Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Japan (Page 1539)
In the midst of present day globalization, and with international marriages on the rise, how do Japanese people fare on the ‘international stage’ of dating?
We decided to find out by sending our reporter to Comiket 82 earlier this month and asking REAL LIVE foreign visitors if they would like to date a Japanese person.
Japanese designer pet supplies maker OPPO aims to create products that “offer a lifestyle where humans and pets can coexist naturally as animals.”
While they don’t offer any explanation of what that actually means, a product lineup featuring items like “quack,” a duckbill-shaped muzzle, and “CatShell,” a shell…for cats, suggests what they’re really saying is: “here’s more ways for you to spend money on things your pet doesn’t need.
Japan is a country notorious for its high level of politeness. However, deep within its tangled, serpentine train system, common courtesy is often cast aside and Thunderdome rules apply. I’ve seen grown men push aside old ladies and old ladies push aside me in order to get the best spot.
This being the case, Tokyo Metropolitan Area’s rail companies and the city itself began to spread over 5,000 posters calling for passengers to give some leeway to women with baby carriages. As a result, they have received over 1,000 complaints and growing.
Tired of stuffing rice balls in your bag only to have them get squished and smear sticky rice all over your important work documents?
Takara Tomy Arts is here to answer your plea with SmartHan (han means “rice”), a revolutionary new way to enjoy your favorite rice dish from home while on the go!
AKB48, the darlings of the Japanese pop scene, may have danced one step over the line sweet Jesus with their newest commercial for Puccho candy. The commercial first aired on 25 August and seems to have drawn a collective “yuggghhh” from the nation.
In it the girls dance away brandishing the product as only they can do. Except this time, all but one of their bodies have been digitally replaced by 5 and 6 year olds.
After the recent switch from analog to digital terrestrial broadcasting in Japan, more and more people are making the switch to flat screen units. And as the streets find themselves more and more littered with discarded boxy cathode ray tube model TV’s, Japan may have accidentally thrown something else in the trash – a piece of their culture and heritage.
French fries, or “furaido potato”, as they are called here in Japan, are the standard side order to all kinds of fast food. Which fast food shop has the best tasting fries in Japan? My Navi News decided to find out by canvassing 1000 working men and women from the ages of 22 to 32 on Japanese social networking service Mixi.
The results show the top fast food shops ranked by their french fries along with a few select comments from those polled. Their occupations and genders are also shown and although there may not be any direct correlation in occupation to french fry tastes, their education does suggest a discerning taste in french fry eating. The gender of the people taking the survey appears to have absolutely no significance except that ‘gender role-happy’ Japan cares about such information.
The survey was conducted by simply asking, “Which fast food restaurant makes the best french fries?”
And the winners are… Read More
Interested in investing in Japanese historical real estate but don’t have quite enough to afford a medieval castle town?
Right now there’s a 150-year-old traditional Japanese thatched-roof farmhouse for sale on Yahoo! Auction for the unbeatable price of 1 yen (about 1 penny)!
Though by judging from the pictures, it may be a bit of fixer-upper…
Following in the tradition of Japan getting all the cool Resident Evil stuff, Universal Studios Japan has announced they will be converting a portion of the theme park into a zombie-infested Raccoon City this Fall.
The sea is too clean for the fish!
Efforts to clean up the sea have caused an adverse reaction giving the fishing Industries in Hyogo, Okayama, and Oita Prefectures along the Setonai Seaboard a major headache. The irony being that the sea is too clean for the fish to thrive.
An analysis of the sea water by researchers found the natural levels of Nitrogen and phosphorous in the salt content of the sea water needed for the nutritional growth of healthy plankton have diminished to the point that it has effected the natural eco system of the sea. Without enough plankton, the major nutrition for many small sea animals, the whole food chain is disrupted to the point of great loss to the fishing Industry.
A few weeks ago the Pokemon Company revealed the 3DS LL Pikachu Yellow, a limited edition version of the handheld console purchasable by preorder at Pokemon Center stores from August 25 to September 14.
