Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
After the initial dust settles on the scene of a tragedy there comes the more protracted, but often less news-worthy, battle for answers and accountability. From the outset Korean authorities have come under fire from the public as well as government officials who claim that the immediate response to the incident was not good enough, and the accusations of incompetence continue to mount.
Well, the public has already come forward and said that Attack on Titan‘s abrasive, but secretly caring Levi is one the most dateable anime characters of all time (the public also said they love boobs… a lot), so it’s no surprise that Levi is getting the star treatment even outside of anime circles.
On June 27, Levi graced the cover of the popular women’s magazine, FRaU, for the magazine’s book and manga special edition that included a manga awards page – several of which, no doubt, Levi is now the proud owner of.
Artist and Attack on Titan creator Hajime Isayama drew the cover especially for the issue, which features Levi reclining in a fancy office chair, with a manga and a pair of classy loafers; a look the youthful hero probably doesn’t get to sport too often in the world of Attack on Titan.
Besides great sushi, great customer service and ubiquitous vending machines, another great thing about living in Japan is the relatively low crime rate there. Although the country certainly has its criminals (including very cute and cuddly ones), visitors, tourists and expats in Japan routinely extol how Japanese culture has created a society where even a wallet full of cash will be returned to its owner most of the time. After hearing about Japan’s reputation for being an honest, rule-abiding country, a Saudi Arabian TV show created a social experiment to see what would happen when they left a very conspicuous wallet on the busy streets of Tokyo.
After spending a year in college studying in Tokyo, I moved back to Los Angeles for about two years before coming back to Japan for work. Having always prided myself on my familiarity with Japanese slang (partly to distract myself from my terrible penmanship when writing kanji characters), I was surprised to find out how many new terms had sprung up in just the 22 months I’d been away.
At the same time, it turned out that a few of the vocabulary words I’d picked up while studying abroad had since passed their expiration dates and become obsolete. This wasn’t a one-time transition, either, as language is constantly evolving, and today we bring you a list of eight words that’ll at best make you sound like a senior citizen, and at worst simply won’t be understood by anyone under the age of 25.
Although most manga artists have a team of assistants backing them up, compared to live-action films, comics allow for a much more direct transmission of the creator’s vision. Movie and TV programming are by nature a collaborative effort, and you can’t really watch a scene go from concept to finished version in real-time.
With manga, though, you can give a talented artist a pen, and within minutes see him or her transform the emptiness of a blank sheet of paper into a character that will inspire and entertain countless fans, like in this video featuring some of Japan’s most popular manga artists and characters.
Filmmakers Dianne Fukami and Debra Nakatomi are sansei (third-generation Japanese Americans) from California who met while serving on the 2009 Japanese American Leadership Delegation, a cross-cultural program sponsored by the U.S.-Japan Council. When the triple tragedy of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster hit the northeastern region of Japan on March 11, 2011, Fukami and Nakatomi decided to make a documentary that told the stories of survivors.
They met a woman who managed to recover her old kimono and makes dolls out of the fabric; a struggling organic farmer in Fukushima; a cafe owner who cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner to refugees in a shelter during the first six months after the disaster; and mothers in Fukushima who commute to a kindergarten an hour away so that their children can play outside.
Truth be told, I’ve never been a huge fan of video game speed runs. All too often, recordings show players exploiting a game’s code to the point that it hardly seems like they’re playing the game any more, taking all the fun (and some would argue genuine skill) out of it.
But this new record performed by a gamer known only as ‘Blubber’ is nothing short of spectacular and deserves the attention of anyone who ever picked up an NES controller during their childhood.
As the rainy season in Japan begins to wind down and we head into the sweet spot of midsummer, more and more people are hitting the beach and working on their tans. For followers of a certain fashion aesthetic, there’s nothing more appealing than a beautifully bronzed body, which holds true whether we’re talking about men, women, or even video game consoles, it seems.
Even if you’re more of a dog person, there’s no denying that neko-mimi have a cuteness all of their own. Knowing this, the creative folks over at Axent Wear, an independent startup now just weeks away from launching a Kickstarter campaign, are hoping to bring cat ears into consumers’ lives in a way that is both cute and functional with a product that’s sure to put a smile on your face and spring in your step.
