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Japan (Page 1604)

We Made Coca-Cola Transparent and Colorless. It Tastes Like…

The OKO is an “advanced filtration water bottle” that features a filtration system developed by NASA. It’s so powerful that the makers claim it can filter cola into transparent, colorless liquid. The original promotional video is pretty convincing, but there were plenty of people on the internet crying foul. How can this mere water bottle turn dark brown cola into what appears to be water?

We here at RocketNews24 knew what we had to do: go on a quest for this magical bottle and try it out ourselves. Ladies and gentlemen, we have indeed succeeded in turning cola into transparent, colorless liquid. It looked good enough to drink, but as we held the liquid to our quivering lips, we could only image what it might taste like.

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Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama’s Newest Work Released… to Japanese Environmental Groups

Since the end of Dragon Ball’s massively successful series, creator Akira Toriyama has been putting out a fairly steady flow of one-shots, the most recent of which being 2010’s Kintoki.

Now, Toriyama’s newest work titled Lord Wu of Delicious Island (Oishi Shima No Wu Sama) is available for limited release.

How limited?  Well, your best chance is to become a primary school student participating in an environmental study group in Anjo, Aichi Prefecture.

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Suspected of violating laws related to acts of violence, the first trial for company employee Yoshihito Harada, 25, was held at the Nagoya district courthouse on 16 April. Harada stands accused of puncturing the tires of parked cars that were driven by women in an effort to strike up conversations with the drivers. When asked if there was any truth to the indictment, Harada admitted, “It’s true, I did it.”

According to the opening statement by prosecutors, between April 2011 and December 2012, Harada used a screw driver or other sharp object to puncture the tires of five different cars. The cars had all been parked outside supermarkets in the cities of Miyoshi, Nisshin and Toyota, Aichi Prefecture. In all cases the stated reason was so that Harada could establish contact with the women.

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A thesis which assesses the risks of internal radiation exposure within Fukushima Prefecture following the explosions at the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, suggests that the effects of internal radiation fall far below that recorded after Chernobyl.

Ryugo Hayano, who works as a professor at Tokyo University’s Science Research Department, has collected the findings of doctors who conducted research into internal radiation exposure among those living inside of the Fukushima Prefecture. He consolidated these findings into an English journal entitled ‘Proceedings of Japan Academy Series B89’, which is available on the net.

The latest journal is a collection of reports that looks at the degree of radiation exposure through daily food consumption and it is reported to be the first of its kind.

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Not So Smooth Criminal: Woman Tries to Pay With Obviously Photocopied Yen

An unemployed young woman was arrested in Shizuoka Prefecture this week after she tried to pay at a convenience store with an obviously photocopied counterfeit bill. The master criminal’s excuse? “I was in a bind because I didn’t have any money.” Read More

Mos Burger Goes Green With Their Mos Natsumi Burgers

Just as KFC’s Kentucky Chicken Rice and other mega size deals appeared to put Japan on a slippery trans-fat laden slope to rampant morbid obesity, Japanese burger chain Mos Burger has stepped up and offered their own line of bunless burgers.

This time, rather than a pair of fluffy golden meat holders, your favorite Mos Burger sandwich will be nestled in the leafy green goodness of a wad of lettuce.

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  • Apr 19, 2013

I’m sure there are many of you who like to bake your own bread. (I, unfortunately, lack the culinary skills to do so and have to resort to store-bought goods.) But bread doesn’t always turn out the way you intended, does it? It certainly didn’t when Twitter user korpi baked a batch of what was supposed to be harmless, wholesome cheese bread, and the pictures she shared on her account have apparently caught the attention of Japanese Internet users — with their shock value. But what could be so alarming about some pieces of bread? Read More

The Xbox 360’s successor may well be just around the corner, but Microsoft has a serious problem on its hands in Japan. According to sales figures published by Japan’s Dengeki Online, even last week’s top-selling Xbox 360 game, Gears of War: Judgement, only managed to sell a paltry 347 copies in total. In a country where sales for Nintendo’s handheld 3DS reached almost 60,000 units in the exact same period, it’s clear that Microsoft’s console is struggling to keep its head above water.

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iOS Facebook Chat Update Includes Awesomely Disgusting Projectile Vomit Emoticon

Facebook, possibly in an attempt to outpace Asia’s reigning chat program king LINE, updated their iOS Facebook Chat program on April 17, adding “stickers” that can be used in chat conversations much like LINE’s “stamps” (also called “stickers” in English language versions).

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Japanese Style Yakisoba Flavored Yakisoba: It’s Confusingly Delicious!

Yakisoba (fried buckwheat noodles) is a standard food in Japanese cuisine which can be found in restaurants, food stands, and convenience stores across the nation served in a variety of ways such as on hotdog buns or in an omelet.

There is also a variety of instant yakisoba noodle packs among which is the decades old Peyoung brand – loved by Japanese people of all ages for its delicious taste and easy preparation.

Occasionally the company releases special flavors like curry and super-hot, but this time they came out with perhaps the most unexpected flavor of all: yakisoba flavored yakisoba.

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Having ruled out Colonel Mustard with a candlestick in the dining room (thanks Hasbro), Osaka prefectural police at the city’s Taisho station are trying to figure out who made off with national flags from two of the district’s elementary schools on April 16.
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We Try Fried Piranha, Even Dead and Cooked It’s Pretty Dangerous

Nara Kenko Land is a well-known spa here in Japan which offers pools, baths, massages, and exercise equipment.

