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Auction for “the present I was going to surprise my girlfriend with” closes with a happy ending

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Oct 23, 2014
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A curious item came up for bid on Japan’s Yahoo! Auction site, simply titled, “The present I was going to surprise my girlfriend with – 2 years and 1 month old.” The story behind the ungiven present was as emotional as it seemed and included a description that inspired netizens all over to persevere even in the face of heartbreak. The item, a modest leather pencil case, started with an opening bid of just 2,000 yen (US$18) but closed at an impressive final price of 35,853 yen ($335).

The story of this young man’s unrequited love and the steps he took to mend his broken heart up next after the break!

Brilliant use for the almost expired milk in your fridge: It’s time for some milk jam!

KK Miller
Oct 23, 2014

Have you ever opened your fridge and were faced with just a carton of milk? How about going to the pantry and only finding a few slices of bread? What are you supposed to do for breakfast, lunch or dinner? If you thought the only thing you could do was soak the bread into the milk and call it a meal, you are in for a surprise, a sweet surprise! Turns out with just a bit of sugar and a microwave, you can turn that boring old milk into something incredibly delectable.

Are virtual reality schools the future of education in Japan?

Audrey Akcasu
Oct 23, 2014

Don’t like going to high school? Instead of physically going to campus and dealing with other whiney teens and your annoying teachers, you could send an avatar to go to a virtual school for you! Starting next spring, a private correspondence school in Chiba Prefecture called Meisei Cyber High School is opening its virtual doors!

Mount Ontake: some hikers “died taking photos of the erupting volcano”, pathologist says

Fran W
Oct 23, 2014

More details have emerged about the final moments of those who died during the sudden and tragic eruption of Mount Ontake in central Japan last month.

This week, pathologists confirmed that of the 56 people who died when the volcano erupted on September 27, 20 were killed instantly when they were struck in the head or neck by falling rocks and debris. One doctor involved in the case told the Mainichi Shinbun, however, that around half of the victims they saw had been taking photos of the eruption when they died.

“2.5D Mask” lets you spend the day as an anime character, frighten pets and small children

Philip Kendall
Oct 23, 2014

On a budget? Stuck for a Halloween outfit? How about turning yourself into a “2.5D” hero and scaring the life out of everyone you encounter with this series of free printable masks?

Join us after the jump to find out how you can become a beautiful, yet kind of creepy, manga character without spending a penny.

She just popped up from your toilet paper to say hello!

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Oct 23, 2014

Usually when you walk into a public restroom and see something out of the ordinary, it’s almost always the bad sort of surprise. Dirty floors, toilet seats with an extra bit of yellow, and much, much worse are just a part of the risk you take when entering an area complete strangers use to do their business. But one Twitter user got a different sort of surprise when she walked in to a bathroom stall and saw a face staring back.

Anger online as tweeting tech guru Takeshi Natsuno slams Sendai for rejecting IC card

Evie Nyan
Oct 23, 2014

You may have heard the name Takeshi Natsuno before. A Keio University professor, former Senior Vice President at NTT Docomo, Sega Sammy big-wig, and creator of i-mode, he is by all accounts an intelligent, not to mention extremely tech-savvy, dude. So you can imagine the surprise the good residents of the city of Sendai felt when he took to his Twitter account earlier this week to publicly disparage their home town as being “too lame for words”.

Just what prompted this sudden outpouring of ire? Well, it seems Mr Natsuno felt rather short-changed when he attempted to use his prepaid Suica IC Card to ride the Sendai subway. Suica is a Tokyo-based IC card system. Sendai is not in Tokyo. You can probably see where this is going.

Adorable character hot pots are this fall’s kawaii-est foods

Cara Clegg
Oct 23, 2014

No country does cute food better than Japan, and the latest trend in adorable edibles is fall hot pots stuffed with cute characters that look way too good to eat!

Domino’s Japan offering discounts to customers who pound the wall, show mementos from old flames

Casey Baseel
Oct 23, 2014

While it may not have the hippest image in the U.S., Domino’s Pizza has built a fanbase for itself in Japan with a string of unique promotions and weird humor. So we’re sure plenty of people were sad to hear that on October 26, Domino’s Japan is closing down its online store where you can order pizzas for delivery or pickup.

Luckily, this has turned out to be just another one of the chain’s quirky jokes, since it’s also opening a new online store on October 27. In other words, it’s just a website redesign, but in addition to serving up plenty of tongue-in-cheek drama, Domino’s is also offering discounts for customers who play along with the joke and say goodbye in a variety of ways.

Snoopy to your cleaning rescue — and he even comes with his own doghouse power source!

Kay
Oct 22, 2014

Now, if Hello Kitty is a candidate for the most famous cat (or cat character … if that’s more accurate) in the world, then we have to say Snoopy certainly has as good a claim as any character out there to the title of world’s most famous dog. And as befits an international canine celebrity, we all know that the lovable beagle has been involved in his share of collaborations. But this Snoopy product, which one of the reporters at our sister site Pouch found, is so unique and utterly adorable that we just couldn’t bear not sharing it with you! It’s the limited edition AQUA Snoopy Robot Cleaner and Snoopy Doghouse Set, and it’s even smart enough to go back to the doghouse once it finishes cleaning. How cool is that?

Learn Japanese from YouTube: Amp up your listening skills with this four-step guide

Fran W
Oct 22, 2014

It used to be that if you were studying a foreign language in your own country, the only listening practice that was easily available to you was hearing your teacher or classmates speak, or listening to the CD that came with your textbook. The first Japanese textbook I ever bought actually came with a cassette tape, which was particularly irritating as it was 2006 and I didn’t even own a Walkman any more.

