Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Global (Page 34)
Luigi has always played second fiddle to his brother Mario and it seems all those years of pent-up jealousy and anger have surfaced in Nintendo’s eighth edition of Mario Kart. Scores of English-language sites have already reported on what many are calling “Luigi’s Death Stare,” and all that news coverage has finally made it over to Japan, inspiring a multitude of comments by surprised Japanese gamers.
Most of us have been to a zoo at least once. As children, it’s often the highlight of a weekend–watching the prowling big cats, hearing the bellowing elephants, and petting the adorable rabbits–it’s almost too good to be true. Unfortunately, “too good to be true” may be more accurate than we want to admit.
In fact, a certain Japanese video that has recently gone viral due to its “cute” footage shows just how traumatizing zoos can be for their animal residents.
I’ve played my share of weird and psychedelic video games over the years. I’ve flown through space firing beams of energy to create musical beats while every colour of the rainbow zips by my face, played games that have sporadically erased the contents of my inventory to make me think I was losing my mind, and intentionally touched more fuzzies to get dizzier than most would ever dare.
But One Way Trip, an indie game coming to PlayStation 4 and Vita next year, looks like it’ll be one of the craziest rides I’ll ever have the pleasure of taking without giving the police cause to visit my home.
Advertising agency Dentsu recently released the results of its annual Japan Brand Survey, in which it asks people from around the world for their opinion on the country. This year’s study involved 3,600 men and women living in 17 different countries, whose responses were used to compile a list of 10 things they feel Japan does better than anywhere else in the world.
We’re not entirely sure who invented child leashes, but they have found their way to Japan and the controversy that surrounds them has been imported right alongside. Discussed widely on Japanese online parenting forums, the disputed child gear are dubbed maigo himo (literally, “lost child cord”) and have become increasingly available at online shopping sites such as Rakuten.
But no matter what you call it – be it lost child cord, leash, harness, tether, or reins – one thing’s for sure: No one can agree if they are an embarrassment or proper parenting tool.
While thoughts of the Roaring 20s typically conjure images of flappers and raucous parties, now it can also remind you of Super Mario Bros. Los Angeles jazz musicians, The Handy Dandy Boys, recently recorded a mean, jazzy version of the “Overworld BGM” theme from Super Mario Bros., complete with banjo plucking, a brass section, and a silent film-inspired, mustachioed music videothat will put a pep in your step.
Approximately 25 years ago the world was blessed with the Game Boy and the ability to play Tetris practically anywhere. And while video game technology has far surpassed the loveable green-and-black display (though Twitter is still fair game), it’s hard not to hold a soft spot in your heart for the humble Game Boy. To celebrate this quarter century-old game system, the trivia masters at DYKGaming/Normal Boots put out a video recently highlighting some pretty interesting facts about the Game Boy. Click below to read 10 Game Boy facts and watch the video about the origins of the portable machine, its creator and how much a gold-plated Game Boy costs!
Does your country have everything you need? If it doesn’t, usually the internet can provide for you. But in some specific cases, there are certain products or contraband that just aren’t allowed in a particular country. Here’s a list of 15 things that are currently not allowed, or weren’t allowed at some point!
The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil is almost upon us, folks! And if you’re a manga fan, just pick your poison to get properly revved up: the first volume of the Captain Tsubasa remix has been available since May in convenience stores all over Japan, Volume 1 of the new series Captain Tsubasa: Rising Sun just came out, and then there is the comic’s upcoming exhibition in Tokyo.
As if that weren’t enough, the Japan Professional Football League (J. League for short) has been collaborating with the über-influential soccer manga on a project called “Dream Shoot”. In it, as the name suggests, J. League players take on the challenge of bringing to life the dynamic and often over-the-top soccer moves featured in the long-running comic.
So today, we bring to you Part Three of the collaboration, in which three athletes from the Cerezo Ōsaka team reenact the “Twin Shoot”. Read on to view all three awesome videos, as well as to learn a little more about the manga series and its exhibition (because let’s face it, Flash Kicker, as it’s known in the U.S., never made it big here unlike the rest of the world). Even for a soccer newb like me, the “Dream Shoots” are a sight to behold!
While we’ve seen plenty of Attack on Titan cosplay over the past year or so, we’ve certainly never seen anything like this.
