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Mochi, the silent New Year killer, leaves nine dead and 128 hospitalized

Scott Wilson
Jan 3, 2015
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Ah mochi, the delicious Japanese sweet. It can come in all different shapes and flavors, from the loveable daifuku with sweet bean paste filling, to hot zenzai soup with azuki beans and white mochi, to such delights as mochi ice cream and even chocolate cow poop mochi.

Since mochi is a traditional New Year’s treat in Japan – you can even reserve your New Year’s kagami mochi at Baskin Robins – more of it is consumed around this time of year than any other.

But all that mochi-eating has a dark side to it. With its incredibly sticky texture, mochi causes the most choking-related deaths of any food item in Japan. Last year it killed two people during the New Year season, and after just two days into 2015 it has already claimed nine lives and hospitalized 128 others.

Cosplay as wacky Japanese comedy duo, get free sushi and yakiniku for all your friends!

Evie Nyan
Jan 3, 2015

Do you like a good laugh, free stuff, and also stuffing your face with sushi and yakiniku? Then you might be interested in this new promotional campaign that’s going on in Japan right now!

Stamina Taro, an all-you-can-eat sushi and yakiniku chain in Japan, has enlisted the help of female comedy duo Nippon Elekitel Rengo to help drum up extra business over the New Year period. All you have to do to score majorly discounted or even FREE sushi and grilled meat is dress up like one, or both, of these super-funny ladies.

Happy Kentucky Fried New Year! And this year’s KFC New Year Lucky Bag contains…?

Kay
Jan 3, 2015

Every New Year’s, people across Japan flock to stores for special bargains, and in particular, the “Lucky Bags” known as fukubukuro. From electronics and chocolate shops to up-scale department stores, Japanese shops and businesses of all kinds come up with original Lucky Bags at the beginning of each year to tempt those of us out for some new year’s shopping. Now, these bags are supposed to offer good value, containing products worth more than the price you pay for the bag. Well, the bags may be a good value, but the catch is that you can’t choose what you get in your bag, and each year there ends up being much online discussion on whether the Lucky Bags from different shops are a particularly good or bad deal.

Not to miss out on the action, the team at the Japanese RocketNews24 site has also joined the Lucky Bag rush, and as we’ve already started reporting, we’ve taken a look at the contents of quite a few of the bags being sold this year. And one of them happens to be a bag from none other than … Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan. Let’s see what “finger-lickin’ good” items were included in their Lucky Bag for 2015!

Check your Psycho-Pass levels at Shinjuku Station, but be careful, you might get eliminated!

Audrey Akcasu
Jan 3, 2015

How is your mental state? How likely do you think you are to commit a crime? If it were the year 2112 in the dystopian Japan of the popular anime Psycho-Pass, it would be no secret; your mental state and “Crime Coefficient” would be read, monitored and recorded by the Sibyl System. What’s more, if you were to go a little crazy, then you would be “taken care of” by the Public Safety Bureau.

With the new Psycho-Pass movie coming out on January 9, Fuji TV and their anime program Noitamina have come out with an ingenious advertising event. Why wait until 2112 to get your Psycho-Pass index when you can just go to Shinjuku Station next week! But watch out, if your mental state reading is muddy or your crime-coefficient is too high, you might get eliminated.

See what it’s like to use a computer in North Korea

BUSINESS INSIDER
Jan 3, 2015

When former Google employee Will Scott had the chance to visit the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, he also purchased a copy of North Korea’s “Red Star 3” operating system before returning to America.

Little was publically known about Red Star 3.

North Korea used to use Windows, but it has since created Red Star 3, which is designed to look a lot like Apple’s Mac OS X operating system.

From stunning and picturesque wallpapers to removing South Korea from the available time zones, here’s what it’s like to use a computer in North Korea.

What would Youkai Watch look like drawn by famous manga artists? Well, it would look like this!

