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When Final Fantasy VII hit the PlayStation in 1997, it was one of the most graphically advanced games ever produced. For months leading up to the title’s release, gamers had been drooling over magazine previews plastered with work-in-progress screenshots of what developer Square was doing with its first foray into the bold new world of CD-based games and polygonal graphics.

Flash forward 18 years, and technology has progressed to the point that Final Fantasy VII looks pretty retro to most modern eyes. As a matter of fact, it’s so retro that not only is Square Enix is remaking it for the PlayStation 4, mobile phones now have enough power to run the original, which is why Final Fantasy VII has just been released in iOS form.

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Love costumes and karaoke? Shinjuku Cosplay Karaoke is just what you need! 【Pics & video】

Cosplay has certainly become of Japan’s most well-known and loved subcultures, exploding on the world stage partly thanks to the Internet and partly thanks to the ingenuity of many of its most fervent participants. Despite this, it can still be difficult to find and make friends in the cosplay community if you’re coming in alone, as with any other subculture. But it doesn’t need to be that way! The Japanese cosplay community is just that — a community — and some of its members are working to make sure people can get together and cosplay as often as possible.

Perhaps the most relaxed way to join the fun is to take part is Shinjuku CosKara, or Shinjuku Cosplay Karaoke! While singing in front of others might set your nerves on edge, the events are organized so that people can come, have fun, take lots of cool photos, and make friends. You needn’t worry about your warbling offending anyone either; half the fun of karaoke is doing it badly with a giant grin! So, come along as we take a look at the event and talk to some local cosplayers!

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New Dino-themed restaurant is already super popular, has rideable dinosaurs

Everyone loves the excitement of a good themed restaurant, and if you’re in Japan, you have plenty of options to choose from. There are ninja restaurants, jail-themed restaurants, hospital-styled restaurants, and more anime/manga themed cafes than you can shake a stick at.

With the whole world riding high on dinosaurs this year, it makes you wonder if anyone has ever tried a dinosaur restaurant before. Well you don’t have to wonder anymore, because Dinosaur – Ancient Times Restaurant and Bar opened in Yamato City in Kanagawa Prefecture this week! We sent our most dino-rific writer P.K. Sanjun to see if it was worth the 65-million-year wait.

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Tokyo restaurant’s crazy huge rice omelet has 600 grams (1.3 pounds) of rice

It’s not uncommon to describe a meaty dish by listing how much beef it contains. McDonald’s has had plenty of success with the Quarter Pounder, and some American restaurants will tout their steaks as being 10 ounces or more.

But have you ever stopped to think about how much rice is on your plate? We recently sent one of our reporters to a restaurant in Tokyo to take on a rice omelet, one of Japan’s favorite comfort foods, made with a staggering 600 grams (1.3 pounds) of rice.

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South Korean president says Korean reunification “might even happen next year”

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that North and South Korea used to be the same country. On the one hand, you have South Korea, plastic surgery and cute baby capital of the world, and on the other hand you have North Korea, which is apparently constantly on fire, possibly due to “gasoline clams.”

However, many would love to see the two Koreas reunited once again, among them South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye. In a speech that she gave at a recent meeting, she said that the two Koreas might even be reunited as soon as 2016.

This of course set off a chain of reactions from South Koreans online, some praising the idea of immediate unification while others criticized it – and not necessarily for the reasons you might think.

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Any good athlete obviously needs some measure of speed, strength, and stamina, but the list of necessities starts getting much longer if we’re talking about good student athletes. Youth sports are supposed to be as much about developing character as physical skills, so any proper high school athletic program should want its players to be just as dedicated to sportsmanship and integrity as they are to on-the-field performance.

That’s why we think Fukuoka Prefecture’s Kyushu International University Senior High School (called Kyukoku for short) is doing a fine job with its baseball team, since after a heartbreaking loss on the road, players from Kyukoku immediately started cleaning the stadium.

