Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
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This year’s E3 trade show, or Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014 to give it its full name, is now just hours away. E3 2013 was one of the most memorable in show history, with Microsoft and Sony both pushing their new consoles in our faces like fame-obsessed parents trying to live vicariously through their grotesquely made-up offspring. This year, though, should be all about the games. And we’re excited.
Have you ever wondered what Sailor Moon soldiers would look like if they travelled to an alternate reality and were drawn by a western hand? Well, thank goodness for fan art because one clever artist has delivered the fantasy. This unique collection of Sailor Moon pictures has the scouts looking more like Disney stars rather than sparkly-eyed anime characters, and with heartbreaking back-stories in each beautiful portrait, you’ll be seeing the girls in a totally new light.
The E3 video games trade event is coming up in less than two weeks and we’re sending a crew out to give you an up-close look! There will be an enormous amount on show this year, but what we really want to know is what YOU want to hear more about. Take our poll and tell us what you’d like to see at this year’s E3!
Now, as a site that features a large amount of quirky news from Japan, we have a feeling that a fair number of our readers may be interested in anime and comics. As such, it is always a pleasure to share on our site beautiful artwork inspired by anime or comics in various forms. This time, we’ve found a collection of stunning work that combines modern anime/comic characters with a bit of antique taste — in the style of stained-glass windows! But these aren’t actual windows, although they certainly look lovely enough to be made into real works of colorful glass. They’re prints that look like stained glass, and there’s a whole lovely series of them!
Nago is located in northern Okinawa, a tourist town with beautiful beaches and a pineapple park. Its waters are home to gorgeous coral and seagrass beds that serve as the feeding grounds to Japan’s last remaining population of dugong, an endangered sea mammal related to the manatee. Nago is also the site of the proposed relocation of Futenma airbase, the US Marine complex that is at the core of a controversy between the Okinawan, Japanese, and US governments.
The mayor of Nago, Susumu Inamine, was in New York last weekend to deliver speeches and have informative discussions regarding the issue.
The Boston Red Sox have consistently had Japanese players since 2007, when they signed Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima. There’s one thing Japanese players bring to the team that’s been overlooked until now, though: delicious imported Japanese candy.
People around the world love Japanese candy, be it endless varieties of Kit Kat flavours, or do-it-yourself candy sushi. There are even companies that will mail it to you monthly for a small fee (or a hefty fee – choose wisely, readers!). And it seems that recently, Red Sox players and staff have been going crazy over Japan’s long-standing fruit chew top-sellers, Hi-Chew.
Darth Vader is a multi-talented guy. From choking subordinates with an invisible force to performing impromptu amputations on members of his family, he can perform all kinds of amazing feats. But did you know he’s also a major league slugger?
It’s true! As part of a collaboration between Lucasfilm and Japan pro-baseball’s Pacific League, Vader stepped up to the plate to show how the game should be played: with light-saber bats!
Opening in the US on May 16 and July 25 in Japan, Godzilla is making waves as one of this summer’s big blockbusters. But even before Godzilla’s gargantuan presence will grace the silver screen, he’s already making his rounds on the little screen. This latest commercial sees Italian car maker FIAT teaming up with Godzilla to answer the age-old question: “What’s your favorite food?”
The Oricon Style website reported on changes that the Doraemon television anime is undergoing before its American television premiere this July. The Disney XD channel will run 26 episodes of the quintessential Japanese anime about a robot cat. The anime has been adapted for American culture and customs, as well its strict guidelines on violence, depictions of discrimination, and depictions of sexual content.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) guides the multiple-rocket launching drill of women’s sub-units under KPA Unit 851, in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)
North Korea called the United States “a living hell” while offering a comprehensive listing of criticisms against the country it called “the world’s worst human rights abuser” in a news report from state-run media Wednesday.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
The financial news source Nikkei reported on Friday that the American media conglomerate Walt Disney will begin running the quintessential Japanese anime Doraemon on television throughout the United States this summer. 44 years after the original manga about a robotic cat from the future debuted, the anime has already aired in 35 countries and territories in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. However, this will be the first television showing of Doraemon in the United States.