Introducing: Axent Wear cat-ear headphones.
Video game and anime theme covers are a dime a dozen, so how do you know which ones are worth your time? Your friendly, neighborhood RocketNews24 writers will tell you! And what we are telling you is, this YouTuber has put out a ton of videos covering classic video game themes and current hits, and he is criminally under-appreciated. Sit back, turn your dial to 11 and enjoy some covers brought to you on classical and acoustic guitars!
You may be surprised to hear this, but Japanese manga is thriving in Spain. Look no further than massive conventions such as Madrid’s Expomanga and Barcelona’s Salón del Manga, where fans can celebrate their favorite series and characters with other like-minded people. So what are some of the factors that contribute to manga’s success in España?
The folks at Japanese website Niconico News recently caught up with David Hernando, the Editorial Editor of Planeta DeAgostini Comics, which is a Spanish-Italian publisher that distributes many beloved Japanese manga series throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Mr. Hernando graciously shed some light on the current market for manga in Spain in an exclusive interview with them, and the following piece will attempt to summarize some of his key points, along with some other related topics we have taken notice of.
We would love to hear the thoughts of our readers residing in Spain as well, so please leave your comments at the end of the post!
Luffy’s Gomu-gomu powers have gotten him into quite a few awkwardly shaped situations. Being made of rubber means that you can become pretty malleable when you’re in tight space, but does that make it any more comfortable? Well, Bandai’s latest line of gashapon toys delve into that idea, not just for Luffy, but for several other members of the Straw Hat crew. Presenting, the One Piece Hasamare Straps!
When it comes to cuisine from the United States, there’s just nothing like jambalaya. And you definitely don’t need to be from the South to enjoy it–who could say no to a hot plate of home-cooked jambalaya? Or, if you’re in Japan, a Denny’s cooked plate of jambalaya? Not us, that’s for sure.
But what about a microwaved cardboard cup of jambalaya? Well, we might need a minute to think about that one…
If there’s anything Fifty Shades of Grey has taught us, it’s that SM isn’t quite as underground as some might think. Of course, it’s also showed us what bad writing looks like, but mostly it’s the SM thing. Whether this mainstreaming of SM will prove to be a fad like Kabalah in Hollywood, or a long-term change, is still unclear, but there’s no doubting that a lot more people have come to appreciate a bit of domination in their lives.
Of course, just because you like domination in your personal life doesn’t mean you necessarily want it from your boss, Secretary and Be My Slave notwithstanding. In fact, “power harassment” has become a bit of a hot topic in Japan, along with sexual harassment. It’s gotten enough attention to warrant a public education campaign, complete with posters for the workplace. One poster in particular has been getting a lot of attention on Twitter…though not exactly for the reason you might expect.
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Ever since 2005, the Japanese government has mandated that at least 30 percent of a tobacco product’s warning label contain a written warning about the hazards of smoking. Even prior to that in 1990, there was a mandatory warning written along the side of packs which read, “Warning: too much smoking is a risk to your health.”
In fact we have to go way back to before 1972 until we can find Japanese cigarettes without a warning label. One such pack is currently under the virtual hammer of Yahoo! Japan Auction with bids starting at 30,000,000 yen (US$296,000). Appropriately, the name of this brand of cigarettes is Hope.
While many people love the Pokémon video game series for its addicting gameplay, there is no denying the popularity of the hundreds of cute characters featured in the famous Nintendo franchise. Earlier this month in Japan, the new Nintendo DS game Pokémon Art Academy was released and is already inspiring Japanese amateur artists to create their own Pokémon masterpieces. But some on Twitter recently have discovered how the video game may be just a little bit too easy on these virtual artists and began sharing some of their very “special” artwork.
You may recall that we introduced a very unique and delicate cake in one of our articles earlier this month — the mizu shingen mochi, which looks like a huge drop of water magically suspended in solid form. Seeing how the cake seemed to have received a good deal of attention from Japanese internet users and readers of our English site as well, we decided we needed to try the cake ourselves, and promptly sent one of our Japanese reporters to the shop in Yamanashi Prefecture where they served the surreal-looking mizu shingen mochi. So, how did the “water cake” actually look and taste?
