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Japan (Page 1187)

2014 suicide rates in Japan down, suicide in men still twice that of women

Even though Japan may not have the highest suicide rate in the world, unfortunately it’s still quite common. Suicide is the leading cause of death for young people in Japan, and the most popular place to commit suicide in the world, Aokigahara Forest, is located in Japan as well.

The Japanese National Police Agency and Cabinet Office recently released statistics on the suicides that occurred in 2014, and while they’re continuing the downward trend of the past five years, they’re still quite high compared to other countries.

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The results are in for Kodansha’s guys-in-glasses poll

For years glasses have been the bane of many young person’s existence. They have been seen as a mark of nerdiness and the source of ridicule. But recently, thanks to a renewed image through the lens of anime and manga, glasses have been transformed into a winning point for many characters, making them seem intelligent, sensitive, and even cool. In celebration of good looking men in glasses, publishing company Kodansha ran a popularity poll for 20 of their bespectacled charmers to discover who among their manga publications would be chosen as the most popular. While Miyuki Kazuya seems to have held onto his early lead, Chihayafuru‘s Arata surged in the polls at the last moment to take second.

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New line of Sailor Moon apparel is fashionable enough for adults, still has magical girl charm

No matter how much you like Japanese animation, odds are you’ll reach a certain age where you need a dressier wardrobe than a closet full of anime T-shirts. It’s a milestone a large chunk of Sailor Moon’s fanbase is hitting these days, as it’s now been more than 20 years since the series’ TV premiere.

Thankfully, just because you’re too old to be buying all your clothes at an anime convention dealers room doesn’t mean you have to give up entirely on combining your passion for animation with what you wear. Fashion brand Tralala is launching a new line of Sailor Moon apparel that’ll be instantly recognizable to fellow fans, while still allowing you to fly fashionably under the radar with anyone who’s never seen the show.

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Studio Ghibli’s The Tale of Princess Kaguya nominated for Academy Award

We’re just about a month away from the 87th Academy Awards presentation, and if you’re a general cinema fan, odds are you’ve been looking forward to the event. However, if the only thing that can make you take a trip to the theater is a screening of a Studio Ghibli anime, you might not have been expecting too much from the gala to be held at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater.

Ghibli’s newest film, When Marnie Was There, hasn’t been getting the sort of rave reviews of a Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke. Six months after its Japanese release, Marnie is mostly forgotten in its home country and still unreleased in North America, making it ineligible for this year’s Oscar race.

Thanks to the time lag caused by international distribution, though, Ghibli does have one film eligible for the upcoming academy awards, and it just cleared the first hurdle with the Academy announcing The Tale of Princess Kaguya as a nominee in the Best Animated Feature Category.

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View beautiful photos of Kyoto’s Kiyomizu Temple any time on their new instagram account

Kiyomizu Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Higashiyama, Kyoto. Kiyomizu, which means “pure water,” takes its name from the waterfall which runs off the nearby hillside. However, it is perhaps most famous for its grand viewing veranda, a sort of stage on tall pillars that juts out of the hillside and commands beautiful views of the surrounding area. But a single visit to Kiyomizu doesn’t do it justice – you need to see it against a backdrop of cherry blossoms in springtime, bright red leaves in the autumn, and of course there’s the yearly illuminations! Luckily for those of us who don’t live in Kyoto, Kiyomizu Temple has set up its own dedicated Instagram account, and the photos that they’ve been uploading are completely breathtaking!

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Awkward: University lecturer found naked on campus in Tokyo

Ever find yourself in a really awkward or compromising situation? The kind where you wish the earth would split open and swallow you up, or you could somehow be whisked away to some magic far-away land where you’d never have to show your face to the real world again? We’re pretty sure that’s what this 55-year-old university lecturer was feeling when he was found on campus, wearing nothing but his birthday suit. How he ended up that way is an even more interesting issue.

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  • Jan 16, 2015

Häagen-Dazs Japan comes out with sticky-sweet new line of ice cream containing … mochi!

Every time Häagen-Dazs comes out with a new ice cream flavor, we swear we can almost hear the collective groan of sweets lovers across Japan saying, “Darn it! Why do they have to come up with something so insanely tempting?” Well, it looks like they’ve done it again, this time using a traditional Japanese ingredient — mochi rice cakes! What? Cold, creamy ice cream and soft mochi, did you say? Now, that’s certainly caught our attention!

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Ginger ale flavored soy milk coming to Japanese stores, buckets sold separately

Sure we all love the great taste of ginger ale. Its sugary and spicy flavor, which also helps ease tummy aches, is second to none. But I know some of you must be wondering: “Why can’t I get that fantastic ginger taste in a milky substance which has no saturated fat or lactose and was not produced in a way that directly exploits animals?”

Your highly specific prayers have been answered! Kikkoman will be bringing Ginger Ale Flavored Soy Milk to stores across Japan in February.

