Heads up, Vocaloid fans, the fifth entry in the “DIVA” rhythm music game series is heading to Sony’s sexy portable. More info and in-game footage after the jump.
In many countries around the world, Japanese cuisine has found a home. However, when one nation’s food culture lands in another’s backyard, things tend to get lost in translation. Deliciousness is always in the mouth of the beholder but Japanese people can often take issue with the way their food is prepared overseas.
For example, the website Madame Riri lays out their take of faux Japanese restaurants in Paris, a majority of which she claims is run by Chinese management. While we all might not share their hardline view of how Japanese food is prepared, they do have an interesting list of ways they believe can tell if a Japanese restaurant is truly run by Japanese people or not.
So without further ado: You might not be in a real Japanese restaurant when…
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If you’re in Belfast before December, you might want to consider a helicopter ride.
That’s the only way you’ll truly able to appreciate a huge artwork that’s sitting in the city’s Titanic quarter.
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Cats are always looking for a warm place to nap and they really don’t give a crap if it’s inconvenient for you or anyone else. That’s one of the things that’s awesome about them. A Twitter user recently captured one of these felines napping bold as brass in a shop window, giving not a thought to how much fur was getting in your lunch.
It’s no secret that Facebook is having a little bit of trouble in Japan. A recent survey by Aun Consulting showed a drastic decline of almost 11 percent from September 2012 to January this year. But why are Japanese users quitting the incredibly popular global social networking site? Apparently, between all of the selfies showing off your perfect girlfriend, photo albums of that weekend trip to Tahiti and updates on your amazing job, some users are developing an inferiority complex about their lonely, boring and unsatisfying lives.
If you’ve ever used the Tokyo Metro, or even browsed maps of the rail network online, you’ll know that it is a positive maze of lines, colours, numbers and names that even locals sometimes have trouble navigating. Compared to the London Underground or even New York’s massive subway system, the Tokyo Metro is absolute chaos on paper, making us wonder how it could possibly all run so smoothly on a daily basis.
Thanks to one Tokyo University graduate’s efforts, however, we now know exactly what is going on beneath our feet, with this three-dimensional model filled with coloured liquids representing every twist, turn, climb and dip the Metro’s tunnels make in real life.
At the risk of becoming an online shrine to all things feline following our reporting of everything from cat sushi, Attack on Titan: cat edition and multiple posts about Japan’s own feline star, Maru, when we discovered this series of 12 photos showing the growth of a kitten as it goes from barely being able to see over the edge of the scales to struggling to fit in, we couldn’t help but share.
Strap yourselves in for some serious cute, boys and girls.
The Volkswagen Beetle (often known as the Bug in the US) has been around since the 1930s, and is adored worldwide for its simplistic and cute rounded design. Though the German automobile has evolved over the years, it still keeps the characteristic bug-like shape that everyone recognizes at a glance.
But will you still be able to recognize a Beetle on the road if it had a Japanese bathtub in its backseat? We’re not kidding, the Beetle makers in Japan really did make such a car!
Ghibli films are celebrated the world over for their enchanting art, beautiful world-building, and family friendly plotlines. Stylistically, there are many things that set these movies apart from other animated titles, both in terms of common themes and art quality. The backgrounds will be scenic. The children will fly. Tears will fall like big, fat drops, and the food will always, always look enticing.
Latching on to that latter truth, Japanese news source My Navi Woman asked its readers which of Ghibli’s mouth-watering morsels they would most like to eat. 225 women responded, leading us to six of the most desirable dishes featured in Ghibli films.
It should come as no surprise to our readers to hear that we’re big fans of Japan. Pretty much everything here works as it should, the food is amazing, the culture rich, and people are on the whole likeable and friendly. But there are times when Westerners, and Japanese who have spent any amount of time abroad for that matter, realise that Japan gets some things not just wrong but horribly wrong.
