Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
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Osamu Tezuka‘s Astro Boy, in addition to being a historically important piece of entertainment, is also widely beloved around the world. And now, some sixty-plus years after its first inception as a manga, it’s been granted additional life on the stage, thanks to the efforts of playwright and director Natsu Onoda Power, and the folks at the Company One theater company.
Now, we know that not all technology may be good, and there are plenty of stories out there, be they movies or novels, of technology run amok. But you have to admit there are times when you just have to love technology, like when it comes in a cute, pop form that allows you to carry around large amounts of data in style. Yes, readers,we present to you these adorable Mimobot and Sanrio collaborative flash drives from Mimoco — they’re currently generating a bit of a buzz on online here in Japan, and we dare anyone out there to say that the results of the collaboration aren’t über cute!
Our Japanese correspondent Yoshio recently made the trip for Tokyo to San Diego to attend Comic-Con for the first time. After seeing all the fans in costume showing their enthusiasm for their favorite series, Yoshio got bitten by the cosplay bug and decided to dress up too.
But which character to cosplay as? He knew he wanted someone Japanese, to represent his home country. Someone strong and just, with a kind heart. And while he was at it, why not add long, flowing hair and miniskirt to the checklist?
In other words, Yoshio spent a day at Comic-Con rocking a Sailor Venus outfit.
Planes are never especially pleasant places to be. Even up in first class, you’re stuck in your seat for hours on end with no chance of stepping outside for a breath of fresh air, and with so many bodies packed into the same metal tube, it’s inevitable that the air starts to get a bit stale after a while. On the plus side, the worst you’ll have to deal with is a bit of body odor or your neighbor’s stinky snack food and not the overwhelming stench of a Greyhound port-a-potty.
Well, unless you happened to be on this flight from Beijing to Detroit last week…
Our Japanese reporter Yoshio is currently attending his first ever Comic-Con in San Diego. After completing such epic quests as flying across the Pacific and finding a parking spot near the Convention Center, he’s been enjoying Preview Night plus the first two days of the show.
But while Comic-Con is the world’s biggest celebration of comics, animation, movies, video games, and all other sorts of 2-D fiction, Yoshio’s been blown away by something very real and three-dimensional: all of the amazing cosplayers!
Like millions of people around the world, I am a member of a sports club. For a small monthly fee, I can take classes, run, cycle, lift weights, swim lengths in the pool or just relax in the sauna. And just like so many others, I hardly ever go.
I have every intention of exercising, I really do, but getting off my arse and carrying myself to the gym can be harder than the exercise itself sometimes. If only I had something to motivate me, something that wouldn’t take “I’ll go tomorrow” for an answer. Something like, oh I don’t know, a herd of ravenous zombies sprinting after me…
Here at RocketNews24, we often send our English-speaking staff out to cover events and places of interest related to Japanese animation and movies. This week, though, we’re pulling a 180 by sending one of our Japanese language reporters, Yoshio, to Comic-Con in San Diego.
Yoshio completed Phase One of his mission with no problems by successfully flying the 10 hours from Tokyo to California. Next on his list of objectives: a blow-by-blow report of Comic-Con’s preview night.
Good stock photos can be hard to come by sometimes, especially if they’re of niche matters like child soldiers. So when a bustling newsroom intern tracks down a perfect photo of children wielding rifles and sitting on tanks, it’s too good to pass up. Even if the photo looks a little off.
Comic-Con International will finally be opening its doors on July 24 for four days of comic and entertainment madness. Thousands of people are already getting ready to flock to the San Diego convention site, with this year’s event set to attract more visitors than ever.
And this time, RocketNews24 is lucky enough to be in attendance! We can’t wait to get in there and bring you news, photos and video of all the coolest stuff on show as it happens! We know there’s nothing worse than news sites reporting on everything but the stuff you personally wanted to see, though, so if there’s something that you really, really want us to check out on your behalf at Comic-Con this year, leave us a note in the comments below.
You can also find us on Facebook or Twitter. We’ll be tweeting and Facebooking like crazy right the way through Comic-Con, so if you haven’t already be sure to follow us!
If baseball wants to increase interest in the All-Star Game for both the fans and the players, there is a radical yet simple solution, but it requires Bud Selig to look across the ocean.
MLB All-Stars vs. Japanese League All-Stars.
While the NFL and its players continue to mull the cancellation of their Pro Bowl due to the lack of interest, Major League Baseball has taken the opposite approach and has gone to great lengths in an attempt to return their mid-summer classic to prominence.
