Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
SE Asia (Page 18)
We’ve all heard about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world and I’m sure we all wish we could go back in time and see them at the height of their glory. For me, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon might have been the best, even if they probably didn’t actually exist.
Unfortunately, no one’s figured out how time travel works yet. Fortunately, though, PARKROYAL on Pickering seems like a pretty amazing substitute. (And, starting at US$180 a night, probably cheaper than time travel too.)
All this anime is clearly getting to Japanese people’s heads. Japanese media has fallen hook, line and sinker for this seemingly impossible, anime-inspired helicopter design, breathlessly reporting that Ghost in the Shell-style vehicles are being designed by the (Japan Self Defence Force) JSDF right now.
When you’re a kid, theme parks are a place where your dream can come to life. Wouldn’t it be great to feel that excitement once again?
In search of that childlike wonder, one of RocketNews24’s reporters recently visited the Lecian Grand Carnaval amusement park in Mandaue City on Cebu Island, in the Philippines. While it doesn’t have the high-tech animatronics and pyrotechnics of Disneyland, it offers plenty of old-fashioned attractions like a tilt-a-whirl and haunted house, plus a life-endangering roller coaster and very lenient napping policy. Read More
Recently, one of our correspondents was strolling through a shopping mall in Mandaue City on Cebu Island in the Philippines. As he passed an arcade, one of the attendants flagged him down, asking if he wanted to try to win a stuffed doll in one of their crane games.
Intrigued by the offer, our reporter peered into the machine’s glass case, at first thinking he saw popular Japanese anime characters Doraemon and Testuwan Atom (also know as Astro Boy internationally). Closer investigation though, revealed that the arcade was filled with cheap, yet somehow incredibly endearing, knock-offs.
Here at RocketNews24, we like to bring you the latest and greatest, whether it’s (potentially) killer mechs or adorable new fonts! But sometimes it’s nice to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of raw human ingenuity. Read More
Mariah Carey’s done it. Lindsay Lohan did it too. Megan Fox even does it with her husband. And in Japan, practically everyone’s doing it. It’s yakiniku, barbecuing meat on a charcoal flame, and the hottest place to do it is at the popular Japanese restaurant chain Gyu-Kaku.
Now people in the Philippines are getting a taste of the celebrity-endorsed outlet, with the April 5 opening of their first branch in metropolitan Manila. Already, it’s proving to be very popular with the locals. But when we heard that the star of this Gyu-Kaku (“Bull’s Horn”) wasn’t the meat but the seafood, we had to pay them a visit to see what was going on.
In our continuing endeavor to visit McDonald’s restaurants around the world we sample the unique regional offerings the international chain creates to appease the locals and delight tourists.
This time RocketNews24 sent a reporter to a McDonald’s in the Philippines to sample one of their localized combos centered by a heap of McSpaghetti. The following is their report.
When traveling overseas, we like to check out the nearby shopping malls and amusement parks, too, whenever we can. But we don’t waste our time with the famous amusement parks that everyone and their mother has been to. For us, it’s the local, never-before-heard-of amusement parks that we love. Why? Because that’s where you can really see the way the local people live… and some of the clever stuff they’ve come up.
So, this time around, we headed to “Happy World” in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma), located right in front of the world-famous Shwedagon Pagoda.
If you’re a superhero fan living in North America, today very likely means only one thing: the launch of Iron Man 3. Perhaps waiting for a more suitable date to release the title, Marvel and Walt Disney Studios hung on until May 3 to unleash Tony Stark’s newest — and, according to some, best — supersuit-powered adventure, and millions of fans are champing at the bit to see it.
Despite having opened in Japan surprisingly early (Japanese releases are notoriously late, with movie fans forced to wait until this March for both Django Unchained and Wreck it Ralph alone), tongues are wagging all across the country today about Iron Man 3, but for an entirely different reason.
Put together by a clearly passionate and creative team of fans in Thailand, the following video recreates the official Iron Man 3 pre-release trailer shot by shot using little more than hand-crafted props, questionable make-up and models dangling from strings. Even so, it is nothing short of wonderful.
The two boys seen above are Aldrich Lloyd Taloding and James Walter Bucong from the Philippines. Their video having been uploaded to YouTube about a week ago is already nearing one million views and comments such as “Freaking beautiful!” and “I got goosebumps.”
This is slowly turning out to be quite a week for sightings of unlicensed use of videogame characters. Just yesterday we brought you news of a smartphone game whose lead character looked so much like Nintendo’s green dinosaur Yoshi that the company stepped in and demanded that changes be made, and now our overseas RocketNews24 representative brings us photos of a food vendor in the Philippines whose stand and wares are plastered with a name and character that bear an uncanny likeness to Japan’s beloved dot-munching arcade hero, Pac-Man!
This boxed chocolates vendor was spotted selling from a small booth in the middle of a shopping center in the Philippines’ capital city of Manila. Unless the vendor is somehow affiliated with Namco, this has got to be brand theft! Smelling a story among all of the tasty-looking sweets, our courageous reporter went forth and confronted the sales clerk. Read More
Over the years, Thailand has gone by many names. Until 1939 it was Siam, and the country’s friendly citizens have earned it the nickname “The Land of Smiles.”
For a few days each year though, Thailand is also “The Land of the City-Wide Splash Fights.” Read More
RocketNews24 writer GO is an avid Apple fan and user of all things whose names possess a lower case “i” or the word “Mac”. As such, whenever he’s travelling it’s comforting for him to find an Apple store nearby. He can feel relieved that there’s a place to go if one of his gadgets gets out of sorts, and it’s fun to see if there are any differences in other countries.
