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Lifelike dolls created by legendary Goyo Hirata amaze Twitter users, leave us speechless

Japan is full of national treasures, from beautiful nature spots to old architecture, but one of the most interesting classes of national treasures is the living kind. Masters of their crafts, these national treasures often represent the heights of Japanese arts — including doll making! But we’re not talking about G.I. Joe figures or Barbie dolls, we’re talking about works of art that look less like toys and more like real people frozen in time.

Goyo Hirata was exactly that kind of artist, and once you see some of his creations, you’ll agree that he was definitely deserving of the status of Living National Treasure. Though Hirata passed away in 1981, his work is still celebrated today and no less amazing.

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Turn your smartphone into a magical girl with two new Sailor Moon iPhone cases

As of last month, the line of Sailor Moon lingerie is back on sale again, helping fans of the series unleash their inner Sailor Senshi with some anime-themed innerwear. Now that you’ve got your intimate apparel needs filled, if you’re troubled by your smartphone being completely naked there’s a similar solution in the form of these Sailor Moon costume iPhone cases!

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Oita lures travelers with wonderful montage of synchronized hot spring bathing 【Video】

Japan may be a small country in terms of area, but it certainly makes up for it with 47 distinct prefectures that have their own vibrant personalities. Prefectures like Tokyo and Osaka dominate with their big city lifestyles, while Kyoto and Nara rely on their richly preserved history. Some have festivals that have survived for hundreds of years, others have geological formations that make them stand out or new attractions that you can’t find anywhere else.

For prefectures to separate themselves from the rest and showcase what makes them special, they have to do something grand. In Oita Prefecture, this means presenting their world-famous hot springs with a synchronized swimming team in what can only be known as “synchronized bathing”.

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Lexus pays homage to its Japanese workers by building a driveable origami car out of cardboard

Lexus has always admired the skills of the craftsmen and women who work on their production lines in Japan. Known as takumi, these highly trained Japanese production workers hone their dexterity skills by learning to fold an origami cat in 90 seconds—using only their non-dominant hand.

Now, Lexus UK has unveiled a stunning tribute to these skilled workers by creating a life-sized replica of the Lexus IS, using 1,700 pieces of laser-cut cardboard in what they’re calling the “Origami Car”. Complete with an electric motor, the cardboard vehicle can actually be driven. With the cardboard seats and interior, it won’t be an entirely practical, or legal, ride, but it would certainly be a memorable one!

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A photo tour of the JAL “Premium Night” at Universal Studios Japan

Universal Studios Japan (USJ), one of Osaka’s most popular tourist attractions, was hired out for an exclusive event on September 24 for an events called JAL Premium Night. As many of you will know, Japan Airlines, or JAL, is the official airline of USJ and was offering the chance for lucky ticket holders to attend this after-hours event.

And, as luck would have it, one of very own RocketNews24 reporters attended the spectacular event and was fortunate enough to enjoy the exclusive JAL Premium Night, snapping a load of photos for the rest of us to enjoy!

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Oral care survey suggests foreigners think Japan has breath issues….

After having lived in Japan for a number of years, you get used to the certain ways in which it smells kinda different to your home country. For example, people here tend to wear less cologne and perfume so you’re not as likely to have your nostril hairs singed by someone who has doused themselves with eau de celeb as you share a train carriage on your morning commute. On the other hand, smoking is absolutely everywhere in Japan and you can expect to come home with your hair and clothes stinking of smoke after barely an hour at your local izakaya, even if you never touch the cancer sticks yourself.

But a new survey conducted by an oral care company has found evidence that suggests one of the things foreign visitors to Japan notice is the huge number of people with bad breath! Apparently, this halitosis has left many a foreigner visitor “disappointed” with the country, whatever that means…

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Tiny characters and cuties to hold up your smart phone 【Photos】

Having a handheld device that tells us how to get places, allows us to check our E-mail, and browse the Internet has been one of the greatest inventions of this century. Plus with video streaming services like Netflix and others on our phones, we are carrying around a library of entertainment. The problem with using our phones like a mini-TV, though, is that it’s difficult to prop them up at the right angle with the myriad objects that fill our homes.

