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Worldwide best seller The Zombie Survival Guide finally gets a Japanese release

Japan is facing a potential crisis. While the rest of the world has been readying itself for the zombie apocalypse for years now thanks to the likes of author Max Brooks and his The Zombie Survival Guide, the inhabitants of the land of the rising sun have been given precious little to prepare them for life after society has been torn to shreds by the flesh-hungry living dead.

Thankfully, with World War Z–a movie loosely based on Brooks’ 2006 novel of the same name–finally hitting Japanese cinemas on August 10, the powers that be have decided it is time to arm the nation with the knowledge it’ll need to survive. Arriving in bookstores next month, a Japanese language version of The Zombie Survival Guide might just keep the country going until we can start rebuilding society.

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Major eruption could cause Mt. Fuji’s new life as Cultural Heritage Site to be short lived

Results of an analysis by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and others released on the July 16, suggests that force generated by a large-scale earthquake could cause internal cracks within Mt. Fuji, leading to a major eruption of the recently listed UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

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Big news for Disneyland fans everywhere! Tokyo Disneyland’s popular attraction “Jungle Cruise” will be reopening in fall 2014! Our Disney-crazy reporter in Tokyo has the scoop. (Don’t blame us for the excessive use of exclamation marks!)

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16-year-old girl confesses to murdering friend, body found in mountains

A shocking murder case has come to light in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, involving at least two high school girls–one of whom was the victim–and the communication smartphone app Line.

The body of the 16-year-old high school girl was found in the mountains outside of Kure City on July 13, after an ex-classmate was taken by her family to the police to confess.

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Sometimes the heat here in Japan really does get too much, but this mystery guy’s cool-down method seems to have backfired. Angry Japanese Netizens are up in arms at the possibility that the selfish iceman may have sullied precious ice-cream with his stinky sweat.

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Despite most Asian countries being notably fond of Japan, according to the results of a recent public opinion poll carried out by an American research organization, China and Korea have a distinctly poor image of the land of the rising sun, and it appears to be getting worse over time.

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Apartment for rent in Tokyo: bath, toilet, ghost, and kitchen space all included

Japan really knows how to put the stigma into stigmatized properties (homes and rooms to rent where people have committed suicide or are murdered and the like). The fear of moving into such a place and becoming like the guy from The Shining is such that real estate agents find them nearly impossible to unload. Especially with websites mapping out exactly where they are, potential renters and buyers know just where to avoid.

Recently though, a listing appeared on Japanese real estate site SUUMO which attempted a whole new approach to offloading a stigmatized property, with the author trying to convince you, the potential renter, that it’s actually great to live in a place where someone violently died!

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Japan’s Twitterverse is abuzz with the news that US-born psychic Ron Bard has predicted a huge natural disaster in Japan with major loss of life by the end of 2013. Bard, who calls his work “parapsychological consulting”, is well-known in Japan and counts major players at companies like Sega and Merrill Lynch Japan among his clients.

Bard took to Twitter yesterday with a series of translated messages for his fans in Japan including one that read: “I predicted March 11, but no one believed me. You can save lives this time by retweeting this!”

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A young man from Nanjing, China, has been arrested after stealing more than 800 social science textbooks, history compendiums and poetry books from a book shop in the town. When questioned by police, the young man maintained that he was searching for ‘the meaning of life’ within the books’ pages.

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Withdrawing its previous objection, Sony Corporation has agreed to pay a civil fine of 37.5 million yen (about US$375,000) to British authorities after the 2011 security breach of its online gaming network resulted in the leakage of millions of users’ personal information.

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Is it hot in here or is it just me?

No, it’s definitely hot! Even the Japanese Meteorological Agency agrees with me! And according to the Japanese Meteorological Agency, or JMA, while the daytime temperatures might be coming down a little bit, the nighttime temperatures at the Tokyo meteorological observatory are hovering around 27.5 degrees Celsius (81.5 degrees Fahrenheit).

