Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Japan (Page 1681)
Itasha, or “pain mobile,” is a Japanese word that refers to a car that is so nerdy, it’s painfully embarrassing to even look at. If a car actually had the ability to cause pain with a single glance, this BMW, with full-body paint and decals featuring otaku-worshipped vocaloid, Hatsune Miku, is enough to put you in the hospital.
After a hard day at work, many middle-aged Japanese salarymen love to go out for drinks at the local bar or izakaya. “But it’s no fun to go alone!” thinks the 45-year-old section chief. “Why not invite those young hotshots that entered the company earlier this year? Surely they’d love the chance to loosen neckties and enjoy some laid-back conversation with one of their seniors outside the workplace!”
Meanwhile, the young hotshots are thinking about how they can’t wait to go home and relax after another consecutive day of (unpaid) overtime—but oh wait, section chief wants to go out drinking again and turning his invitation down would show that I’m not a team player.
Such are the troubles of 20 and 30-year-old working men and women who are roped out to drinking with their middle-aged colleagues time and time again.
This generation gap was a popular enough topic for Nikkan Spa to conduct a survey of 200 20 and 30-year-old men and women as to what they found most irritating about drinking with their superiors in their 40s.
Deep below the ocean lives the squid Chiroteuthis, known in Japan by the name Yurei Ika (Phantom Squid). The Japanese name comes from its ghost-like fluttering and floating movement.
It’s a squid seldom seen by people who don’t have access to a submarine and can visit their habitat 200 to 600 meters beneath the ocean. So when they started turning up in unprecedented numbers around the southeastern coast of Japan, experts became understandably alarmed.
On 30 November, the mayor of Yamaguchi, Sumita Watanabe, declared to Nishinippon Newspaper that his city of Yamaguchi will be renamed “Xmas City” for the entire month of December. The move is a part of a tourism campaign which involves a month-long event of festive activities.
More than simply a PR campaign, Yamaguchi actually has a valid claim as being the launching pad for Christianity in Japan and thus the “hometown” of Christmas in Japan. Yamaguchi was where Saint Francis Xavier, the patron saint of Japan, and his followers celebrated their first Christmas.
Gather around kids, it’s time to hear the story of how Christmas first came to Japan.
Playstation 2 and Wii owners will likely be familiar with Ōkami, the adventure game set in ancient Japan that features an absolutely gorgeous wood-cut, cell-shaded graphic design.
The game puts players in control of the wolf incarnation of Shintō goddess Amaterasu, and quests them with using a magical, life-giving paintbrush to transform a dark, cursed world into one of plants, trees and flowers, as well as battling a few demons and evil spirits along the way.
On the same theme of restoration, a local website based in Rikuzentakata, a coastal town in Iwate prefecture severely damaged by the March 11 tsunami, has launched a special range of products officially backed by Capcom, the makers of Ōkami, with profits from their sale going to towards rebuilding the town and, much like the game, “restoring nature to its once beautiful state.”
When the first Gundam Café opened in Akihabara, people thought it was a cute little niche place for the resident otaku, but there’s no way a giant robot themed coffee shop would ever take off.
However, their blend of mechanically efficient service and sterile décor had led to a second Gundam Café to the south in Odaiba. Still, people wrote it off as a fluke.
Now, less than a year later on 20 December, the a 3rd Gundam Café is set to make a precision strike right in the heart of Tokyo: Tokyo Station. The coffee service industry may never be the same.
We all know about wedding anniversaries like the 50th year ‘Golden Anniversary’ and the 25th year ‘Silver Anniversary.’ Some people even may make a point of celebrating every year with something special, others may surprise their partner on an unplanned year.
One Japanese man teamed up with Nissan (yes, the car company) to give his wife the surprise of a lifetime for their 11th anniversary.
Check the video below!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Hungry students and budgeting businespeople! Have we got a great deal for you! Yoshinoya’s gyūdon beef bowls – made with the same USA beef, rice, onion and delicious marinade as ever – is available for just 250 yen!
