Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Tokyo Ramen Marion, a small ramen shop in the Kita Ward of Tokyo, has a menu item that outshines its namesake dish. That item is the chashu pork nigiri sushi, made to resemble the sushi that is almost always made with fish. Our reporter took a trip out to see what this unusual food was all about and came back with a full belly and a completely new view of Japan’s most famous dish.
At first glance, Gunma may not seem to have a whole lot going for it. It’s one of Japan’s few landlocked prefectures, which means less access to Japan’s legendarily fresh seafood. The lack of a coastline also means Gunma doesn’t have a vibrant urban heart like Japan’s largest cities which grew out of its busiest ports, so economic and modern entertainment opportunities are limited compared to Tokyo, Osaka, or Fukuoka.
What Gunma does have is mountains, hot springs, and shrines, though. It’s also got Gunma-chan, its lovable horse mascot who shows off the prefecture’s attractions and some adorable dance moves in this new video.
Who doesn’t want to look as good as possible — and if a little bit of make-up helps, so much the better, right? Well, the staff at our sister site Pouch found an interesting video from what appears to be a Korean TV program containing some potentially useful beauty tips. And if there’s one thing we know, it’s that women, regardless of age and nationality, are always up for some beauty advice, especially if it doesn’t involve surgery or some other drastic measure (like having a bunch of snails crawl over your face), which is why we thought we’d share this with you. In this case, the video offers advice on how to achieve a double eyelid look using just make-up. So, let’s see how effective the make-up technique is.
Recent studies have warned that, for all their convenience and the social interaction they allow, our mobile devices and anywhere, any time wireless internet access could potentially be hazardous to our health. But what if you just can’t bear to power down your iPhone, tablet, laptop or games console?
If you’re in need of a getaway, and want to assure yourself that the negative effects of your array of gadgetry will be entirely offset by your relaxing surroundings, there’s probably no better place than this luxurious beach villa on the Thai island resort of Ko Samui, which is fitted with pretty much every modern convenience from iPad-controlled shutters to remote-operated pool thermostats and top-of-the-range cooking equipment – available to rent for a cool US$650 a night.
Join us after the break for a photo tour.
Meet Machi Okabe, the gorgeous violinist whose music is just as beautiful as her face (or is it the other way around?). Her exceptional musical talents combined with her breathtaking beauty have been attracting a lot of attention from netizens around the world this week.
Watch the following videos to see for yourself what’s everyone’s been talking about!
When it comes to Finland, there’s no shortage of opportunities for getting acquainted in Japan’s capital of Tokyo. From cafes where you can chow down with cute, stuffed Moomin characters created by a famous Swede-Finn, to Finland’s top doughnut chain, Arnold’s, and Karhhu, Finland’s number one beer, it’s easy for Tokyoites to take their taste buds for a dip in Nordic cuisine.
Now, people in Japan have found a new way to get acquainted with Finnish culture with the introduction of a clever little name generator from VisitFinland.com. Simply enter your name and within seconds you’re bestowed with the Finnish version, complete with a full explanation of the meaning behind your new name. We translated some well-known names and found they were connected to the wild nature of Lapland and mysterious tales of forest kings.
Sprint’s new commercial featuring a “framily” that includes a father who is a talking hamster and daughter who only speaks French is definitely weird. If you live in the US, you may have caught the 30 second clip during prime time Monday evening and were left with an upturned eyebrow and slight frown. But this strange commercial isn’t quite an original creation. The Sprint framily was actually inspired by a long-running marketing campaign over in, you guessed it, Japan.
Time flies, doesn’t it? It felt like we just stepped into 2014 last week, and all of a sudden March is coming to an end. If you haven’t started preparing for the most “dangerous” day of the year, it’s about time you put your thinking caps on. But don’t worry, we’re not talking about the zombie apocalypse, so keep your guns locked up. We’re talking about April Fools’ Day, of course!
If you can’t find your thinking cap, no worries about that too. We’ve got some prank inspirations here for you!
What if you found an unmarked envelope full of money in your mailbox? Would you keep it?
On March 20 and 21, exactly 30 households were faced with this very dilemma as an unknown person deposited a total of 760,000 yen (US$7,420) in the mailboxes of an apartment complex in Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture. The largest sum found in a single mailbox was 137,000 yen (US$1,339). Just 10 days earlier, mysterious envelopes were deposited at an additional 30 homes in Kawasaki City, 486 km (300 mi) away. This time, the envelopes contained gift certificates with monetary values ranging from 5,000 yen (US$48) to tens of thousands of yen (hundreds of US dollars).
