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Takara Tomy’s new “Color Catch Pen” is amazing, but also looks kind of like a vibrator

…There. We said it.

As technologically cool and fun-sounding as the “Mitsukete-miyou! Iro Kyachi Pen” (lit. “Let’s Find it! Color Catch Pen”) appears to be, it also has the unfortunate appearance of a “massager,” which in Japan, is code for…Well, look, it’s code for a vibrator. Literally no one uses a “massager” for their back or any other non-genital area (and anyone who says otherwise is a dirty, filthy liar and probably also says they never pee in the shower, which we all know is a lie, too), so parents be warned: You and your child may have lots of fun playing with this fantastic, educational toy, but you will also never, ever, ever be able to shake the image of your nine-year-old holding something they might as well have found in your secret fun-time drawer out of your head for as long as you live.

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Tokyo schoolgirls invent eco and cost-friendly portable toilet for disaster relief【Video】

Although we explored public restrooms the world over in a previous article, we left out the fact that many refugees, natural disaster survivors, and other displaced people have no access to the modern plumbing many of us take for granted. For those living in areas where public toilets are unavailable, a trip to the bathroom is at best a chore, and at worst a major sanitary concern.

Luckily technological advances are being made in order to help remedy these problems, and so far 2015 has been a promising year in that regard. UK researchers and volunteers were able to successfully create an urine-powered outhouse, while over in Japan a high school girls’ volunteer club recently came up with a new economic and hygienic portable toilet option.

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Ice cream for breakfast? Japanese ice cream company makes sure everyone gets their just desserts

Takeshita Seika, an ice cream and confectioner based in Kyushu, Japan, has been around for more than a century. They make all sorts of delectable edibles, from ice cream to cake, but are most famous for their “black mon blanc” ice cream bar. Now, the company is taking the most important meal of the day and turning it into the most delicious meal of the day too, with their new granola “breakfast ice cream” bar!

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7-Eleven sells grapes with skins you can actually eat! We kid you not

Back where I come from, it wasn’t uncommon to pick a grape off its stem and pop it right into your mouth without a second’s thought. The very idea of peeling a grape was something along the lines of a diva demanding a bottled-milk bath while dining on a bowl of only red-colored Skittles.

However, in Japan, where many varieties of grape have thick or rubbery skins, peeling them is pretty much standard. In fact, whenever I eat a grape with its skin intact, I’m stared at as if I had just plucked a live spider off the wall and ate it.

That’s probably why 7-Eleven can get away with marketing their frozen bags of grapes as having “edible skins” here.

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Service area in Shizuoka goes all out for the biggest and baddest Evangelion collaboration ever

Many Japanese service areas along major highways are well-stocked with (surprisingly) decent food courts and souvenir stands chock-full of local specialties. Some of them even take it to the next level and incorporate themes into their layouts, such as the Edo Period townscape service area in Saitama Prefecture.

One such stop, the EXPASA Ashigara Service Area located in Shizuoka Prefecture, is currently in the midst of a collaboration with the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise—and according to travelers who have already stopped by, they’ve spared no expense for this mind-blowing project.  
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Castle in the Sky becomes a Ghibli decoration in your home with cool Laputa hanging planter

So a friend and I have a debate about what happens at the end of the Studio Ghibli anime movie Castle in the Sky Laputa. As the credits roll, the floating island is seen drifting into space, which I, as is my simple-minded nature, take literally. On the other hand, my friend argues that the visuals are at least partly metaphoric, and that the mysterious landmass didn’t really escape Earth’s orbit (he also contends that my proposed Laputa/Space Dandy crossover/sequel is too silly to ever get made).

But while it’s likely Laputa director and creator Hayao Miyazai purposely chose to craft an ambiguous ending to the film, we do now know what happened to the island: it became this awesome hanging planter from anime retailer Benelic.

