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Glico gets some cute new mascot characters, but no one can figure out why

Rachel Tackett
Nov 8, 2013
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For decades snack company Ezaki Glico has supplied Japan with delicious munchies such as Pocky, Pretz, and Papico, not to mention a slew of other snacks that don’t happen to begin with the letter P! Until now, the company name was enough to grab people’s attention and promote the purchase of their tasty products. If pressed to choose an icon with which to represent the well-known brand, many might choose the 300-meter running man, as seen along the Dotonbori Canal in Osaka. However, not even he could be considered a true mascot.

Now, breaking tradition, Glico has just released official images of their all-new official mascot characters, Lico and Guri. These anime-style characters are the embodiment of cute and cool, but are pulling some conflicted reactions from Japanese Internet users. Take a look at their introduction video and decide for yourselves whether the creation of these characters is welcome or just plain weird.

Two Japanese high school kids arrested in “really bad” attempt at cash fraud

Master Blaster
Nov 8, 2013

On 4 November Osaka Prefectural Police announced the arrest of two teenagers aged 15 and 16 for fraud. The two boys are accused of trying to pass off a fake one million yen (US$10,000) bank note at a small cigarette stand in Suita City.

Although, passing off counterfeit money is usually considered “uttering” and may be punishable by jail time, the pair were given a reduced charge of fraud because, according to police, “the fake money used was really bad.”

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What’s better than sweet and tasty treats? Cute, sweet and tasty treats, of course! 【Videos】

Kay
Nov 8, 2013

While eating sweets is always a pleasure, at least for this writer, making them yourself can be quite a tricky matter, can’t it? But if you’re one of the people with skills in the kitchen who enjoys making desserts, you may want to check these videos out. They show you how to create sweet snacks that look so adorable, you’ll almost feel bad eating them! Read More

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Toyota’s new vehicle changes colour and suggests destinations according to your mood

Rona Moon
Nov 8, 2013

Toyota Motor plans to unveil a new vision of an astounding future reality at the Tokyo Motor Show (23 November to 1 December): the Toyota FV-2, a vehicle that can read its driver’s mood and changes colour accordingly. Imagine how this could work—you’re cruising down the road in a great mood, with your car a friendly, sunny yellow. Suddenly, you spot another vehicle in a messed-up shade of dark red. Uh-oh, road rage alert, better give that one a wide berth. You start to feel nervous, so your car turns a sickly green. Then you notice a hottie in the car next to you as you pull up at the lights, and your car blushes bright pink.

For people like me who distinguish cars mainly based on their colour—“uh, it’s a blue one”— this chameleon trick opens up a whole new world of confusion. How are you supposed to spot your friend’s car if it’s constantly changing colour? Oh right, he’s always in a bad mood, so it’s probably the black one. Anyway, I’m sure they’ve already thought of this!

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How good is your Japanese accent? Maybe this video can help you improve

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Nov 8, 2013

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve studied Japanese or how many kanji you can successfully identify, if you still sound like you’re speaking English when you are in fact speaking Japanese, you’re going to look like a dumb gaijin.

But it’s hard to identify your level of fluency when it comes to pronunciation and we’re hoping the following video can help. This is hands down the best side-by-side comparison of an excellent and…shall we say “authentic American” Japanese accent executed by “twin brothers” David Ury and Ken Tanaka.

Shut up mom, scientists proved playing video games is actually good for your brain!

Michelle Lynn Dinh
Nov 8, 2013

Ladies and gentlemen of the gaming world, those entire summer breaks spent parked in front of that hulking box of a rear-projection TV (but it was 60-inches!) with your N64 controller in hand were actually productive despite what your mother said. Thanks to the hard work of researchers in Berlin, we now know that playing Super Mario 64 is scientifically proven to increase your brain size. Which goes to show that a lot of things your mother told you as a kid were probably false. So go ahead, stop listening to your mom, your brain is probably bigger than hers now anyway.

Do you have the guts for sushi?

Joan Coello
Nov 8, 2013

Ask a Westerner what their favorite Japanese food is and there’s a high chance that the answer will be sushi. The widespread popularity of the delicately crafted delicacy has made it almost synonymous with the word “Japan”, even though there now exist dozens of different varieties made by people from all over the world.

