Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Japan (Page 1348)
Our long-time readers will remember Lotteria’s famous–or possibly infamous–ramen noodle burgers last May. We even set Mr. Sato off to try out an extra-massive ramen noodle burger and were amazed by his ability to consume gargantuan amounts of food. As strange as the combination of noodles and buns seemed at the time, it apparently earned the company a lot of happy customers, since Lotteria will be bringing back noodle burgers at the end of this month, with a few new twists…
In any other country this advert where two people proudly announce: “Our total annual income is 3.55 million. We bought our mansion!” would be one of those pie-in-the-sky pipe dreams that many young professionals could only dream of.
However, in Japan this ad has left people feeling despondent about the future of the country and thinking to themselves, “I wouldn’t be smiling so much, if I were them.”
Remember all those toys you had as a kid that seemed so cutting-edge at the time? They probably don’t seem quite as exciting any more with all the advances in technology over the years. In fact, you’ll be willing to trade your Furby in a heartbeat once you see what these Japanese kids get to play with nowadays!
Take the “Sketch Aquarium” for example – a play area where children can foster their creative skills by designing a fish and then interact with it in a virtual tank. I wonder if adults are allowed in, too…
The social messaging service Line is a huge hit in Japan. It’s easy to use, free, and even lets you decorate your messages with stickers to add a personal touch.
All of this makes Line great for keeping in touch with your friends or dating partner. As a matter of fact, it might have just become a little too good at keeping you connected to your significant other, with a new set of stickers specially designed for clingy girlfriends.
While many Japanese people might not get “American jokes,” they do seem to be enjoying some certain English memes. For example, “The Little Test That Blows Your Mind,” which recently reappeared online, was translated and posted to a Japanese website, garnering over 1,500 comments.
If you’ve already taken the test, you’ll definitely want to see how your answer stacks up against these Japanese commenters. And if you haven’t taken the test yet, be sure to give it a try!
It’s not easy out there for people with weight issues when even fictional monsters are criticized for being too pudgy. But a popular Japanese Twitter user with more than 45,000 followers is pushing back on society’s fat-shaming and telling the world how great life is when Ramen Jiro is your “afternoon snack.”
E_Debu, who says he is “the fatty who has a high consciousness,” has been musing on his observations about life as a big person. He enlightens his online audience on some of the hardships as well as the benefits of coming in a larger size. Click below to read 25 thought-provoking observations from one of the most popular “fatties” on the Internet.
For most of my life, I’ve never been much of a mayonnaise fan. It went well on burgers and stuff, but really if the world’s supply had suddenly vanished I don’t think my life would have skipped a beat. That is until coming to Japan and discovering the beauty that is Kewpie brand mayonnaise.
Kewpie Mayo’s taste can best be described as waking up on a lazy Sunday morning to the gentle breath of a kitten by your face as you lay next to your model lover. We’re talking print model not runway – runway is more like Kenko brand mayonnaise.
And so, Kewpie Mayo has become an indispensable condiment to my daily dining routine as it has to millions of others in Japan. However, where can us devoted lovers of the sweet sauce go for information on the history and development of mayonnaise? Mayoterrace, that’s where!
With Vermont becoming the first state in the US to require labels for genetically modified organisms, more and more people are turning towards natural, organically grown food. People want to know where their food comes from and they want to have the choice to choose foods that don’t use pesticides. But genetically modified food has been paramount to feeding every mouth on this planet. What if there was a way to combine the benefits that science provides but still ensure a natural growing environment with no pesticides used? Fujitsu is taking great strides towards that goal and their first product has been making its way to consumers.
And yes, we really are taking about food by Fujitsu.
We’ve introduced an anthropomorphized food character from Sanrio before on our site, but we now have another one that we’re keen to share with you, just because his personality (although we’re not quite sure if that word applies even when the subject isn’t a person, or even an animal) is so unconventional and unexpected. That’s right, if you thought all Sanrio characters were good and cheery, you may have to think again. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Gudetama, the lazy egg who doesn’t seem to want to do anything at all!
The pentagram is a simple shape with deep meanings. No matter what faith or race we come from that little star seems to conjure up thoughts and feelings more than mere circles or dodecahedrons could ever do to the masses.
So when someone tweeted an image from Google Maps with a pentagram laying upside-down over much of the Kansai Region of Japan, it generated quite a bit of buzz along with 13,000 retweets. It was created by joining several religiously significant locations in the area and has Japan’s ancient capital of Nara smack dab in the center.