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Runny curry, no pudding spoons among complaints of Japanese prison inmates

From how often we talk about food and hot springs here on RocketNews24, you’ve probably surmised that, as a nation, Japan is pretty into bathing and dining. Those passions aren’t exclusive to law-abiding members of Japanese society, either, as a recent survey of inmate complaints at prisons in Japan found several focused on meals and baths, with requests for better curry and longer soaks in the tub.

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The new Wagakki Band album is out! Let’s find out what the fans think!

It’s no secret that we’re fans of Wagakki Band here at RocketNews24. We’ve been sharing their music with you since 2013, and you can bet we’ll keep sharing their music until they get old and retire! So, as you can imagine, we were eager to get our hands on their new album Yasouemaki. And, now that everyone has had a few days to enjoy all the new tracks, let’s find out what Japanese fans are saying about the album!

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You’d never guess this strange bubble house village is located in Japan

The architecture in Japan tends to look pretty much the same in most neighborhoods. It’s always a mix of older, traditional homes with sloping roofs and those distinctive, old-timey shingles, which butt up against the blockier modern buildings, plus decaying shanty houses on an alarming number of corners that all look like they could come crashing down at any moment. Sure, there is the occasional bizarre Halloween village out of nowhere, and the skyscrapers and such can be cool and varied, that’s generally the pattern.

So imagine how extra disorienting it would be to stumble upon this largely unheard-of village of beautifully weird polystyrene bubble houses in the Middle of Nowhere, Japan.

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Darth Vader in Death Star armour brandishes lightsaber katana, joins the Samurai force in Japan

A short time ago, in a country far, far away, a group of creatives at legendary toy-making company Bandai decided to fill a void in the figurine universe with a fearsome new character: Samurai Darth Vader.

The new model on the market is set to feature some awesome details, including a Death Star warrior helmet, a lightsaber blade and a pose-able hand for playing out those extreme death-grip scenarios.

Available at the end of December, this new incarnation of the Dark Lord is the latest in a lineup that also includes Samurai Storm Troopers and Samurai Boba Fett.

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Life Is Strange is coming to Japan, gets new voice cast & dubbed trailer 【Video】

The last few years especially have seen a notable increase in the number of western-developed narrative-driven video games. Notable entries include Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and of course Game of Thrones, which deliver their respective stories in downloadable chunks once every few months, leaving players itching to play the next episode and find out what happens.

Telltale pretty much cornered the market on this genre until French development studio DONTNOD Entertainment released the absolutely captivating five-part supernatural high school story game Life Is Strange. The game has been a surprise hit, selling over a million copies to date, with players falling in love with the endearingly complex characters, time-travelling mechanics, mellow game atmosphere, and killer soundtrack. In fact, the game has done so well for itself that publishers Square Enix have decided it’s time Japan got a piece of the photo-snapping, heavy decision-making, time-rewinding fun for themselves. Yep, Life is Strange is being released in Japan, and it’s getting an entirely new Japanese voice cast, too!

Check out the reveal trailer to hear Max, Chloe and the rest of the characters speaking Nihongo!

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How do 43 coins tossed through the air create one short but lovely song? Concentration!【Video】

Music is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful artistic mediums humankind has. It can move us in ways that are hard to understand or even describe, eliciting everything from tears to vicious mosh pits. Of course, one of its most renowned powers is helping people concentrate.

Take, for example, classical music, which seems to help students focus while cramming for finals or aid tired workers in getting through a long day. So, to promote their new drink Shuchu Regain (集中リゲイン), Suntory has released a series of YouTube videos demonstrating the power of concentration. Today, we’ll be looking at “the world’s fastest orchestra,” The Extreme Minuet, played by having 43 men toss coins into beakers from several feet away.

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Last Sunday morning, dozens of Tokyoites ran screaming through the streets of the Kamata neighborhood. Ordinarily, this would be cause for concern, but for cinema fans the world over, this is actually something to celebrate, as the crowds, caught on video, are proof that filming has begun for the newest made-in-Japan Godzilla movie.