Many of you reading this will have had sushi, some of you might even love it more than your mom’s cooking, but even so, that doesn’t guarantee that you have the guts for sushi. We’re not talking about the courage needed to put raw fish in your mouth, but rather, the genes required to properly digest seaweed.

Confused? Here’s the science behind it.

Who’s up for 2.4 kilograms of free noodles?

Casey Baseel
Nov 8, 2013

Despite its well-earned reputation as a society where meals are generally sensibly-sized and low calorie, Japan isn’t above the occasional burst of gastronomic decadence, and we’ve mentioned the jumbo-sized portions known as dekamori before.

Of course, it’s not easy to finance such a big appetite. Thankfully, if you’re craving a dekamori of the stir-fried noodle dish known as yakisoba, there’s a place where you won’t have to pay a single yen, as long as you can polish off 2.4 kilograms (5.3 pounds) of it ,that is…

Some Japanese school regulations don’t make any sense!

Rachel Tackett
Nov 8, 2013

Stereotypically, Japan really loves their sense of social conformity and the comfort of their unchanging rules. The socialization of Japanese children into upstanding and unobtrusive citizens starts young and is encouraged by the country’s educational system. Rules regarding clothing and classroom behaviors are necessary in any nation’s school setting, but the institutions’ attempts to control their students seem particularly far-reaching in Japan.

Still, there are some rules that even the people who grew up within the Japanese system find particularly confusing, if not downright misinformed. When asked in an online survey how many people felt that their school had some weird sorts of rules, 12.5 percent of respondents answered, “yes.” That may not seem like a very high number, but when asked to go into detail about these unconventional guidelines, the results were still rather surprising. Here’s a short list of weird guidelines upheld by some of Japan’s schools.

Japanese otter full of personality winning hearts over Twitter

Master Blaster
Nov 7, 2013

This little otter from Hiroshima is only four months old, but has already enamored Twitter users across Japan with its photogenic human-like expression.

Here’s your heart-breaking short story of the day, written on a 1,000 yen bill

Preston Phro
Nov 7, 2013

Perhaps one of the saddest things ever written is Hemingway’s famous six-word story: “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Though short in the extreme, it’s amazing how much emotion and information can be packed into six small words. Of course, Hemingway isn’t the only writer known for brevity, and the last 1,300 years of Japanese poetry have been full of brief but beautiful and poignant verses. But when it comes to terse (some might say inelegant) narrative, Hemingway was certainly a master.

However, we may have found someone who’s outdone the old drunkard! Too bad this one seems inspired by utterly real events…

Internet Explorer looks to win back fans with new moe/anime mascot Inori Aizawa

Master Blaster
Nov 7, 2013

About a year ago, Microsoft learned the power of moe mascots when their Windows 8 platform sold in record numbers in Japan. This was largely credited with the addition of the Madobe Sisters, Yuu and Ai.

Now they’re hoping lightning will strike twice and jolt some new life into their web browser Internet Explorer. As more and more people have flocked to browsers like Chrome and Firefox over the years, IE looked as though it was heading the way of Netscape thanks to sluggish speeds and compatibility problems.

However, IE’s newest mascot, Inori Aizawa promises and end to these design flaws along with some lasers and high speed robot battles.

Two middle-aged men use 3DS to meet, assault 12 year-old girl, Ibaraki police say

Scott R Dixon
Nov 7, 2013

Japan’s Yomiuri Newspaper reported on Tuesday that Ibaraki Prefectural Police had arrested two men on suspicions that they abused a 12 year-old girl they had met using Nintendo’s Internet-connected 3DS portable gaming system. Even though the girl’s parents had used parental controls to disable the Internet access on the 3DS, she found a way to reconnect the device and go online, which led her to the two middle-aged men.

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f coming to a PlayStation Vita near you

Philip Kendall
Nov 7, 2013

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.

You might not be in a real Japanese restaurant when…

Master Blaster
Nov 7, 2013

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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An enormous 11-acre artwork in Belfast requires a helicopter to appreciate it fully

BUSINESS INSIDER
Nov 7, 2013

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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Soba shop window showcases fake noodles, real cat

Jessica
Nov 7, 2013

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.

Behold: Tokyo’s labrynthine subway map in 3-D form!

Philip Kendall
Nov 6, 2013

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.

Twitter user weighs growing kitten over a series of weeks, documents with insanely cute photos

Philip Kendall
Nov 6, 2013

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.