So after checking out the f@cebook clothing store and Ronald McDonald Duck, he was pleased to see something resembling Apple’s unmistakable logo. GO rushed in, not knowing what lay in store.
The other day, a group of friends made an offer to one of our RocketNews24 reporters, inviting him to go mountain climbing with them in the Philippines. Worried about his physical ability to actually complete the journey, he tried to make excuses about needing to water his cactus. But, when told that there would be real-life girls present, he decided to take one for the team and accompany the group on their mountain trek. After all, it would have been bad form to leave a lady unattended!
That was before he found out that they would be climbing Mt. Pulag, the second highest peak in the Philippines. It measures in at just over 9,586 feet tall! On second thought, that cactus did look really thirsty…. Read More
Surely, this has to be one of the most unique boiled eggs in the world. In case you can’t make it out properly, we ought to explain that this is a duck egg. With a duck embryo inside. And that strip of black there is indeed baby duck fur. It’s an image so frightful to some that eating it became a featured challenge on TV shows like Survivor and Fear Factor. To others, however, this is simply a delicious Filipino street delicacy.
Keeping an open mind, we plucked up the courage to try one of these babies (pun very much intended) while on a recent trip to the Philippines with one of our Filipino friends. But what did it taste like? And what does a whole baby duck feel like inside your mouth? We give you everything you need to know, complete with mouth-watering photos.
Starbucks is well-known for taking up residence in some unusual places. They’ve had a pop-up store in Tokyo and they even have a historical western-style house house in Kobe. But in the beautiful mountain village of Ubud, Bali, there’s a more subdued Starbucks. Set up in an old storehouse, and blending perfectly with the environment, you wouldn’t instantly think this was part of a global coffee franchise.
We went to check out this unique coffeehouse and found it to be incredibly beautiful and serene. Out of all the Starbucks stores we’ve visited across the world, this is by far the one we recommend the most. With an exceptionally unique atmosphere, we bring you four reasons why this may very well be the best Starbucks in the world.
It looks like Thailand is coming out with all the cool foods this week. First it was the McGrilled Chicken Curry Rice at McDonald’s (hurry on over, it’s only sold for a limited time), now we found bags of sushi-flavored Meiji Curl snacks in a Thai convenience store.
In a recent visit to Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, we made a rather interest discovery; it would appear Facebook was trying to muscle in on the hot Southeast Asian clothing market.
Even after closer inspection, however, we were unable to determine whether or not Zuckerburg and crew were in fact the backers behind this chic apparel retailer.
If number of stores is any indication, McDonald’s is the world’s most loved fast food chain with over 34,000 locations in 119 countries. We’re guessing the most common order at the golden arches is a burger with a side of fries, but if you happen to find yourself in Thailand, you might be surprised to find a bowl of curry and rice on the menu right next to the McDonald’s classics. The official name for this bizarre burger joint item is the McGrilled Chicken Curry Rice.
What comes to mind at the mention of stew? Maybe a hearty beef stew or some creamy chicken soup? Well, it seems that many fast food restaurants in the Philippines will sell you stew that’s made from the blood of domesticated animals! Holy cow! Or maybe it’s horse. Sheep? Exactly what kind of blood are we talking here?! To find out more, we flew our top investigative reporter to the Philippines to fill us in on the heart of the matter. Read More
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy day
Should you add tartar sauce to Japanese curry rice? CoCo Ichi makes diners an unusual offer
Akihabara pop-up shop sells goods made by Japanese prison inmates
Seaside scenery, history, and so many desserts on Yokohama’s Akai Kutsu【Japan Loop Buses】
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Harajuku Station’s beautiful old wooden building is set to return, with a new complex around it
Smash Bros. director Sakurai stabs Kirby in the face, has delicious justification for it
Ghibli Park now selling “Grilled Frogs” from food cart in Valley of WitchesForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of societyMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotesFrench Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Studio Ghibli releases new action figures featuring Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind characters
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
New private rooms on Tokaido Shinkansen change the way we travel from Tokyo to Kyoto
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
Beautiful Ghibli sealing wax kits let you create accessories and elegant letter decorations【Pics】Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy dayMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Studio Ghibli releases Kiki’s Delivery Service chocolate cake pouches in Japan
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese thingsJapanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutions
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in TokyoMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappoint
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
Seaside scenery, history, and so many desserts on Yokohama’s Akai Kutsu【Japan Loop Buses】
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Harajuku Station’s beautiful old wooden building is set to return, with a new complex around it
Smash Bros. director Sakurai stabs Kirby in the face, has delicious justification for it
Ghibli Park now selling “Grilled Frogs” from food cart in Valley of Witches
Randomly running into a great sushi lunch like this is one of the best things about eating in Tokyo
Anime girl English teacher Ellen-sensei becomes VTuber/VVTUber and NFT
Our visit to the coolest Book Off used Japanese book store that we’ve ever seen
Event held to watch noodles go down a long water slide, but no noodle eating allowed
Busty cosplay pianist shows face, but not hers, in awesome Detective Conan Criminal video【Video】
Mt. Koya planning to instate visitor’s tax to cope with huge tourist numbers
Is Japan’s massive Shizuoka steak sandwich really as delicious as it looks in promo photos?
