Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
The August issue of Kodansha’s Bessatsu Shonen Magazine is announcing on Thursday that Ryōsuke Fuji will adapt Hiroshi Seko’s Attack on Titan: Lost Girls novel into a manga series. The manga will debut in the magazine’s next issue, which Kodansha will publish on August 9. The manga will have a color opening page.
Listen guys, unless you have a huge surplus of pants hangers, Q-tips, dental floss and whatever weird detritus that’s often recommended, a lot of so-called “lifehacks” – those hobo techniques for saving money and/or accomplishing some inane task with “readily available” household objects – are a bit impractical, if they even work at all.
But there’s one, at least, that seems like it could perfectly epitomize the intended convenience of the lifehack: Testing the freshness of eggs by just dropping them into a cup of water. We’ve all got water and a cup on hand and, so long as you’re a sentient human being and not, like, a family dog reading this on your owner’s tablet after you taught yourself English.
But does this egg trick really work? Impressed at having actually found a real, potentially useful lifehack, we took it upon ourselves to test it out. Here’s what we found.
A while back, we took a look at the top 20 anime that fans want to be watching as they leave the mortal realm. But what if it’s not enough to spend the last moment of your life watching your favorite series?
Then maybe what you need is a way to express your love of Japanese animation from beyond the grave…and through the grave, for that matter, with an anime tombstone like the one this craftsman made.
Japan is well-known for its creative flavors when it comes to soda, snacks, and candy. Some are epically delicious. Others not so much. And this latest collaboration between Japanese candy company UHA and Hello Kitty’s Sanrio probably falls into the latter camp.
For those unaware, Sanrio has a wide variety of characters other than Hello Kitty, including KIRIMI-chan, a cute slice of sassy salted salmon. We’re not sure why an anthropomorphic fish fillet was chosen to be made into a UHA Puccho flavor, but it’s already happened so there’s nothing we can do but try it!
To see if this flavor is tasty or trash, we assigned our own brave RocketNews24 reporter P.K. Sanjun to try a few pieces for posterity. Does he savor the salty salmon goodness or does he spit it out? Read on to find out!
Here at RocketNews24, two of the things we love most are delicious foods in our bellies and cash in our wallets. Unfortunately, those two things don’t always go hand-in-hand, especially in the Michelin star-studded culinary landscape of Tokyo.
But in a city as big as Tokyo, you can find just about anything with a little searching. Even if you’re totally bereft of folding money, you can still get a great meal in Japan’s capital, and you don’t have to settle for eating at a fast food chain either. On the menu today: a nine-piece tempura meal in the heart of Tokyo for less than 1,000 yen (US$8).
We’ve spoken a little before about how Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo has (arguably) kind of a dorky image in Japan. But you can’t fault the brand’s dedication to functional fashion, as well as their market savvy. By bringing out a range of Muslim-appropriate clothing for its stores in Singapore and Malaysia, Uniqlo has demonstrated once again why they should be everyone’s go-to place for stocking up on wardrobe essentials.
Let’s check out the new range!
The SPCA has taught me that dogs can technically drive. But that doesn’t mean we should be handing them the keys and making them designated driver for Katy’s hen do. I mean, besides the fact they don’t even have thumbs, lovably distractable dogs are likely to veer off the road in pursuit of squirrels, other dogs’ butts, a weird shadow and pretty much anything they can put in their mouths. They’re clearly a hazard to other drivers.
And that’s why the police in Hanoi are looking for a man filmed speeding down the road at night letting his dog steer the bike.
Soaring summer temperatures can bring more dangers than sunburn and heatstroke. In Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province, TVs, computers and fans simultaneously caught on fire in 50 apartments when the voltage of the electrical supply suddenly surged above the standard level.
Back in April we saw legendary Japanese singer Gackt face discrimination while abroad in France. He managed to handle a frustrating situation with class, and his incident sparked a conversation online about racial discrimination.
Emiko Kaminuma, a well-known Japanese media personality, found herself in a similar spot while in France. She faced discrimination in a Paris restaurant, and she has been making a huge deal about it on her TV shows. However, her story seems to be a little different from Gackt’s….
Even if you know nothing about classical art, there’s a good chance you’ve at least seen photos of the Venus de Milo, the Greek statue of a lovely woman without arms. With a height of 203 centimeters (6 feet, 8 inches), the statue is larger than life in every sense of the phrase, save her missing limbs. What happened to her appendages remains a mystery to this day, and, we imagine, it will likely continue to be that way for approximately forever.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t imagine what the sculpture looked like! And thanks to FREEing, a Kanagawa-based company, we won’t even have to stretch our imaginations too much, as they’re producing a “Venus de Milo” figure…with arms!
