Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Japan (Page 1175)
While visiting the city of Sapporo, our adventurous reporter Mr. Sato stumbled upon this bizarre looking complex called the Retro Space Saka Hall. The whole place looked incredibly sketchy, but that was right up his alley.
Little did he know, however, that this dingy-looking industrial complex nestled in snow would almost move him to tears.
A lot of work goes into making animated films, but what is it that really makes a particular film stand out? Of course the animation itself is important, as is the storyline, but you can’t forget about the voices that give the characters their unique personalities and help bring them to life.
If you’re a fan of anime, you probably have a favorite voice actor or two, be they English-speaking or the original Japanese seiyuu. But how many of you are familiar with the Japanese people behind Hayao Miyazaki’s animated characters? As it turns out, professional voice actors are seldom used in the making of Miyazaki’s films. In fact, some of the voices behind the father characters aren’t even actors at all, with the likes of journalists and copywriters even being used to fill key roles.
Paris is certainly a city with no shortage of cafes, and when the coffee you’re serving is good enough to be highly praised by discerning Parisians, you’re bound to get noticed — even half way around the world in Tokyo! That’s exactly what’s happened with the cafe Coutume, which opened its third location in Japan earlier this month. The new shop, located in Tokyo’s Futakotamagawa neighborhood, provides a slightly different service style from the first two branches in Japan that opened last year in Aoyama (also in Tokyo) and Osaka.
And of course, we were more than eager to go and check the new shop out on opening day to taste what some people are saying is Paris’ best coffee!
Being the very heart of the anime and consumer electronics scene in Japan, it’s no surprise that Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood has Internet cafes where you can also read comics from a massive in-house manga library. But as nice as it can be to immerse yourself in all of the extremely important information available online, or to gorge yourself on a year’s worth of manga at a fraction of the price you’d pay to buy it, you might find yourself wanting to do so in relaxing, even traditional surroundings.
If so, a visit to the Nagomi-Style Cafe Akiba is in order, as it’s the only manga and Internet cafe in Akihabara designed with the look and atmosphere of a Japanese ryokan inn.
As I’m currently teaching at a high school, I already have plenty of teenagers trying to do things like change the due dates of their assignmentsmess in order to mess with my brain, thank you very much. The last thing I need is for my fruit to try to do the same…so imagine my frustration when I learned that there’s a place in Japan where you can buy strawberries pretending to be peaches (or is it the other way around!?)!
In a lot of ways, eggs are a pretty wonderful food. Cheap and versatile, they’re just about the quickest and easiest route to a hot, filling meal that’s high in protein and low in calories.
But while eggs may taste great, they don’t quite measure up to the standards set by other breakfast staples in the aroma department, such as sizzling bacon or freshly sliced grapefruit. Unless, of course, you’ve got your hands on some of these special eggs from Kochi Prefecture that smell, and taste, like yuzu, one of Japan’s most delicious citrus fruits. And yes, the scent is all natural.
Every season there’s a wave of new anime shows, many of them based on some other form of media such as a manga or light novel series. Most reasonably popular manga titles seem to make it onto the screen in animated form at some point or other, so it can be galling when your favorite series is passed over by the animation studios time and again in favour of yet more giant robots and impossibly large and buoyant chests.
Read on to see which manga series Japanese readers most want to see animated, and let us know what your own picks would be.
Like most countries around the world, Japan has quite a few delicious foods, like sushi, tempura and sukiyaki, that really stand out. But as delicious as they are, these wonderful dishes are usually only enjoyed every once in a while and are by no means what a regular Japanese person enjoys for their meals on a daily basis.
Of all the meals, a typical Japanese breakfast is perhaps what people are most curious about since it’s the least talked about (it’s not like breakfast is usually served at your local Japanese restaurant, after all!). Are Japanese people still scarfing down traditional Japanese foods each morning, or have they switched to a simpler, more Western style of breakfast? Let’s find out!
Cat lovers in New York City have rejoiced since mid-December, when Meow Parlour, the city’s first cat cafe, opened its doors.
