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Japan (Page 1515)

Valentine’s Day. It may well be little more than an excuse for chocolate manufacturers to line their pockets, but its popularity in Japan seemingly knows no bounds. For those men in relationships, the day is usually one filled with gifts of fondue toilets and creepy girlfriend-shaped chocolates, but for the singletons out there it’s just another day to feel unappreciated.

But not these young men! Rather than spend February 14 without a little somethin’ sweet, they donned sunglasses and face masks and descended on Tokyo’s Machida station asking for chocolate donations from passers-by. And, would you believe it, they were actually kind of a hit with the ladies.

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No matter how much you love someone, once you start living with them minor irritations are bound to come to the surface. The object of your affections – that perfect specimen of a human being whose every movement used to be cute, sexy or endearing in some way – suddenly becomes just another person with flaws of their own. Perhaps they slurp their coffee too loudly. Maybe they have a habit of leaving hair in the plug-hole or not changing the toilet roll when the old one is finished. These minor issues are the kind of thing that we only come to notice after the initial “honeymoon” dating period when we were always dressed to impress and only have to keep our bad habits in check for the duration of a single evening at a time.

In a recent story about marital relations, Japanese website News Post Seven heard from both relationships experts and a number of married women who were distinctly irked by their husbands’ bad habits. While issues such as of a general lack of help with the housework or cooking frequently cropped up as the cause of arguments and unhappiness, one of the most common complaints made was of husbands making as mess while peeing. Told to take a seat while draining his spuds, however, one Japanese man was seemingly morally offended by the mere suggestion, stating that to pee standing up is “a matter of honour”.

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Previously we reported on the global reaction regarding a beautiful piece of architecture in Osaka, the shopping center Namba Parks (pictured above), which looks especially stunning when viewed from a high place.

However, another amazing photo surfaced on 9GAG a while back. Taken from a high angle it revealed an even more shockingly designed building that’s arguably even more impressive than Namba Parks.

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Japan’s Favorite Alcohol: Beer Outranks Japanese Rice Wine and Shochu

When asked to pick your poison what do you choose? In a recent survey, people in Japan were asked to select their favorite alcoholic beverage. The results, as we’ll see after the break, were quite surprising.

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Lazy Slobs Rejoice: Upside-down “Desk” To Use While You Snooze

Now all you need is an intravenous drip, catheter and bed pan…

On 7 February, a new day of sloth dawned with the issue of Thanko’s new upside-down laptop desk, aptly named Aomuke Gorone Desk (“Napping Face Up Desk”) for 7,980 yen (US$86).

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Crushes at primary school are so cute, aren’t they? Rolling 50 deep to the school picnic, attended by a crew of giggling cuties on every class outing and fending them off right and left in the playground… girls want them and other boys want to be them. The harsh reality is that often more than half the girls in the class are in love with the same kid – but why? What makes the “cool boy” so popular?

Japanese website Goo News has recently investigated this phenomenon, uncovering the most striking characteristics of these popular boys. Take a look at their results, ranked by the top five attractive “characteristics”, below:

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Could Japan’s Latest Buzz Word Get You Sued? Lawyer Weighs In

One coinage that has been steadily building in popularity in the economically mired nation of Japan is “black business” (burakku kigyou). A black business is described as a company that overworks its employees, harasses them, and/or pays significantly low wages for the work provided.

The term, which can be traced back to the 2011 book by Haruki Konno, Black Business: The Monster Devouring Japan, is frequently used on blogs and social networks. Infamous message board 2channel even has a thread which ranks the blackest of companies in Japan.

But with all the bandying about of this phrase, one has to wonder what the legal dangers are of it. Black or not, these companies will do what it takes to protect their brand and to anyone who slaps the black business label on them, will slap back with a lawsuit.

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Japanese Convenience Store and Yahoo! Launch Ready-to-Cook Meal Delivery Service

When it comes to preparing a gourmet meal you can be proud of, an investment of time and a good recipe book are often required. If you’re a busy parent or living alone while working full time, just dashing out to gather the ingredients — not to mention actually preparing the meal — can prove rather time consuming and, let’s admit, a little bothersome.

The intricacies of it all leave many abandoning hope, opting for the greasier ‘ready prepared’ meal option or dining out at a local restaurant. But even those who do make the effort to cook have probably found themselves saying “This just doesn’t have the same impact as the dish I tried at the restaurant the other day,” every so often. If only there were a way to replicate the same taste at home!

If you live in Japan, a collaboration between convenience store chain Lawson and Yahoo! (yes, that Yahoo!) may be the answer to your culinary conundrums: a new home delivery service that offers not ready-to-eat meals, but rather a combination of ready-to-cook dishes that can be thrown together to create a tasty meal of your own.

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Help Select the Best Breasts in Japan: Miss Hooters Japan 2013, Vote Now!

55 contestants… 110 funbags!

Surely the main attraction of world-famous restaurant Hooters is the waitresses and their gigantic…appreciation for quality customer service. Now you can help select the cream of the Japanese Hooters crop in the Miss Hooters Japan 2013 by voting for your favourite “pair” online. The first round of voting runs from February 1-14, and the lucky finalists will be announced on the website Feb 16.

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According to a study conducted by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, about half of unmarried women report that they are not dating anyone with any serious intent. Why are so many available ladies completely unattached? Could it be that they just don’t see the appeal of having a partner? Or conversely, maybe they are holding out for an unrealistic Prince Charming.