The brand-new Death Note TV drama just made its debut, and it left us feeling a little lukewarm, what with its rushed pacing and less-than-compelling changes from the manga and anime source material. Still, we probably shouldn’t be too harsh in our criticisms. After all, at just one episode in, there’s still plenty of time for the newest live-action adaptation to turn it around and deliver a portion of the thrills the original Death Note did.
Plus, we’d like to stay on the good side of the series’ death gods, since this creepy photo has us worried that maybe they can manifest in real life, and might even be watching us right now.
Three more years…
For much of my life I’ve been waiting for this moment. Even throughout my youth I glanced at the hairlines of relatives and wondered what would become of me. At the same time I figured medical science would have to have developed something by the time my hair would start falling out.
However, as I entered my thirties and began to look more and more like an octopus was attacking me when my hair got wet, there still seemed to be no true cure for baldness on the horizon. They were out there cloning sheep and growing ears on the backs of mice, but they still couldn’t give me a little action up top.
And just as I raised my razor to go the Bruce Willis route, a ray of hope shone on my news feed. It said that the cure to baldness actually lies inside me and my delicious stem cells, and that the key to unlocking it would be available in just three more years…
Are traditional bars a little too bland for you? Do you try to strike up conversations about anime with your fellow drink enthusiasts, only to get weird looks and asked to leave?
Well then you should check out Otarabo the anime bar! Not only does it have a large assortment of alcoholic beverages to enjoy, but it’s packed to the rafters with anime posters, figures, and toys. And best of all if you want to argue about Goku vs. Vegeta, or which Love Live! girl is the cutest, you’ll have plenty of inebriated otaku friends to discuss with.
When people think of Japan, they often think of towering buildings, tons of traffic, and commuters being packed in trains like sardines into cans. But you’ll find that if you travel outside of the city center, Japan also has a plenty of nature and wildlife to be enjoyed as well.
One of the more well-known sights to be seen are herds of wild deer found in areas like Nara Park and Miyajima. Without any predators or hunters to worry about, the deer can breed freely and herd numbers can get quite high. Overpopulation can become a problem, not just for farmers and people living in the area, but for the surrounding wildlife as well. So what can be done when wild deer numbers get out of hand? Well one solution could be to do as Shiga Prefecture did, and cook up some special venison curry.
Team spirit is everything in Japan. Whether it’s your workmates agreeing to a nomikai with the boss for the umpteenth time or a troupe of Sailor Moon schoolgirls fighting undercover to save the planet, group mentality is always at work, with everyone striving for success under pressure and looking for ways to please everybody else whenever they can.
Now that the Sailor Moon crew are turning 20, they’re reaching out to a number of teams to help share in the celebrations. The latest group to join them is a company known for combining two of our favourite things: pendants and sweet, sweet chocolate. Add Sailor Moon to the mix and you’ve got the release of the millennium: 10 senshi-inspired designs in five different colours that will retail for 120 yen each (US$0.98)!
Few could have imagined that a bearded man dressed in a girl’s school uniform would prove to be big a hit. Even fewer perhaps would have guessed that putting said individual in a J-pop group alongside a couple of Japanese teens would be something people would actually want to watch, but watch they do, and LADYBABY is currently taking Japan by storm.
In the music video for their first upcoming single release, “Tokyo Manju”, Japan’s most curious trio takes to the streets of Tokyo to show you all the wonderful things we love about Japanese culture.
When Gackt said the Cool Japan campaign needed a revamp, I don’t think this is quite what he had in mind…
Back in April, we brought to you the news that an all new Dragon Ball anime series was going to start airing on TV in July. Well, the day Dragon Ball fans have eagerly been waiting for finally arrived.
The very first episode of the new series, titled Dragon Ball Super, was broadcast last Sunday, and of course, we checked it out to witness the start of Goku’s new adventures. Dragon Ball fans, get ready for a brand new chapter in the timeless saga that has become a manga and anime classic around the world!
One day in college, my business operations management professor was talking about Japanese automaker Toyota, and about the huge impact of its production processes and corporate culture on the business world. “Toyota owes much of its success to its kaizen system,” he told us, and while I largely agreed with what he was saying, I didn’t really agree with how he was saying it.
See, while Toyota’s ideal of continually looking for better, more efficient ways of handling tasks is nifty and all, there’s nothing particularly special about the word kaizen, which just means “improvement.” Even as someone who’s spent most of his life looking for excuses to speak Japanese, insisting on using the word kaizen, when otherwise speaking English, has always seemed a little odd to me.
Oddly enough, though, right now there’s probably a Toyota employee sitting at his desk and scratching his head over one of his Japanese coworker’s penchant for using foreign loanwords, many of which might be on this list of the top 10 commonly used English business terms that Japanese businessmen wish their colleagues would use Japanese for.
By many criteria, Japan’s trains are just about perfect. They’re clean, safe, reasonably priced, and almost always on time down to the exact minute.
