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Japan (Page 1162)

Japanese mom teaches nine-year-old son the horrors of the internet, posts the hilarious results

Parenting in the internet age is a whole lot more difficult than it was before our world was taken over by machines. Back then, the scariest conversation you had to have with your kids was about the birds and the bees, but now it’s the birds and the bees and the creepy old guy pretending to be a high school girl in an online chatroom.

One Japanese mom posted the conversations on Twitter that she’s recently had to have with her nine-year-old son, and they’ve been getting a lot of attention online. Read them for yourself and you’ll crack up over both how true and how hilarious they are.

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Spirited Away and Ghost in Shell’s sound director talks about the human side of working in anime

Many Japanese animation fans can rattle off a list of the animation directors or character designers they admire, but the visuals are only half of the way anime stimulates the senses. For everything that you’re hearing during your favorite show, you can thank the sound director.

It’s a role Kazuhiro Wakabayashi has been filling for decades, and we recently sat in on a talk the industry veteran gave about the unique challenges a sound director faces, what it’s like to work with some of the biggest names in Japanese animation, including Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki and Ghost in the Shell’s Mamoru Oshii, and the surprisingly deep human element of creating the audio environment for a fictional world.

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Predicting Japan’s next big earthquake–should we worry? Probably

Japan is home to 110 active volcanoes, 47 of which are monitored continually by the Japan Meteorological Association (JMA). Japan also holds seven percent of all the active volcanoes in the world.

Last year, Mount Ontake in Nagano Prefecture exploded without warning, killing over 60 people, many of them hikers. Mount Hakone in the hot springs resort town near Mount Fuji is on level-2 alert. Mount Fuji itself, a dormant volcano and World Heritage site is being looked at with a wary eye by many and authorities are advising hikers to wear helmets, dust masks and goggles when climbing. The volcano that most appears in the news, however, is Sakurajima, located off Kyushu, which is also one of the world’s most active volcanoes.

“Dutchsinse,” a self-proclaimed “News Personality” who has a cult following on Facebook and YouTube gives a near daily video update of volcanic and earthquake activity around the world. He recently highlighted Japan’s volcanoes and earthquakes and warns that pressure building in the region of Sakurajima, along with other multiple large eruptions in the Pacific region, could be a sign of something bigger to come.

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Summer is coming! Stay cool with this retro-style shaved-ice maker!

The cicadas are chirping, the sun is shining, and we’re starting to get sweaty – it can only mean one thing: summer is coming! And with it all kinds of delicious treats like ice cream, ice cream, and, oh yes, ice cream.

But when you only really want to cool down and don’t want to consume too many calories, shaved ice is a much lighter alternative source of summer snack. But why rely on others to do your shaving for you? Why not shave it yourself in style with this awesome retro shaved ice maker?

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Pre-order the sleek new Batman figure envisioned by a prolific video game designer

Tetsuya Nomura is the mastermind behind this upcoming Batman figure, the likes of which you’ve never seen before. The 44-year-old video game artist/designer/director of Square Enix fame (he’s a veteran of both the Final Fantasy series and Kingdom Hearts) personally designed this version of the Dark Knight, and if you’re a fan of both his work and DC Comics, you’d better ready your wallet now!

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Valley of the (creepy) dolls: Nagoro has hundreds of scarecrows but almost no people

On a recent trip to Shikoku, we heard about a small town tucked away in the Iya Valley called Nagoro. Like many small rural towns in Japan, the human population has dwindled to almost nothing in recent years. Unlike other towns, though, Nagoro doesn’t look empty. That’s because it’s populated by hundreds of scarecrows.

Of course we had to go check it out.

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Super Mega Important Debate: Soy sauce-based ramen or miso-based ramen? 【Poll closed】

Happy Saturday, everyone! We hope you got through the week with all your bits and pieces still connected and without getting fired. But before you go off and start being nice to people now that you have a day off, let’s argue about food.

This week we’re talking about soy sauce-based ramen and miso-based ramen – two firm favourites in the world of delicious, soupy noodles and each with legions of fans. But of course, as Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert told us in the 1986 film Highlander, there can be only one, so pick a side and make your click count.