For the uninitiated, lets explain what a cat cafe is. It’s not a place where you take your own cat to hang out and have coffee. It’s not a restaurant that has cats on the menu. It is a place where you can enjoy the companionship of cats while sipping on coffee and munching on a cat-shaped macaron.
So breasts seem to be popular these days. As a matter of fact, walk into any Japanese bookshop or convenience store and you’ll find magazine racks full of photo collections of gurabia, the country’s term for sexy but not-quite-naked models. Almost always busty, the sight of gurabia posing suggestively, often while relaxing in a pool or frolicking in the surf of an island paradise, has helped generations of men in Japan through a lonely winter’s night.
But while the men who run their eyes (or whatever other body parts) over their photos are obviously enjoying an escapist fantasy, one gurabia recently revealed some things fans might rather not have known about the industry. Her claim about the prevalence of surgically enhanced breasts gels with many people’s preexisting assumptions, but what’s shocking is what she claims is the true reason for some of those sweetly seductive smiles.
In case it wasn’t clear, we’ll be talking about/showing pictures of gurabia up ahead, so unless you’re employed as a swimwear designer, this probably isn’t safe for work.
What are some popular cat names in your country? Back in the UK, where I’m from, you can hardly step outside without a Tigger, Smudge, Felix, or Sooty crossing your path. It stands to reason that Japan also has a dedicated pool of much-loved kitty names to choose from, and pet insurance company Anikomu recently conducted a poll to find out which ones are the most popular.
With Valentine’s Day out of the way, and plum blossoms still in bloom, it’s time for early spring marketing to burst onto the scene in Japan. Leading the pack, as it does every year, is popular coffee chain Starbucks, with the nation’s other favourite flower, the cherry blossom, taking centre stage in their annual line-up of sakura menu items and merchandise.
This year, the humble cherry blossom meets caramel and chocolate in latte and Frappucino forms, and also finds itself in a beautiful pink and white chiffon cake. Curious to know what sakura tastes like when blended with such sweet partners? Join us as we bring you all the photos and flavours from our recent visit.
Children growing up around the world these days are asking the same question, “How do I become a pro gamer?” In the past, all you could do was find a game you were good at, become really good at it, and then hope someone would pay you for it.
These days, the professional gamer has many avenues to explore. There are plenty of games out there that have a thriving professional circuit. If you like first-person shooters (FPS), you could get into Call of Duty. If you’re more of a real-time strategy game fan perhaps Starcraft II will be your thing. The versus fighting game scene has always been extremely competitive, and multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBA) like Dota 2 and League of Legends are breaking player and viewership records. But can you really say that those professional gamers are actually “qualified”? Well, if you’re looking for a school in Japan, you could become a qualified pro gamer with a pro gamer degree!
Japan’s cherry blossoms are beautiful enough to enjoy without any alcoholic accompaniments, but it’s a fact of life that for many people the drinks are the real draw of a sakura-viewing party. Yet while there’s definitely a certain charm to knocking back a few cold ones in the park with a group of good friends, it does seem like a waste to take the focus off the flowers, since they bloom for such a short time.
That doesn’t mean you need to slow down your drinking to maximize your appreciation of the cherry blossoms, though. It just means you’ll need to pick up a few bottles of this special beer that’s made with sakura petals.
Imagine this. You’re at a fireworks festival with almost one million people in attendance. Everyone is scrambling for a place to sit and stampeding for the exit when it’s over. In between standing in line for a tasty treat and being dazzled by the fireworks spectacle, you realize something terrible. You’ve lost your wallet. Now what?
In Japan, you just go to the nearest police box, or koban! In 2014 alone, a stunning amount of cash and lost possessions was turned into police stations around Tokyo. In cash alone, over 3.3 billion yen was turned in. That’s a whopping US$27.8 million picked up and taken to the authorities. Could that happen anywhere else in the world?
If you love sweets — chocolate in particular — Japan in the weeks before Valentine’s Day is definitely a great place to be. Ever since chocolate makers in Japan managed to make it a widespread tradition for women to give chocolates to men on Valentine’s Day, it’s become an annual event to see chocolates being sold at shops everywhere starting in late January, with numerous special promotions and appearances by “celebrity chocolatiers” to heighten the excitement leading up to the big V-day.
