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Ki&Ki: The new face of traditional Japanese music

The world of traditional Japanese music is incredibly varied–there’s exciting min’you folk music, austere gagaku ancient imperial court music, and the ethereal tunes of Noh plays. But one genre in particular stands out among the all others: tsugaru-jamisen.

A fast, lively style of playing born out of min’you as performed by traveling entertainers, tsugaru-jamisen hails from Aomori Prefecture and is the youngest genre of “traditional” Japanese music. And, from Hiromitsu Agatsuma and the late Takahashi Chikuzan to the Yoshida Brothers and Kevin Kmetz, there is no shortage of talented, inspiring performers in the tsugaru-jamisen world.

But for us, one duo in particular stands out: Ki&Ki.

Even if you don’t recognize the name, you may already be familiar with these two incredibly talented young women thanks to their numerous YouTube videos. Recently we got the chance to sit down with the pair to learn a little bit about their history with tsugaru-jamisen.

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July and August tend to be the seasons where summer festivals get kicked into full swing. Much like festivals in any country, the festivities are often accompanied by various stalls selling drinks and snacks. Other stalls can be found offering games that you know are probably rigged, but just can’t help trying.

For one such stall runner, 45-year-old Tsutomu Morikawa, poor price planning led to a date with the police.

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From polar bears and penguins to coelacanths, Japan’s magical ice trays create sea creatures

Fancy a shark, a squid or a manta ray floating in your highball?

Now you can, without all the bother of hauling them out of the ocean. Cute miniature versions perfectly formed from ice that will swim on the surface of your beverage.

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Summer in Asia is hot. Like, really, really hot. Seeing mirages hot. Cooking whole English breakfasts on the sidewalk hot. But no matter how hellish the summer heat gets, we will never, ever, ever set foot in this Chinese lake.

The above is the Hieronymus Bosch-esque hellscape of what is quite possibly the world’s most crowded summertime attraction: a lake in Suining City, China.

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Fireworks festivals are held across Japan during July and August, despite summer being the country’s wettest season. The inevitable result of this game of atmospheric roulette is that sometimes the pyrotechnic display gets rained out.

Such was the case last Saturday at Showa Park in Tachikawa, the westernmost of Tokyo’s major population centers. Last year’s show drew over 750,000 people to the park and surrounding streets, so when the skies opened up shortly before this year’s similarly-scaled festivities kicked off, it sent a horde of people dashing back to Tachikawa Station, where they were greeted by a leaking roof that only added to the confusion.

Given the situation, it’s easy to understand how someone might drop some of their belongings, like a wallet or cell phone. How a piece of intimate apparel ended up unaccounted for, however, remains a bit of a mystery.

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Internet meme sensation Nyan Cat surpasses 100 million views!

It’s the tale of the little Pop Tart space cat that could: YouTube video Nyan Cat has now been watched more than 100 million times online! In recognition of this momentous feat, we take a quick look back at where the perpetually smiling pastry pussy came from and how he stole our hearts, minds and computer screens.

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It’s that milestone of life that every young man waits for. When the moment comes he takes a breath, bows his head and asks for something that will change his life for ever.

We’re talking, of course, about getting 10,000 retweets on Twitter. This amazing dream came true for another lucky man in Japan recently. He also happened to get engaged too – which we think is super.

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How to crush a plastic bottle without touching it

During these sweltering summer days it’s not unusual to down more than a few plastic bottles of water, pop, or juice. And surely with all that drinking you’re bound to accumulate a pile of empty plastic bottles.

Burden by all of these bottles, collapsing them to a convenient size for recycling can be an energy and time draining chore. That’s why the folks at Yahoo! R25 wanted to share an effortless way to break your plastic bottles down to size.

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Live on air, even with the best scripting and a highly skilled team behind you, anything can happen. Minor mishaps during live broadcasts rarely cause too much trouble, and most viewers are generally quite understanding when they do, but there are some combinations–such as, oh, a serious news bulletin and a doodle of a giant schlong– that tend to raise a few eyebrows.

As many of you may have seen, footage appeared online last week showing newscaster Siobhan Riley using a touchscreen to draw on a map of the local area during a live news bulletin, accidentally creating what some people think looks like a giant penis in the process. Unfortunately for Ms. Riley the news even made it out to Japan where netizens positively lapped it up.

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More and more Japanese moms agree: boys should wear girls’ swimsuits

We saw how monster parents can ruin the lives of rural potato farmers, but how do their demands impact the teachers closest to them?

Horribly of course, as some Tokyo area teachers have revealed, particularly when it comes to swimming class. According to an interview with Excite News Japan, school staff are growing increasingly worried with parents’ request to put their sons in one-piece swimsuits.

We don’t mean something cool like wetsuits either. These moms insist that to the best way to combat the indecent exposure of a topless boy is to put him in a girl’s swimsuit. How’s that for logic?

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Yanmar wants to make coolest tractor ever

Sure, that’s not a huge challenge, but they went well above and beyond your standard tractor design. Fresh off celebrating Osaka-based heavy manufacturer Yanmar’s centennial anniversary, designer Ken Okuyama felt it was time to inject some well-overdue fresh style into the generally conservative world of agriculture.