To the surprise of no one, Japanese customers lined up outside and waited for over 4 hours to purchase the device, clearing out stocks at Pokemon Centers in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka on the first day.
People often ask me why I moved to Japan and I say “to be with people like me – with blonde hair and blue eyes.” Japan is a homogenous country to be sure, but a recent advertisement from clothing chain COMME ÇA ISM boldly challenges this mistaken stereotype that Japan is full of Japanese people.
It’s actually full of white people!
About 95-97% of the population of Pakistan is Muslim, which means there’s not a lot of pork eaten in the country. Pakistanis do, however, eat a lot of sheep. And when they eat sheep, they eat all of the sheep — meat, heart, genitals, brains, you name it and Pakistanis have a recipe for it.
If you know where to look, you can even find Pakistani restaurants here in Japan that serve dishes using some of the more exotic parts of the animal.
One such restaurant is Maruhaba in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, which serves sheep brain curry.
We recently sent reporter Mr. Sato to Maruhaba to try the dish out; after all, he looks like he could benefit from a little more brain.
His report follows below:
While manga is ubiquitous in Japan — just ride the subway in any major city and you’ll see people from all walks of life flipping through a comic book — many Japanese people are surprised to hear how popular manga has become overseas. After all, aren’t Westerners only interested in macho superheroes or short comic strips?
Perhaps that was the case in America before, but in recent years many major bookstores have begun to reserve more space near the front of the store for Japanese comics and in some European countries like France and Germany manga occupies a large portion of overall comic sales.
But why?
Earlier this month, we sent one of our Japanese reporters to Comic Market (or “Comiket“), the world’s largest self-published comic book fair and otaku mecca, to interview real live foreigners and ask them why they like Japanese manga so much.
If you weren’t in the know (and by the know we mean Japan), Japanese convenience store chain Family Mart and Hatsune Miku are running a promotional campaign from August 14 to September 10 to celebrate the Vocaloid’s 5th birthday.
To spread word of the campaign, Family Mart created a 15-second television commercial featuring Miku singing the store’s signature jingle and posted it to YouTube on August 17, though a ripped version had been posted to Japanese video sharing site Nico Nico Douga a few days earlier.
One group of enterprising viewers saw the video and immediately got the idea for a parody, which he posted to Nico Nico and YouTube on August 19. The parody, titled “Miku LOVES Seven Campaign [Fiction]”. features a super deformed Hatsune Miku singing the Japanese 7-Eleven jingle and is absolutely terrifying.
It seems there’s never a shortage of character-themed steamed buns (niku-man in Japanese) coming onto the market in Japan. In the past, we’ve seen buns modeled after Hatsune Miku, Spiderman, slime from Dragon Quest and Puyo Puyo to name a few. So who’s the newest character to be steamed into a tasty little bun? It’s none other than our beloved “cat of all trades”, Ms. Kitty! Read More
Tokyo Electric Power Company has lost a considerable amount of goodwill following last year’s nuclear disaster. While the level of blame that should be placed on the company as a whole is still to be determined, low level employees of the company often face the immediate brunt of the hostility.
It appears now that even the children of TEPCO employees are having to answer for the choices their parents’ employers made by their classmates. But how are elementary school students so up to speed on the nation’s energy situation?
The world’s most venturesome ramen shop, Musashi Noodles, fearlessly created a cold ramen dish with soy milk soup and rayu, or chili oil, ice cream. Musashi Noodles is a Japanese noodle shop franchise. Their Shinjuku branch held a Valentines special promotion back in February featuring Unique Chocolate Ramen.
Summer in Japan is when ramen shops do a booming business in cold noodle dishes like hiyashi chuka. This new creation dubbed ‘tonyu hiyashi men’ or soy milk cold noodles, is available for a limited time only. Notice the scoop of red rayu ice cream floating in the white soy milk soup. A timely creation, full of national pride for all those medals won in the Olympics! But what about the taste? One of our reporters went to check it out. Read More
According to a report published by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Japanese high school students have markedly lower self-esteem and self-confidence than students in America and other Asian countries.