So join us after the jump as we redress the balance no doubt offset by our constant admiration of Japan by discussing the 10 little things that drive us nuts in this otherwise great country.
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When you’re a little kid, any slightly long object turns into your own personal phone. The remote control, a banana, maybe even a sausage have all served as substitute talking devices for children not quite old enough to have their own fully-functional mobile device. But frozen treats, no matter how perfectly sized, have always been out of reach as a play phone, transforming into a puddle of sticky goo before the purple dragon had his turn to talk. But now you can be the envy of all those 5-year-olds yammering like fools on their pickle phones with the icePhone case that looks like a real crunch bar or popsicle.
Hello Kitty has just turned 39 and it seems like everyone in Japan is gearing up for her to turn the big 4-0. In celebration of her achievement, Hello Kitty is being turned into a beloved Japanese snack, Inarizushi. This dish named after the Shinto god, Inari, has always had those little peaks of unfilled fried tofu pouch at each corner and adding the simple dots, lines, and familiar bow makes the snack look just like Hello Kitty. However, even if the sight of this irresistible sushi makes you want to run out and buy one immediately, it’s unfortunately only available in one area of Japan.
Japan is, of course, known for its unique cuisine. From sushi to takoyaki, there’s something for everyone! One domestic favorite is the cabbage-pancake okonomiyaki, which can include anything from squid to pork to cheese. The dish is beloved by both children and adults throughout the country and can be found in restaurants, festivals, and even hamburgers! However, if you live in Tokyo, you’d probably want to some monjayaki instead, a similar dish that is closer in consistency to scrambled eggs–but still incredibly delicious!
Last weekend, we headed out to Tsukishima, one of the most famous mojayaki destinations in Japan, to try the dish. Check out our report of the excellent monjayaki shop, Bambi, below!
Japan’s idol industry is a unique beast of a moneymaker. The girls who succeed on this cut-throat career path are supported entirely by their fanbase. While they may sing and dance, their live shows have more to do with their idol image than their actual talents, and it is ultimately their popularity which determines their level of success. These girls are famous for their popularity, rather than popular as a result of their fame and talents.
Supporting this industry at its core are the idol otaku, men and women who are obsessed with the girls in idol groups. Functioning as a sub-set of otaku culture, which is already criticized by greater Japanese society, one might expect these idol fans to band together tightly, and share in harmony their mutual love for miniskirts. But, this has not been the case. In fact, a large rift has apparently formed between long-time supporters of the idol industry and newcomers to the scene. According to the old-timers, it would appear that these fresh, new fans don’t understand what it really means to be an idol otaku. Just look at what they had to say about these newbies infringing on their turf!
Around our house, making a mess at the table might have gotten you a harsh word at most. This feline Miss Manners is a bit stricter about table manners, though. Her dining companion drops a bit of food and is promptly punched in the face!
In Japan, Hokto is to mushrooms what Chiquita is to bananas: a household name that people know but aren’t overly excited by – until now!
The mushroom growers have been releasing an increasingly sexy line of commercials that seem to get pulled from the airwaves soon after debuting. The latest one, titled “Splendid Mushroom Kinkatsu,” depicts a love affair between actors Jun Kaname in the role of the spirit of mushrooms and Sawa Suzuki as the middle-aged woman he continuously haunts and seductively whispers about mushrooms to. As far as mushrooms go, this is pretty hot.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II recently made a Mie Prefecture man an Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire, which we think means he’s some kind of knight now or something. That or “Hand of the Queen” if standard Game of Thrones rules apply.
What did the lucky man, Sir Isao Toji, do to deserve such a distinction? Well, for the past 20 years, Toji has held an annual memorial service for 16 British servicemen who died in Japan as prisoners of war during World War II.
Ah, Japan. Just when I thought you couldn’t be any sillier, you throw me a gem like this. Apparently, Meiji University, a very well-known and well-respected educational institution is Japan, has announced that it will host a National Pokémon Summit next month.
【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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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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