This isn’t a special offer. This isn’t for a limited time only. This is 24 hours a day, seven-days-a-week wallet-friendly value. Available at a number of special Tsukiji Yoshinoya restaurants, for just US$3, you can have a big, hearty warming dish of rice and beef, guaranteed to warm your soul and fill you up until your next meal.
Our top dog Kuzo headed out to try the beef bowl for himself, and he can confirm that this is the same Yoshinoya grub that we know and love, for 130 yen ($1.60) less than normal!
Men, no matter how old or how “masculine” they are, can learn a lot from crossdressing in public (trust us, we know).
But even if you do get the urge to unbuckle and skirt up, it can be difficult to find a time and place where going out in drag is socially acceptable. Throw in the added stress of having to coordinate an outfit and wig that sufficiently bring out your inner woman and the simple act of putting on women’s clothes and walking out the door can feel incredibly intimidating to first-timers.
Enter Onna no Ko Club, or Girls Club, a new club in Tokyo where curious men can go to experience the wonderful world of crossdressing.
We’ve had a Wii U in the RocketNews24 office, not to mention out on the shinkansen bullet train, for about a week now. Despite being made by a Japanese company, the console isn’t available in Japan for another 10 days, and many Japanese and foreigners alike are clamouring to know how the new machine works and, most importantly, whether games on the platform are really the magical experience Nintendo would like us to believe.
We picked up New Super Mario Bros U, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, ZombiU and Nintendo Land along with our import machine, and are happy to say from the outset that these are all genuinely good titles. This isn’t a review as such, but since we have a number of lifelong gamers on the RocketNews24 team, especially our main man Kuzo, we were keen to share our impressions with you regarding how the four biggest titles launching alongside the Wii U show off the new console, not to mention which of the games are most likely to satisfy once they arrive in your sweaty little hands come December 8.
SteganoSonic, a new technology that’s being developed by researches at Keio University which transmits digital information with supersonic waves was exhibited last week at the university’s Open Research Forum 2012 (ORF 2012).
By setting a terminal in the vicinity of a speaker, information can be sent from the directional speakers to the screen where it is displayed. The speaker is completely silent as it sends information to the display.
Most humanoid robots are made to look either as lifelike as possible, or as machine-like as possible; that is, similar to the robots we know from science fiction.
After seeing the “Dancing Dolls” made by YouTube user RozenZebet, we have a feeling we know why: anything in between would be absolutely terrifying.
It’s too late for this Christmas, but if you want to pamper your pet next December, this might make the perfect gift!
Made from soft inewara rice-straw, these neko chigura (lit. cat cradle) are made by a 30-strong team of weavers in the town of Sekikawa, Niigata prefecture on the northwest coast of Honshu, Japan. The weavers are known simply as the neko chigura kai (cat cradle committee) with each cradle taking around a week to put together.
Demand for the cat beds have exceeded even the creators’ wildest dreams, however, when thousands of orders flew in during recent weeks, creating a 12-month backlog.
Japanese independent musicians IOSYS (ee-oh-she-su) have a treat in store for us this Christmas. They created a concept album titled Teach me Shiri Sensei! starring everyone’s favorite virtual assistant who only knows what you’re saying half of the time, Siri.
You might be wondering from the image above why anthropomorphic moé Siri (yes, that’s her) has a severe case of plumber’s crack. It’s not just pervy for the sake of being pervy. In Japanese, there isn’t really a “see/si” sound. Instead, it’s a “she” sound.
First, this can make it very funny when a Japanese person asks “May I take a seat?” Second, this changes the pronunciation of Siri to “Shiri”, which is the Japanese word for “buttocks.” This word play is a major theme in the album.
![[Hobby News] Choco Egg Collectable Figurines Return to Steal all of Japan’s Loose Change](https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/11/choco-egg-title.jpg?w=580 "[Hobby News] Choco Egg Collectable Figurines Return to Steal all of Japan’s Loose Change")
If there’s one thing Japanese people like to do it’s collect things. And when those things are small, cute or quirky characters, you can bet your bottom dollar that they’ll fight to get the entire set!