If this sounds like easy money to you, you might be surprised to learn what half of the residents chose to do with the cash.
Japan has long been a hotbed of musical experimentation, with everything for J-pop metal to folk music to bizarre rap available to anyone willing to look. Some experiments have worked out better than others, but one of our favorite success stories is the appropriately named Genki Sudo and his music/dance group World Order. Even if you don’t recognize the name, you’ve surely seen the videos of sexy young men dancing like robots through the streets of cities around the world.
This time, Genki and the gang are back in Tokyo–Akihabara, to be precise–and they’re not alone, thanks to a special guest appearance by…AKB48?! Check the madness out below!
Japan’s birth rate has been dropping for decades now, and while it’s possible the demographic shift is a result of couples just getting that much better at using contraceptives, you have to allow for the possibility that fewer babies is due to fewer couples doing the deed.
Lending further credibility to this explanation is the fact that the proportion of Japanese men in their 30s who still have their virginity has gotten so high that society has coined a new slang term to describe them: yaramiso.
Growing up in dreary North West England and attending Catholic school, my experience of “sex education” amounted to little more than a couple of awkward encounters around the back of a local bowling alley and a guest speaker coming into school one afternoon to show us a selection of gruesome slides labelled with the names of various sexually transmitted diseases. Thankfully, with the help of (painfully slow dial-up) internet access and my surprisingly liberal parents, I managed to piece together enough info to work out what went where and how, and made it to adulthood relatively unscathed, only occasionally feeling pangs of guilt whenever I had impure thoughts about the cute presenter of youth-oriented news programme Newsround.
If only I’d grown up in Japan and had YouTube to hand; with videos like this one from Japanese NPO group Pilcon – which instructs us how to put on a condom in a manner we can only describe as “sex ed meets airline safety demonstration with extra smiles” – I could have learned so much more easily!
But what on earth is that sock thing she has in her hand?
Copies of Keiji Nakazawa‘s Barefoot Gen manga were temporarily removed from 13 elementary and middle schools in Osaka’s Izumisano City. Nakazawa’s manga that tells the story of survival after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The copies were removed at the request of Izumisano mayor Hiroyasu Chiyomatsu for what he says are “many expressions in the manga that impact human rights,” including derogatory terms for beggars and the unemployed.
If you happen to be a fan of cats, have a penchant for ridiculously cute Japanese idol culture, and will be in Tokyo later this week, then there’s an event you simply have to check out! Sanrio Puroland, an indoor theme park dedicated to the characters of Sanrio (think Hello Kitty!), will be hosting a “Neco 1 Grand Prix” on Saturday, March 29 focusing on “necogirls.”
The necogirls (neko = cat in Japanese) are a group of young women who express their love for cats in their adorable and quirky fashion style, which you can bet will always include a pair of cat ears. This event will serve as PR for the girls and will include a special contest held onstage. You can even interact with them and take cutesy pictures together. Just be ready to dodge the hordes of Japanese girls screaming kawaiiiii (cuuuute!) at the top of their lungs!
With just days left until Japan’s consumption tax jumps from five to eight percent, we’ve resigned ourselves to having to suddenly pay a little bit more for, well, just about everything. So it’s nice to know that this week brings one last hurrah for budget-based pricing, as for two days Subway is cutting us all a break by knocking the price of two of their most popular sandwiches down to almost half of what they ordinarily go for.
Okay, Sailor Moon fans, here’s another gadget from Toy maker Bandai for you to seriously covet, as if there weren’t enough of them already. This time, Bandai’s newest Sailor Moon offering comes in the shape of an adorable pen, and what makes it extra special is that it’s a re-creation of a toy that was sold by Bandai over 20 years ago. Now, that should provide some excitement for old-time fans!
Restaurant “Sushiya no Hachi” (すし屋の野八) in Asakusa, Tokyo is serving up some really tiny sushi. So tiny, in fact, that you might not even be able to find it on your plate!
Sushi chef Hironori Ikeno is the man behind these minuscule works of art. He has perfected his craft to the point that he can make each piece using only one grain of rice. Don’t believe your eyes? Don’t worry- you’re not the only one who needs a magnifying glass!
