Featured

Japan (Page 1650)

Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji Fish Market saw some intense bidding this week when two rare gold-colored saury from Iwate went on sale, proving once again that people are suckers for things that glitter. Read More

Meanwhile, in Taiwan, Pro-Japanese Sentiment Has Endured: A Japanese Businessman Experiences Unaffected Kindness

There is no doubt that tension stemming from territorial disputes between Japan and both China and Korea is making East Asia a volatile area.  Even Taiwan, which has been known as a pro-Japanese country, sent fishing boats to the Senkaku Island area in protest of Japan’s nationalization.

But while mainland China is pulsing with anti-Japanese sentiment, Taiwan’s pro-Japanese stance has yet to waver and Japanese business men could be comforted that China’s influence on Taiwan did not reach so far as to change it.  We spoke with one Japanese business man—we’ll call him Mr. T—who was in Taipei when anti-Japanese sentiments on the mainland were at their highest.  

What he found was a higher level of pro-Japanese sentiment than we could have imagined.  We’ve assembled Mr. T’s experiences for you below: Read More

Creepy, Creepy, Creepy: Technology Forces Smiles on Sad-Faced Humans, Wins Award

Ah, so this is how Skynet starts…

Scientists at the University of Tokyo Sony CSL (Computer Science Labs) have come up with an ingenious way of cheering people up- forcing them to smile in exchange for easy access to their food.

Attaching a device called as a “Happiness Counter” to a regular refrigerator, Sony’s scientists are hoping to make us happier people.

The technology, which scans a person’s face as they stand in front of their food treasure trove, detects whether or not they are smiling and, reading anything other than a big, cheesy grin, makes the door difficult to open.

Read More


  • Oct 4, 2012

The Gundam Tofu Saga Continues – New Z’Gok Tofu Now On Sale (And Leave Some Room for Dessert Too!)

You may remember the article we posted earlier this year when a Mobile-Suit machine from the popular anime series Gundam was turned into a tofu product. People in Japan were surprised and amused by the idea of edamame-flavored green tofu shaped like the head of Zaku, one of the large humanoid battle machines that appear in the anime. Despite its unique appearance (or maybe because of it), “Zaku Tofu” was a big hit, selling out in many stores across Japan, and in very short supply at one point.

Well, to the delight of fans, the Gundam tofu saga continues, thanks to tofu manufacturer Sagamiya coming out with new additions to the Gundam tofu family. Yes, Sagamiya proudly announces their new mobile-suit inspired creation, the “Z’Gok Tofu for Hot Pots” (Nabe-yo! Z’Gok Tofu), now available at supermarkets and shopping malls in the Kanto Area around Tokyo. Read More

 

When I was a kid, there was a period of about a week in school when everyone became obsessed with making “jokes” using “What’s the definition of…?” set-ups.

As well as failing to make anyone laugh, they rarely made much sense and were always both immensely long-winded and contrived…

Allow me to share an example:

“What’s the definition of ’cheeky’? Throwing a brick through someone’s window, then knocking on the door and asking for it back!”

Oh my sides….

Thankfully, though, a 16-year-old in Wakayama prefecture, Japan has done us all a favour and made an example of himself, putting an end to the eternal mystery “what’s the definition of ‘stupidity’?”

Read More

Hitachi’s New Quartz Storage Technology Lets You Keep Your Data Safe for a Long, Long Time

At the recent International Symposium on Optical Memory in Tokyo, Hitachi, working with Kyoto University, presented their new type of digital storage.  It works on a principle similar to CDs but with a few added benefits like withstanding over 1000℃ temperatures.

Read More

.

 

Despite China’s booming development in recent years, their media has been reluctant to toot their own patriotic horn and limited themselves to phrases like “potential superpower”.

It looks like the kid gloves are off now though, as South China Post kicked off the newest nickname for the PRC, “beginning superpower” last week.  This follows a busy summer of superpower-like imposition and disregard for neighboring countries all along the nation’s coasts.

Read More

Fuji TV Introduces Awkward “Digital Announcer,” No One Sure if They’re Supposed to take Her Seriously

Fuji TV proved itself the forerunner of equal opportunity employment for digital labor earlier this week when they announced they had brought CG character Lune Anri on board as the network’s newest announcer.

Read More

 

 Mr. Kazumasa Hirayama, a representative from the Cooking Technology Research Society, claims that washing wilted produce in 50℃ water (122°F) will restore its freshness.  Could it be true?

This magical method is now all the rave in food preparation circles.  The technique was contrived by Mr. Hirayama, who began spreading the word making it a recent hot topic among restaurateurs   According to Mr. Hirayama, its use is not only limited  to fruit and vegetable produce, but also works with a number of other food products as well and can even make food taste better. Read More


  • Oct 3, 2012

Okay, it’s a fact of life that cat lovers (myself included) can never get enough of cute cat videos, and to date RocketNews24 has certainly posted its share of articles on videos featuring adorable felines, ranging from the hilarious to the heartwarming. This time, for the viewing pleasure of our cat-loving readers, we present to you Chibi and Mimi, the “cat in the box” and the “cat on the box”.

Read More

New Playstation 3 Commercial Packs a Nasty Little Surprise, Small Children Now Wary of Plastic Boxes

Just before this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Sony lifted the lid on its newly-modelled Playstation 3 console.