In the land of gachapon (onomatopoeia for the sound of a turning mechanism followed by the drop of a ball or capsule) capsule toys and free collectable figures, mobile phone charms and stickers, confectioners Furuta are well known for their Choko Eggu (choco egg) series that include a collectable toy inside the chocolate shell, not unlike Kinder Surprise eggs sold in Europe and Canada.
Since 1999, the company has produced collectible figures including Disney, Marvel and Nintendo characters as well as scale models of automobiles and cars. The figures are always of incredibly high quality and, with the chocolate eggs being sold for just a few hundred yen each, they’re a big hit with children as well as adults. In 2006, however, the company’s animal figure series, which features everything from cute rabbits to ferocious-looking dinosaurs disappeared from shops, much to the disappointment of collectors.
But now, to delight model fans and kleptomaniacs alike, Furuta’s figures are being brought back to the market as stand-alone models, and Japanese collectors are already going nuts.
Here’s a news story that managed to warm even our cynical, Internet-jaded hearts to the core.
A man going by the name of Colonel Muska, the nefarious villain from Studio Ghibli’s Castle in the Sky, has made a surprise donation to an orphanage in Tokushima city on the island of Shikoku, Japan.
The mysterious stranger left a pile of expensive leather school backpacks as well as a copy of the Ghibli feature film on DVD outside the orphanage, along with a letter simply saying “Please think of this as an early Christmas present. Yours, Colonel Muska”
It’s not easy being a kid. If you’re fat the other kids make fun of you; if you’re skinny the other kids make fun of you; if you get good grades they make fun of you… Kids don’t need a genuine reason to be tease their peers; they can make one up just as easily.
But when your parents name you after their favourite thing – be it the weather on the day you were born, the place you were conceived or their favourite snack food – things get awkward for poor little Windy Latrine Butterfinger.
Although authorities have been known to intervene when parents try to call their child things like Akuma, meaning devil in Japanese, and @ as once rejected by authorities in China, the vast majority slip through the net. Since kanji, the Chinese characters used in the Japanese writing system, are based on meaning and can be read in a variety of different ways, parents giving their child a kanji-based name (some choose phonetic kana script, but this is usually just for girls) are able to choose both their child’s name and how it will be written.
For the most part, parents choose names that convey their love or hopes for their offspring, but in the land of otaku nerdism, sometimes parents just can’t help but get carried away.
Let’s be clear here: I’m no a baseball fan. I’ve never even watched an entire game, and I genuinely don’t understand the appeal of the sport, but by Zeus’ beard that Ichiro guy has got some skills.
As part of a television commerical for Japanese health tonic Yunker, Ichiro performs a few tricks, showing the world what true talent really looks like and leaving us all open-mouthed as he pitches with speed and accuracy that many players could only dream of.
From November 23rd 2012 until February 11th 2013, you can experience interstellar travel right here in Tokyo!
With the opening of Star Cruise Planetarium in Roppongi Hills, you can travel to a station on Saturn and see the Earth 137 light years into the future thanks to a wide-screen 3D display and a moving model of the solar system. It all happens at the Mori Arts Center Gallery, in the Mori Tower on the 52nd floor of Roppongi Hills. Read More
Ladies, have you ever taken a picture that you absolutely love, but wished you were wearing a bit of makeup at the time? Ever had to take a headshot for a job application but were too lazy to throw on a bit of eyeshadow and lipgloss?
Now there’s no longer any need to spend hours in front of the mirror putting your face on. With the Panasonic Lumix FX80 camera, makeup application is simply a click away.
Also, fellas, we know you’ve been secretly wondering what you look like wearing makeup but were too embarrassed to actually put some on…this is the camera for you!
