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Earlier this year, nearly 1,200 rail stations in Japan chose to ban the use of selfie sticks in reaction to the dangers of users not paying attention to their surroundings and the general nuisance caused by the photo-snapping peripherals in crowded areas. Now, East Japan Railways, Japan’s largest train operator, is taking aim at another problem: people walking through the station while staring at their smartphones instead of watching where they’re going.

But while you can ban selfie sticks and only ruffle the feathers of tourists and other leisure-oriented train passengers, millions of people rely on their smartphones during their daily commute to keep in touch with family, coworkers, and clients. So instead of prohibiting them, East Japan Railways has started a campaign to remind people not to use their smartphones while walking, and the reminder is so gentle that you can put it in your butt.

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Fan-made live-action Metroid video is triumphantly awesome, tragically not in theaters 【Video】

Every couple of years, rumors surfaces of some slim chance that a live-action Legend of Zelda film is about to get the green light from rights holder Nintendo. Then, as suddenly as the speculation began, it fizzles out, leaving fans feeling dejected about the lack of a big screen quest for Link and Zelda.

Really, though, The Legend of Zelda’s storyline and overall visual look vary so much from one video game installment to the next that a film adaptation would probably fail to please gamers whose favorite chapter wasn’t used as the specific source material. On the other hand, Metroid, Nintendo’s dark space adventure, has the foundation for an awesome, crowd-pleasing movie, as this fan-made live-action short film shows.

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Adorable Japanese kids’ homemade Splatoon costumes are ink-redible【Pics】

Halloween may be over, but that hasn’t put a stop to the internet being flooded with pictures of all the amazing and not-really-amazing-but-still-popular costumes that people wore.

One costume that was especially popular this year was the Inklings from the Wii U game Splatoon, but the ones who pulled it off the best have to be this pair of Japanese kids. Not only are their costumes homemade, but they look absolutely adorable while running around covering everything in pretend ink.

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Japan’s rags-to-riches Nepalese restaurant “Daisuki Nippon” closes doors after five years

November marks five years since Vikas Pradhan sent out his first tweets in broken Japanese describing the hardships of starting a restaurant. In response and a heartwarming show of support, the Twitter community rallied behind Pradhan not only online but in actual paid visits to his Nepalese cuisine restaurant Daisuki Nippon, putting it firmly in the black.

However, in a rather sudden turn of events, Pradhan tweeted that as of 31 October the original Daisuki Nippon had closed down.

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Japan Post gets moe fever with 2016 anime-fied New Year’s postcards

If you thought having to send a couple of Christmas cards to close friends and far-flung cousins during the holidays was annoying, wait til you get a load of the nengajo (New Year’s card) tradition here in Japan. Not only is one obligated to send nengajo to family and friends, but you’re also obligated to send them to co-workers, bosses, anyone who regularly provides you a service, anyone whom you regularly provide a service to, your landlord, your mother’s landlord, Crazy Uncle Jeb over at the asylum, the stray cats in your neighborhood, and your mortal enemy (just to let him know you’ve got your eyes on him).

In fact, you’ve gotta send these things to so many people, it’s not uncommon to drop by the Japan Post near you and see people purchasing stacks of hundreds of these things. And unless, like me, you avoid any and all human contact, you’ll probably also come home one winter day to find your mailbox stuffed to the brim with the things. So, given their ubiquity, it’s no surprise that Japan Post (who prints and distributes loads of nengajo every year through both their yubin-nenga.jp website and physical post office locations), occasionally tries to mix it up with some very nontraditional designs.

This year, bizarrely, the running theme seems to be… moe. As in those super-cute anime girls and dreamy, slightly effeminate anime guys who are all the rage in Japan.

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Geminoid F: Japan’s android actress with a starring role in a new film 【Video】

A delegation of anime huggy pillows appeared on the red carpet at the recent Tokyo International Film Festival, but they weren’t the only non-human stars whose work was featured at the event. Also screening was Sayonara, a new film written and directed by Koji Fukuda. The fact that one of the Japanese-produced movie’s two female leads is a foreigner would be notable enough on its own, but what really makes Sayonara unique is that her costar is an android.

