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Japan (Page 1682)

During these chilly winter months, there’s nothing quite like taking a dip in a natural hot spring and feeling your aching muscles soften like a pan of chocolate on a warm log cabin stove. But if you’ve seen every onsen (hot spring) that Japan has to offer or are simply wishing to avoid the crowds of like-minded visitors, locating a new place to bathe isn’t easy. Thankfully, help is at hand.

In an article over at Yahoo! Japan’s R25 digital magazine, a member of the Nihon Onsen Kyoukai (Japan Hot Spring Association) lets readers in on three little-known, not to mention rather unusual, hot spring locations that are sure to leave you with plenty of tales to tell family and friends. All the juicy info after the break.

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SoftBank’s White Dog Gets a Free Rap and DJ App for iOS (and It’s Awesome)

Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank is seemingly never out of the news recently. In the past seven days, we’ve seen CEO Masayoshi Son put down a heckler on Twitter, offer his employees up to a month’s pay for mastering English, and now the company comes out with a genuinely wonderful free app for iOS in celebration of being Japan’s most popular telecommunications provider for five years running.

Officially titled 「ラップお父さん」 “Rappu Otousan” (lit. rap dad), the application is essentially a sound board filled with memorable lines uttered by members of SoftBank’s fictional White Family, as seen in commercials. As well as allowing users to annoy friends with one-liners like “Shut it!”, “What’s so funny!?” and even the company CEO’s famous “Let’s do it!” line, users can play and mix a variety of prerecorded rhythm tracks, making this app by far the most wonderful time-waster we’ve discovered so far this year.

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The Tokyo Shimbun has discovered that workers involved with national government controlled cleanup projects resulting from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant are being ripped off by subcontractors.

Despite being able to rent lodging facilities from the government and others for free or for very little money, contractors forcibly deduct inflated accommodation and meal charges from workers’ pay. When the 10,000 yen (US$111) a day “danger pay” provided to contractors by the government (read: taxpayers) is taken into consideration, it means the contractors themselves end up forking out a measly 1,000 yen (US$11) a day per worker.
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Six Crazy Things I Did Because I Was Cold 【You, Me, And A Tanuki】

You, Me, And a Tanuki is a weekly featured blog run by Michelle, a Californian who is currently one of only two foreigners living in Chibu, a tiny fishing village on one of the Oki islands in Japan. Check back every Saturday for a new post or read more on her website here!

Japan is cold. No, I’m not talking about the people; it’s the weather that sends a chill down my spine. No insulation, central heating, or double-paned windows, and in most public buildings – schools included – there’s no hot water; modern Japanese construction ensures that you will feel every bone-chilling drop in temperature once November rolls around.

When the mercury dips below freezing and there’s nothing to stop the cold from leeching in to your home, sometimes you have to take drastic measures. And when you’re backed into a (freezing cold) corner, it makes you do some crazy things… like wrap your entire house in bubble wrap.

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A Shower and Bar on an Airplane?! The Emirates Airbus is More Like a Hotel

Ever wanted to see the inside of a luxury aircraft, but don’t have the dough to make your dream a reality? One of our normally frugal writers decided to splurge and take a business class flight on an Emirates Airbus A380. Surprised by the wide array of perks the flight offered, she documented the best parts of the trip. Take a look at her photographs of the surprising amenities, like an inflight bar lounge and shower, which make this plane seem more like a hotel. It’s not quite the same as boarding the plane yourself, but unlike the flight, reading this article won’t cost you a penny and you’re free to move about the cabin at any time.

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“Why do I have to study English? I’m never going to use it… there’s no point,” whines at least one Japanese student in any given English class on a daily basis.

Now, thanks to one company’s clever new initiative, instead of the usual spiel about the benefits of English being an “international language,” teachers can tell their students that knuckling down and mastering the language could bag them 1 million yen.

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The January long promotional even Enjoy! 60 Second Service at Japanese McDonald’s franchises has been making waves all over the nation’s fast food consciousness.  Although a lot of negative stories have emerged over possibly being too fast or pushing the workers too much, it’s still tempting to get into the idea of ultra-fast food.

Rival Japanese burger chain Mos Burger might be feeling the heat this month as well.  One outlet in particular released a statement written on a chalkboard in front of their store explaining the virtues their considerably slower service.

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This site has covered some frankly ridiculous foods in the past. Who could forget our articles on deep-fried caterpillars, the 1050-bacon strip Whopper, or the bright blue curry challenge? But this is the first time we’ve covered something that actually made me throw up in my mouth a little.

A sandwich shop in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, has conjured up this ungodly creation and, even more strangely, it seems people want to eat it. It’s called the Natto-Coffee Gelatin Sandwich, and that is exactly what it is: natto and coffee gelatin slathered with whipped cream and plopped on some unoffending white bread. For those of you unfamiliar with natto, it is an extremely stinky and sticky food made from fermented soybeans. Yes, rotting soybeans.

Inexplicably, this sandwich has become one of the shop’s most popular items, leading the representative director Koji Suzumura to explain their motivation in creating this abomination. Read More

Check Out Live Streaming Video of Cute Females Bathing in Public! Right Now!!

Everyone on Earth be they young or old, man or woman, human or animal loves a good sit in a warm place.  That’s the main reason for the hot spring’s popularity in many parts of the world.

However, we caught word of one or more young females who love bathing so much they want to do it publicly on camera for the whole world to see!  You have to hurry though there’s only a short time to see it.

