Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
How would you celebrate your child’s sweet sixteenth? A low-key dinner with close family? A big bash for them and all their friends? Or perhaps plastering their face across billboards all over town? One Chinese father decided to go for the latter option…
When your average Westerner thinks of Japan, what’s most likely to spring to the forefront of their minds? We’re betting that sushi, samurai, anime and geisha are up there in the top ten, with sushi being the best-known incarnation of Japanese food abroad. But it seems that stylish overseas consumers aren’t satisfied with simply eating their sushi – they want to wear it on their bodies, too, so everyone can see how cool and cutting-edge they really are. Join us as we take a look at some of the weird and wonderful sushi fashion items available for purchase right now.
If you’re interested in Japanese foods, you may be aware that red bean paste, or anko in Japanese, features widely in traditional Japanese sweets. From soft daifuku rice cakes filled with the sweet paste to anmitsu jelly served with pieces of fruit or the dorayaki cakes that Doraemon loves so much, red bean paste is indispensable in making Japanese confections. But now, it seems that giving the traditional paste a bit of a western twist by combining it with a certain ingredient has become all the rage, as seen in a recent post on Japanese trend and information compilation site Naver Matome. Apparently, an increasing number of people seem to be recommending products and recipes online that mix red bean paste with … cream cheese!
What comes to your mind at the mention of a handmade card? Something drawn, painted, or put together with some form of paper craft? The latest trend for handmade cards in Korea incorporates an entirely different kind of handicraft to create personalised designs – sewing! Check out these stitch message cards!
No matter where you are in the world, the end of the year is always fun because you get to look back on the last 12 months and reflect on the different trends, hits and big stories. Joysound, a company that is bringing karaoke and social media together, is doing just that, and recently released a list of the top 20 karaoke songs of 2014 divided by age, from teens to 60-year-olds.
For the older age groups the rankings are pretty similar, with tracks like Neon Genesis Evangelion‘s opening theme song, “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” being a particular favorite, and Frozen’s “Let It Go” managing to sneak into every single group’s list of most-sung tracks. The biggest anomaly, however, was the teen group, with 11 of their top 20 songs being vocaloid tracks, and the remaining nine from anime.
What do you do when the sky itself seems to divide itself right before your eyes? It’s like yin meeting up with yang, or a horrible dark and gloomy day facing off against a beautiful sunny one.
But why let the weather confuse you when RocketNews24 will explain it for you? Sit back and relax as we tell you why the sky is fighting itself in Taiwan.
When it comes to Japanese 100 yen stores, there really isn’t anything you can’t find. Previously, we’ve looked into the most handy products, a consumer report of the must-haves and products to avoid, and we’ve even put together disaster preparedness kits using their wallet-friendly products.
The owner of Daiso, one of Japan’s largest 100 yen store chains, may not have the most confidence in his company, but for the most part it seems like people love Daiso. While most products are pretty awesome, some shoppers have been finding some really strange products and product displays. Join us after the jump for some weird amusement, 100 yen store-style.
Busy looking for a last-minute Christmas present for your Pokémon-obsessed significant other? Look no further! This special edition Pokémon x Tomica collaboration arrives just in time for the holiday season. Just look at the detail and that beautiful, familiar shade of bright yellow. I’m totally forwarding this article to Santa (my older sister).
Last weekend, my wife and I decided to go to watch Disney’s Big Hero 6, which had just opened in Japan under the title Baymax, after its marshmallow-like central robot character. As we made our way into the theater, she asked me if I had a pack of tissues, adding, “I heard the movie is really touching.”
This kind of took me by surprise. Sure, most Disney films have a heartwarming side to them, but wasn’t this movie about a team of superheroes and their robot?
If you’ve seen Big Hero 6, you know by now that it does a solid job of handling both action and emotional scenes. You probably wouldn’t get that impression from the tender Japanese ads for the movie, though, which is why many Japanese moviegoers were pleasantly surprised to find that Baymax isn’t just sweet, but also pretty awesome.
