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Our Japanese writer shares his tale of the night he was joined by an unwelcome guest

Cara Clegg
Oct 31, 2014
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There are probably many of our male readers who have had the experience of sharing a room with a fellow male, maybe as a one-off on holiday or for a long time in dorm, or perhaps you’ve stayed over at a friend’s house after missing the last train after a night of drinking. However, most men probably don’t share a bed when this happens, right? And if your friend suddenly wormed his way into your bed in the middle of the night you’d probably be quite shocked, right?

One of our RocketNews24 Japanese writers recently wrote a column about the time he experienced such a shock himself. Below I’ll give you a translation of his original story, so read on to find out what the heck happened…

Go to hell: Unzen Hot Springs invites visitors to take an infernal stroll through a field of deadly hell-mouths

Jessica
Oct 31, 2014

Welcome to Unzen, Kyushu, a sulphurous field of geothermal activity so inhospitable to life that its boiling hot springs and gas jets go by the name of jigoku or hells. This Halloween, allow us to be your Virgil and guide you through this strange world where eerie noises drift from hellish craters, clouds of foul-smelling gas confuse the mind and Christian martyrs were once boiled to death!

A tiny, epic ode to Nintendo: Zelda and Super Mario 64’s worlds recreated as miniature dioramas

Philip Kendall
Oct 31, 2014

We all know that Japan does “small” well. Whether it’s microtechnology, tiny houses or bonsai, the Japanese are known for their dexterity and being attentive to the tiniest detail.

But a hobbyist and Niconico Douga user known simply as “A” takes attention to detail to a whole new level. In a homage to the three-dimensional worlds created by video game giants Nintendo, A has constructed an ultra-detailed diorama based on the first level of Nintendo 64 classic Super Mario 64 and even recreated the entire world map from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on a scale so small we could barely believe our eyes when we first saw it.

How small are we talking? Find out after the jump!

Ghibli food brought to life for one week of amazing lunches at elementary school in Japan

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Oct 31, 2014

Recreating food from our favorite movies and anime is nothing new. We’ve already seen ramen straight out of Naruto and herring and pumpkin pot pie a la Kiki’s Delivery Service. But what is unusual is that this time it’s not die-hard anime fans breathing life into 2-D delicacies, but a cafeteria at one school in Japan. You won’t believe this special school menu featuring a week of delicious looking dishes from some of Hayao Miyazaki’s most famous works.

Attention serious meat lovers: The all-you-can-eat Whoppers from Burger King is back!!

Kay
Oct 31, 2014

For a country known for its restaurants serving relatively small portions of foods, Japan sure seems to love all-you-can-eat campaigns (although occasionally, things don’t go quite as planned at these events). Well, if you love meat and lots of it, we have good news for you. Burger King Japan’s popular all-you-can eat Whooper campaign is coming back again this year, so get ready to have your fill of big, juicy hamburgers!!

Happy Halloween! Time to decorate your persimmon!

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Oct 31, 2014

As we’ve discussed earlier, Japan has been really getting into the Halloween spirit as the years go on. However, there are still a few Halloween traditions that aren’t easy to carry out. While Japan loves any excuse to cosplay, you still won’t find many, if any, children going door-to-door in their neighborhood begging for candy come October 31. You can, of course, find good ole orange pumpkins in Japan for some Japanese-style Jack o’ lantern carving, but they aren’t available everywhere and can be quite expensive. Japanese pumpkins (kabocha), on the other hand, are too meaty and tough to elegantly cut designs out of. So what’s a Halloween-loving resident of Japan to do? Decorate persimmons, of course!

Did you know Ayumi Hamasaki released a new single? Apparently neither did anyone else…

Preston Phro
Oct 31, 2014

Even if you have only the barest passing knowledge of Japanese music, there’s a very good chance you know the name Ayumi Hamasaki. Arguably the queen of Japanese solo pop artists, between 1998 and 2012, she managed to move over 50 million units including both singles and full albums. That’s a number so big, I need all my fingers, toes and a calculator to keep track of everything! She’s even crossed international boundaries with numerous fans around Asia and managed to be a star for over a decade in a country where pop stars come and go like…well, pop stars.