In celebration of Cat Day on February 22, Nestle Purina created a cat food-themed dining experience inspired by their popular “luxury cat food,” Mon Petit. Diners were treated to a full course set meal with items that resemble the snacks you’d feed to your beloved pet. With feline waiters and plenty of kitty products, the bizarre restaurant actually turned out to be a huge success. But since it was only around for a total of four days, many cat lovers and adventurous eaters were left without a chance to dine like an animal, so Restaurant Mon Petit is now back in Tokyo for an entire month.
It’s no secret that some of the most obsessive anime fans develop, oh, let’s call them “intense feelings” for certain animated characters. Peer deep enough into their psyches, and you’ll find a (dirty) laundry list of things they’d like to do to, or have done to them by, their favorite anime heroes and heroines.
Usually, these desires are kept private, but when a special even at the recently held anime convention Anime Japan offered an opportunity to make one of these fantasies come true, some fans couldn’t resist the chance to be stepped on by frilly-costumed anime girls.
One of the top tourism draws around much of Asia is all the adventurous eating. East Asian countries in particular all seem to have a plethora of extreme foods that you’d never be able to get back home. These dishes run the gamut from super spicy to super sweet, may have gooey but oddly pleasant textures, or may come from some animal you’ve never heard of.
Most of the time, while exotic and possibly a little off-putting in appearance, these quirky dishes taste great. But then there are other so-called “delicacies” that a lot of locals won’t even go near, let alone doe-eyed tourists. So put down that burrito; you won’t be needing (or wanting) it, because here’s a list of stomach-churning delicacies from around East Asia:
Now is the time to visit one of Tokyo’s best off-the-beaten-path plum blossom gardens
What’s up with the secret basement at this Japanese train station?
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
New zombie ship sets sail in Japan, includes Shinkansen tickets and all-you-can-eat sushi
Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura Frappuccino for cherry blossom season 2026
Sanrio changes Hello Kitty lead designer for first time in 46 years
It’s illegal for yakuza to go to professional baseball games in Japan, Tokyo arrests remind us
Elderly Japan man arrested for stealing toilet, using it in his home for three months
Naruto and Converse team up for new line of shinobi sneakers[Photos]
Super-salty pizza sends six kids to the hospital in Japan, linguistics blamed
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Foreigners accounting for over 80 percent of off-course skiers needing rescue in Japan’s HokkaidoSuper-salty pizza sends six kids to the hospital in Japan, linguistics blamed
Take a trip to Japan’s Dododo Land, the most irritating place on EarthStarbucks Japan unveils new sakura Frappuccino for cherry blossom season 2026
Foreign tourists in Japan will get free Shinkansen tickets to promote regional tourism
Can you eat lunch in Tokyo for less than 500 yen?
A look back on 40 years of Japanese schools banning stuff
New Family Mart cinema opens inside Japanese airportJapan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026Foreigners accounting for over 80 percent of off-course skiers needing rescue in Japan’s Hokkaido
Japan releases first official sakura cherry blossom forecast for 2026Super-salty pizza sends six kids to the hospital in Japan, linguistics blamed
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
Archfiend Hello Kitty appears as Sanrio launches new team-up with Yu-Gi-Oh【Pics】Take a trip to Japan’s Dododo Land, the most irritating place on Earth
China’s don’t-go-to-Japan warning looks to be affecting tourist crowds on MiyajimaStarbucks Japan unveils new sakura Frappuccino for cherry blossom season 2026
Survey asks foreign tourists what bothered them in Japan, more than half gave same answer
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in TokyoStarbucks 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
Studio Ghibli releases Kodama forest spirits from Princess Mononoke to light up your homeJapan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
No more using real katana for tourism activities, Japan’s National Police Agency saysStarbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Sanrio changes Hello Kitty lead designer for first time in 46 years
It’s illegal for yakuza to go to professional baseball games in Japan, Tokyo arrests remind us
Elderly Japan man arrested for stealing toilet, using it in his home for three months
Naruto and Converse team up for new line of shinobi sneakers[Photos]
Super-salty pizza sends six kids to the hospital in Japan, linguistics blamed
Room 404: What happened when we stayed in an unlucky hotel room in Japan
Starbucks opens outside Imperial Palace with a Frappuccino you can’t get anywhere else in Japan
An extremely simple trick to spice up plain rice for a refreshing, citrusy summer treat
All-you-can-ride Shinkansen deal coming to Japan for a limited time
Foreign tourists in Japan will get free Shinkansen tickets to promote regional tourism
Man arrested in rural Japan on charges of leaving obscene DVDs in stores as gifts for “healthy men”
Can you eat lunch in Tokyo for less than 500 yen?