A few months ago, we brought you news that Japanese developer Spike Chunsoft was bringing manga and anime smash Attack on Titan to Nintendo’s popular portable, 3DS. Up until now, the game seemed destined to remain a Japan-only affair, but rumour has it that its makers are searching for a publisher to bring the game to Western audiences. Get hype, kids!
Even as an American, it never occurred to me that the in-game cuteness of the iconic Kirby character doesn’t really carry over to the box art – where he’s typically portrayed as a Pokemon ripoff in need of anger management courses.
Don’t believe us? Take a look at this decade-old print ad for a new Kirby game in the U.S.:
Somewhere down the line, Nintendo America producers decided that Kirby should be portrayed as tough and menacing on American shores in order to appeal to U.S. audiences, who at the time were still in love with macho heroes from the ’80s action movie heydays. Even if the hero in question was a puffy pink ball of cute, Americans apparently craved sheer anger in their main characters – a far cry from the Japanese, who were raised on Kirby as an adorable, smiling murderer that ate his victims whole and gained their power like some fantasy world maniac.
While some of us get to spend our days taking selfies, slurping on Starbucks and shopping at designer stores, others are not quite so lucky.
In a crushing reminder of the disparities and injustice that exist in our world, a woman shopping at luxury New York department store Saks Fifth Avenue has discovered a note at the bottom of her bag written by a man imprisoned in a forced labour camp in China, pleading for help contacting his family and the United Nations.
A Sunday newspaper in my native England used to run a column called “Can you get a table?” in which reporters would call fully-booked high-end restaurants claiming to be representing various celebrities of differing degrees of fame, and see whether they could wrangle a table for that night. A-listers tended to garner responses along the lines of “yes, I think that can be arranged”, while talent show contestants were more likely to be met with apologies and mumbling. Thus, order in celeb-land was successfully maintained.
I was amused and impressed, therefore, to read that there’s a restaurant in Tokyo that can’t even make room for the most powerful man on the planet to have dinner with the Japanese Prime Minister. When Obama met Shinzo Abe last week, Abe took him for world-class sushi at Sukiyabashi Jiro. However, sushi wasn’t Abe’s first choice. He wanted to take Obama-san to Tempura Kondo, but the booked-out restaurant turned them down. “Customers with reservations are more important,” the owner is reported to have said. “Even for the President of the United States, I can’t disappoint my customers who already made bookings.”
Fans of monster movies or big Hollywood blockbusters are no doubt aware that a reboot of the famous Godzilla franchise is due to hit theaters next month. As you might imagine for a movie featuring one of their most beloved pop culture icons, the Japanese are deeply interested in how America is going to bring their national kaiju to the screen.
When clear pictures of the creature hit the net this week, the response was probably not what studio execs were hoping for. Some Japanese fans are apparently calling this incarnation of Godzilla “fat”. Ouch.
Almost all of the conventional wisdom from American intelligence agencies about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been wrong, Peter Sanger of The New York Times reports.
Taro Aso might be remembered by some as the last prime minister to serve during the revolving-door era of political leadership that occurred in the last decade in Japan, with the country being led by five different men between 2006 and 2012. During that time and elsewhere in is political career, however, Aso has also become well-known for his numerous gaffes such as saying he wanted to make Japan a country that “rich Jews” would want to live.
Now serving as Deputy PM and Minister of Finance, Aso’s legacy of inappropriate comments lives on. Following the recent visit by US President Barack Obama, the former prime minister felt it was time to give his two cents about the American leader.
YouTuber David Douchecovny, or just “The Douche,” is a fan of putting explosives on things and then shooting them. He films these explosions and posts them on YouTube. But a recent video might have gotten him into a bit of hot water as it features a product from Japan.
