Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
In a lot of ways, 14-year-old Akari Aruga is like a lot of girls her age. She likes watching anime, enjoys the theme song from Attack on Titan, and says lollipops are her favorite food.
But you know what’s not par for the course for an adolescent girl in Japan? Being a crack shot with a pistol in target shooting.
Frozen fans can’t get enough! Watching the movie over and over isn’t cutting it for them, because they have to live, breathe and DRINK Frozen! Well, someone high up in Disney must have been listening, because Tokyo Disney Resort has just unveiled their new Frozen themed drinks! And they are positively endearing!
We recently found out that you can use a rice cooker to make awesome, gigantic pancakes. Our first reaction was surprise, as we’d honestly never even thought to try. Soon enough, though, our surprise faded and was replaced by something even stronger: hunger.
So we decided to get off the culinary sidelines and whip up a batch for ourselves. Since we were using Japan’s most beloved kitchen appliance, we decided to take another cue from our adopted country and spruce things up a bit by making matcha green tea pancakes.
We’re going to spoil the ending right now and tell you that they taste amazing. Want to make them yourself? Read on and we’ll give you the whole incredibly easy recipe.
A hidden camera show has tested the kindness of strangers, asking Singapore shoppers to help a poor tissue seller. While the cameras rolled in secret, members of the public were asked to complete a short survey, for which they received five Singapore dollars (about US$4). They were then approached by a man in a wheelchair, who asked them to buy a pack of tissues.
While some commentors on YouTube praised the heartwarming video, which claims that the majority of people chose to give the man the money, others expressed disappointment that some people ignored him and kept the cash for themselves. Some viewers also criticised the video itself, which promotes a contest open to those who spend over 20 dollars in the mall.
Do you know what June 30 is? Well, it may be the day where you say to yourself, “Oh my gosh, half the year is over! How could it have gone by so quickly?” but you just might find yourself being punished in the name of the moon if you don’t remember one other important event that takes place on that day. Yes, June 30 is Sailor Moon’s birthday, or Usagi Tsukino’s birthday if you prefer to call her by her “human” name.
With the new Sailor Moon Crystal anime series soon to be released, this year’s birthday was bound to be a special one for our Usagi-chan. And special it was! A huge birthday event in honor of our beloved warrior princess, including a preview screening of the first episode of Sailor Moon Crystal, was held in collaboration with fashion magazine ViVi on June 30 in the Tokyo Odaiba area. And since it was supposed to be kind of a girls’ night out, the event was apparently only open to women, or men accompanied by women.
We definitely couldn’t miss out on this party, and we promptly sent one of our reporters from our Japanese sister site — we couldn’t wait to see what the huge do would be like!
Anyone who has ever visited Japan or spent any amount of time browsing our pages will know that the country is home to literally hundreds of mascot characters, or yurukyara, each weirder than the last. From developmentally challenged sushi to the nightmarish Okazaemon, there’s certainly no lack of originality and quirk to be had.
But one small Ibrakai town has a new mascot character that, according to Japanese net users and our own Japanese staff, “even a mother couldn’t love.” This, ladies and gentlemen of the internet, is Araippe, a creature with bird-like feet, a shell for a nose, and dangling locks of hair that are actually fish fry.
As the natural culmination to a brilliant social media move by Nature Valley to endear themselves to anime fans, attendees of Anime Expo will be able to sink their teeth into some granola bars come next weekend.
The convention recently tweeted a photo of several pallets piled high with boxes of granola bars.
Yujiapu, in China’s Tianjin Binhai New Area, was modeled on Manhattan and expected to become the financial center of the world. But it languishes as many wasteful Chinese ghost cities have. At one point it was reported that the Juilliard School had signed an agreement to set up an institute in Yujiapu. And there were plans for a Rockefeller and Lincoln Center as well. But construction in this Manhattan hopeful has ground to a halt.
Skype is known around the world as a convenient, free video calling service and enjoys widespread popularity in Japan. As with any online communication website, you’re bound to be contacted by someone you don’t know. If you simply ignore the contact request, nothing will come of it, but what if you didn’t? What sort of mischief would come about as a result of your imprudent actions?
