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Kumano City’s floating firework finale may be the coolest we’ve seen all year

Summer in Japan is all about kimonos, fans and fireworks. There really are few better ways to beat the heat than getting outdoors in a light cotton robe, eating and ton of festival grub and settling in to watch pictures being painted on the black night sky. And although fireworks festivals themselves are nothing out of the ordinary here in Japan, the blast that brought Kumano City’s Hanabi Taikai fireworks festival to a close this year was truly spectacular, with the excited crowd’s countdown to the final moment immediately followed by gasps and cheers almost as loud as the explosion itself. Check out the epic firework in all its glory after the jump.

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Dating in Japan is similar to dating elsewhere, in that men are usually clueless about what women really want to do. Strapped for ideas, you might invite your girlfriend to come by your place, you know, just to hang out. Maybe you’ll cook dinner together, which if you’re anything like me, means that after burning your third chicken breast, she’ll forcibly take the frying pan away and suggest you put out the napkins, only to be puzzled later at how you managed to burn those, too.

Over the course of the meal, your girlfriend may mention that next time, she’d really like to go on a dam date instead. Take heart, though. She’s not upset, she’s being helpful.

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Marionette Miku brought to life on Niconico Douga 【Video】

In a video recently uploaded to Japan’s Niconico Douga, Hatsune Miku appears as a marionette from the Edo period. The video is a period-style tribute to videos created with MikuMikuDance, a free 3-D animation program often used in the creation of Vocaloid music videos and other fan videos. This particular clip doesn’t actually feature any synthesizers or computer animations but brings Miku to life with true Edo flair.

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Top 25 travel destinations in Japan, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on top for second year in a row

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum claimed the top spot for the second consecutive year on Trip Advisor Japan’s list of the most popular sightseeing spots for foreign tourists. It’s a touching memorial that has moved countless visitors to tears and reminds the world to never let such an atrocity happen again, prompting one Trip Advisor user to describe it as “sad, informative and a must-see.” Let’s take a look at the other sightseeing spots on Trip Advisor Japan’s list for 2013.

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Attack on Tea-time: The perfect mug for fans of this year’s biggest anime

Green tea simply not manly enough for you? Worried that everyone in the office will think you’ve gone soft if you break out a pack of barley tea instead of filling your cup with the communal coffee? Then add a touch of terror to tea-time with this awesome, limited edition Attack on Titan mug and chakoshi tea strainer set.

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So let’s talk about breasts. From a statistical and linguistic standpoint, of course.

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Woman ties herself up at home and calls police to get out of going to work

No matter how great your job as a chocolate taster may be, there will eventually come a day when you wake up, roll over, and think, “Oh, gawd, I do not want to go to work today!”

Now, if you were a normal person, you might lounge in bed for a few minutes before sighing and forcing yourself up. Or, if you were really desperate, you might even call in with a fake cough or a miserable story about your Aunt Mildred who fell and broke her spleen and needs a spleen cast.

Then again, if you were this 20-something woman in Tokyo, you might come up with an altogether more, uh, unique plan.

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New wave of “creative” Japanese names read more like riddles

As much as politicians try to prevent them and doctors disapprove of them, kirakira Japanese names, the kinds that hold double meanings or are just plain hard to read, are apparently still on the rise. A recent survey of kids in their teens and early twenties showed that now more than 40 percent of students know someone at their school with an obscure reading for their name.

Reading name kanji is already a difficult task. A single symbol can have up to a dozen different readings, and while some are more common than others, there’s always a bit of guesswork that goes into deciphering the pronunciation of someone’s name. It’s bad enough when two people have names with the same symbols and entirely different readings. Imagine the frustration that teachers must face when a new student’s name is pronounced in a way that doesn’t even sound Japanese!

There’s a difference between naming your kid something “international” and making your kid’s name a nuisance. See if you can understand the reason behind the reading of some of these kirakira names.

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Hey, listen! Propose to your game-enthusiast partner with Legend of Zelda wedding rings!

Isn’t it every gamer’s dream to find a prospective spouse who will sit down with them for hours as you both fight your way through perilous dungeons and difficult puzzles? We all long for that special someone who will be there at your side through the toughest battles and yet still lets you win every once in a while (‘Cause that means she’s a keeper, let me tell you). For those of you lucky enough to have found your campaign companion in the long escort mission of life, this newly announced line of promise rings might be right up your alley (Just be sure to talk to all the characters to complete the side quests)!

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Luxury hotel cooks up adorable melon bread based on JR West’s platypus mascot

As part of our quest to get paid for eating as many desserts as possible, we recently shared our impressions of the Suica Penguin cake, modeled after the popular mascot for JR East’s prepaid IC card train pass system, Suica.

But sometimes loveable mass transit mascots are like hardcore gangster rappers, and it turns out the Suica Penguin has a cross-country rival, in the form of Ico-chan, the spokes-platypus for JR West’s ICOCA train pass system. Not wanting to be shown up by the Suica Penguin’s foray into the world of cake, the only thing for Ico-chan to do was to transform himself into a tasty treat, too.

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Nara resident trying to build house stumbles upon forgotten ruins on five separate occasions

In 2010, Nara City in Nara Prefecture celebrated the 1,300th anniversary since becoming the imperial capital of Japan. During its relatively brief time as capital, the city flourished in culture so that even today the area is filled with ruins and relics of it rich distant past.