The Douche says he won this book in a giveaway from another YouTuber, with an attached note that read, “have fun blowing this up.” Join us after the jump to see whose book it is and whether or not it survives the explosion.
Being an international pop star like Canada’s Justin Bieber is certain to have its share of pitfalls. Scandals such as unfortunate comments at the Anne Frank house and more recently charges of drunk driving and egging a house have continued to dog him.
So this Easter weekend, the award-winning performer made a trip to Japan to get away from it all. After all, what could possibly go wrong here?
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Foreigners accounting for over 80 percent of off-course skiers needing rescue in Japan’s Hokkaido
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Testing Japan’s fluffy mayonnaise pancake cooking hack【SoraKitchen】
Cup Noodle maker Nissin teams up with thick-broth ramen chain for instant ramen rice[Taste test]
Paying for prostitution isn’t illegal in Japan, but it could be soon
The results are in! One Piece World Top 100 characters chosen in global poll
A visit to Subnade: Downtown Tokyo’s survivor subterranean shopping center【Photos】
A look back on 40 years of Japanese schools banning stuff
Japanese city paints well-known prostitution street bright yellow, adds fish art【Video】Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]Foreigners accounting for over 80 percent of off-course skiers needing rescue in Japan’s Hokkaido
Is China’s don’t-go-to-Japan warning affecting the lines at a popular Tokyo gyukatsu restaurant?
Three beautiful places to see Japan’s plum blossoms after starting your day in downtown Tokyo
Downloads of 39-year-old Guns N’ Roses song increase 12,166 percent thanks to GundamA look back on 40 years of Japanese schools banning stuff
New Family Mart cinema opens inside Japanese airport
Take a trip to Japan’s Dododo Land, the most irritating place on Earth
Man arrested in Japan after leaving car in coin parking lot for six years, racking up three-million-yen bill
Huge Evangelion Unit-01 head appearing in lights in Japan to celebrate anime’s 30th anniversary
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s DayJapan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]Foreigners accounting for over 80 percent of off-course skiers needing rescue in Japan’s Hokkaido
Japan releases first official sakura cherry blossom forecast for 2026
Archfiend Hello Kitty appears as Sanrio launches new team-up with Yu-Gi-Oh【Pics】
China’s don’t-go-to-Japan warning looks to be affecting tourist crowds on MiyajimaIs China’s don’t-go-to-Japan warning affecting the lines at a popular Tokyo gyukatsu restaurant?
Studio Ghibli releases new “komorebi” plush toys from Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away
Yokai are descending upon Tokyo this spring in the latest immersive art experience
Japan’s Naruto theme park now offering real-world version of Minato’s kunai ninja weapon
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 TokyoStarbucks 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
Studio Ghibli releases Kodama forest spirits from Princess Mononoke to light up your home
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】Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
No more using real katana for tourism activities, Japan’s National Police Agency says
Starbucks Japan reveals new sakura drinkware collection, inspired by evening cherry blossoms
Paying for prostitution isn’t illegal in Japan, but it could be soon
The results are in! One Piece World Top 100 characters chosen in global poll
A visit to Subnade: Downtown Tokyo’s survivor subterranean shopping center【Photos】
A look back on 40 years of Japanese schools banning stuff
Japanese city paints well-known prostitution street bright yellow, adds fish art【Video】
Is a snow day the perfect day to beat the crowds at a popular ramen restaurant? [Experiment]
Sanrio changes Hello Kitty lead designer for first time in 46 years
Japanese video 18-Year-Old Grandpa has important, moving message behind its silly-sounding title
Our reporter tries nuikatsu for the first time, but is he too old for this otaku lifestyle hobby?
Japan’s permanent Pokémon theme park zone announces grand opening date, ticket sale start
Where’s the very best seat to sit in on Japan’s Shinkansen? Our expert has an answer
Shimane has a secret hot spring town that feels like stepping into an old Japanese film
Site of the worst bear attack in Japanese history is a chilling place to visit