SoraNews24 -Japan News-

Featured

Attack on sobriety: Round 2! This time, plum wine/juice with limited edition character labels

Krista Rogers
Feb 3, 2015
Tweet

Hot off the heels of our previous announcement surrounding the upcoming release of Attack on Titan-themed plum wine (umeshu), we’ve got another lead on two limited edition sets of the hit manga/anime-inspired beverages. This time around, the sets will each contain three bottles of either plum wine or plum juice, all decorated with beautiful illustrations of the anime’s character designs.

But that’s not even the coolest part–the drinks were crafted using plums grown by the Attack on Titan author’s very own family!

Happy Twintail Day! Now ask out that girl you’ve got a crush on, say Japanese fans of the hairdo

Casey Baseel
Feb 2, 2015

Now that we’re into February, shy men across Japan are out of excuses not to ask out the girl they’ve got a crush on. This month includes a special day with its own framework that allows guys to express their feelings with an established method that leaves no doubt about their affections.

Of course, we’re not talking about Valentine’s Day, because in Japan, women give gifts to men on February 14. No, we’re talking about Twintail Day, observed on February 2, which not only celebrates the dual-tail hairstyle, but also seeks to strengthen the bonds between young lovers and established couples alike.

Make your mark: Personalize gift bags, notebooks and more with free Muji stamp station

Jessica
Feb 2, 2015

Here in Japan, most shops will do gift wrapping for free. It’s a very thoughtful and convenient service, but although they usually do a very nice job of it, it lacks a certain personal touch.

Popular lifestyle goods shop Muji may have the answer: gift bags that you can customize with a set of free and easy-to-use stamps. And the fun doesn’t stop there. Let’s take a look!

Lindt Japan brings spring to their shops with beautiful pink sakura drinks and macarons!

Kay
Feb 2, 2015

We may be in the middle of a cold winter in Japan, with Tokyo even seeing some light snow last Friday, but things are definitely starting to look bright and spring-like at Lindt stores here! Yes, early spring for us is the time for cherry blossoms, or sakura, and while spring hasn’t quite yet arrived, international chocolate maker Lindt has announced two new sakura-themed items to be sold at their cafes here in Japan. And as you might well expect, the sakura treats look pink, sweet and utterly gorgeous!

Tuna born from mackerel: Japanese scientists develop surrogate tech to save threatened species

Audrey Akcasu
Feb 1, 2015

Last November the sushi world was struck with some bitter news: the Pacific bluefin tuna was placed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. While not considered endangered like its close relatives, the Atlantic and Southern bluefin tuna, it has been proclaimed as a vulnerable species.

Bluefin tuna is considered the best of the best, its tender red meat is coveted by sushi chefs and sushi consumers alike. But what will happen if the Pacific bluefin becomes extinct? Foreseeing a future of sushi connoisseurs being forced to eat tuna-shaped cakes or playing with tuna models to try to get their bluefin fix, scientists have come up with a radical new idea: use mackerel to breed bluefin tuna.

Around Japan in 47 rice balls: Mr. Sato buys each prefecture’s musubi all from one Tokyo shop

Master Blaster
Feb 1, 2015

Although Japan lacks ethnic diversity, it seems to more than make up for it in diversity of cuisine. Although the overarching recipes of Japanese foods can be found everywhere, you’d be surprised and how diverse the differences can be from region to region. Having your New Year’s soup in Okayama Prefecture may be quite different from Akita Prefecture’s offering. Even purchasing oden from a chain like 7-Eleven will produce different results if it’s from Osaka or Tokyo.

This is also true of another of Japan’s standard foods: rice balls also known as onigiri or musubi. To taste all the unique variations Japan has to offer, one must be a seasoned traveler, or they could just go to Momochi, a shop which offers a taste of all 47 prefectures straight from the counter. Our own Mr. Sato, eager to taste of these deliciously distinct snacks, visited Momochi to sample one of each.