Long before Gwen Stefani was inspired by the Tokyo neighborhood, Harajuku’s status as the center of Japanese fashion and pop culture had been well solidified. From strange footwear to unbearably cute cuisine, a visit to Harajuku is never dull and is a must-see for any tourist coming to Tokyo.
But the crowded streets, small shops and the language barrier might be a bit daunting for a first-time visitor. So to make that trip more worthwhile, a tourist organization is opening up a bilingual information booth in the heart of Harajuku to make sure visitors get the most out of their time in the exciting neighborhood.
Women have been prohibited from doing certain things (entering places, using facilities, etc.) for as long as civilization has existed. Restrictions are still common, albeit usually in religious contexts only. While religions themselves evolve and change with the times and bans are lifted, it doesn’t mean all of them get an update.
As women, we all know the purported reasons behind these bans: women are “impure” because we menstruate (the same impure biological process that allows us to give life to men), we are the physically weaker sex, and we distract men with our beauty. Yada, yada, yada.
Today, in our Women in Japan Series, we take a look at four things women are still not allowed to do in Japan. I’ve divided them into bans and semi-bans. Bans allow no women; semi-bans allow women–but only sometimes.
Of course, it’s high time these restrictions were lifted. While much headway has been made in the past, such as the lifting of the rule preventing women from climbing Mount Fuji, other bans are proving more stubborn despite protests by Japanese women’s groups. Will these restrictions be lifted anytime soon? Only the Japanese people can decide.
Between the huge success the One Piece franchise has found in comics, animation, video games, and associated merchandising, you wouldn’t think there’d be too many more avenues for it to expand into. And honestly, it doesn’t have to, as Eiichiro Oda’s manga, the starting point of the tales of pirates, treasure hunting, and friendship, is still going strong, with its 76th collected volume being released later this month.
But just like the Straw Hat Pirates don’t have to embark on grand adventures, but choose to do so anyway, One Piece is about to head into uncharted waters, as the anime and manga franchise is set to become a kabuki play.
When you picture the evolution of TVs and other electronic displays, it’s hard not to be in awe at just how far they’ve come, getting thinner, more lightweight and portable than ever, with higher definition and brightness to the point that real-life basically looks pretty dull in comparison. But they’ve never really been able to shake that same boring shape: a flat rectangle.
So when Sharp announced it had developed a “Free-Form Display” that could be manufactured in virtually any shape, a lot of people more technically oriented than I am – and thus able to more easily imagine the many uses of a display shaped like a shoe or something – instantly proclaimed it a game-changer.
And when Sharp boasted about the technology, among those companies listening was Nintendo, who promptly snapped up a license for the tech and became the first company to officially announce it would use it for a future product.
Imagine crowds of Japanese families donning poop-shaped plush hats and sliding into a huge toilet. No, this isn’t a scene from a dream brought on by a questionable bowl of ramen, this is just one of the many surreal exhibits from a Tokyo educational expo that organizers hoped would inspire visitors to “gain an increased appreciation of toilets.”
It was a viral hit in China back in 2010, but with 12 million views and counting, ‘Cute Little Chinese Girl Scared To Death On TV Show’ is a video that shows no sign of going away. The video of a little girl’s frightened reaction to a fake criminal, which recently resurfaced on the Japanese internet after being reposted to Liveleak, wasn’t the first funny crying kid video to stack up hits online, and it won’t be the last. From Charlie Bit My Finger Again, to the Reasons My Son Is Crying tumblr, to the recent video of a toddler left inconsolable after she realises a newborn can’t come to her birthday, it seems we just can’t get enough of weeping toddlers.
So why are videos of kids crying so popular?
If you’ve lived in Japan a while or even just visited, you may recognize the word “takuan” – a type of Japanese pickle made from radishes and served as a side dish – and you’ll almost certainly recognize mayonnaise as that thing that is incongruously glopped on just about everything in Japan.
You’ll probably also recognize that these two items have absolutely no business together, especially if just stuffed unceremoniously into a loaf of bread, but, you see, this combination was almost inevitable because, as we’ve proven time and time again, gross food combinations are just the bee’s knees when it comes to prepackaged foods in Japan.