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While dogs remain one of Japan’s favorite pet choices, you can actually get much of the same enjoyment from a pet turtle or tortoise. For example, we’ve seen that with enough patience, you and your shelled friend can enjoy going for walks together. And just like dog owners might one day experience the joy of coming home and finding a litter of puppies, so too can those with a turtle feel blessed when it lays a bunch of adorable little eggs.

As a matter of fact, the latter might even be the better of the two, since turtle eggs are far easier to cook than puppies. What’s that? You say you wouldn’t eat your animal companions’ eggs? Then you’re clearly operating under different thinking than this pet owner in Japan.

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Usually, lingerie maker Triumph International Japan takes about half a year between announcing its innovative and unusual concept bras. So since it’s been about six months since we saw the company’s paired Close Sisters Bras, we figured the its next design highlighting a social trend was just about due.

Sure enough, this week Triumph showed off its newest creation: a bra that’ll give you verbal pep talks and also help you snap selfies.

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Get lucky: Survey polls Japanese women about their one-night-only amorous affairs in satin sheets

When it comes to sex, people like it all kinds of different ways. Some people don’t even like it at all, but as long as it’s consensual, we don’t care, as long as you’re happy! Nevertheless, we’re also pretty curious about it–maybe we’re busybodies or maybe the idea of people smooshing themselves together is just too funny not to think about.

Regardless of the why, we are naturally curious about sex in Japan. And we bet you are, too! So here’s a recent survey done with 3,000 Japanese women to find out how many have had one-night stands!

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Century-old brewery crafts soy sauce specifically for use on pudding

Village Vanguard is a popular chain of novelty stores across Japan. There you can find all sorts of things from bird poop stickers to Resident Evil curry to wasabi toothpaste. As such, it’s easy to get desensitized to their range of items and lose the ability to be surprised with what they come out with next.

Or so we thought, until word came of a new product that will be sold there around the end of May. Purin Senyo Shoyu is a specially crafted soy sauce meant to be drizzled over a jiggly glob of pudding. You might wonder what pudding and soy sauce taste like together. The answer is surprisingly simple: it tastes like sea urchin.

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Evangelion razor stands being given away as Gendo shaves for the first time in years in new video

When I stop and think about it, I’ve actually got a couple of things in common in Shinji, the protagonist of hit anime Evangelion. We both live in Kanagawa Prefecture. In our teen years, we were both entrusted by our fathers with pieces of fantastic machinery (although Shinji’s Eva Unit 01 combat robot is more technologically advanced than the Mazda I drove through my student years). And for both of us, our mental images of said fathers are strongly linked with their facial hair.

But while I’ve never seen my dad entirely clean-shaven, Shinji’s old man, Gendo, occasionally gets rid of his signature Abe Lincoln beard as part of his sporadic spokesman role for razor manufacturer Schick. He’s once again answered the U.S.-based company’s call, and as part of his anime’s latest endorsement deal, the stoically mad scientist is appearing in a new animated ad and giving away some cool Evangelion goodies, including a motorized razor stand shaped like the mecha his son pilots.

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Do you own your face? If Uniqlo can’t tell, they might not let you put it on a T-shirt

As he’s shown in the past, RocketNews24’s intrepid Japanese-language reporter Mr. Sato is a stylish guy. As a matter of fact, he’s got such a flair for fashion that when clothing brand Uniqlo brought back its service where you can design your own T-shirts, which can then be purchased by other shoppers, he leapt into action and created the most seductively sensual look possible: a black short-sleeve plastered with his own handsome mug.

Unfortunately, Uniqlo rejected the design, and not just because Mr. Sato’s visage is so steamy its borderline illegal, but because of a lack of confirmation that he owns it.

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Voice of Doraemon, Nobuyo Oyama, suffering from dementia at 78

While some anime attempt to realistically show the passage of in-show years, this isn’t always the case. Much like with their western counterparts, the events of many of Japan’s biggest mainstream animated hits seem to take place in a world where time stands still. So just like Bart and Lisa Simpson have been in elementary school for decades, so too have Nobita, Shizuka, and the rest of the core cast of Doraemon.

But while the anime’s characters never age, the voice talent playing them does, and the franchise’s generations of fans recently received the sad news that voice actress Nobuyo Oyama, the voice of Doraemon himself, is suffering from dementia.

