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My entire life I’ve grown up thinking that bunnies are adorable. Who can resist those cotton ball tails and wiggling noses? They’re basically moving balls of fluff! However, after seeing a recent photo compilation of yawning bunnies on Japanese website, Karapaia, I feel so misinformed. Bunnies aren’t always cute, in fact, they can be downright terrifying. Take a look, if you dare, at 20 photos of yawning bunnies. They’ll change the way you look at rabbits forever.

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Grand theft watermelon: 700 hundred fruit snatched from Ibaraki farm

To pull off the perfect crime one has to minimize risk while maximizing the yields. If you’re going to rob a bank you’ll have to put up with safes, cameras, random customers, polite staff and a quick police response.

So who is sitting on a goldmine but least expecting to get robbed? While not as expensive as more authentic melons, watermelons go for a rather high price in Japan. However, you’d have to be crazy to try and steal a bunch of watermelons… Right?

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Drivers in China are being left completely dumbfounded as to how to navigate a busy junction without violating the law or getting themselves killed. The reason being that a traffic light installed in one town gives them just one second to pull out before turning back to red.

We hope you have a car with a decent engine.

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Cat smartphone stand hopes to become newest Internet meme in Japan

Just when we thought the clever smartphone stand market was tapped out, here comes this little cat stand. Created by Kitan Club, a Japanese capsule toy company, the stand features a cat that looks as if he’s trying to hold back an attacker, with a gaping mouth that seems to scream, “You shall not pass!” (or the cat language equivalent). The stand also features a suction cup to help hold up the smartphone.

But you don’t have to limit this little guy to smartphones, he can help hold back a variety of intruders as demonstrated by Kitan Club.

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Teachers say the darnedest things: How rice flavoring is more expensive than a Porsche

Mamechishiki, literally translated as “bean knowledge,” refers to trivia in Japanese. And, if there’s one thing the Internet is good for (besides videos of cats), it’s trivia!

Today’s “bean knowledge” is about the difference in value (by weight) of furikake (dried seasoning sprinkled over white rice) and a Porsche. It originated on a popular Japanese Twitter hashtag “#surprising things said by my teacher.”

One Japanese Twitter user sent out the following tweet. Read More

Seven apps and web services trending in Japan this month

Ever wondered what people in Japan are looking at on the internet? No, not porn…well, yeah they’re looking at porn, but we’re not here to talk about that. Let’s take a look at seven apps and services currently trending in Japan. Yes, one of them is meant to be used while you’re on the toilet. Oh, don’t be surprised, it is Japan after all.

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Mr. Sato goes on a date with an idol, unleashes his secret weapon: canned rum

Summer is almost here, and in Japan that means two things. First, high humidity and the profuse sweating that comes with it. But second, summer is also the season of hot, passionate, romance.

Unfortunately, this spring has again found our intrepid reporter Mr. Sato unable to find a girlfriend, but he’s ready to wipe the slate clean and give it his all this summer. We decided it was best to get Mr. Sato a little practice, so he’d have a good running start before the season of love gets fully underway. To that end, he asked out idol singer Sayaka Shiotani from vocal unit Pureful. Like all women, she is powerless to resist the charms of a RocketNews24 writer, and so of course said yes.

“Honestly though, I don’t have much experience with girls, and I’m not even really sure how to talk to them,” he tells us. Well, as a wise man once said, when you’re trying to pick up girls, use humor. And if you’re not funny, use alcohol. Read More

Synthetic web fibers more amazing than Spider-Man

Biotech company, Spiber Inc, based in Tsuruoka City in Yamagata Prefecture, recently established itself as the world’s first mass producer of synthetic spider thread. They made their announcement at a presentation in Tokyo, where they showcased a bright blue dress made entirely of synthetic web fibers. Read More

Lifelike 3D dolls in Japan are one part frightening, two parts awesome

Making oneself into a fully posable action figure was once a mere pipe dream for those of us who weren’t movie stars, rock stars or the combination of both that is Mr. Sato. But now with technology and some craftsmanship anyone can immortalize themselves in the medium of dolls… until they come to life in the middle of the night and kill you.

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Japanese duo support Lady Gaga with a unique cover of Telephone

The worldwide hit single, “Telephone”, by Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce, is doing the rounds again on the Internet. Only this time,  it’s a Japanese version, featuring two traditional instruments: the koto (Japanese harp) and the shakuhachi (Japanese flute). The duo behind the cool cover are a couple of little monsters who go by the name of Team Kozan. Not only have they created an awesome rendition of the pop single, they’ve made a cool video clip too; filmed at Suga Shrine in Shinjuku, it mixes up Gaga dance moves with the sights and sounds of traditional Japan. See why the world is raving about it after the jump.

