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While Japan has its own baseball and soccer leagues, the steady improvements in ability by Japanese players have ironically led to a talent drain in domestic games, as the best players get recruited to compete on bigger stages in the U.S. and Europe. These days, what really gets Japanese sports fans fired up is international competitions like soccer’s World Cup and the Olympic Games.

With the Winter Olympics going on right now in Sochi, Japanese TV is filled with nonstop onsite reports from the Russian city. In the scramble to get as much content as possible, though, one news outlet sent out its reporter so woefully unaware that he didn’t recognize the two Olympic medalists standing right in front of him, one of whom he was having a conversation with.

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Despite being some of the most iconic anime villains ever, we’re still not sure how to feel about the monsters of Attack on Titan. On the one hand, they’re giants hell-bent on eating the tasty humans hiding behind the walls of their cities. On the other hand, there’s something unmistakably, well, goofy about them. Many of them have baby-like proportions and dorky haircuts. Quite often, they shuffle around listlessly, almost as if they can’t be bothered to chase after their terrified snacks. They have no concept of pants.

Somehow, the Titans have ended up with a sort of twisted charm that makes us unsure whether we’d rather fight them or keep them as pets. Luckily, with the new Attack on Titan smartphone game, you can do both!

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Concept art revealed for stalled live-action Akira film

Artist James Clyne (Avatar) recently posted the concept art he created for Warner Bros. stalled Akira live-action film. Clyne was brought on when director Ruairi Robinson was attached to the film. Since then, several other directors have came on gone, although most recently Jaume Collet-Serra said in an interview that he hopes Akira will be his next work. Maybe there’s still some hope left for the film?

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Quiz of the Week: Round 7 (Because what else are you gonna do? Go outside like a weirdo!?)

Hello there, beautiful. Welcome to round seven of our weekly multiple-choice quiz! It’s been a busy and extra weird kind of week for news stories from Asia (yes, even by our standards), so we hope you’ve been taking notes and brought your thinking caps.

Join us after the jump for some Asia news-based brainteasers, and of course a few insults for underperformers.

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What it’s like to rent a boyfriend in China

Single women in China are under such intense pressure to find a mate that some are resorting to renting “boyfriends” online to accompany them on dates and trips to see their families.

On Taobao, China’s biggest online marketplace, women can choose from hundreds of temporary companions and reserve them for hours or days at a time by paying a deposit.

Melanie Lee, a news blogger for Alibaba — which owns Taobao — recently decided to give the service a try, and she shared her experience via email with Business Insider.

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Manila offers couples free train tickets for PDA on Valentine’s

Generally speaking, it’s considered bad form to suck face on public transportation, particularly in socially conservative countries like the Philippines, but perhaps lovers get a little extra leeway on St. Valentine’s Day, because the Manila Light Rail Transit is offering free tickets to couples bringing the romance today.

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What we learned from Tokyo’s blizzard: Snow Pikachu evolves into Machochu

The rare blanket of snow Tokyo received last week gave Japan’s capital city residents a chance to show off their creativity. Since it was a seldom seen treat that happened to fall over the weekend, everyone and their mother seemed to be showing off their newfound snow sculpting skills. But this Snow Pikachu has got to be our favorite. Sure, the bicycle-riding snow cat was pretty awesome, but we learned something here, people. Snow Pikachu evolves into Machochu. It’s a fact.

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Shanghai singletons revolt against Valentine’s Day, buy up all odd-number movie seats

Some people like Valentine’s Day and some people don’t, but the least we can do is stay out of one another’s way. Gushy types can do their romantic stuff, and more cynical types can boycott in whatever way they like best. Everybody wins, right?

Well, a personal boycott wasn’t enough for one jilted lover in Shanghai. He decided to organize a mob of internet singletons to buy up odd-numbered movie seats for showings of a popular romance movie to ensure couples wouldn’t be able to sit together on the 14th.

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Japanese dentistry student makes chocolate teeth for Valentine’s Day

It’s Valentine’s Day in Japan, and as the tradition goes, women and young ladies across the country have been busy preparing homemade chocolates to give out to male friends, colleagues, and that special someone. But we’re not quite sure the recipients of these grotesquely accurate chocolate teeth will be too thrilled. Uh…do you eat it one tooth at a time?

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This Valentine’s Day make the planets align with a set of celestial chocolates

If there’s one thing guys like more than chocolate, its gimmicks! If you happen to be doing some last minute shopping for Valentine’s Day your favorite beau probably wouldn’t sneeze at a standard box of chocolate, but if possible why not think a little outside the box? Better yet, why not think outside of the solar system: Planet Chocolates?

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Love disembodied women’s hands? Here’s a great iPhone case for you, you big weirdo

I wouldn’t know personally because I basically use two plastic cups with some string attaching them for all my not-in-person communication, but I hear people with smartphones spend a lot of time and money trying to find the perfect case to protect and customize their technological doohickey.

