Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Possibly taking a fashion cue from The Joker, women in South Korea are undergoing a bizarre plastic surgery procedure to enhance their smile. Dubbed “mouth corners lift” or “smile lipt” (a made-up word incorporating the words “lip” and “lift”), the surgery involves cutting the sides of the mouth to create the illusion of a smile.
On 22 August, four youths between the ages of 15 and 17 were apprehended for robbing and injuring a man in the streets of Tokyo. While in custody one of the teenagers confessed they had taken the man’s money because they “wanted to get some special attack uniforms [tokkoufuku] and go to an AKB48 handshake meet.”
Well, that certainly clears up everything!
Ladies and gentlemen, put down your smartphones, close your Nintendo DSes and power off your controllers. Even if you once thought that you were “kinda pretty good” at Tetris, you should know now that you will never, ever win.
Shared on YouTube earlier this week, the following video shows Japanese player keroco blitz through the game’s “clear mode” and send 40 lines of blocks to digital oblivion in an epic 19.68 seconds, setting a new world record in the process. Doesn’t sound so fast? Check this out.
Like many a baseball player in Japan, Munenori Kawasaki looks up to Japanese baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki. But Kawsasaki has been especially well known for his unflinching support of the future Hall of Famer. Even during his younger days of playing the sport in Kagoshima his style was compared to that of Ichiro.
Years later, on 21 August it would seem the stars aligned just right for Kawasaki as he found himself on the field just as Ichiro made his 4,000th professional hit in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. But Kawasaki’s pure enthusiasm that night might have even eclipsed his hero’s milestone.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
So let’s talk about breasts. From a statistical and linguistic standpoint, of course.
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.
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.
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)!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Sanrio and magical girl anime PreCure join forces for new merch line【Photos】
New Ghibli papercraft kit gives you a little Princess Mononoke forest on your desk【Photos】
Katsu weight showdown! Which Japanese supermarket gives you the most tonkatsu meat for your yen?
Totoro ceramic dishware will have your kitchen looking Ghibli elegant in 2025 and beyond【Pics】
Tokyo’s expensive fountain construction plans making waves among the Japanese public
Burger King Japan creates Kyoto Whopper, its most Japanese burger ever, with Kyoto rice merchant
Trials of Mana gets live-action adaptation as stare play, full cast of heroes to appear
What does “Konnichiwa” really mean? Understanding Japanese greetings
Grill your own treats at Miyagi’s Japanese tea and dessert store
Off-the-beaten-tourist-track observatory tower in Tokyo has great views of the city…for free!
Ghibli Park debuts first winter illumination display with Howl’s Moving Castle theme
Pringles releases a limited-edition sweet flavour in Japan
Tokyo restaurant isn’t kidding about the name of its overflowing rare wagyu-ju【Photos】Sanrio and magical girl anime PreCure join forces for new merch line【Photos】
Secret hot spring onsen in Japan is a hidden gem waiting to be discovered by tourists
Japanese samurai randoseru backpack lets you carry the bushido spirit with you wherever you goOff-the-beaten-tourist-track observatory tower in Tokyo has great views of the city…for free!
Starbucks releases new Wicked tumblers in JapanNew Ghibli papercraft kit gives you a little Princess Mononoke forest on your desk【Photos】
Dark and edgy Jujustu Kaisen teams up with bright and cheery Sanrio for new merch line【Pics】
Nintendo’s controller capsule toys are so cool, even the machine you buy them from is awesome【Pics】
Totoro sequel anime Mei and the Baby Catbus will screen at Ghibli Park this winter
Tokyo Disneyland loses top-attendance crown for Japanese theme parks for second year in a row
Adult Jam Bread causes a stir at store in TokyoGhibli Park debuts first winter illumination display with Howl’s Moving Castle theme
Studio Ghibli releases new Howl’s Moving Castle goods that capture the magic from the anime movie
What’s the deal with akebi, the perfectly purple, alien-like fruit that’s in season now in Japan?
Tsukemen ramen restaurant becomes a hit with foreign tourists in TokyoPringles releases a limited-edition sweet flavour in Japan
Kyoto becomes City of Yokai, with Night Parade of One Hundred Demons festival this autumn
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Foreign tourists on Shinkansen bullet train break suitcase etiquette, angering local passengers
[Deleted] Article written for April Fool’s Day 2018
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Foreigner’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
Japanese convenience store Family Mart announces abolishment of eat-in spaces
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Life-size vibrating Legend of Zelda Master Sword for sale from Nintendo【Photos】
Burger King Japan creates Kyoto Whopper, its most Japanese burger ever, with Kyoto rice merchant
Trials of Mana gets live-action adaptation as stare play, full cast of heroes to appear
What does “Konnichiwa” really mean? Understanding Japanese greetings
Grill your own treats at Miyagi’s Japanese tea and dessert store
Off-the-beaten-tourist-track observatory tower in Tokyo has great views of the city…for free!
Drawing a school girl leaping over a man firing a gun? There’s a reference book for that!
Hello Kitty shows up at Baskin-Robins Japan for 50th birthday party with special sweets and merch
Haku is…Chihiro’s dead brother? Studio Ghibli fans blown away by Spirited Away theory
Beautiful Naked digital art event comes to Kyoto’s Nijo Castle after dark (contains no nudity)【Pics】
Turn a persimmon into a pudding with one simple ingredient
What 1,000 yen can get you at McDonald’s in Japan right now
Is downtown Tokyo’s crazy cheap 290-yen bento boxed lunch shop still around, and is it still cheap?
Japanese TV show decides to censor the exposed nipples…of babies 【Photos】