Japan (Page 1100)

Sweet high-school anime shows how learning kanji can be the key to getting a girlfriend【Videos】

Kanji characters are one of the most fascinating, but also the most troublesome, aspects of the Japanese language—and that goes not just for foreign learners but also for Japanese natives. The Kanji Kentei is a standardized test that you can take to prove your kanji knowledge, but after being drilled on the kanji throughout their school lives Japanese people might not be taken by the idea of sitting for even more exams on the subject.

That’s why the Kanji Kentei administrators, in an effort to encourage people to give up their free time to study kanji and take their exams, has fallen back on the failsafe go-to of Japanese advertising: cute, nostalgic anime.

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We visit Tomonoura, the scenic harbor town that inspired Studio Ghibli’s “Ponyo”【Photos】

If you’ve seen Ponyo, Studio Ghibli’s adorable movie about a fish girl who wants to be human, then the above location may seem pretty familiar. That’s because it was taken in the port town of Tomonoura, where Hayao Miyazaki and his team spent months getting the inspiration and imagery to create their next animated film.

As massive Ghibli fans, we had to take a look at the town for ourselves and see what real-life Ponyo looks like. Read on to check out the beautiful scenery for yourself, and see the effect that Ponyo has had on the town, as well as the effect the town had on Miyazaki.

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Talk with your hands — Mr Sato tests your knowledge of common Japanese hand gestures【Video】

For English speakers, the Japanese language can be difficult to master. The writing system is completely alien, sentences sound like something Yoda would say thanks to the order the words come in, and while it makes perfect sense once you get the hang of it, the Japanese’s habit of omitting pronouns can make conversations almost impossible to follow.

The good news is that for short visits to Japan you can usually get by with very little Japanese since people are usually extremely patient and accommodating. A bit of miming here and a “please” and a “thank you” there will get you a long way.

But if you’re not familiar with Japanese hand gestures, you may end up in a sticky—or at least rather embarrassing—situation…

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Japanese lawyer: Making cosplay for others is copyright infringement

In about a week, Halloween, cosplayers‘ favorite holiday, will be upon us. Millions of people — increasingly including Japanese — will take to the streets in costume, and much of it will be cosplay. But some of this activity may actually be against Japanese law.

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Crazy-looking car is basically one giant airbag, will appear at Tokyo Motor Show next week

If you saw this car on the street, you’d half expect a comically large number of clowns to come piling out of it. But it turns out despite its Looney Tunes-esque look, there’s a noble—if somewhat bizarre—concept behind this new car from Toyoda Gosei.

This is the “Flesby,” a new concept car that Toyoda Gosei will display at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show next week, with the “concept” being essentially that the entire outer body of the car is one gigantic airbag. Let’s take a look.

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Tochigi hot spring pyramid first in the world to let you bathe in cosmic energy as well as water

The Egyptian pyramids stand strong in the scorching heat of the desert, as they have for over 4,500 years. It is said that the techniques that went into building them were well beyond those of human civilization at the time. They are mysteries wrapped inside of enigmas that continue to fascinate us from afar.

And apparently there is also a pyramid in Tochigi Prefecture, which really cuts down on the travel expenses for those of us in Japan wanting to bask in their wonder. One such spendthrift adventurer was RocketNews24’s own Masanuki Sunakoma, who went to investigate.

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Step aside, fortune cookies! Here come fortune cat rice crackers from Japan!

Fortune cookies can be sort of anti-climactic, can’t they? Most of the time, that little slip of paper just reminds you of some pearl of wisdom to help you make yourself a better person, instead of giving you the inside information on the future that you really wanted so that you could succeed in life without all that bothersome self-improvement stuff.

On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine anyone being disappointed if they cracked open their snack to find an adorably chubby cat figurine.

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Live your childhood dreams with this life-size mini four-wheel drive car【Video】

As a child, playing with mini remote-control cars definitely made you the coolest kid on the block. You could drive over almost any surface, reach top speeds in a matter of seconds, and send your animals chasing after them (or perhaps the cars chased the pets?) much to the irritation of adults

Now, as “responsible” adults, we don’t get much of a chance to play with toy cars anymore, unless that toy car has been turned into a real, drivable, 1:1 scale car. This road machine modeled after the Aero Avante won’t be seen running around any toy tracks, as it drives on real roads at speeds over 100 miles per hour!

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Japan has rabbits that cosplay each fall…as other rabbits?!? 【Photos】

I think we can all agree that rabbits are already pretty adorable, right? And they’re much beloved in Japan, where they’ve got their own cafes and even an island.

But still, bunnies’ popularity regularly lags behind that of cats and dogs, so we could understand if they felt the need to step up their cuteness game. As a matter of fact, right now one breed of Japanese rabbit is winning new fans by appearing to cosplay…as another rabit?!?

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Japanese drinks company attaches free “rental umbrellas” to its vending machines in Osaka

Japanese vending machines are a great example of the culture of convenience so prevalent in Japan. Whether you’re after orange juice that looks like soy sauce, or a hot, clam-packed miso soup to cure your hangover, if you want something fast, the nation’s vending machines will be there for you, come rain or shine.

Now one of the country’s largest drinks manufacturers, DyDo, is catering to customers who actually do find themselves caught out in the rain, with a free “rental umbrella” service attached to a number of their machines in Nishi Ward, Osaka.

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Want your own private island? We visited one for sale off the coast of Japan【Pics & Video】

Who wouldn’t want to have their own private island? Imagine being able to get away from the world whenever you liked, free yourself from the stress of the daily grind and just relax under the sun or the nighttime stars on the beach.

