Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
With photos of people doing unsightly things on public transport and reports of cockroaches floating in smoothies, it’s true that China hasn’t been painted in the best light recently. However, an incident occurring in Egypt has caused outrage both at home and abroad after it was discovered that a Chinese tourist had scrawled a message on a wall in an ancient Egyptian temple.
According to Kolnet, an online media source focused on the Tohoku region of Japan, the number of under-18s in Fukushima Prefecture diagnosed with thyroid cancer has increased to 12, while the number of possible cases has reached 15.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Sailor Moon. Since the series’ start as a manga comic serial in Kodanhsa’s Nakayoshi anthology, its team of planetary-themed, pleated skirt-wearing protectors of humanity have appeared in five seasons of televised anime, three theatrical features, a live action TV drama, and numerous video game adaptations.
Sailor Moon also inspired a live-action stage musical, with 27 variations and over 800 performances during its 12-year run that ended in 2005. As part of the franchise’s 20th anniversary festivities, a new version of the musical is set to open this fall, and producers have just announced the starring cast.
According to the UN World Tourism Organization, the Chinese topped world tourism spending in 2012, emptying their wallets to the tune of US$102 billion while on holiday abroad. The move marks a six place jump up the ranks from seventh spot in 2002. Japan, meanwhile, dropped from fourth to eighth over the same 10-year period.
There are plenty of reasons to visit San Diego, California. Aside from beautiful beaches, visitors to the Golden State’s southernmost metropolitan area can watch professional baseball and football, see killer whales and other marine life at Sea World, and dine on authentic Mexican cuisine.
And of course, there’s also Legoland California, North America’s first theme park dedicated to the Danish blocks that have captivated generations of kids. Since its opening in 1999, Legoland California has gone through numerous renovations, and as of April even has its own Legoland Hotel, one of only three in the world.
Needless to say, we booked our reservation as soon as possible.
The vicuña, for those of you had never heard of it before (guilty!), is, according to humanity’s savior Wikipedia, one of two wild South American camelids (you know, llama-like animals) living in the high alpine areas of the Andes. Its coat is said to produce the finest wool in the world. It also happens to be the most expensive for a variety of reasons, including that the animals will starve themselves to death if held in captivity, meaning they cannot be farmed, and shearing wild ones can only be done once every three years, and even then only about three pounds of the animal’s hair can be harvested.
So, I guess that explains why a seller on Amazon Japan was trying to offload what I am sure is a very nice futon quilt for 67,200,000 yen (about US$674K).
But is it worth the price? Well, there’s only one way to find out: time to call accounting for some cash and place an order.
The annual Air Guitar World Championships held in Oulu, Northern Finland celebrates the beloved guitar without actually using them. Instead, participants channel all the energy, attitude, and athleticism of playing rock guitar into their invisible air guitar while performing on stage.
With the 18th championships being held in August this year, RocketNews24 has assembled our finest imaginary guitarists, Stardust Sato and Fantastic Hatori, to represent us. However, the two must first face the qualifying round. Find out if they made the cut after the break.
We can see why this futuristic pod… chair… thing is called “The Emperor,” because there’s no way you wouldn’t feel like some powerful sci-fi movie villain hunting the rebels from your battle cruiser’s control station when sitting in it. But if you can actually keep your power fantasies from distracting you, this chair guarantees increased productivity and maximal office comfort.
With over a billion registered users worldwide, Facebook is the king of online social networking services. In Japan, however, there are signs that its dominance is starting to crumble.
Facebook launched a Japanese version of its website in 2008. Initially, the platform experienced sluggish user growth as it struggled to compete with already established Japanese SNS sites produced by the likes of mixi, Mobage, and GREE. However, after well-known companies in Japan began to use Facebook as a marketing tool, it caught on with the general public and by the end of 2012 had 17.12 million users.
A mere five months later, however, that number has dropped to 13.78 million, a 19.5 percent drop in less than half a year.
