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Kyoto has had enough of rude tourists, created an infographic to show how to visit politely

With thousands of temples, beautiful gardens, geisha and maiko (geisha-in-training), and more history than you can shake an encyclopedia at, Kyoto is the place to be when visiting Japan. So with so many tourists from around the world crowding into the city, a few are bound to step out of line.

Thankfully TripAdvisor Japan created a handy infographic showing how to politely visit Kyoto. Kyotoites are understandably protective of their city and its cultural and historical treasures, and some will not hesitate to correct you if you’re doing something rude or wrong. So to be sure that everyone is on the same page, here are a few simple rules to keep in mind when you visit this wonderful city.

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Japanese breakfasts, just like Japanese lunches and dinners, can be extremely tasty. Granted, miso soup and grilled fish might not be as filling as bacon and eggs, but they make for a palate-pleasingly healthy alternative that will give you energy for the rest of the day without a bloated feeling for the rest of the morning.

But depending on where you live, a Japanese breakfast can be hard to come by, as most overseas Japanese restaurants specialize in heavier fare for lunch and dinner crowds. If you live in New York, though, you’re in luck, as the restaurant Okonomi is giving local diners a chance to make their most important meal of the day a traditional Japanese one.

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Japanese town’s Cat Street View lets you virtually tour its backstreets, meet feline residents

It’s an amazing age we live in, where you can fire up Google Street View and virtually walk the boulevards of many of the world’s cities. But it turns out Google Street View has a bit of a rival in Japan. Granted, its scope is far smaller than Google’s, given that it only covers part of one town, but it shows up the Internet giant by letting you wander its walkways from the perspective of an alley cat, and even provides profiles of all the neighborhood kitties you’ll meet along the way!

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P.T. easter egg discovered tucked away in Metal Gear Solid V 【Video】

With Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain now available, gamers are hunkering down to complete Hideo Kojima’s final Metal Gear outing, and the last couple of days have seen a flurry of uploads to YouTube and gaming sites from players wanting to show off their discoveries in the huge open world.

One such discovery has people lamenting the cancellation of Silent Hills, the horror game that was at one time to be Kojima’s next project, all over again. Despite Konami’s attempts to erase its existence by removing it from the Playstation Store, P.T., the playable teaser for the cancelled game, can’t be wiped from gamers’ minds that easily, and apparently not from the company’s latest hit, either.

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Tanuki magically disguises self as cat to get food

Japanese raccoon dogs, or tanuki as they’re known over here, are animals with great significance in Japanese folk-lore. Among their many supernatural attributes such as giant scrota and swift speeds, the tanuki are also known for their purported shapeshifting abilities.

And though the above picture clearly dispels the size of their manhood, there appears to be some truth to their art of disguise. As the Twitter user who posted the photo explains, this little guy is actually pretending to be a stray cat so he can get some of the food laid out for him.

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Part of the family – Tokyo Shinto shrine’s blessings for children now available for pets too

Every fall, parents in Japan who have children that are three, five, or seven years old celebrate something called Shichi-Go-San (literally “Seven-Five-Three”). The family heads to a Shinto shrine, where the priest performs a blessing for girls aged three and seven and boys aged five, praying for them to have long and healthy lives.

But since some pet owners will argue that their animal companions are their children, certain shrines now offer Shichi-Go-San blessings for pets, too, some of whom show up wearing delightful pet kimono!

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Cats try and help clean the shower – end up staying to play

When you are a pet owner, you know that sometimes your pets love you so much they follow you around wherever you go. The special bond you have makes the two of you absolutely inseparable, at least until your pet gets distracted and loses interest in whatever you’re doing. But when you actually need to get work done or clean the house, your furball does this magical thing where they have to be involved with the process too.

Well, today was clean the shower day for this cat owner, and you can guess where those furry guys decided to spend their time.

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Unique Japanese household items leave foreigners stumped【Video】

Japan has a plethora of products that are weird even by the standards of many Japanese, like these big booty mouse pads Sir Mix-a-Lot would approve of, cosplay outfits for pets, or photo books dedicated to male nipples. But perhaps some of the country’s most unique products to spend your cash on are just everyday items you can find in most Japanese homes.

Our Japanese site was curious to find out if foreigners could identify some of these “strange” household staples, so they sent a reporter to interview people from different countries on the streets of Tokyo to see what they had to say.

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Have you seen the Studio Ghibli music video for Chage & Aska’s “On Your Mark”?

We’re sure nearly all of our readers have, at the very least, heard of Studio Ghibli. You’ve probably seen a few — or even most — of their films, but we’d be surprised if many have seen everything the company has produced. But don’t take that the wrong way! We’re not questioning anyone’s dedication. It just turns out there are quite a few rare Ghibli works out there in the wild.

For example, “On Your Mark,” a music video for the song of the same name by Chage & Aska, is apparently unknown to quite a few young Japanese anime fans. But what about you? Have you seen it? If not, it’s definitely one of the weirdest (and most interesting) music videos you’re likely to see this week. And if you have seen it, here’s your chance to watch it one more time!

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Japanese ad promoting Miyazaki Prefecture shows how foreign its own dialects can be 【Video】

In an attempt to draw more visitors, Kobayashi City in Japan’s Miyazaki Prefecture has released a video to promote the natural beauty and appeal of the town. The ad features a French man, talking about the quirky yet charming nature of the locals and the beautiful environment the city has to offer. As he speaks, Japanese subtitles appear at the bottom of the screen, allowing those who don’t understand French to know what the man is saying.

