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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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15 delicious pandas from Japan

Although pandas originally come from Japan’s neighbors to the east, the country has welcomed the cuddly creatures with open arms, putting them on anything from clothing to cars. But we’re most impressed by the panda’s ability to assimilate into Japanese food, taking over our meals and turning them into an adorable experience. Let’s take a look at 15 delicious pandas from Japan.

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Last chance to chow down on a kilo of curry rice before famed Akihabara eatery goes extinct

While most of Akihabara’s fame comes from its anime megastores and maid cafes, there’s one other landmark in the neighborhood that people regularly make pilgrimages to. Wherever you find hordes of young men dropping their paychecks on their hobbies, you can also find cheap, tasty grub, and for years, Mammoth Curry has been the place to get your fill of the spicy stuff in Tokyo’s electronics district.

Unfortunately, much like its wooly namesake, the age of Mammoth Curry is coming to an end in Akihabara, as the eatery is closing its doors for good this month.

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Limited edition One Piece Gum-Gum Fruit treats on sale at 7-Eleven Japan

Hey One Piece fans! Have you ever dreamed of being able to eat some Devil Fruit and getting superhuman powers like Monkey D. Luffy?

Well, 7-Eleven still can’t do that, but they’re giving you the next best thing by releasing limited edition snack bread which replicates the Gum-Gum Fruit of the hit manga and anime series.

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Sister makes tempura out of her little brother’s Gundam figure

Ideally, having a sibling would be great because you always have someone to play with. But most of the time, your brother or sister is a fountain of endless torment and grief. Take this sister for example. She posted the picture above with the caption, “I battered up and fried my little brother’s precious Gundam.” Yeah, siblings are the worst.

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Escape the cold this winter in a faceless fleece bodysuit!

Every year as the temperatures drop, Japan finds another creative way to make the cold winter months more bearable. This year, a Japanese outdoor product company has the newest way to keep warm—a full-body fleece suit that turns you into an anonymous humanoid!

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So, got any plans for December 31? Going to the temple at midnight to ring in the new year? Got a hot date for the annual gathering at Tokyo Tower?

If the website of one theater operator is to be believed, you could pass on both of those, and instead watch the final theatrical installment of hit anime Evangelion.

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Happy Birthday, Hello Kitty!

Have you wondered just how old Hello Kitty is? We know her dimensions (five apples tall, with a weight of three apples), but we never really stop to think about how old this adorable little cat is. Surely she’s still in her early 20s, right? How else could someone have the energy to work so many different jobs??

Well, if you thought so, you’re wrong! Hello Kitty was born on this day 39 years ago.

That’s right, the cutest kitty in the world is almost 40!

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Spider-Man takes classes at the University of Tokyo

Spider-Man can apparently do whatever a spider can and that includes attending a class at the prestigious University of Tokyo. As he quietly sits in the front row of a regional geography lecture, we can’t help but wonder why his Spidey sense brought him to a boring lecture hall when he could have been swinging from the skyscrapers of Tokyo or turning into a dumpling.

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Lonely this Christmas: Japanese gamers feeling left out in the cold as new consoles launch elsewhere

It’s been a few months now since gamers in Japan learned that, unlike the majority of the developed world, they would not be enjoying next-gen consoles at home this Christmas. While both North and South America, the UK, Europe, even our pals down-under in Australia will be stroking their shiny new hardware and yelling at friends for leaving greasy fingerprints on it, video game fans in Japan will be left to either play with their existing consoles or try to import.

Sony and Microsoft’s decisions to focus on Western territories for the launch of their respective new consoles certainly makes good business sense – after all, the Christmas period accounts for between 30 and 40 percent of annual video game sales, and the West is by far the more lucrative market – but reports here in Japan suggest that some gamers’ perception of Sony in particular has been harmed by the move, with some once loyal fans saying that they feel the company is simply “not taking things seriously” anymore.

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Japan to sell special cardboard boxes for singing in solitude

Japan has a real problem with noise pollution. The walls of their houses are so thin that even the sound of a sewing machine late at night can cause trouble with one’s neighbors (yes, I’m speaking from experience here). For people with a penchant for singing, this can put a real damper on their daily lives. No one wants a warning from the family next door or landlord after wailing along with Whitney Houston in the privacy of their own home.

That’s why VIBE, a subdivision of the BANDAI NAMCO Group, is releasing the Danbocchi this November! This glorified example of a cardboard box has soundproofing abilities and room for one occupant, so no one has to worry about bothering their neighbors with vocal practice, sound recordings, or voice-based video games any longer.

