Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
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After topping the Japanese box office for 16 weekends in a row, Disney’s Frozen can add one more feat — its very own PlayStation 4. The PlayStation 4 Frozen Limited Edition takes the standard jet black console with a 500GB hard drive and adds a Frozen laser-etched hard drive bay cover with the sisters Elsa and Anna.
Every gamer knows that good video game music can make or break a game. This is especially the case in RPGs where players spend a lot of time walking across the world; those light-hearted melodies accompany you as you perform the often tedious task of moving from town to town. Background music is also immensely important to platformers like Super Mario and Sonic. That music better be catchy because you are going to be hearing it again and again when you keep missing that third jump off the floating platform!
RocketNews24 has brought you the video game a-cappella styles of Smooth McGroove before. Well it’s been almost a year since then, what has he and his super chill cat been up to?! Among other things, turns out he’s been traveling through Kanto and the world of Pokémon!
I love Tokyo’s awesome, full-scale statue of Gundam as much as anybody. I try to at least stop by and say hello to Japan’s most famous giant robot whenever I’m in Odaiba, and when time permits, I’m happy to sip a beer or munch on a pretzel from the adjacent shopping center as I stare up at the 18-meter (59-foot) tall mecha.
As I mentioned before, though, it has always seemed a little ironic that the monument is stationary. After all, the series is called Mobile Suit Gundam. Shouldn’t he be moving?
Actually, in a few years, he just might.
In Japan it is not uncommon to be standing outside a restaurant, drooling over what you think are actual dishes made in the kitchen, when you remember that they’re just pieces of plastic. At times these plastic dishes look so real that you wonder whether the restaurant really did put plates of its food in the window, but more often than not it’s simply that the person who made them is genuinely skilled.
if you’ve never see this fake plastic food with your own eyes, it may be hard to imagine the uncanny feeling it can create. But you might get an idea of what it’s like when I tell you that the photo of Angelina Jolie as Maleficent up there is in fact a painted doll.
We tracked down the creator of this incredible work online and have a bunch of photos after the jump that you really have to see.
It’s 1987. You’re looking awesome in your oversized Michael Jackson “Bad” t-shirt as you slot a chunky, grey game cartridge into your NES console. But instead of the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt title screen, all you see is a jumbled-up mess of an image that looks like an 8-bit Picasso. What do you do? The same thing everyone did – you take the game cartridge out, blow into it, and put it back in. Lo, and behold: this time the game loads perfectly and you can squish goombas or shoot ducks to your heart’s content.
But in the pre-internet age, how did we all “know” to blow into cartridges? And like rubbing the magnetic strip on a credit card or shaking a Polaroid photo, why did we keep doing it even when product manufacturers and scientists insisted that it didn’t work and could actually cause damage? Joe Hanson, biologist and author of the popular science blog It’s Okay To Be Smart, offers up some answers in a neat YouTube video asking just that.
Do you know what we love at RocketNews24? Our favorite Saturday morning cartoon themes re-imagined in different musical styles! There’s nothing like kicking back and hitting the ol’ nostalgia button and listening to a song in a way you never imagined possible. Well, just in time for the new Sailor Moon reboot, Sailor Moon Crystal, we’ve got a version of the ever popular “Moonlight Legend” that is going to Marty McFly you back to the 90s!
In the latest episode of their popular “React” series, YouTubers The Fine Bros decided to give their group of tech-savvy kids none other than an original Nintendo Game Boy to see what they’d make of it. As you might expect, what with the portable console now being roughly 25 years old, many of the kids had absolutely no idea what it was, nor even how to turn the thing on.
So join us after the jump to see little kids fumbling to insert game cartridges, failing to find the power switch and saying things like “You have to actually press buttons” and “I kinda feel sad for the people in the past.”
It turns out that there are a surprising number of mirrors in museums, so when Google unleashed its Street View cameras to catalog the insides of museums around the world, more than a few of them ended up accidentally taking pictures of themselves, we learn via Quartz.
Spanish artist Mario Santamaría noticed this happening quite a bit and did exactly what one should do upon noticing a trend: build a Tumblr around it.
Titled “The Camera In The Mirror,” Santamaría’s site catalogs the eerie moments in which Google’s cameras photograph their own reflections. You get a peek at them wrapped up in silver cloth or exposed to reveal a surprisingly robot-like body.
LINE is a free instant-messaging and voice-call application that’s almost a necessity in Asia; for many, it’s cheaper than texting through their mobile plan, and the app’s astounding collection of oversized emoticons called stickers and sticons (short for sticker emoticons) makes chatting with your friends that much more fun and cute! However, Japanese users recently noticed a puzzling sticon that had found its way into the pool. The image, which we’ll be looking at later, is based on a worldwide fad that didn’t seem to catch on in Japan, so it’s no wonder that people were confused.