However, these tractors are more than just a pretty face, as we’ll soon learn.

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With rapid developments in medicine and an overall increase in awareness when it comes to our general health, in many parts of the world people are living to an age like never before. Although many of us pay careful attention to the advice given to us by medical professionals, health and fitness magazines, and the media in general, curiously some of the healthiest and oldest people in the world rarely visit their doctor, nor do they have access to the information that we in the developed world do. Is it possible that the secret to longevity lies elsewhere?

A village in Bama Yao Autonomous County, China, is one of five locations across the globe where people are known to live far beyond the global average, with few suffering from health problems during their lifetime. Many of the inhabitants of this village live to be more than 100 years old, and despite the villagers’ environment being a tropical region where ultraviolet rays are strong, women of the area have a pale complexion and are strikingly attractive.

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We try Häagen-Dazs pancakes and love ’em!

April 25 was a sad day for Japanese ice cream lovers, as that was the day the final Japanese Häagen-Dazs store closed shop. The company had achieved its goal of spreading their packaged ice cream through convenience stores and supermarkets, and, after thirty years, decided that the Japanese locations were no longer necessary.

Many a frozen, delicious tear was shed that day.

But you can stop your crying, at least until September 2, thanks to a collaboration between Häagen-Dazs and j.s. pancake cafe!
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Up until now, if you were asked to think of the most efficient hybrid car on the market, surely what would have been at the top of your list is the Toyota Aqua. After all, it boasts a 35.4 km/L (83.2 miles per gallon) spec. that really cannot be ignored. However, the latest offering in hybrid vehicles from Honda, named the Fit Hybrid, goes one step beyond in redefining the notion of fuel efficiency. Boasting energy efficiency levels of 36.4 km/L (85.6 mpg), it steals the lead from the Toyota Aqua. Honda’s Fit Hybrid is expected to be introduced and go on sale in September 2013 in Japan and in terms of hybrid cars, if you exclude the Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles (PHV), is set to become the most fuel efficient car in Japan. We’re sure many hybrid car enthusiasts can’t wait to hear more, so check out the juicy details right after the jump.

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As one of Japan’s largest train stations, Tokyo Station is the central hub for many of the JR lines as well as the Shinkansen (bullet train). You can expect some standard grub in most stations, but Tokyo Station has plenty of food places that go beyond the basics. Before setting out on a trip, why not arrive a bit early and enjoy a delicious breakfast before boarding your train? It’s the perfect start to your adventure. Here we introduce five of the best breakfast spots within the station itself.

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“Hey, fattie!” Hot guys insulting you = quick way to weight loss

If a guy yells “Hey, fattie!” at you, the natural reaction from many girls would be a good slap in the face. But apparently when it comes from the perfect lips of a hot guy, it’s just motivation…

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How deep is Japan’s love of Coke in a glass bottle?

Mmmm, a frosty cold glass bottle of Coca Cola on a summer’s day. The cool, solid feeling of the glass as you raise it to your lips, the satisfying heft of the bottle in your hand. What could be better? A plastic bottle? I don’t think so.

A special limited edition glass bottle is now available in Japan in select supermarkets. The announcement was posted up on Coca-Cola Japan’s Facebook page on 24 July, along with the above picture. Other than on Facebook, the glass bottles weren’t especially publicized or promoted. However, they soon gained more than 10,000 likes. Why do people in Japan seem to crave Coke in a glass bottle so much?

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McDonald’s $10 Quarter Pounders’ packaging alone estimated to be a sizeable amount

The dust has settled and a week has already passed since we saw the last of the Quarter Pounder Jewelry Series, McDonald’s Japan’s trio of luxury burgers. We had a lot of fun trying out truffle sauce, spicy chorizo, and rings of golden pineapple and enjoyed the experience, like most had, in spite of the high prices.

But many commenters from around the world who gazed upon these special Quarter Pounders couldn’t help but shake the fact that it appeared as if the packing was what took up most of the money. Japanese website Byokan Sunday was one such observer and decided to break down the cost of luxurious Jewelry Series’ bags and boxes to see how much of the ten dollar price tag went into making them.

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Yahoo! Japan’s mobile site has been attacked by titans!

That’s right, Kodansha’s super popular manga series Shingeki no Kyojin: Attack on Titan has teamed up with Yahoo! Japan to bring Japanese smart phone users a terrifying titan-themed search engine!

Imagine the world overrun with enormous humanoid monsters whose sole purpose seems to be extinguishing the human race. What can anyone do to stop the carnage? The answer to that question is what the remaining humans on the planet have to find out in Hajime Isayama’s manga-turned-anime series, Shingeki no Kyojin: Attack on Titan.

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  • Jul 28, 2013

All hail the mighty phallus — Experience penis worship at unique shrine in South Japan

While we Japanese are not generally a strictly religious people, willing to incorporate customs and celebrations from various religions into our daily lives, it’s also a fact that you can find many shrines dedicated to a diverse range of deities across the country. But we have to say this particular shrine, which one of our reporter visited recently, is most definitely not your average place of worship. Why? Because it’s a shrine that pays homage to the male phallus! And no, it’s not a joke; everything about this shrine is quite serious, and our reporter tells us all about it below.

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