Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Okay, we admit we never thought we would be genuinely impressed with how “cute” a mobile phone is, but there’s no denying it — toy maker Bandai and telecommunications companies Y!mobile and Willlcom Okinawa have collaborated to come up with what can only be described as an utterly adorable cell phone. Yes, it’s an eye-catching, bright red, heart-shaped phone called the Heart 401AB model, and what’s more, it comes in a special Sailor Moon edition that you can custom decorate!
Prolific Japanese actor Ken Watanabe may have achieved stardom both domestically and internationally, but to the residents of a small city in northern Japan, he’s also known for his heart of gold.
Kesennuma (気仙沼), Miyagi Prefecture is one of several coastal cities that was ravaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. In the aftermath of the disaster, Watanabe helped build (and now manages) a combined cafe-shop in Kesennuma in an effort to provide economic relief to the locals. Most inspiring, however, is his unwavering dedication to the venture–somehow, despite his busy filming and PR schedule in both Japan and Hollywood, he still finds the time to fax a handwritten letter to the cafe every single day!
Join our ace Japanese reporters Mr. Sato and Yoshio on their recent trip up north to visit this hidden gem of northern Japan.
Little, fat, round, lucky – Daruma dolls are an instantly recognisable Japanese trinket that also serve as a source of inspiration, encouraging people to achieve their goals. Daruma dolls usually come with two blank white eyes. You paint on one eye as you set yourself an objective (pass an exam, get a promotion, etc) and then paint on the second eye once you achieve your goal. As such, Daruma are a popular gift given to students cramming for exam season. But wouldn’t it be amazing if you could buy a Daruma doll crafted in the likeness of your own ugly face? Well, now you can, and what’s more – they’re three dimensional!
Like much of the world, Japan is home to dozens of fashion brands like Uniqlo, GAP, and H&M, which offer high-quality clothes at low prices. It has come to the point that some refer to Uniqlo items as the “nation’s uniform” because of their ubiquity.
With all these big-name retailers saturating the market with their similar brands, how is a true individual supposed to express themselves? Of course there are one-of-a-kind boutiques, but those are way out of the average guy’s price range.
This is where our resident money expert Mr. Sato comes in. He’s known as “Cost Performer Sato,” or as he prefers “Cospa Sato,” because it’s a far more efficient name. He’s here to teach us about a secret shop which can be found in any one of your neighbourhoods and offers unique fashions at highly affordable prices, and look fabulous while doing so.
We’ve already talked at length about the complex feelings we have whenever we see an anthropomorphic mascot for a food joint shucking his own kin as delicious, greasy human grub. We bet you can’t even count the number of times you’ve walked by a chicken joint whose crazily grinning avian mascot was holding up a bucket of deep-fried drumsticks, or a contented pig sitting down – fork, knife, bib and all – to a barbecue rib feast and never really thought much of it.
Well, if the usually slapdash, cartoonish mascot on the sign of your local wing joint wasn’t in-your-face enough to disturb you with implications of animal cannibalism and the idea that you might just be eating animal protein that was once a creature with enough intelligence to talk and use kitchen utensils, maybe this Kanazawa, Japan pork restaurant ostensibly managed by a live, miniature pig is just the thing to kickstart your conscience, you monster.
Heavy winds, low visibility and snow drifts the size of houses. What do you do? Go to that lecture at 8:30 or grab as many blankets as you can and binge watch Dragon Ball? Although the answer might be pretty simple for some university students in Japan, the ones in Hokkaido know there is no such thing as a snow day. Freshman students at Hokkaido University are sometimes amazed to encounter the incredibly snowy weather conditions that face them on their way to class. There is not much else they can do but bundle up, snap a few pictures and share them with the Internet.
We’ve collected some of the best pics taken by Hokkaido’s students this winter. Would you go to class in this weather?
If you’ve been captivated by a bizarre breed of sushi cats or fallen in love with a cup-clinging girl called Fuchiko, chances are you’ll soon be swooning over a young lady who likes to hang out inside pieces of sushi.
Disney enjoys broad popularity with Japanese children, with tykes across the nation regularly getting excited for the studio’s animated films and begging their parents to take them to Tokyo Disneyland. This isn’t a recent development, though. Disney’s been a hit with kids for decades now, and while the age of many fans who grew up watching Mickey, Minnie, and their pals has changed, that doesn’t mean their love for the cartoon characters has.
That’s why this spring a new branch of the Disney Store is opening up in Tokyo, and while the staff won’t be turning away little girls at the door, it’s really being designed for adult women.