But is her glory finally at its end? While we’d be loath to make any proclamations about the future, the sales for her newest single “Terminal” have been nothing short of dismal, apparently shocking many music industry insiders.

Butter Crisis ’14: Supermarkets nationwide apologize for empty shelves, cakes threatened

Master Blaster
Oct 31, 2014

For months now a crisis has been brewing in the dairy industries of Japan. However, like the gooey sweetness of a melting pat of butter penetrating the crevices of a piece of toast, the effects have only recently begun to seep into the general population. We’re still only in the early stages though and things are bound to get worse before they get better.

Some readers who live in Japan may have noticed that the cost of butter has been significantly higher in recent months. In other cases shelves have gone empty and purchases are limited to one per person.

Now the writing is smeared on the wall: Japan is running out of butter… and fast.

600-yen Chinese buffet opens in Tokyo, Americans rejoice

Mike
Oct 31, 2014

Although slightly paradoxical, there’s kind of nothing more American than the good ol’ Chinese buffet.

The Chinese buffet is an American fixture that takes an imported cuisine (basically the only thing America really has) and twists it to suit American tastes. Over the years, it’s become a classic staple of the American diet, fortune cookies and all. Also there’s probably something to be said about the American dream – “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,” and all that – beneath all the MSG and faux duck meat. Whatever.

So American expats, nostalgic for their weekly family fix of spicy staples like General Tso’s chicken and other incongruous Asian fusion dishes, must be rejoicing at the news that there’s now a Chinese buffet in Tokyo serving all-you-can-eat Chinese classics for a measly 600 yen (US$5.50).

Super-cheap yakiniku restaurant sells meat by the mouthful to give you exactly what you want

Casey Baseel
Oct 31, 2014

As tasty as yakiniku is, there’s a bit of a problem with going out to eat the delicious strips of grilled meat. Restaurants normally offer a variety of different cuts, but each order comes with several pieces of the same thing. Going by yourself means not being able to eat much of a variety, and eating with friends and sharing forces you to negotiate and compromise on what to order.

So we were happy when we found a way to enjoy our ideal meal without feeling like a glutton or a jerk , when we discovered a restaurant in Tokyo that lets your order whatever kind of yakiniku you want, one piece at a time.

Ho ho ho! Merry Krispy Kreme Christmas donuts are here!

Casey Baseel
Oct 31, 2014

Japan has really started embracing Halloween over the past few years, but that doesn’t mean the country has adopted every Western holiday. For example, no one really has American-style Thanksgiving celebrations here, which means there’s no reason to wait until December to get into the Christmas mood.

So as soon as Halloween is over, you can start expecting the signs of Christmas, and along with Christmas lights and Christmas trees, this year you can look forward to some sweet and adorable Christmas donuts from Krispy Kreme.

Amazing schoolgirl drummer nails anime theme, and her music career is just getting started

Casey Baseel
Oct 31, 2014

Compared to a lot of other anime, the premise of K-On! is decidedly down-to-earth. It’s about a group of high school girls who form an after-school rock/pop band, and none of them are reincarnated princesses or commute to school in a giant transforming robot built by their brilliant but aloof father. They just hang out and play music together.

Still, there’s one big break with reality that comes at the start of each episode, when instruments are obviously played by studio musicians, and not actually a bunch of teenagers, for the theme song. You really can’t fault the producers for this decision, though. After all, where are you supposed to find an actual high school girl to perform the manic drum beats used in the anime’s second opening?

Ah, we see Kawaguchi-san is raising her hand.

Snack attack! This frozen treat is a little sweet, a little savory, and totally college

KK Miller
Oct 30, 2014

Everyone enjoys a good snack when they’re feeling empty, but there is definitely a difference between snacks in Japan and other Western countries. Sure, they share some common factors, like chips and candy, but in general, a snack at a convenience store in Japan would consist of either rice balls or Japanese bread. There is so much variety that you don’t even know where to start looking. But have you ever ventured over to the frozen food section looking for a snack? We don’t mean the freezer where all the ice cream is, but actually the frozen meals section. Hiding in there is a pretty fantastic snack that is hopefully in your local 7-eleven right now!

