Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Having lived here for around eight years now, I sometimes forget how uniquely beautifully Japan can be. This stunning video, simply titled “January in Japan” from director and photographer Scott Gold, however, has just given me a wonderful reminder. If you have any interest in Japan whatsoever, be sure not to miss this one.
Sushi already has a lot going for it. It’s tasty, one of the quickest, most easily accessible contact points for Japanese culture, and with its extensive use of raw fish, a boon for those who can’t cook anything without burning it.
Even better, almost every ingredient that goes into or is traditionally eaten alongside sushi is bursting with health benefits, right down to the cup of green tea of green tea that generally caps off the meal.
You’re back! Lovely to see you. Now shut up and face the corner.
Yes, that’s right boys and girls, it’s time for another multiple choice quiz where we throw random bizarre questions at you and see how much you learned this week about news from Japan and Asia. Don’t dilly-dally now; Hitler, Donald Trump’s hair, and a manga about love eggs are all waiting for you after the jump!
Japanese youth trends can change in a flash. There’s a never ending boom and bust cycle for clothes, music, and even slang that’s claimed pop idol group Da Pump, platform boots, and the phrase cho beri guddo. By the way, if you can clearly remember any of those, please accept our apologies for forgetting to mail your 30th birthday card to you.
For a while, it looked like the Japanese “gal” makeup trend, with its over-the-top cosmetics and crazy coiffure, would be joining those relics of yesteryear. Apparently enough time has passed, though, that young female fashionistas are warming up to the idea of giving the distinctive look another chance and they shared their beauty tips during a gal makeover for our reporter, Kon.
Japanese society prides itself on its high level of tact in dealing with delicate matters, and indeed, quite often in communication not offending the other party is given priority well above getting your point across. That said, when the system discretion breaks down, it really breaks down, and sometimes you’re faced with the linguistic paradox of candor that’s so cutting because the choice of words is so blunt.
Recently, a bit of a firestorm was set off in Japan by a male-oriented magazine spitting straight talk on what makes the ideal girl in extremely intricate detail.
When you stop and think about it, the smash hit anime Attack on Titan is focused as much on eating as it is fighting. The titular Titans’ one and only ambition seems to be breaking into the walled city to eat the humans hiding within. One character is largely defined by her love of potatoes, which ties into the recurring concern about food shortages humanity faces in a world largely controlled by giant monsters.
You know what would make the whole situation less bleak? A couple of orders of fast food chain Lotteria’s 10-patty Attack on Titan hamburgers and jumbo French fry buckets to keep people nourished, plus some limited edition key chains to keep them entertained.
Despite having a number of genuinely exciting events, the Winter Olympics is also home to a couple of head-scratchers (I watched the men’s slalom with the Wikipedia entry open trying to work out why some skiers were incurring penalties), and some can get kind of repetitive if watched for more than a few minutes at a time. One event I did enjoy watching, though, was the speed skating; those dudes zip around that track–with blades on their feet–at speeds that would probably make me vomit.
But imagine how much more exciting that event would be if participants had access to the full arsenal of weapon items from Nintendo’s Mario Kart racing games? As this hilarious video shows, with some green shells, a handful of banana skins, and the occasional competitor-shrinking lightning bolt, this event could be so much more interesting.
Samsung made a few product announcements today, including a new water-resistant phone, the Galaxy S5. But the coolest announcement of all may be its new fitness tracker, the Gear Fit.
The Gear Fit is entering a crowded market. Nike, Fitbit and Jawbone have been innovating on wearable fitness tech for years.
But the Gear Fit’s sleek design, curved glass, robust set of features and multi-color screen make it more alluring than any fitness device that’s currently available. The battery lasts 3 – 4 days.
We got our hands on the Gear Fit at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona. It won’t be available until April 2014, but you can check out big beautiful pictures of it now.
Recently, we brought you the tale of a man whose iPhone was stolen while he was traveling in Thailand, only to have some of the sting taken out of the unfortunate development when he saw the pictures of the cute girl who was using the pilfered phone.
Now comes the story of another Japanese iPhone user who fell victim to overseas thieves, then received a surprise upon returning home. Unfortunately, his surprise wasn’t photos of a fine-looking female, but instead a massive bill from his cell phone carrier for nearly one million yen (US$9,800).
