Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
As you may have noticed, Japan has pretty much mastered the art of sprucing up food. We’ve already seen a plethora of tools to create bear-shaped rice or smiley face sausages, but we’re particularly excited about a certain product we just discovered up north in Hokkaido. They’re called “message kombu” and the heartfelt messages made out of seaweed are sure to put a smile on anyone’s face.
Ohhh I can feel it. It’s that time again: time to piss experienced players of the Tekken franchise off by mashing buttons wildly and winning! This will be the seventh time I have done it, and I’ve become exceedingly efficient at it.
That’s right Tekken 7 is about to hit game centers across Japan and to get people into the fighting spirit Bandai Namco Games has uploaded the game’s opening movie to YouTube. Let’s watch!
Last week, we gave you a recipe for the tasty caffeinated treat called coffee jelly. This week, we’d like to introduce a coffee shop that is taking that quotidian treat to the next level of taste and presentation. Behold Coffee Suzuki, where the coffee jelly forms right before your very eyes!
Japan is known for a lot of things, such as its culture, its safety, and its traditional foods, but it is definitely not known for making delicious pizza. In fact, some of the pizza chains have come out with some really wacky creations over the years.
However, there are quite a few independent pizza places throughout Japan, which can, of course, be found in the cities, but sometimes can even be found in small towns or along mountain roads, yet they will still often be equipped with special pizza ovens. If you want good pizza in Japan, you should search for these places, it will be well worth the trouble!
One such independent place is Amici in Ibaraki Prefecture, where they serve pizza and the lesser known Italian pie, the pizza fritta, or deep-fried pizza. Our reporter visited Amici, but not just to try the delicious fried pizza pockets, he went to experience the cooking process too!
For Ghibli fans, the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo could be considered a holy Mecca of sorts, a place to make a pilgrimage to. The museum offers delightful entertainment filled with creative fun, which we guess is something you would expect from Ghibli, and it’s bound to be a hugely enjoyable place to visit, even if you’re not a die-hard Ghibli fan.
And one of the attractions at the museum has to be its gift shop, full of original Ghibli goods that can only be purchased there. In fact, we think that the shop alone could be reason enough to visit the museum, and we’ve even brought to you a previous article featuring 10 cools items from the shop that we thoroughly recommend. And now, we have another special item to share with you, also from the museum shop, that one of our Japanese reporters Yoshio found absolutely fascinating. It’s the Ghibli Museum original “Minituart”, a detailed miniature replica of the museum, and we just had to see for ourselves how exact a replica it was!
Workers in Japan are often perceived by the rest of the world as possessing an extremely strong work ethic, which drives them to daily acts of unpaid overtime, selfless sacrifice of rightfully accrued holiday time, and occasionally even to karoushi, or death by overwork. So pervasive is this perception that the image of the exhausted salaryman splayed out across train carriage floors after a hard day’s work has become a sort of unofficial symbol of Japanese working life.
But what people who have actually worked in Japanese offices will tell you is that, while simply existing in the strict hierarchical system of a Japanese workplace can be an exhausting feat in and of itself, it doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody’s getting loads of work done. In fact, Japanese workers may be just as lazy as the rest of us. So how come everybody still thinks they work so hard?
Every now and again, we stumble across a dessert recipe that’s so simple and tasty, it almost feels like we’ve discovered some sort of hidden secret that man wasn’t meant to know. Last year, we found out that instead of making pancakes one at a time, we could just make one huge one in a rice cooker, sprinkle in some green tea powder, and have a dessert that looks and tastes great with no fuss at all.
But what if you prefer chilled desserts to hotcakes? No problem. We recently tried a recipe for a frozen marshmallow dessert that may or may not technically be ice cream, but amazingly creates something that tastes even better from just two ingredients, and takes almost as few steps to make.
If you’re a Ghibli fan, the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo’s Mitaka is probably high on your bucket list of places to visit. Sadly, you won’t find any Ghibli-themed roller coasters there, but various attractions are housed in the museum, where you can also learn about how Ghibli animation is made, meet the giant robot from Castle in the Sky, and do much more. Adults can even enjoy unique “Valley of the Wind” beer, so it’s a place that visitors of all ages can enjoy.
One thing you’ll definitely want to do if you go to the museum is to check out the gift items and souvenirs sold at the museum shop MAMMA AIUTO. That’s exactly what one of our Japanese reporters Daiichiro Tashiro did, and he was quite impressed with what he saw — so impressed, in fact, that he’s come up with a list of 10 items only available at the Ghibli Museum shop that he would definitely recommend.