Sushi was once a strange delicacy confined to the shores of Japan. Thanks to its health benefits, the humble sushi has since travelled the world, popping up in all sorts of remote and obscure locations from Iceland to the Middle East.
Now sushi is on the move again, this time coming with you on your travels and hugging your luggage in the form of clever suitcase covers. With four designs to choose from, baggage claim carousels are set to look like giant sushi train conveyor belts this summer!
It’s amazing how memory fades over time. Trying to recollect my favorite childhood programs is often a foggy mess. For example, I remember one cartoon where the good guys drove robot cars with arms and the bad guys were these weird plant cars. For the life of me I can’t remember the name of that show in spite of the deep-rooted hatred of trees and vegetables it instilled in me.
Shows like that were great but as they say, the true classics are the ones that stand the test of time. Surely Gundam, arguably the most famous giant robot anime, is among that class, right? Magazine R25 suggests it might not be. Despite Mobile Suit Gundam’s long legacy of series, R25 claims that 51 percent of Japanese men in their twenties who were surveyed said they “do not know Gundam.” Read More
Life is not fair. For all the greatness and beauty in the world, there’s just as much pain and suffering. This is a story that manages to weave both of those elements together–and is guaranteed to leave you crying like a baby.
Earlier this month in the Philippines, a 29-year-old man married the woman he was in love with, creating a family with her and their 2-year-old daughter. Which in and of itself is a nice story and not at all tragic. The fact that the wedding took place in a hospital where the young man died only a few hours later is.
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
Hamster abandoned at Tokyo ramen restaurant gets new home
Randomly running into a great sushi lunch like this is one of the best things about eating in Tokyo
The oldest tunnel in Japan is believed to be haunted, and strange things happen when we go there
Our reporter takes her 71-year-old mother to a visual kei concert for the first time
Studio Ghibli glasses cases let anime characters keep an eye on your spectacles
Starbucks reopens at Shibuya Scramble Crossing with new look and design concept
Beautiful Sailor Moon manhole cover coasters being given out for free by Tokyo tourist centerMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in TokyoMore foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last monthStarbucks reopens at Shibuya Scramble Crossing with new look and design concept
Beautiful new Final Fantasy T-shirt collection on the way from Uniqlo【Photos】
Is the new Shinkansen Train Desk ticket worth it?
Foreign English teachers in Japan pick their favorite Japanese-language phrases【Survey】All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
Japanese convenience store packs a whole bento into an onigiri rice ball
We try out “Chan Ramen”, an underground type of ramen popular in the ramen communityMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Studio Ghibli releases Kiki’s Delivery Service chocolate cake pouches in Japan
Japan’s bone-breaking and record-breaking roller coaster is permanently shutting down
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese things
Studio Ghibli unveils Mother’s Day gift set that captures the love in My Neighbour Totoro
Foreign passenger shoves conductor on one of the last full runs for Japan’s Thunderbird train
Domino’s Japan now sells…pizza ears?
New Japanese KitKat flavour stars Sanrio characters, including Hello Kitty
Kyoto creates new for-tourist buses to address overtourism with higher prices, faster rides
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitelyMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappoint
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
The oldest tunnel in Japan is believed to be haunted, and strange things happen when we go there
Our reporter takes her 71-year-old mother to a visual kei concert for the first time
Studio Ghibli glasses cases let anime characters keep an eye on your spectacles
Starbucks reopens at Shibuya Scramble Crossing with new look and design concept
Beautiful Sailor Moon manhole cover coasters being given out for free by Tokyo tourist center
Dogs now allowed on Catbus! Ghibli Park vehicles revise service animal policy
We played RESIDENT EVII, aka Bioha7ard, aka Resident Evil 7, at Tokyo Game Show
“Half-naked men only in loincloths” drum battle returns to Hida festival for first time in five years
A visit to the best UFO catcher arcade in the universe!
10 awesome ice creams available from convenience stores in Japan
Fried sandwiches arrive in Tokyo, become hot topic on social media
Time to vote for your favourite in Japan’s Sanrio Character Curry Election
New Japanese Kit Kat flavour on its way, as finalists from international voting announced
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in Tokyo