Make your instant coffee 10 times yummier with this one simple trick

Evie Nyan
Jan 31, 2015

If the title of this article sounds a bit too much like one of those clickbait ads, then don’t worry – this is still RocketNews 24! But seriously, we do really have a pretty simple and easy way to make your coffee taste way yummier, and it’s straight from the wisdom of the dad of one of the writers of our sister site, Pouch. You won’t need any fancy Hello Kitty shaped coffee beans to pull this off (especially since I just made up the existence of Hello Kitty shaped coffee beans), just your regular coffee and some water. So, what’s the magic trick?

Japanese opera singer records an incredible cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Krista Rogers
Jan 31, 2015

While we don’t usually think about successful opera singers breaking into the rock music industry, there’s one man out there to prove that classically trained performers can, in fact, appreciate decidedly more “modern-sounding” music.

Japanese operatic tenor Ken Nishikiori (錦織健) is one of the most prolific opera singers to come out of Japan. But recently the 55-year-old has been making waves on the net not for his sweeping operatic vocals, but for his astounding cover of British rock band Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody!”

Could this teen’s simple but genius idea help put an end to cyber bullying?

Meg Murphy
Jan 31, 2015

Bullying is not a new phenomenon. Even if you haven’t personally experienced it, you likely know some who has been bullied, or have seen it happen to someone else. So have our parents, and most likely their parents too. Adults can be bullies too, but children and adolescents are much more likely to act without thinking, making it much more of a problem for the younger generation.

What is a relatively new phenomenon, however, is cyber bullying. After hearing about a young girl who was bullied to the point that she decided to commit suicide, 14-year-old Trisha Prabhu knew something had to be done, and set to work making a system that could drastically reduce the incidences of cyber bullying.

Team aims to pierce moon with Evangelion’s Spear of Longinus

Anime News Network
Jan 31, 2015

Hakuto, Japan’s first civilian team that aims to send an unmanned lunar expedition, announced that it is providing technical assistance to the “Project to Pierce the Moon With the Spear of Longinus” on Friday. The “Project to Pierce the Moon With the Spear of Longinus Committee” unveiled its plans as part of the 20th anniversary of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime. Hakuto is the only team from Japan competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE.

New garlic cola from Japan’s garlic capital is as surprising as its name proclaims

Audrey Akcasu
Jan 31, 2015

Garlic flavored cola. Just let that sink in for a moment. Fizzy sweet cola with a pungent garlic taste. Yum? Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of weird food and drink come out of Japan, and as of January 9, there has been a new addition to that list.

Hailing from Aomori, the garlic capital of Japan, which has previously produced such delectables as garlic ice cream and garlic beer, “Jats Takkola,” is brought to us from the garlic center of the garlic capital of Japan, also known as “Garlic Town,” Sannohe Districts’ Takko Town.

Ariana Grande is learning hiragana and Japan can’t stop talking about it

KK Miller
Jan 31, 2015

Ariana Grande is a rising star that many are calling a “mini-Mariah Carey.” Launching onto the world stage after an incredibly successful run on the Nickelodeon show, Victorious, she is quickly gaining fans around the world with her solo music career. She has quite the following in Japan too, with her most recent album, My Everything, peaking at #3 on the weekly Oricon Music charts. And while Japan can’t get enough of her songs and her extremely long hair (extensions), there is something else that her Japanese fans are talking about these days: Ariana Grande is learning hiragana.

Friends too busy to go to the Pokémon Cafe? No problem! Pikachu himself will sit with you

Casey Baseel
Jan 31, 2015

If you’re a Pokémon fan who’s feeling blue over missing your chance to eat at the limited-time restaurants based on the series that previously appeared in Yokohama and Tokyo’s Roppongi neighborhood, cheer up. Until the end of February, the Pokémon Cafe is back again, this time in the trendy part of Tokyo called Shibuya, and looks to be cuter than ever.

Unfortunately, when you combine food and cuteness in one of the busiest cities on earth, you also get long lines. Helping to make the wait worth it, though, is the possibility of having a meal while sharing your table with a very special dining companion, Pikachu.