In 2006, Selig tried to artificially increase interest by giving the winner home-field advantage in the World Series. It was a solution that was only slightly less arbitrary than the “alternating years” system that served as the previous method.
Importing All-Stars from Japan’s Nippon Professional League would create genuine interest from both fans and the players.
Here’s how it works:
Back in May, we reported to you about how we would be getting our first Japanese Disney hero in the upcoming film Big Hero 6 based on the Marvel comic of the same title. Since then, we’ve found out that the film will be titled Baymax in Japan, after the protagonist Hiro Hamada’s white fluffy companion robot. We’ve also learned from a recent announcement that Disney will be getting involved in a highly unique crossover for Big Hero 6 that’s never been done one with any of their other movies before — in advance of the movie release, Big Hero 6 will be serialized as a manga here in Japan starting in the beginning of next month, and there will even be a prequel manga published as well! Now, that’s a piece of news we’re certainly excited to hear!
If you live in the States, you may remember a few years ago when Congress blocked a proposal that aimed to make school lunches for children healthier. One of the provisions which stirred up considerable debate involved increasing the amount of tomato paste necessary to be considered a full serving of fruits and vegetables, but the proposal was eventually nixed, effectively maintaining that the tomato sauce used on pizza could count as a serving of vegetables.
After a Japanese news site broke the story fashionably late last month, Japanese people were incredulous to hear that from a legal standpoint, “pizza is a vegetable” in the U.S. Read on to learn more about the ongoing debate and some reactions of readers.
Hundreds of shopping malls across the U.S. have been forced to shut down following years of debilitating declines in consumer traffic.
In many cases, the shuttered malls are left to decay for years before developers or local governments raise the funds to bulldoze or renovate the space.
Pseudonymous photographer Seph Lawless traveled the country for years to find these forgotten malls and document their decay from the inside.
The photos he captured are haunting and apocalyptic, featuring dead trees and abandoned shopping carts against landscapes of broken glass and crumbling walls.
He compiled the photographs in a new book, “Black Friday: The Collapse of the American Shopping Mall,” and shared some of them with Business Insider.
Kevin Whitney of Chickasha, Oklahoma, was working on his farm last October when his iPhone fell out of his shirt pocket and up a grain elevator, where it was deposited into a pit containing 280,000 pounds of grain.
“I never expected to see that phone again,” he told KFOR-TV. It was a reasonable conclusion.
While we usually focus on news from Japan or Asia, sometimes we like to flip things around and give our readers a Japanese perspective on other cultures. We’ve given you a Japanese person’s take on New York ramen before, and today we’ve got another taste-testing piece for you! But this time, we’re casting a slightly wider net by sending one of our writers to try all the Coca Cola flavors on the planet at World of Coca Cola in Las Vegas.
Read on to find out if he likes your country’s cola flavor!
The humble onigiri rice ball is the traditional Japanese answer to the sub sandwich: it’s a no-frills, on-the-go snack that balances carbs and protein and doesn’t require utensils. And just like subs, onigiri come stuffed with a huge variety of fillings, from salmon flakes to meatballs, seaweed to shrimp tempura.
And, just as “healthy” American sub sandwich chain Subway is making huge headway in Japan recently, onigiri are apparently making the journey the opposite way to American shores… But something has definitely gotten lost in translation.
Jiro Kuwata‘s 1960s Batman manga series will get a complete English release for the first time in both digital and print formats this year. DC Comics will first release a new chapter online each week beginning on Saturday. DC will then publish the complete run by the 8 Man manga artist in three volumes later this year. The manga will appear in its original right-to-left format.
As the natural culmination to a brilliant social media move by Nature Valley to endear themselves to anime fans, attendees of Anime Expo will be able to sink their teeth into some granola bars come next weekend.
The convention recently tweeted a photo of several pallets piled high with boxes of granola bars.
Filmmakers Dianne Fukami and Debra Nakatomi are sansei (third-generation Japanese Americans) from California who met while serving on the 2009 Japanese American Leadership Delegation, a cross-cultural program sponsored by the U.S.-Japan Council. When the triple tragedy of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster hit the northeastern region of Japan on March 11, 2011, Fukami and Nakatomi decided to make a documentary that told the stories of survivors.
They met a woman who managed to recover her old kimono and makes dolls out of the fabric; a struggling organic farmer in Fukushima; a cafe owner who cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner to refugees in a shelter during the first six months after the disaster; and mothers in Fukushima who commute to a kindergarten an hour away so that their children can play outside.
