Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
The body of a man was discovered earlier today on a gate-ball (a game similar to croquet) lawn in the city of Urayasu, Chiba prefecture, just miles from the Tokyo Disneyland resort.
At 7:05 a.m. local time, police received a phone call saying that a man believed to be in his 50s had been found lying face-up on the ground near a storage shed at the gate-ball field.
In an even more dramatic twist to this sad tale, the man is reported to have been holding a handgun in his right hand.
The holidays are over, you’ve gained a few extra pounds, but you’re finding it difficult to start a workout routine after so many peaceful days spent lounging around. What you need is a workout buddy to help you stay motivated. Preferably a cute girl.
For those of you who don’t know any cute girls willing to get sweaty with you, Japanese indie developer Creative Freaks has you covered with Burn your fat with me!!, a fitness app/dating simulation game where players must workout in real life to impress a 2D anime love interest.
Domino’s Pizza, one of the world’s most well-known home delivery pizza services, has recently released a new luxury pizza in Japan– an exclusive to the pizza fast food market.
Priced at 5,800 yen (about US$66), however, you’d be right to think twice before parting with your cash; after all, this is essentially just a circle of baked dough with fancy toppings. Sure, after piling all of your favourite toppings onto a pizza pie, one might hit the 5,000 yen mark, but a large-sized pizza starting at 5,800 yen?!
This had better be something very special…
Remember the bank robber who waited on the sofa at the request of his “victim” tellers? He may have competition for most polite criminal with a 23-year-old woman from the rural town of Noto, Japan.
In fact, her attempt at armed robbery of a convenience store was so gentle police are currently unsure what charges they can press.
Happy New Year! Here’s a fist full of cash!
In Japan, there are many interesting New Year’s traditions. Aside from watching TV all night, risking your life eating mochi, and indulging in a ton of specially prepared food, those lucky enough to be young receive money.
Otoshidama, roughly translated as “New Year’s gift,” is the act of giving children small, decorated envelopes filled with money during New Year’s. Parents, relatives, and close friends usually give Otoshidama to children in elementary school to high school.
After collecting envelopes full of money from their closest adult relatives and friends, these kids make out like bandits. But just how much are these kids hauling in? The Benesse Corporation conducted a survey of elementary school children to find out.
In an interview with well-informed sources on December 28, Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun discovered Chinese diplomatic papers created in 1950 used the Japanese name Senkaku to identify the Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea. The same document also contained language recognizing the Senkakus as a part of Okinawa.
Currently China claims the islands are its territory as “a part of Taiwan.” Recognition by China in 1950 that the islands are a part of Okinawa is contradictory to its current claim and weakens the foundation of its present position.
Read More
Fantasy’s a wonderful thing. With a little imagination things can be exactly the way you want it to be. Perhaps that’s why movies, animation, literature and more are so timelessly popular. They show us life the way it will never be.
The list makers over at Otome Sugoren who teach us that everything can boil down to 9 items, like party manners, otaku relationships, and inter-gender video game etiquette have compiled the nine characters from anime and manga that women wish they could be with in real life.
Now, I like me some whimsy as much as the next guy, but I’m left dumbfounded by the thought process that went into some of these choices.
Dutch-British game developer James Kay found his way into the videogame industry after studying Audiovisual design at the Willem de Kooning Academy and moving to London to work at Intelligent Games and Criterion Software. He relocated to Japan in 2001 and, after picking up a wealth of experience at companies including Taito, Genki and Marvelous Entertainment, went on to co-found Score Studios, a company that has received critical acclaim and is fast becoming a big name in the industry.
Detailing the many hurdles that foreigners working in the Japanese videogame industry face, James’ book Japanmanship: the ultimate guide to working in videogame development in Japan may well prove to be an invaluable resource for those thinking of making the move to the spiritual home of videogames.
With the book coming off the presses just last December, RocketNews24 headed to Score Studios in Tokyo’s Yoyogi to meet with James and talk about his book, life in the videogame industry and which Nintendo Princess he’d rather rescue.
For Christmas 2012, my husband and I headed off our island and spent Christmas in Tokyo. We set aside a few days to mill around Shibuya, Shinjuku, Akihabara, and a few other places, but the main event of our trip was going to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. The only problem was that we chose to go during one of the busiest times of the year: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So what do you do when everyone in Tokyo came to Disneyland, all the Fast Passes are gone, and you have to wait at least an hour to ride a three-minute ride? Eat everything in sight, of course. Take a look at some of the awesome and unexpected food you can find in Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea.
With the myriad of cosplay costumes available in Japan, first-time cosplayers must be overwhelmed with all the choices. Luckily, Cospa, a major cosplay costume company in Japan, has narrowed down the choices, releasing the 2012 costume sales rankings. Coming in at number one is everyone’s favorite vocaloid, Hatsune Miku.
Check out the rest of the top ten cosplay costumes of the year:
Some sports are just better watched on television. Although it’s always great to see athletes perform in person, for many events you just can’t get the right vantage point to see all the action.
Take the Hakone Ekiden relay marathon held every year on the second and third of January. One of the most popular running events in Japan, 20 universities from the Kanto region of east Japan enter teams of ten to race a grueling two day relay totaling over 200km.
It’s a physically intense race over mountainous terrain in the cold of mid-winter. And it’s truly inspiring to see these athletes show such high levels of endurance… from your home watching TV under a blanket and sipping hot cocoa.
For those brave souls who ventured out into the cold to support the runners, a surprise in the form of four inter-planetary warlords stop by yearly to deliver some holiday cheer.
