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Alright, let’s recap.

Last Tuesday, a flotilla of Taiwanese fishing boats was rumored to have set off for the disputed Senkaku islands, located near the Japanese islands of Okinawa, seeking to assert their ownership among China and Japan.

At around 6 a.m. on Sept. 25, the 50-strong Taiwanese flotilla arrived in the disputed waters. At least eight patrol ships were sailing alongside the fishing vessels and many of the boats were displaying banners reading “We swear to defend the Senkaku islands!”

Japanese coastguard patrol boats moved in to intercept the tiny fleet and warned them to vacate the area. However, the Taiwanese boats maintained their position, asserting that they were in Taiwanese waters and their presence perfectly legitimate. Tensions were running high and it seemed only a matter of time before the conflict turned hostile.

And that’s when Japan decided to bring out the big guns.

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It’s been a funny sort of week here at RocketNews24. While it was never agreed upon at any of our meetings, the issue of our private parts and their relative size has cropped up more than a couple of times within the space of a few days. And this post is no exception.

“Penises on the brain…” as The Office’s Dwight Schrute, a personal hero of mine, once put it…

We’ve talked about breasts and how they, and attitudes towards them, have changed over the years, and we’ve seen innovative Chinese methods of calculating the length of a man’s old chap without need of a ruler or any special equipment.

But Japanese website News Post Seven, it seems, has struck upon some rather interesting information that, potentially, blows all other theories out of the water when it comes to the issue of John Thomas’ dimensions. Read More

Korean Baby Got Back for About Twenty Bucks at the Market

South Koreans like big butts and they cannot lie, but those Japanese brothers try to deny.  That’s right. It looks like the big butt trend has finally hit this side of the Pacific.  The first nation to fall victim to a big ol’ badonkadonk: South Korea.

One of our reporters got a first-hand experience while travelling there recently, when she stumbled across a pair of padded panties designed to give you that extra junk for your trunk.

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Amazon Japan Reviewer Shares Thoughts on Bulletproof Riot Shield: “Ideal for Snowboarding and Domestic Disputes”

We don’t know about you fine people, but when our old bulletproof riot shields start looking a little worse for wear, we usually turn to good old Amazon for a replacement.

Just last week, in fact, I was buffing a few scratches out of my trusty ArmaLite-R50 model when my boss informed me that he’d stumbled upon a bargain on Amazon JP– a brand new bulletproof shield for just 650,000 yen (US$8,300 )…

Rather than the item itself, however, it’s one particular customer review of the shield that’s making headlines online this week… Read More


  • Sep 25, 2012

How Many Little Bears Can You Get Snuggly With? Many, With These 3D Teddy Bear Pants!

Can you guess what the product pictured above is?

If you really, really love teddy bears, you may be interested to know that it’s a picture of a very unique clothing item sold by major sports brand Adidas. Read More

Getting Directions Home from High School Girls: K-On! Anime-Themed Car Navigation System Helps Drivers Reach their Destination

Tired of listening to the same, soulless car navigation systems while you drive? Wouldn’t you rather listen to someone a little cuter while you’re trying to track down your nearest Guns ‘n’ Ammo store? Wouldn’t it be fun if your favourite animated high-school girls could be the voice of sense and direction!?

If you’re a K-On! fan, you’re in luck- a new portable car navigation system has just arrived in stores, ready to drive you home and everyone else up the wall. Read More

While living in Japan and working as an assistant English teacher, I’ve lost track of how many times Japanese people have asked me why most people in Japan can’t speak English. Due to compulsory education requirements, every Japanese citizen must take 6 years of English language courses. What’s more, starting from the 2011 school year, elementary school fifth and sixth graders are also required to have an English class once a week. Some school districts even offer English classes for kindergarteners and elementary school students in grades first through fourth.

But even after spending half or more of their adolescent years studying the English language, many Japanese struggle to carry out an everyday conversation in English. This isn’t just a casual observation by Japanese citizens, either. Japanese students have among the lowest English TOEFL scores in Asia.

