While in recent years opinions have become increasingly divided on the gameplay in long-running video game series Final Fantasy, there’s not much room to criticize the franchise’s artistry. New installments of Final Fantasy are consistently among the most visually and aurally pleasing games at their time of release. Each title has a huge team of designers and software engineers who spend untold hours making sure the cut scenes are gorgeous, the interface slick, and the soundtrack stirring and crystal clear. And also, apparently, that the heroine doesn’t inadvertently flash her panties.
Japan (Page 1542)
If the Japanese media hadn’t bothered to point it out, we never would have even realized the newest model for American fashion boot (that’s a thing?) manufacturer Luan is none other than comedian and former tasteless gay stereotype “Hard Gay”.
We’re still looking at the promotional photos and rubbing our eyes in disbelief. It turns out that, when he made the surprise announcement in June this year that he had decided to go into modelling, the former entertainer wasn’t kidding around.
An 84-year-old woman in the town of Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture was accidentally shot yesterday morning by a man who was hunting in the area, Yomiuri Online reports.
The bizarre story of how Häagen-Dazs being a totally made up name that most of the world seems to think is actually of Dutch origin somehow aside, Häagen-Dazs ice cream – which is actually manufactured by a US company – is renowned throughout much of the world for being high quality and super delicious.
It’s no surprise, then, that Häagen-Dazs Japan has enjoyed strong ice cream sales and a stellar reputation for 30 years now, and to celebrate its 30th anniversary, the company is going to kick back, relax, and gobble down two pints of brand new rose and sakura cherry blossom flavors of ice cream made to commemorate the chain’s three decades in Japan.
Remember Tekken, the balding comedian with makeup reminiscent of KISS and a talent for turning out some truly tear-wrenching flipbook animations? Well, he’s done it again, with a ten-minute piece titled A Story about Family.
As with Tekken’s previous works, the story uses absolutely no dialog, but still manages to convey a message of familial piety which transcends cultural borders and is almost certain to evoke some tears. It’ll have you scrambling for the phone to call home and show thanks to those who have supported you throughout the years.
Here’s an elementary school math question for you all:
Apples are sold for 100 yen each. If you buy 5 what is the total amount?
If you said “5 × 100 = 500” then I’m sorry but you just flunked second grade math in Japan… if there were only one question all year.
The reason is an old teaching method that is employed in elementary and middle schools throughout the country. It’s also a method that many, such as a blogger by the name of Uncorrelated, want stopped as it leads to strange logic where six times seven does not always equal 42 and five times 100 might not equal 500.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! …and Hello Kitty.
As a kid, whenever you heard the TMNT theme song, you knew it was on! What’s better than pizza-loving, Japanese weapon-toting, “cowabunga dude” catch phrased mutant turtles who also happen to be ninjas? That’s right, nothing’s better. Except maybe this TMNT/Hello Kitty collaboration. We know they’re not Pokemon but we just gotta catch them all!
While there are genuine differences between Japan and the West, oftentimes you can find cultural equivalents with just a little searching. Japan may not have ice cream trucks, for example, but mobile food exists in the form of sweet potato vendors who cruise the streets of residential areas. Christmas is Japan is usually spent on a romantic date or partying with friends, but then everyone goes back home to spend time with the family over New Year’s.
Likewise, satirical website Kyoko News exists as Japan’s counterpart to The Onion, running stories that almost seem plausible, but never actually happened. Nonetheless, it seems the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) either didn’t get or didn’t appreciate being the subject of one of Kyoko News’ recent jokes. The organization eventually got the retraction it was seeking, but not without seeing the complications involved in asking for one from a website that states upfront that what it’s saying isn’t true.
The art of home furnishings is still struggling to keep up with the advent of smartphones and tablets. We’ve seen advances in upside-down racks but they can be large and unwieldy for everyday use. Enter Utsubusene Cushion (Face-down Sleep Cushion).
The idea of such a chest-rest is not new. The makers, Thanko Co. Ltd. say that this kind of chair-thingy has been around since ancient times in Japan. However, Thanko is hoping this ultra old-school technology will be the savior of sleepy portable device users everywhere.
What do you normally see in a piece of tissue paper? Is tissue something that’s useful but to be casually discarded without much thought once it’s been used? That may often be the case, but Japanese tissue maker Nepia has created a video which can hopefully change that and raise consumers’ appreciation for this ubiquitous paper product by showing how a piece of tissue can be changed into works of art. Viewers of the video from around the world have apparently been seriously impressed, giving the video a definite two-thumbs up, and we just had to share it with you, since we thought it looked … well, simply awesome!
