same time home to a thriving sex industry, Japan is a country of stark contrasts. What goes on behind closed doors is seldom discussed in public and yet with risqué manga and adults-only bars and stores in plain view in most city areas, there are likely few urbanites who aren’t plainly aware that behind its deep bows, well-regimented table manners and ceremony surrounding even the seemingly trivial act of exchanging business cards, Japan has a naughty side.
In a recent survey carried out by Japanese condom manufacturer Sagami Condoms, however, 4,100 people from all over the country disclosed the intricate details of their sex lives, discussing everything from when they first started doing it to how often they have sex today and whether they’re completely satisfied in bed.
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Yesterday at 8 p.m. Japan Standard Time, Kyoto-based video game giant Nintendo broadcast a brand new episode of its unique Nintendo Direct online presentation series, which the company uses to showcase new games and bring fans news on upcoming releases. Last night’s broadcast was somewhat unusual, however, in that popular Japanese comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto joined industry legend and creator of Super Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, to play a little of the highly anticipated upcoming Wii U title Pikmin 3. Today, as well as with discussion of the beautiful new Pikmin outing, online bulletin boards are abuzz after the conversation between the two men both raised eyebrows and got a surprising amount of laughs from viewers at home.
They may be a little cumbersome compared to the average mobile, but ultra-large smart phones — or ‘phablets’ as many are calling them — are most definitely on the rise in Asia, whether trendsetter Apple is on board or not. Samsung’s stylus-toting Galaxy Note II has already become a firm favourite with those who require a device offering greater ease of use than a regular smart phone but with more portability than a tablet, and competitors from Huawei and Asus aren’t far behind. And now it looks like Sony is set to come out all guns blazing with its giant Xperia Z Ultra, the latest in the Japanese electronics giant’s line of mobile devices and its first foray into the phablet scene. Oh and did we mention that it’s completely waterproof?
Even in the age of worldwide launches, the Japanese releases of Western video games and movies are notoriously late, with some titles taking months longer to appear on shop shelves or movie theatre marquees than in other countries. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is no exception, although mercifully this time Japanese gamers only had to wait six days longer than the rest of the world to begin their digital adventure, which arrived with the addition of a Japanese voice track for those who abhor subtitles.
One of this year’s most anticipated titles, video game fans the world over have followed The Last of Us‘s development closely, falling on teaser trailers and screen shots like the ravenous mutated humans that populate the game’s devastated urban environments. Finally, some 18 months after its unveiling at 2011’s Spike Video Game Awards, The Last of Us is in gamers’ hands. And, despite its design being Western in almost every respect, Naughty Dog’s tale of survival and emotional turmoil is wowing gamers all over Japan.
The following does not contain spoilers, but those who wish to experience the game with no prior knowledge whatsoever may want to ask a friend to check it out first.
Chubby cats? Check. Photographer cats? Check. Cat nuts? Sure, if you’re into that kind of thing. But cool cats propping themselves up on a makeshift bar? Okay, I think that’s a first even for us!
Recently posted to YouTube by Japanese user Chikatama, the following video sees white Scottish Fold Tama and his ginger pal Fufu hanging out on a typical weekday evening, too cool to start a conversation but for some reason never wanting to go home. Suffice it to say it cheered us right up!
This may look like a location from the original Star Wars, but what you’re actually looking at here is none other than the Tottori Sakyuu sand dunes, the only ones of their kind in the whole of Japan.
Tottori, Japan’s least populous prefecture, has finally joined the vast majority of the country in being featured on Google Maps’ Streetview service, which takes ground-level images of the areas surrounding major roads. Of course, this being Tottori, there weren’t always roads to drive on…
Born and raised in Singapore, 31-year-old Kathy Xu had been a secondary school teacher all her adult life, including a brief stint in Japan in 2009. Despite her love of teaching, Kathy recently made the bold decision to dedicate herself full-time to helping stop the exploitative shark finning trade in Southeast Asia, having visited the island of Lombok three times and witnessed the grim situation first-hand. She is now working to provide those same fishermen with an alternative form of income: ecotourism.
With the long-term goal of replacing shark fishing with environmentally friendly tours operated by locals, Kathy hopes to change the way we think about sharks, as well as help maintain the delicate ecosystem that exists in the seas surrounding Lombok, potentially saving their sharks from extinction.
We sat down with Kathy to talk about her inspiring venture: The Dorsal Effect.