This brings us to the first and hopefully last installment of what our Japanese correspondent likes to call “My English battle with a foreigner who suddenly decided to contact me on Skype”.
Summer is here! The days are long, the evenings are muggy and we can’t wait for these hot and humid days to pass. But nothing helps get the weather off a girl’s mind more than stories of princesses. Escape to a fairy tale wonderland with the all new Disney Jewel Summer Collection!
When we picture homeless people, the images that usually come to mind aren’t exactly pleasant. While the social stigma of homelessness is brutal to say the least, the fact remains that being homeless is not something most people would choose for themselves.
And while most homeless people probably haven’t “chosen” their life, they’re not all necessarily suffering either. Some homeless men in Japan have a yearly “salary” that is down-right respectable!
After the initial dust settles on the scene of a tragedy there comes the more protracted, but often less news-worthy, battle for answers and accountability. From the outset Korean authorities have come under fire from the public as well as government officials who claim that the immediate response to the incident was not good enough, and the accusations of incompetence continue to mount.
Well, the public has already come forward and said that Attack on Titan‘s abrasive, but secretly caring Levi is one the most dateable anime characters of all time (the public also said they love boobs… a lot), so it’s no surprise that Levi is getting the star treatment even outside of anime circles.
On June 27, Levi graced the cover of the popular women’s magazine, FRaU, for the magazine’s book and manga special edition that included a manga awards page – several of which, no doubt, Levi is now the proud owner of.
Artist and Attack on Titan creator Hajime Isayama drew the cover especially for the issue, which features Levi reclining in a fancy office chair, with a manga and a pair of classy loafers; a look the youthful hero probably doesn’t get to sport too often in the world of Attack on Titan.
Besides great sushi, great customer service and ubiquitous vending machines, another great thing about living in Japan is the relatively low crime rate there. Although the country certainly has its criminals (including very cute and cuddly ones), visitors, tourists and expats in Japan routinely extol how Japanese culture has created a society where even a wallet full of cash will be returned to its owner most of the time. After hearing about Japan’s reputation for being an honest, rule-abiding country, a Saudi Arabian TV show created a social experiment to see what would happen when they left a very conspicuous wallet on the busy streets of Tokyo.
After spending a year in college studying in Tokyo, I moved back to Los Angeles for about two years before coming back to Japan for work. Having always prided myself on my familiarity with Japanese slang (partly to distract myself from my terrible penmanship when writing kanji characters), I was surprised to find out how many new terms had sprung up in just the 22 months I’d been away.
At the same time, it turned out that a few of the vocabulary words I’d picked up while studying abroad had since passed their expiration dates and become obsolete. This wasn’t a one-time transition, either, as language is constantly evolving, and today we bring you a list of eight words that’ll at best make you sound like a senior citizen, and at worst simply won’t be understood by anyone under the age of 25.
Although most manga artists have a team of assistants backing them up, compared to live-action films, comics allow for a much more direct transmission of the creator’s vision. Movie and TV programming are by nature a collaborative effort, and you can’t really watch a scene go from concept to finished version in real-time.
With manga, though, you can give a talented artist a pen, and within minutes see him or her transform the emptiness of a blank sheet of paper into a character that will inspire and entertain countless fans, like in this video featuring some of Japan’s most popular manga artists and characters.
Filmmakers Dianne Fukami and Debra Nakatomi are sansei (third-generation Japanese Americans) from California who met while serving on the 2009 Japanese American Leadership Delegation, a cross-cultural program sponsored by the U.S.-Japan Council. When the triple tragedy of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster hit the northeastern region of Japan on March 11, 2011, Fukami and Nakatomi decided to make a documentary that told the stories of survivors.
They met a woman who managed to recover her old kimono and makes dolls out of the fabric; a struggling organic farmer in Fukushima; a cafe owner who cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner to refugees in a shelter during the first six months after the disaster; and mothers in Fukushima who commute to a kindergarten an hour away so that their children can play outside.
Truth be told, I’ve never been a huge fan of video game speed runs. All too often, recordings show players exploiting a game’s code to the point that it hardly seems like they’re playing the game any more, taking all the fun (and some would argue genuine skill) out of it.
But this new record performed by a gamer known only as ‘Blubber’ is nothing short of spectacular and deserves the attention of anyone who ever picked up an NES controller during their childhood.