Then someone invented a website that allowed users to upload short videos for all the world to see. Fast-forward nine years and YouTube is one of the biggest sites on the planet, making it a veritable treasure trove of free online spoken content.

So whether you’re after language lessons, YouTubers who vlog in Japanese, or just want to try watching your cat videos in a foreign language, online videos could be your new secret weapon. The trick is just knowing where to look.

Three Chinese men arrested in Japan for buying too many diapers

Master Blaster
Oct 22, 2014

In recent years a scourge has gripped Japan, and it is people buying too many disposable diapers at once – the Merries brand in particular. For this heinous behavior, three Chinese men were arrested by the Hyogo Prefectural Police on 15 October and are expected to be deported back to their country.

Sailor Moon candy, dolls, and music boxes! More new merch than you can shake a Moon Stick at

Casey Baseel
Oct 22, 2014

We recently took a look at a new batch of Sailor Moon aprons, but if you’ve been following the celestial-themed magical girls for very long, you knew that wasn’t going to be the end of cool and quirky tie-ins for the franchise. The product planning team of merchandiser Bandai apparently never sleeps, and those aprons were just the opening salvo of another round of Sailor Moon goodies, including one that’ll help fans with the first part of their quest to eat, sleep, and breathe the hit anime.

Why are some Japanese preschools banning awesome, adorable character bento?

Casey Baseel
Oct 22, 2014

Considering how much Japan loves food and cute things, it’s no surprise that the country is in the middle of a chara-ben boom. Chara-ben, bento boxed lunches with their contents arranged like popular characters such as Hello Kitty and Doraemon, are a hit with adults and children alike, as parents seem to be having as much fun making them as their kids are eating them.

But not everyone loves this trend of culinary creativity, though, as some preschools and day care centers have started banning chara-ben.

Watch time go by with 70,000 beautiful Japanese women, that’s 48 girls a minute every day!

KK Miller
Oct 22, 2014

Whether you are sitting in class or at work, watching as the time ticks by until the end of the day, or you are waiting for the three minutes to be up on your cup noodle, we are always looking at the clock. Time is money! Normally, it’s just a set of numbers that conveys information to us, but a clever company has turned checking the time into an ingenious marketing strategy. What are they selling? Beautiful women, of course!

Man revives woman with AED, branded a “pervert” for removing her clothes to apply electrode pads

Fran W
Oct 22, 2014

A man in Japan says he was questioned by police and branded a “pervert” after providing emergency medical assistance to a stranger. The man was attending to a woman who had been involved in a traffic accident when he believes someone who saw him cutting through the woman’s clothes to apply a defibrillator to her bare chest called the police and reported him for behaving inappropriately.

An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) analyses the rhythm of the heart and, if necessary, delivers an electrical shock to help it return to normal. AEDs are provided in public places and are designed to be operated by members of the public, even those with no medical background. The man is now calling for better understanding of the correct use of AEDs.

Less is more as bakery starts selling bags of delicious melon bread crusts minus the bread

Casey Baseel
Oct 22, 2014

It hasn’t made its way to the same level of international culinary stardom as sushi and ramen, but I don’t think I’ve ever introduced a foreign visitor to Japan to melon bread who didn’t fall in love with it. Despite containing no actual melon (the name is thought to come from the pattern scored into the bread’s upper crust), the Japanese bakery mainstay is a definite winner thanks to its sugar-dusted, crisp outer layer. Melon bread delivers just enough flavor and crunch to satisfy your craving for something sweet and stimulating, while at the same time hiding its one undeniable weakness.

The center is just plain white bread.

Bakery Yamazaki Pan seems to have accepted the treat’s shortcoming, and has responded in a temptingly logical way: selling bags of just the crust.

Superheroes, furry creatures, and Hello Kitty’s friend all get in on the kabe-don action

Krista Rogers
Oct 22, 2014

Where will it end? It seems like the Japanese internet still can’t get enough of the kabe-don phenomenon.

Over the past year, we’ve seen the trend evolve from the romantic aspirations of high school girls everywhere to incredibly intense displays of affection. This time, we’re proud to bring you 12 more glorious tweets of the kabe-don in action–and don’t think that humans are the only ones ‘walling’ it up!

Real version of Lotteria’s five-patty cheeseburger doesn’t look nearly as glorious as the ads

Casey Baseel
Oct 22, 2014

This Monday marked the return of the gigantic, five-patty Tower Cheeseburger to fast food chain Lotteria. Unfortunately, it was only back for a day, but hey, we figured this limited availability was actually a blessing in disguise. After all, you feel a lot less guilty eating that much meat in a single sitting when you know it’s the sort of rare opportunity you won’t have the chance to make a habit of.

But with just one day to get their Tower Cheeseburgers, no doubt a lot of fans weren’t able to clear out their schedules for a run to their local Lotteria. We’re guessing the blow was softened a bit, though, when they saw that the reality of their burger dream didn’t look anywhere near as mouth-watering as it did in Lotteria’s ads.

Mickey men: All-male trips to Tokyo Disneyland are on the rise in Japan

Casey Baseel
Oct 22, 2014

Most of the places where groups of men congregate in Japan aren’t too surprising. You can always find guys hanging out with other guys at sports stadiums, video arcades, pachinko parlors, pool halls, or any restaurant or bar that specializes in meat or fried foods.

Recently, though, there’s a new spot that’s gaining popularity for a day out with the boys: Tokyo Disneyland.