Well the best place to start looking for such a private island is Japan. There are lots of small uninhabited islands owned by real estate companies that you can buy one almost as easily as you’d buy a house.

We recently visited one such island for sale to see what it was like and decide whether we should start saving up our pennies to buy one ourselves—after all, Rocket Island has quite a nice ring to it. Read on to see what our trip there was like, and to see some of the surprises that we ran into.

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Need holiday presents for your BABYMETAL-loving friends or family? Funko has you covered!

For a relatively young band, BABYMETAL has lost no time in spreading their music around the world with festival appearances, adorable videos, and endorsements by numerous metal icons. Sadly, they can’t be in every city every day, so your chances of actually seeing the group perform may be kind of low. However, thanks to Funko, you no longer have to wait until their tour pass through your town for a chance to see the fox god devotees. Soon, you’ll be able to buy the whole group and keep them on your shelf!

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International collegiate VR Contest features simulated pants wetting, creepy ear whispering

Virtual reality is a huge topic in the news right now, and with the many VR headsets to be released soon, we imagine the topic will only get hotter. Of course, gamers aren’t the only ones excited about the technology, and plenty of university students have taken a shine to the options virtual reality provides.

The International collegiate Virtual Reality Contest started in 1993, and since then it’s been one of Japan’s best places to find virtual reality project made by students from Japan and abroad. What you might not expect though is just how odd some of these projects can be, with everything from simulated pants wetting to simulated creepy ear whispering.

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This circuit board masking tape will make you never want to go back to the old stuff

Are you tired of using plain old cream-colored masking tape for your masking needs? As you should be! Why keep using the same old drab colorless stuff when you have awesome options like this that will give any surface you apply it to the look of an electric circuit? Nazca Electric Circuit Masking Tape will snazz up any surface, your accessories, and more!

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Voices beckons you to see new project from Attack on Titan director【Video】

Though the live-action Attack on Titan movie wasn’t the gigantic hit it was supposed to be, director Shinji Higuchi is moving forward and has already been signed to co-direct the 2016 blockbuster Shin Gojira (“New Godzilla“). One would think that the Japanese follow-up to the 2014 American reboot of Godzilla would be enough to keep a director busy, but it seems he is multitasking by working on another project with the action director of the live-action Rurouni Kenshin films, Kenji Tanigaki.

This brand new project is titled Voices and features action-packed footage and some stirring theme music. That seems like some solid preview material, but it appears they have left out one key point, what in the world is “Voices”?

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Meetings and more meetings: Foreigners list the pros and cons of working at a Japanese company

It’s no secret that Japan may be headed for a bit of a labor crunch, as the population ages and many older workers reach retirement age with fewer young up-and-comers to replace them. And, while the Japanese government seems reluctant to take measures to replenish the shrinking workforce with foreign laborers, non-Japanese workers are nevertheless entering Japanese corporations and workplaces in record numbers.

But Japanese offices are also notorious for their long hours, slow pace of advancement, and frequent, long meetings. Traditional Japanese companies seem stuck in an old-school work culture even as companies in the rest of the world offer increasingly progressive work-life balance programs, workplace perks, and office hours.

With this stark contrast in mind, our Japanese sister site tracked down seven non-Japanese workers to get their for-realsies impressions of what it’s actually like to work at a Japanese company.

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Kanazawa’s historic “ninja temple” is packed full of hidden rooms, pitfalls, and more

With its rich history, visitors to Japan have no lack of interesting sites to see, from imperial palaces to castles, to the seemingly endless shrines and temples all across the country. Each spot has its own particular attraction that draws tourists in for a visit, from the giant Kaminarimon lantern at Tokyo’s Sensoji Temple, to the literally thousands of torii shrine gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto.

But here’s one temple you don’t want to forget to add to your itinerary: nicknamed the “Ninja Temple“, Myouritsu Temple is not just your ordinary run-of-the-mill Buddhist sanctuary. Full of secrets and surprises, adults and children alike are sure to enjoy what this special place has to offer.

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Japan’s biggest yakuza organization tweets to announce that Halloween is cancelled this year

Ah Halloween. After Christmas, it’s easily the best time of the year to be a kid. You get to dress up, scare people with your friends, and then best of all… go to your local organized crime branch to get a giant bag of candy.

Such has been the annual tradition on Halloween for children who visit the headquarters of the Japanese yakuza group Yamaguchi-gumi in Kobe. But this year, Halloween has had an “unfortunate accident” and been cancelled, meaning the mob will be handing out no candy.

Wait… what? Japanese mafia? Halloween candy? What do these things have in common? Read on to find out!

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Synchronized robot dance group World Order performs their final music video together【Video】

Here at RocketNews24, we’re huge fans of the hypnotically synchronized dance group World Order. We’ve followed them dancing all over Tokyo, London, and even giving one of the most amazing opening pitches to a baseball game ever.

The group has recently put out a new music video entitled “The Next Phase” where they show off their robotic moves in Paris and Berlin. While it’s just as impressive as their other videos, this one has a bittersweet twist: it will be the last performance by the group’s leader Genki Sudo.

Watch the video and find out why he’s leaving at the link below!

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Butter sushi becoming an unlikely hit in Osaka

In Japan, some of the most prized types of sushi are loved by gourmets for their rich flavor. High-quality uni (sea urchin) is decadently creamy, and the premium cuts of tuna are those with extra fat.

But this chain of restaurants in Japan might be offering the richest sushi ever, since the pieces have a pat of butter on them!

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