Japan is no stranger to weird and wonderful product collaborations between companies. We’ve seen Mos burger x Mister Donut creations, a Hello Kitty invasion of The Very Hungry Caterpillar books and even Sailor Moon girls teeing up with sanitary pads.
So when the ten-year anniversary of the Tetsudou Musume (Railway Girls) anime rolled around this year, their new collaboration could have taken them anywhere. Thankfully, the girls have gone the more conventional route – by tying up with an actual train and riding together with you in 2-D form inside the carriages.
The world is full of amazingly talented artists – people who can take ordinary everyday objects and make something extraordinary. Without question, Japan has its own fair share of talent, what with high school students creating beautiful murals with nothing but a stick of chalk, artists sketching insanely detailed drawings using a simple ball-point pen, and the awe-inspiring snow sculptures that are constructed at Sapporo’s snow festival each year.
Now, we have insanely detailed, hand-carved stamps made from erasers setting the internet abuzz.
Are you a Barbie girl in a Barbie world? If your answer is yes, you’ve probably been dreaming of this day your whole life. Finally, you can look like your Barbie doll!
We’re not talking about getting thousands of dollars worth of cosmetic surgery to look like Real Barbie or wearing Barbie heads in your shoes. But we are talking about wearing undergarments that match those of your Barbie doll. You’ll be like twins!
The Japanese lingerie and apparel shopping website Peach John, has a lingerie line called Yummy Mart. Yummy Mart is teaming up with Barbie and LAFORET, a lingerie shop in Harajuku, to bring you a limited edition collection of Barbies and underwear to match!
The release of the reanimated Sailor Moon series has brought with it an influx of new and exciting merchandise, much to the joy of fans old and new alike. Jewelry, apparel, accessories… even pens that look like our beloved Scouts’ transformation wands.
But for those of you who were wishing to fight some evil by moonlight, you may be in for a bit of disappointment.
When most anime fans think of the core cast members of Sailor Moon Crystal, they picture them in their sailor-style combat suits. But while they do indeed don those brightly color-coded getups when it’s time to do battle with the forces of evil, the teen heroines spend most of their week dressed in the uniforms of ordinary junior high students.
If you’ve ever wanted to cosplay not as Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, or Venus, but as their alternate non-magical girl identities, now’s your chance, as you can now buy official uniforms of the schools attended by the Sailor Senshi.
The former AKB48 idol Anna Mori is crowdfunding her first photobook after recently turning 20 years old (the “age of majority” in Japan, similar to turning 18 in the U.S.) and quickly raised 2,000,000 yen (about US$16,957) with a little help from some unique backer rewards. Mori offered threedates for backers who paid 200,000 yen (US$1,695).
Japan has an interesting relationship with moss. From the “Moss Covered Forest” that inspired Princess Mononoke, to the marimo “moss balls” found in Hokkaido, to MOS Burger that has tragically deterred foreigners for decades by its name alone.
But it’s one man’s quest to use moss in a new way that has recently piqued the interest of the internet. In the hopes of creating realistic figurines that look like they’ve been abandoned for centuries, he wants to get them covered in moss the old fashioned way: by waiting for years.
The creator of legendary RPG series Dragon Quest has spilled the beans on the mysterious ending to the third game that still had fans puzzled over 25 years since its original release. Read on to find out, but beware – some things are best left a mystery.
If you haven’t heard yet, last week 20-year-olds all over Japan dressed up and gathered together on January 12 for their government official Coming-of-Age ceremonies. The event takes place every year for any young adult who turned 20 in the previous year. It’s an event that signifies their entry into adulthood and ability to legally drink alcohol.
However, there are some 20-year-olds who don’t get to celebrate the same way as their peers: those who joined the Japan Self-Defense Forces after high school and are off on duty somewhere. The forgotten few were not so forgotten this year, as some pictures of them were posted on Twitter. And you thought the guys in Okinawa were badass? Check out these soldiers.
Among contemporary writers, there’s no Japanese author with a bigger international following than Haruki Murakami. The novelist and translator is also highly respected within his home country, as Japan holds an especially deep respect for any of its citizens who succeed in making a name for themselves on the international stage.
As such, we imagine one young graduate student was hoping for some sage advice when she contacted Murakami and asked him for pointers on how to become a better writer. The response she got was as surprising, unique, and challenging as Murakami’s books themselves.