Netizens have been talking about a giant cat attack on helpless residents of one small town in Japan. The exact number of cats has yet to be confirmed, but eye-witnesses report seeing at least four felines stalking the premises. The photo above has been retweeted over 9,000 times in 15 hours and is accompanied by three additional chilling photos of the attempted takeover.
Air pollution in Beijing on February 25 was worryingly high, but one couple wasn’t going to let that spoil their special day. The brave pair risked the toxic smog to pose for their wedding shots, but took sensible steps to keep themselves safe. The results, however, are a little more creepy than they are romantic.
On 11 March, 2011 Hiroki Takai was studying at a university in Vancouver. Instead of feeling helpless at the steadily flowing images of destruction in the media following the Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami, he quickly took action and gathered other Japanese students to raise money for their homeland. Thanks to the students’ efforts and the generosity of the people of Vancouver the “Japan Love Project” managed to raise CAN$320,000 (US$288,000) in aid.
Now, with the 3-year anniversary of the Great Tohoku Earthquake approaching, Takai wanted to pay the kindness of the Canadians back. As a part of the International Volunteer University Student Association (IVUSA) he asked for a team to travel to the West coast of Canada to help clean up the still-increasing driftage that is washing up on its shores. Headed by fourth-year Ritsumeikan University student Yusuke Oike, a crew of 70 students answered the call.
Nowadays, when it comes to knock-offs of popular products, most people think of China. We’re not just saying that to pick on our neighbors to the west, there’s just an awful lot of suspect copies. Korean bootlegs have had their time making the rounds as well, but everyone seems to leave Japan alone. That is until now. A video uploaded by Japanese YouTube user, msdoom99, has surfaced with the goal of giving all those Japanese netizens who have laughed at Chinese and Korean knockoffs a taste of Japan’s little-known copies. Take a look at just a few and ask yourself, “So who’s laughing now?”
Have you ever loved something so much, you just had to shout it out to the whole world? Well these guys certainly know that feeling. A group of foreigners created this video for the one true love in their lives – Japanese convenience stores.
It was a normal day at the RocketNews24 office. Writers were writing, editors were editing, and webmasters were…well, no one knows what webmasters do, but they were definitely doing it like crazy. A quiet and peaceful Tuesday, it was…but not for long!
Suddenly, the front door flew open, and a dark figure filled the frame. “PILLOW FIGHT!!!” screamed Mr. Sato as he charged into the room. “Eat my Pillows Officially Recognized by the All Japan Pillow Fighting Association!” he shouted, flinging bedding with as much skill as twenty experienced sleepover tweens combined.
“I wiiiin!” our rampaging Japanese writer cackled before sprinting out of the office for another cup of Starbucks, leaving his co-workers baffled and defeated.
Picking ourselves up, we looked around and could but only wonder: “What the heck is a Pillow Officially Recognized by the All Japan Pillow Fighting Association?”
Based on Capcom’s hugely popular Street Fighter fighting games, upcoming TV series Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist began life back in 2010 as a mere seed of an idea. Three years later, fans of the video games went nuts when the project surfaced on Kickstarter asking for funding, only for it to suddenly disappear again when it was snapped up by a private production company.
Since then there has been so little news about Assassin’s Fist that we were starting to wonder if it would ever see the light of day, but recently released photos and one website’s extremely positive first impressions have our hands tingling with hadouken power more than ever.
Millions of visitors take photos with their favourite characters at Disney parks every year. In these adorable pictures, though, Donald is posing with a different kind of visitor for once – his own kind!
When some little critters wandered out of their area at Tokyo Disney and onto the road, Donald and friends were at hand to help keep them out of harm’s way, and took the chance to have a little fun while they were at it.
Kyaraben, short for “character bento”, are insanely popular in Asia and Japan in particular. Young mothers, and some fathers too no doubt, spend hours crafting special lunch boxes, using all manner of foodstuffs to create shapes, faces and designs, and there are even entire books and monthly magazines containing hundreds of ideas. Over the years, we’ve seen lunch boxes based everything from Nivea hand cream to video game smash Metal Gear Solid, but it’s easy to forget that the practice of dressing up a packed lunch has, in fact, been around for quite some time.
With Valentine’s Day over and done with, White Day (14 March) is just around the corner. This is the day in Japan where men are obliged to return the gifts of Valentine’s Day chocolates to the women who gifted them, or else send a clear message that the feeling isn’t mutual by not bothering.
