Featured

Japan (Page 1175)

Website lets you eat ramen with handsome actor – Great for fans, sort of awkward if you’re not

Pretty much ever since it was invented, men have been the target market for instant ramen. That’s slowly starting to change, though, as companies are finding out that plenty of women, too, are interested in a hot, tasty meal that only takes three minutes to prepare.

Those three minutes, though, can seem awfully long when you’re sitting by yourself with nothing to do while you wait for your noodles to cook. So, Nissin, to celebrate the start of its new line of healthier, more cosmopolitan instant ramen aimed at women, has set up a special website where a handsome Japanese actor will keep you company while you cook and eat your instant ramen.

Read More

Does this goat have better hair than you?

Kamanoko is a goat from a in a zoo in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and he’s sure to be a hit with the lady goats thanks to his hip hairdo that sets him apart from the herd.

Read More

Sulfuric acid thrown at two women in Gunma

Police in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, are looking for a man who threw sulfuric acid at two women in separate attacks on Thursday night.

Read More

Robotic dancing troupe World Order kicks off the new baseball season with seven-man pitch 【Video】

Springtime means one thing for sports fans: baseball! While Major League Baseball is still toiling away in spring training and pre-season games, the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league has already kicked off their season with the first games occurring at the end of March.

Since spring signals the time for new beginnings, what is more precious than the beginning of the first home game of the year? And with it brings the first opening pitch of the season. For the 2013 Japan Series winners, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, they asked Genki Sudo and his group World Order to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

But how do you ask seven people to throw out one ball?

Read More

New Sailor Moon merch goes old school as the magical girls turn into eight-bit pixel art

Seeing as how 17 years passed between the final TV episode of Sailor Moon and its reboot, Sailor Moon Crystal, it’s no surprise that the latter makes far more use of digital animation production. But while the newer anime’s designs have sharper line work, some traditionalists still prefer the old school look of the original series.

However, if you’d rather have your Sailor Senshi not just rough around the edges, but downright rectangular, merchandiser Bandai is ready to fill that need with this line of Sailor Moon merchandise done in the style of eight-bit pixel art.

Read More

Couldn’t catch the cherry blossoms in full bloom? We’ve got a unique idea for you!

Of all the beautiful sights in Japan, there is nothing quite like cherry blossoms blooming in spring. As soon as the winds of winter end, these tiny buds start growing and cities are filled with various shades of pink. However the cherry blossom season is very short, and just as soon as the sakura have come, they’re falling off the trees in a downpour of petals.

But when these petals fall into a river, or cover a paved street, another magical sight can be enjoyed. Let us show you another way you can enjoy cherry blossoms once they have blown off the tree with breathtaking pictures of hanaikada, cherry blossoms floating atop a river.

Read More

Sometimes, Japanese guys can seem illogically hung up on numerical parameters when deciding whether or not they find a woman physically attractive. Be it a maximum age or minimum bust measurement, sometimes the amount of technical data being tossed around almost makes it seem more like they’re talking about machinery than women.

But does it really make sense to get so hung up on numbers when dealing with something as subjective as beauty? We’ve seen before that age isn’t anything but a number, so what about weight? A recent survey set out to find out how Japanese men would answer that question.

Read More

Boruto -Naruto the Movie- film’s main staff, illustrated poster revealed

This year’s 19th issue of Shueisha‘s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine will reveal more information on Monday about the upcoming Boruto –Naruto the Movie- film.

The film will open in Japan on August 7. Original Naruto manga creator Masashi Kishimoto is credited with the original work, script, character design, and as the chief production supervisor for the film. Hiroyuki Yamashita (Naruto Shippūden episode director, Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie animation director) will direct the film and Ukyō Kodachi (Chaos Dragon, Neppu Kairiku Bushi Road) is collaborating with Kishimoto on the script.

Read More

“Too sexy!” New Final Fantasy’s hunky male lead has his revealing costume toned down

Those of you with an interest in the Final Fantasy series, mobile gaming, and/or the male form might remember when we took an early look at Mevius Final Fantasy a few months ago. The most ambitious original mobile title yet from publisher Square Enix, the Mevius development crew is made up of Final Fantasy veterans, and the visuals that have been released are far beyond what you’d ordinarily expect from a smartphone title.

But while Square Enix apparently isn’t skimping on the production budget, it was willing to give the game’s male hero a skimpy outfit, as the first promotional images showed the main character dressed in a costume that showed off plenty of his tanned and toned back and buttocks. If that was right up your alley, though, we hope you already got a good eyeful, because Square Enix has since rethought the design and changed it to one that exposes less skin.

Read More

Attack on Titan gets live-action streaming miniseries with new character taking turn as lead

As immensely popular as Attack on Titan is, it’s easy to forget that the last new episodes in the series aired on Japanese TV over 18 months ago. Sure, creator Hajime Isayama keeps plugging away at the manga that started the franchise, and there’re also those two movies to look forward to. But for more than a year and a half now, fans have been unable to plop down on the couch and watch a brand-new installment of everyone’s favorite fully-clothed humans vs. naked giants saga.

In August, though, the draught will finally be over, as Attack on Titan is getting a three-part live-action miniseries, with a shift in protagonist and one completely new character.

Read More

Two wildly different characters, same voice actor. Twitter users share their shocking anime finds

Are you an anime fan? Do you watch Japanese anime in their original Japanese dialogue? If your answer is “yes” for both questions, then you’ve probably had the experience of picking up on a familiar-sounding voice in a certain anime, Googling to uncover the seiyuu (voice actor in Japanese) behind the character, and then realizing that you’ve actually seen quite a few titles he or she has starred in.

