Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
After getting bored with high school French, Scott came to a crossroads in life whether to study Japanese or Native American Mohawk instead. Mohawk's lack of kanji was its ultimate downfall, and Scott hasn't looked back since. After years of non-stop sweating while working as a translator in sweltering Okinawa, he moved back to his native, delightfully frigid Massachusetts to work as a private Japanese tutor. His hobbies include re-reading One Piece for the hundredth time, dreaming about Shakey's Pizza, and getting feedback on stories he's written from both his wife and cat.
Posted by Scott Wilson (Page 34)
Halloween may be over, but that hasn’t put a stop to the internet being flooded with pictures of all the amazing and not-really-amazing-but-still-popular costumes that people wore.
One costume that was especially popular this year was the Inklings from the Wii U game Splatoon, but the ones who pulled it off the best have to be this pair of Japanese kids. Not only are their costumes homemade, but they look absolutely adorable while running around covering everything in pretend ink.
We’ve all been there: you’ve been marathoning a TV series on your laptop, or maybe playing a game for way too long, and now your fans are going haywire and the whole computer is hot to the touch. What are you supposed to do? Put your viewing on hold and wait for your computer to cool? No way!
Thankfully one Japanese Twitter user has another solution: cover your computer in 10-yen coins. Read on to find out why this idea just might be crazy enough to work.
We’ve seen Twitter celebrity Zawachin work her makeup magic before to transform into pretty much any ethnicity or gender. She’s turned into AKB48 members, all the members of Japanese boy band Arashi, and love-them-or-love-to-hate-them British boy band One Direction.
And for Halloween, Zawachin has been blowing netizens’ minds with her pitch-perfect Avengers Black Widow costume. Some are claiming it’s the actual Scarlett Johansson in disguise, but we have the pictures to prove otherwise.
Being a parrot is tough. You can easily get stuck in things, and you might find that repeating what the humans tell you can get you in a lot of trouble. Sometimes it feels like the whole world is against you.
But all that hasn’t stopped one parrot from doing everything she can to look her best. This little bird loves carefully tearing small pieces out of magazines and then stuffing them into her tail feathers, making her look like the fanciest parrot on the block.
Her Japanese owner managed to catch her doing it on camera, and you’ve got to see it to believe it!
It seems like Bandai really wants us to get better at drawing. First they released the totally awesome and totally-not-just-for-kids Magic Illustrator, and now they’ve announced that they will be selling life-like posable figures for all of your human-sketching needs.
And what’s more, these figures come with dozens of sweet accessories, making it easier than ever to draw a someone wielding a sword, a deadly cellphone, or their own awesome lightning fists. Ready to never again lose friends by asking them to hold a pose while you carefully draw it? Then read on!
Are you terrible at drawing but really wish you could to sketch some pictures of things you like? Do you have zero qualms about using a giant plastic drawing board designed for small children?
Well then we have good news for you! Bandai’s “Magical Illustrator” turns anything you can look at into something that you can trace into a perfect two-dimensional rendition. The only catch? Well, you’re going to have to be taught how to use it by two elementary school girls.
If there’s one rule of the Internet, it’s that cats make everything cute: kimonos, headbands, air fresheners, and apparently even stealing things too.
Case in point: a kitty-sized lottery ticket booth was recently broken into by one greedy cat, and the owner caught the animal red-handed, posting the adorable evidence on Twitter. Stealing is bad, but these cats make being a thief look so cute!
Beauty pageants for boys dressed up as girls are kind of a thing in Japan now. Whether you think they’re awesome or kind of confusing, you can’t help but admit that the entrants usually manage to pull off the cute girl look surprisingly well.
This month marks the annual Miss Komaba High School Pageant, a contest that has been going on for several years now and which invites young men to dress like their female peers . Last year’s contestants were pretty good, but can this year’s pretty boys give them a run for their money? Let’s find out!
It’s no secret that Hayao Miyazaki and his team of animators find inspiration for Studio Ghibli’s movies all over the place. Ponyo’s setting was inspired by a harbor town in Japan, Spirited Away’s world was based on a location in Taiwan, and Princess Mononoke’s forest came from Japan’s Yakushima Island.
But it was recently brought to light that a lot of inspiration for Ghibli’s movies came from a more innocuous place: a manga. The title is Mudmen, named after the Asaro Mudmen of Papua New Guinea, where the manga takes place.
Who are these “mudmen” and where do their inspirations crop up in Ghibli films? Read on to find out!
In an effort to help alleviate the massive amount of horrible levels that have made it into the Super Mario Maker universe, Nintendo tasked its pigeon friend/Mario Maker extraordinaire Yamamura-san to show us how to correctly create a level. In the first comic, Yamamura-san literally poo-pooed all over novice-creator Mashiko’s level, and then gave her some homework to help her become a better builder.
