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Japan (Page 1525)

Six Business Hotels in Tokyo You Can Spend the Night in For Under 3,500 Yen

When deciding to travel in Japan we are faced with a rather large assortment of hotels that don’t exist in our home countries, one of which is the “business hotel”. The label of business hotel may conjure up images of the infamous “capsule hotels” for some, while for other’s it may have the sense of a dank, narrow, room that was occupied by the cast of Mad Men. I suspected such things at first until, in an effort to save money, I bit the bullet and tried a few out.

I can now confidently say that despite their label, business hotels are actually rather comfy – some of them downright elegant!

These hotels don’t skimp on the amenities. For instance, it wouldn’t be hard to find a business hotel that offers air conditioning, humidifier, or even an air purifier. Most have fairly spacious bathrooms and offer a complimentary breakfast. Even if you are just looking for a place to have a brief romantic rendezvous, a business hotel can be a cheaper alternative to a dingy motel or robotic love hotel.

Let’s take a look at 6 prime business hotels that can be found in the Tokyo area. All hotels charge rates less than 3,500 yen (US$44.80) per person when two people are staying in the room at a rate of 7,000 yen total ($89.60).

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Ever since the Great Tohoku Earthquake led to one of the worst nuclear disasters at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant people have been left with a lot of uncertainty. Information has not been coming from places of authority in a free and timely fashion. News broadcasts often tell stories of contaminated food and radioactive puddles near schools. Still, these stories are after the fact and often hard to process given the complex nature of radiation.

Luckily, on 27 December, Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute (KURRI) announced they are working with Fukushima Transportation Inc. to begin testing a system to monitor radiation in Fukushima City that is in real time and is accessible by anyone over the internet.

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Apple’s Lucky Bag Returns for 2012! We Are in for Some Massive Line-Ups Again

Apple has given word that they will be selling Lucky Bags (Fukubukuro) again this New Year’s! The sale will begin on 2 January at 8:00am.

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The Fermented Soy Cheesecake Challenge

Natto, for those of you that haven’t been introduced to the smelly, sticky Japanese foodstuff, is fermented soy beans. And if you do know natto, you probably also know that Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture is the place to go for the good stuff. Well, recently a venerable Mito natto company started selling a rather surprising new item: natto cheesecake. That’s right, a cheesecake made from fermented soy beans. Read More

According to a book recently published by Tomohiko Suzuki, a freelance journalist who went undercover as a laborer at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant for two months this year, people who were unable to repay loans from yakuza gangs were forced to work at the site as a means of repaying their debts. Tokyo Electric issued a refutal, calling the claim that organized crime would be allowed to influence the recruitment process “groundless”.
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Japanese Packed Lunches That Are Hard to Swallow; Edible Batteries and Bathroom Cleansers Enough to Make Andy Warhol Blush

Recently a lot of attention has been directed at Japanese mothers’ painstakingly crafted packed lunches called charabens (character bentos). It’s something of a competition for mothers to send their children off to school with not just the best tasting or healthiest food, but also the most creatively arranged. The BBC ran a feature showing how housewives attend classes to arrange rice, seaweed, and other ingredients into characters ranging from Hello Kitty and Totoro to Michael Jackson and Barack Obama.

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Need a Last Minute Christmas Present? How About a “Whale Sword”?

On Yahoo Shopping, a site famous for its oodles of unique merchandise, an ornamental sword is attracting a lot of attention. It’s called the “Whale Sword” and it’s a model of a style of ornamental sword used in the pre-war days, with a blade close to a meter long. Who wouldn’t want that in their stocking?

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What Recession? World’s Largest Uniqlo to Open in Ginza

Uniqlo, the clothing retailer who has achieved ubiquitous status in Japan is continuing its ambitious plans to expand worldwide. In order to achieve their goal of earning 5 trillion yen (US$60 billion) by 2020, they have been aggressively building larger and larger flagship stores around the world.

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BREAKING NEWS: Captain Jack Sparrow Now Manages Cake Shop

As I was taking a walk through the city the other day, I encountered a cake shop with a fantastic exterior like something out of a fairy tale. It had a very cheerful ambiance, and on closer inspection, I noticed a remarkable figure. Could it be? Star of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Jack Sparrow, selling pastries? Captain Jack managing a cake shop?
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This Year’s Hot Chirstmas Gift for that Special Someone You Never Want To See Again: The Frank Mulle…I Mean Miura Watch

Are you looking for something to give to that special someone in your life? Choosing the right gift is a huge burden for many of us this time of year, especially with so many options to choose from.

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6 Reasons Disneyland’s Secret Restaurant Club 33 Is Awesome

Did you know that there is a secret, members-only restaurant in Tokyo Disneyland called Club 33? The majority of memberships are corporate accounts, allowing them to do business entertaining there, but there are also individual members. Don’t get your hopes up, though, because they aren’t accepting applications. If you want to get in the door, no matter who you are or how much money you have, you have to be invited by a member.