There’s a lot to consider, after all: Will others enjoy the design as much as you do? Does the case affect the overall weight, size and shape of the phone to an unacceptable degree? Can you still fit it in your pocket after you snap the case on? Will people think you’re a creepy weirdo based on your choice of case? These are all questions normal smartphone users ask themselves.

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From hot spring to hot pot: One restaurant in Tokyo is actually serving wild monkey

Imagine yourself sitting down to a delicious warming winter meal. There’s nothing like nabe (Japanese hot pot) on a dark, cold evening. And there are so many choices! Pork, chicken, fish, seafood, monkey… Hang on a second … MONKEY?!

As soon as they heard that monkey hot-pot was on the menu at the Sakagura Niigata restaurant in Tokyo, a reporter from our Japanese sister site headed out to find out if it could possibly be true. Here’s what they found.

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Beyond sushi: We choose the best non-seafood items at Japan’s biggest conveyor-belt sushi chains

Conveyor-belt sushi is equally popular among tourists and residents of Japan alike. I mean, little plates of food that trundle by, with everything up for grabs? It’s brilliant! And cheap. Chains like Sushiro, Kurasushi, Kappasushi and Hamasushi offer a large selection of items starting at just 100 yen (about US$1)!

But what if you aren’t so big on the whole raw fish thing? Are you forced to forgo the cheap and childlike pleasure of stalking your next course as it makes its way around the counter? Of course not! After extensive research, we’ve got the very best of conveyor-belt non-sushi all picked out for you.

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Mint chocolate beer sounds great, but how does it taste? We find out

Every year at Valentine’s Day, a slew of limited-edition chocolates are rolled out in Japan, where following the local custom, women give gifts to men. Unfortunately, while there are indeed plenty of guys with a sweet tooth, few of them really want candies shaped like butterflies and rosebuds.

Thankfully, there are a handful of more masculine alternatives, such as the Final Fantasy chocolates we recently introduced you to. But you know what’s even more manly than a video game about a dude killing monsters with a giant sword while his hot martial artist girlfriend cheers him on? Booze. Which is why today we’re knocking back a mint chocolate beer.

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Man arrested after forcing his 9-year-old stepson to play violent video games

Police in Kyoto have arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of coercion after it was claimed that he had repeatedly forced his nine-year-old stepson to play violent and age-inappropriate video games such as Grand Theft Auto IV and fighting game Tekken Tag Tournament 2 over the course of six months whenever his mother was absent.

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Don’t bother, ladies: Survey reveals most Japanese guys don’t want your Valentine’s chocolate

Valentine’s Day gifts in Japan are usually one-directional, with women giving chocolate to men. You might think the people leading any kind of counter-movement against this would be the girls, fed up with having to buy or make chocolates for everyone in the office. But a new survey shows it’s the guys who are unhappy, with 90 percent saying they don’t care or would rather the girls didn’t bother.

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Hayao Miyazaki, Rumiko Takahashi nominated for Eisner Hall of Fame

Comic-Con International announced on Wednesday that the Eisner Awards judges have selected three individuals for the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame this year, as well as 14 nominees for four more inductees.

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A grisly truth is coming to light as Japan’s Tohoku region recovers from the massive earthquake and tsunami that occurred in 2011. When the water receded from damaged areas, it took much of what had been struck, including the bodies of victims.

Nearly three years have passed since the disaster, but there are still residents of the afflicted area classified as missing. As the country moves on and begins to turn its focus to more pressing matters, one 57-year-old man seeking closure has decided to venture into the sea that claimed his wife to personally search for her remains.

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Meet Sakura-chan, the sprinting penguin in love with a human【Video】

Penguins are, without a doubt, one of the cutest animals in the world. This is not a statement that many people would even think to argue with–it’s as close to an obvious truth as you can get without breaking out the math! But we may have found a way to up the cuteness quotient for penguins from just “exceptionally cute” to “brain-asplodey cute.”

How? Simple: Set them jogging after their (human) crush!

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Japanese woman celebrates 100th birthday, boggles netizens’ minds with unusual name

Turning 100 years old is indeed a great achievement. Not only can we appreciate and look up to those who seem to follow the correct path to a ripe old age, but it’s always a shining example of how far we have come as a people to extend our lives so much over the years.

And so, it’s with great honor and reverence that we here at RocketNews24 would like to wish a happy belated birthday to Ms… erm… Mxy…zptlk Sugahara!

Apparently we weren’t alone in not being able to read this woman’s name. Netizens came out in droves shrugging their shoulders and figuring a cockroach got into the printing press. A chosen few however, scolded their peers for not being cultured enough to decipher it.

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