But the first comic did little to alleviate the amount of terrible levels online, so Nintendo Japan has put out a sequel comic to try and clean up the mess. This time around, Yamamura-san checks on Mashiko’s homework and continues to offer sage level-building advice.
Does he give her level a star? Or is it an insta-skip? Read on to find out!
So we all know that Super Mario Maker for the Wii U is awesome. With everything from music levels to ridiculously hard challenges to millions and millions of other courses in between, you can never run out of things to do.
However with so many levels out there, plenty of them are far from perfect, and some of them outright troll the player. So in an effort to try to educate the gaming populace in the art of not making horrible levels, Nintendo Japan has released some helpful comics to help us all become better builders.
Ready to be educated in the way of making Mario by a pigeon? Then read on!
If you’ve seen Ponyo, Studio Ghibli’s adorable movie about a fish girl who wants to be human, then the above location may seem pretty familiar. That’s because it was taken in the port town of Tomonoura, where Hayao Miyazaki and his team spent months getting the inspiration and imagery to create their next animated film.
As massive Ghibli fans, we had to take a look at the town for ourselves and see what real-life Ponyo looks like. Read on to check out the beautiful scenery for yourself, and see the effect that Ponyo has had on the town, as well as the effect the town had on Miyazaki.
Who wouldn’t want to have their own private island? Imagine being able to get away from the world whenever you liked, free yourself from the stress of the daily grind and just relax under the sun or the nighttime stars on the beach.
Well the best place to start looking for such a private island is Japan. There are lots of small uninhabited islands owned by real estate companies that you can buy one almost as easily as you’d buy a house.
We recently visited one such island for sale to see what it was like and decide whether we should start saving up our pennies to buy one ourselves—after all, Rocket Island has quite a nice ring to it. Read on to see what our trip there was like, and to see some of the surprises that we ran into.
Ah Halloween. After Christmas, it’s easily the best time of the year to be a kid. You get to dress up, scare people with your friends, and then best of all… go to your local organized crime branch to get a giant bag of candy.
Such has been the annual tradition on Halloween for children who visit the headquarters of the Japanese yakuza group Yamaguchi-gumi in Kobe. But this year, Halloween has had an “unfortunate accident” and been cancelled, meaning the mob will be handing out no candy.
Wait… what? Japanese mafia? Halloween candy? What do these things have in common? Read on to find out!
Here at RocketNews24, we’re huge fans of the hypnotically synchronized dance group World Order. We’ve followed them dancing all over Tokyo, London, and even giving one of the most amazing opening pitches to a baseball game ever.
The group has recently put out a new music video entitled “The Next Phase” where they show off their robotic moves in Paris and Berlin. While it’s just as impressive as their other videos, this one has a bittersweet twist: it will be the last performance by the group’s leader Genki Sudo.
Watch the video and find out why he’s leaving at the link below!
Japanese commercials are known all over the world for being just as entertaining as the programs they interrupt. Whether they’re ridiculously cute, heartbreakingly sad, a little confusing, or nightmare-inducingly bizarre, most commercials have something special going on.
So what about this commercial? It looks so normal at first; it’s just a bunch of high school girls hanging out in a classroom, playing a guitar, reading, whatever. But then, right in the middle, something happens. Watch it for yourself and see if you can figure it out before the reveal!
Japan’s national flag may be well-known for its simplicity—after all it’s just a big red circle in the middle of a field of white—but did you know that’s not Japan’s only flag? Every single prefecture, city, town and village has its own special flag to represent its history or what it’s famous for.
Even more commonly, many of the municipalities’ flags have stylized versions of the kanji found in their names. And when we say stylized, we mean highly stylized. We have here a selection of some of Japan’s kanji-flags, so you can see the creativity that went into each of them.
If you think you’re a kanji master, then get ready to test your skills and see how many you can guess correctly!
Have you played the cat-collecting smartphone game Neko Atsume yet? If you’re a fan of adorable kitties and haven’t already tried it, then download it immediately. No seriously, go now. Don’t worry, we’ll still be here when you’re done.
Back? All right, now that you’re in love with the game, you obviously want to surround yourself with all things Neko Atsume. And what better way to start with some refreshing Neko Atsume aromas?
Neko Atsume air fresheners are now available in four relaxing scents, and each one comes with an adorable little kitty friend to gaze at you in wonder.
For most of the western world, October is a month of ghastly ghouls and Halloween hijinx. But in Japan, Halloween wasn’t really celebrated up until fairly recently, and even now trick-or-treating at random houses is still a pretty uncommon occurrence.