Japanese sweet potato ice cream season! Häagen-Dazs and Muji take different paths to our hearts
New Gundam Base superstores coming soon in the U.S., with one opening this month
Japanese convenience store is very focused with its new bento…maybe TOO focused
Studio Ghibli releases new anime socks that pay tribute to characters from four different movies
Only two Yoshinoya branches in all of Japan are on a train platform, and this is one of them
Gang of angry monkeys surrounds and attacks Japanese man in hot spring town
Starbucks Japan unveils Mitsuimo Milk, a new drink that celebrates the taste of autumn
JAL first class cakes can be bought for a bargain, but are they as bougie as they seem?
Three Daiso ideas for a super-cheap but still cool (or cute) Halloween look
Tokyo’s Square Burger claims it’s a viral hit with foreign tourists who’ve given it near-perfect Google reviewsNew Gundam Base superstores coming soon in the U.S., with one opening this month
Can hanging a handy fan on your crotch keep you cool in the Tokyo summer? SN24 investigates
Bear spotted near most popular hiking trail on Tokyo’s most popular hiking mountain
Making the latest social media snack sensation in Japan, Dot Butter
Family Mart releases 47 convenience store socks and stickers, one for every prefecture in Japan
Get more room in your luggage with new clothing compression machines at Haneda and Narita airports
Burger King goes viral in Japan for opening new store in a Japanese-style building
7-Eleven Japan’s Ramen Machine is a viral hit, but there’s one glaring problem
OC Japan Fair returns to California packed with all kinds of Japanese culture
Pokémon Adidas crossover sneaker line releases in Japan, gives your feet Pikachu hugs [Pics]
Japan’s final Penguin Suica train cards have already shipped, and when they’re gone, they’re gone
Studio Ghibli unveils new anime calendars and diary planners for 2027Family Mart releases 47 convenience store socks and stickers, one for every prefecture in Japan
Japan approves foreign resident visa renewal fee increases of up to 967 percent, starts soon
Japan tripled its departure tax to fund tourism but is using the money on cherry blossoms and bears
Solo travel in Japan: Hidden beer garden in Tokyo is a haven for single visitors
Sushi Bus: Japan’s first conveyor-belt bus lets you eat sushi while sightseeing around Tokyo
Kyoto temple bans visitors from wearing kimono
Hobonichi unveils new 2027 planners, diaries and stationery with One Piece, Suica Penguin, Hello Kitty and a must-buy Mini Techo
Farewell Final Ceremony announced for Tokyo’s life-size Gundam statue, will stream live
Japan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Studio Ghibli has a new anime out, and there’s only one place in the world where you can see it
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Tokyo subway installing new ticket gates that don’t accept payment through Suica or other IC cards
Japanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroad
Salomon releases Japan-exclusive Mt. Fuji hiking gear that doubles as an amazing souvenir
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
Gang of angry monkeys surrounds and attacks Japanese man in hot spring town
Starbucks Japan unveils Mitsuimo Milk, a new drink that celebrates the taste of autumn
JAL first class cakes can be bought for a bargain, but are they as bougie as they seem?
Three Daiso ideas for a super-cheap but still cool (or cute) Halloween look
Tokyo’s Square Burger claims it’s a viral hit with foreign tourists who’ve given it near-perfect Google reviews
Family Mart releases 47 convenience store socks and stickers, one for every prefecture in Japan
Fox spotted in Tokyo’s 23 wards, Japanese Internet wonders if it’s a shapeshifting spirit [Video]
Hatsune Miku/Hokusai exhibition in Tokyo lets you make your own Miku woodblock print
Get more room in your luggage with new clothing compression machines at Haneda and Narita airports
Naked illuminates Kyoto’s cultural traditions in Nijo Castle’s latest digital art spectacular
Starbucks Corporation is planning to sell off Starbucks Japan, report says
Pokémon Adidas crossover sneaker line releases in Japan, gives your feet Pikachu hugs [Pics]
Bear spotted near most popular hiking trail on Tokyo’s most popular hiking mountain
OC Japan Fair returns to California packed with all kinds of Japanese culture