Yes, for chocolate lovers, it’s a blissful time of year — there’s nothing quite like stepping into a department store and seeing a huge space filled with chocolates of all shapes and sizes while being surrounded by the rich, earthy scent of cacao. But now that Valentine’s Day is over, we may be developing a case of the post-Valentine’s blues, so to console ourselves, we’ve put together a collection of photos showcasing some of the most memorable chocolate items we saw this Valentine’s season in Japan.
Toyota, being the largest, most internationalized of Japan’s automakers, tends to do a pretty decent job steering clear of picking car names that sound weird or shocking to non-Japanese consumers. Sure, its product lineup briefly included the Emina, but that only sounds gross if you’re too impatient to carefully read the letters in order.
Until now Toyota hasn’t had anything as unintentionally startling as the Mazda Bongo Friendee, Daihatsu Naked, or Nissan Fairlady. But if you’ve taken a look at Toyota’s Japanese website recently, you may have found yourself doing a double-take as you noticed one of its current offerings seems to share its name with a well-known jihadist rebel group.
Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the Toyota Isis.
Ever since Mario first appeared in Nintendo’s Donkey Kong in 1981, he has been a fan favorite in the world of video games. Over the past three decades, Mario has appeared in over a hundred titles on numerous platforms as fans grew up alongside their favorite bearded (well, most of the time) Italian plumber.
For many casual Mario players, it seems like each game is an independent story filled with action and adventure. However, the hardcore players at Scorpigator Films have put together a Super Mario Timeline using clues from the various games to tell the full biography of Mario, the hero of Mushroom Kingdom.
By day you’re just another hard-worker in your Japanese office, donning the same, typical business suit as every other salaryman in the city. But by night, once work is over, you need to shed that suit and all that’s associated with it, put on a dress and some makeup, and let the other you take over.
Well, if you’re living in Tokyo, there’s a place just right for your needs in the Shinjuku neighborhood – Josokko Kouishitu, a locker/changing room especially for drag queens and cross-dressers!
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Seaside scenery, history, and so many desserts on Yokohama’s Akai Kutsu【Japan Loop Buses】
Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy day
Japan’s summertime towelket pillowcases are even better with the addition of Ghibli stars【Photos】
Osaka governor suggests lowering voting age to 0 to curb population decline
Akihabara pop-up shop sells goods made by Japanese prison inmates
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
11 different ways to say “father” in Japanese
Harajuku Station’s beautiful old wooden building is set to return, with a new complex around it
Historical figures get manga makeovers from artists of Spy x Family, My Hero Academia and moreForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Studio Ghibli releases new action figures featuring Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind charactersRed light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
New private rooms on Tokaido Shinkansen change the way we travel from Tokyo to Kyoto
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
Beautiful Ghibli sealing wax kits let you create accessories and elegant letter decorations【Pics】Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy dayMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Studio Ghibli releases Kiki’s Delivery Service chocolate cake pouches in Japan
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese thingsJapanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutions
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in TokyoMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
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
Akihabara pop-up shop sells goods made by Japanese prison inmates
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
11 different ways to say “father” in Japanese
Harajuku Station’s beautiful old wooden building is set to return, with a new complex around it
Historical figures get manga makeovers from artists of Spy x Family, My Hero Academia and more
Smash Bros. director Sakurai stabs Kirby in the face, has delicious justification for it
Hyogo town scares children away with mechanical kappa in park’s pond
Fan art of new Digimon cast in old style sparks debate on what qualifies as “f***ing disgusting”
How to make epic umeboshi like a Japanese grandpa
Japan’s massive matcha parfait weighs 6 kilos, contains hidden surprises for anyone who eats it
We tried Korea’s way-too-big King Tonkatsu Burger at Lotteria 【Taste Test】
What happens to Cup Noodle Mystery Meat when you cook it in a rice cooker?
Ghibli Museum releases beautiful new line of anime art T-shirts, available for online orders【Pics】
Japanese Twitter user stumbles across legendary deep-sea fish, cooks and eats it four different ways