After the first part of our Mr. Sato-lead tour of Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market, we’re sure a lot of our readers are excited to see what else our resident gourmand had for us. And now the wait is over! Here are the last four sushi establishments as visited by Mr. Sato and his daring accomplice in raw fish consumption Nakano.
Whether you’re preparing for your first trip to Tokyo or just looking for some great places you might have missed, this is one article you’ll definitely want to read!
Previously on RocketNewsZ, tensions flared between our reporters Yuichiro Wasai and Mr. Sato after Wasai used Mr. Sato’s mankini and returned it without washing. The two were just beginning to levitate off the ground and fight when the chief editor told them to take it outside so as not to damage the office’s complete collection of sushi cat figurines.
Knowing who pays the bills around here, both complied and went down to Shibuya Parco in Tokyo where an event was being held inviting fighters such as these two to compete by hurling kamehameha energy blasts at each other. Will these two settle their differences before it’s too late? We’ll soon find out after they manage to flag down a cab.
When they aren’t filming commercials involving attacks by Titans or epic 60-hour-long miniature car model shoots, Japanese car manufacturer Subaru has proven to us that they’ve also got some commercials designed to hit you right in the feels.
Take this endearing new clip set in a snowy winter’s scene, for instance. It will surely warm your heart, despite the cold!
Our Japanese sister site Pouch would like to let our English-speaking readers in on a simple, time and effort-conserving way to cook a flavorful roast beef. This method also allows the meat to retain all of its natural juices, so you can impress your friends with an incredibly tender home-cooked meal.
But get ready for the best part of all–you get to let your rice cooker do all the hard work!
Leading up to Valentine’s Day in Japan, there’s one thing that’s impossible to escape – and it’s not swarthy, rose-touting Lotharios. It’s chocolate. In pretty packaging and delicious displays, store counters come alive with the sweet stuff at this time of year, and one of the more luxurious and decadent types is the rich, creamy nama choco (fresh chocolates).
The only problem with this type of chocolate is the fact that it blends an already creamy chocolate with even more cream and butter, making it heavy on the calories. Net users in Japan, though, have discovered an unusual way to cut out the extra fat – by replacing it with tofu! Using just three ingredients, we’ll let you in on the latest diet tip from Japan and show you how to make delicious, creamy nama choco with only half the calories.
Every February brings another amazing display of artful snow and ice carvings, and RocketNews24 loves to bring you the details for those who aren’t able to make the trip up to Hokkaido. While we weren’t able be there ourselves last year, we are pleased to bring you the firsthand account of the 66th annual Sapporo Snow Festival. Grab a cup of hot chocolate and join us for a photo tour!
Would you be willing to wait two hours in line just for a cup of coffee? That’s how long it’d be if you went to the grand opening of Tokyo’s Blue Bottle Coffee, a fancy cafe that prides itself on only using the freshest roast coffee which they make themselves.
For some, like RocketNews24’s own Mr. Sato, that’s just too long a wait for a glorified cup of joe, so after being impressed with how long the lines were, he just went somewhere else for coffee instead.
It seems like Japan is winning at everything these days, first with being selected to host the 2020 Olympic Games, then with Tokyo being chosen as the safest city in the world (and Osaka a close third!). Now, Japan has been ranked by the Global Peace Index (GPI) as having one of the top 15 least violent armed forces in the world. Did your country make the list too? Check after the jump to find out!
Edamame – young, green soybeans and (in this writer’s opinion anyway) the food of the gods – are usually prepared by boiling the beans in the pods, before draining and sprinkling with salt. While some people might think of edamame as an appetiser, or a side dish to sushi, in Japan the mighty green soybean has a special purpose – edamame’s best friend and soulmate is a cold beer.
And the writing team over at our Japanese sister site Pouch have their own special method of cooking edamame that they swear is doubly delicious. All you need is edamame, salt, and a lot less water than you might think.
Swedish home furnishing company IKEA, as many of you are undoubtedly aware, has a huge presence around the world, and Japan is no exception. Thousands of us enjoy wandering around their gargantuan stores on the weekends, gazing at their pop furniture displays and homeware or wolfing down a serving of their Swedish meatballs at their cafeteria.