The first videos ever shared on YouTube & Niconico leave us feeling rather… confused? 【Videos】

Meg Murphy
Jan 30, 2015

If the internet is a part of your everyday life, as it is for billions of others around the globe, then you are probably no stranger to video-sharing giant YouTube. There you can find videos of pretty much anything that interests you, watch news and events from around the world, take a peek at other people’s lives through their vlogs, learn new skills through how-to videos, or squee over countless cute animal videos. If you’re bored, nothing passes the time quite like getting lost in a YouTube black hole, where one interesting video leads to another, and another, and yet another…

Not quite as well-known, but still very successful in its own right, is Niconico (formerly NicoNico Douga), essentially the Japanese version of YouTube, though the website is also available in English and Taiwanese. What is unique about Niconico is the ability it gives users to add comments which are then overlaid directly on the video and synced to a specific playback time, which often become as entertaining as the video itself.

Both sites have billions of videos for a lifetime’s worth of entertainment, but have you seen the oldest videos of them all?

Japanese wasp-filled crackers: Their sting is far worse than a bite

Master Blaster
Jan 30, 2015

Although the above picture might look like something out of a nightmare, these crackers are very real and on sale in Nagano Prefecture, Japan.

It’s a senbei, which is a Japanese style of rice cracker, that in this instance, has had a bunch of wasps added to it for flavor or…health or something. We don’t know why exactly but we recently had the pleasure of sitting down with a bag of wasp crackers, only to find that they actually weren’t nearly as horrifying as you might expect.

They were only partially horrifying.

Flaptter flying machine from Ghibli’s Castle in the Sky brought to life!

Meg Murphy
Jan 30, 2015

If you’re a fan of Studio Ghibli’s films, you’ve probably noticed that director Hayao Miyazaki has a love for planes and all other manner of flying machines, which make numerous appearances in many of his movies. We’ve seen a Miyazaki creation come to life before with the construction of the glider called Möwe, as seen in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, but here’s one now for you Laputa: Castle in the Sky lovers – a real working Flaptter!

Kiss me~ Delicious edible lip gloss celebrating Barbie’s 55th birthday

KK Miller
Jan 30, 2015

Most girls growing up during the 80s and 90s in the States only wanted two things: the newest Barbie and the shiniest lip gloss. While make-believe scenes of Barbie sneaking out to kiss Ken happened at home, adolescent girls themselves never left the house without their favorite lip gloss. Parents could say no to lipstick and eyeliner, but lip gloss was OK. And what’s not too like about it? It smells so tasty and makes you want to lick your lips…again and again and again. Between Barbie and lip gloss, only one thing could have been better, edible lip gloss.

Lucky for us all, there is a candy store in Japan which specializes in palatable lip wear. And they’re teaming up with Mattel to celebrate Barbie’s 55th birthday with a few new products that combine the allure of Barbie with the fun of edible lip gloss.

This ‘Rock Climbing’ ramen will make a man out of you!

Hayashi 'Fang' Hougi
Jan 30, 2015

Niigata is one of the largest prefectures in Japan by area. Apparently, their ramen is also on the larger side. And by larger, we mean XXXXL. The famous local ramen restaurant “Men Macho” (‘men’ as in ramen) is best known for serving up insanely gigantic Fuji mountains of ramen toppings. This time, they have unveiled yet another new creation called the Rock Climbing ramen. That sure looks like one intimating wall of toppings to chomp through!

Kitties, doggies, bunnies, and deer – even more stuff balanced on Japan’s pets!

Evie Nyan
Jan 30, 2015

Earlier in the week, we reported that the phenomenon of putting weird stuff on your pet and taking a photo of it was having a revival on Twitter in Japan. Today, we’re delighted to bring you even more pictures of a range of fuzzy animals with stuff precariously balanced on them!

New batch of socks with collars adds sailor suit style for your feet, plus lace and button-downs

Casey Baseel
Jan 30, 2015

A few months ago, we took a look at a collection of truly unique socks that took their styling cues from shirts by providing cute and quirky collars for your ankles. The offbeat idea seems to have found a market, as manufacturer Erimaki Sox is back again with three new designs that add extra femininity, button-down class, and even some sailor suit-style playfulness.