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Gov’t considering to change Japanese passport design by 2020

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering changing the design of the pages of Japanese passports in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

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COZENI turns your iPhone or iPad’s home button into a shiny, tiny Japanese coin

Literally, COZENI is a series of iPhone home button stickers which come in the shape of any of Japan’s many coins. At first weren’t sure why anyone would need a miniature coin in place of a home button, but on closer inspection we were actually pretty impressed at how cool they looked.

To test out these cute little 3-D stickers, we went ahead and purchased the entire series of COZENI and found that they are more multi-purpose than you might think!

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Just about a month ago, the Japanese Internet got all aflutter over something that’s been coined the “low-cut turtleneck.” If those two terms sound contradictory to you, perhaps you’ll find the term we used, “boob shirt,” to be more descriptive.

But fashion trends don’t last forever, and it seems some designers are already moving on from the original design. While the initial boob shirt provided a window for the top of the bust to peek out of, the newest version spruces up a woman’s breasts by combining it with the other thing the Internet can’t seem to get enough of: cute kitty cats.

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Udon wanna make a mistake – be my Valentine!

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and shops around Japan are already getting out their red and pink goods. Not white though, those are saved for a whole other day. Candy and flowers are usually the items of choice for this romantic day, but if your Valentine has less of a sweet tooth and finds flowers uneventful, we have the perfect substitution for you: LOVE Kitsune udon!

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Things left behind on Japanese trains: A sad photographic collection to make you wonder

From the super-efficient bullet train cleaning team that whizzes in and out in a seven-minute turnaround, to stories of entertainingly brilliant station customer service, there are heaps of things to love about Japan’s rail system, which ranks amongst the cleanest and most punctual in the world.

One other cool thing about Japanese trains – or perhaps about Japanese society in general – is that if you lose something, you stand a pretty good chance of getting it back again. Even valuable items like smartphones or wallets often end up handed in to lost property and returned to their original owner.

Today, though, we bring you a collection of some of the more unusual items left on trains around Japan – things that made other commuters go “Huh? Why’d someone have that on the train anyway?”

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Insanely cute sushi gifts now available for Japanese travelers to buy for their foreign friends

You know the feeling: you’re a busy Japanese salaryman going on a business trip overseas, waiting for your international flight at Narita Airport, when suddenly you realize that you forgot to buy a present to take to the foreigners you’re going to visit.

Thankfully, now there’s a solution to that problem: sushi t-shirts.

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Why is Japan such an unpopular tourist destination?

You would think that a country like Japan, rich as it is in both traditional culture and technical innovation, as well as plenty of weird and wacky things you’ll never see elsewhere, would be a huge hit with tourists. But as it turns out, Japan is actually not such a popular destination for people traveling abroad. Join us after the jump to find out why.

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Japan weirded out by new range of Disney shower heads

Late last year shower specialists Oxygenics released sets of shower heads featuring the faces of Disney characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse. They were warmly received by moms in America, who immediately saw them as a way to get kids motivated for bath-time and praised their easy water-pressure controls.

People in Japan saw the character shower heads quite differently, however, with some even going as far to call them “demeaning” and saying that “I don’t know if this is appropriate for children.”

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Melon topped with ice cream: two great Hokkaido tastes in one crazily delicious package

Japan sure loves its parfaits, and while they all come with tasty toppings, the most highly regarded come crowned with fruit. But what if you turned the concept on its head, and instead took a piece of premium produce, then added a cone’s worth of ice cream on top?

You’d have our newest dessert infatuation: the fresh melon soft serve.

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Cardcaptor Sakura shoes have captured our attention with their stylish nod to the anime classic

Cardcaptor Sakura is in the midst of a revival right now. We’re not sure what’s sparked the renewed interest in creative team Clamp’s magical girl franchise, as we’re still a year away from the manga’s 20th anniversary, and three years from that mark for its anime adaptation.

Still, plucky elementary school student and protagonist Sakura Kinomoto seems to be popping up more and more these days. A recent poll of anime fans named Cardcaptor Sakura the series they most want rerun on TV, and just last month we saw the release of a collection of cosmetics based on it. Now, in the latest round of new goodies, you can pair your manga makeup with some cute and stylish Cardcaptor Sakura shoes.

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Hamster, you may be angry, but we just can’t take you seriously

Cleaning is not a fun task, but it’s not so bad if someone else does it for you, right? One little fluff-ball of a hamster does not agree. When Mochitaro’s owner opened his cage to give it a little scrubbing, Mochitaro was in despair.

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American teens watch J-pop music videos for the first time【Video】

We here at RocketNews24 love all things Japan and Asia so much that sometimes it comes as a slight shock when the rest of the world doesn’t share our passion. Still, with the advent of the internet and the amount of entertainment Japan exports to the west (Dragonball, Pokémon, Final Fantasy, etc), it’s no huge surprise to find kids in far-flung places who are pretty familiar with Japan and can name at least a few J-pop groups. Still, many teens out there don’t really get much exposure to Japanese stuff, so when they do, the results are pretty amusing to watch! In this video, which has piqued the interest of quite a few people online in Japan, regular American teens watch three J-pop music videos (from groups Perfume, EXILE and AKB48) and give their thoughts.

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