Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
On 13 November, a tweet went out from Kyoko Shimbun which read “AAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Generally, such single-letter interjections don’t yield much of a response, but in this case they got over 400 retweets.
That’s because on this day, Kyoko Shimbun which translates to “Fabricated News” learnt that their fictional Infojar, a next-gen rice cooker with several smartphone capabilities, was in the research and development phase by the very company they were spoofing at the time, KDDI.
Everybody wants to be a cat. You get to lie around all day, eat tuna brought to you by your human minions, and generally get worshiped and adored. And the best thing is that you don’t even need to be a pedigree show kitty to raise a few “aww’s” – even fugly kitties are still cute! That’s the premise behind Canon Japan’s Busakawaneko (cute-ugly kitty) Grand-Print photo competition. Cat owners from across Japan sent in photos of their adorably ugly balls of fluff in the hopes of scooping the grand prize of a holiday worth 100,000 yen (US$10,000). The winner and the runners-up will all be displayed on the JR Yamanote line train in Tokyo for around two weeks, starting on November 18. Or, you could also check them out right here!
There are two important things to bear in mind regarding Japanese fashion. First is that, since so many people use public transportation, they almost always need some kind of a bag or backpack to carry their stuff in when they go out. Second, after spending all week wearing a mandated uniform or bland business suit, come the weekend, some people are overcome with the urge to express their individuality to the fullest with their clothing and accessory choices.
With that in mind, just about the fastest route away from your button-down Monday to Friday look is to slip on a backpack that’s the exact shape and size of a tiger’s head.
The Attack on Titan and Marvel crossover comic that Magazine House‘s Brutus magazine is publishing on Saturday features characters from Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers as they battle the Female Titan, Colossal Titan, Armored Titan, and others in New York City.
As fictional (sorry, I mean completely real and definitely not made up) creatures come, furry forest spirits like Studio Ghibli’s Totoro are pretty rare to begin with. Heck, even the theme song to My Neighbor Totoro tells us that we can only see them when we’re “very young”, so it’s not like we’re tripping over the things in the street.
But if you’re the kind of person who simply must have every piece of high quality Ghibli merch, the rarer the better, then this limited edition plush is definitely one you’ll want to look out for.
The major train stations in urban Japan almost seem like small cities, packed with restaurants, hotels, and shopping space. Things are usually pretty different out in the countryside, though, where many rail stops are little more than an awning with a short bench to sit on while you wait for the trains to roll in.
We say rural stations are “usually” simple, though, because in one town up north in Aomori Prefecture, you’ll find a station guarded by what looks like a massive alien.
The latest game in Ubisoft’s flagship “Assassin’s Creed” series, “Assassin’s Creed Unity,” was released this week. And so far, it’s been anything but smooth sailing.
Right away players reported a bunch of glitches which almost made the game unplayable.
It’s amazingly easy to find good food in Japan, which is largely due to how hard many food industry professionals work when choosing ingredients are and preparing their dishes. Every now and then, though, the country stumbles across some new delectable that, by any logical standard, has no right tasting as good as it does while being so quick and simple to make.
For example, this week Japan discovered a delicious cheese snack with just one ingredient that you could be enjoying in literally two minutes.
Over the last decade, anime has seen a steady rise in the number of slice-of-life series with mundane settings. Still, even when set in the real world, anime tends to operate under very different rules from reality.
Or does it? In a story that sounds like something out of a manga for teen boys (or girls, provided you draw everyone with wavy, pastel-colored hair), police in Tokyo are forcing members from two rival, frequently rumbling gangs to get along by forming a sports team together.
It seems that regardless of the place, age, or circumstance, vigilantes will always be met with some sort of resistance from the officials. That was the case this week when the Chiba Prefectural Police Department announced that they would not be allowing the mysterious masked citizen, known as “Chibatman,” to participate in next year’s Chiba Kenmin Marathon.
Being an imported holiday, Christmas in Japan is special. They don’t do things quite the same way that many of us do when celebrating the secular side of the holiday. And while Christmas trees are a common sight Japan nowadays, sometimes they skirt a bit below the line of normal.