But the last line of the ad is throwing many Japanese viewers for a loop, as it dawns on them that the man is not actually speaking French at all, but a local Miyazaki dialect.

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Can you guess the most-consumed vegetable in Japan? This survey reveals the results

Japanese cuisine has a reputation for being super healthy, with its incorporation of nutrition-packed fish and seasonal vegetables. True, the diet of many Japanese today is not at all ideal, but your more traditional Japanese meal still has bragging rights for its healthfulness, and vegetables are still eaten in abundance.

The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare recently released the results of a survey revealing a ranking of the most eaten vegetables in Japan, but what claimed the number one spot? A vegetable you might not even be able to find in your own country!

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We’ll take our kitties to go! Cats hanging out in bags will brighten your day 【Pics】

Everyone knows that cats love boxes. It’s pretty much a universal trait amongst members of the feline persuasion. But it turns out that cats love playing with bags, too! Plastic, paper, whatever, these kitties don’t care, they just want to grab themselves a piece of the action, either by lounging around in bags or by sitting in them as they hang from hooks and doorhandles!

Enjoy this gallery of playful pussycats all bagged up!

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Little Big Planet 3 offers Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain costumes

The official U.S. PlayStation blog revealed on Tuesday that Sony‘s Little Big Planet 3 game is offering a Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain-themed costume pack for the game’s characters. Buyers who purchase the costumes as a complete set will also receive a Box Costume for the character Toggle. The costumes can also be purchased separately.

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How many licks does it take to get to the center of the Earth? We’re about to find out

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Sendai Astronomical Observatory, which was opened in 1955 thanks to generous donations from the citizens of the city of Sendai and other contributors. Traditionally, the 60th anniversary gift is diamonds, and as everyone knows, diamonds are forever.

But don’t we also kind of hope that Earth is forever, too? One of the many items the observatory sells is a lollipop with the image of the earth printed on it. The effect will leave you…earthstruck.

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These giant straw dinosaurs would probably rip any straw man to shreds

If you are a farmer in Japan, there’s a good chance you’re a rice farmer,  so after harvesting all your crop, you end up with a lot of straw. Most farmers will stack the straw together and either dry it out or roll it up to dispose of it. Sometimes you will see them burning it as well because that straw is good for nothing.

Nothing that is, unless you’ve got an art student handy. Enter Amy Goda, an aspiring artist currently studying art in Niigata Prefecture. She has taken the leftover straw after the harvest and has fashioned some pretty awesome straw sculptures that might make you think the land is alive.

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Did video game developer Capcom just give Street Fighter V’s “shockingly ugly” Cammy a face-lift?

The fighting game community is pretty psyched about Street Fighter V. Even though the title isn’t scheduled for release until early next year, developer Capcom has been regularly updating gamers with a series of preview videos highlighting its cast. So far, there’s been a dearth of new characters, but long-time fans of the series have been happy to see the challengers they know and love rendered in the game’s updated art style.

Well, most of them have been happy. A vocal group of dissenters, though, are the disgruntled gamers who’ve been grumbling that Cammy, Street Fighter’s pigtailed pugilist from the U.K., doesn’t have a particularly attractive face in her reveal video (one displeased commenter even went to far as to call the character “shockingly ugly”). But now new images of Cammy have been released, and it looks like she may have gotten a face-lift months ahead of the game’s actual release.

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Large horn growing out of woman’s head in China

The world is a wide and wonderful place, but its also full of hidden dangers and maladies that’d you’d never even expect. I try to watch my blood pressure and limit my starch intake, not for any particular reason. I mean, why wait for starch to be a problem?

I’d like to think I have all my cards in order, but then Liang Xiuzhen of Sichuan, China comes along to rock my world. She has taught me a valuable lesson that no matter how well you prepare for the future, you might still end up with an actual 13-centimeter (5-inch) by 6-centimeter (2-inch) horn growing out of your head.

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Japanese salarymen and OLs make company-wide music video of AKB48’s “Halloween Night” 【Video】

For the past two years AKB48 has asked fans and company staff to submit their own music videos to their newly released singles, and their latest track, “Halloween Night”, is no exception. While the song and official video are fairly typical AKB fare, the fan videos of it are really something to see.

And perhaps the best submitted music video so far belongs to the lovely employees at the Japanese internet advertising firm Cyber Agent. Men and women from every department shake and strut to the AKB Halloween beat, and watching it may cause you to suddenly want to work somewhere else.

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Some reviewers weren’t exactly kind to the first live-action Attack on Titan movie, and the adaptation of creator Hajime Isayama’s tale of brave youths fighting naked giants didn’t capture the hearts and minds of the movie-going public to anywhere near the extent that the smash hit anime and manga have.

But while the first film is looking like a swing and a miss, the live-action Attack on Titan is still getting a second chance, in the form of its sequel, Attack on Titan–End of the World, which hits theaters in Japan on September 19. Will the film, set to conclude the live-action version of the story, spell redemption for director Shinji Higuchi and his cast and crew?

Not in the eyes of one critic, who after watching an advance screening of the film condemned it as “miserably made.”

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Oddly alluring poison mushroom figures with stomach cramps warn us to be careful of what we eat

We’ve documented plenty of the unusual-but-awesome gachapon figures coming out of Japan over the years, but these “poison mushroom” figures might just be the most unusual yet awesome figures we’ve seen to date! Combining the adorableness of tiny mushroom figures with the stomach-rending agony of eating poisonous mushrooms, these Poison Kinoko Plus figures will be right at home on your desk or hiding in your date’s plate of stir fry.

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