Featured

Japan (Page 1554)

Wine-fueled mayhem in Japan’s Napa Valley: Katsunuma Wine and Grape Festival

When you think booze and Japan, wine is probably the last thing that comes to mind, and not without good reason. This is a country where the average wine list can be summed up as “red or white?”, both of which will come probably from an ancient box in the back of the fridge and chilled to near-zero temps.

The country is not without its fans of wine culture, though. In fact, Japan even has a wine-producing region, home to 31 wineries and an original grape variety! Katsunuma, sometimes called the Napa Valley of Japan, is tucked into the mountains of Yamanashi Prefecture, just an hour and a half from Tokyo.

RocketNews24 went to check out this grapey paradise on the occasion of the Katsunuma Wine and Grape Festival, where rumor had it 500 yen would get you unlimited wine for the day.

Read More

Saiyans, pirates, and Jesus all come alive on Japanese blackboards

As we saw from their hilarious textbook doodles not too long ago, Japanese school children seem to be bursting at the seams with creativity. Now, with the slightly more public and temporary space of a classroom blackboard, some students with encouraging teachers were able to create some very impressive murals.

Read More

Weekly Shonen Sunday’s newest manga artist is a 16-year-old high school student

Said to be like “spending a pleasant Sunday,” Weekly Shonen Sunday is one of the top three manga publications in Japan. With a weekly circulation of one million copies, Weekly Shonen Sunday has featured many noted manga artists. But their newest contributor is relatively unknown in the manga community and surprisingly young.

Sabanoneko is in her first year of high school in Hiroshima Prefecture. Deemed a manga prodigy, she won Shonen Weekly Sunday’s Rookie of the Year award for the powerful expression of emotion in her work, Oni-Hime.

Read More

A tiny capybara bathes in a piece of toast at karaoke parlors across Tokyo

Even if you can’t make it out to the Izu Shaboten Zoo in Shizuoka Prefecture, you can still see a capybara take a bath at karaoke joints across Tokyo thanks to Pasela, a chain of high-class karaoke parlors. When it comes down to it, their “Capybara-san Honey Toast” is basically just an entire loaf of bread with some sugary toppings, but that cute little capybara face might inspire you to get one for the shear cuteness of it all.

Read More

Burger King Japan unveils a black ninja burger that licks you back

Burger King is bringing on the bizarre burgers once again with their new “Kuro Ninja,” a burger with a black bun and long, thick strip of bacon protruding out of one side. We’re not sure if ninjas ever stuck their tongues out at their enemies, but if they did and they were somehow magically transformed into a burger, this is what they’d look like.

Read More

New cosplay seller enters stores across Japan, just in time for Halloween

We’re well into fall now, and it’s time to start preparing for some horror-filled festivities on October 31. Japan is getting all geared-up with ghosts and skeletons clearly on display and plenty of Halloween parties planned for the days leading up to the turn of the month. But of course, what’s a Halloween party without a good costume? And what’s a good costume without a band of beautiful girls ready to promote it?

Clearstone costume maker recently released a new cosplay series called Tokimeki Graffiti, modeled and promoted by the idol group, DenpaGumi.inc. Already, whether for the quality of the costumes or the influence of idols, sales are really skyrocketing!

Read More

Police from the Himonya Precinct in Tokyo’s Merguro Ward have announced the arrest of one Keiko Hatano. Mr. Hatano has an unusual given name for a man in Japan, but even more unusual is the crime he is suspected of: fondling a woman’s posterior after explaining to her that he “studies English.”

Read More

Take a peek inside the world’s top video game companies

While you’re trying to sneak your way past Clickers or making it rain at a Los Santos strip club, do you ever stop to think about those men and women who have slaved away for countless hours, trying to bring you the best game possible? And with every good group of game developers, you have to have a place to house them while they work, so here’s a look inside the walls of some of the biggest video game companies in the world.

Read More

Japanese violinist perfectly mimics patrol car siren, blows our minds

There’s no shortage of brilliant musicians on the Internet putting their unique spins on popular songs or performing in unusual locations. From shamisen duos playing on moving vehicles to symphonic video game music, it seems like there couldn’t possibly be anything new for us to discover.

Emphasis on the “seems like,” because you are not going to believe what this Japanese violinist manages to pull off!

Read More

What cheeky animal fit itself into this bookcase?

Those of us with pets likely all have a story of finding our animals in all sorts of strange positions, hidden places and just plain odd situations. Twitter user jack4520 recently found their beloved pet in what looks like an incredibly uncomfortable place, although the smile on the animal’s face says otherwise. Click below to find out what animal found its way into this crowded bookshelf!

Read More

Previously unseen CCTV footage of March 2011 tsunami is intense 【Video】

Earlier this year, we brought you videos shot by those who fled the wall of water that the March 11, 2011 earthquake brought to Northeastern Japan. As shocking as they were, most – thankfully – were taken from relatively far away by the towns’ residents once they had reached comparative safety. The following footage taken in Iwate Prefecture, however, was recorded right where the tsunami hit by security and roadside cameras.

The footage shows the awesome, raw power of the tsunami, and gets much more up close and personal than anyone would every hope to. We should warn you that some readers may find the following images disturbing.

