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Honda recreates legendary F1 lap with light and sound in awesome video

Some of our readers may be too young to remember, but in his heyday, Ayrton Senna was the biggest thing in racing. The Brazilian racer took home the F1 driver’s championship in 1988, 1990, and 1991 before his life was cut short when his car collided with a retaining wall at over 230 kilometers (143) miles per hour during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Japanese motorsport fans have a particular fondness for Senna. Aside from having some of his most memorable races at Japan’s Suzuka Circuit, Senna won all three of his championships in cars powered by Honda engines, and was also involved in the production of the company’s flagship NSX sports car.

Using telemetric data Honda has recreated Senna’s record-breaking 1989 lap of Suzuka in light and sound as part of an incredible video posted on the company’s website.

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  • Jul 26, 2013

Suica Penguin now a cake — See his face transform as you eat!

You may recall we reported a while ago on JR East’s Suica penguin mascot character being turned into a totally yummy-licious looking cream-filled bread. Now, Suica Penguin, as the mascot is known, has become a beautiful cake that’s attracted a fair bit of attention on the Japanese Internet recently. Of course, we couldn’t ignore such buzz involving a confection that’s bound to look adorable as well as taste delectably sweet, so we sent one of our reporters off on a mission to try the penguin cake everyone seemed to be talking about and provide our readers with a first-hand account. So, was the cake as cute and tasty as we expected?

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Road trip! All-you-can-eat tempura for just 700 yen in Kumamoto Prefecture

Over the last few years, more and more restaurants have been offering what people in Japan call “one coin meals,” costing less than 500 yen (US $5), the highest denomination coin here.

We recently found a restaurant in Kumamoto Prefecture, on the southern island of Kyushu, that just barely misses the cut with its 700 yen tempura set. That extra 200 yen is totally worth it though, because it gets you all-you-can-eat tempura. And when we say all-you-can-eat, we mean that literally; there’s no time limit for how long your meal can last.

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KFC Japan serving One Piece ice cream makers with two pieces of Original and Extra Crispy

Laozi is often credited with saying, “Rather than give a man a fish, teach him to fish.” These wise words would appear to have spurred on KFC Japan’s newest promotion in conjunction with the One Piece series. Rather than give you an ice cream, KFC and the Straw Hat Pirates are going to teach you how to make ice cream and give you a maker to do it.

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Of the many things that China is known for, one of them is most certainly bootlegging. Sometimes it works to our smalltime benefit by introducing us to almost familiar films and imitation iPhones, but only trouble can be bought when China’s system begins circulating bootleg bills.

Recently, counterfeit money in China has reached a point where not only are people being fooled by fake cash, money-checking machines are too, as Chinese ATMs appear to be distributing bogus bills to honest civilians.

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A 50-year-old man who refused medical treatment after being knocked down by a car in the town of Tosu, Saga prefecture, was found dead in his apartment a month after the accident occurred, a local newspaper reports.

Why the man refused treatment is unclear, but after a routine postmortem investigation both town and prefectural police came to the conclusion that the man’s death was brought about by injuries received at the time of the road accident a month previous. Despite having immediately called for the medical assistance that the victim flat-out refused, the driver has been reportedly been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

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Any well-stocked Japanese kitchen needs a bottle of dashi, a salty cooking stock usually made with dried bonito. Dashi is sometimes combined with soy sauce, and the resulting mixture, called dashi-joyu, is commonly used to prepare soups and season a number of ingredients.

As such a ubiquitous part of Japanese cooking, you can buy dashi-joyu at any supermarket. And if you happen to be at a certain few parking lots in Hiroshima or Okayama Prefectures, now you can get it from a vending machine, too.

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Japanese Internet baffled by culturally confused Hollywood adaptation of 47 Ronin legend

Hollywood is carrying on its tradition of making white people the lead protagonists in movies about samurai with the 2013 47 Ronin, headed by Keanu Reeves.

But while the Japanese didn’t seem to bat an eyelid when it was revealed (spoiler) that Tom Cruise was literally the last samurai, the 47 Ronin trailer is raising eyebrows in Japan for its weird comic book treatment of the famous national legend that is said to be the most revered example of the samurai code of bushido.

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  • Jul 25, 2013

Our furry friend Furby now speaks Japanese!

Remember Furby, the talking toy that first came out 15 years ago and became a huge hit? Well, if you’re fond of cute and furry talking objects, you may be aware that a new “digital” generation of Furbies that comes equipped with LCD eyes and can be interfaced with a smart phone app was released last year. Unfortunately for some of us in Japan, the new line of Furbies has until now only been available in English, but Japanese-speaking fans of Furby can finally rejoice now that Takara Tomy has come out with the Japanese version of the new Furby, and in cute bright pop colors too! Read More

Junior high teacher arrested twice for vandalizing and burglarizing own school

Being a teacher is tough. In a sincere effort to mold young minds, many educators have to endure strict regulations, tight budgets, and the unreasonable demands of monster parents. It’s too much for some to handle, as we can see in the case of Yusei Yoshikawa, the 26-year-old teacher who has recently been racking up an arrest per month for vandalizing and robbing his own school.