Kay
Jan 3, 2015

Many of you will undoubtedly have heard about the social phenomenon that is Youkai Watch. Indeed, the game, manga and anime series has been so immensely popular that some may even say that it has taken over Pokémon’s role as Japan’s favorite character franchise. Naturally, with that kind of popularity comes an abundance of fan art, so Japanese social trend and information compilation site Naver Matome has put together an article introducing selected works found on Twitter that stand out for a specific reason — for giving us an idea of what Youkai Watch may look like in the hands of some famous manga artists!

Baskin Robbins’ new year lucky bags are Snoopy-tastic! (Also, free ice cream!)

Evie Nyan
Jan 3, 2015

We’ve been bringing you all the the details on the year’s best fukubukuro – or “lucky bags” – today, but no roundup of these wonderful New Year’s goodie bags would be complete without a visit to ice cream purveyor Baskin Robbins Japan. Let’s find out what frozen delights were hidden in their bag!

Survey reveals 55 percent of women in Japan wouldn’t marry a divorced man

Evie Nyan
Jan 3, 2015

With people generally getting married at a later age than in our parents’ generation, it sometimes feels like we have to throw out the whole rule book on marriage and starting a family in order to write a brand new one. But what do you do when your potential partner already has a bunch of crossed-out pages? Japanese website MyNavi Woman conducted a survey of 111 women between the ages of 22-34 and asked them, “Would you marry a man who’s been divorced”?

We grab a bargain with the Muji Fortune Can, because Lucky Bags are so 2014

Fran W
Jan 3, 2015

With its classic, minimalist style and unbranded goods, Muji is a popular and enduring brand. And whereas its international stores tend to mainly sell household goods and furniture, Muji in Japan has dipped its toe in a wide range of sectors, from show houses to cafés to a Muji car.

While Muji’s Lucky Bags always sell out, the store also sells this Fortune Can for, appropriately, 2,015 yen (around US$17)! As well as a 2,015-yen gift card – that’s right, every can contains a gift card that’s the same value as the retail price of the can! – each one also contains a traditional Japanese ornament from the Tōhoku, Kansai or Chūgoku regions.

Well, when our Japanese reporter Sachi Ojiya heard about that, he rushed down to Muji and bought not one but three Lucky Cans! This is his report.

Lotteria’s lucky bag opened: even if you’re not a Naruto fan you’ll come out ahead!

Master Blaster
Jan 3, 2015

As you’ve probably already gathered by browsing our front page today, fukubukuro season again! And for the 99.999999999 percent of us who couldn’t get the robot suit, every other store in Japan has something up for grabs.

This time we’re going to take a peek inside a lucky bag from leading fast food chain Lotteria as purchased by our own Hattori GO. Even though he’s not particularly a Naruto fan, he found himself very satisfied with his 2,000-yen (US$17) paper bag, so let’s take a look inside and see why!

If you’re happy and you know it… do the Heart Dance! Korea’s new cutesy trend steals hearts

Joan Coello
Jan 3, 2015

In 2013, the Gwiyomi Song (or Kiyomi Song), a Korean song with cutesy gestures, started a Gwiyomi craze that saw Korean netizens uploading videos of themselves dancing to the catchy cutie tune. The song went on to become an internet meme and eventually went viral in several parts of Asia. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it, because the trend has since died down and a new wave is coming!

Slated to be the successor of the viral hit, the Heart Dance is the new cutesy trend that has been rapidly gaining popularity in Korea. If you like all things cute, prepare to have your heart stolen by this adorable little dance!

We buy a $45 Lucky Bag from posh chocolatiers Godiva so you don’t have to

Fran W
Jan 3, 2015

New Year in Japan means family time, food with very specific meanings, and of course shopping. And one of our favourite things about this time of year is the opportunity to buy Lucky Bags (fukubukuro). As the name implies, these are bags containing a lucky dip of items from your store of choice – so you don’t know what loot you’ve got until after you’ve parted with your cash.

Sometimes, you can hit the jackpot with fukubukuro – last year, for example, our very own Mr. Sato was ecstatic to get his hands on a MacBook Air. But here at RocketNews24 we like our tech to come with a side order of luxury chocolate, so when we heard that upmarket chocolatier Godiva were selling Lucky Bags for 5,400 yen (US$45), we sent our reporter P.K. Sanjun down to buy one. Here’s what he got!