Goo Rankings decided to look into the issue and asked the single ladies what they would ideally want a boyfriend to do for them, if they had one. The surprising answers after the break: Read More

Register Rage: Osaka City Official Arrested for Allegedly Punching Out Register’s LCD Display

On 6 February, Osaka Prefectural Police announced that a 45-year-old man working for the Osaka City Construction Bureau had been arrested on suspicion of destruction of property.

In what could best be described as “register rage” the man was upset with the speed of the cashier and took his aggression out on the store’s age verification check with his fist.

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【Meat+Rice+Meat】We Try KFC’s Bunless Chicken Rice Sandwich… And It’s AWESOME!

The newest addition to the KFC Japan lineup is a little number called “Kentucky Chicken Rice;” a sandwich so good, it doesn’t even need a bun. This sandwich, consisting of a big hunk of ketchup rice nestled between two pieces of fried chicken, has caused quite a stir on the Internet in Japan, causing hoards of hungry fried chicken fans to flock to their nearest KFC on February 7 to be one of the first to try it.

Our reporter Tashiro-kun, who is most famous for his 2013 Apple Lucky Bag escapades, eagerly visited the Shinjuku Station south entrance branch of KFC and finally, after much anticipation, the fabled Chicken Rice sandwich was his. As our reporter held the beautiful sandwich in his hands, he couldn’t help but shriek, “What the heck is this?!”

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Strange Local Laws in Japan, Tax Dollars at Work

Buckle up everyone! We’re gonna talk about municipal ordinances!

We’ve all heard stories of real laws that seem to defy logic like “no petting horses on Sunday” and such.  The survey addicts at MyNavi had asked people about some unusual local laws and what they got were reports of Cupid Committee’s and McMansions.

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The 2013 Sapporo Snow Festival Photo Gallery 【You, Me, And A Tanuki】

If you have a few blank spaces on your bucket list, pencil in “visit the Sapporo Snow Festival.”

When it comes to reading famous literary works whose copyright license has expired, there is one piece of software that is renowned for doing the job rather well. It goes by the name of “Aozora Bunko” and is a digital contents reader available on a wide variety of devices; there’s even a version available for smart phone users. It is currently host to a plethora of copyright-free material rich in Japanese history and culture. What’s particularly exciting is that the more time goes by, the more the library of works can be seen to grow.

Anyone with an interest in old Japanese masterpieces – and can read Japanese – will surely be lureRemove featured imaged in by what this software has to offer. In this connection, on January 1 this year, the legendary writer Eiji Yoshikawa’s work “Miyamoto Musashi” is also set to be added to the collection. Miyamoto Musashi is a bestselling novel depicting the life of legendary samurai Musashi Miyamoto, who actually existed during the Japanese Edo era.

Just what makes all this free content possible is the rule that governs copyright licensing laws: 50 years after an author has passed away, copyrighted works are released freely into the public domain.

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Tohoku Emotion: Japan’s Newest Tourism Incentive Where the Journey is the Star

Unveiled earlier this week, the “Tohoku Emotion” is a train unlike anything ever seen before in Japan.

Combining “food, art and scenery”, on board this train the journey itself takes the main role and passengers are able to cruise through Northeastern Japan’s beautiful countryside while sampling food freshly prepared before their very eyes.

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  • Feb 9, 2013

Soak in A Nice Hot Spring Bath With Ted the Dirty Little Old Teddy Bear!

So, have you seen the movie Ted yet? If you have, I’m sure many of you will agree that it’s an absolutely hilarious movie (probably not profound or enlightening in any way, and you may even lose a couple of brain cells watching it, but yes, definitely hilarious)! Well, it appears the antics of the cute teddy bear with a bad mouth and a dirty mind has captured the hearts of movie goers in Japan, because as of last weekend, the movie is the top box office hit in Japan. But what does a middle-aged borderline delinquent teddy bear have to do with a hot spring bath? Read More

Tokyo University Students Develop Simple Device to Turn All Your Home Appliances into Smart Appliances

The idea of “smart appliances” has been around for a while now, but has yet to really infiltrate the average household. Even having moderately priced smart machines running your home would add up considering you’d have to replace all of your old stuff.

The young developers of “Pluto” offer a simple solution which would allow you to smartify all of your currently existing home electronics for the reasonable price of 12,800yen (US$140).

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It’s the Little Things: One More Reason Why We Love Japan

After a long week at the office, our Japanese writer Yoshio was in dire need of a pick-me-up. After stretching and clicking his back, he stood up at his desk, tucked his wallet into his back pocket and announced in unusually glum tones that he was popping out to the convenience store to grab a few things.

A few minutes later, Yoshio walked back into office and placed his little white plastic bag down on his desk with a tired sigh. But then he stopped. Looking down at his purchases inside the bag, he suddenly began beaming with a level of happiness that we hadn’t seen in quite some time.

“Oo! Sugoi!” (“Oh! That’s awesome!”) he softly exclaimed.

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McDonald’s Japan’s Texas Burger: Our Reporter Takes One for the Team

McDonald’s Japan’s Texas burger is back, but it won’t be around for long! Having missed out on the chunky beef sandwich the last time they invaded the country, our man Kuzo headed down to his nearest restaurant and grabbed a couple to poke, prod and shove down his gullet. The experience left him confused: there’s plenty here to delight burger fans, that’s for sure, but not everything about this little slice of Texas is worth writing home out. Kuzo’s full impressions after the break.

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