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Halloween cosplay at the Pouch/RocketNews24 Japan offices – 2013 edition

As Halloween becomes increasingly popular in Japan, people are finding more and more opportunities to show off their costumes. A few years ago your only chance to dress up would be a private party with some friends, but now there are parades and even neighborhoods with trick-or-treating for kids (sadly almost always in the afternoon, but it’s a start).

Last year, our sister site Pouch experimented with the idea of Halloween costumes in the workplace, giving the team a boost in solidarity and energy. Could they repeat that success this year?

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Lawson to be first convenience store to save winter snow…for summer air conditioning?!

On November 1, Lawson is opening a new store in chilly Akita Prefecture. Nothing particularly surprising about this–it seems like a new conbini opens nearly every day in Japan. However, this store will have some rather unique features.

In addition to solar panels, improved insulation, and LED light bulbs, this branch will also be testing out some new environmentally friendly features: Saving winter snow for summer air conditioning and using sunlight to heat the store!

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Don’t like to be stared at while you eat? Have a toilet meal!

What do you do in the toilet? Of course, we don’t mean the obvious “business”, but things that people usually do out of the restroom. Reading, for example. And with media and entertainment made accessible with smartphones and tablets, many of us surf the internet, watch YouTube videos, or play mobile games while on the toilet. A minority of Japanese practice benjo-meshi, literally translated as “toilet meal”.

As the name suggests, it means to have a meal in the bathroom. We always thought benjo-meshi was something unique to Japan, but apparently not! We found evidence of some westerners having meals on their toilets too!

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Is Halloween in Japan evolving?

A recent Ameba News Japanese blog post asked a 37-year old American woman her thoughts on Halloween in Japan, and based on her answer you’d think Halloween in Japan was somehow expressly responsible for all the unhappiness in her life.

The woman asked the blog author, “Why do adults in Japan get drunk together and wear costumes on Halloween? Don’t they know it’s a holiday for kids?”

Her response seemed to be dripping with condescension, which inspired us to dig into just what Halloween is about in Japan and how it differs from the US, and if our research is any indicator, the holiday has really come into its own out here over the past few years.

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Twitter user names Japan’s three worst fandoms

Whenever fans of a particular thing gather, there are bound to be some people who act out and reflect badly on the rest of the group. Usually, these people are the outliers, largely ignored by the majority of the fans. However, some select fandoms seem to attract a disproportionate number of bad-mannered crazies and develop a terrible reputation on the whole. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a comic, anime, movie, musician or a sports team at the source, I’m sure there’s at least one fandom for which you can relate.

Japan certainly has its fair share of obsessive fan bases. One Twitter user decided to put together a graphic for the country’s three worst offenders and their reasons why. Now, while we don’t want to over generalize and say that everyone in these fandoms is as rude as described, we can certainly see where they’re coming from…

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Oden best-sellers at Japan’s top convenience stores

As the temperatures gradually sink into a chilly winter, convenience stores all across this great nation start to kick their oden pots into high gear. For those unacquainted with this Japanese dish, oden is basically any type of food soaked and simmered in a flavorful broth. The type of soup used varies by regions but is usually very savory.

Although not the only place to get oden, convenience stores are thought of as the first place to get it. That’s why Japan’s three biggest convenience stores – 7-Eleven, Family Mart, and Lawson – are all competing to find that perfect ingredient to simmer and sell to the hungry masses.

To help kick-off this year’s oden season in Japan, Excite News has released the five most popular oden foods at each of the big three stores. First up is Lawson!

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Evangelion? Cool. Katana? Cool. Evangelion and katana? Very cool!

Evangelion, known to its fans simply as Eva, has already earned itself a spot in history as one of Japan’s most popular anime ever. The franchise has such wide appeal that its characters have been used to promote everything from lingerie to cheeseburgers.

Now, Eva’s cast of teenage protagonists is helping to drum up interest in something a little more traditional than the high-tech robots they usually pilot with their newest promotional crossover, the Evangelion and Japanese Sword Exhibition.

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Japan is, by almost any criteria, an extremely safe country. You can wander most back alleys of Tokyo in the dead of night without any sense of danger, and calmly carry huge amounts of cash secure in the knowledge that you’re about as likely to come across a mugger in downtown as a man riding a horse.

While this bubble of safety is definitely a plus when you’re inside it, the flipside is that Japanese travelers, unaccustomed to street crime, violent or otherwise, tend to be extremely risk averse when going abroad. Driving this point home is the East Africa edition of a popular series of Japanese guidebooks, which is filled with warnings of danger that seem more like something out of a pulp action novel than a travel reference.

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