The Japanese stereotype for otaku is far from pretty. Hardcore fans of anime and video games are largely regarded as social outcasts and are characterized as unkempt men in button-up plaid shirts, high-waisted pants and running shoes, carrying around backpacks and shuffling quickly through the streets of Akihabara on the hunt for the latest game, hardware or erotic 2-D merchandise.
The Japanese text board 2channel appears very well acquainted with this skittish sub-section of society, so when someone asked why it is that otaku walk so fast, the anonymous responders had a lot to say, and it certainly opened our eyes!
Girls und Panzer is a popular anime, manga and light novel series following a group of girls who live in an alternate universe where women participate in “the art of battling tanks” and young girls attend schools where they learn to operate WWII-era tanks as a martial art. The series is extremely popular in Japan as well as abroad and will soon be turned into a video game for PS Vita.
Japan’s urban and rural areas alike are dotted with temples and shrines, but there’s no practice of attending regular services at them. Instead, visitors primarily come to offer a few yen as a donation, say a quick prayer, and pick up one of the plethora of good luck charms and amulets sold there, many of which have specific purposes such as passing an important exam or finding a new love.
But every member of our team is already out of college, and so popular with the opposite sex that we’re starting to feel bad about not leaving any for the rest of the populace. Looking further down our to-do list, we noticed that “build mansion with supermodel grotto” was preceded by “achieve economic success,” so we decided to head to our local Shinto shrine for Tori no Ichi, Japan’s annual festival for buying good luck charms for success in business.
As a proud resident of Osaka Prefecture it’s always nice to see the place excel at something. Even for something as nefarious as purse snatching, it seems that the Osaka way is to go big or go home.
So let’s all give Osaka a big round of applause for being number one in incidents of purse snatching for the third year in a row! Even though stats are only available up until October, so many cases of people grabbing women’s bags and running away – or riding away as is often the case – have occurred that we have officially clinched the standings for 2013.
We’ve talked before about the booming trend of latte art in Japan, in which baristas create intricate pictures in the foam atop your coffee. But what if you prefer to get your caffeine fix from a cup of tea instead of a mug of java? Does Japan have anything cute to brighten your beverage?
Why yes, it does! And if you like a little citrus in your tea, you can spruce up your drink with a slice of lemon grown in the shape of a heart.
Protecting your privacy can be a difficult task in today’s world of information technology. With surveillance cameras on every corner and a recording device on every smartphone, there’s a good chance your image has been captured somewhere without you even knowing it. Safeguarding your mug in the future is set to become even more difficult with advancements in facial recognition technologies and wearable computers like Google Glass.
So what can you do to ensure your identity remains intact? In Western countries the answer would be simple: put on a pair of sunglasses. In Japan, however, sunglasses are a much less common sight, and many consider them to be worn only by those trying a little too hard to look cool, and in more extreme cases associate them with the yakuza lifestyle. Researchers at the National Institute of Informatics in Tokyo have addressed this issue by designing a non-threatening pair of white shades to protect both your identity and your public image, dubbing them the “Privacy Visor”.
At approximately 8:44 on the evening of 16 November, a magnitude-4 earthquake shook the Kanto area of Japan. Although some barely noticed the tremor, the quake dealt a sizeable blow to the Village Vanguard store in Sangenjaya, Tokyo.
Village Vanguard is a chain of book stores in Japan, but also the place to go for those looking for a Jamaican flag Zippo lighter, bag of freeze-dried astronaut food, DVD of Golden Eggs, and/or bag with a Dr. Pepper logo on it in a country that by and large neither knows of nor likes the drink.
Following the damage caused by the quake, an outpouring of support has been seen from netizens in Japan.
Look, we completely understand how quickly a diet can disappear when things like all-you-can-eat burgers exist in this world. And trying to implement the newest fad diet or tracking down black market diet pills seems to be a full time job for some of us. That is why here at RocketNews24, we have worked hard to find the most shocking, disgusting image that will make you immediately lose your taste for fast food, carbs, sugar, fat and anything else that tastes too good.
Are you a poor college student? An incompetent cook? Or maybe just too busy to stop for a real meal? If so, you probably have cup ramen so often that you can prep a serving with your eyes closed and your right hand tied to your left knee.
Let’s be honest here: Cup ramen is fast, convenient, and not entirely horrible tasting. But after a couple of days of the same flavors over and over, you might be wanting to add some variety to your diet. If you still can’t get a real meal, at least now you can get some magic powder to spice up your noodles!
As the next-generation console wars is commencing Sony and Microsoft are currently firing off their opening salvos. Nintendo’s Wii U sales have been lagging, but Nintendo has a secret weapon coming out this Christmas season that may just trump the competition in home gaming – a mahjong set!
I said “may.”
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