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We track down the stunning Ghibli-like waterfall made famous online — just outside Tokyo!【Pics】

There are many well-known areas of beauty all around Japan, but sometimes you stumble upon something off the beaten path that simply takes your breath away.

That’s what happened to one person in Japan, who came across a waterfall in a tunnel of sunlight, filled with the same muted hues as a scene from a fantastical animated movie. Upon sharing the atmospheric photograph above on Instagram it received thousands of likes, with people all over the country eager to learn where the secret waterfall was hidden.

It might look like something from the foggy mists of a far-flung island many miles from Tokyo, but the beautiful scene is actually located just a short one-hour drive from the bustling metropolis. We decided to make our way there, and we’ve marked out the route so you can visit it too!

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Smokers vs. non-smokers: A 50-year health and financial comparison【Video】

We all know that smoking is an unhealthy habit. Each year about 200,000 people in Japan alone die from smoking- (and passive smoking-) related illnesses. On a global scale, about six million die from smoking-related diseases every year.

In an effort to reduce the number of smokers in Japan, Japanese anti-smoking NPO No Smoke holds an annual video contest titled “Tobacco is Harmful to Your Health”, calling for original video submissions that raise awareness of the dangers and harmful effects of smoking.

The first-place winner of the video contest held in 2012 created a movie highlighting the simple differences between smokers and non-smokers in terms of financial cost. As we’re about to see, smoking is not only harmful to your health but a horribly expensive habit.

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Latte sharpeners, mayo correction fluid and more will confuse the heck out of your friends【Pics】

Doing school or office work can be a real drag. Taking notes? Completing worksheets? Writing reports? You’ve got more pressing matters to attend to, like checking all of your social media sites for the fifth time in five minutes.

But in the end those things just have to be done, so why not mix it up a bit? Let your “latte” sharpen your pencils, your bottle of mayo white-out your mistakes, and your naan hold all of your writing utensils together. Take a look below to see all the nifty stationery goods that don’t even look like stationery at all!

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Computer overheating? Japanese Twitter suggests using 10-yen coins to cool it off

We’ve all been there: you’ve been marathoning a TV series on your laptop, or maybe playing a game for way too long, and now your fans are going haywire and the whole computer is hot to the touch. What are you supposed to do? Put your viewing on hold and wait for your computer to cool? No way!

Thankfully one Japanese Twitter user has another solution: cover your computer in 10-yen coins. Read on to find out why this idea just might be crazy enough to work.

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“Amazing Kyoto” shows us sides of Japan’s old capital we’ve never seen before — in two languages!

Kyoto, which was the capital of Japan for more than 1,000 years, is one of those cities that looks beautiful no matter what time of the year it is. But out of all the seasons, autumn is by far the most popular time to visit, and now that the leaves are beginning to change people are also starting to plan trips to catch a glimpse of Kyoto’s gorgeous fall scenery.

If you happen to be one of those tourists, we have just the book for you, a unique insight into city by foreigners who now call Kyoto their home, called Amazing Kyoto.

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LED potion lamp heals us with its array of colors, sets perfect adventure mood

Growing up with video games, there are a number of make-believe items we’d love to pull out from a bag to make our everyday lives better. Even just an ordinary potion could mean going from a sloth-like laziness to the get-up-and-go of a hummingbird. Sure, there have been plenty of elixirs concocted by drink makers that turn out to be delicious and colorful, but there’s another potion hitting the markets that we are looking to add to our stash to raise the hit points of our mood, since it’s an LED potion lamp!

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Fans criticize Softbank’s anime character live-action phone ads as ‘disrespectful’

Last month, SoftBank‘s series of commercials depicting several classic anime characters all grown up premiered. The ads star Kyoko Koizumi (Tokyo Sonata, Hanging Garden) as Usagi Tsukino (Sailor Moon), the proprietess at Moon Ribar an atmospheric rooftop bar. She’s assisted by Maruko-chan (Chibi Maruko-chan, played by Suzu Hirose) and welcomes guests like Fist of the North Star‘s Kenshiro (famous Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizō XI), Obocchama-kun (played by Shinnosuke Mitsushima), Duke “Golgo 13” Tōgō (played by Fumiyo Kohinata), Joe Yabuki (Ashita no Joe, played by comedian Naoki Matayoshi) and Astro Boy himself, played by Masato Sakai (Honey and Clover).