If you’re as introverted as I am, then the thought of public marriage proposals (whether on the giving, receiving, or spectating end) fills you with a deep, visceral horror. Popping the question in front of a big crowd is supposed to be romantic, but it also smacks a bit of desperation – with all these witnesses, how can she possibly say no? But what’s even MORE embarrassing is when your proposal is undeniably, horrifyingly lame, like when that one dude confessed his love to his girl with 99 iPhones, or in this case, where people actually got an aquarium tank diver to hold up cards with their proposal on. Nooooooooooooo!
What do steampunk fashion and a heart monitor have in common? Usually, nothing. But throw in a garter belt and you’ve got yourself a creative and original piece of fashion fusing seemingly incompatible objects. Read on to check out this awesome steampunk cosplay accessory!
“Shibuya is closed for Halloween” – Hachiko to be covered, monitoring towers put up on October 31
Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno returning to anime with new project for 50-year-old franchise
Japanese izakaya serves up cheap breakfast…and morning drinks in Tokyo
Clear tonkotsu ramen becomes a cult hit at “Ramen Runway” in Japan
Studio Ghibli releases new insect whistle necklace from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
McDonald’s Japan brings out new sweet potato caramel chocolate pies for autumn
This non-sweet matcha treat is one of our new favorite Kyoto snack souvenirs【Taste test】
A beautiful night in the Hokkaido woods with immersive Ainu folktale Kamuy Lumina【Photos】
New marvelously mysterious mochi ice creams celebrate 40 years of Häagen-Dazs Japan
Japanese woman subdues convenience store thief with headlock, credits anime for technique
Japanese convenience store Family Mart announces abolishment of eat-in spaces
Japanese government wants to acquire original anime and manga art for creation of national archive
After 21 years, Harajuku’s famous Lolita fashion and cosplay shop is permanently closingEvangelion creator Hideaki Anno returning to anime with new project for 50-year-old franchiseStudio Ghibli releases new insect whistle necklace from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Pizza Hut Japan creates Landmine-type Pizza to celebrate Japan’s dark jirai-kei fashion
KFC Genshin Impact fried chicken combo meals now on sale in Japan
Give yourself a Totoro belly with Studio Ghibli’s Marshmallow Haramaki belly wraps
Ultimate lazy sukiyaki – Can you make the king of Japanese hot pots in a rice cooker?【Taste test】
Japanese chanko ramen restaurant contains a moving relic from the World Trade CenterJapanese convenience store Family Mart announces abolishment of eat-in spaces
Studio Ghibli releases free-download board game — Here’s how to play it without reading Japanese
Studio Ghibli lets you cosplay as Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle with cosy anime fashion range
New Hello Kitty McDonald’s Japan Happy Meal toys are here, and Kitty’s sister is part of the set
Starbucks teams up with the oldest of Japan’s Six Ancient Kilns to create a Bizen ware coffee mug
One of Tokyo’s most beautiful gardens gets its own moon for moon-viewing season
Right now is the peak time to go to Tokyo’s most-beautiful-view beer garden【Photos】
Pizza Hut adds a “Guilty Secret” sandwich to its menu for a limited time
Super budget-friendly retro Tokyo hotel feels like having your own 1960s Asakusa apartment
New Jimmy Choo x Sailor Moon collaboration brings anime magic to bags, shoes and accessories
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Foreign tourists on Shinkansen bullet train break suitcase etiquette, angering local passengers
[Deleted] Article written for April Fool’s Day 2018
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Foreigner’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
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in JapanJapanese convenience store Family Mart announces abolishment of eat-in spaces
McDonald’s Japan brings out new sweet potato caramel chocolate pies for autumn
This non-sweet matcha treat is one of our new favorite Kyoto snack souvenirs【Taste test】
A beautiful night in the Hokkaido woods with immersive Ainu folktale Kamuy Lumina【Photos】
New marvelously mysterious mochi ice creams celebrate 40 years of Häagen-Dazs Japan
Japanese woman subdues convenience store thief with headlock, credits anime for technique
Pizza Hut Japan creates Landmine-type Pizza to celebrate Japan’s dark jirai-kei fashion
Kyoto becomes City of Yokai, with Night Parade of One Hundred Demons festival this autumn
Mr. Sato gets 1,000 yen in food and drink from two stores for a “double senbero”【Japan’s Best Home Senbero】
Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood bans public Halloween drinking following mayhem
Beautiful Starbucks in Kyoto blends into its traditional landscape in more ways than one
New Psyduck doughnut from Mister Donut’s Pokémon collection takes head-holding to new levels
Mr. Sato nets himself a uniquely fishy souvenir inside of Tokyo’s major travel hub