While we’ve brought our readers an inexpensive solution to that problem in the past, some of us want to do it in the cutest and most fashionable way possible. Thankfully, gachapon capsule toy machines are dispensing prizes that feature famous characters and other eclectic figures that are designed to hold up phones for our viewing pleasure. You’ve never seen a phone held up with such panache before.

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New Japanese fragrance apparently smells like the bath towel of a woman straight out of the shower

Maybe you’ve heard about the legendary used panty vending machines of Japan. With all the “weird Japan” news floating around out there, it’s hard to miss the exaggerated stories of hidden vending machines selling used undergarments so that shy pervs can indulge in the, erm…unique fragrance without actually having to go out and interact with a real live woman.

Of course, the used pantie vending machines are kind of a myth; sure, one or two of them exist, but it’s not like they’re on every other block like breathless news coverage suggests.

However, lonely weirdos shouldn’t give up hope just yet, because it turns out we’ve reached a technological point in time in which Japanese companies are able to recreate the fragrance of a woman’s bath towel fresh from the shower, which is maybe, we guess, the next best thing to used panties.

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Thai-American model born without legs smashes beauty standards: “I don’t need legs to feel sexy.”

Different cultures may have different beauty standards, but one beauty requirement that was thought to be universal in the world of modelling is having a set of long, shapely legs.

But now even that idea is being challenged. Thai-born model Kanya Sesser was born without legs, but she hasn’t let that hold her back. She currently works as a lingerie model, and she’s transforming people’s notions about what it means to be “beautiful” all over the world.

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Last month, we got our first in-costume look at the cast of the upcoming live-action TV adaptation of manga and anime Prison School. But while the production’s casting directors, stylists, and costumers have done a commendable job making the real-life performers look like their 2-D inspirations, fans have been wondering if the live-action Prison School will still feel like its source material.

After all, it’s not uncommon for there to be a major shift in tone when anime goes live-action, and a lot of the outlandishly pervy stuff that goes on in the animated Prison School ostensibly gets a pass from censors because it’s not being done by real people. Still, it doesn’t look like the live-action Prison School is looking to change the formula that worked for both the anime and the manga, as its two preview videos show it’s still perfectly happy to bask in its ludicrous lewdness, as well as repeatedly ask the question “Do you prefer butts or breasts?”

Heads-up! Depending on how accepting your workplace environment is of ludicrous lewdness, you might want to save these videos for after you get home.

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These fan-drawn fused Pokémon are so cool we wish they were really in the game

When Pokémon graced our tiny Game Boy screens back in 1996 (or, depending on where you’re from,  1998 or 1999), we all thought that nothing could be better than these beautifully crafted 151 animal-like Pocket Monsters. But then a second generation of games came out and suddenly we were graced with 100 new Pokémon who pledged their loyalty and undying love to us, their trainers. Now in 2015, there are 721 different Poké-friends to collect and train and we couldn’t be happier with them…unless we could take two of our favorites and fuse them together, that is!

The concept may have been done before, but each artist brings their own personal fliar and the results are always fascinating. What makes the following combinations unique is that sometimes there are not two but three Pokémon fused together!

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So what’s the quintessential visual representation of fish in Japanese culture? Is it a decorative koi, swimming gracefully in a garden pond? Or is it a delectable piece of sushi sitting atop an elegant piece of tableware?

Maybe it’s both, like these koi-shaped sushi morsels that combine five staples of the popular dish into a beautiful piece of edible art.

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Universal Studios Japan unlocks its haunted hotel rooms, has a special menu for Halloween

Japan has been gearing up for Halloween since the end of August, but now that we’re actually into the correct month, we feel it’s acceptable to start posting Halloween-related articles. Today we’re introducing the Halloween festivities going on at Universal Studies in Osaka, Japan.