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Konami confirms autumn release for Winning Eleven 2014, releases new trailer

Earlier today, video game heavyweight Konami Corporation unveiled a new page on its official website dedicated to the newest instalment in its popular football series World Soccer Winning Eleven 2014 (or Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 in the West), along with a new trailer showing the game off in all its ultra-realistic glory.

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Cats may rule the Internet, but who rules the cats?

Baby white lions, of course! And if you happen to be in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, here’s your chance to see them in the fur.

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Baskin Robbins Japan giving out a third scoop of ice cream free for all of August

Yes, there is Baskin Robbins in Japan, where it’s known by the locals as just saati wan, or “31.” Just like at locations in the U.S., Baskin Robbins Japan offers free samples of flavors on tiny little pink plastic tasting spoons.

Of course, for some people the single bite offered by the taster spoon may not be enough to properly judge whether or not the newest member of the ice cream chain’s constantly evolving ice cream line-up is worth ordering. If only there was a way to try a whole scoop for free.

Well, now there is.

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Google Street View captures view from top of Mt. Fuji, negates only reason to climb it

There’s a saying in Japan about Mt. Fuji that goes to the tune of, “You ought to climb it once, but only a fool would climb it twice.”

That’s because, as yours truly learned just last weekend, climbing Mt. Fuji is  a lot like spending up to eight hours repeatedly swinging a mallet into your knees as hard as you can. It’s also – at least this year, after having been declared a World Heritage Site – so crowded you’re guaranteed to be spending the climb with your face in dangerous proximity to someone else’s ass at all times.

Lucky for those that haven’t climbed it yet, Google Street View strapped some poor sucker with 100 pounds of weird Google robot gear, maybe gave him a bottle of water and some peanuts, and told him to walk right on up and take some pictures from the top. “It’ll be cool,” they probably said. “We promise.”

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They’re back! Newly designed iPhone underpants now come with censored home buttons

Looking for a fresh pair of undies for your smartphone? We thought so! Bandai has just announced a new line up of their hugely popular SmartPants brand smartphone underwear. This time, SmartPants2 come in eight new designs, a pixelized home button sticker, and a exceptionally weird promotional video.

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We try the tomato, milk and lemon drink that Japan dared to produce

While doing a little shopping at her local Lawson Store 100 (a convenience store where everything is priced at around 100 yen), reporter Yumeno over at our sister site Pouch stumbled across a rather unusual drink from Tochigi Prefecture that we doubt many would be willing to drink without steeling their nerves first: “Tomato, milk and lemon blend.”

Seriously? Tomato, milk and lemon all mixed up together!? For the sake of science and because we love to laugh, our brave reporter grabbed a couple of cartons and brought them back to the office for a taste test.

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Get your car washed right: get it washed by some girls in swimsuits for 100 bucks

These days it seems all you can find are mechanical car washes scattered across our urban landscape. Sure they might be cheap and fast, but would you trust your beloved vehicle and decal of Calvin and Hobbs peeing on a Ford logo to the cold uncaring hands of a machine?

No, sir! What you need is the warm and gentle touch that only a woman can offer – a woman wearing a swimsuit since washing a car involves lots of water of course. Also, because school swimsuits offer the most durability they would have to wear those at Swimsuit Carwash in Akihabara.

You see, there’s an excuse reason for everything, including the 10,000 yen (US$100) price tag that comes with the experience.

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Westernized kimono resemble cosplay more than actual clothes

Summer is the season for festivals here in Japan. Every weekend some district or other is putting together a party for locals and tourists to come and enjoy. There are food stands, game stalls, temporary toy shops, and people all around. Most come with a parade event of sorts and end with an explosion of amazing fireworks. But above all, something you’re always going to find at any self-respecting festival are people dressed traditionally in lightweight yukata (a summer kimono) and jinbei (robe-style shirt and shorts) as they wander the streets.

But what about in Western counties like America? In early September of every year, Saint Louis, Missouri, holds a large Japanese-style festival in the city’s botanical gardens. Despite the lingering heat of late summer, somewhere between 20 to 30 thousand people attend this great cultural event each year. But what do they wear? Judging by the array of kimono and yukata available at the English shopping site A Fashion, people hoping to model some Japanese styles might find themselves in what resembles a crazy costume more than actual clothes.

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While many critics are pointing to the underwhelming performance of Nintendo’s Wii U platform as yet another sign that the video game giant should beat a hasty retreat from the hardware industry and instead become a multi-platform publisher, recent news from the house of Mario suggests that there’s plenty of life in the old dog yet.

With dozens of new first-party titles arriving in the next 12 months, the Wii U is gradually beginning to pick up steam. But when President and CEO of Nintendo Satoru Iwata made reference to a brand new The Legend of Zelda title for Wii U in a recent interview with Britain’s The Guardian, people really started paying attention.

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We try shaved ice doused in Dom Perignon, feel like comically rich billionaires looking for novel ways to spend money

Reporters get a lot of unexpected perks. Occasionally, our editor will demand we interview a porn star or go stuff donuts in our faces on the company dime. That’s great, for sure. But truth be told, the greatest perk of being a reporter is that not only is it expected you’ll be drunk around lunchtime, it’s even encouraged!

And so it went that we were asked to sample some shaved ice doused in Dom Perignon, because everything is better doused in Dom Perignon. Go ahead, pour a bottle over your head and walk down the street. See if you don’t get a couple of phone numbers.

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