While many of us were hoping for even a tiny snippet of news on the next generation of consoles, Sony is still busy squeezing the few last drops of juice out of its multi-million-selling game machine, and, in an effort to cut production costs and shift a few more units before going next-gen, has somehow managed to shave a few more inches off the console’s size, giving it a facelift in the process.

Eager to show off their newest toy, a brand new ad campaign for the console hit Japanese TV late last week, drawing consumers’ attention to the machine’s snazzy new lines and bragging about its smaller size.

And then something a little bit unexpected happens. Read More

Office Meeting Room Desk that Charges Mobile Devices Developed

With all the constant updates to smartphones and other portable devices, you would think it would be easy to maintain decent battery power by now. But no matter how smart Siri seems to get, most people still have to charge her up on a daily basis.

Some companies have decided to tackle this problem by making charging more accessible, which is where the desk above comes in:  this unassuming piece of office furniture also has a built in wireless battery charger.

Read More

 

After more than three years of searching, Tokyo police thought they had finally gotten a lead on the whereabouts of Kazuyuki Kobayashi, a male restaurant owner who suddenly went missing in May 2009, when an investigation led them to three men who were said to be acquainted with Kobayashi before his disappearance.

The men, who had been arrested on separate charges of fraud earlier this year, were brought to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department for questioning on Sept. 27 and were immediately suspected of murder after it was found that Kobayashi has come to them demanding the repayment of an unspecified amount of money he had lent them earlier.

The case then took an even more gruesome turn when, on October 1, two of the suspects confessed that they had stewed the pulverized remains of Kobayashi in a pot of curry.

Read More

 

Haruki Murakami, the award-winning essayist and critically-acclaimed author of Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore and many others, has spoken out about the recent troubles between Japan, China and Taiwan in a startlingly down-to-earth essay over on the Asahi Shinbun Digital’s culture section.

Motivated in particular by the recent news of China’s bookshops removing titles by Japanese authors, the essay focuses on the importance of cultural exchange in our societies and how, through all forms of media, we are able to communicate our very souls over seas and across borders. Read More

 

Chopstick culture is something unique to Asia. Japanese chopsticks, or hashi, are especially beautiful. Any foreign tourist can vouch for the allure of the hashi shop, a great place to linger and enjoy the attractive displays of hashi and their cases.

You would think that anyone living in Japan would get used to eating with chopsticks simply by using them over and over. Well, they do, but it may not necessarily be the correct way. There is in fact a proper way to eat with chopsticks, and even some Japanese adults—two in three people in their 30’s, to be exact—continue to use them incorrectly

Using chopsticks incorrectly can make it more difficult to bring food to your mouth, and it just looks bad too. Fearing the Japanese national image may be at stake, 33-year old reporter with Nikkei.com decided to see if long years of mistaken hashi holding could be fixed.

Read More

Breakthrough in Plastic Bag Technology Promises a More Stable Future

Plastic shopping bags are one of those things that haven’t been improved on since… ever?  Sure there have been attempts to improve their biodegradability, but that’s hardly the limit to their inherent weaknesses.

This is especially well-known in Japan where premade soups and bentos fly off the shelves of supermarkets and convenience stores like premade hotcakes.  Using a traditional plastic bag to carry a curry rice bento always gets tilted onto its side so that it ends up looking like a crime scene when you get it home.  You’re luck if the curry actually stays inside the container.

Lunch Vehicle may be the answer to this problem, taking plastic bags to the next level with its innovative design which has been influenced by tried and tested heavy industry techniques.

Read More


  • Oct 1, 2012

Ahh…Feet Bliss! Affordable Custom Made Shoes from KiBERA Make You so Happy You’ll Want to Keep It a Secret!

I’m sure all of you ladies out there have at one point or another been through the experience of being tortured by a pair of high-heels that pinch and scrape and leave you with blisters but look absolutely gorgeous. Ah, the sacrifices we make for fashion!

Well, one of our Japanese reporters from Pouch went to KiBera in Shinjuku for a pair of affordable, custom-made shoes that both look great and feel comfortable, a combination that can be hard to find in stylish shoes.

An account of her shoe ordering experience follows: Read More

 

In Japan, goukon, are mixers meant to set the stage for finding a mate.  They are designed to help young adults find at least a relationship, if not a suitable marriage partner, and are often organized by businesses like in the ad above.

The average goukon brings together around three to five people of each gender and takes place at a restaurant or izakaya (Japanese-style bar). Groups are seated randomly, usually with seats alternating by gender so everyone can get to know each other better.

Business organizational skills aside, most women know that the chance of a relationship forming from a goukon depends on the efforts of the participants.  A certain protocol must be followed if a man wants a woman to give him the time of day.  If he is too out-of-place, then it could cause embarrassment all around.

Japanese website Otome Sugoren surveyed their female readers to find out what kind of guy they think shouldn’t even bother showing up to the goukon party.  Men: be sure to pay attention so you know what not to do at your next goukon.  After all, while you may be there to play the field, women are serious about finding someone!   Read More

Mind-controlled Tail Wags Based on Your Mood

Do friends never know how you’re feeling based on facial cues?

Ever find yourself enviously eyeing your dog and its expressive posterior appendage?

Oh tailless one, you are in luck!  From the makers of Necomimi mind-controlled cat ears comes Shippo, a mind-controlled tail that wags based on your mood.

Read More

  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 1647
  5. 1648
  6. 1649
  7. 1650
  8. 1651
  9. 1652
  10. 1653
  11. ...
  12. 1675