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Japan (Page 1690)

Mindreading App (Shut Up and Take More Of My Free Will Away)?

At first glance, this tech news report seems to be telling us of an intriguing augmented reality app that’s scary good. When you point your camera at an object, it can automatically read your mind about what you’ll want to do next on the internet with respect to that object, like get a coupon for it or research about it on Wikipedia. Which would bring to mind various questions, such as, is it like auto-fill/auto-complete, remembering what you or others have done before, taken a few steps further? Is it selectively taking you to a website that’s ultimately aiming to get your money? Is it inviting you to give up your free will and just be satisfied with the website it saw fit to jump you to? How does it know what you want to do? Read More


  • Jun 15, 2012

That’s no Battle Station! It’s an Ice Sphere – in the Shape of the Death Star!

Okay, we think all of you Star Wars fans out there will love this product! Do you remember being impressed when the Death Star appeared in the very first Star Wars movie accompanied by Ben Kenobi’s famous words, “That’s no moon. It’s a space station!”? Well, now you can create your own Death Star – from ice! Read More


  • Jun 14, 2012

What’s that shadow? It’s a bird, it’s a plane – no it’s the planet Venus, and it won’t be happening again for another 105 years!

We previously brought you a video capturing beautiful images of a “super moon“, but we now have some amazing photos from another astronomical event – the transit of planet Venus across the Sun. The event was observed in Japan on June 6th over a period of approximately six hours starting from 7 a.m. Japan Time. You may want to take a look at these images, because the next time Venus makes a transit across the Sun will be 105 years from now! Read More

Hakone Opens an Evangelion Themed Souvenir Shop, Hopes They Don’t Get Overrun With Fans Again

Following the opening of Evangelion Store Tokyo-01, and with the release of the third installment of the reboot series, Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo, a new Evangelion souvenir shop is scheduled to open in the town of Hakone on 14 July.

Hakone, which serves as the backdrop for the Evangelion story (where it’s renamed as Tokyo-3), is happy to be home to the second official Evangelion store, called “Eva Shop” but is also hoping they don’t get a repeat of what happened two years ago.

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Researchers Identify Protein Responsible for the Effects of Aging, Rather than a Fountain of Youth, We May Need a Syphon of Old

A research group headed by Professor Kazunari Komuro at Osaka University believes they have found the chemical responsible for effects of aging like deterioration of muscles.

The nasty chemical responsible for making us old and frail is called C1q. Being able to regulate it in our bodies can possibly lead to treatments and prevention of more serious health problems like heart attacks and strokes.

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  • Jun 10, 2012

[Video] From sick animal to beautiful healthy kitten – one cat’s amazing recovery will warm your hearts!

See this picture of an adorable kitten? Well, just one month earlier, this kitten was a sorry sight – she was very sick and her eyes were closed shut with an infection. Fortunately, she was found by someone kind who gave her the food and tender loving care she so desperately needed, and in the space of just one month, she makes an amazing recovery from a sick little animal to a beautiful healthy kitten! And it’s all captured in a lovely, heartwarming video. Read More

[Quiz] How Well Do You Know Your Japanese Hand Gestures?

Recently we ran an article about obscene gestures in many parts of the world, but now RocketNews would like to turn the lens inwards for a look at Japan’s hand gestures.

You may have some experience with these from spending time in Japan or from Japanese film and manga, but how well do you really think you know the gestures of this country? Take this quiz to find out.

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Smartphone Vs Wine Bottle: Can this New “Shockproof Film” Save the Mobile Device?

While attending Wireless Japan 2012 this year, we were able to see some offerings by the best companies of the mobile industry.  But many times, it’s the small to mid-sized businesses that really aim to make a name for themselves.

Enter Sun Crest Ltd., who shocked many with their line of shockproof screen film protectors.  Although it’s not officially released, we got ahold of a sample and put it to the test with some whacks from a wine bottle.

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  • Jun 7, 2012

Worried about power shortage? Now you can carry around your own portable solar power source!

Conservation and efficient use of energy is a huge issue these days, particularly in Japan where the nuclear power plants have been shut down and people are seriously concerned about whether we will have enough electric power in the coming summer months when electricity use will be at the highest. Well, if you’re worried about running out of electric power, here’s the perfect gadget for you – your very own portable solar panel kit! Read More


  • Jun 7, 2012

A new innovative drink to come out from Suntory – but have they gotten a bit too innovative this time?