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  • Aug 19, 2015

Evangelion exhibit-inspired figure gives us Asuka in a beautiful kimono!

Remember the  Evangelion and Japanese Sword Exhibition that we reported on a while back? We thought the idea was pretty cool, because…well, an exhibit that brings together an internationally popular anime and beautiful deadly weapons of steel has to be awesome, right? And we think you’d agree that such a unique exhibit deserves a commemorative item that’s just as unique and artistic.

Evangelion fans need look no further, because toy manufacturer Takara Tomy has come up with just that — a series of original tie-in figures of the anime’s three female pilots as they appear in promotional artwork for the exhibit…in magnificent kimono! 

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They’re back! Pikachus overrun Yokohama for second straight year and dance up a storm! 【Videos】

Although I’ve never witnessed either in-person, I’m sure that the running of the bulls in Spain’s Pamplona and the return of the swallows each spring to their nesting grounds in Southern California are wonderful sights to see. And yet, I think I’m still happiest with what we get here in Yokohama: an annual visit from packs of Pikachus!

Just like they did last year, the loveable Pokémon once again overran the Minato Mirai harbor district for a week this August, But just like Nintendo’s Pocket Monsters routinely acquire enhanced abilities with each new video game or anime installment, in the time since their last appearance in Yokohama our adorable visitors had learned some new moves…dance moves!

Read on for all of our videos and photos of Pikachus grooving and swaying to hip-hop, hula, and more, with costumes to match!

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Get your day started right! A brilliant new idea for automated ticket gates

For people who live in big cities in Japan, it’s no surprise that a fair portion of their mornings and evenings are spent commuting to and from work. They slog through the station following the hundreds of other people on their equally boring commute, head down, trying not to draw any unwanted attention. It can get really, really depressing.

However, what if you could make a small change that would alter people’s outlook on their commute? Instead of a dreary depression, how about switching everyone’s attitude to a sunny disposition? There is a simple suggestion that could turn everyone’s frown upside down and it could be as simple as changing the way the ticket gates work.

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Pet therapy: Japanese netizens show off their cute pets and leave us smiling all day

The Internet is a weird place, isn’t it? On one hand, you can find numerous trolls being absolute jerks for no reason, and on the other hand, you can find great people making everyone’s day just a little better. Today, we have an excellent example of people making others’ lives a little bit better – with cute animals!

After one 2channel user started a thread asking to see others’ pets as he was feeling “hurt,” cute animal photos soon flooded in. We’re not sure why this guy wasn’t feeling that great, but we have a feeling that all these animal photos probably went a long way to helping him get through the day. So, if you’re having a rough day, we hope these adorable faces will help you too!

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Japanese Twitter user reveals why taxi drivers flock to Big Sight during Comiket

Comiket 88 is over now, sadly enough, but the Internet is still awash in the afterglow of dojinshi and cosplay. Of course, everyone is already looking forward to the next event this winter, from cosplayers to artists to taxi drivers.

Yes, you read that right, it seems that fans and artists aren’t the only ones who love Comiket! Apparently the massive event draws taxi drivers from all over Tokyo because it’s the best place to make money, according to one tweet that captured a ton of attention in Japan last weekend.

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We head to KFC in China to chow down on a pretty pink rose-flavoured burger【Taste test】

Here at RocketNews24, we’ll eat pretty much anything. But we especially love wrapping our smackers around limited edition burgers in a variety of hues and consistencies. We’ve eaten black burgers, red burgers, sloppy burgers, and crusty burgers, but what our little lives have been missing all this time is a pretty pink burger! Luckily KFC China has complied with our wishes and rolled out their brand-new rose flavoured chicken burger.

We sent our lucky reporter Meg all the way to China just to try one of these fancy and feminine chicken sammidges.

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We order a bag of cicadas from China and eat them, because summer 【Taste Test】

Some things are inseparable from a Japanese summer: fireworks festivals, face-melting heat and humidity, young men and women awkwardly courting in yukata, and of course the deafening roar of cicadas. Here, the vociferous critters just provide the soundtrack to summer, but did you know that in some places, they are on the summer menu too?