Samsung and Facebook’s Oculus VR unit are working together to create a virtual reality device powered by Samsung’s Galaxy S5 line of phones, Engadget reports. You literally plug your phone into the headset and you’re inside a “shockingly good” virtual world, the site reports.
Anyone who is a serious Star Wars fan knows that George Lucas drew heavily on old Japanese Samurai movies, mainly Akira Kurosawa, when making his space opera. Even if you aren’t that into Star Wars, just from watching the movies you can see the samurai imagery screaming out at you. Just take one look at Darth Vader and his stormtroopers and you can see it. But it isn’t simply that Lucas drew his inspiration from those movies, the whole story behind it actually has a few more moving parts then that. A new video from the YouTube channel Film School’d has illustrated that connection with some pretty sweet white board art to boot!
The E3 video game trade show is now just a couple of weeks away, and gamers the world over are getting excited. Will Rockstar Games come clean about its next project? Will Sony announce a launch date and pricing info for its new streaming service? Will the guys from Valve surprise us all by walking on stage, saying: “Episode 3. November 1,” and dropping the mic? Maybe not, but it’s fun to dream, right?
Sure, we all want to hear news of the games that have been teased over the past few months, but wouldn’t it be fun if a few more games came completely out of left field and blew us all away? With that in mind, we set our creative minds to work and came up with five video games that we wish existed, but are quite sure – perhaps for good reason – will never, ever happen.
Now, as a site that features a large amount of quirky news from Japan, we have a feeling that a fair number of our readers may be interested in anime and comics. As such, it is always a pleasure to share on our site beautiful artwork inspired by anime or comics in various forms. This time, we’ve found a collection of stunning work that combines modern anime/comic characters with a bit of antique taste — in the style of stained-glass windows! But these aren’t actual windows, although they certainly look lovely enough to be made into real works of colorful glass. They’re prints that look like stained glass, and there’s a whole lovely series of them!
Meet CHAO, the stage name of successful Japanese break dancer and member of the international extreme unicyling Team Unicycle TV. You read that right; extreme unicycling exists!
Over the course of one year, CHAO traveled to 42 countries and 121 cities, capturing footage of himself unicycling and his interactions with the locals in each spot. At the end of his journey, he put together some brilliantly-edited videos of his trip. After seeing them, you might just be inspired to start your own epic journey across the globe.
“Minecraft” is a huge, open-world sandbox game, which was released for the PC in 2009. Since then, it’s been released on other platforms, and as of February 2014, it has sold over 14 million copies on the PC, and 35 million across all the other platforms.There are various activities you perform in the game: combat, exploration, crafting, gathering items, and building things. There are no specific goals to accomplish, but there are different modes. For example, there’s Survival mode, where players have to craft items in order to build certain things. There are baddies that come out at night, and there’s a health bar that you need to check up on.
Then there’s Creative mode, in which players have the freedom to use their imaginations and build things, without worrying about health meters and bad guys.
Building in “Minecraft” is easy. You get tools, like shovels and axes, to chop down trees and cut through stone. And without a time limit or a place to go, some players have taken their creative freedom to the next level.
Earlier this month, YouTube user NorniTube uploaded a controversial video of a social experiment which looked at how a person’s appearance can affect the responses they get from the general public. One two different days, he pretended to collapse on a Paris street to see if anyone would come to his aid, on one occasion wearing shabby clothes, on the other dressed in a smart suit. (We’ll leave you to watch the video to find out how it went!)
After watching NorniTube’s video, YouTuber Hei Nan decided to test the reactions of his fellow Taiwanese citizens by doing a similar experiment on the streets of his city. Were the Taiwanese more or less likely to help out that the Parisians in NorniTube’s video? Find out after the jump!
Move over Dennis Rodman–it looks like you’ve got a serious Japanese successor for all of your sports diplomacy. North Korea’s state news agency announced on May 19 that Japan’s Antonio Inoki, a retired Japanese professional wrestler, will be teaming up with officials in the reclusive totalitarian state to host an international professional wrestling tournament in Pyongyang this August. The tournament will also include athletes from two nations that have never participated in a wrestling event in North Korea under Kim Jong-un’s leadership. Find out how all this came to be after the jump.