However, for a limited time they are holding the “Big Amazon Mysterious Fish Exhibit” giving us a rare chance to eat the South American river’s fish, including the deadly piranha.

Suspicious that a health spa would offer edible piranhas, our lovely reporter Usagi went down to check it out and perhaps eat a fish that eats people.

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Free Gifts and Cheap Coffee No Help as McDonald’s Japan Troubles Continue

The collapse of McDonald’s Japan continued as the company recorded declining year-over-year sales for the 12th consecutive month at the end of March. The situation is dismal, as whatever the company does seems to end in failure.

Its 100-yen menu (about one US dollar) and free giveaways no longer impress customers who have grown accustomed to deflationary pricing. Its “Food in 60 seconds or next burger free” campaign, which the company initiated in January as a measure to help revive fortunes, also failed to deliver. And there doesn’t appear to be any light at the end of the tunnel. Its most recent venture, free gum and other “unique”gifts to purchasers of breakfast sets, has been roundly criticized on the Internet as being a “hackneyed idea.”
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  • Apr 17, 2013

Ladies, Please Don’t Be So Blatantly Disappointed With Your Delivery Man (At Least With How He Looks)!

A short while ago, a group of men belonging to a particular delivery service company became hot news in Japan, not for their sterling courier service as you might expect, but, to put it bluntly, for their dashing good looks. Yes, as silly as it may sound, good-looking delivery men, specifically those working for major Japanese delivery company Sagawa Express, have been making many a Japanese woman swoon.

But then again, perhaps it isn’t too surprising that these “Sagawa Danshi” (literally, “the Sagawa men”), as they have come to be collectively known, have been in the media spotlight, as plenty of hot men are indeed in the employ of Sagawa Express, and the busy delivery work tends to keep them physically fit and energetic looking. However, all of this attention now seems to have resulted in a rather unfortunate phenomenon for some Sagawa delivery men. Read More

Studio Ghibli Denies Live Action Adaptation of Kiki’s Delivery Service, We Dream Up Other Possible Ghibli Adaptations

There were rumours recently about a live action version of Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service. What’s more, these reports claimed that Takashi Shimizu, the horror film director who brought us nightmare-inducing classics like The Grudge, would be sitting at the helm of the project. A horror take on the story of a cute 13-year-old witch? It  seemed too good to be true! Well, it was a sad day when Studio Ghibli released an official statement quashing the salacious rumours, saying, “We have no involvement in the matter.”

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Gets Explosive New Multiplayer Map Set in Kyushu

Players of the Call of Duty series are no strangers to downloadable content in the form of additional maps on which to shoot, stab and detonate. Ever since downloadable map packs were released for Call of Duty 3 back in 2007, console gamers have been treated to (or blighted by, depending on your stance on DLC) regular releases of additional content to purchase or risk being the one guy in their group of friends who can’t play on the same maps as everyone else.

This time around, developers Treyarch are dropping virtual soldiers and screaming headset-wearing pubescents on Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands. As well as being situated in the shadow of an erupting volcano, the town featured in the map is absolutely covered with cute cultural references and written Japanese which, we’re happy to say, is not riddled with mistakes.

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Sayonara Taxis? Tokyo to Consider Operating Trains, Buses Around the Clock


Whether working late or partying late, people lacking the stamina for an all-nighter and missing the last train home in Japan are primarily left with two rather expensive options: taxi or hotel.

Well, in the not-so-distant future, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government may provide a more wallet-friendly third option, buses and trains operating 24 hours a day.

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Taiwanese Cosplayers Appear in their Droves, Show All-Out Passion for Hatsune Miku

Ever since Japan started its whole Cool Japan kick, it’s been pushing manga and anime to a world-wide audience like never before. Near the forefront of it all is the software program turned pop icon, Vocaloid, with Hatsune Miku stealing most of the spotlight. Just last week, more than 20 real-life Mikus gathered together at a park in Kaohsiung, Taiwan! It was a truly magnificent spectacle, perhaps the highlight of our year thus far. Read More

New Fujitsu Technology Lets Users Scan Objects and Manipulate Data with Their Bare Fingertips

Imagine putting a travel brochure on the table, touching the word “Hawaii” and having a video of sandy beaches appear next to it. Better yet, image tossing some Post-it notes onto the table and tapping them with your finger to instantly digitize and upload them to your computer. Sounds like something from a movie set in the distant future, doesn’t it?

Fujitsu Labs has made this and more possible with a new interface system that may let us toss out our mouse and scanner in a single throw.

Watching the video below, you might think cutting edge sensors are required, but all it takes is a run-of-the-mill webcam and an on-the-market projector.

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Time-Lapse Tokyo: Stunning Video Captures the Captial City’s Hidden Beauty

“Seen this way, Tokyo really is beautiful.”– A comment from the Japanese Niconico Video user who originally posted photographer Samuel Cockedey’s video “Inter States” to the social video site.

The time-lapse video shows splashes of neon interspersed with orange street lamps, streaking red taillights and rushes of black figures, painting detail onto the concrete canvas that is Japan’s capital city. Hives of energy and movement, it sometimes takes an outsider’s perspective to recognise that even a sprawling metropolises like Tokyo can be quite breathtaking when we stop to notice them. The full video after the jump.

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