As the rainy season in Japan begins to wind down and we head into the sweet spot of midsummer, more and more people are hitting the beach and working on their tans. For followers of a certain fashion aesthetic, there’s nothing more appealing than a beautifully bronzed body, which holds true whether we’re talking about men, women, or even video game consoles, it seems.
Even if you’re more of a dog person, there’s no denying that neko-mimi have a cuteness all of their own. Knowing this, the creative folks over at Axent Wear, an independent startup now just weeks away from launching a Kickstarter campaign, are hoping to bring cat ears into consumers’ lives in a way that is both cute and functional with a product that’s sure to put a smile on your face and spring in your step.
Introducing: Axent Wear cat-ear headphones.
Japan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Japan launches first overnight Shinkansen bullet train between Tokyo and Osaka this summer
Starbucks Japan creates special drink bottle bags, adorable stickers for all 47 prefectures[Pics]
Studio Ghibli store Donguri Republic announces opening of first-ever store in America
Nearly half of Pokémon hot spring’s statues have been damaged less than two months after opening
Japanese sweets brand creates new drinkable Cigare and we’re totally here for it
Forget Tokyo go-karts – there’s a new way to sightsee on four wheels in Japan
Japan opens shrine for plush toys in Kyoto, offering memorial rites and a resting place for remains
“Phantom Egg Shop” opens in Japan, with a dozen rare Japanese varieties
Foreign tourist arrested in Japan after drifting in museum parking lot[Video]Japan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Japanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroadStudio Ghibli store Donguri Republic announces opening of first-ever store in America
Japanese sweets shop sells an ohagi so exquisite it sells out by noonForget Tokyo go-karts – there’s a new way to sightsee on four wheels in JapanJapanese sweets brand creates new drinkable Cigare and we’re totally here for it
7-Eleven Japan to start selling Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches this summer
Starbucks Japan releases new Frappuccino, tea and soda drinks for summer“Phantom Egg Shop” opens in Japan, with a dozen rare Japanese varieties
Starbucks Japan releases new limited-edition summer drinks…and a pastry for dunkingJapan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the countryJapanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroadStudio Ghibli store Donguri Republic announces opening of first-ever store in America
New Japanese overnight train coming to connect Tokyo with Tohoku in sleep-travel style
Uniqlo reveals third round of massive 100-year-anniversary manga T-shirts for Jump’s Shueisha
Even at twice regular Daiso price, this handy item is still great for summer travel in Japan
New official Ghibli anime food cookbook will teach you how to make Ponyo’s ramen and moreJapanese sweets shop sells an ohagi so exquisite it sells out by noonForget Tokyo go-karts – there’s a new way to sightsee on four wheels in Japan
Japanese convenience store Lawson launches new “mini supermarket” chain, L MinimartJapan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
We deeply regret going into this tunnel on our walk in the mountains of Japan
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】Japanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroad
Japan reportedly adding Japanese language skill requirement to most common foreigner work visa
Japan’s 5.3 million beautiful Hitachi Nemophila flowers are now in full bloom[Photos]
Japanese sweets brand creates new drinkable Cigare and we’re totally here for it
Forget Tokyo go-karts – there’s a new way to sightsee on four wheels in Japan
Japan opens shrine for plush toys in Kyoto, offering memorial rites and a resting place for remains
“Phantom Egg Shop” opens in Japan, with a dozen rare Japanese varieties
Foreign tourist arrested in Japan after drifting in museum parking lot[Video]
Starbucks Japan releases new Frappuccino, tea and soda drinks for summer
Japanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroad
Japanese sweets shop sells an ohagi so exquisite it sells out by noon
Starbucks Japan sells Valencia Flavoured Syrup, and here are four ways to use it this summer
Enjoy the world’s oldest gyoza chain hidden just outside Shinjuku Station
Japanese merry-go-round has heartwarming backstory, is one of the best rides in Japan
Ginza Happo: One of Tokyo’s best all-you-can-eat seafood restaurants is an extreme buffet affair
7-Eleven Japan vs Family Mart: Who has the biggest convenience store cookie?
Japanese bento shop touches hearts by selling super cheap boxed lunches for around a dollar