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Get your slime-striking swords ready, 3DS remake for Dragon Quest VIII announced

Outside of Japan, the name “Dragon Quest” may not have the same brand-recognition as other video game franchises, like Final Fantasy or Mario, but inside Japan it’s basically on the same level. And if you’ve ever had the pleasure of slashing your way through a slime-infested Dragon Quest dungeon, then chances are you’re a fan too.

And now Nintendo is getting ready to usher in a new generation of Dragon Quest fans, and perhaps reignite some old flames as well, by releasing Dragon Quest VIII on the Nintendo 3DS.

If you’ve already played through the classic before on the PlayStation 2, no worries! The game will feature tons of new content: new characters, new scenarios, and brand new voice acting to bring the dialogue to life.

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In the name of the moon, do nothing! Sailor Moon pajamas arrive to help you loaf around the house

If you’re an anime fan who grew up watching and loving Sailor Moon, we’ve got good news and bad news. The bad news is no matter how cute main character Usagi looks in her school uniform, you’re probably past the age where you’ll have many chances to actually wear a sailor suit in public (occasional anime convention notwithstanding).

The good news is that now there’s a set of Sailor Moon pajamas that look comfy enough that you might want to make them your de-facto uniform for relaxing at home.

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The Mother of all Bentos–a Japanese meal that’s to die for

If you’ve been to Japan, you may have been told about the two most common table etiquette faux pas, both related to funerals and death. If you’re not very familiar with Japanese customs, these gaffes are way too easy to commit because on the surface, nothing seems obviously wrong with them.

Since we at RocketNews24 believe that unraveling the mysteries of Japanese culture is part of the fun of traveling and even living in Japan, in this article we’re going to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no gaijin has gone before: We’re going to reveal the meaning behind the mother of all lunch boxes: the funeral bento. It’s big, it’s bulky, it’s boisterous, and it’s drop-dead gorgeous.

This veritable feast in a box contains a seven-course meal which is big enough to share with the deceased. Yep, that’s right. Join us while we eat with the dead. Read on!

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RocketKitchen makes a giant Hi-Chew candy from over 1,400 Hi-Chew pieces!

When you talk about soft candy in Japan, the first thing that comes to mind is Hi-Chew made by Morinaga. These delightfully chewy candies pack a mouthful of flavor in a small soft package. The flavors can range from your run-of -the-mill candy flavors like strawberry, grape and orange, to prefecture specific flavors like Hokkaido’s Yubari melon. The candy has gotten so popular that you can even find it pretty easily in stores (and even a factory) in the United States as well.

Anyone who has eaten a Hi-Chew knows that the taste and texture is so nice that just one piece is never good enough. Even when you try putting two of them in your mouth it doesn’t quite hit the spot. Soon you realize you’ve eaten the entire pack and have to buy another one! If only there was a larger version of the candy that we could sink our teeth into. RocketKitchen isn’t talking just medium or large size Hi-Chew either, we are going gigantic!

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Even though Japan has been widely enjoying green tea for centuries and Western-style desserts for decades, it’s really only in the past 10 or 15 years that green tea sweets have really exploded in popularity. Out of the many varieties of green tea, matcha is considered to be the most luxuriously gourmet, with a richly deep aroma, flavor, and color.

The problem, though, it that matcha can be strongly bitter, which is why it’s usually served with Japanese confectionaries to take a little of its edge off. As such, a lot of sweets are billed as matcha fumi, or “green tea-taste” to show that while they’ve got a hint of matcha flavor, they’re not so heavily loaded with the stuff.

But if you want to unleash the full, unbridled force of matcha on your palate while you satisfy your craving for dessert, this shop in Shizuoka Prefecture boasts it has the most matcha-intense ice cream in the world.

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Got cat tongue? Tongue tip training tip claims to help you drink the hottest of liquids

Japan has a zillion proverbs involving cats, probably because cats are awesome and add flavour and colour to everything in life. One such proverb is “nekojita” which literally means “cat tongue” and describes people who are unable to handle hot drinks and liquids making contact with their precious pink taste buds.

It’s pretty easy to see where the proverb came from – offer anything hot and edible to a cat and watch the look of horror on their face. But did you cat-tongued-people know that there’s a secret method you can use to train yourself to slurp the hottest of liquids with grace and ease?

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