Twitter users in Japan have been digging through the Internet for some drastically different performances from the same voice actor/actress, and sharing their surprising finds on Twitter. Check them out after the break!

Read More


  • Apr 3, 2015

Members of idol Group Momoiro Clover Z turn into Frieza! But wait, what exactly happened here?

Dragon Ball’s über cool villain Frieza has been in the news quite a bit lately, owing to the upcoming release of the new Dragon Ball movie Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’, in which he plays the lead antagonist. But then, Frieza has always had a bit of a following with his quirky personality and ruthless yet polite ways, and we’re sure plenty of fans are thrilled that he will be making a huge come back in a feature-length film.

So, it wouldn’t really be surprising if popular idol group Momoiro Clover Z, who performs the theme song for Resurrection ‘F’, was involved in a promotional tie-in with the movie, and one with Frieza in particular. And that’s exactly what seems to have happened earlier this week when  the group’s official site was filled with … images of the idols as Frieza!

It looks like they’ve really gone all out with their promotion. But wait, is that what really happened here? We’ll give you a hint — the Frieza collaboration image was released this past Wednesday.

Read More

Lemon or dirt flavored? Lemongina is the blue dress of the soft drink world 【Taste Test】

The French carbonated orange drink Orangina has been widely accepted in Japan as one of the top sodas. In fact Japanese beverage company Suntory now owns the beverage in all Asian and European markets.

So it was with great anticipation that Japanese consumers welcomed the new lemon flavor, dubbed Lemongina, on 31 March. However, that warm welcome lasted barely a few minutes as Twitter was flooded with complaints that the new drink “tastes like dirt.” This was followed shortly thereafter by a flood of complaints that it “doesn’t taste like dirt” when drunk after hearing that it did.

Had Suntory made a major blunder in their artificial flavoring, or is part of Japan undergoing mass hysteria? We headed down to the supermarket to find out.

Read More

Sick of thieves stealing your bicycle? Deter them with this bird poop sticker!

Despite being a relatively low-crime country on the whole, theft of bicycles and umbrellas is a prevalent issue in Japan. These thefts are usually born out of need and selfishness rather than for monetary gain. Forgot your umbrella and stuck in a downpour? Then you’ve got three choices: get wet, buy an umbrella from the convenience store or indulge in some petty theft. Need to get home and missed the last train? Suck it up and get walking or, if you’re someone who doesn’t lie awake at night worrying about their karma, you COULD just “borrow” one of the identical, unlocked bikes gathering cobwebs outside the station. Yes, it’s wrong, but it still happens pretty often.

Now, however, there’s an anti-theft device more powerful than any bike lock! Behold the anti-theft bird poop sticker!

Read More

Top tip for saving money in Japan: visit the supermarket just before closing time

Today we’re going to tell you a super special tip for getting the most out of your local supermarket here in Japan. It’s actually something pretty simple, but that you might not know about if you always go during the day.

You see, you should totally go to the supermarket just before closing time. Why? Because when it gets close to closing time they start to discount their food! 

Read More

Youth in toothpick prank videos sent to juvenile correctional facility

A 19-year-old youth who uploaded a series of prank videos on YouTube in January, including one in which he inserted a toothpick into a snack food in a supermarket, was sent to a moderate security juvenile correctional facility.

Read More

Pokémon finally gets a Japanese Facebook page, celebrates with cherry blossom Pikachu video

Seeing as how Japan is the franchise’s home market, and also where corporate parent Nintendo is headquartered, it’s not surprising that Japan gets the lion’s share (or Pyroar’s share), of cool Pokémon stuff. After all, this is the country where people have been able to attend Pikachu parades, dine at Pokémon Cafes, and even purchase business-suited pocket monster plushies.

But one thing Japanese fans haven’t had, though, is a Japanese Facebook page for the Pokémon franchise. At least, not until this week, when Pikachu and pals made their Japanese Facebook debut accompanied by a short but sweet cherry blossom party video.

Read More

12 things that shock Japanese people: “Did you know kids leave out cookies and milk for Santa?!”

Foreign cultures are always going to have things that surprise outsiders. Roasted shellfish snacks may be perfectly normal to Japanese people but not quite so appetizing to us, whereas kids dressing up on graduation day is endearing to us but downright terrifying to Japanese people.

The Japanese website CuRAZY recently compiled a list of 12 extremely popular tweets that revealed some sort of “surprising information.” Far more surprising than the tweets themselves though is the fact that so many Japanese people actually found the information surprising in the first place.

Read More

Six ways to spot someone who just moved to Tokyo

Spring is the start of both the school year and the business years in Japan. That means that right about now thousands of newcomers are pouring into Tokyo, as they move to the capital to start college or their professional careers.

But the hustle and bustle of Tokyo is on a scale unlike any other town in the nation. Even people who’ve grown up in Japan sometimes stick out like a sore thumb when they first move to the capital, as illustrated in this six-point guide to spotting someone who just moved to Tokyo.

Read More

Tekken video game series shows off its first fighter from the Philippines: Josie Rizal 【Video】

Tekken 7, the latest installment of video game developer Bandai Namco’s popular fighting game series, hit Japanese arcades last month. Even though the game launched with close to two dozen playable characters, the series has always had a tradition of adding new fighters after each game’s debut, and Tekken 7 is no exception.

The newest member of the Tekken cast is also its first to hail from the Philippines. But while more content is almost always a plus, gamers aren’t unanimous in their reactions to Josie Rizal.

Read More

  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 1172
  5. 1173
  6. 1174
  7. 1175
  8. 1176
  9. 1177
  10. 1178
  11. ...
  12. 1511