Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Japan (Page 1148)
Last week, we took a look at an ad for West Japan Railways that was produced by animators affiliated with Studio Ghibli. If its images of a happy family enjoying the great outdoors had you ready to pack your bags, why not make said bags anime-style too, with these My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service suitcases?
“Whenever I try to clip my cat’s claws, it goes ballistic. What on earth can I do so that it will let me?”
The above thought has probably crossed the mind of anyone who has ever had the distinct pleasure of caring for a cat. So how should you deal with a long-clawed, ferocious feline? Well, you can always purchase one of these unique masks made exclusively for kitties in need of a trim…and watch it transform into a weird-looking alien in the process!
People travel to Japan for all sorts of different reasons. Many are seeking a taste of tradition and history, and plan visits to the country’s most important shrines and castles. Some are drawn by Japan’s natural beauty, heading for its mountains and forests, while still others come to throw themselves into its neon-soaked urban entertainment centers.
But no matter what’s on your itinerary, at some point you’re going to need to get something to eat, and when your stomach starts growling, you can rely on the experience of those who made the trip before you with TripAdvisor’s list of the 10 best restaurants in Japan.
Over two years ago, the Finnish Ambassador to Japan announced that a Moomin theme park was being developed in Japan with the expected opening date in 2015. Some of our readers might be asking, “What the heck is a Moomin?” but these hippo-like fairies who originated in Finland have a very strong following and fan base in Japan. You might not be familiar with Moomin before you come to Japan, but once you get here, you grow to welcome them at your dining table.
Well, it’s already halfway through 2015, and there is still no Moomin theme park ready to take our money. Or is there? There might be a forthcoming announcement that has us all in a tizzy.
Japan Railways’ high-speed Shinkansen bullet trains have, since their inception, been famous for their timely arrivals and paramount safety. But that record was marred today by a self-immolation suicide that claimed the lives of two people on board a train travelling between Tokyo and Osaka.
Summer in Japan means heat and humidity — enough such that people will try to cool down by any means necessary, including enjoying a few hair-raising ghost stories. From haunted houses to horror films, there are plenty of ways to get goosebumps in Japan, but today we’ll be taking you to the location of one of Tokyo’s most famous angry spirit!
Though it’s not exactly a shinrei spot (a place where ghosts have allegedly appeared), Taira no Masakada Kubizuka is one of the most famous “ghost” spots in Japan. It’s where Taira no Masakada’s head was enshrined in order to quell his spirit…because people believed it was wrecking havoc on the capital!
If you’re into fashion, coffee, or both, you may remember the collaborative items that Starbucks and New York-based fashion brand Alice + Olivia came up with, the first of which were released in North America about a year and a half ago. Not surprisingly, the items apparently caused a bit of a craze among fashionistas at the time (seriously, who thinks of something like a tumbler dressed up with a tutu?), with everyone clamoring to get their hands on the limited edition goods.
Well, it turns out the collaboration recently made its way to Japan, but one of the reporters from our Japanese sister site Pouch ended up finding out the hard way that the goods were in just as much demand here in Japan as they were in the U.S.!
There’s a pretty lengthy list of traditional seasonings Japan uses for its indigenous cuisine, including soy sauce, wasabi, and the sweet rice wine called mirin. But one condiment from overseas that the country has warmly embraced is Tabasco sauce, a dash of which is often added to pasta and pizza in casual dining.
But foodies in Japan love taking foreign foodstuffs and mixing them with a domestic element, which is why one company in Japan is now selling a Tabasco-like hot sauce you won’t find anywhere else, since it’s made with tangy plums.
Curry in Japan is not usually a fancy affair. It’s mostly found in places that are closer to a fast food level than a top-tier restaurant in Ginza — and that’s fine! Who can argue with inexpensive but delicious?
But not every curry restaurant is merely “cheap ‘n’ tasty.” Take, for example, Ishikawa Prefecture’s Go! Go! Curry, where you can get both regular curry and high-class 5,500-yen-a-plate curry! But is this US$45-curry worth the trip from Tokyo? We sent our Japanese writer Meg to find out!
Our Japanese-language reporter Go recently returned from a trip to the U.S. While there, he hunted for aliens and sampled the local cuisine, but mostly what he did was drive.