So when Japanese tourists want to take a trip abroad, many are unequipped with the practical language tools necessary to go about daily life in English.  The reality of this can be discouraging and even come as a shock to people who have spent years studying back home in Japan, especially when they realize phrases like “Is this a dog? No, It’s a pen.” don’t come up in conversation as much as their textbooks had suggested.

The following is a compilation of impressions of Japanese tourists who have limited English ability while traveling abroad.

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It may not be the most bustling of towns, but for those of you in the market for real-estate, have we got a good deal for you!

Your own plot of land from just one yen per square-metre!

Yup, one yen! That’s 0.01 US dollars!!! 0.009 Euros!!! 0.01 Panamanian balboa!!! Holy bargains, Batman!

Bizarrely, there’s no catch. No “but it’s infested with rabid ferrets!” or “but you must spend the night in a haunted house with Rosie O’Donnell!” punchline. The town of Chippubetsu in Hokkaidō is genuinely offering habitable land for the incredible price of one, single yen. And, as a result, is receiving an unprecedented amount of attention from both the media and Japanese internet users. Someone in Chippubetsu is getting a lot of pats on the back for coming up with this initiative, we’re sure… Read More

Iran has always fascinated me. A rich history inherited from one of the world’s oldest civilizations, cities filled with beautiful Islamic architecture, delicious cuisine—and the people!

Okay, while my acquaintanceship with Iranians has been limited to a few Persian friends back home in America, they’ve always been some of my favorite people, which is why it’s a shame our respective countries just can’t seem to get along.

Japan, on the other hand, has maintained a favorable relationship with Iran over the years and travel to the country is perceived to be easier for the Japanese than it is for Westerns. Our own globetrotting Japanese corespondent Photographer Koach recently wrote to us about his recent travels in the country, in which he affirms my positive impression of the people with a list of ten reasons why Iranians are the kindest people in the world.

Check his report below! Read More

“A Computer Thinner than a ¥1 Coin!!!” Toshiba’s Way with Words Raises Eyebrows Across the Internet

Picture the scene- a businessman walks on to the set of reality TV show Dragon’s Den (which, would you believe, originated in Japan as Manē no Tora?). He sets a briefcase down on a black leather stool, adjusts his necktie and, staring the affluent entrepreneurs straight in the eye, confidently proclaims:

“Dragons, I am here today to present to you a marvel of modern technology. The pinnacle of human engineering. Never before has humankind witnessed such a feat of industry. I am about to present to you… a notebook computer thinner than a single one yen coin!”

The dragons look at one-another in awed silence. All five of them lean forward in their seats.

“Thinner than a coin?? That’s incredible!” splutters one of the millionaires, his hungry eyes flashing.

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Give Japan a High-Five with this Fun and Simple Recipe: Land of the Rising Sun Omu-Raisu!!!

What with the recent troubles and disputes in China concerning the Senkaku islands, and with many of the fervent anti-Japanese demonstrations often escalating into violence, Japanese both at home and abroad are understandably feeling a little delicate right now.

Japanese-owned stores and factories in China have borne the brunt of many nationalists’ anger, suffering considerable damage to property, and a number of Japanese businesses with locations in China are incurring significant losses.

With this in mind, we here at RocketNews24 are doing our bit to cheer Japan up and get back some of that lost pride.

As well as buying plenty of Japanese-produced goods to give the economy a helping-hand, we’ve decided to add a dash of patriotism to our plates and bring you a recipe for possibly the most patriotic, yet easy to make, dish ever: Land of the Rising Sun Omu-Raisu (omelette rice).

So grab a frying pan, put on your apron, and let’s cook up a little cheer for Japan! Read More

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUtS52lqL5w?feature=oembed&w=640&h=360%5D

Behold the Lego Great Ball Contraption (GBC), dreamed, designed and built by a 21 year-old Japanese college student who goes by the name of Akiyuki, (Akiyuky if you want to search him on YouTube).

Taking over 600 hours of work, this robotic wonder is the perfect blend of engineering and art as the 31 meters of 17 intricately built stages hypnotically and seamlessly operate with the sole existential purpose of moving tiny plastic soccer balls and basketballs in a perpetual loop.