To have such a city overflowing with cultural heritage representing a romantic period in the history of Japan is both awesome and, well, a royal pain in the butt for anyone who wants to develop land there.

Just ask one poor guy, who tried to build a home to start his life in only to be shot down five times in a row after ruins were found on his land. Distraught and with nowhere else to turn he posted his woes on internet advice site MyNavi News Q & A for help. Here is his translated post.

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Among the many colorful expressions in Japanese you’ll find kuwazu girai, which is used to describe a knee-jerk dislike to something unfamiliar before you’ve given it a fair shot. Kuwazu girai literally translates to “hating it without having eaten it,” and it was exactly the problem restaurateur Himi Okajima was having at his eatery, called Hakata Tonton, in New York’s Manhattan.

Okajima is a native of Fukuoka in southern Japan, and orders weren’t exactly pouring in from American customers for two of his hometown’s favorite dishes that were on the menu: pigs’ feet and cod roe.

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This cat looks amazingly like Dragon Ball’s Korin!

This is not your average cat meme. So soon after our exploration of Master Roshi’s secluded island, we’ve stumbled upon a picture that we’re convinced is the immortal cat from Dragon Ball, Korin (aka Karin, for those of you more acquainted with the original Japanese or manga).

Now, I know what you might be thinking. There are a lot of smiling white cats in the world. What makes this one so special? Honestly, it’s hard to say. It could be the overall accuracy and the appropriately mysterious air of the picture. Or, it could be the cat’s steady approval from Japanese Netizens! Take a look and decide for yourself!

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Ghibli’s Miyazaki hints at possible Nausicaa sequel

For all of Studio Ghibli’s acclaim, the famed House That Miyazaki Built has never once put out a direct sequel to one of its works. While various thematic threads run through all of Miyazaki’s films, the man, for all his genius, apparently lacks the attention span to stretch a concept into two films. That or he was just really hates the idea of tacking numbers to his movies’ titles.

However that may change soon if comments Hayao Miyazaki made at a recent interview promoting his latest film and ode to tobacco smoke, The Wind Rises, are to be believed.

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Hey, Starbucks laptop guy, whatcha doin’ over there?

Starbucks and virtually every other coffee shop worthy of faux hipster attention (the real hipsters having moved on to places that use siphons and play accordion music) have become synonymous with scenes of people using laptop computers in recent years, with rows of patrons sipping from paper cups while idly clicking, scrolling, pinching to zoom and staring lazily at their screens. Some even make temporary offices out of their few square feet of space, paying their rent in cups of joe and watched by hawk-eyed staff whose warm smiles drop a millimetre for every second a small cafe latte is nursed just that little bit too long.

For the rest of us, though, these table-hogging laptop luggers are a source of genuine intrigue. “What on earth could they be doing?” we wonder to ourselves, irked that they’ve taken all the good seats. “Are they actually working over there or are they just scrolling through photos on Facebook and tapping LOL into comment boxes?”

Japan’s My Navi News too was keen to know exactly what the folks who camp out at Starbucks are actually doing while the rest of us are engaging in conversations or staring awkwardly at the floor after making eye-contact one too many times with the cute barista, and put together a survey to find out. Let’s take a look at their findings.

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Yes, Hello Kitty really does need a fedora, and the reason why is delicious

Has Hello Kitty finally buckled to hipster fashion trends? Has she been tapped to replace the aging Harrison Ford in an upcoming new Indiana Jones movie, under the logic that if the franchise can include aliens, why not anthropomorphic cats, too? Or has she simply decided to make a living as a hard-boiled private eye?

That third theory actually isn’t so far off the mark, but as with any good mystery, the real culprit behind Kitty-chan’s throwback headgear is someone, or in this case something, you’d never expect: custard pudding.

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NHK gets weather reports backwards, no one notices for months

We always suspected that the weatherman didn’t know what he was talking about, but this is just crazy.

It has recently come to light that the NHK Nagoya broadcasting office has been accidentally switching the weather reports for two prefectures. And you’ll never believe how long it took someone to notice.

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Police pick up man “addicted” to throwing cups of urine at women

We all have our vices. Some like a drink or a smoke while others fancy a wager on the ponies every now and again. No matter who you are there’s something you rely on to help get you through the day.

As bad as those previously mentioned habits might be, at least they don’t involve assault charges. The same can’t be said for one middle-aged man arrested for allegedly indulging in his irresistible pastime of throwing cups of urine at women from his car. If they don’t have a rehab for that one yet, they really should get on it.

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Make snails more palatable with a new Hong Kong brand of escargot ice cream!

In the Kwun Tong district of Hong Kong stands a special ice cream factory. Though the summer treat may not be one of the first things that crosses your mind when you think of that busy region of China, the internet has latched on to this particular manufacturer like cats on cheeseburgers!

Why, you ask? For their truly original flavors of ice cream, most particularly the newest addition: snail ice cream!

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PS4 release date in Japan to be announced on September 9 (hopefully)

Just yesterday Sony announced the release date of their much-anticipated next generation console (it’s November 15 in the US and November 29 in Europe, just in case you haven’t heard). They also announced that PlayStation4 will be available in 32 countries, but surprisingly, Sony is snubbing its country of origin, having yet to reveal when Japan can expect to see the PS4.

However, on August 21, SCEJA (that’s “Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia) announced that they will be holding the SCEJA Press Conference 2013 where it is anticipated that the release date and price for the Japanese market will be revealed.

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