Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
We’ve seen many Studio Ghibli tributes from around the world–some in the form of still artwork, and others in even more ambitious video formats. Today, we’d like to share another fantastic tribute by a South Korean artist that’s sure to please anyone with an eye for some clean graphic design!
At first glance, it looks like a trailer for a new movie or even a documentary about the pressures of beauty, popularity and social media. But in what is one of the most elaborate video commercials we’ve come across in a while, one beauty clinic in Thailand has gone to extreme lengths to advertise its services. Playing on the vulnerability of today’s millennials and modern societal pressures of beauty, they have produced a 14-minute short film which is as compelling as it is a disturbing.
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Kennin-ji is one of Japan’s most historic landmarks. Founded in 1202, it’s the oldest Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto and its founding monk, Eisai, is credited with introducing the philosophy of zen to Japan. To celebrate the temple’s 800th anniversary in 2002, a pair of dragons were painted inside the Dharma Hall, with instructions from the Abbott that they be “rampaging across the ceiling”.
The beauty and power of these dragons has inspired an experienced collector to commission a timepiece featuring the very same artwork, calling on the expertise of four of the very best master craftsmen in the business to come together in what’s being called the “Kennin-ji Master’s Project”. Helmed by acclaimed English watchmaker Peter Speake-Marin, experts are saying this is one of the most exquisite and ornate watches ever made in the history of the craft.
Whether rightfully or not, Chinese products are much maligned for their supposed lack of quality. Even the Chinese people themselves are often critical of their own country’s products, criticizing everything from Chinese news to rice cookers.
But are they really that bad? Our Japanese reporter Meg recently went on a trip to China and brought back a Chinese rice cooker to test it out. She had a couple of surprises along the way, involving everything from getting the rice cooker to even work, to the taste of the final product, so read on to see how it all turned out!
Calbee’s Jagariko is among the tastiest snacks in Japan, if you ask us. The little cups of potato sticks come in a variety of flavors, including cheese, butter, and salad. There are also some seasonal flavors, like yuzu-shio, or yuzu and salt, available now! If you haven’t tried Jagariko yet, this is definitely a great introduction to one of the best snacks in Japan!
Not too long ago, we reported on Pico Cassette, a new device which will allow you to play retro video games on your smartphone via a cartridge which you plug into the headphone jack.
Since we absolutely love all kinds of gadgetry here at RocketNews24, and since we’re also big retro gaming nerds, we made a point to visit Pico Cassette’s booth at this year’s Tokyo Game Show in order to try it out for ourselves!
Every country has its own set of rules and customs that visitors may not initially be aware of. To meet the demands of the growing tourism industry, many governments have opted to implement multi-lingual signs and websites. Sometimes, however, the translations cause much more confusion than they prevent, like with this list of jobs foreigners aren’t allowed to do in Thailand.
Recently a similar goof occurred in India, this time due to some curiously mistranslated signage posted inside the Chennai International Airport, leaving visitors both amused and confused.
SoftBank’s emotional robot Pepper could be considered a hit in Japan ,with the first wave of 1,000 bots selling out in a minute and another 1,000 ready to move at the end of this month. But is Pepper’s popularity peculiar to purely people in one part of the Pacific? Perhaps.
We may soon find out according to a report in MIT Technology Review. One of their writers visited Aldebaran Robotics, the company which made Pepper along with SoftBank, and learned that an American Pepper is already well into development and has been given a significant attitude adjustment of the smart-ass kind to better fit in there.
In Japan, going on a trip often means you’ll be coming back with about twice as much luggage as you left with, as you are almost always expected to bring back souvenirs for your friends, family, coworkers, teachers, neighbors…pretty much everyone you’ll run into at some point after returning from your trip, even if it’s just a weekend getaway.
The plus side of this? Pretty much anywhere you go in the country, you can find local treats available only in that specific area, and sometimes also limited to the seasons as well. Tokyo is no exception, and today we’re going to be taking a look at some rare, special eats that you’ll only find within the terminals of Haneda Airport.
You can find canned coffee almost anywhere in Japan. First invented and introduced to the Japanese market in 1969, canned coffee sales really started taking off in the 1980s. Admittedly my first canned coffee experience left me wondering what all the hype was about, but now, perhaps as a result of better production methods or acquiring a taste for it after living here so long, I have to admit nothing beats the satisfaction you feel sipping on a warm can of coffee from the vending machine just as the weather starts getting chilly.