While Japan is filled with winding mountain passes that make for enjoyable drives, the wide-open American road has an appeal all its own. After days of barreling down the highways of the southwest, Go came back to Japan with these 50 experiences he had driving in the U.S.
Take a stroll down the streets of Ginza and you’ll have no trouble realizing it’s Tokyo’s epicenter of everything posh and luxurious. The neighborhood is packed with shop after shop boasting high-end fashion, jewelry, and dining, so it’s only natural to think that any sushi restaurants in the area cater to an upscale clientele.
That being said, three reporters from our Japanese-language sister site began to wonder what would happen if they went to a Ginza sushi restaurant dressed to varying degrees of formality and ordered a special o-makase (“leave it to the chef”) course.
Would they each be offered different menu items depending on how they were dressed? Would their bills come out to be significantly different? With these burning questions in mind (and the prospect of eating sushi in the guise of journalism), they decided to conduct a little experiment to find out for themselves!
Certainly, it is the dream of every kid and a not-insignificant number of adults for their crude doodles of space monsters, stick figures and whatnot to suddenly spring to life. Imagine how much fun you would have if you could actually hang out with that stick figure you drew in third grade!
Let’s ignore the reality that said stick figure would probably just stare at you, handless arm extended towards you in silent accusation at how you gave it such terrible, unholy life. It would be pretty cool to just draw up a new friend to hang out with, or triceratops to ride or something just whenever, right?
Well, Takara Tomy Arts has kind of, sort of figured out a way to make dreams of bringing your drawings to life a reality, with Picturerium, an aquarium that you populate with your own doodles!
Illustrations by legendary anime director Hayao Miyazaki are among the 130 artworks going on display in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, next month.
The exhibition of background illustrations and character sketches, which have never been on public display before, celebrates the 40th anniversary of Nippon Animation’s World Animation Theatre, the weekly TV anime showcase which Miyazaki and Isao Takahata both worked on before founding Studio Ghibli together in 1985.
Depending on the genre, a well-made movie can have you howling with laughter, thrilled by the on-screen action, or feeling cleansed after a cathartic cry. But while those are all enjoyable enough, every now and again you run into a film that affects you on a deeper level by helping to teach you some inevitable facet of life itself.
We recently made a trip to the theater to watch Mad Max: Fury Road, and since then every time we look up at the night sky, we’ve been reminded of the certainty that one day we’ll all be living in a dystopian wasteland. In preparation, we’ve already started stockpiling water and canned goods, and now we’ll be able to tour the wastelands in style with our customized Mad Max-style Yamaha three-wheeled motorcycle.
If you’re in the mood to cook but running short on ingredients, there’s always the old tactic of asking your neighbor for a cup of sugar. If you are in Japan though, why don’t you ask your neighbor for a cup of mirin, or sweet sake used for cooking, instead?
The Sanshu Mikawa Mirin Distillery has recently been promoting sweets made with mirin. This notion is bound to turn some heads as there doesn’t seem to be a correlation between mirin and sweets in Japanese cooking, where it’s instead often used to add a flavorful touch to grilled fish or sushi. So how is it that this seemingly savory flavor can be substituted for the sweetness of sugar? The RocketKitchen is going to get to the bottom of this and eat some pudding too!
Ah, childbirth. That lovely moment when the child you’ve been waiting to meet for months finally comes into the world and brings with it all the joys that come with parenthood. If you’re a woman, that moment also equates to the feeling of your body being ripped into bits as you forcefully expel a new human being from your body. (Sorry if you’re drinking your morning tea as you read this!)
Like the rest of the female population around the world, Japanese women are no strangers to the pains of birthing a child. Below, we have gathered eleven of amusing anecdotes that have been shared over social media relating to their pregnancies, the hysterical states they were in during childbirth, and the time after their child’s birth. And don’t miss the one story at the end that will positively melt your heart.
On 23 June the Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) announced that it would be conducting a first-of-its-kind study into public bathing facilities such as onsen (hot springs) and sento (bath houses), and their rules regarding tattoos.
Visitors to Japan are often warned that if they want to visit one of Japan’s hundreds of natural springs or meticulously designed baths they can’t be inked up. But how widespread is this rule in Japan really, and is it doing more harm than good in this day and age? These are the things the JTA hopes to learn more about in the weeks to come.