Multimillionaire Chen Guangbiao, the self-proclaimed “most influential person of China,” held a massive event in New York City on Wednesday during which he handed out $100 bills to 200 homeless people at the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park.
“He’s the man! He’s the man!” one man shouted, throwing his arm around Guangbiao and waving the three $100 bills in the air.
“I wish and hope that you will put the money into good use,” Guangbiao said in remarks delivered through a translator.
“I hope that you will use this money as seed money for whatever job training or job education you will receive so that you can help yourself,” he said.
Guangbiao, 46, then told the crowd that he would like to do this every year. They began to cheer and whistle.
Japan’s awesomely beautiful Alpen Route snow corridor is now open
Brand-new Pokémon manhole covers coming to help the recovery of a disaster-stricken part of Japan
Starbucks Japan releases FIVE new Frappuccinos in a day, and we try them all in 90 minutes
Soaking in glimmering water and the essence of prehistoric plants at a Hokkaido hot spring
Japan’s best conveyor belt sushi restaurant of seven years ago has now, finally, come to Tokyo
Day 2 of our quest to visit all the Pokémon manhole covers in Tottori【Photos】
Artist gives anime and comic characters stained-glass look — with stunning results!
7 reasons why you should visit Aomori Prefecture
Studio Ghibli releases Ponyo donburi bowl to bring anime ramen to life
Police in Japan warn of scam artists posing as cops to collect fines for breaking new bike rules
Wisteria season starts early with blooming of Japan’s Great Wisteria in its beautiful gardenJapan’s best conveyor belt sushi restaurant of seven years ago has now, finally, come to Tokyo
Injuries on stairs in Tokyo highlight an overlooked design flaw
Lawson convenience store at popular tourist site is one of the most unusual in Japan
Japanese trains in Sapporo might be better than those in Tokyo, thanks to one special feature
Mt. Fuji decorated with a 500,000-flower pink carpet is Japan’s ultimate spring view
Japanese government wants overseas anime market to roughly triple in 10 years, but are they crazy?Starbucks Japan releases FIVE new Frappuccinos in a day, and we try them all in 90 minutes
Japanese bento shop sells croquettes for 13 cents, but are they any good?
30 Pikachus want to share a Tokyo hotel room with you that has separate Grass, Water, Fire spaces
Japan reportedly adding Japanese language skill requirement to most common foreigner work visa
Pokémon and Ikea Japan cross over into each other’s worlds with collaboration eventsWisteria season starts early with blooming of Japan’s Great Wisteria in its beautiful garden
Japan now has a special desk for people who work at home with a pet cat[Photos]Japan’s best conveyor belt sushi restaurant of seven years ago has now, finally, come to Tokyo
Famous Tokyo cherry blossom spot installs view-blocking screens to fight overcrowding[Video]
Uniqlo announces new T-shirts for One Piece, Naruto and more for manga publisher’s 100th birthday
Krispy Kreme releases Super Mario doughnuts in Japan for a limited time
Japanese onsen egg maker from 100-yen store Daiso needs to be on your shopping list
Starbucks Japan releases new My Fruit³ Frappuccino at only 34 stores around the country
Survey asks foreign tourists what bothered them in Japan, more than half gave same answer
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
We deeply regret going into this tunnel on our walk in the mountains of Japan
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Studio Ghibli releases Kodama forest spirits from Princess Mononoke to light up your home
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
No more using real katana for tourism activities, Japan’s National Police Agency says
Day 2 of our quest to visit all the Pokémon manhole covers in Tottori【Photos】
Artist gives anime and comic characters stained-glass look — with stunning results!
7 reasons why you should visit Aomori Prefecture
Studio Ghibli releases Ponyo donburi bowl to bring anime ramen to life
Police in Japan warn of scam artists posing as cops to collect fines for breaking new bike rules
Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura cherry blossom collection for hanami season 2026
Can you spot what’s odd about this Japanese classroom?【Video】
McDonald’s Japan now has Hello Kitty and Pompompurin drinks on the menu
Cutie Honey anime inspires three daringly sexy lingerie sets【Photos】
Sailor-style school uniform outfits for men are warm, fleecy and said to reduce stress
Injuries on stairs in Tokyo highlight an overlooked design flaw
What’s inside Japan’s super-rare, super-popular Nara bread?
Japan’s 54-year-old lingerie model is turning heads of multiple generations in new ads 【Video】