It’s hard to find a better way to get from Point A to Point B, as long as you’ve got a book to read, music to listen to, or smartphone to play with. Actually, you might not even need something to pass the time with, since some train operators recently made their service not only punctual and reliable, but exciting, too, as they turned their trains into a wrestling ring and full-on dance club.
Those who’ve tried Lotte’s Bikkuriman love it for two reasons: beacuase it’s a cheap but delicious waffle peanut and chocolate snack, and, more importantly, because of the sweet stickers that come with it. These collectible stickers featured devils, angels and protectors that kids could trade and swap to assemble the whole set. What made them unique at the time was that there were also rare stickers that had a sparkly holographic design which made them more valuable to collectors.
This new collaboration between Star Wars and Bikkuriman is definitely desirable, but is it something that is worth your money? Which characters show up and which ones are shiny? No need to worry because we bought the whole set and we are definitely impressed.
Japan now has a special desk for people who work at home with a pet cat[Photos]
Famous Tokyo cherry blossom spot installs view-blocking screens to fight overcrowding[Video]
Rumors say this is Japan’s very best McDonald’s branch, but what makes it special?[Taste test]
Final Fantasy invites you to adventure in Fukushima with Fukushima Fantasy Chocobo fun[Video]
Uniqlo announces new T-shirts for One Piece, Naruto and more for manga publisher’s 100th birthday
Picturesque Tokyo park plays host to millions of flowers and soap bubbles this spring
Totoro and Calcifer become little light-up lanterns for Ghibli-style excursions or at-home decor
How to cook miso soup (the right way) in a few simple steps【RocketKitchen】
Japanese kindness restores our faith in humanity after a highway bus accident in Tokyo
Akashiyaki: A regional dumpling with a fascinating backstoryJapan now has a special desk for people who work at home with a pet cat[Photos]Uniqlo announces new T-shirts for One Piece, Naruto and more for manga publisher’s 100th birthday
Krispy Kreme releases Super Mario doughnuts in Japan for a limited time
7-Eleven Japan releases a crazy new viral sandwich: Chocolate Sprinkles and Whipped Cream
Japan now has a “for foreign tourists only” Mt. Fuji sightseeing train[Video]Famous Tokyo cherry blossom spot installs view-blocking screens to fight overcrowding[Video]
Starbucks Japan releases new My Fruit³ Frappuccino at only 34 stores around the country
Studio Ghibli releases the My Neighbour Totoro tea caddy, with a magical self-closing lid
Create a tiny Ghibli anime world on your bookshelf with new miniature papercraft art kits
Stunning central Japan wisteria festival is like a purple fantasy straight out of a Ghibli movie
Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura cherry blossom collection for hanami season 2026Japan now has a special desk for people who work at home with a pet cat[Photos]
Train station platform ramen store closes its doors on half a century of history in TokyoStarbucks Japan releases new My Fruit³ Frappuccino at only 34 stores around the country
Studio Ghibli releases Catbus pullback keychain that runs like the anime character
Japanese onsen egg maker from 100-yen store Daiso needs to be on your shopping listUniqlo announces new T-shirts for One Piece, Naruto and more for manga publisher’s 100th birthday
Nine great places to see spring flowers in Japan, as chosen by travelers (with almost no sakura)Krispy Kreme releases Super Mario doughnuts in Japan for a limited time
Cherry blossoms begin blooming in Japan with record-early starts for sakura season
Survey asks foreign tourists what bothered them in Japan, more than half gave same answer
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
We deeply regret going into this tunnel on our walk in the mountains of Japan
Studio Ghibli releases Kodama forest spirits from Princess Mononoke to light up your home
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
No more using real katana for tourism activities, Japan’s National Police Agency says
Picturesque Tokyo park plays host to millions of flowers and soap bubbles this spring
Totoro and Calcifer become little light-up lanterns for Ghibli-style excursions or at-home decor
How to cook miso soup (the right way) in a few simple steps【RocketKitchen】
Japanese kindness restores our faith in humanity after a highway bus accident in Tokyo
Akashiyaki: A regional dumpling with a fascinating backstory
How to find a lost cat: Unique method from Japan proves to be surprisingly effective
Mr. Sato gets surprised with the Mr. Sato Car for his birthday
Power up like Godzilla with new limited-edition Godzilla Energy Drink
This upcycled Kyoto train cafe is the ultimate kawaii spring experience
Japan Railway Company to end awesome Evangelion Shinkansen service soon, makes us all sad
Japan’s suicides fall to lowest recorded number ever, but one demographic hits all-time high
Starbucks Japan adds new Sencha Matcha Tea Frappuccino to its menu, but only at 28 locations
Playing Switch 2 games with just one hand is possible thanks to Japanese peripheral maker