Our intrepid Japanese reporter Ponkotsu did and he sent off to the cicada-producing center of Lishui in China’s Zhejiang Province for a bag of bugs to taste test.

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“Gotta catch ‘em all!” isn’t just the advertising copy for Pokémon, it’s also the personal motto of the legions of hardcore fans of the series’ video game installments. But how does one find the time to track down, battle, and capture hundreds of Pocket Monsters, especially when you’ve only got so long until Nintendo releases a sequel that renders all of your old Pokémon obsolete?

Easy: you multitask by playing four copies of the game simultaneously, as this video shows.

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Tokyo’s Shibuya is one of the busiest parts of one of the world’s busiest cities. Ginza is filled with high-class cafes, Harajuku is bordered by the tranquil Meiji Shrine, and Shinjuku’s Shinjuku Gyoen is a sprawling green space in the center of the city, but Shibuya is all glitzy entertainment, fashionable boutiques, and trendy restaurants.

But even in Shibuya, every now and then something happens that makes people stop in their tracks and take a moment to smile, like the sight of this adorable kitty taking a nap under the statue of Japan’s most famous pooch.

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For any guy with a romantic streak, the highlight of summer is no doubt a weekend getaway with the girl he loves. What could be better than a little sightseeing, a stroll on the beach, and a night spent together in a hotel?

But what if the girl you love happens to be a video game character? No problem! All you need is a life-size costume of your digital sweetheart and you’re all set, as this dedicated fan shows with his series of vacation photos starring one of the characters from dating simulator LovePlus.

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Onigiri good enough to get off the train for: We tried the food at Bongo and it was amazing!

Otsuka isn’t exactly the most famous neighborhood in Tokyo. Located next to bustling Ikebukuro, it’s a quiet area and most people assume there’s not much to do. Whether or not that’s actually true, one of our Japanese writers found himself getting off the train at Otsuka Station the other day with a singular purpose in mind: He was there to eat onigiri (rice balls).

But should you hop on a train to Otsuka just for some food you can buy at a convenience store? Is this onigiri restaurant really worth a trip to this quiet neighborhood? Read on to find out!

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Observing the first night of a married couple – Does such a family tradition exist?

Like in many countries, people in Japan sometimes turn to anonymous Internet forums for advice. A lot of their problems are the usualt sort of things one might imagine. What’s the best way to lose weight? Should I change jobs, or stay with the position I’ve got now?

And then, there was this young lady’s plight:

“I was told the worst thing by my grandmother and great-aunt. I come from a very old-fashioned family that has a long-standing tradition. They told me that on the night of my marriage, my relatives will open the door a crack and watch me and my husband’s first night as a married couple.” From Fretting Freshman

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How to tie a women’s summer kimono sash 【Video】

It might seem a little odd to hear that yukata, the lightweight kimono worn at summertime festivals, fireworks shows, and bon dances, are in the middle of a revival in popularity in Japan right now, but it’s absolutely true. After several years in which young Japanese found yukata to be too expensive and troublesome to bother with, they’re back in fashion with teens and young adults in a huge way.

Part of this is no doubt due to more and more manufacturers offering reasonably priced yukata, as you can now often find sets that include the robe and sash for around 6,000 yen (US$48). And as for not knowing how to put everything on and tie it properly? That’s also a problem of the past, thanks to online explanations like this pair of videos from fashion and yukata retailer Uniqlo.

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Women in Tokyo are cutting through stress and fat with this new “Katana Exercise” class

There’s a growing fitness trend in Tokyo, but it’s nothing new really, being based on age-old traditions: Katana Exercise.

Not only will you be taught to swing a sword like a samurai by a handsome teacher, but you’ll cut out stress and extra fat. Check out our hands-on experience of the class after the jump!

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