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【TGS 2012】 Sega Invades Tokyo Game Show with Monster Bag, Dominates Show

“Swaaaaag!”

Although it’s often easy to forget, what with all those games to be played and women in skimpy costumes to pretend not to be staring at, Tokyo Game Show, like every other trade show of its kind, is really all about one thing for the companies attending- advertising and self-promotion.

So when the games have been played, the doors have been closed and the booth girls are just lifeless still images on an otaku’s hard-disk, what remains? Why, of course, the freebies! The swag that seems like an amazing idea until you ride the train home with it and realise that, outside of the event setting with every other guy carrying the same junk, you look faintly ridiculous.

And TGS had it by the bucket-load.

But Sega, the house that built Sonic the Hedgehog and dozens of other gaming greats, pulled out all the stops this year, and, proving that size really does matter, absolutely dominated the show. Read More

iPhone iOS6 Map Takes Our Reporter on a Quest for the Pachinko Gundam Train Station

Apple users from all over the world have been discovering new and exciting destinations and brand new locations of well known landmarks thanks to iPhone’s newest iOS 6 mapping service.  The Washington monument has been moved a few miles away and is now near the Potomac River, London is currently located in Ontario, and the birth place of Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon, no longer exists.  Also, Helsinki station is now a park and Airfield Garden, once a working farm in Ireland, has been transformed into an airport.

Japan, just like the rest of the world, is not immune to Apple’s amazing ability to destroy beloved landmarks and erect fabulous new destinations.

Checking out the iOS6 operating system’s new map, our reporter discovered a new station on Tokyo’s busiest train line, the Chuo Line.  Filled with excitement and curiosity, our reporter embarked on a quest in search of “Pachinko Gundam Station.”

Pachinko, Japan’s noisy silver ball-filled answer to the slot machine, and Gundam, kickass giant robot, have teamed up to create an epic train riding experience (or so we were led to believe by Apple). Read More

A research team from Tokushima University discovered that a substance found in hops can prevent the deterioration of muscle tissue.  The breaking down of muscles in old age is a leading cause of elderly people being confined to a bed.

This is great news if only a beer or two would do the trick.  Unfortunately, to harness the anti-aging effects of ale you’d have to drink enough to kill you several times over.

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【TGS 2012】 How Booth Babes Made Me Feel Better About Myself, Part 1 (EX Troopers)

This year’s Tokyo Game Show was the first major gaming event I’ve ever been to, and honestly, I don’t even consider myself a “gamer.”

Sure games a formative part of my childhood, but the last home console I owned was a GameCube and now my gaming activity is limited to quick bouts of Team Fortress 2. And since Valve wasn’t at the show, there weren’t really any titles I was interested in checking out from the beginning.

So I spent most of the show wandering from booth to booth with very little to no knowledge of what each game was about, eventually deciding to allocate my precious time among the numerous titles in the only way that seemed fair: visiting the booths with the cutest girls.

Interestingly enough, this strategy led me to one of the two games that gave me my most enjoyable Tokyo Game Show experiences: EX Troopers.

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Burger King Hopes Once You Go Black, You Never Go Back with their new Kuro Burger

Burger King is currently celebrating their 5th year in Japan.  But in an already saturated fast food market the famous American chain is a little late to the game.

So, in an effort to truly stand out from the crowd, Burger King Japan has designed fast food’s first black hamburger.  Dubbed the Kuro Burger (lit. Black Burger), it will go on sale for a limited time starting 28 September.

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You, Me, And a Tanuki is a weekly featured blog run by Michelle, a Californian who is currently one of only two foreigners living in Chibu, a tiny fishing village on one of the Oki islands in Japan. Check back every Saturday for a new post or read more on her website here!

No peanuts, no cracker jacks, but a whole lot of other interesting food was available at the Hiroshima Carps baseball game in Hiroshima, Japan.

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【TGS 2012】 Where Have All the Chinese Gone?

Over 200 companies from 19 countries are said to be operating booths at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, but visitors to the four-day long event may notice that one major world power turned out to be a no-show.

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