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Japan (Page 1096)

This high school girl is incredibly popular online, but can you guess what her secret is?【Photos】

We’ve seen a lot of Japanese high school girls who have become popular online for various reasons, from being funny to being silly to be pretty. But this girl has been getting a ton of attention online all because of a little secret that is now out of the bag. Can you guess what it is?

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The city of Dazaifu, located in Fukuoka Prefecture, has a couple of nice cultural sites, such as the Tenmangu Shinto shrine and Komyozenji Buddhist temple. It’s pretty short on modern, youth-oriented attractions, though, so many of the city’s younger residents were probably thrilled when they heard that Momoiro Clover Z, one of Japan’s most popular idol units, would be holding a concert in their relatively sleepy town.

Many of them were less thrilled, though, when it was announced that the concert would be held only for male fans, a decision that’s drawn complaints from a local women’s group.

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We ordered a box of koi-shaped sushi to see if they taste as good as they look 【Taste Test】

Last week we saw the amazing koi-shaped (carp-shaped) sushi created by one sushi shop in Japan. While they were certainly beautiful and life-like, one question was on our mind: How do they taste?

To find out, we ordered a box of the koi-shaped sushi and gave it a try. Does the fish-shaped sushi’s taste live up to its appearance? Read on to find out!

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The Holy Grail is full-sized, features lights, music and the voice of Sailor Moon【Video】

Fans of the Sailor Moon anime franchise have been enjoying some extra special items this year; we’ve seen tiny, miniature replicas of the girls’ everyday items, lip balm transformation rods and even Moon Stick pens, and now it’s time to add a life-sized addition to our collections.

The Rainbow Moon Chalice, the magical object that transforms the heroine of the popular anime franchise into Super Sailor Moon, is available now as a 1:1 scale replica from the Proplica series of life-sized props. Featuring lights and music from the series and also the voice of Kotono Mitsuishi, who voices Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon and Chibi Chibi/Sailor Chibi Chibi in the anime, this is one item that can let you play out your fantasies of transforming into a super you!

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Artist Mio Hashimoto shares her stunning wooden animal sculptures and methods in new how-to book

The visual arts are, for a writer like me, akin to magic. I see the finished product and the raw material and I basically have no idea how the artist got from point A to point B — even if I actually watched them work through the entire process! And when it comes to sculptures, all bets are off. You could tell me a wizard conjured the work whole with a wave of a wand, and I’d be hard-pressed to prove you wrong.

Fortunately, the incredibly talented Mio Hashimoto, woodcarver and artist, has written a how-to book explaining some of her methods and showing the detail of some of her adorable animal sculptures. Now, at least, I’ll know exactly how she achieved her results, even if I’ll never have a chance of replicating them myself. And for all you artists out there, aspiring or otherwise, this book will teach you how to make all the pets you’ll ever want!

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This autumn’s “Sunset Panda” endangered by cloud cover, still pulls in the crowds 【Video】

Two days each year, once in the autumn and again in spring, the setting sun passes behind an NTT antenna tower in the Taruyamachi area of Akashi City, Hyogo. Due to the arrangement of dishes and other receivers, as the sun moves behind them, for the briefest of moments the face of a giant cartoon panda appears, like some benevolent forest god looking down on the town below.

This autumn, on 12 October at 5:28pm, people all over Akashi City gathered to witness the biannual moment of celestial cuteness—an event which has come to be known as the Sunset Panda. However, with cloudy skies and light drizzle it became unclear whether the roly-poly sun bear would come out to play this time…

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Charitable bird feeds hungry fish in Miyazaki Prefecture【Video】

Everyone should indulge in a bit of cross-cultural exchange every now and then to expand their worldly horizons–and as the following smartphone video illustrates, cross-species exchange can be just as, if not more, rewarding. Just take it from this black swan who’s made it his personal mission to feed some floundering fish friends!

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Japan Self-Defense Force’s official magazine causes a stir for featuring gravure idols

For the past couple of years, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have been put under the spotlight as politicians debate approving a re-interpretation of the country’s constitution, allowing the JSDF more freedom to take action should the need arise. The motion eventually passed last month, followed by a spectacle of chaos and outrage that became worldwide news.

But lately people have started talking about something else surprising: an official Self-Defense Force magazine catering to military enthusiasts and featuring gravure model spreads.
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  • Oct 13, 2015

Edible owls and cats make sweet appearance at Tokyu Hands Ikebukuro Store!

If you love cats and owls — and judging from the popularity of cat and owl cafes in Japan, we’re guessing there are a good number of people who do — then the Tokyu Hands Ikebukuro Store in Tokyo may be a place you want to check out this month. Their ongoing special event features various cat and owl-themed products including irresistibly cute sweets, and we just had to share with you the images of these expertly crafted cat and owl cakes!