After the huge success of Frozen, Disney fans are eagerly awaiting the next Disney project! Well, Japanese fans have a really good reason to rejoice! Walt Disney’s Animation Studio’s new movie, Big Hero 6, will feature the first Japanese protagonist!
Sushi Bus: Japan’s first conveyor-belt bus lets you eat sushi while sightseeing around Tokyo
Japan’s double-decker portable rice cooker/bento maker is better than ever with new version
German woman rescued from Mt. Fuji after suffering altitude sickness symptoms, hiking to peak anyway
Wait, some Shinkansen trains already have private booths that only cost 1,500 yen for an hour?
Anime fans can now wear a Seiko watch inspired by Japan’s One Piece Shinkansen
Foreign hiker on Mt. Fuji loses consciousness and dies, becoming climbing season’s second fatality
Narita Airport Transit & Stay Program returns after six years with free tours and festival experiences
Studio Ghibli unveils new interactive stationery dioramas that bring anime movies to life on your desk
7-year-old boy left behind on Mt. Fuji by his own dad
KFC Japan unveils new Tsukimi collection that takes moon-viewing to extreme levels
12-year-old British girl who went missing in Tokyo found safe after visiting anime sites around Yokohama7-year-old boy left behind on Mt. Fuji by his own dadSushi Bus: Japan’s first conveyor-belt bus lets you eat sushi while sightseeing around TokyoStudio Ghibli unveils new interactive stationery dioramas that bring anime movies to life on your desk
Studio Ghibli composer Jo Hisaishi just set three Guinness RecordsAnime fans can now wear a Seiko watch inspired by Japan’s One Piece Shinkansen
Japan’s Rabbit Island in danger of becoming Boar Island, tourists asked to follow feeding rules
7-Eleven Japan brings back best-selling flat croissant that became a hit on social media
Stay at a hotel with a bed for your plushie in JapanForeign hiker on Mt. Fuji loses consciousness and dies, becoming climbing season’s second fatality12-year-old British girl who went missing in Tokyo found safe after visiting anime sites around Yokohama
Tokyo subway installing new ticket gates that don’t accept payment through Suica or other IC cards7-year-old boy left behind on Mt. Fuji by his own dad
Air-conditioned dress shirts arrive in Japan to save working professionals from sweltering heat
Pokémon Center Online designates first Pokémon items that will require Japanese ID card to buy
Japanese toilet aims to attract foreign tourists but not everybody is happy about itSushi Bus: Japan’s first conveyor-belt bus lets you eat sushi while sightseeing around Tokyo
Tokyo’s newest viral dessert is like a Japanese parfait inside a bread bun [Taste test]
Japanese Shinkansen becomes an overnight hotel for three nights this summer
New Japanese vending machine at Shinkansen station sells cups of ice on platform
Japan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Studio Ghibli has a new anime out, and there’s only one place in the world where you can see it
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]Tokyo subway installing new ticket gates that don’t accept payment through Suica or other IC cards
Japanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroad
Salomon releases Japan-exclusive Mt. Fuji hiking gear that doubles as an amazing souvenir
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
Foreign hiker on Mt. Fuji loses consciousness and dies, becoming climbing season’s second fatality
Narita Airport Transit & Stay Program returns after six years with free tours and festival experiences
Studio Ghibli unveils new interactive stationery dioramas that bring anime movies to life on your desk
7-year-old boy left behind on Mt. Fuji by his own dad
KFC Japan unveils new Tsukimi collection that takes moon-viewing to extreme levels
The Japanese government is ending its Cool Japan Fund program
Hiker needs to be rescued from Mt. Fuji two times in two days, but system is working as intended
99-year-old woman rescued while attempting to climb Mt. Fuji
Masturbatory aid maker Tenga releases officially licensed anime versions in Japan and U.S.
Studio Ghibli composer Jo Hisaishi just set three Guinness Records
Ninja theme park suddenly closes in Japan, shadow warriors undone by shady real estate deals
Universal Studios Japan partners with manga horror master Junji Ito’s Tomie
Pokémon and Polaroid reveal collaboration with adorable Pikachu and Eeveelution camera and film
Two Americans decide to hike Mt. Fuji before trails open, both need rescues on back-to-back days