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Louis Vuitton’s Marc Jacobs creates high fashion Hatsune Miku

Hatsune Miku, the virtual pop singer, has been selling out entire theatres for her most recent performance in The End, the world’s first (and possibly only) vocaloid opera. As would be expected from an opera that replaces humans with digital singers, The End is full of surprises. But the most surprising of all is their choice of Marc Jacobs as digital wardrobe designer. Miku’s new outfit was recently revealed at the premiere of The End in Shibuya.

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Chinese school principal kowtows to entire student body, tearfully begs students to study harder

On 2 May at a school assembly at Yang Gongmiao Elementary School following the May Day holiday weekend, students and faculty were shocked to see their principal get down on his hands and knees and plead for them to put more effort into their work.

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For one reason or another, PSY’s big bandwagon never really made it to Japan. In fact, the country is so fed up with the Korean pop star that they’ve convinced themselves his overseas popularity is a well maintained lie and his YouTube views come from hired hands hitting refresh. So, it’s unsurprising that they were equally unsurprised, and perhaps a bit vindicated, to hear that PSY’s appearance on American Idol corresponded with record low ratings for the show.
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Every generation, something comes along that people are just sure is going to ruin kids’ minds. Recently it’s social networking websites. In the 1950s it was blue jeans and rock ‘n’ roll. If you had a time machine, and for some reason got tired of riding on the backs of dinosaurs and decided to instead interview cavemen about the parenting issues they faced, I’m sure you’d find some of them complaining about how the young whipper-snappers in the neighborhood are wasting all their time with this new-fangled “fire” thing.

When I was growing up, the big menace was video games, but just like all the things listed above, they turned out to be mostly harmless (but watch out, blue jeans become quite a bit more dangerous if you combine them with fire). Video games have now been around long enough that some hardcore gamers have kids of their own, such as the mother of Twitter user maki_pq, whose enthusiasm for the Dragon Quest series far outpaces her daughter’s.
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The future is up: The next ‘world’s-tallest-building’

Burj Khalifa is a tower in Dubai that stands an awe-inspiring 829.8  meters (2,722 feet) tall. With that height, it is currently the world’s tallest building, as well as being Tom Cruise’s favorite thing to climb.

But all that might change in just six months, if everything goes according to plan for one Chinese company. Well, minus the Tom Cruise part.
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George Mallroy, one of the first Britons to attempt to conquer Mount Everest back in 1924, famously said of his desire to climb the mountain that he did so “because it’s there.” In the case of two of the mountain’s most recent visitors, “because I can” might be a better mantra.

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We devour a mountain of ramen (toppings)

By far the plainest, most bare-bones name for a guy in Japan is Taro. Look at just about any sample application form in the country, and nine times out of ten the applicant’s name will be listed as “Taro.” When coupled with a girl’s name like Hanako it’s the equivalent of “Dick and Jane,” showing up in children’s stories and textbooks.

Nonetheless,the name Taro is something of a classic, and a common choice for first-born sons. But change the first kanji character Taro is written with and you get “Jiro,” meaning more or less “second son.” Jiro doesn’t have quite the cachet of Taro, as it has a perpetual little brother-like ring to it.

Restaurant chain Ramen Jiro doesn’t play second fiddle to anyone, though, especially with creations like this.
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Can you understand me now, Google Glass? A Japanese perspective

By now, you’ve surely heard about Google Glass, the head-mounted computer that allows the wearer to interact with data while going about their day thanks to a tiny display that hovers in the top-right corner of their vision. While this all sounds like a wonderful little slice of the future, the product has come under scrutiny recently amid privacy concerns raised by politicians, and many are wondering about the possible implications of using it in the real world.

While most reviews have been from the perspective of native English-speakers, today we stumbled upon an interesting review written by a Japanese speaker. Despite the country being considered by many to be the home of computer wizardry, Japanese people are often a little shy of new devices at first (the iPhone was positively ignored for its first year on the market), so we were keen to get a Japanese perspective.

Just a couple of paragraphs into the writeup, however, we noticed that the reviewer had stumbled upon a couple of minor problems with Google Glass.
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Death by stereo: Japanese electronics chain found boasting deals on death through Yahoo! search

Upon hearing rumors swirling around the internet that a search on Yahoo! Japan’s struggling search engine does something strange when you enter the words “death” and “die” in Japanese, our reporter went to check it out. Could Japan’s most popular online search tool have revealed the sinister truth about a household name?

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The internet is abuzz this morning after an individual going by the name of Reckz0r claimed to have broken Microsoft’s security and gained access to as many as 48 million Xbox Live accounts.

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