Happy New Year, manga fans: Artists share their one-of-a-kind New Year’s cards on Twitter

Audrey Akcasu
Jan 3, 2015

Meeeeh! Baaah! In Japan, it’s tradition to send friends and family New Year’s postcards called nengajo, thanking them for everything from the year before and wishing them well in the year to come. The cards often feature the animal of the new year’s zodiac; if you haven’t guessed yet, 2015 is the Year of the Sheep.

While usually sent in the mail, with the onset of the digital age, many people are turning to the non-traditional medium of social networking to deliver their nengajo. This year, some ever-creative manga artists took to Twitter to share their hand-drawn New Year’s greetings with fans around the world. Join us after the jump for a look at the best.

One Piece themed amusement park due to open in Tokyo this March

Cara Clegg
Jan 2, 2015

Anime and manga fans will soon have even more reason to visit the country that offers the opportunity to eat Pikachu-themed meals at the Pokémon restaurant or gaze up in awe at an 18-foot tall giant Gundam. The long-awaited world’s first One Piece amusement park will be arriving on March 13 2015 in Tokyo!

Contents of Starbucks Coffee’s 2015 lucky bag REVEALED!

Cara Clegg
Jan 2, 2015

Happy New Year! At the start of the new year in Japan many stores release fukubukuro, or lucky bags, where you can get a selection of goodies for less than they usually retail for, as well as limited edition items. People rush around the stores picking up fukubukuro from all their favourite brands, but often the items inside are a secret. We’re here to reveal some of them so you can make an informed decision on which to go for.

Here we have Starbucks Coffee’s offering, which sells for 3,500 yen (US$29). Read on to find out what’s inside!

Kyoto taxi drivers reduce convenience store robberies by 50 percent by doing absolutely nothing

Master Blaster
Jan 2, 2015

Throughout 2014, Kyoto Prefectural Police began an initiative having taxi drivers and late-night convenience stores work together to reduce incidents of armed robbery. Although still early, the program has so far been rousing success, leading to a 48 percent decrease in convenience store robberies compared to the previous year. They also get extra points for giving it the cool name of “Midnight Defender Strategy”.

“Hey! Look at me! Look at me!” This dog just wants to play 【Video】

Audrey Akcasu
Jan 2, 2015

And now for your daily dose of “awwww.” This Shiba, called Ichigo (Strawberry), just wants attention, but her owner is watching TV. I don’t think she can make herself anymore conspicuous, but she just can’t hold his attention. Poor puppy! Come over here, I’ll play with you!

All-you-can-eat cake is all you need to convince us to eat at this Tokyo café

Casey Baseel
Jan 2, 2015

Sometimes, less is more. For example, earlier this year we heard the happy news that Denny’s in Japan was offering all-you-can-eat pancakes. But as enticing as that deal was, there’s an easy way to improve on an unlimited supply of pancakes, and that’s by losing that “pan” restrictor.

So when we heard a popular Japanese bakery has an all-you-can-eat cake deal, we were ecstatic, and then we were out the door to try it for ourselves.

Chinese commenter equates recent anime with fast food–What do you think?

Krista Rogers
Jan 2, 2015

How do you feel about the state of anime nowadays?

That question is likely to draw some strong opinions from our readers. There’s no question that the past few years have produced a number of works critically acclaimed for their innovative plots and characters. But then there are some series that have built up huge fanbases for their…wait, why was that again? As one Chinese anime fan so eloquently put it, it’s almost as if these “mass-produced series” are on par with fast food…

French artist gives us a case of the feels with his video game & superhero family illustrations

Joan Coello
Jan 2, 2015

In the world of fiction, some characters have detailed, complex families and backgrounds made known to us, while others have rather vague and obscure origins, which isn’t totally a bad thing because that gives viewers plenty of room to imagine and fantasize.

Ever imagined Superman as a dad? Or, what if, after being rescued for the gazillionth time, Princess Peach actually marries Mario? Check out these beautiful families of various fictional heroes and heroines after the jump!