This downtown Tokyo cafe is like a time machine that takes you back 50 years into the past
Station of despair: What to do if you get stuck at the end of Tokyo’s Chuo Rapid Line
Japanese government will check and judge new baby name pronunciations, presents guidelines
Totoro towels gently glow in the dark to set the Ghibli nighttime mood in your home【Photos】
The best Christmas Market in Japan? Yokohama event is top choice for travellers
Shakey’s is back! All-you-can-eat pizza chain returns to downtown Tokyo’s Shinjuku
Starbucks Japan releases a new Frappuccino that looks and tastes like a floral bouquet
Evangelion and McDonald’s Japan launch first-ever collaboration with transforming figures【Video】
Japanese company develops classy heavy metal band frames for glasses
We put the internet’s “techniques for emptying your bladder with morning wood” to the testJapanese company develops classy heavy metal band frames for glasses
One of Japan’s rarest sweets is a sell-out hit that looks and tastes like frost
Studio Ghibli showcases traditional craftsmanship with new wallet range
Mysterious light-up rainy night-sound Totoro figure doesn’t actually show a scene from the anime
Major Japanese city is abolishing extracurricular activities at all of its middle schoolsThis downtown Tokyo cafe is like a time machine that takes you back 50 years into the past
Over 800 Studio Ghibli anime world paintings compiled in beautiful new hardcover art book【Pics】
Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke plushies show a softer side of formidable Ghibli charactersShakey’s is back! All-you-can-eat pizza chain returns to downtown Tokyo’s Shinjuku
Studio Ghibli tea blends contain ingredients inspired by My Neighbour Totoro
Possessing Harry Potter’s Sword of Godric Gryffindor is now illegal in Japan
Uniqlo announces first-ever collaboration with horror manga master Junji Ito【Photos】
J-pop mega star Ado reveals she’s been living in the U.S., may not understand language acquisition
Starbucks Japan is calling it quits with paper straws
Studio Ghibli releases new range of cardigans for anime fans
Japan’s most popular castle raising ticket prices by up to 200 percent for non-local tourists
Furikake rice seasoning sales are soaring, which is bad news for Japan as a whole
Studio Ghibli heroine cardigans give you warmth and strength to face everyday challenges
Eight unforgettable hot springs, as recommended by Japan’s “Professor Bath”Japanese company develops classy heavy metal band frames for glasses
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Foreign tourists on Shinkansen bullet train break suitcase etiquette, angering local passengersPossessing Harry Potter’s Sword of Godric Gryffindor is now illegal in Japan
[Deleted] Article written for April Fool’s Day 2018
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
Japanese convenience store Family Mart announces abolishment of eat-in spaces
Life-size vibrating Legend of Zelda Master Sword for sale from Nintendo【Photos】
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
Studio Ghibli releases free-download board game — Here’s how to play it without reading Japanese
Shakey’s is back! All-you-can-eat pizza chain returns to downtown Tokyo’s Shinjuku
Starbucks Japan releases a new Frappuccino that looks and tastes like a floral bouquet
Evangelion and McDonald’s Japan launch first-ever collaboration with transforming figures【Video】
Japanese company develops classy heavy metal band frames for glasses
We put the internet’s “techniques for emptying your bladder with morning wood” to the test
World’s first real ramen in a can now available at Japanese vending machines
Here’s what Japanese netizens think of the U.S.’s top 20 most-picked karaoke songs
How to get all-you-can eat doughnuts at Mister Donut for just 12 bucks!
Nakano Broadway sells a fukubukuro lucky bag for foreigners, but is it a good deal or a scam?
New Jimmy Choo x Sailor Moon collaboration brings anime magic to bags, shoes and accessories
Japan destroys Santa Claus with science: “If he were real, we’d all be dead from his sonic boom.”
Daiso has giant new branch in middle of Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood (and another beneath it)