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Online auction market booming for posters with cancelled, possibly copied 2020 Olympics emblem

The organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are still wiping the egg from their faces over the controversy surrounding the event’s possibly plagiarized, definitely dropped logo. Not only is the Organising Committee scrambling to prepare a new emblem, it also has to deal with recalling all of the promotional items it had already produced bearing the now cancelled design.

But with the rather convincing accusations that designer Kenjiro Sano copied the emblem coming so late in the game, some of those promotional materials have already made their way into the hands of private parties who are now reselling the sure to be rare items at a premium in online auctions.

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MegaBots wants your help to ensure American victory in the first ever giant robot fight

Earlier this summer, RocketNews24 brought you the breaking news that the United States’ MegaBots had built a giant robot and had challenged Japan who, to no one’s surprise, already had a giant robot themselves. This challenge for robot supremacy was quickly accepted and the ante was upped to include melee combat.

MegaBots couldn’t back down from a challenge they issued first, so it was back to the drawing board in preparation for next year’s battle for national pride. They have some ideas, but are going to need your help to “kickstart” an American victory.

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【Monday Kickstart】Adorable dog’s frustrated attempts to get a shower are too cute to ignore!

Summer in Japan can be brutal if you’re not used to the humidity. At least one of the writers here at the RocketNew24 office has melted into a puddle of and had to be reconstituted in a meat locker last month. Fortunately, the heat is starting to abate and autumn is in sight!

But while we’re happy we won’t have to worry about being liquefied anymore, there is one thing we’ll miss: Playing in the pool. We can’t do that once winter has set in and we’re missing the summer sun, but at least we’ll have this insanely adorable video of a dog whose owner steals its every attempt to get a shower.

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Fan fuses anime and reality in the same frame on tour of real-world Free! locations 【Photos】

There are many instances of anime successes rejuvenating tourism in some lesser-known parts of Japan, and one of those towns that benefitted from an anime boom is Iwami of Tottori Prefecture, the setting location for the hit anime series Free!.

Even now, two years since Free! first aired, fans are still flocking to Iwami to drink in the atmosphere of the town where their favorite characters “live.” A Japanese fan recently went the extra mile to combine some of the anime scenes and actual locations into a single frame, creating awesome 2.5-dimensional images that went viral and triggered the feels in fellow fans. Check them out after the break!

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Bus driver in Yokohama City announces warm message to the mother of a screaming child

We’ve all been in this situation at some point in our lives–trapped in a public place with a baby screaming its lungs out. While many people would react by repeating “Shut up!” over and over again inside their minds, one pro bus driver in Yokohama who experienced this exact situation on the bus he was driving took the high route by instead reassuring the mother that everything was okay.

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Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon is coming to Shibuya to become Pretty Soldier Sailor Shopper

The best thing about the Japanese entertainment industry milking popular properties for all their worth is that fans get a chance to purchase all the new merchandise that inevitably accompanies a brand new release. Sailor Moon fans have been witnessing a Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon renaissance with the recent anime series Sailor Moon Crystal and there have been so many awesome Sailor Moon goods that you could be forgiven for thinking fans had run out of money. However, you would be wrong! It turns out fans are getting their wallets ready for some more heavy shopping in Shibuya.

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Look like you’ve just taken a hadoken to the head with this dizzy birdy halo

Little birdies flying around someone’s injured head in cartoons and the like have been making severe physical trauma fun since time immemorial. Fans of Street Fighter II will also remember this age-old gag as that frustrating feature that would leave your character momentarily stunned and vulnerable to any attack.

Every time those baby chicks started circling, I’d suck air through my teeth and start violently slamming both hands on the joystick and buttons. Meanwhile, my opponent would just smile and slowly walk up to deliver some easy yoga noogies.

Now you too can recreate all that fun and mild annoyance with the Street Fighter II Piyoru Headband!

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