There is perhaps no greater feeling of anger and frustration than getting cut off on an expressway. To have your pleasant cruising speed shattered by some jerk-off who can’t tilt their head an extra inch or position their mirrors properly is usually an unforgivable act in the driving world.
However, this one truck driver in particular has earned the acclaim of everyone who watched the harrowing video of it cutting off a car as they both drove along at high speeds on a rainy highway. After watching the video we’re pretty sure you’ll understand why.
Christmas in Japan has always been different than what folks from other countries are used to. There’s always the Christmas bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken handed out by a santa-suit-clad Colonel Sanders, the Christmas cake topped with whipped cream swirls and strawberries, and those romantic walks with your loved one around the many illuminated streets. LINKS. That’s why we weren’t surprised, and frankly delighted, to find the following 10 unconventional Christmas trees from around Japan.
They say that hell is a teenage girl. It sucks having to deal with burgeoning romantic feelings when most of the boys in your grade are more interested in giving each other wedgies and chasing balls around. That’s where boy bands come in! Obsessing over squeaky-clean, baby-faced guys with angelic voices gives young girls an outlet for their romantic ideals, as each boy band provides a pleasing variety of “safe” alternatives on which to have a crush (real boys, after all, are too unpredictable!) So it’s no wonder that sometimes girls can take things a little bit too far. When one Twitter user set her user icon to a pic of her favorite Japanese boyband member, little did she know that her actions would spark a stream of increasingly unhinged messages from a fellow fan.
Tokyo sweets store sells beautiful soft serve ice creams that look like works of art
Yakuza lieutenant arrested in Tokyo for stealing Pokémon cards
Godzilla leather wallet will make you feel like the King of the Monsters and lord of fashion
Japanese cosplayer creates amazing outfit: Sailor Moon’s transformation sequence!【Photos】
Studio Ghibli unveils new goods that tip the hat to The Cat Returns
This is Japan’s, and the world’s, first capsule hotel, and you can still stay there
How to make a secret rice bowl at Ichiran ramen
Japan has nearly 4 million abandoned homes, but where and why?
Starbucks Japan adds a Wimbledon Frappuccino to its menu for a limited time
Starbucks Japan sells a paper tote bag that looks like a free bag…so should you buy it?
McDonald’s Japan’s new pancake pie is a taste sensation
Bad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screens
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
FUK COFFEE?!? Japanese cafe has a perfectly innocent reason for its startling-looking name
One of Japan’s oldest castles now lets travelers spend night on the grounds, drink in its keep
Two things to do, and two things not to do, when leaving a traditional Japanese innStudio Ghibli unveils new goods that tip the hat to The Cat ReturnsHow to make a secret rice bowl at Ichiran ramenJapan has nearly 4 million abandoned homes, but where and why?
Studio Ghibli unveils massive T-shirt collection featuring top anime movie characters
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese things
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky loungeBad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screensMcDonald’s Japan’s new pancake pie is a taste sensation
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in TokyoMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950sForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappoint
This is Japan’s, and the world’s, first capsule hotel, and you can still stay there
How to make a secret rice bowl at Ichiran ramen
Japan has nearly 4 million abandoned homes, but where and why?
Starbucks Japan adds a Wimbledon Frappuccino to its menu for a limited time
Starbucks Japan sells a paper tote bag that looks like a free bag…so should you buy it?
Where’d those amazing Godzilla shoes seen at the Academy Awards come from, and can you buy them?
Abe Monjuin: An ancient temple with a connection to stars and astrology…and National Treasures
Shinkansen station platforms now have…Baskin Robbins ice cream vending machines!
Tokyo vegan’s ramen recommendation is extremely off the mark
Easy DIY open-air bath setup makes life at our Japanese country house better than ever【SoraHouse】
Fried sandwiches arrive in Tokyo, become hot topic on social media
Awesome new Gundam manhole covers coming to Japanese prefecture for first time