Japan’s National Tourist Organization recently released its statistics on the number of overseas travelers who visited in the country in 2014, and we’re proud to say that 13,413,467 of you came to visit (though we’re also a little hurt that so few of you called us up to get ramen while you were here). That number represents almost a 30-percent increase from the number of foreign tourists Japan received in 2013, and a whopping 60-percent jump compared to 2012.
Still, Japan only ranks 27th globally in its ability to draw travelers from abroad, making it eighth in Asia, behind world-number 22 Korea and number four China.
So what’s holding Japan back from becoming an even more popular international travel destination? RocketNews24’s non-Japanese staff put our heads together, and after getting over the initial pain from our foreheads violently colliding, came up with the following list of areas Japan could do better in that foreign travelers would definitely appreciate.
As you may have noticed, there’s a lot of Attack on Titan stuff to spend your money on. Add in the fact that not one, but two theatrical features are coming this summer for the phenomenally popular franchise, and fans are probably feeling the need to economize and cut back on their discretionary expenditures to make room in their budget for more Titan-related ones.
And if you’re pinching your pennies, what better place to store them than in a gigantic 1:100 scale Colossal Titan coin bank?
Happy weekend, everyone! Congratulations on surviving another week!
But before you run off to smother yourself with butter and startle donkeys by shouting the names of under-appreciated actors from the 1980s (hey, we don’t know what you do with your spare time), we have one little question to ask you: are Japanese futons awesome, or are they awful?
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
Starbucks reopens at Shibuya Scramble Crossing with new look and design concept
The oldest tunnel in Japan is believed to be haunted, and strange things happen when we go there
Is the new Shinkansen Train Desk ticket worth it?
Our reporter takes her 71-year-old mother to a visual kei concert for the first time
Tokyo’s most famous arcade announces price increase, fans don’t seem to mind at all
Hey, Japanese taxi driver! Take us to your favorite restaurant in Tsuruga City!
Hey, Thai tuk-tuk driver! Take us to the best Thai restaurant in this part of Bangkok!
Randomly running into a great sushi lunch like this is one of the best things about eating in TokyoMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in Tokyo
We try out “Chan Ramen”, an underground type of ramen popular in the ramen communityStarbucks reopens at Shibuya Scramble Crossing with new look and design concept
Beautiful new Final Fantasy T-shirt collection on the way from Uniqlo【Photos】
Foreign English teachers in Japan pick their favorite Japanese-language phrases【Survey】Is the new Shinkansen Train Desk ticket worth it?More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
There’s a park inside Japan where you can also see Japan inside the park
Japanese convenience store packs a whole bento into an onigiri rice ballMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Studio Ghibli releases Kiki’s Delivery Service chocolate cake pouches in Japan
Japan’s bone-breaking and record-breaking roller coaster is permanently shutting down
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Foreign passenger shoves conductor on one of the last full runs for Japan’s Thunderbird train
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese things
Kyoto bans tourists from geisha alleys in Gion, with fines for those who don’t follow rules
Studio Ghibli unveils Mother’s Day gift set that captures the love in My Neighbour Totoro
Domino’s Japan now sells…pizza ears?
New Japanese KitKat flavour stars Sanrio characters, including Hello Kitty
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappoint
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
Studio Ghibli’s new desktop Howl’s Moving Castle will take your stationery on an adventure
Our reporter takes her 71-year-old mother to a visual kei concert for the first time
Tokyo’s most famous arcade announces price increase, fans don’t seem to mind at all
Hey, Japanese taxi driver! Take us to your favorite restaurant in Tsuruga City!
Hey, Thai tuk-tuk driver! Take us to the best Thai restaurant in this part of Bangkok!
Randomly running into a great sushi lunch like this is one of the best things about eating in Tokyo
How can you maximize the calories you burn singing karaoke?【Experiment】
Ghibli’s Boy and the Heron wins Academy Award, studio COO apologizes for Hayao Miyazaki’s absence
Osaka’s creepy cute mascot speaks for first time, adds more fuel the creepy OR cute debate【Video】
Kyoto’s “ikezu” culture of backhanded compliments explained in hilarious souvenir sticker series
The 5 best Japanese bento to buy at Kyoto Station
Just how clean are Japan’s high-tech public restroom bidet-equipped toilets?
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in Tokyo
Japan’s biggest dating app says young people not interested in romance, creates AI girlfriend app
Sengoku samurai warlords transform into easy-to-brew, fruity flavored tea tablets