This prompted me to wonder, “Which emoji are gathering dust because some people don’t quite know what they are or what they mean?” Since emoji (literally meaning “pictographs”) originated in Japan and later became incorporated into Unicode, it makes sense that many are emblematic of that country’s culture. After asking a few friends, choices were narrowed down to the above six emoticons, available on most smartphones. In Part 1 we’ll be examining the three food-based emoticons, so if you’re not familiar with that geometry lesson on a stick or the origins of that brown circle, read on after the jump!
Do you know what June 30 is? Well, it may be the day where you say to yourself, “Oh my gosh, half the year is over! How could it have gone by so quickly?” but you just might find yourself being punished in the name of the moon if you don’t remember one other important event that takes place on that day. Yes, June 30 is Sailor Moon’s birthday, or Usagi Tsukino’s birthday if you prefer to call her by her “human” name.
With the new Sailor Moon Crystal anime series soon to be released, this year’s birthday was bound to be a special one for our Usagi-chan. And special it was! A huge birthday event in honor of our beloved warrior princess, including a preview screening of the first episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, was held in collaboration with fashion magazine ViVi on June 30 in the Tokyo Odaiba area. And since it was supposed to be kind of a girls’ night out, the event was apparently only open to women, or men accompanied by women.
We definitely couldn’t miss out on this party, and we promptly sent one of our reporters from our Japanese sister site — we couldn’t wait to see what the huge do would be like!
Truth be told, I’ve never been a huge fan of video game speed runs. All too often, recordings show players exploiting a game’s code to the point that it hardly seems like they’re playing the game any more, taking all the fun (and some would argue genuine skill) out of it.
But this new record performed by a gamer known only as ‘Blubber’ is nothing short of spectacular and deserves the attention of anyone who ever picked up an NES controller during their childhood.
Even if you’re more of a dog person, there’s no denying that neko-mimi have a cuteness all of their own. Knowing this, the creative folks over at Axent Wear, an independent startup now just weeks away from launching a Kickstarter campaign, are hoping to bring cat ears into consumers’ lives in a way that is both cute and functional with a product that’s sure to put a smile on your face and spring in your step.
Introducing: Axent Wear cat-ear headphones.
It’s nice to share some Japan-related news coming out of Scandinavia for a change!
Norway, along with its neighbors, is no stranger to the metal music scene. The northern European countries together constitute one of the world’s major strongholds for the various subgenres of metal music. But what do you get when you combine the vocal talents of a Norwegian symphonic metal singer with the catchy tunes of J-Pop?
Just listen to PelleK’s cover versions of the following anime songs to find out for yourself!
With the Japanese national team’s hopes of winning the World Cup championship dashed far too early this year. Japan’s soccer fans were left with mere scraps of enjoyment they once had in the tournament. Luckily though, every World Cup has its ancillary breakout star.
Last time, we saw the mystical talents of Paul the Octopus, and now the world finds itself staring in wonder at the phenomenon Japan has dubbed Adios Ojisan (Adios Guy). For those not familiar, Adios Ojisan was a guy in the audience of the Chile/Spain match (among others) holding up an iPad which read “Adios Spana.”
And so, with Team Japan out of the running, let us enjoy some highlights from the Adios Spana Photoshop Championship currently being held on Twitter!
It’s over. With their 1-4 defeat against Colombia, Team Japan is officially out of the World Cup tournament after just three matches. The boys in blue put up a good fight, but arguably left a lot on the pitch in Group C, in what many say was Japan’s best chance to make a big impact on the world stage. But despite the disappointing losses (and one unbelievable tie), there were some truly great moments that came out of the tournament for Samurai Blue. So before we all move on and choose a different team to support, let us take a moment to look back at the matches, the players, and those crazy fans who came together to root on NIPPON!
It’s been a tough few years for Nintendo. Although the 3DS continues to sell very well, its home console Wii U has barely even registered on consumers’ radar since debuting in 2012, and even long-time fans are becoming increasingly restless between big releases. Thankfully, the latter half of 2014 looks set to be a little sunnier for Nintendo, with the recently released Mario Kart 8 reportedly quadrupling Wii U sales, and now Tecmo Koei’s Zelda/Dynasty Warriors mashup Hyrule Warriors looks set to be one of the biggest titles of the summer.
As well as updating its official Hyrule Warriors website with new screens earlier today, developer Tecmo Koei has released a video showing none other than Princess Zelda smashing her way through hordes of enemies and showing off her skills.
Gorgeous pics and the full video after the jump.
Are you a professional footballer? Are you thinking about getting an exotic-looking tattoo in Japanese or Chinese script? With this year’s World Cup players the most inked in history, it’s no wonder the players keep taking their shirts off to show off their skin. Today, we bring you a guide to getting inked as a World Cup footballer – or to be more accurate, a guide to what not to do.
Greek footballer Theofanis “Fanis” Gekas, who has been attracting online attention in Japan recently for his unusual Chinese(ish) tattoo, isn’t the only World Cup player with some not-entirely-accurate ink on his arms. Join us after the jump for photographic evidence of what your mother (should’ve) told you: “If you can’t read it, don’t get it permanently etched onto your skin.”
