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Hong Kong Tourism Board resorts to some unusual tactics to get around China’s smog problem

As many of you may be aware, China has had some serious pollution problems in recent years with contamination spreading far and wide, affecting people’s health and everyday lifestyles. With all this negative publicity, it is of no surprise that China’s tourism industry has seen a decline in visitors to the country.

However, the Hong Kong Tourism Board has come up with a rather clever and, shall we say, peculiar scheme that guarantees to get rid of the smog, at least for all the tourists who want to capture a special photo for the occasion. It comes in the form of a picturesque banner of the Hong Kong landscape that is substituted for the real, polluted background. It’s just a case of standing in front of it, saying cheese and you’re done. Granted the picture may look good but it still doesn’t solve the actual problem of pollution.
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Japan Airlines offers free guitar boxes to ease travelling musicians’ worries

Taking a flight with a musical instrument can be nerve-racking. There are a number of ways for your precious gear to be damaged, be it by air pressure and temperature changes, or the risk of it being manhandled or even lost by unbaggage handlers.

Flying with a guitar can be especially daring as they can sometimes be too big for carry-on baggage and often require DIY protection methods like loosening the strings and wrapping a T-shirt around the head. Thankfully, Japan Airlines (JAL) has heard these worries and responded by lending out a protective case for your beloved acoustic or electric.

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Would you eat this sushi, head to tail?

Ekiben, or “station bento,” can be found on train station platforms across Japan, conveniently packed for travelers too busy to prepare their own meal. They usually come in plastic or styrofoam containers wrapped with a decorative paper cover. But this ekiben is a little different. Found in Kochi Prefecture, this on-the-go bento is packaged in clear plastic wrap to display the goods inside, and what seems like merely a fish sitting in a white supermarket tray is actually sushi. Let’s take a closer look at this bizarre whole fish sushi ekiben.

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Kumamoto Prefecture shows us that less is more with simple yet mouth-watering rice balls

One of our reporters recently drew the enviable assignment of visiting this year’s Nippon no Umai, an annual event sponsored by Kirin that brings the best of Japan’s regional delicacies together under one roof. With so many tasty options on display, those of us not lucky enough to attend the tasting session, held at the super swanky Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, would have to settle for living vicariously through our correspondent’s report after he returned.

We were a little underwhelmed when we asked what he’d eaten, and his answer was “white rice with salt!” but we soon came to understand why he was looking quite so content.

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Twisted Japanese: It’s not what you say, but how you say it!

As any Japanese speaker will no doubt tell you, the Japanese language, although tricky to master, is incredibly convenient. Not only can we entirely omit words such as “I” or “you” and simply say things like “taberu?” (“eat?”) or “iku?” (“go?”) and it still be perfectly acceptable, but there are also set phrases for use in a multitude of situations, the like of which simply do not exist in many other languages.

But even something as simple as the phrase yoroshiku onegaishimasu (lit. “Please do good (for me),” and used when asking for something or beginning a meeting, class, or even a work or training session) can be quite a mouthful at first. Thankfully though, a recent post made by a Japanese net user suggests that so long as you mutter something that sounds like the actual phrase, you’ll probably get by just fine.

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Eat until your bra doesn’t fit! New “one more dish” brassiere gives you extra room after a big meal

For the girl who just loves to eat. This new bra for the fall and winter season promises to expand with the help of a “secret hook” to allow you to comfortably fill your belly.

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Freaky gourmet: Mango yogurt noodles, anyone!?

During the height of summer, we’ve been known to plonk ourselves down in front our home-made air conditioner with a pile of sliced watermelon or even chilled soba noodles and mentsuyu dipping sauce as a way of keeping cool while engaging in our favourite pastime of filling our faces. But we never imagined for a second that someone would put noodles, yoghurt and fruit together in one dish.

Tokyo and Osaka-based noodle chain Tsurutontan, specialists in udon wheat-flour noodle dishes, is currently offering patrons something rather tropical with its Mango Yogurt Udon. The very thought of eating a cold, sweet version of one of our favourite kinds of noodle at once excited us and made us feel a little bit queasy, so we sent one of our bravest reporters over to try it out. Find out what they thought after the jump.

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Attack on Titan’s author causes a stir with his less-than-stellar sketches

On September 1, fans flocked to the Utsunomiya branch of Animate to attend an autograph event for Shingeki no Kyojin: Attack on Titan‘s author, Hajime Isayama. During his Shinkansen train ride to Tochigi Prefecture, the artist doodled up some ideas for pictures to draw along with his signature when meeting with his fans. He took a snapshot that quickly spread through the Twittersphere of what everyone assumed would be a superb work of art…

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I’ve got my hunches, but this iPhone banana case probably doesn’t grow in bunches

You’ve been through a bubble wrap case, iPhone underpants, and even talked to your friend using a piece of toast, but those are just fads. You want something that will stand the test of time. Well, every little kid has used a banana as a phone, so why not transform your iPhone into a banana? It’s timeless.

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Kirin announces its entry into the peculiar new hot fizzy drinks market

It’s barely even autumn and yet Japan’s beverage makers are showing off their new winter warmers. Hot on the heels of Coca Cola’s Canada Dry Hot Ginger Ale, Japan’s Kirin drinks company has unveiled a new hot version of its popular carbonated drink, Kirin no Awa.