In recent months, we’ve brought to you news on several interesting and creative beverages such as fat-busting cola, salty watermelon flavored pepsi and Okinawa brown sugar cola. Now, major beverage maker Suntory Holdings Limited has announced another new innovative drink that will come on to the Japanese market on July 31. The new drink, called Espressoda, is actually a carbonated coffee drink! However, based on the response on the internet, it appears that Japanese consumers are not so sure about coffee soda as a drink. Read More


  • Jun 6, 2012

Who looks like the former President of Finland? An unexpected case of look-alikes

In Japan, we say that there are (at least) three people in the world who look exactly like you. Well, we seem to have found 2, possibly 3 publicly recognizable figures who look very much like each other. Could they be doppelgängers? Read More


  • Jun 4, 2012

These cute little gadgets will keep you cool in the summer – so what are they?

Can you guess what these gadgets are? It’s hard to tell from their appearance, isn’t it? Well, they’re portable devices that are designed to keep you cool in warm weather, so they’re not just cute and smart looking, they’re actually quite functional. So what exactly are they and how are they used? Read More

Kyoto Bee Research Center Is the Bee’s Knees

Kyoto Sangyo University opened a brand-new research facility this week, the Honeybee Industry Research Center, to study the ecology of the little bumblers and the benefits of their honey. This kind of specialized facility is extremely rare and is generating a lot of buzz among entomologists. Read More

Use Your Sushi … On Your Smartphone

So you want to keep your smartphone on your desktop, but you don’t want to lay it flat to get inadvertently smothered by paperwork or worry about some careless mungo putting their coffee mug on it. Or you want to watch some videos on it so you prop it up against your coffee mug but the phone slides down and you actually want to drink your coffee at some point. Read More

New Kit Helps You Get Lint Out of Your Belly Button More Safely Than the Fork You Usually Use

Hesogoma Karametoru (Belly Button Sesame Mixer-Catchers) has been flying off the shelves of major department stores all over Japan recently, and it’s no surprise. This product fulfills a basic human need to clean one’s navel, otherwise known as “the forgotten orifice.”

Before the egg-head biologists write in and complain: no, the belly button is not an orifice, but it certainly needs cleaning like one. In further medical news, Japanese people don’t have sesame seeds in their navels. It’s just the slang term for belly button lint.

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We all know that tomato juice with its frosty phlegm-like consistency can really bring down the best of days.  Even the much needed boost it received as a diet fad appears to be quickly waning due to its general crappiness.

Now, researchers on the dime of beverage companies Asahi and Kagome have discovered that it can also bust up anyone’s party by reversing the effects of alcohol.

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Softbank Releases World’s First Radiation-Detecting Phone

This week, Softbank Mobile presented the newest iteration of its popular Pantone phones, and these are some pretty smart smartphones. So smart, in fact, that they can double as a Geiger counter. Read More

Pepsi Highlights Underground Worldwide Fruit Trend with Their Newest Designer Flavor, “Salty Watermelon”

The newest in a line of seasonal limited edition Pepsi flavors has been announced by Japanese distributor Suntory.  Set to debut on 24 July is the red-colored Pepsi: Salty Watermelon.  Hopefully this is as awesome as Pepsi: Pink was.

But after reading the announcement I had to do a double-take.  The watermelon’s salty?

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Let Us All Keep Dry Under the Leafy Protection of Vegetabrella

The staff of an umbrella shop in Tokyo recently must have their work cut out for them these days as they explain to confused customers why boxes of lettuce are sitting in their displays.  The answer, of course, is Vegetabrella; a fusion of two completely ordinary yet completely unrelated objects, an umbrella and a head of lettuce.

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Most people go to Shinto shrines several times a year, like for New Years or to make a special wish or prayer, like before a job interview. But with Buddhist temples, it’s usually just for tourism and funerals – not that frequently, basically. But wait! Temples are transforming these days, more and more using their halls for activities such as yoga classes, group date venues (‘gou-kon‘ in Japanese – group dinners with single men and women, seeking potential mates), and even as concert venues!

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