Well now, IKEA Japan has news that’s sure to please sweets lovers in particular — for a limited time, they’re be offering an all-you-can-eat “Sweets Buffet”, which includes some delightful-looking Swedish treats that we’re dying to try, for the very reasonable price of 499 yen (US$4.25)! Who wouldn’t be excited about sweet news like that?
Shoemaker Nike owes its success as much to the marketing that backs its footwear as the science behind it. But as one of the biggest athletic apparel companies on the planet, the Nike swoosh is hardly a rare sight these days, so if the Oregon-based company really wants to catch people’s eyes, it has to get a little more flamboyant with its designs.
That’s as true in emerging markets as it is in established ones, which is why Nike’s new pair of kicks made especially for China might be the wildest the company has ever made, and come packed with all sorts of imagery meant to make sure fortune smiles on theirs wearers while everyone is looking at their feet.
Japanese cuisine is often known for its subtle tastes which some might criticize as being downright “bland.” But there are some exceptions, one of which is umeboshi. This is a dried and pickled ume fruit which is a cross between a plum and an apricot. Umeboshi are very popular in Japan and have a sour and salty taste that will slap you in the face harder than a scorned lover.
By now you’re probably be thinking, “That vinegary plum sounds great! But what it really needs is some cheese mixed in.” Well, you’re in luck! Frito Lay Japan is way ahead of you and just released Ume & Cheese flavored tortilla chips. We sat down with a bag to see how this combination plays out in chip form.
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Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan just had its first same-month foreign tourist decrease in four years
Is Sapporio’s Snow Festival awesome enough to be worth visiting even if you hate the snow? [Pics]
566 million yen in gold bars donated to Japanese city’s water bureau
Shibuya Station’s Hachiko Gate and Yamanote Line stairway locations change next month
Japan has trams that say “sorry” while they ride around town…but why?
Japan’s new “Cunte” contact lenses aren’t pronounced like you’re probably thinking they are
Sakura season arrives at McDonald’s Japan with new range of exclusive menu items
The 10 best day trips from downtown Tokyo【Survey】Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Super-salty pizza sends six kids to the hospital in Japan, linguistics blamed
Foreign tourists in Japan will get free Shinkansen tickets to promote regional tourism
Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura Frappuccino for cherry blossom season 2026
Naruto and Converse team up for new line of shinobi sneakers[Photos]The 10 most annoying things foreign tourists do on Japanese trains, according to locals
Now is the time to visit one of Tokyo’s best off-the-beaten-path plum blossom gardensIs Sapporio’s Snow Festival awesome enough to be worth visiting even if you hate the snow? [Pics]Japan has trams that say “sorry” while they ride around town…but why?
Sakura Totoro is here to get spring started early with adorable pouches and plushies
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Foreigners accounting for over 80 percent of off-course skiers needing rescue in Japan’s HokkaidoSuper-salty pizza sends six kids to the hospital in Japan, linguistics blamedStarbucks Japan unveils new sakura Frappuccino for cherry blossom season 2026Foreign tourists in Japan will get free Shinkansen tickets to promote regional tourism
Archfiend Hello Kitty appears as Sanrio launches new team-up with Yu-Gi-Oh【Pics】
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China’s don’t-go-to-Japan warning looks to be affecting tourist crowds on MiyajimaNaruto and Converse team up for new line of shinobi sneakers[Photos]
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 homeJapan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be validStarbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
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
Shibuya Station’s Hachiko Gate and Yamanote Line stairway locations change next month
Japan has trams that say “sorry” while they ride around town…but why?
Japan’s new “Cunte” contact lenses aren’t pronounced like you’re probably thinking they are
Sakura season arrives at McDonald’s Japan with new range of exclusive menu items
The 10 best day trips from downtown Tokyo【Survey】
Naruto and Converse team up for new line of shinobi sneakers[Photos]
We fulfill a childhood dream with giant wafers at the Hiratsuka Seika factory shop
Think you’ve had every type of tempura? Not until you’ve eaten deep-fried maple leaves
Pikachu-ear engagement rings and Pokémon wedding rings for him and her can now be yours【Photos】
Step into Spirited Away at Egawa: a site of beauty in Japan that tourists have yet to discover
Nations-as-pretty-boys anime Hetalia’s live-action cast appears in costume 【Photos】
The top 9 sakura cherry blossom viewing spots in Japan that you should know about
Shimane has a secret hot spring town that feels like stepping into an old Japanese film