Of course, when it comes to coffee, many people think of Italy. Along with pasta and pizza, coffee is a huge part of Italian food culture. In fact, the country has over 160,000 small cafes serving coffee, drinks, and light eats from morning to evening. So how exactly would Japanese canned coffee fare with Italian locals with a refined taste for excellent coffee? RocketNews24 decided it was worth making the trip over to ask.
Even if you haven’t been with us for very long, it’s not hard to see that we here at RocketNews24 love cats. Big, small, fit, fat, even stretchy, cats of all shapes and sizes win our hearts! We even love them when they’re wreaking havoc on small towns of people, like the devilish little cutie in this feline remake of a man versus monster flick…
While sniffing out the most interesting things on offer at this year’s Tokyo Game Show 2015, we came across one game that was making quite a splash with its bizarre theme and crazy advertising. How could RocketNews24 resist talking to the guy in a bright yellow bodysuit with a poo hat on his head?!
I took the opportunity to talk with Dice Creative, the developers of new poo-themed mobile game PooPride, and I was impressed by just how much passion and excitement they have for excrement.
Idol singers exist in an extremely specialized, and often contradictory, corner of the already specialized Japanese pop music industry. Successful idols are expected to walk the fine line between having a polished, attractive appearance and an approachable, unassuming aura. Even more ironic is that while their songs’ lyrics are often focused on love and devotion, it’s practically unheard of for an active idol to openly be in a romantic relationship.
Every now and again, though, word gets out that an idol secretly has a boyfriend, or had an illicit liaison with a guy. The revelation is usually followed by a solemn apology to fans, and often the offending member being removed from the group. But this time the story of an idol’s amorous activities coming to light has something we’ve never heard about before: a court-ordered fine equivalent to several thousand dollars for breach of contract.
September in Japan is the bridge between summer and autumn, with warm humid days mixed in with cool nights and passing typhoons dumping some of the year’s highest amounts of rainfall around the country.
With the rain set to continue, umbrella sales are in full swing at the moment, and some of the best ones here are simply magic. They won’t send you flying through the air like Mary Poppins, but they will reveal hidden secrets when the rain begins to fall!
The Buddhist statues of Japan come in a wide variety of forms, representing the various manifestations and aspects of Buddhism and its many sects. Of all the iconic figures that can be found around the country, perhaps the grooviest are the statues of Amida with a giant afro!
Dubbed the “Afro Buddha,” this statue stored at Todaiji in Nara is also rarely available public viewing — it’s usually only on display for one day a year! But thanks to special circumstances, it is on display from now until October 18. If you’re looking for the funkiest Buddha in Japan, now’s your chance to see him!
We all need cool smartphone covers, right? Well, these might be the perfect phone accessory if you’re a fan of the hugely popular Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. Yes, these futuristic-looking items are smartphone cases made in the image of Evangelion machines, and what fan wouldn’t want a bit of Eva armor protecting their phone?
As the graphics in video games have become increasingly sophisticated, a new and unexpected expense has surfaced for design teams hoping to make their game’s environments as realistic as possible: the so-called “location hunt.”
While in the good ol’ days of pixel graphics, design teams could just look at some photographs or even paintings of real-world locations for inspiration, modern gaming’s open, 3-D worlds demand level and object design so advanced that it becomes a near-necessity for teams to travel to locales that closely resemble the digital worlds they’re hoping to create, getting actual eyes on, say, that volcanic mountain they plan to have the player venture through, or checking out the minute curves and angles of some military hardware they plan on dropping into the game.
Ironically, though, while the “location hunt” is still considered work, outside of the unlucky design team that has to go inside of a volcano for that epic RPG boss fight or something, these excursions can actually end up looking suspiciously like a vacation. Just ask the Final Fantasy XV design team, who recently posted a YouTube video of their location hunt.
Carbs have long gotten a bad rap for their supposed “unhealthiness”, which in turn has spurred a number of fad diets, from the Atkin’s to the gluten-free, that urge their followers to shun the grains. But most nutritionists will still argue that, unless you have specific allergies, your body needs carbohydrates to function at its best.
Of course, as with all things, moderation is the key. But sometimes it’s okay to give yourself a little treat, and what could be better than a big old bowl of all of the carbs. We’re talking rice, pasta, ramen, and bread combined together in one heavenly bowl. Couldn’t get any better than that. Or, you may be saying to yourself, it couldn’t get any worse. Either way, we decided to give it a try and find out!
University means a lot of things to people, but most of us have the same initial thought when we receive that glorious acceptance letter: FREEDOM! You are rid of your parents, can ignore those pesky siblings and finally carve out your own space in the world. You get to experience all sorts of the highs and lows, like living on your own for the first time, cooking for yourself and being the only one who cares if you make it to class.