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Japan Celebrates Premiere of Game of Thrones with Ice Castle Theater — in the Worst Location Possible

Some of you in the English-speaking world have probably heard of a little fantasy TV series called Game of Thrones. It’s won a few awards here and there, has a fairly enthusiastic fan base, and — let’s face it — is all around a huge freakin’ deal.

While America and the rest of the world fill their goblets with mead in anticipation of the March 31 premiere of season 3, Japan is finally getting their first taste of the series when season 1 airs on January 27 — and they’re promoting it by holding free screenings of the first episode in a castle built from actual blocks of ice.

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Shota Mori is a man with a dream – a dream many young males have fantasized about: making a gun pop out of your sleeve. Known as a sleeve gun, these cool yet largely impractical devices have been featured in the many badass movies such as Taxi Driver, Desperado, and Alien Resurrection.

However, with a nationwide ban on guns, Mr. Mori opted for everyday items like his iPhone, train pass, and toy drums.  What began as a simple DIY project, however, had grown into something much bigger.  Documented in a series of videos titled Sleeve iPhone it became a journey of self-realization for the man and a lesson for all of us to follow our dreams.

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Prefect Your Navy Salute with Salute Trainer App, Comes with Engrish Instructions!

Here’s an awkward situation I’m sure we’ve all had to deal with at one point or another.

Your recently-divorced out-of-the-closet father with a thing for guys in uniform has begun bringing home high ranking military officials.

You want to show these officers and gentlemen their due respect, but every time you go to salute your lack of technique makes them look at you like you’re some kind of dirty hippy.  That scornful glare cast by a Rear Admiral as he flings on a feather boa is just the worst.

Luckily, the modern incarnation of the Japanese Navy, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) put together a free iPhone app and instructional video to teach the proper way to salute.  The iPhone app called Salute Trainer also measures your saluting ability in detail and gives you a score and military style ranking.

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In a woman’s life, she has perhaps no greater teacher than her mother. As she encounters and overcomes life’s various twists and turns, a woman may begin to realize her mother told her things that are important and sometimes even a little profound.

And now everyone can share in this maternal wisdom (if you speak Japanese) thanks to a new Twitter account called Haha no Meigen, or “My Mom’s Famous Sayings.” Read More

Thousands Protest McDonald’s Online Speech Policy by Tweeting: “The Chicken Tatsuta is Delicious!”

A few days before, the news broke regarding McDonald’s Japan releasing a memo which outlined new speech restrictions for their employees on social media.  Many believe these new rules are an effort to stem worker’s complaints over the new “Enjoy! 60 Second Service” promotion.

After the memo was released, McDonald’s crew members and Japanese netizens took to Twitter and 2channel to voice their opinion about the controversial new restrictions, and everyone’s unanimous opinion was this:

“The Chicken Tatsuta is delicious! It’s my favorite burger!”

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2013 Lucky Bag Fail: “I waited in line for eight days and all I got was a stupid iPod nano…and a T-shirt”

Our reporter, Mr. Tashiro, is a man of great patience. He waited in front of the Shibuya Apple Store from December 25th until January 2nd in order to be the first one in line to purchase the 2013 Apple fukubukoro.  Also known as “lucky bags”, fukubukuro are bags filled with mystery items that are sold at a fixed price at the beginning of each year. It’s a clever way for stores to get rid of excess merchandise, but if you’re one of the lucky ones, you’ll score a great deal on items that far exceed the price you paid. 

Hoping to score a MacBook Air for 33,000 yen (US $377 and the price of this year’s Apple fukubukoro), Mr. Tashiro spent eight freezing days in front of the Apple store and gave up his Christmas and New Year’s for a chance to snag a grand prize lucky bag.

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Korean-Japanese Telecom Tycoon Masayoshi Son earned his place as the CEO of Japan’s largest mobile phone company and the second richest person in Japan through aggressive expansion of his interests.

That personality often comes through in his Twitter account too.  Son recently had to defend himself via Twitter after a half-million-dollar donation to Hurricane Sandy relief irked some people.

That’s the great thing about Twitter, isn’t it? You can now directly give Forbes’ 53rd Most Powerful Person in the world a piece of your mind. But don’t expect him to take it lying down.

That’s what @kingfisher0423 learned when he tweeted to the Softbank CEO: “With the degree that your hairline has receded, you are bald.”

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Working at a lottery counter or kiosk must be a drag.  You have to watch other people win big and hand over cash everyday while probably making a less than stellar salary yourself.

So it comes as no surprise that one lotto shop employee in Sakai city succumbed to the temptation to pocket someone else’s big winning ticket for herself and telling them they lost.

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During an interview at his Kyoto headquarters this week, Nidec Corporation CEO Shigenobu Nagamori was quoted as saying, “Due to Japan’s strict labor laws, we cannot compete with enterprises in Korea and China.” He intends to lobby the government to relax labor regulations to allow for more flexible working conditions.

He additionally said that the government and the Bank of Japan need to weaken and maintain the yen to around a 90-100 yen to the dollar exchange rate in order for Japanese export companies to compete with booming exports from China and Korea. Read More

McDonald’s Japan Restricts What Employees Can Say on Twitter, Too Many Disgruntled 60 Second Servants?

McDonald’s has allegedly sent out a nationwide memo to all franchises regarding its employees’ use of social networks.  The memo is highly detailed regarding what types of online speech is permitted from staff.

Regulations include the prohibition of “McDonald’s bashing” on Twitter or popular internet message board 2channel (2ch), as well as other unethical (by McStandards) postings.

The following is a translation of the leaked rules.  Pay special attention to numbers 4 and 5.

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