Read More

Originally a particularly polite way of saying “you,” the Japanese word otaku evolved into a label for anyone with an obsessive, passionate devotion to their hobby. While most commonly associated with anime fans, the term is also applied to hardcore video gamers, technology buffs, and even auto enthusiasts.

Much like “geek,” otaku was initially a derogatory term, but has lost a lot of its sting and become largely co-opted in recent years. Still, it’s important to not let yourself get too wrapped up in your hobbies. Conveniently, there’s now a mathematical formula to determine if your otaku-ness has become too much for your own good.

Read More

Self-Defense Force hopes people will answer the call of duty (and cute anime girls)

Given the less assertive role of the Japanese Self-Defense Force compared to a conventional military, it’s natural that the organization’s recruiting tends to be on the low-key side. The JSDF does indeed do invaluable work in disaster-relief and humanitarian missions, but the pitch to recruits is less hunting down the world’s villains and more holding the fort and being ready to lend a hand when people are in need.

Accordingly, the JSDF Coordination Office for Kagawa Prefecture, located on Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four main islands, has decided to go with showcasing the soft power-look of cute anime girls in its recruitment efforts.

Read More

World Order celebrates 2020 Summer Olympics selection with synchronized robot dance around Tokyo

You might recognize the suit-clad men pictured above from their many other choreographed dances around Japan. For those unfamiliar, these seven men make up World Order, a dance group led by retired mixed martial artist, Genki Sudo.

Their newest video, “Welcome to TOKYO” was made to celebrate the selection of Tokyo as the site for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.  The group can be seen dancing around famous landmarks around the capital of Japan such as Asakusa Temple, Tokyo Tower, and Kabuki-za Theatre. Watch and be amazed by the beautiful places and robotic businessmen Tokyo has to offer.

Read More

Nintendo president reveals why he doesn’t believe in layoffs during difficult financial periods

During a Q&A session at The 73rd Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata, announced that he doesn’t believe in staff layoffs or downsizing during periods of economic difficulty. Particularly outside of Japan, it is not unusual for employees in the game industry to be faced with redundancies as part of business restructuring. However, while there are many possible reasons why a company may need to shed some weight, Mr. Iwata emphasised that he is strongly against such an approach.

Read More

Can you spot the shocking hidden image in this plate of curry and rice?

There are certain customs restaurants in Japan follow when serving dishes that originated overseas. Fried rice should come on an octagonal plate. Steak must be accompanied by a few wedges of carrots, steak fries, and corn.

When it comes to curry and rice, the roux should never completely cover the grain. Ideally, it should be poured over half of the plate, allowing the customer to enjoy mixing the two together in whatever ratio they feel is best.

Trying to keep with the spirit of this tradition caused problems for one Tokyo restaurant, though, when its special plate of three kinds of curry ended up containing an unfortunate and unintentional hidden image.

Read More

High-fashion photos of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure characters featured at Shisedo event

Currently underway at the new Shisedo Ginza Building in Tokyo is the Japan Original Beauty event which features a live talk with beauty professional Tadashi Harada. Harada, who works with Shisedo as one of their “Top Beauty Specialists” was the genius behind a series of portraits with models depicting characters from Hirohiko Araki’s manga masterpiece JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

Read More

Potato stew-flavoured popsicles, anyone? Japan goes wild as photo of new Garigari-kun emerges

In the wake of its limited edition corn soup-flavoured brethren, a new Garigari-kun popsicle is rumoured to be hitting Japan’s freezers any day now. There has yet to be any official announcement from the famous popsicles’ maker Akagi, but one netizen recently spotted what looks like an ad for, of all things, a potato stew-flavoured ice cream. More details after the jump!

Read More

Wanna sleep next to Hatsune Miku? There’s an app for that!

Up until now, lonely otaku wishing to tuck in with their favorite anime character had to rely on the cotton-blend comfort of their beloved dakimakura, aka “love pillows.” I’m sure it’s nice to wrap around the 2-D image of one’s imaginary lover, but it must be a bit of a letdown considering that a pillow only satisfies two of the major senses: sight and touch. Just think how far these fan’s crazy fantasies could carry them if sound and scent also came into play.

Well, Vocaloid fans rejoice, because a member of Nico Nico Douga’s engineering department has put together an application which allows the user to not only see and interact with a 3-D virtual model of Hatsune Miku in her bed, they can also hear, touch, and even smell her! Talk about dreams come true!

Read More

McDonald’s Japan’s menu item base costs leaked, make us wonder what’s in the burgers

It’s no secret that RocketNews24 writers are big fans of McDonald’s Japan, with its selection of artery-clogging novelty menu items providing endless amusement and article fodder at price ranges that even an Internet “journalist” can afford day after day.

Every once in a while, though, we find it necessary to dish the dirt on McDonald’s Japan so that our readers don’t think we’re on the Golden Arches’ payroll. So, fortuitously, an anonymous Netizen recently leaked McDonald’s Japan’s base costs for its most popular menu items and we have to admit, we found the dangerously low – sometimes single digit – yen values to be alarming and disturbing at the same time.

Read More

  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 1551
  5. 1552
  6. 1553
  7. 1554
  8. 1555
  9. 1556
  10. 1557
  11. ...
  12. 1665