All the responsibility lies with the student; university is the time for coming of age and shaping the adult that you will be. Recently though, Japanese parents have become increasingly vocal about their concerns for their children and the fact that there are not many support systems in place to give the parents some peace of mind. Well, as it turns out, the universities are listening and bowing to parents’ wishes.
Solo travel in Japan: Hidden beer garden in Tokyo is a haven for single visitors
Studio Ghibli unveils new anime calendars and diary planners for 2027
Family Mart releases new Human Made Cup Noodle in Japan, with freebies for Nigo fans
Hobonichi unveils new 2027 planners, diaries and stationery with One Piece, Suica Penguin, Hello Kitty and a must-buy Mini Techo
Janken Kebab: Win at rock-paper-scissors and get extra fillings at this fun Japanese kebab shop
Family Mart joins forces with legendary sumo wrestler Chiyonofuji for new Convenience Wear collection
Is Tokyo’s Odaiba, once one of its trendiest neighborhoods, becoming a ghost town? [Photos]
Mister Donut releases new doughnuts that look and taste like Japanese sweet potatoes
Japan’s final Penguin Suica train cards have already shipped, and when they’re gone, they’re gone
This Japanese 7-Eleven has the most expensive drinks, and item, we’ve even seen at the chainJapan’s final Penguin Suica train cards have already shipped, and when they’re gone, they’re gone
Japan approves foreign resident visa renewal fee increases of up to 967 percent, starts soon
Japan tripled its departure tax to fund tourism but is using the money on cherry blossoms and bearsStudio Ghibli unveils new anime calendars and diary planners for 2027
Farewell Final Ceremony announced for Tokyo’s life-size Gundam statue, will stream live
Nike x One Piece collection brings Devil Fruits to sneakers and streetwear in JapanHobonichi unveils new 2027 planners, diaries and stationery with One Piece, Suica Penguin, Hello Kitty and a must-buy Mini Techo
We recommend not buying one pack of Japan’s new convenience store corn soup-flavor fried chicken
Police in Japan looking for who’s responsible for dumping 80 loaves of bread on side of road [Video]
Nephew of Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki serves up Totoro Shaved Ice in Tokyo
12-year-old British girl who went missing in Tokyo found safe after visiting anime sites around Yokohama
7-year-old boy left behind on Mt. Fuji by his own dad
Air-conditioned dress shirts arrive in Japan to save working professionals from sweltering heatJapan’s final Penguin Suica train cards have already shipped, and when they’re gone, they’re gone
Sushi Bus: Japan’s first conveyor-belt bus lets you eat sushi while sightseeing around Tokyo
Pokémon Center Online designates first Pokémon items that will require Japanese ID card to buy
Japanese toilet aims to attract foreign tourists but not everybody is happy about it
Tokyo’s newest viral dessert is like a Japanese parfait inside a bread bun [Taste test]
New Japanese vending machine at Shinkansen station sells cups of ice on platform
Study finds hundreds of people in Indonesia legally named after Naruto, Inuyasha, other anime stars
Japan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Studio Ghibli has a new anime out, and there’s only one place in the world where you can see it
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Tokyo subway installing new ticket gates that don’t accept payment through Suica or other IC cards
Japanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroad
Salomon releases Japan-exclusive Mt. Fuji hiking gear that doubles as an amazing souvenir
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
Family Mart joins forces with legendary sumo wrestler Chiyonofuji for new Convenience Wear collection
Is Tokyo’s Odaiba, once one of its trendiest neighborhoods, becoming a ghost town? [Photos]
Mister Donut releases new doughnuts that look and taste like Japanese sweet potatoes
Japan’s final Penguin Suica train cards have already shipped, and when they’re gone, they’re gone
This Japanese 7-Eleven has the most expensive drinks, and item, we’ve even seen at the chain
Hikaru Utada sings new song in Shinkansen commercial for Japan’s Supreme Class cabins
Farewell Final Ceremony announced for Tokyo’s life-size Gundam statue, will stream live
Anime and Hollywood movies cross over in new Universal Studios Japan merch collection
Foreign travelers arrested in Japan following smash-and-grab robbery in Tokyo shopping mall
Tokyo’s Haneda Airport opens new Terminal 1 North Satellite next month
Mos Burger skips tsukimi burgers, crafts moon-viewing focaccia sausage sandwiches instead
Amid foreign sex tourist rise, Japanese government considering outlawing paying for prostitution
Japan approves foreign resident visa renewal fee increases of up to 967 percent, starts soon
Nonstop flights from U.S. to Okinawa return after 54 years, making travel faster than before