The Kyoto Aquarium’s annual Christmas tree is right on the edge, and we’re not sure if it’s awesome or just plain weird.
Halloween may be over for this year, but the weather gods in Saitama clearly hadn’t got the message on Wednesday morning this week, as the city was shrouded in a mysterious thick fog – with an even more mysterious name!
When eating sushi, it’s customary to dip each morsel into a small dish of soy sauce before popping it into your mouth. True connoisseurs hold that the proper way to do this is to first turn each piece over so that just the fish, and not the rice, comes into contact with the soy.
However, gripping the piece firmly enough to pick it up, yet gently as to not crush the rice, rotating it 180 degrees for the dip, then spinning it back again to eat can be tricky, especially if you’re not used to chopsticks (or if you’re not used to the sake you’ve paired with your sushi). So if you’ve got a cultured palate but lack manual dexterity, this special sushi soy sauce spray is seemingly the solution.
Every place in Japan wants to be famous for something or other; to have one specific dish or product that nowhere else has as much of or does quite as well. And while the port city of Yokohama might be known for its vast and varied Chinese cuisine, when it comes to gyoza – those bitesized Chinese dumplings that have been so tweaked by the Japanese that they’re often considered home-grown – Tochigi Prefeture’s Utsunomiya City is undoubtedly the place to be, with its residents proud to call their prefecture the Japanese capital of gyoza.
After taking a trip to the prefecture, we think they might just be right. Along with the dozens of delicious gyoza stalls and restaurants we encountered, we quickly stumbled upon a number of unusual gyoza-infused offerings, three of which we just had to try for ourselves. Join us after the jump for our taste test of Tochigi Prefecutre’s Gyoza Burger, Gyoza Chips and Gyoza Bread!
Ramen is an amazing food, and nothing beats traveling around Japan and eating all the different kinds. Some are certainly better than other (tonkotsu FTW!) but they all are fighting for the top spot of “best bowl of ramen ever eaten“. Some bowls of ramen you can’t wait to go back and eat again, others are categorized as “one time is enough“. But there are some bowls of ramen that you shouldn’t even taste…let alone look at. Beware; these next pictures are not for the faint of heart.
Take a look at this picture – what’s your first impression? Personally (and perhaps due to my prior experiences as a kindergarten teacher in Japan) my first thought was: “How convenient that must be when it comes to potty-training!”
These Chinese “split pants” are considered completely normal for children to wear in China, so when a Chinese-American parent took their little boy out to play in Monterey Park in Los Angeles, they surely weren’t expecting a concerned citizen to call the police on them.
Earlier this year as the Japanese government enacted a sales tax hike, the cost of mailing a letter also increased. As a result a new 2 yen stamp had to be issued to fill the price hike, and in an effort to quell public anger, Japan Post put a picture of a cute fluffy bunny on it. Surely that’d do the trick, right?
Of course it did! In Japan, cuteness is a rock-solid commodity and the bunny stamp was a huge success. It was so popular that people came out to buy some even though they had no mail to send. And so, Japan Post set a mandate to make all of their stamps pretty before fiscal 2015.
Here’s one you don’t hear every day – a man was arrested in Daisen City, Akita Prefecture last weekend on charges of entering the hotel room of a female acquaintance through the window before proceeding to strike her about the buttocks with a shoehorn that he found in the room. But just what could prompt such behavior?
About a month after I moved to Japan in college, my hair was getting pretty shaggy, so I asked my host dad where I could get a trim. The place he took me to was an old-school barbershop, and I remember being surprised when instead of using electric clippers on the back of my neck, the barber used a straight razor.
Still, that wasn’t nearly as big as the shock some customers get when they walk into this hairdresser’s in Vietnam and see the stylist slicing people’s hair with a Japanese sword.
As the internet implodes with the news that Kim Kardashian’s naked posterior is on the front of Paper magazine, we thought we’d jump right on the nudity bandwagon and bring you this exciting missive from the clothes-free front line.
