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【Updated!】Sony’s Japan-only portable gizmo “PocketStation” returns as a PlayStation Vita application

After releasing a teaser video last week promising an announcement on November 5, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has revealed that its “PocketStation” brand is officially making a return, though it’s not quite as exciting as we had all hoped.

The original PocketStation was a tiny device released in Japan back in 1999 and very like Sega’s own Dreamcast VMU tech. Essentially a memory card “micro-console” with a simple LCD screen, when used with the original 32-bit PlayStation the device could be used to save data from games and play themed mini games on the go. PocketStation even came with infrared capabilities, meaning that saves could be passed between gamers anywhere and everywhere, which, back in the days before cloud storage, was considered pretty magical.

This new “device”, however, will be entirely for PlayStation Vita and arrive via a download from the PlayStation Store, it has been revealed.

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“Good luck with the exam!” US comic depicting Japanese WWII pilot met with chuckles in Japan

Although they are sometimes considered to be the pastime of kids and teenagers, modern comics and graphic novels often deal with some incredibly heavy and moving content. Craig Thompson’s Blankets, for example, is a spellbinding journey that will melt any adult’s heart, and despite using mice as protagonists, Art Spiegelman’s retelling of his Holocaust survivor father’s experiences in Maus was so moving that it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

The following American comic deals with equally heavy content: the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. The comic lost a little credibility amongst Japanese readers earlier today, however, when one netizen noticed that it shows one of the pilots preparing for the attack by donning what appears to be a headband much more likely to be worn by school kids studying for a big exam than someone going on a mission from which they may not return.

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Housewife wins pageant for “bewitching” middle-aged beauties

Usually being called a witch is an insult, but a Japanese beauty magazine reclaimed the word a few years ago and declared a new category of woman: “Beautiful Witches.” To celebrate the women over 35 that possess an almost “magical beauty untouched by age,” the fourth annual National Beautiful Witch Contest was held last week, with a 39-year-old housewife from Aichi Prefecture taking home the top prize in a Halloween-themed pageant.

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Hey, you! Perk up and watch this video of baby ducks on a slide

Happy beginning of the week, everyone! We know you’d rather be in bed watching YouTube videos of cats or reading some of our silly articles (maybe that’s what you’re doing at work right now), so here’s a little something to cheer you up: A video of baby ducks sliding down their own personal water slide. 

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We got some Japanese radish sparkling wine, but didn’t expect it to taste like this…

Daikon is one of the most well-known of the Japanese vegetables. Essentially an enormous radish, daikon are primarily used for pickling and seasoning, though you can find their leaves in some dishes as well. Although the kinds of radish known to Westerners tend to have a strong “bite” to them, Japanese daikon is much milder, and a firm favorite at this time of year found in warming dishes like oden.

Since daikon is used in so much food in Japan, it’s a very familiar taste for most Japanese people, and you can find it in everything from traditional cuisine to otsumami (snacks eaten while drinking), when people sometimes eat large chunks of boiled daikon. Despite what you might think, it’s surprisingly tasty! But what about making wine from daikon?

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Most of us go through life trying to avoid violence and confrontations, but sometimes for whatever reason the tension gets to be too much and fists start flying. Even those within eyeshot of a fight can’t help but watch the raw emotion expressed in acts of physical rage.

Thanks to the advent of phone cameras and the internet the truly surprising fights from around the world can now be witnesses from the comfort of our own homes. With that, we humbly share the video titled “Glorious fight on Shanghai Metro Line 2”, which features two men who should really know better going at it like a pair of angry idiots.

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Used undies, rotten food, expired meds and other disaster “aid” Japan doesn’t want

Although it has been more than two and a half years since the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan, much of the area is still in need of disaster aid for the recovery efforts. But before you look around your house for items to donate, take a look at what volunteer groups, local governments and aid recipients themselves would rather you keep at home. And you might be very surprised to what else Twitter users have deemed the most “unnecessary things at a disaster zone.”

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South Korea busts smugglers for “diet pills” containing human flesh

Back in 2011, news reports that Chinese-made “health supplements” contained ground-up corpses of babies and fetuses shocked the world. Unfortunately, this macabre story continues as some of the so-called “human flesh capsules” have made their way into South Korea again. Even though there has been a heavy crackdown on these kind of black market “medicine,” Korean authorities arrested two Chinese men last month for smuggling the gruesome pills and then reselling them as “diet supplements.”

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Shocking new poll reveals that Japanese women love guys with black hair

Here at RocketNews24, we strive to bring you the kind of news that really matters. The worst presents women have ever received; the kind of career you need to drive Japanese women crazy; the things Japanese women find weird about their foreign husbands… Now, you might not think this kind of stuff is actually so important–but don’t come complaining to us when you can’t keep a girlfriend because you choose an unsexy career path or sent your secret crush a box of tissues as a gift. (Seriously, tissues?)

So pay attention, fellas, because we’ve got more breaking news for you: Apparently, Japanese women love guys with black hair.

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  • Nov 4, 2013

Hello Kitty works hard on her birthday — and expected to be busier than ever in the coming year!

Regular readers of our site may recall we recently brought to you a story congratulating Hello Kitty on her birthday. Since then, we’ve found out that the busiest kitty in the world was hard at work even on her birthday!

In fact, the fun is just starting at Sanrio Puroland, the indoor theme park located in Tama New Town, Tokyo, with all the celebrations on the way as the world-famous mascot cat turns 40 on November 1 next year! Forty, now that’s a big one for anyone … or any character for that matter.

So, how did Hello Kitty spend her 39th birthday?