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Eat your eyeballs! Japanese traditional confectioner offers line of eye-grabbing Halloween sweets

With Japan’s growing love of Halloween, and it’s long-held affection for seasonal sweets, the country now gets a bumper crop of special desserts for the year’s spookiest holiday. So far, most of these have been Japanese brands of Western-style candies and cookies with a Halloween-themed package, or maybe with a limited-time pumpkin flavor, but one traditional Kawasaki-based confectionary chain is looking to change that with a lineup of edible eyeballs, zombie fingers, and other Japanese sweets that look bone-chilling and sound mouth-watering.

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Robot cellphone makes calls, walks, talks, projects, dances and will be your new BFF【Video】

As Japan’s human population decreases, its robot population steadily rises. From the giant, rideable KURATAS to SoftBank’s domestic robot, Pepper, there’s diversity in their numbers but from next year, one smart mechanical biped aims to outdo them all.

It’s the adorable RoBoHoN from Sharp, who’s set to crush the cellphone market with an array of impressive features and an equally charming character. To see just how amazing this little guy is, come with us as we take a look at his exclusive introductory video after the break.

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Buildings transform into giant robots in Japanese real estate company’s anime commercial【Video】

When was the last time you sat down to watch a YouTube video by a real estate company? We’re going to assume never, because who even knew that real estate companies had YouTube accounts?

Japan’s Mitsui Real Estate Residential, however, not only has a YouTube account, but their recently posted video is becoming wildly popular. The company managed to combine their housing expertise with the fail-safe giant robot genre to create a short animated series about apartment buildings that transform into giant robots!

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The success of One Piece really is amazing. Not only does it remain a perpetual favorite among its target demographic of young boys, the manga and anime franchise has managed to retain a surprisingly large amount of its original fanbase some 18 years after its first issue was published.

Since One Piece has held the attention of fans for so long after drawing them in as children, there must be something to creator Eiichiro Oda’s pirate tale that appeals to adult men as strongly, or maybe even more strongly, than to children. Maybe it’s the series’ core theme of long-term friendship, which grown-ups can more acutely understand. Maybe the way the stakes keeps getting higher for Luffy and his crew strikes a chord with fans who see it as a parallel to the way life throws more responsibilities and pressures at you as you get older.

Or maybe guys just like Oda’s penchant for drawing ridiculously stacked female characters which are then immortalized in plastic, as with this new Boa Hancock figure.

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“Come on Hammy, time for walkies!” Old man attempts to walk hamster on leash in Tokyo 【Video】

Sometimes, it’s nice to be able to take your pet out into the fresh air and commune with nature together. It’s an obvious perk of dog-ownership, but even some cats enjoy a little time on the leash. And who could forget the spectacle of the giant tortoise taking a stroll around Tokyo with its owner?

But a recent pet-walkies fiasco captured on Twitter has us scratching our heads. Why on earth would anyone try to walk a hamster?!

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Fans replace Dragon Ball Z’s animation with finger puppets, keep the awesome fighting 【Video】

Many Japanese animation fans, after having their hopes dashed and their hearts broken one too many times, come to accept the truism that it’s just not possible to make a good live-action version of their favorite anime. Right now, it’s Attack on Titan’s turn in the hot seat, as its two recently released movies have been roundly roasted by fans of the original work and critics alike, and years ago Dragonball Evolution had far more people groaning than cheering as their left theaters.

But maybe it’s not so much that anime has to stay hand-drawn, but just that it can’t be replicated by human actors. We’ve seen Attack on Titan look cool in stop-motion and sheep sub for the cast of Dragon Ball. As a matter of fact, maybe you can even show part of a human actor, just not the whole person, like in this epic and funny battle between two of Dragon Ball’s mightiest martial artists…as played by a pair of finger puppets.

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Japanese cat-shaped curtain rail decorations tie your interior together with feline awesomeness

There comes a time in your life when you realize it’s time to upgrade from the plastic trash bags, newspapers, or dirty T-shirts you’re too lazy to wash that you’ve taped over your windows to block out excess sunlight. Buying some actual curtains is a big step, but it can really help improve the look of your living space, plus marks you as a proper and full-fledged member of drapery-owning adult society.

And while you’re up there hanging those drapes, why not add a set of these adorable napping kitty curtain rail decorations?

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