This year however, Halloween has exploded in popularity. Retailers have been getting ready for the big night several months in advance, and even Pepsi Japan has released a spooky new flavor to celebrate. The pagan festival has become so popular that even some of the characters from Dragon Ball Z are joining in on the fun.
Kumamoto City, the capital of the Kyushu prefecture of the same name, has always been in a bit of an awkward position. It doesn’t really have the metropolitan appeal of Tokyo, or the world-famous nature and hot springs of northern Japan, or even the tropical island allure of Okinawa. Plus, it’s a heck of a long way away from the capital. So why would someone decide to visit Kumamoto?
The answer just might be fashion. For the past several years, Kumamoto has steadily been building itself up as the fashion capital of Japan. Now, it’s come to the point where some would say that if you want to see the future of Japan’s fashion, don’t look at Tokyo, but look at Kumamoto instead.
Has Tokyo, the fashion king of Japan, finally been dethroned?
Japanese-style afternoon tea in this Japanese manor house outside downtown Tokyo is something special
Japan’s awesomely beautiful Alpen Route snow corridor is now open
Almost all Japanese women say they dislike random gacha/blind-box toys in survey
New Totoro carabiner pouches are ready to clip/tag along with you on all your adventures[Photos]
Yokohama restaurant serves fried axolotl, along with giant isopod, camel, and crocodile
Japanese salaryman creates jaw-dropping model of Shinjuku from paper
Which Japanese conveyor belt sushi chain has the best hamburger steak sushi?【Taste test】
Japan has vending machines that put protective film on your phone for you — Here’s how to use them
We visit the full-scale Evangelion statue in Kyoto and particularly delight in the food tie-ins
Police in Japan warn of scam artists posing as cops to collect fines for breaking new bike rules
Wisteria season starts early with blooming of Japan’s Great Wisteria in its beautiful garden
Brand-new Pokémon manhole covers coming to help the recovery of a disaster-stricken part of JapanJapan’s awesomely beautiful Alpen Route snow corridor is now open
Japan’s best conveyor belt sushi restaurant of seven years ago has now, finally, come to Tokyo
Injuries on stairs in Tokyo highlight an overlooked design flaw
Move aside, convenience store egg sando – there’s a better version of the iconic sandwich in Japan
Japanese government wants overseas anime market to roughly triple in 10 years, but are they crazy?
Japanese bento shop sells croquettes for 13 cents, but are they any good?
Japan’s popular bead bonsai kit is as beautiful as it is gruelling to make
Starbucks Japan releases FIVE new Frappuccinos in a day, and we try them all in 90 minutes
Japan reportedly adding Japanese language skill requirement to most common foreigner work visa
Pokémon and Ikea Japan cross over into each other’s worlds with collaboration eventsWisteria season starts early with blooming of Japan’s Great Wisteria in its beautiful garden
Japan now has a special desk for people who work at home with a pet cat[Photos]Japan’s best conveyor belt sushi restaurant of seven years ago has now, finally, come to TokyoBrand-new Pokémon manhole covers coming to help the recovery of a disaster-stricken part of Japan
Famous Tokyo cherry blossom spot installs view-blocking screens to fight overcrowding[Video]
Uniqlo announces new T-shirts for One Piece, Naruto and more for manga publisher’s 100th birthdayJapan’s awesomely beautiful Alpen Route snow corridor is now open
Krispy Kreme releases Super Mario doughnuts in Japan for a limited time
Survey asks foreign tourists what bothered them in Japan, more than half gave same answer
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
We deeply regret going into this tunnel on our walk in the mountains of Japan
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Studio Ghibli releases Kodama forest spirits from Princess Mononoke to light up your home
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
No more using real katana for tourism activities, Japan’s National Police Agency says
Japanese salaryman creates jaw-dropping model of Shinjuku from paper
Which Japanese conveyor belt sushi chain has the best hamburger steak sushi?【Taste test】
Japan has vending machines that put protective film on your phone for you — Here’s how to use them
We visit the full-scale Evangelion statue in Kyoto and particularly delight in the food tie-ins
Police in Japan warn of scam artists posing as cops to collect fines for breaking new bike rules
Brand-new Pokémon manhole covers coming to help the recovery of a disaster-stricken part of Japan
Which Studio Ghibli house would you most like to live in?
New Sailor Moon Crystal anime will take a stylistic cue from the original manga
Japan’s ministry of economy reminds us to “use sound judgment” before buying toilet paper
Lawson to be first convenience store to save winter snow…for summer air conditioning?!
Ramen restaurant in top Tokyo tourist neighborhood skips price gouging, but how does it taste?
Milf or maiden? One third of single Japanese men surveyed say they prefer an older lover