Japan and Prime Minister Abe make it to the list as the second most trustworthy country and leader in the world in Australians’ minds.
Australia
A “really ordinary person from Australia” attempts to become famous in Japan and is making a film about it.
Planet-hopping platformer’s infinite levels likely to disappear from the Internet very soon.
With data for making the 3-D case available online, now everyone can get a little help with making the perfect throw.
The pitifully weak Pokémon has been showing up in some embarrassing places, including one that shows a preference for a rival company’s video games.
The rotund character from Studio Ghibli inspires us all with his adorable “Totorobics” workout.
If you’ve never seen how far cats stray from home at night, then prepare to be just as shocked.
Offbeat learning aid has Japanese travelers cracking up even before the aliens makes their appearance.
Move over, Land Down Under! The “Administrative District Down and Off to the Side” of Japan not only looks like you, but can go toe-to-toe with many of your attractions.
Recently, our Japanese writer P.K. Sanjun was visiting Australia on official RocketNews24 business when he noticed something odd. Every now and then, he would spot a person with a T-shirt or bag with incomprehensible Japanese written on it.
Originally thinking this was just the work of some bootleggers working a local flea market, P.K. was shocked to later learn that Superdry was a fashion brand that sells all over the world…all over except for Japan, that is.
It seems that these days, Hollywood celebrities can’t get enough of appearing on Japanese TV. Just last week, Keanu Reeves treated the Japanese public to some karate moves on a chat show sofa, and this week it’s the turn of actor Hugh Jackman, who cut a gentlemanly figure as he appeared on hugely popular culinary gameshow Kuwazugiraiou (Food Prejudice King).
As part of the show, everyone’s favourite Wolverine was faced with a gauntlet of entrail stew, fishy sea grapes, and fried quail eggs, amongst other delights, as he fought to win the title of… Food Prejudice King! So, how did he get on?
Japan has an incredibly rich history of traditional performing art forms that have lasted through the centuries. It has noh, kabuki and bunraku, all of which provide classical entertainment even if you have no idea what is happening. Another popular form of Japanese entertainment is rakugo, which involves a lone storyteller sitting on a stage, telling comical stories with only two props traditionally: a fan and a small cloth. So while the rest of the world has stand-up comedians, Japan has sit-down comedians. All of these performances though have one small problem for foreigners, though: they’re almost always in Japanese.
That’s where Showko enters the scene. A brilliant entertainer who has traveled the world with her hilarious Rakugo performances and ventriloquist acts has been taking the comedy world by storm. Learn more about some of her performances and where to see her after the jump.
The release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has been met with as much excitement and frenzy as you might expect from the latest instalment of a legendary video game franchise. But while most players are preoccupied with riding D. Horse around, frolicking in cardboard boxes and puzzling over the intricate story, it’s a certain voiceover that’s had us scratching our heads. Where on earth have we heard iDroid‘s soothing tones before? Oh, that’s right – on the Shinkansen!
Voice actor and vocalist Donna Burke is a veteran of the video game industry, lending her vocal cords to multiple games including MGSV and Silent Hill, and she ALSO provided the English-language spoken announcement that’s broadcast on the bullet train to help foreign visitors navigate their way around Japan!
If you were to overlay a map of Japan with the locations of major restaurant and retail chains both domestic and international, the Chugoku region would look like a meteor hit it and Tottori Prefecture would be ground zero.
Tottori was the last prefecture in Japan to have a Starbuck’s open within its borders and still doesn’t have a 7-Eleven or Circle K anywhere. However, their fortunes appear to be changing, because the Australian coffee chain Muzz Buzz will be opening their first drive-through store in Tottori this autumn.
Japan and most of the rest of the developed world don’t exactly see eye to eye on whaling. Sure, Japan has a couple of mammal-fishing buddies in Norway and Iceland, but most other nations with a comparable scientific and economic footing take a dim view of Japan’s professedly research-based whaling expeditions, especially in light of how you’re much more likely to come across a restaurant in Japan serving whale meat than a significant biological discovery about whales coming from one of the country’s scientists.
One of the most outspoken opponents has been Australia, which is particularly upset about Japanese whalers hunting the creatures in the Southern Ocean that surrounds Antarctica, an area much closer to Australia than Japan. Now, though, some Japanese Internet commenters are launching snide jabs right back at their critics from Down Under in regards to the Australian government’s consideration of a plan to kill off a portion of its koala population.
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