However, many guys have trouble choosing the right gifts for women, so Krispy Kreme Japan is holding a special workshop to teach an exclusive group of guys how to make romantic gifts out of their donuts.
You wouldn’t know it from the current state of the industry, but the biggest grudge match in video games wasn’t always PS4 versus Xbox One or Skyrim versus Dark Souls. For the bulk of console gaming’s most formative years, the bitterest rivalry was Nintendo versus Sega.
Back before Sega threw in the towel on making its own hardware, the two companies hated each other, and their fans did, too. “Nintendo makes games for little kids.” “Sega’s marketing is obnoxious and juvenile.” “The Super NES processor sucks.” “The Genesis sound chip sounds like a muffled fart.” “Mario is fat.” “Sonic only has one eyeball.”
Soon, you’ll be able to relive the epic struggle for 1990s video game supremacy with the feature film adaptation of the book “Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation.”
Starbucks releases an official green tea chai latte with special Japanese ingredients
Kyoto study finds nearly 500 translation errors for foreign tourists, new guidelines released
Practical Zelda Tears of the Kingdom merch is here to be Hyrule-helpful in your daily life【Pics】
Japanese public toilet tours become popular with foreign tourists in Tokyo
We check out Otaru’s real-life locales that inspired scenes in hit anime Golden Kamuy
McDonald’s Happy Meals in Japan now come with Shinkansen robots
Ultra-cheap, convenient Tokyo hotel is a great place to stay…if you pay extra for earplugs
Tokyo DisneySea’s new Fantasy Springs area: Peter Pan’s Never Land has the best ride of all
Japanese man tells friend to wear suit to wedding party, so he comes as Mobile Suit Gundam
Starbucks Japan’s new Matcha Frappuccino: Brilliant beverage or drink disaster?
Life-size vibrating Legend of Zelda Master Sword for sale from Nintendo【Photos】
Yes, our new smartphone looks like at least two Studio Ghibli anime characters, Sharp says
2nd line of Casio watch rings hits Japanese capsule machines and we got the secret one!
Starbucks releases special matcha Frappuccino made with Japan’s first matcha leaves of the yearJapanese man tells friend to wear suit to wedding party, so he comes as Mobile Suit Gundam
Mt. Fuji-blocking screen installed as response to bad tourist manners to be in place by next weekPractical Zelda Tears of the Kingdom merch is here to be Hyrule-helpful in your daily life【Pics】
Studio Ghibli releases new mug and tumbler collection featuring Jiji and Totoro
Cool capsule toys recreate how Japan navigated trains in pre-smartphone days【Photos】
Fried Pokémon: Tokyo restaurant serves up an unusual dish【Taste Test】
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of societyLife-size vibrating Legend of Zelda Master Sword for sale from Nintendo【Photos】Yes, our new smartphone looks like at least two Studio Ghibli anime characters, Sharp says
New Tokyo restaurant charges higher prices to foreign tourists than Japanese locals
“Mt. Fuji convenience store” issues apology for bad tourist manners, adds multilingual signs2nd line of Casio watch rings hits Japanese capsule machines and we got the secret one!
Tokyo’s famous Lost in Translation hotel is closed
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
Bad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screensMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
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 1950sForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
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
McDonald’s Happy Meals in Japan now come with Shinkansen robots
Ultra-cheap, convenient Tokyo hotel is a great place to stay…if you pay extra for earplugs
Tokyo DisneySea’s new Fantasy Springs area: Peter Pan’s Never Land has the best ride of all
Japanese man tells friend to wear suit to wedding party, so he comes as Mobile Suit Gundam
Starbucks Japan’s new Matcha Frappuccino: Brilliant beverage or drink disaster?
Starbucks releases special matcha Frappuccino made with Japan’s first matcha leaves of the year
Yes, our new smartphone looks like at least two Studio Ghibli anime characters, Sharp says
Our male reporter transforms into a beautiful Japanese courtesan at Tokyo photo studio
We accidentally turned our cheap country house into a “gaming house” for Christmas【SoraHouse】
The top 8 fast food chains in Japan
KISS singer Gene Simmons reacts to Love Live’s KISS parody
Five uninhabited Japanese islands you can buy right now