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Shangrila, a maid cafe staffed exclusively by cute “plump” girls, opens in Akihabara【Pics】

We’ve seen all kinds of maid cafes all over Japan, from ones that specialize in zombie girls to ones where the girls seductively make rice balls right in front of you. But one type of maid cafe that has been sorely lacking is one dedicated to girls with a fuller figure, the kind of girls known in Japan by the playful monicker of marshmallow girls.

But all that changes now! Shangrila is a maid cafe that recently opened in Akihabara, and it will be staffed completely by more well-rounded young women. What kind of stuff does a cafe like this have in store for its customers? Read on to find out!

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Does mint ice cream really taste like toothpaste and breath mints? RN24’s Meg finds out 【Video】

Our Japanese-language reporter Meg sets out to defend the honor of her favorite ice cream flavor by eating a breat mint sundae, and also makes her English RocketNews24 video debut.

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Watch this chill cat groove to the beat of “Hotline Bling”【Video】

We’ve all got that song that really moves us, gets us caught up in its beats and has us tapping our feet or nodding our head. But are the pleasures of music limited only to the human species? Most would argue that yes, music is an art unfortunately lost on animals. Or, at least, that they can’t enjoy it on the same level as us Homo-sapiens.

To you nay-sayers, hold that thought, because we found one groovy cool cat who begs to differ!

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Meet the people and organizations who are tackling the problem of childhood hunger in Japan

Tough economic times can and do happen everywhere in the world. Even in wealthy, developed countries like Japan, some folks struggle every day to make ends meet. Sometimes, those people are families with young children.

Childhood hunger is a worldwide problem, and while no one deserves to go hungry, it is an especially sad situation for children. For one thing, they can’t really do anything to help better their situation, and secondly, they need the food and nutrition to help their bodies continue to grow properly. In Japan, approximately 16 percent of two-parent families are financially unable to provide enough food for their children, and that number jumps to 32 percent for single-parent households, according to a 2012 survey. But there are some who refuse to stand by doing nothing and are dedicating themselves to feeding the hungry children in Japan.

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Japanese band’s music video is like a psychedelic sushi nightmare【Video】

If you like your sushi with a side of crazy psychedelic, this new music video from long-serving Japanese band Orange Range will definitely whet your appetite.

Called “Sushi Tabetai – featuring Soy Sauce”, the catchy tune and mesmerising images are the perfect blend of cute and bizarre that we’ve come to love from the Japanese music scene.

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Just when you thought “anime girls with boobs so big they can’t stand up” was going to walk away with the award for this week’s most exaggerated character design, here comes a new challenger.

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Oddly satisfying: Sharpening master turns rusted blade back into brand new knife【Video】

The Japanese have a knack for doing things in such a way that are just satisfying to watch. Whether it’s traditional Japanese carpenters putting together pieces of wood perfectly or a grown man in a pink bunny suit bonding with rabbits, there’s no shortage of videos that make you feel like everything is right in the world.

And the next video to add to the list of things to make you go “ahh:” a Japanese knife-sharpening master turning a rusted kitchen knife into what could pass for a brand new tool. Prepare to feel like the air around you tastes a little sweeter as you watch the rust melt away with his delicate yet masterful technique.

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Happy Pocky Day! Celebrate 11/11 with a fistful of Pocky sticks and these awesome tweets【Pics】

‘Tis the season to eat Pocky! Celebrate Pocky Day with these amusing (and tantalizing) tweets from Japan!

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The Phantom Limb Project: Gamer to get prosthetic limb inspired by Metal Gear Solid V

A collaboration between video game giant Konami and prostheses expert Sophie De Oliviera Barata aims to give an amputee gamer a new arm inspired by Metal Gear Solid.

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Who knew the seemingly specialized kitchen gadget was so multitalented?

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Play an edible Tsum Tsum mobile game with individually wrapped Pino ice creams!

If you love Japan’s bite-sized Pino ice creams as much as you love Disney’s range of adorable Tsum Tsum characters, then this special collaboration is sure to bring you joy this holiday season.

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Maybe 13 percent of Japanese schoolgirls aren’t really selling their services as escorts

The Japanese government has asked the UN to retract its recent statement that claims 13 percent of girls in Japan are involved in compensated dating.

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Living in Japan: 10 “normal” things you won’t find here

Living abroad is fun and exciting; hardly a day goes by when something doesn’t surprise, humor, or baffle you. Living in another country also gives you a chance to understand your own native nation and evaluate the good and the bad from an outsider’s perspective.

So today we want to share with you some things that we miss from our own countries—that is to say mainly the US and UK—that we never realized we’d miss! Because, you know, they just seemed so normal, we thought Japan would have them too.

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Video claims that if you can read a certain font, you are probably not Japanese【Video】

English language proficiency is a tricky subject with Japanese people. There’s always an excuse about why they can’t understand it, from, “I’ll never use English,” and “It’s not interesting,” to the catch-all, “It’s too hard.” Well, it’s a good thing the Ministry of Education isn’t looking to adopt any new fonts for their textbooks as a little-known computer font developed back in 1998 is gaining some notoriety for being absolutely impossible to read by native Japanese. You might be able to read it, but can your Japanese friends?

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  • Nov 11, 2015

Like good-looking men? Now you can get your own ikemen hot guy in a bag…of chips!

Who isn’t fond of a little eye candy, right? Yup, we all like to take a look at good-looking guys (and gals) from time to time. But now, Japanese brand and product promotion company ESSPRIDE is giving us the chance to enjoy ikemen (hot guys) in a completely unexpected way…by pulling one out of a bag of chips!

That’s right, we present to you Ikemen Chips, a unique snack that comes with a special “hot guy card“, each featuring a picture and profile of an ikemen. And what makes the product especially interesting is that they’re actually regular guys working at various Japanese companies who have submitted their pictures and information to be made into the ikemen cards!

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Learning Japanese? Beware these 19 loan words—they’re not what they sound like!

Speakers of certain languages sometimes get a leg-up when learning Japanese. For example, Japanese includes Chinese characters, which means Chinese speakers can often get the gist of a text even if they don’t understand the grammar. Similarly, Korean speakers might find that Japanese grammar is kinda similar to theirs. And we native English speakers get a huge helping hand from the hundreds of English loan words that have been adopted into modern Japanese.

But sometimes, these loan words aren’t really our friends at all. Instead, they’re what’s known as false friends – words that sound similar in two languages yet have a completely different meaning. In co-opting English words into Japanese, sometimes our crafty Nihonjin pals have assigned our words to things that actually mean something totally different. It’s almost like they’re trying to trick us!

Join us for a quick primer on some Japanese loanwords you might have heard before, and what they really mean!

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Travel around Japan with stunning videos from the 4K ultra HD video library

There are many beautiful videos of Japan floating around on YouTube, but there’s one special channel that’s aiming to stand head and shoulders above the rest. Called TokyoStreetView – Japan The Beautiful, this is an ongoing project that’s working towards compiling a library of high definition 4K videos, showcasing unique aspects of Japanese culture and featuring beautiful locations all around the country.

We take a look at four of their stunning videos, filmed within the nation’s capital, at Akihabara and the famous Senso-ji temple in Asakusa, and in its more picturesque regional areas, at Nikko and Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture. The superb, high quality of the images is so remarkable, you’ll feel as if you’re seeing the country not through a lens but through your very own eyes!

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Sailor Moon Honey Salon accessories releasing in Japan this holiday season

Sailor Moon and fashion shop Honey Salon are collaborating to release a string of new products in time for the holidays to be sold at Honey Salon locations in Japan.

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