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Hello Kitty producers appear to be losing touch with reality

For around four decades Sanrio has been pumping out character merchandise at an increasing rate. Headlined by Japanese kawaii icon Hello Kitty, they boast hundreds of characters, some of which thrive and others that just kind of hang around.

Indeed, the company has never faltered in their mission to continuously create cuteness for our amusement and expendable cash. However, to do so must require long hours at the drawing table penciling in adorable black pupils in just the right proportion to fit the squishiest round face you ever gosh darned seen.

In doing so they seemed to have forgotten what an actual human head looks like adrift in their ocean of chubby puppies and fruit-eared kitties. That has to be the only reason to explain this cardboard cutout posted on Twitter recently in which no person’s face could possibly fit properly.

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Finally guys can get the support they need at night with the Floral Goodnight Bra

Men’s undergarments that were traditionally used by women such as bras shouldn’t be shocking news if you’re a regular reader of this site. However, there appear to be many still surprised by them according to the recent popularity of the Frills & Ribbons Men’s T-Back Shorts on Twitter in Japan.

While we were looking into this particular pair of trending lacy lavender thongs with ribbons for guys, we found something even better. It’s called the Floral Goodnight Bra (Kahei Oyasumi Bra) and gives men the much-needed support as they sleep resulting round-the-clock chest protection.

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From samurai to waterfalls: Some of the best places online to check out old photos of Japan

If you’re anything like us, you love old stuff from Japan. The temples, shrines, centuries-old festivals, and museums are some of our favorite things to check out when we have free time. There’s just something absolutely captivating about all the relics of the past that live on in Japan–but they’re just not quite as good as time travel! Come on, scientists, we want to hang out with Nobunaga! Well, while we’re waiting for Doc Brown to get back with the DeLorean, we can still at least look at old photos of Japan.

Though you might think there aren’t many–after all, it wasn’t like the samurai were running around with smartphones, snapping selfies–it turns out that there may be quite a few more than we realized! After a few hours clicking around the Internet, we’ve come up with our six favorite sites for finding old photos of Japan. Be sure to check them out and see what life was like over a hundred years ago!

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Yamaha releases engine-to-Japanese translation app, we peer into the minds of celebrity cars

Translation apps are very popular for people visiting foreign lands. With only internet access and a tap of the finger you can convey “I swallowed a june bug” in any number of languages like Spanish (Me tragué un error junio) and Hatian Creole (Mwen vale yon ensèk mwa Jen). I’m pretty sure those are both wrong, but still better than I could do by myself with no knowledge of either language.

Now Yamaha has brought the translation app beyond the boundaries of humanity and into the realm of the machine with their engine revving translation app, RevTranslator. As the name suggests, this app will listen to an engine and deliver its message in Japanese.

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This is what happens when you give a Ghibli character a typical anime haircut

With all the recent rumors about Studio Ghibli possibly shutting down or being bought out by another media company – which, thankfully, turned out to be a hoax – we’ve  been taking a lot of time out to take stock of what it is that makes Studio Ghibli and studio founder Hayao Miyazaki so special.

Certainly, Miyazaki’s films are at least a cut or two above other critically acclaimed anime films and are far and away higher in both visual and narrative quality than most of the anime you’ll see on TV.

But one Japanese Twitter user with a copy of Photoshop thought most anime does at least one thing better than Ghibli: anime hair.

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This new convenience store isn’t so convenient for the blind…

One thing that has always stood out about Japan for me personally is the sidewalks. No matter where you are, you’ll almost always have a little yellow brick road to skip along–though it’s not actually an ode to The Wizard of Oz. In fact, it’s not an ode to anything at all: Those yellow, bumpy tiles are actually guides for the visually impaired. It’s a simple but clever solution–you can easily feel the bumps even through your shoes and they’re even easier to find with a cane. That way, even if you can’t see, you can still be sure you’re walking safely on the sidewalk and know when you’re coming to a turn or crossing.

Well, unless you’re trying to get to this newly built convenience store…

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Try not to eat your fingers while wearing these realistic sushi nails

We’ve seen a lot of cute and especially strange nail art from Japan, but we’ve never seen any that looked this delicious! Ebi, tamago, sake, and many more of our favorite sushi toppings grace the tops of this young woman’s nails, in what will probably make it even harder for chronic nail biters to kick the habit.

More up-close pictures and even more kinds of sushi nails after the jump!

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Now you too can imprison a wizard with real-life “Frozen” handcuffs

Frozen is really big in Japan – perhaps even more so than in the West. It’s big enough that not only are there multiple Japanese versions of the film’s biggest hit song number, “Let it Go” – to cover a variety of different regional dialects – but at least one obsessive Japanese fan went to huge lengths and poured a ton of money into recreating the special wizard handcuffs that film lead Elsa is briefly entrapped in during the movie.

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This cat on a cat on a mat is adorable!

Aww, look at that cute little kitty!

No, we’re not talking about the white one comfortably sleeping on its pink polka dot blankie. We’ve got our eyes on the all-black one that shares its tail.

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New father dresses like iconic pop culture characters and takes baths with his kid

Normally I pride myself on being able to come up with at least somewhat clever headlines for my articles, but this story is so bizarrely specific, I ran out of space just trying to come up with a comprehensible title.

What you’re looking at is a new father who got the idea to pose with his daughter in the bathtub every couple of weeks to record her growth from gross poop machine into vaguely human infant. The man’s wife apparently proposed that they add a little makeup to dad’s face to make things interesting and then the situation, as you can see, kind of escalated from there.