Everything has been coming up Tokyo lately. Recently ranked no. 1 on a Trip Advisor survey, Japan’s capital city has now come in at No. 2 on Monocle’s list of most livable cities for 2014. That’s two positions up from their ranking last year!
Cities across the world were ranked based on criteria such as economics, society, functionality, as well as ease of everyday living and happiness of people. But it’s not just Tokyo that’s feeling the love recently – two more Japanese cities made it onto the list of great places to live!
You know you’re pretty famous when you have your own Wikipedia page. Sure, some people just take the shortcut of writing their own Wiki and acting like they’re a big deal (I’m looking at you, weird Dungeons and Dragons extra with suspiciously specific and in-depth Wikipedia entry), but when other people write a page all about you of their own accord, you kind of know you’re a big deal.
That’s what happened with Paraguayan model and actress Larissa Riquelme when, in 2010, a photographer caught her celebrating a Paraguay team goal at the 2010 South Africa World Cup and the globe collectively paused, sucked in their breath, and shifted awkwardly in their chairs.
Sometimes words just aren’t enough to convey what you have to say.
People tend to use emoji in both normal and unorthodox ways, and the emoji you use actually says a lot about you.
Enter Emojinalysis, a Tumblr blog that tells you what’s wrong with your life based on your recently used emoji.
New official Ghibli anime food cookbook will teach you how to make Ponyo’s ramen and more
Uniqlo reveals third round of massive 100-year-anniversary manga T-shirts for Jump’s Shueisha
Krispy Kreme releases a new Doughwich… at only one store in Japan
Extra-cute Sea Animal crepes come to Japan’s cafe chain born from a sweet fashion brand
Pokémon Center Mega Tokyo to remain closed for the summer following stabbing incident
What’s up with the Ghibli Park photo and video ban?
And now, a crazy-looking way to stay cool this summer, from Japan’s crazy gadget company
Osaka is hosting a “hentai” event, but it’s probably not what you think
Japanese convenience store Lawson launches new “mini supermarket” chain, L Minimart
Starbucks Japan releases a new limited-edition Frappuccino inspired by espresso affogato
Japan’s real-world Pokémon hot spring’s first photos are here![Photos]Japanese convenience store Lawson launches new “mini supermarket” chain, L MinimartNew official Ghibli anime food cookbook will teach you how to make Ponyo’s ramen and moreWhat’s up with the Ghibli Park photo and video ban?
Japan’s adorable pudding chick becomes a transit card mascot
The Japan Burger Championship 2026 in Yokohama next month is the ultimate battle of the beef
Mr. Sato takes a walk on Tokyo’s American-style street to get some American/Japanese ice cream
Sushi Pizza surprises diners in one of the best food destinations in Japan
Pikachu cakes and other adorable Pokémon 30th anniversary food coming to Tokyo luxury hotel
Starbucks Japan has a problem with its sell-out breakfast that might annoy solo diners
Tokyo’s life-size Gundam anime mecha statue will be removed this summer
The average age of Japan’s hikikomori shut-ins is getting older, survey shows
Ichiraku Ramen-inspired ramen sets from Naruto anime pay homage to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura
Kanji ice cream becomes a sell-out hit in Japan
Japan now has gyoza doughnuts, and they taste like no other doughnut we’ve tried beforeJapan’s real-world Pokémon hot spring’s first photos are here![Photos]Japanese convenience store Lawson launches new “mini supermarket” chain, L Minimart
Japan has a new cute and clever sunblock for cat lovers
Japan enters Golden Week vacation period, survey shows one in three plan to ride it out at home
Tokyo’s new extra-expensive ramen restaurant is dividing opinions, so we tried a bowl
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
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
Japan reportedly adding Japanese language skill requirement to most common foreigner work visa
Japan’s 5.3 million beautiful Hitachi Nemophila flowers are now in full bloom[Photos]
What’s up with the Ghibli Park photo and video ban?
And now, a crazy-looking way to stay cool this summer, from Japan’s crazy gadget company
Osaka is hosting a “hentai” event, but it’s probably not what you think
Japanese convenience store Lawson launches new “mini supermarket” chain, L Minimart
Starbucks Japan releases a new limited-edition Frappuccino inspired by espresso affogato
Starbucks Japan has a problem with its sell-out breakfast that might annoy solo diners
The best yakiniku restaurant menu items to order if you’re surrounded by lovey-dovey couples
Study shows that regularly watching sports reduces risk of depression among the elderly
Japan’s cafe that won’t let you go home until you solve a puzzle is opening in Osaka’s canal district
Beautiful Ghibli anime uchiwa fans are like little posters you can use to keep yourself cool
Pikachu cakes and other adorable Pokémon 30th anniversary food coming to Tokyo luxury hotel
Art exhibition coming to Tokyo this month brings the cute, scary, and weird to ukiyo-e
What’s it like to join Tokyo’s walking-and-talking-with-strangers club for a day?
Studio Ghibli still doesn’t allow its anime to be streamed online in Japan, and here’s why