But what is this mysterious Club 33 actually like? We’ve tracked down someone who was invited to enjoy a luxurious evening there, and according to him, these are the six most amazing things about Club 33.
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Calbee Plus Store Opens in Harajuku, Offers Hot Potato Chips Straight From The Fryer!

Snack food giant, Calbee, opened up their latest Calbee Plus store in Harajuku on 7 December, where you can buy their famous potato chips straight from the deep fryer. Calbee already has shops located in Kyoto and New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, but this newest store gives Tokyoites their first chance to enjoy piping hot potato chips.

I rushed out to get a first-tongue taste.

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How’d she do that?! A closer look at “Japan’s Lady of Eternal Youth”

Who could forget, Masako Mizutani, the 40-year-old magazine model who laughs in the face of time and recently set the international internet community ablaze. Her perplexingly unfailing sex appeal has even caused some of our readers to suspect vampirism or cryogenic freezing, while others were left with uncomfortable thought about their mothers.

Now, we’ve tracked her progress from age 20 to 30 in search of her secrets, so let’s take a trip down memory lane to see how this stunner pulled off what most women (and let’s face it, men too) could only dream of.

Hopefully we won’t encounter any vampires on the way.

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Calling All Boozehounds! All You Can Drink for 30 Minutes, Just 299 Yen!

The weekend is almost here! You’re off tomorrow, so how’s about hitting the bars? Come on, you’re probably sitting at your desk right now sneakily checking out your options for a post-work tipple.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking: if you want to drink the good stuff and actually manage a buzz, it’s going to cost a pretty penny. Well, think again. Rocket News has found the best, cheapest nomihoudai in town.
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What Kind of Hamburger Is Worth 23 Bucks?

Every day on my way to work, I pass one of the many outlets of fast-food giant Lotteria. Usually, I grab a cup of coffee there and drink it as I head to the office, but this morning something new caught my eye.

They’re selling Matsusaka Beef hamburgers? Hamburgers made from one of the best quality meats in Japan, famous for its exquisite marbling? But at 1800 yen (about $23), that’s a pretty steep price tag for a fast-food burger… Will it be worth it?
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“Gourmet” fans, add Ikebukuro Station to your list of stops for fine fare. Platform 3/4 for the Tobu Tojo Line, to be exact. HOT DOG 59 is the name, hot dogs are their game.

Folks in gourmet circles rave about these sizzling sausages available only at this single location. HOT DOG 59 spares no expense on the quality of the buns and dogs, said to be a step above New York’s famed red hots.

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Okunoshima Is Up to its Ears in Bunnies

Do you have a penchant for the fluffy and cuddly? Well, good news! It turns out there is a place in Japan that is literally crawling with squee-worthy bunnies. About 300 of them, in fact. They aren’t even fenced in, but are living their adorable little lives running free on an island.

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Fashionistas, Take Note: These Hot iPhone Covers Are Just 100 Yen!

There is a shopping wonderland where every item is only about a buck and you can buy pretty much any daily necessity and a whole lot of stuff you didn’t even know existed. This fabled place is the Japanese 100 yen shop, and it’s head and shoulders above the dingy dollar shops you know from home. You can even pick up a stylish cover to pimp your iPhone, with an unexpected abundance of styles and colors to satisfy even the most demanding fashion divas.

Of course, price is one thing, but quality is also going to be a major factor. Can decoration-loving fashionistas really buy with confidence? Can these cheap covers really protect our all-important iPhones? Rocket News decided to find out.
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Japan’s World Heritages Fly Well Under Radar

Did you know that Japan has 16 locations on the list of UNESCO World Heritages? Could you name them all with any sum of money on the line?

Survey Research Center, Co. Ltd. conducted a survey that showed that most people could not. When asked whether they were interested in Japan’s world heritages, 67.8% of those surveyed responded affirmatively. However, only 4% of respondents knew all 16 Japanese sites.

See how many you can name before looking at the list below:

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Japanese confectionery companies always seem to be on the lookout for the next great combination of tastes, and the shelves in supermarkets and convenience stores are often stocked with the results of these “korabo.”

Words like “suspect” and “amusing” come to mind to describe most of these products, but Morinaga and Pasco have teamed up to create a product that just may give the old peanut butter and chocolate combo a run for its money.

“Morinaga Caramel Shokupan” is exactly what it sounds like: the old-fashioned flavor of Morinaga Caramel baked into fluffy Pasco bread. The packaging is the same gold color as those familiar little rectangular boxes of caramel, and the immediate association with the mouth-watering taste of Morinaga caramel is anything but subtle.

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