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The madness ends now: How to conqueror impossible-to-open Japanese convenience store snacks

Scott Wilson
Feb 23, 2015
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Oh Japanese convenience stores. Those bright, white-glowing oases that have everything you could ever possibly need inside of them, all wrapped up with a pair of chopsticks and a warm smile from the clerk.

Except for when you want an onigiri (rice ball) or sushi roll. Anyone who buys one of the items pictured above typically finds themselves suddenly engaged in a battle of wits matching human against plastic wrap. And the plastic wrap usually wins, resulting in a mess of rice, seaweed and tears of frustration.

But fear not! We here at RocketNews24 are here to help with step-by-step instructions so you will never lose to another conbini snack again.

Sailor Moon meets high fashion! Gorgeous collaboration with Samantha Vega to come out from Isetan

Kay
Feb 23, 2015

As popular as the comic and anime series Sailor Moon is, it’s no surprise that the lovely lady warriors have been turned into myriad collaborative items over the years ranging from lingerie to mobile phones. But regardless of how many Sailor Moon items we’ve seen on the market, we’re pretty sure that it’s still very exciting for fans to see their favorite heroines featured in beautiful high-fashion products. Well, that’s what fans can actually look forward to next month, when Isetan Department Store comes out with their new range of limited edition Sailor Moon and fashion brand Samantha Vega collaborative products. Let’s take a look at the moon prism-powered fashion accessories that should delight Sailor Moon fans and fashionistas alike!

If you could move Japan anywhere in the world, where would you move it? 【Video】

Audrey Akcasu
Feb 23, 2015

When you ask people where they would live if they could move anywhere in the world, a lot of times they’ll stick with their home countries. We don’t blame them! After all, their family is probably there, they are used to the culture and lifestyle, moving to a new country would, frankly, be tough.

But, what if you could move your whole country with you? Our RocketNews24 reporters braved the cold on the streets of Tokyo’s Shinjuku district to ask passersby, “Where would you move Japan, if you could?”

Ultimate TKG: We’ll never eat tamago kake gohan the old way again! 【Sora Kitchen】

Fran W
Feb 23, 2015

Tamago kake gohan (or TKG to the cool kids) is a wonderfully simple Japanese meal, made by beating an egg and then pouring it over cooked rice. And the staff in our Tokyo office are pretty big fans. Our writer Yoshio even goes so far as to say that eating tamago kake gohan is one of the little moments in life when he feels lucky to be Japanese.

So when we discovered this unconventional recipe for Ultimate TKG, we just knew we had to give it a try – and the results were even more ultimate than we imagined! Join us after the jump for a step-by-step guide. All you’ll need is a bowl of cooked rice, an egg, and a strong wrist.

Celebrate the start of the new Pirates movie with “Asian Johnny Depp” and a skull drink!

KK Miller
Feb 23, 2015

The newest Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, has begun principal photography in Australia, so the production team released its very first still from the set–something that is bound to fire up all the pirate fans and Johnny Depp fans around the world. A return of Captain Jack Sparrow is as exciting as, “yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum.”

After the cast and crew, the person most excited by the news is probably RocketNews24’s own Go Hatori, AKA Asian Johnny Depp! He’s back to toast the new movie with a costume and a special drink in the form of a human head analogue. Because… Well at least we kept him off the streets.

Mr. Sato visits the Retro Space Saka Hall, full of syringes, Mediocrity, and bittersweet memories

Master Blaster
Feb 22, 2015

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.

The voices behind the Ghibli dads: Some weren’t even actors at all

Meg Murphy
Feb 22, 2015

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.

Have the “best coffee in Paris” in Tokyo! We visit new Coutume shop in Futakotamagawa

Kay
Feb 21, 2015

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!

Drive off In an official One Piece Nissan Serena

Anime News Network
Feb 21, 2015

Nissan is collaborating with One Piece to offer a limited edition Serena Highway STAR S-HYBRID. Dubbed the “Thousand Serena,” a play on the Straw Hat Pirates’ Thousand Sunny ship, it features a special One Piece car wrap and hubcaps.

Akihabara Internet cafe looks like a beautiful Japanese inn, still has tons of free manga to read

Casey Baseel
Feb 20, 2015

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.

Peach-scented and flavored strawberries seriously trip us up, still taste deliciously sweet

Krista Rogers
Feb 20, 2015

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!?)!

Japan has eggs that smell and taste like yuzu citrus fruit, and they’re amazing!

Casey Baseel
Feb 20, 2015

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.

The top 10 manga Japanese people want to see turned into anime

Cara Clegg
Feb 20, 2015

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.

What’s really for breakfast? 20 Japanese people give us a peek at their morning meal【Photos】

KK Miller
Feb 20, 2015

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!

Taking a page from Japan, Meow Parlour, KittyKind team up for NYC’s first cat cafe

Japan Culture NYC
Feb 20, 2015

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.

Secrets of the Japanese swimsuit modeling world: Fake breasts and lots of pee

Casey Baseel
Feb 19, 2015

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.

Japan’s most popular kitty names, featuring inspiration from anime and sweet treats!

Evie Nyan
Feb 19, 2015

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.

Starbucks sakura series 2015: Caramel, chocolate and a flowery chiffon cake

Oona McGee
Feb 19, 2015

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.

Want to be a professional gamer? Time to go to school!

KK Miller
Feb 19, 2015

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!

Craft brewer releases beer made with cherry blossoms, just in time for sakura season

Casey Baseel
Feb 18, 2015

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.