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Battery-saving app creeps us out, probably doesn’t save your battery life

The smartphone is perhaps one of the neatest inventions we have. They allow unprecedented access and communicative abilities—until the #$%& battery dies! What good is a five-inch screen with a quadcore processor and more gigs of ram than my last laptop if the battery is dead by noon? This has led to numerous power-saving methods, external batteries, and, of course, apps claiming to extend battery life. Today, we discovered one app that does a little more than just extend your battery life, it also creeps you out and makes you feel like a terrible pervert! Yah!

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We make Red Bull chicken wings

While searching the Internet for a new kind of summer pick-me-up, our reporter came across a recipe for chicken wings stewed in Red Bull. Desperate for any way to get a little more energy during the hot summer months, and encouraged by the rave reviews online, she decided to try this bizarre dish for herself.

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Nintendo Famicom turns 30, parents want to know when it will settle down and start a family

Thirty years ago today, on July 15, 1983, Nintendo released the Family Computer game system, affectionately (and pretty much officially) called Famicom. The designing process began back in ’81 by Masaki Uemura and his team who dealt with tight budgets and little hope of success. However, this machine breathed much-needed life into a suffocatingly over-saturated gaming market that was only in its infancy.

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With an otaku umbrella, you’ll hope for rain every day

What better way to brighten up a rainy day than with a cute girl shielding you from the downpour? And if you can’t find a girl to hold your umbrella, then maybe a girl on your umbrella is the next best thing…

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The other day, I was trawling through YouTube looking for shamisen music videos when I came across an utterly unique video called “Tokyo Kendama Project vol.2 Utakata.”

It featured the traditional Okinawan sansen three-stringed instrument played by the mysterious Gosamaru and composed by Tomoaki Ogre, the beautiful dancing of Kumi Arikawa, and a pair of strangely hypnotic gentlemen spinning some… things through the air. I’d heard of kendama before, as I imagine most people with even a fleeting knowledge of Japan have, but I’d never seen the toy wielded with such incredible finesse.

Fascinated, I had to know more!

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  • Jul 14, 2013

In the name of beauty — This drastic beauty regimen is not for the faint of heart

Beauty — they say it’s only skin deep. Regardless, we all know there are plenty of people out there who would go to great lengths for what they believe to be a chance to look even just the slightest bit more beautiful. Yes, obsession with beauty can run deep and strong. But just how far would you be willing to go to look prettier or younger? Would you be willing to actually go under a plastic surgeon’s knife? Or if that’s too much, would you be comfortable with receiving botox shots once in a while? What if it was a completely non-invasive procedure that may do wonders for your skin, but one that involves having certain living organisms crawl over your face? Well, some people may be prepared to endure great hardships in the name of beauty, but this is one treatment you have to be pretty brave to try!

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Marine park offers chance to shake hands with a loveable otter

It’s generally agreed that few members of the animal kingdom can quite match the level of cuteness offered by the humble otter. Watching those little guys floating on their backs and eating off their tummies makes you just want to snatch them up from the water and take them home.

Well, now Keikyu Aburatsubo Marine Park is still not letting you do that, but they are giving you the next best thing without violating poaching laws. From now until 13 September, you can get a little touchy feeling with their otters by letting them grab your finger.

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Japan’s version of the widely popular online video streaming site, Hulu, has just announced that starting this summer they will be making themselves available on the Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL. Not long ago, Nintendo announced its intention to branch out and turn their 3DS systems into an eBook reader. Now, they are expanding into the streaming video market as well, by pursuing a kid-friendly collaboration with Hulu Japan. The app’s release is scheduled for mid-August. Read More

In any military, no matter how fancy your drones or how snappy your fighter jets, people are still the driving force. You’ll always need a few more good soldiers, which makes recruitment an essential and very important part of armed services.

The Japan Self-Defense Forces, or JSDF, are no different, and eagle-eyed people can spot posters pretty much anywhere. As you may expect, the JSDF in various prefectures also have Twitter accounts where they can post recruitment information and interact with potential service members.

Recently, the Miyagi area recruiter garnered Internet attention by crafting a tweet based on a scene from the school girl anime, Love Live!

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