In Luffy we trust – Man arrested for selling dollar bills with unlicensed One Piece stickers

Casey Baseel
Oct 30, 2014

Every couple of months, a situation will crop up where the legal rights holder to an anime comes in and quashes some sort of unauthorized derivative work. Fans don’t always let the letter of the law stand in the way of how they express their passion for their favorite shows, though, and defenders often assert that no harm is actually being done, so long as the rights holder wasn’t already producing the same product. There’s no need to shut down an unlicensed T-shirt operation, the argument goes, if the company isn’t actively producing shirts itself.

Maybe that was going through the head of one Nagoya resident when he noticed a glaring oversight in the marketing machine behind hit anime One Piece, and decided to start selling one-dollar bills with copied stickers of the series’ band of pirates.

Cupcakes almost too beautiful to eat! Adding a Japanese touch to cake decorating

Audrey Akcasu
Oct 30, 2014

Art lovers and foodies rejoice! Japan now has cupcakes so beautiful that they should probably be considered works of art, but are in fact delicious hand-made goodies meant for eating.

But could they be SO beautiful, so detailed, so mesmerizingly dainty in Japanese styles and patterns, that it would be a waste or even blasphemous to ruin them through our crude form of consumption, lost forever via our vast digestive tract? I probably wouldn’t go that far, but they are fantastically elegant and a slight hesitation to appreciate the detail before digging in would probably be in order, if not inevitable.

Mononome gives candy jars personalities, breathes life into any inanimate object

Master Blaster
Oct 30, 2014

Some of you may remember Neurowear as the company who made Necomimi, the robotic cat ears that you can control with brainwaves, and their follow up projects Shippo (mind controlled robot tail) and Mico (mind controlled music player).

This time, however, Neurowear won’t be reading our brain waves but will instead try to give some to your fridge or sofa. The latest project called Mononome works with your smartphone to deepen your relationship with a household item of your choice by adding a touch of humanity to it.

Mononome is currently on display for Tokyo Designers Week from 25 October to 3 November. We caught up with Neurowear’s Kana Nakano during the exhibition to learn more about it.

Amazon goes nuts with the packaging as they ship us nine cardboard boxes…packed in six more?!

Casey Baseel
Oct 30, 2014

A while back, we took a look at an odd online retailing episode when a Japanese customer ordered a single persimmon from Amazon Japan. Sure, it was weird enough to find out that Amazon sells produce, not to mention that you can purchase it in individual pieces. What really got our attention, though, was the comically oversized box it shipped in.

But just when we thought the company’s packaging couldn’t get any crazier, we received our most recent order from Amazon. What’d we order? Cardboard boxes. How’d they ship it? Inside six more cardboard boxes!

Disney magic strikes again — Get ready for some serious Frozen sweetness!!

Kay
Oct 30, 2014

It’s been over seven months since Disney’s Frozen was released here, but love for the hit animated film still seems to be going strong in Japan. Walk into a bookstore around here, and you’re more than likely to find several different Frozen picture or music books, and you can bet that many kids in Japan will be dressing up as Elsa and Anna for Halloween this Friday. Well, it seems the world of pastries here is no exception. Major Japanese confection maker Cozy Corner has announced that they will soon be coming out with lovely offerings inspired by the movie, and yes, we’re thrilled, because these are exactly the kind of goodies we love — delightful to look at and delectably sweet to taste!

Japan’s latest anti-piracy ad features wacky new mascots Popcorn Otoko and Soda Otoko

Evie Nyan
Oct 30, 2014

Earlier this year, we brought you the news that Japan’s wacky anti-piracy ads have turned into something of a cultural phenomenon, with body-popping mascots Camera Otoko and Patrol Lamp Otoko getting their own range of figurines. Now a new ad has been released, which features extra characters Popcorn Otoko and Soda Otoko. But what role do they have to play in this mini crime drama, besides providing delicious refreshment?

Get inspired by these 700-year-old words from a Japanese monk

Scott R Dixon
Oct 30, 2014

From creating lavish artwork on exquisitely crafted lattes to mastering the art of gender-bending cosplay, perfecting any skill takes a lot of hard work and time. But a Japanese monk who lived about 700 years ago recently reminded the Internet that another key part of success are the failures and embarrassments along the way.

A Twitter user recently found the ancient writings of this monk and his words seemed to resonate with Japanese netizens who found that words very applicable to their modern lives.