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Press conference about Miyazaki’s retirement streaming live on Niconico

For those who haven’t heard the news, Hayao Miyazaki, often referred to as “the Walt Disney of Japan,” is formally retiring from the feature film industry. To address the countless questions and concerns of disappointed fans, Miyazaki will be attending a press conference on Friday, September 6, to discuss the details of his retirement. This meeting will be streamed live on website, Niconico, for the whole world to watch.

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A century of culture: Isao Tomita and Hatsune Miku pay musical tribute to author Kenji Miyazawa

This year marks the 80th anniversary of Kenji Miyazawa’s Death, and as a tribute to the celebrated writer a revival of the Ihatov Symphony was performed in his hometown of Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture on 29 August. The symphony was composed by Isao Tomita, a true originator of electronic music in Japan and features Hatsune Miku the iconic vocaloid who embodies the trail blazed by Tomita decades ago.

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Dream gaming cabinet puts 119 consoles, 75 controllers at your fingertips

In the topsy-turvy world we live in, where console manufacturers are reluctant even to let people bring their last-gen games to their newest hardware, a lot of gamers may be feeling fatigued, longing for the good old days when a pixelated blue hedgehog fighting a fat scientist with a weird fetish for forest creatures was the definition of a triple-A title.

One gamer, at least, was so fed up with the current gen console wars, he decided to ball up basically the entire history of gaming consoles into one sexy rig with 75 distinct controllers jutting out from it as if the cosmic protagonist of Katamari Damacy had rolled it through a vintage game store.

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Daruma dolls now in 30 different colors to decorate your homes and bring you good luck

How much do you know about daruma? Historically, there was the man called Daruma-daishi (aka Bhodhidharma), a Buddhist monk who is credited with spreading the practice of Zen Buddhism into China. Then, there are the daruma dolls, paper mache prayer tokens made and distributed throughout Japan for the sake of health, longevity, and success. These limbless dolls have an approximate 400-year history of bringing encouragement and good fortune to the people of Japan. However, in recent years the production and subsequent purchase of daruma has fallen. People are losing track of their daruma dolls, forgetting the purpose for which they serve, or at a loss of where to buy them in the first place.

Now, in an effort to bring back appreciation for the humble daruma, the Kagoyaka company in Yamanashi Prefecture is modernizing the traditional doll into something they call the Koshu～Color Daruma.

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Living in Japan, it’s easy to take safety and honesty for granted. This is, after all, the country where public trains make ideal spots for a nap.

That said, with over 150 million people in the country, you’re bound to have a few bad apples, such as the lowlifes who’ve decided there’s no better place for a crime spree than the town of Yamamoto, which was hit hard by the massive earthquake and tsunami of 2011.

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Tokyo bookmakers’ favourite to host 2020 Olympics

With just two days to go until the host city for the 2020 Olympic Games is announced, sports fans and economists all over the world are busy listing each of the three candidates’ strengths and weaknesses in an attempt to guess the overall winner. According to the bookies, however, Japan’s capital city is already the odds-on favourite to clinch the title.

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For the most part, people in Japan take pride in being well-groomed. Skin care gets particular priority, and individuals especially concerned about looking their best carry around packs of oil-blotting papers called abura torigami. When you don’t want to wait until you get home to wash a day’s worth of grime off your face, they’re handy little things, and we mean that literally.

Abura torigami tend to be pretty small, so much so that you’ll usually see people stretching them out with both hands to get the maximum use out of the precious surface area each one offers. Granted, this looks dainty and adorable when a cute girl does it. Other people, though, such as the RocketNews24 male writing team, are far too ruggedly handsome to ever be considered “cute.” Are there no larger abura torigami for the rest of us?

Indeed there are, thanks to a tie-up with anime smash hit Attack on Titan.

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More Shingeki no Kyojin merchandise! Introducing the Titan costume suit!

How cool would it be to be able to change into a towering giant at will? How many Shingeki no Kyojin: Attack on Titan fans have been wishing they could turn into a massive Titan, just like the series’ main character, Eren Yeager? Well Cospa, the online anime apparel and merchandise site, is here to help you transform into the wall-crushing, man-eating beast of your dreams with the newest addition to their Titan cosplay lineup!

*Super-strength and speed sold separately.

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Turn into Doraemon with the help of these adorable masks!

We here at RocketNews24 have got some exciting news for any fans of Doraemon who wish to take their love of the blue character that one step further. It comes in the form of two rather unique masks that are guaranteed to transform the wearer into the spitting image of Doraemon.

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Nintendo announces new Pokémon cloud-based storage service, X&Y-themed 3DSXL

Wednesday, September 4 will always be remembered as a big day for Pokémon fans. Not only did Nintendo just lift the lid on two swanky Pokémon X & Y-themed 3DSXL portables, but it has become clear that for the first time since the series launched way back in 1996, players will be able to trade their pocket monsters without having to link their consoles together. That’s right, Nintendo will soon be rolling out Pokémon Bank, a cloud-based storage service that allows players to drop and pick up their pokémon whenever they like, wherever they like.

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