If you’re an English-speaking foreigner living in Japan and are prone to cracking jokes, it won’t be long before someone responds to something you’ve said with a shrug of the shoulders and the phrase “American joke”. This used to confuse me immensely (“but, but, I’m not American!”) before I realised that an Amerikan Jōku doesn’t have to be told by an American, or be related to the United States in any way. It’s just what you say in Japan when you have the feeling the person you’re talking to is making a joke, but you don’t really understand what’s funny – and want to avoid the potential awkwardness of explicitly saying so.
Today we bring you 10 “American jokes” posted to Japanese website 2channel. Impress and appall your Japanese friends in equal measure by trying out one of these painful puns on them. Who says humour doesn’t translate?
Did you know that salty things have gotten really popular in Japan in recent years? The Japanese word for salt is shio, and these days you can find shio yakisoba (buckwheat noodles), shiokouji (a kind of condiment), shio nabe (hotpot), and the new fad shio tomato. And now it’s even extending into the world of sweets with shio vanilla ice cream and shio chocolate. I’ve had sea salt chocolate before, and I can tell you it’s actually much better than it sounds! The latest addition to the ranks of salty goodness is shio lemon, which you can make at home yourself with just two basic and obvious ingredients.
As the new business and academic year takes its toll and Japan collectively sniffles with a case of the May blues, people all over the country are hiding under their blankets and calling in sick (probably using paid vacation days rather than actual sick leave, but that’s another story). When you’re feeling under the weather, it’s always nice to have someone to fluff up your pillows, cook you comfort food and generally feel sorry for you.
Japanese website My Navi Woman surveyed Japanese women in their 20s and 30s, asking them: “When you get a cold, who do you want to be by your side looking after you?” You may – or may not – be surprised to hear that boyfriends came in at a measly third place, with only 22 percent of women saying they’d want their man to care for them.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the rankings, and at what reasons Japanese women gave for wanting (or rejecting!) someone’s love and attention.
If you’re at all familiar with bento, you’ll probably know that a lot of people will go all out to create adorable (or just plain amazing) meals for their children— or inner otaku, for that matter. I’ve heard that there is fierce competition to make the cutest lunches (especially for special events like Sports Day) so it’s no wonder that techniques and trends are continually changing, and it seems that the latest fad in lunches is the humble dinner roll.
For many visitors to Japan, their image of the city of Narita begins and ends with Narita International Airport. As such, most people plan their itineraries with the goal of spending as little time in the town as possible, unless they’re the type of odd sorts who just can’t get enough of waiting in airline check-in or customs lines.
In their rush to get into Tokyo or back home as soon as possible, though, they’re missing out on one of eastern Japan’s most visually impressive temples, Naritasan Shinshoji and its attached gardens.
Who’s afraid of the big bad…flower?! Sure, we’ve seen the pitch-black Turkish rose that would harmonize perfectly with the home decor of any hardcore heavy metal fan…but we never thought that a flower could be downright terrifying! The following pictures posted by one Twitter user prove that Mother Nature has cooked up some pretty creepy recipes. You might even have nightmares after seeing what this certain kind of flower looks like after wilting. On the bright side, you can make a veritable Halloween bouquet!
When you really stop and think about it, the concept of idol singers is a little strange. At its core, the idea is to leverage the performers’ good looks into higher sales than they could achieve through their musical talents alone.
We realize that in face-to-face dealings, there’s very little a guy won’t do for a pretty girl, if for no reason other than to raise his chances of getting a date with her by even the tiniest fraction of a percentage. But does it really make sense for hard-core fans to try to impress their idol of choice? Regardless of how many copies of your favorite singer’s albums you buy, it’s not like she’s going to go out with you or anything.
Unless, of course, you’re talking about the idol group AeLL.
If there’s one thing internet videos have taught us, it’s that cats can be skittish around water. But why do animals that spend seemingly all day grooming themselves freak out when their tail gets a bit wet? And why do some cats seem to be obsessed with the bathtub?
Japanese site My Navi put their investigative hats on and came up with a three-part theory for cats’ apparent love of the shower room, but fear of water. Today, we take a look at their findings, and add a few suggestions of our own!