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Ramp up your drinking game with beautiful Mt. Fuji rocks and tumbler glasses

Anyone who has climbed Mt. Fuji knows that besides the view, the best feeling is cracking open a drink at the summit. Is there anything more picturesque than standing on top of Japan and taking a nice long pull from a drink you most certainly earned?

Now you can bring back those memories while at sea-level with this beautiful glass that will turn all your drinks into a scene so beautiful you’ll want to write a haiku about it.

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Japan’s Twitter users in love Air Self-Defense Force’s aerobatics team Blue Impulse

Regardless of how you feel about air travel, we sure you’ll admit that watching an aerobatics show by top pilots is nothing short of amazing. So, whether you get woozy standing on a stool or you love soaring in the sky, you won’t want to miss the photos  and videos from this week’s Blue Impulse show in Saitama!

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Most of the events and promotions organized by energy drink maker Red Bull are thoroughly in the “XTREME” category. As a matter of fact, sometimes the names of the events are so intense that we have only the vaguest idea of what happens in them, such as the Red Bull Rampage, Red Bull King of the Rock Tournament, and Red Bull Cape Fear.

However, Red Bull has a bit of a playful, silly side to it too, as shown in a contest it sponsors in which entrants launch their home-made flying machines from a pier and see who can travel the farthest distance before hitting the water. But even then, Red Bull can’t help but do things in the most XTREME way possible, and in the competition’s latest iteration, held in Japan, they killed giant anime robot Gundam.

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There aren’t a lot of cushy jobs in the anime industry. Aside from the pressure of having to please fickle fans and meet strict deadlines, most animators in Japan earn a pitiful salary.

Still, almost all anime professionals are also fans, and at the end of the day, being able to contribute to the art form that they love must be worth something. Plus, the employees of one particular anime studio get to enjoy the ultimate after-work perk: a dip in the hot spring that was found in their office building!

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Six types of Japanese people you’ll meet while living in Japan — An illustrated guide

A while back, we had some fun talking about five of the more noteworthy types of foreigners you’ll meet in Japan, based upon observations drawn from our time spent working and living here in the Land of the Rising Sun. Whether you’re a Plastic Sensei, Hateimus Japanicus, Secret Ninja, Bubble Dweller or Kid in a Candy Store (or indeed, all of these at different times), we reckon there’s probably quite a lot foreign residents can find to nod their heads at when considering each of those five extreme types.

But what about the flip side of the coin? Spend enough time as a foreigner in a country like Japan—a place that’s 98.5% ethnically Japanese—and you’ll be sure to notice that Japanese people will approach you, the foreigner, in a number of different ways. Today we’d like to share our thoughts on six kinds of Japanese people foreigners might meet during their time in Japan. See how many of them you’ve come across during your time traveling or living in the country!

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From Totoro to Sailor Moon: Macarons get delicious anime makeovers

When you’re looking for cute inspiration, you don’t have to look much further than Japan. As the birthplace of the world’s beloved wide-eyed, chubby-faced anime characters, the nation is full to overflowing with commercials, posters, sweets and goods that are so adorable even self-respecting adults can’t help but squeal like delighted children when they catch sight of them.

Now Japan’s cast of cute characters have found a home for themselves across the seas in a gorgeous little Airstream trailer in California, where they continue to pop up in limited numbers in the best way ever: as deliciously sweet macarons. Come with us as we take a look at some of the cute critters and adorable edibles in the collection after the break.

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Japan has vending machines for just about anything, including emergency care

In the case of a cardiac arrest, every second counts, which is why over the past decade Japanese health organizations have deployed a large number of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public areas, with the current count somewhere over 300,000 units.

Eventually the country would like to see that number expand to one in every building, but for the time being the first priority is AED accessibility, leaving some foreign tourists surprised to find that AEDs in places that might seem a little odd at first: like vending machines.

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