Isn’t it irritating when you click on a site link only to receive the message 404 Not Found? Sure some sites will dress up their error messages with a funny picture or a witty saying, but the fact of the matter is that the page you wanted is missing! To help ease this first-world frustration, one web design company has programmed a fully playable game into their error messages. Error screens have never been so welcome!
With so many different ramen restaurants in Japan, you have to do something pretty special to get yours to stand out. One establishment that certainly qualifies is lengthily-named Papapapa-Pine, whose claim to fame is its ramen with chunks of pineapple and broth made with the juice of the tropical fruit. But with only one branch in Tokyo, most people living in the capital haven’t had a chance to try this unique concoction.
That all changed on June 3, though, when instant ramen based on Papapapa-Pine’s went on sale at the Daily Yamazaki (also known as Daily Store) chain of convenience stores. We dispatched our crack reporters for an immediate taste test.
“GameCenter CX”–also known as “Retro Game Master” in the West– has captured the hearts and minds of literally millions of video game fans across the globe since first airing in 2003. The premise of the show is simple: middle-aged, self-confessed game otaku and part-time comedian Shinya Arino pits himself against a series of treasured but often fiendishly difficult old-school video games, playing through them with the help of his cheeky “assistant directors”, a pile of snacks and stack of cooling towelettes to stick to his forehead.
The show has already spawned nine DVD boxsets in its native Japan, with English translations of many of the shows made available to Western audiences both in DVD format and online. But now, the show’s parent company has announced that a special 10th anniversary project is underway that will purportedly take an entire year to complete.
Japanese comedian and former pro-wrestler, Masaki Sumitani, better known by the name Hard Gay, has been struggling to find a new outlet for fame and success. Ever since being outed as a straight man, Hard Gay’s comedic mockery of gay flamboyancy has fallen from popularity in Japan. And, after a severe foot injury in July of 2009, his wrestling career has also been forced to a close. According to an interview conducted by the online news site Owarai Natalie, while Sumitani is still interested in continuing work as a comedian, he has decided to revamp his public image. We’re not sure how easy it will be to replace the image of Hard Gay’s tight, leather booty shorts, aviator sunglasses, and frantic hip thrusting that’s been burned into our mind’s eye. However, the comedian hopes that by starting a second career as a professional model he can achieve even greater success as himself and not his character. And hey, if these test shots are anything to go by, we think he may be on to something!
Without actually getting arrested and being thrust into the confines of a prison cell, there is little if any chance of us being able to taste real prison food. However, this doesn’t stop many of us wondering on the odd occasion what all those guys doing hard labor actually eat day after day. It could possibly be the most revolting thing known to man but if only there were a way to at least try it…. In this vain, our RocketNews24 reporter Kuzo searched high and low for a place where all of us upstanding citizens can try the stuff without resorting to breaking the law. Thankfully, this is Japan, so it didn’t take long for him to track down a cafeteria in northern part of Japan that specializes solely in Japanese prison food.
So it’s come to this, has it? Rocketnews24, after eating pretty much everything under the sun, has reached the last bastion of disgusting culinary curios.
Of course, we’re talking about Philippine balut, or duck fetus eggs. We’ve been here before, but somehow we felt this needed revisiting.
Many people in Japan think that American school lunches are unhealthy. For the most part, they are right. When photos of the greasy fried foods and brown piles of slop that are served to students in the US surfaced on the internet, Japanese netizens were shocked. With all the talk of Americans being overweight and school lunches being fat-laden and unhealthy, our own Japanese reporter wondered, “Is it really as bad as it seems?” During his recent trip to the US, our reporter was allowed to try the lunch served at a school in the United States. The following is a translation of his encounter with American school lunch.
Bus trips can be a lot of fun, can’t they? And many buses these days are truly fancy, impressive vehicles, making bus trips quite comfortable as well. Plus, the bus takes you all the way to your destination and back, without the hassle of changing transports while dragging around your luggage, so the traveling is all sweet and easy (unless you get stuck in traffic for hours or the bus breaks down, of course). In fact, you could even say that the only thing you have to worry about is being bored while you’re sitting in the bus. Well, we found a unique bus tour that definitely leaves no room for boredom and didn’t hesitate to send one of our reporters to experience it first hand. And believe us, the bus used in this tour is unlike any you’ve seen before… Read More
According to practitioners of feng shui (Chinese geomancy that is supposed to help improve one’s life by bringing in positive energy), when you dry your body with a bath towel, you’re not just wiping away drops of water, but removing misfortune as well. So, if you use the same bath towel the following day without washing it, you’ll just be reintroducing the misfortune you had gone through the trouble of wiping away the previous day.