That’s right, Taiwan’s rugby union players are releasing a naked calendar, and we’ve got the pics to prove it!
One of Japan’s most beautiful hot spring towns announces new limits on number of day trippers
Mario Kart Happy Meal toys arrive at McDonald’s Japan, and SoraNews24 has the whole set!【Photos】
Japan’s new frozen sushi DIY kit – Great foodie fun, or cold-hearted abomination?【Taste test】
Turn clear files into works of art with cleverly designed Japanese scroll
Made In Japan Fender Limited Edition Hello Kitty Stratocaster now on sale in Japan
Do bears strike first with their left paw when attacking people? Japan wants to know
History’s highest sumo wrestling and geisha dance to take place at Tokyo Skytree observation deck
Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke teams up with Foxfire for outdoor apparel collaboration【Photos】
Snuggle up to a Japanese Shiba Inu that looks real but is actually a cute hot water bottle cover
The Japan Poop Society is making movements to protect people’s healthOne of Japan’s most beautiful hot spring towns announces new limits on number of day trippersGhibli’s Princess Mononoke teams up with Foxfire for outdoor apparel collaboration【Photos】
After cancelling Halloween, Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood cancels New Year’s Eve too
Japanese job-quitting service contacted by other job-quitting service because employee wants to quit
Sanrio and magical girl anime PreCure join forces for new merch line【Photos】Mario Kart Happy Meal toys arrive at McDonald’s Japan, and SoraNews24 has the whole set!【Photos】
New Ghibli papercraft kit gives you a little Princess Mononoke forest on your desk【Photos】
Beautiful Japanese garden green tea crepes waiting in Tokyo’s historical Asakusa neighborhood
Tokyo park’s sea of clouds, nighttime illumination, and cosplay days make now perfect time to visit
Samurai ritual suicide contest cancelled by organizer in west Japan
Nintendo’s controller capsule toys are so cool, even the machine you buy them from is awesome【Pics】
Tokyo Disneyland loses top-attendance crown for Japanese theme parks for second year in a rowOne of Japan’s most beautiful hot spring towns announces new limits on number of day trippers
Ghibli Park debuts first winter illumination display with Howl’s Moving Castle themeGhibli’s Princess Mononoke teams up with Foxfire for outdoor apparel collaboration【Photos】
Pringles releases a limited-edition sweet flavour in Japan
What’s the deal with akebi, the perfectly purple, alien-like fruit that’s in season now in Japan?Sanrio and magical girl anime PreCure join forces for new merch line【Photos】After cancelling Halloween, Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood cancels New Year’s Eve tooJapanese job-quitting service contacted by other job-quitting service because employee wants to quit
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
Japanese convenience store Family Mart announces abolishment of eat-in spaces
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
Life-size vibrating Legend of Zelda Master Sword for sale from Nintendo【Photos】
Studio Ghibli releases free-download board game — Here’s how to play it without reading Japanese
Do bears strike first with their left paw when attacking people? Japan wants to know
History’s highest sumo wrestling and geisha dance to take place at Tokyo Skytree observation deck
Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke teams up with Foxfire for outdoor apparel collaboration【Photos】
Snuggle up to a Japanese Shiba Inu that looks real but is actually a cute hot water bottle cover
The Japan Poop Society is making movements to protect people’s health
Flying dango: Unique tourist site where Japanese sweets are flown to you over a gorge
Cheeseburger rice bowls arrive at Japanese beef bowl chain Matsuya, and in our stomach【Taste test】
Mickey Mouse in now a transforming robot created by the designer of Gundam【Photos】
Japanese job-quitting service contacted by other job-quitting service because employee wants to quit
Hello Kitty shows up at Baskin-Robins Japan for 50th birthday party with special sweets and merch
The top 5 ice creams you should try at Family Mart convenience stores in Japan this summer
Nakagin Capsule Tower’s last residents: group meals, floods, weird noises, and more
Beautiful Starbucks in Kyoto blends into its traditional landscape in more ways than one
Japanese department store rooftop is a secret oasis where you can escape the crowds in Tokyo