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Internet wishes Attack on Titan’s Reiner a happy birthday, things get just a little weird

While some may dread their birthdays, we like to think everyone deserves the chance to have their existence celebrated. Heck, even if you’re not a real person, you still deserve to have a happy birthday, right? Especially if you’re a shape-shifting titan!

That’s right, in case you missed it, August 1 was none other than Reiner Braun’s birthday! And considering how popular Attack on Titan is, it’s no surprise that adoring fans pulled out all the stop to celebrate. Though we have to admit, we think they probably could have left a few stops in place…

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Fending off unwanted Kabe-don: A guide

As we’ve talked about before, kabe-don is the trendy new way for Japanese bad boys to soft sexually assault their crush. It consists of a guy approaching a girl he (presumably) has a thing for, who is ideally leaning against a wall, then suddenly smacking the wall with their palm and getting in reaaaaalllly close so the girl can smell his garlic breath.

Oddly enough, a lot of Japanese girls go absolutely wild for the idea of the kabe-don, in the same way guys love the idea of owning a Weird Science-esque sexbot; It’s sexy and cool on paper, frightening and creepy in real life.

Luckily for any girls who find themselves the unwilling recipient of an ill-advised kabe-don, someone has created an illustrated self-defense guide:

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Jerome Le Banner walks old lady across the street even though it would’ve been easier to toss her

Jerome Le Banner is one of K-1’s most prominent fighters. The 190cm (6’3″) and 120kg (265lbs) mountain of muscle is intimidating looking to say the least. With nicknames such as Hyper Battle Cyborg, you might expect him to pump ice water through his veins as he knocks out opponents in pursuit of numerous kickboxing titles.

However, while training in Japan the fighter recently won the hearts of Japanese people everywhere when he showed great compassion by tenderly holding the hand of an elderly woman as he helped her cross the road.

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BABYMETAL plays first ever US show, bootleg videos leave us wowed

Continuing their meteoric rise to international stardom, BABYMETAL has checked off another box on their world conquest to-do list: Playing a headline show in the US!

The show this weekend has even made waves in Japan thanks to a fan video uploaded to YouTube shortly after the group’s LA tour. Check it out below!

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Chiro the corgi talks, shakes hands, wiggles her bootie, and wins our hearts

Dogs have been human companions for tens of thousands of years, so it’s hardly surprising that we’re still such good buddies. After all, as cute as cats are, you’d be hard pressed to find many felines that would go to bat to protect their owners. They might keep the mice away, but they’re not likely to scare off any burglars.

Even so, some dogs just seem like better protectors than others. Corgis, for example, are apparently great alarm dogs. Though if you’re counting on your corgi to protect you, this video may give you second thoughts…

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Blogger’s silly video of types of dancers at Singapore clubs is trending in Japan

Do you need some extra hop in your step to make the week go by faster? Then maybe one of these ‘dances’ can help!

Celeste Chen is a 24-year-old lifestyle blogger who also runs a successful YouTube channel. Although her video Different types of dancers in Singapore clubs was originally posted on YouTube back in April 2013, it was just featured on a Japanese website a few days ago and is rapidly gaining popularity in Japan. In the video, Celeste has compiled a humorous list of dancers commonly spotted in Singapore clubs…though the way we see it, they could apply to clubs anywhere in the world. Which of the dancers tickles your funny bone the most?

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  • Jul 29, 2014

Hello Kitty IT gadgets now capturing hearts of Japanese netizens, and we can definitely see why!

Now, we know that not all technology may be good, and there are plenty of stories out there, be they movies or novels, of technology run amok. But you have to admit there are times when you just have to love technology, like when it comes in a cute, pop form that allows you to carry around large amounts of data in style. Yes, readers,we present to you these adorable Mimobot and Sanrio collaborative flash drives from Mimoco — they’re currently generating a bit of a buzz on online here in Japan, and we dare anyone out there to say that the results of the collaboration aren’t über cute!

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“Joke” site demonstrates the cruelty of cyberbullying, makes us wet our pants

Bullying has been a problem in Japan, as in many countries, for quite sometime–and like many other countries, cyberbullying is the latest permutation of the issue. While cyberbullies in the west may be using Facebook or Twitter, it seems that the focal point of digital harassment in Japan is the messaging app Line. Regardless of the medium used, there’s no doubt that bullying is traumatic for those on the receiving end.

Sadly, despite numerous public education campaigns and class lectures, bullying isn’t simply going to disappear. Perhaps the deeper issue is one of empathy–we like to think that a bit more understanding would help reduce the problem. And a recent viral webpage does just that, showing how painful it is to be on the receiving end of digital harassment. However, the surprise ending is what really got people in Japan talking.

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  • Jul 26, 2014

Watch this totally unique Sailor Moon fan video — created with illustrations by over 250 artists!

Now, I firmly believe that art in all forms makes the world a richer place. And since there are as many styles of art as there are artists, you can imagine how interesting it would be if a whole bunch of artists got together to create a single animated video using illustrations in each of their unique styles —  which is exactly what happened when over 250 artists provided artwork to reanimate an entire episode of Sailor Moon. The result? A full-length parody episode titled Moon Animate Make-Up that visually looks so hilarious, we just had to share it with you! Read More

Aside from indirectly putting the phrase, “If you build it, they will come,” into the popular lexicon (the actual line in the movie is “If you build it, he will come”), the 1989 film Field of Dreams is remembered for the scene where the main character plays a game of catch with the spirit of his dead father. It’s a touching and emotional scene, but sadly the sort of thing that’s only possible with movie magic.

At least, that’s true if we’re talking about baseball. But for parents and kids who bond through a love of video games, it’s actually possible to play together after a loved one passes away, as one teen recently found out.

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