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Taiwan throws lively funerals, complete with miniskirt-clad marching bands 【Video】

In countries like Japan and America, funerals are generally thought of as very somber affairs. No one wants to say goodbye to their friends and loved ones, and that final parting is something that cultures across the globe take very seriously. However, in some parts of Taiwan, this undesirable situation is occasionally met with marching bands wearing miniskirts! A series of videos have surfaced on YouTube, portraying Taiwanese funerals as rather enjoyable affairs. Whose idea was it to treat such a serious ceremony to the same sort of flair that’s found at an American football game?

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“Idol addiction” ruining your life? Call this hotline to take control!

While making a hobby out of adoring Japanese idols is a perfectly acceptable pastime, we here at RocketNews24 know that with so many ways to indulge, from plumbing to college courses to ramen, some idol enthusiasts may find themselves with a full-blown case of “idol addiction.” Luckily, there is a hotline for those wanting to find out how to enjoy their idol worship in moderation!

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Don’t eat that! We make delicious-looking models of tempura out of wax

Although the language barrier can make traveling or living in Japan tough at times, dining out is a snap. There are plenty of conveyer belt sushi restaurants where you just grab what you want as the plates go by, and at many ramen and beef bowl restaurants you simply buy a meal ticket out of a vending machine, then pass it off to the cook.

Even when technology isn’t there to save you, ordering is still easy, thanks to the numerous Japanese restaurants that display wax models of their menu items, allowing you to bring the wait staff to the display window and point and what you want. There’s a whole industry devoted to replicating food, and we recently tried our hand at making a wax creation of our own.

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We visited the owl cafe in Tsukishima where the awesome never ends【Photos】

Japan, as you may have heard, has a lot of unique themed cafes. Of course, the cat cafes are the most well-known, having become a bit of a social and cultural phenomenon. Now, as we mentioned earlier this week, you can stop by cafes dedicated to everything from bunnies to maids to gyaru (basically young trendy women) and find an experience tailored to your desires.

However, there’s one new cafe that opened last year that really grabbed our attention: the Fukuro no Mise, or the Owl Store, located in Tsukishima, Tokyo. After hearing about all the cute owls to be seen, petted, and held, we simply had to give it a visit! Here’s your official RocketNews24 report and photo album!

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Japan launches new submarine amid fun-looking party and gives netizens funny feelings

On 31 October the newest submarine for the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) was launched into the water for the first time during a festive ceremony in Kobe.

The submarine, named Kukoryu (Black Dragon), is said to be state-of-the art and was built at a cost of 53.4 billion yen (US$540M) by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. It seems no cost was spared for the ceremony either which had streamers, balloons, and a bunch of other cool stuff I never got at my 10th birthday party and am still seeing a therapist to come to terms with…

I bet they had a magician there too.

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Japanese company hopes to reinvent the umbrella with “Unbrella”

Particularly during the autumn typhoon season but even through all types of weather, Japanese people like to keep an umbrella at hand to protect from the elements. Surprisingly, since ancient times when it was developed, the umbrella has seen little in the way of substantial improvements. Sure there have been upgrades in collapsibility and wind-resistance features, but the general structure of a parasol and all the arguable flaws inherent with it remain. This is where Japanese company h-concept steps in and hopes you buy their Unbrella which aims to rectify everything wrong with the traditional umbrella. For the hefty price tag of 9,450 yen (US$95) they seem confident it’s got what it takes to do it.

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Hanging out with the monkeys at cageless Jigokudani Monkey Park 【Photos】

Now, you look like the kind of person who loves monkeys. How can I tell from the other side of the Internet? Simple: Everyone love monkeys! They’re cute, they’re human-like, and sometimes they’re just plain fun to watch.

Of course, anyone who’s visited a zoo has seen a monkey, but they’re almost always behind a fence or a window. Don’t you wish you could get just a little bit closer? Turns out you can do just that at Jigokudani Monkey Park in Nagano Prefecture.

We had a chance to check out the park recently and we brought back tons of pictures for you to enjoy!

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12 toilet oddities around the world that surprise Japan

Squat toilets aside, Japan’s technological achievements in the restroom are well-known. From seat warmers to washlets and noise-eliminators, Japan is probably the number one place to go number two. But what does the country of the advanced-thinking toilet think of restrooms around the world? Read below to find out!

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  • Nov 3, 2013

Sharp comes out with… a chopping board? — Well, an interactive one, anyway

Electronics maker Sharp recently announced the prototype of a new, unlikely product that has set the Japanese Internet community abuzz …

This story actually has its beginning about six months ago, when Sharp Europe ran a competition called “#GetItDownOnPaper”, which invited students and graduates in Europe to submit ideas for solutions to everyday problems by sharing them on Twitter. The winner would be offered a two-week paid internship at Sharp Laboratories of Europe, a wonderful opportunity for any aspiring inventor.

The lucky winner was Siobhán Andrews, a student of Sustainable Product Design at Falmouth University, England, whose idea for an interactive chopping board apparently impressed the judges as well as the folks at Sharp Laboratories so much that they have come up with a prototype which has been named the Chop-Syc. But now that the prototype has been announced, the response, at least from Japanese Internet users, may not exactly be what the people at Sharp are hoping to hear. Read More

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Singing duo wow us with their a cappella Disney medley

Over on the Japanese side of RocketNews24, we run a lot of article about both Japan and the international world. If you’re starting to feel confident with your Japanese ability, it’s not only a great way to practice your Japanese reading skills, but you can learn a lot of weird and cool stuff. And sometimes you can also find articles that are simply amazing.

Today, we have one of those “simply impressive” articles to share with you!

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