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Weird new Japanese website lets you flick a cute girl’s forehead to your heart’s content

Well, this is probably the weirdest snippet of news from Japan that you’ll read about all week.

On Friday, a new Japanese website was unveiled which has the sole purpose of allowing net users to forcefully flick their fingers into the forehead of a cute girl (an admonishing action known as a dekopin in Japanese) and watch her exasperated reaction, all done virtually through the screen, of course. After all, hasn’t that always been on your bucket list?

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Wall dogs: Pups poking their heads through holes wanting to join you on your walkies 【Pics】

When we recently came across an adorable Shiba Inu peering out of a wall of shrubbery and an Akita dog poking his nose out of a hole in the wall, we figured these were one-off, rare sightings, much like the sight of a hedgehog riding on the back of a rubber duck or a cat dressed in an elegant kimono.

But it turns out we were just scratching the surface of a well-known pastime in the canine world, which involves dogs of all shapes and sizes squeezing themselves into holes in walls to catch a whiff of what’s going on outside. And no dog is immune to the trend, with bulldogs, collies and beagles getting in on the cute act too!

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Hardcore gamer refuses to let game save die, leaves his Super NES on for almost two decades

Umihara Kawase was released for the Super Famicom (Super NES in the west) in December, 1994, just over two decades ago. It was a popular game that has spawned a number of sequels for a variety of platforms and has won its fair share of fans, including many who loved the original cartridge game. Unfortunately, some cartridge games from the 90s featured a fatal flaw in their storage: the batteries keeping players’ saves alive eventually dies.

While most gamers finally give up and waved goodbye to their progress, lost to the ravages of time, one hardcore fan has refused to lose his save and has simply left his console plugged in and switched on for the last 20 years!

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Snack time! Our team list their favorite Japanese convenience store treats

If you spend any length of time in Japan, you’ll probably find yourself at the convenience store quite a bit. While there are plenty of foods that you might not be accustomed too, there are also plenty that will delight your mouth.

But with the wide range available to you, it may be hard to pick some to start with. So to help you decide, we asked some of our very own writers, all of whom have lived in Japan for years, what their favorite snacks are and compiled this list for your shopping information and drooling pleasure!

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PlayStation Japan’s Pro Evolution ad is actually pretty cool 【Video】

Japanese ads frequently miss the mark, often being overly bizarre or simply cringe-inducing, but sometimes the marketing gurus hit the back of the net, as with this latest TV spot from PlayStation Japan.

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In Japan, you’ll sometimes find extremely classy restrooms in surprising places, like sparkling-clean highway rest stops. But does that same metric apply to locations that you would expect to have swanky bathroom facilities?

It does in the case of the Takarazuka Grand Theater, home of the famous all-female Takarazuka Revue, which not only has an opulent restroom waiting for its guests, but also an extremely enlightened ratio of male to female bathroom stalls.

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Recently, we’ve been seeing what appear to be cracks in Nintendo’s outer image as a smiley, pure-hearted, “I’m OK, you’re OK” kind of company. First, we saw that the company’s official Line account is still holding a grudge against Sony for the industry-changing success of its PlayStation console. Now, some fans have found that their new figures of presumable nice guys Mario and Luigi reveal the Nintendo stars to be smirking, gloating jerks.

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Sailor Moon Moon Castle accessory stand will give your room a touch of Silver Millennium class

As one of the most enduringly popular anime franchises aimed at women, Sailor Moon has a huge variety of official jewelry and accessories that fans can adorn themselves with. The complete lineup is so large that some dedicated collectors might even need a way to keep it all organized, and what better way to do so than with a gorgeous accessory stand based on the series’ palatial Moon Castle?

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Pikachu and other old-school grass, fire, and water Pokémon become silver and gold necklaces

While each new installment of the Pokémon franchise introduces a new batch of charismatic Pocket Monsters, the original adorable combatants have been faithfully serving their Pokémon Masters for close to 20 years now. We’re sure a couple of long-time fans have formed a special bond with their first Pokémon, and you can now proudly display a symbol of your devotion with these silver and gold necklaces featuring the old-school grass, fire, and water Pokémon (and of course Pikachu too).

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New study suggests Japanese people born in late winter at higher risk of suicide

While Japan is famous for its animation, food, pop-culture, it’s also infamous for its extremely high suicide rates. Many Japanese students and salarymen succumb to the pressures of school and work by taking their own lives. There is little knowledge about what factors increase the risk of suicide, but recent research has found that people, namely adolescents, born between January 1 and April 1, are 30 percent more likely to commit suicide. 

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