If that’s true, and the results of a recent survey are to be believed, then some of us are far luckier than others…
A couple of years back, RocketNews24 put out a story on how McDonald’s has been skimping on their servings of French fries. Now that the Japanese branches have added a new mega size to the menu, some of the good people at Japan’s Gold Rush decided to run their own little test of whether or not today’s hungry fry lovers are getting what they pay for. What they discovered may mean better things for the body, but is nonetheless quite disheartening.
It’s no secret that Japan is a hard-working society. Thankfully, there are a few times each year when more or less the whole country goes on vacation for a few days. There’s the string of holidays collectively known as Golden Week in early May, plus o-bon in August where people traditionally head back to their home towns, spend time with their relatives, and pay a visit to the graves of their ancestors.
However, there’s not much to stem the flow of work or school responsibilities between those two blissful periods, except for the oasis of Umi no Hi, or Marine/Sea Day, on the third Monday in July, which encourages people to take a trip to the beach and splash about in the sea.
Of course, this leaves June without a holiday of its own. And while Marine Day is great for people living in the coastal regions of Japan, residents of the country’s eight landlocked prefectures feel understandably left out. Thankfully, a group in mountainous Tochigi Prefecture has a solution to both problems.
Studio Ghibli unveils new goods that tip the hat to The Cat Returns
McDonald’s Japan’s new pancake pie is a taste sensation
Two things to do, and two things not to do, when leaving a traditional Japanese inn
Icon’s Mac & Cheese Burger contender for best burger in Tokyo【Taste test】
All-you-can-drink deal for US$4 in Shinjuku is one of the best finds in Tokyo
History’s largest force of Samurai Colonel Sanders deploying to KFC Japan branches
Bad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screens
One of Japan’s oldest castles now lets travelers spend night on the grounds, drink in its keep
Neo Shinjuku Atsushi: New cyberpunk restaurant bar serves post-apocalyptic food in Tokyo
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of societyForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of societyBad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screensMcDonald’s Japan’s new pancake pie is a taste sensation
Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy dayOne of Japan’s oldest castles now lets travelers spend night on the grounds, drink in its keepTwo things to do, and two things not to do, when leaving a traditional Japanese inn
Ghibli Park now selling “Grilled Frogs” from food cart in Valley of Witches
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about itStudio Ghibli unveils new goods that tip the hat to The Cat Returns
Studio Ghibli unveils massive T-shirt collection featuring top anime movie characters
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese things
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutions
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in TokyoBad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screensMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950sForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappoint
History’s largest force of Samurai Colonel Sanders deploying to KFC Japan branches
Bad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screens
One of Japan’s oldest castles now lets travelers spend night on the grounds, drink in its keep
Neo Shinjuku Atsushi: New cyberpunk restaurant bar serves post-apocalyptic food in Tokyo
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Japan’s hoya is a straight-up edible video game monster, and here’s how to prepare/eat it【Photos】
Who wins in a battle of McDonald’s and Komeda Coffee’s chicken tatsuta burgers?【Taste test】
Japanese woman stumbles on the power of the infamous “gaijin seat” phenomenon during flight
Where are all the beautiful women in Japan? Survey investigates
Japanese-style accommodation at the new Premium Dormy Inn hotel in Asakusa will blow your mind
Japanese Twitter user posts beautiful photos of what may be Japan’s most picturesque shrine
Haku is…Chihiro’s dead brother? Studio Ghibli fans blown away by Spirited Away theory
Crazy big Japanese street food at Tokyo Station causes a stir with foreigners online
Japanese city creates giant bread bed photo spot for limited time