The first McDonald’s opened in 1940 and since that time it has grown to 35,000+ locations worldwide. Its popularity is international with people craving their “Mackers” or “McDs” or “Maccas”, so it’s no surprise how popular McDonald’s is in Japan. Would it work in reverse? What chain restaurants from Japan would be popular in the States? Our famous friend Ike, from the comedy group Choshinjuku tells us which three chain restaurants he loves the most in Japan.
Japanese people seem to love telling me that British food is terrible, and the only good thing we have going for us is fish and chips. No one can believe that I actually get a bit tired of Japanese food and pine for my favourite dishes from home! Perhaps to try and change this perception, the British Embassy has been undertaking a campaign called ‘Food is GREAT!’ (for Great Britain, geddit?), and our Japanese writer decided to put some of their recipes to the test.
The perks of drinking root beer at A&W in Japan
Kyoto temple suffering from littering tourists claiming not to understand Japanese verbal warning
New Japanese Food Sample Making Cafe opens in Asakusa, Tokyo
The 5 best Iwate foods and drinks to buy at the prefecture’s antenna shop in Tokyo
With hand-painted faces, no two Totoro kamikogei traditional papercraft figures are the same
Starbucks Japan releases a new Matcha Latte with Reusable Cup for the tourist market
Classic Japanese character merch stars of the late ‘90s and early 2000s make comeback with San-X
Why does video game star Terry Bogard pose before his iconic attack? We ask the developers
New Studio Ghibli Spirited Away merchandise: Golden amulets tell fortunes from No Face’s belly
“Deflowering” services for virgin women are now a thing in Japan, apparently
Starbucks teams up with the oldest of Japan’s Six Ancient Kilns to create a Bizen ware coffee mug
One of Tokyo’s most beautiful gardens gets its own moon for moon-viewing season
New Hello Kitty McDonald’s Japan Happy Meal toys are here, and Kitty’s sister is part of the set
Super budget-friendly retro Tokyo hotel feels like having your own 1960s Asakusa apartment
Some of the best Japanese fried chicken in Japan comes from this shack in the middle of nowhere
Abuse Cafe Japan: We get abused by waitresses in maids’ uniforms at Tokyo’s viral pop-up diner
Japanese cat island reveals all its cats will soon be gone
Tokyo Skytree to be lit up in Jujutsu Kaisen colors on Halloween in months-long art collaboration
Night sky Studio Ghibli greeting cards are a beautiful reason to put pen to paper【Photos】
Starbucks serves up a new afternoon tea set in Japan with a super high price tag
Studio Ghibli releases free-download board game — Here’s how to play it without reading Japanese
Studio Ghibli lets you cosplay as Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle with cosy anime fashion rangeNew Hello Kitty McDonald’s Japan Happy Meal toys are here, and Kitty’s sister is part of the setStarbucks teams up with the oldest of Japan’s Six Ancient Kilns to create a Bizen ware coffee mug
Japanese government suspends plan to pay Tokyo women 600,000 to move away to get married
Japanese government wants to remove tax-exemption limit for foreign tourists on consumables
Starbucks Japan unveils new limited-edition Frappuccino for autumnOne of Tokyo’s most beautiful gardens gets its own moon for moon-viewing season
The heartwarming story of Japan’s “Weakling Gundam” and the fans who supported it in its hour of need
Foreign tourist in Japan arrested for having sex on shrine grounds in broad daylight
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Foreign tourists on Shinkansen bullet train break suitcase etiquette, angering local passengers
[Deleted] Article written for April Fool’s Day 2018
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
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
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
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
Starbucks Japan releases a new Matcha Latte with Reusable Cup for the tourist market
Classic Japanese character merch stars of the late ‘90s and early 2000s make comeback with San-X
Why does video game star Terry Bogard pose before his iconic attack? We ask the developers
New Studio Ghibli Spirited Away merchandise: Golden amulets tell fortunes from No Face’s belly
“Deflowering” services for virgin women are now a thing in Japan, apparently
Same character, different animator – Fans compile comparison charts for anime’s biggest stars
Hello Kitty shows off her backside in tribute to the fundoshi-clad men of Fukuoka
Does McDonald’s Japan’s new Tsukimi Moon-Viewing shake really taste like a Pucchin Purin pudding?
The results are in! One Piece World Top 100 characters chosen in global poll
Japanese KitKat Bears debut exclusively in Japan, but are they any good?
Japan’s most famous cat island moving towards plan to spay, neuter all of its kitty inhabitants
Dining with Totoro — 400-year-old ceramics company makes Studio Ghibli chopstick rests【Photos】