A popular confectionery around the New Year’s season in Japan is mochi. Mochi is often translated to “rice cake” but is nothing like the Styrofoam discs of the same name that are popular in some countries and doesn’t really resemble a cake at all. It can either be more like a soft “rice gummy”, usually stuffed with sugary foods like sweet beans, strawberry, or even ice cream; or like a “condensed rice block”, which is often basted in soy sauce, grilled, and wrapped in seaweed.
Mochi is made by whacking rice in a tub repeatedly with a giant wooden mallet, a fun but tiring holiday festivity. During New Year’s mochi is sold in a small snowman like configuration called kagami mochi (pictured above) which serves as a decoration until it is eaten after 1 January.
While all of this sounds fun, mochi has a dark side as well – one that foreigners who try it for the first time often realize quickly: It’s chewy, sticky, and really hard to eat.
And if you’re not careful, this little snack could land you in the ER.
NHK has been running a series of panel debate shows called WISDOM which covers globally relevant issues by holding a discussion among experts from around the world. Since 2010, they have covered a range of topics from economic crises, to Arab Spring, to bullying.
However, as of this year, they are planning on making an ambitious new addition to the program: YOU, if you’re willing.
Starting from their next episode titled “What Next for the Global Economy?” they are inviting everyone in the world to submit their opinions and suggestions for a truly global perspective on matters that affect all of us.
Can you read the sentence written above? You should be able to; it’s written in English.
When I first started learning Japanese, the Chinese characters and syllabic scripts that were scrawled across my textbooks looked like some kind of crazy code that only aliens could understand. After years of studying, many of the previously cryptic symbols have become familiar, readable letters. However, now even English can be turned into a jumble of alien ciphers thanks to these 10 +1 fonts inspired by Japanese characters.
Back in my day, kids used to put little plastic beads on their bicycle wheel spokes to make them “flashy.” Now it looks as if these kids grew up and got training in optics.
Plastic beads have been replaced with synchronized LED lights which generate colorful animations as an ordinary bike wheel spins away. Not only that, you will be able to create your own animation to be displayed on your computer and upload it to your bike with ANIPOV when it goes on sale at the end of January 2013.
With Tibetans continuing to set themselves ablaze in protest of oppressive rule by Chinese authorities, state media for Qinghai province reported that the government of the province’s Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture announced it would begin offering rewards of 200,000 yuan (about US$32,000) by December 27 to anyone at the scene who can prevent such suicides from occurring.
Read More
Scattered across the landscape of Japan are Shinto shrines of various shapes and sizes. In many of the larger shrines you’ll find one or more especially old trees known as Goshinboku which means “sacred tree.”
Sacred trees are usually massive in size and centuries old with some reportedly over 1,000 years old. You can usually tell them from the shimenawa wrapped around their trunks. A shimenawa is an extremely thick rope which encloses something holy and wards off evil from outside.
These age-old trees are beautiful specimens of nature’s strength and longevity and add an extra level of serenity to their shrines. However, in the past month someone or some group has been killing off these sacred trees of shrines in 5 separate prefectures in Japan’s mid-west.
Japan has nearly 4 million abandoned homes, but where and why?
Two things to do, and two things not to do, when leaving a traditional Japanese inn
Studio Ghibli unveils new goods that tip the hat to The Cat Returns
We save money on crotchless jeans from Japanese brand Beams by making our own
Pokémon Cafe serves up a green tea ceremony in Japan with Poltchageist and Sinistcha matcha menu
Should married couples in Japan be allowed to have different family names? Survey investigates
Beautiful set of 24 Ghibli anime memo pads returns, will have you wanting to take notes by hand
History’s largest force of Samurai Colonel Sanders deploying to KFC Japan branches
Tomonoura: Where Ponyo and Wolverine crossed paths
One of Japan’s oldest castles now lets travelers spend night on the grounds, drink in its keep
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Bad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screens
McDonald’s Japan’s new pancake pie is a taste sensationOne of Japan’s oldest castles now lets travelers spend night on the grounds, drink in its keepTwo things to do, and two things not to do, when leaving a traditional Japanese inn
Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy dayStudio Ghibli unveils new goods that tip the hat to The Cat Returns
FUK COFFEE?!? Japanese cafe has a perfectly innocent reason for its startling-looking name
Studio Ghibli unveils massive T-shirt collection featuring top anime movie characters
Japanese-style accommodation at the new Premium Dormy Inn hotel in Asakusa will blow your mind
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese things
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last monthBad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screens
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutions
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in TokyoMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950sForeigner’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
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappoint
Should married couples in Japan be allowed to have different family names? Survey investigates
Beautiful set of 24 Ghibli anime memo pads returns, will have you wanting to take notes by hand
History’s largest force of Samurai Colonel Sanders deploying to KFC Japan branches
Tomonoura: Where Ponyo and Wolverine crossed paths
One of Japan’s oldest castles now lets travelers spend night on the grounds, drink in its keep
Gudetama the lazy egg now being served as actual dish, looks absolutely adorable!
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Ginza hotel serves up one of the best breakfasts in Tokyo
Meet the most unmotivated Sanrio character ever — Gudetama, the lazy egg!
21 photos of Sukiyabashi Jiro sushi, probably the best in all the world
Is Japan’s massive Shizuoka steak sandwich really as delicious as it looks in promo photos?
A story of how Starbucks Reserve Roastery products always make us forget about money management
Japanese restaurant combines solo shabu shabu dining with the fun of a sushi train
Pokémon Sleep camping suite and guestrooms coming to Tokyo Hyatt along with giant Snorlax burgers