In a move that has at once shocked and thrilled gamers across the globe, Microsoft announced earlier today that it is to scrap controversial plans to inhibit the trading and sharing of games for its upcoming home system, Xbox One. The company also assures consumers that they will no longer be required to connect their console to the internet every 24 hours to validate their software.
As a big fan of Doshin the Giant, one of the quirkier titles to appear on Nintendo’s 64DD and Gamecube platforms, I literally felt my ears prick up when a member of the RocketNews24 staff uttered its name earlier today. Although we haven’t heard much from the game’s designer, Kazutoshi Iida, in the past few years, his latest crowd-funded indie title Monken is attracting a lot of attention online, with the creator offering investors a ton of freebies as well as the chance to appear in the game itself.
Since the average domestic cat’s experience of water is limited to being shut out in the rain or being pinned down and bathed by their owner because, after one too many garden adventures, their fur is a filthy, matted mess (and that was not a fun afternoon, let me assure you), it’s little wonder that there’s a commonly held belief that all cats hate H2O. As the following video proves, however, there are some cats out there that love nothing more than a nice, long dip in the hot water.
Shot by a couple during a visit to Cambodia and uploaded to YouTube just last week, the following video treats us to a ride on one of Cambodia’s “bamboo trains” — worryingly shaky, home-made bamboo pallets balanced on a pair of train wheels and fitted with a disconcertingly large engine.
After all, what trip abroad is complete without experiencing some potentially perilous activity that you’d never dream of doing in your own country?
For many fitness enthusiasts, exercising in front of a TV while perched a Nintendo Wii balance board might seem like a bit of a joke, and we’re sure that yoga is the last thing on many gamers’ minds when they power up their machine. So when we first caught sight of the following video from Nintendo we weren’t quite sure what to make of it. As it turns out, though, as well as introducing not one but two new Super Smash Bros games for Wii U and 3DS, with new characters to boot, the video itself is actually quite awesome.
Bulletin boards in Japan are hot with rumour and speculation today after videos recorded by an as yet unidentified Japanese male threaten random knife attacks on members of the public at stations in Japan, with Fukuoka’s Hakata Station ultimately named as the spot where the attack will take place.
Although neither the following article nor the videos within it contain any graphic imagery, some readers may nevertheless find their content disturbing.
The man brought us the jaw-dropping stop motion videos of battles between iconic Dragon Ball and Street Fighter characters has done it again! This time, he’s brought The Legend of Zelda‘s sword-wielding hero Link to play, and he’s got a sexy gun-toting pal with him…
Microsoft’s forthcoming Xbox One console will not be released in Asia until late 2014, despite the fact that it will launch in the West in November this year, it was revealed last night.
The Google Street View car, once something that people would have simply watched roll by while scratching their heads in confusion, has become so ingrained in popular culture that should we ever spot it trundling down our own street many of us would immediately bound in its direction like excited golden retriever in an attempt to get our ugly mugs plastered on the internet for all eternity.
It’s rare, though, to see the the famous car running into trouble with the law.
Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, thrilled gamers today when he declared that the company will not impose any restrictions whatsoever on used games. Suffice it to say, the crowd at E3 went wild.
Seconds after the announcement had been made, a video appeared on Sony’s YouTube channel that simultaneously shows how easy it is to trade games with friends while poking fun at competitor Microsoft. Check it out after the break.
It’s the moment millions of fans have been waiting for ever since Sony first announced that its new console would be in our hands by the end of 2013: the PlayStation 4 has finally been revealed for the world to see!
And it looks…
When it comes to food and drink, there really is no “right” way to enjoy it. Just as some will cringe at the very idea of munching on raw fish dipped in a little soy sauce, others will stare in horror and disbelief as their housemate smothers a baked potato in peanut butter (you know who you are). But when it comes to beer, as many foreigners visiting or living in Japan will no doubt attest, the fondness Japanese have for topping their drink off with an enormous amount of foam sometimes borders on the absurd. “It’s delicious!” Japanese colleagues tell me when I ask why a third of my beer is head. It may well be tasty, but when it takes three gulps of naught but white froth to reach the beer itself, you have to wonder if this is all some kind of hilarious practical joke that the entire country is in on.
But what about when drinking at home? Without a bartender to ensure that beer arrives with a thick head, how can the thirsty foam lover achieve the same results? Enter the Koku Awa beer pourer from Green House.
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