While in recent years opinions have become increasingly divided on the gameplay in long-running video game series Final Fantasy, there’s not much room to criticize the franchise’s artistry. New installments of Final Fantasy are consistently among the most visually and aurally pleasing games at their time of release. Each title has a huge team of designers and software engineers who spend untold hours making sure the cut scenes are gorgeous, the interface slick, and the soundtrack stirring and crystal clear. And also, apparently, that the heroine doesn’t inadvertently flash her panties.
Super Typhoon Haiyan left a trail of destruction as it made its way across the island nation of the Philippines on November 13, 2013. In the wake of the disaster, one of our reporters traveled to the Philippine island of Leyte to talk to the victims of this massive storm and give a firsthand description of the damage. Please enjoy his humble account of the situation in Ormoc City, Philippines.
If the Japanese media hadn’t bothered to point it out, we never would have even realized the newest model for American fashion boot (that’s a thing?) manufacturer Luan is none other than comedian and former tasteless gay stereotype “Hard Gay”.
We’re still looking at the promotional photos and rubbing our eyes in disbelief. It turns out that, when he made the surprise announcement in June this year that he had decided to go into modelling, the former entertainer wasn’t kidding around.
An 84-year-old woman in the town of Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture was accidentally shot yesterday morning by a man who was hunting in the area, Yomiuri Online reports.
The bizarre story of how Häagen-Dazs being a totally made up name that most of the world seems to think is actually of Dutch origin somehow aside, Häagen-Dazs ice cream – which is actually manufactured by a US company – is renowned throughout much of the world for being high quality and super delicious.
It’s no surprise, then, that Häagen-Dazs Japan has enjoyed strong ice cream sales and a stellar reputation for 30 years now, and to celebrate its 30th anniversary, the company is going to kick back, relax, and gobble down two pints of brand new rose and sakura cherry blossom flavors of ice cream made to commemorate the chain’s three decades in Japan.
Regular RocketNews24 readers will know how much we love capsule hotels – and tiny spaces in general, for that matter – to the point that we were genuinely saddened when one of the country’s premier locations announced last month that it was to close its doors. So when we caught a glimpse of the new Pengheng Space Capsules Hotel in Shenzhen, China, which combines minimalist hotel accommodation with a futuristic vibe similar to that of the Evangelion hotel rooms we’ve drooled over for so long, we could barely contain our excitement.
Join us after the jump for a photo tour of this awesome new capsule hotel!
Remember Tekken, the balding comedian with makeup reminiscent of KISS and a talent for turning out some truly tear-wrenching flipbook animations? Well, he’s done it again, with a ten-minute piece titled A Story about Family.
As with Tekken’s previous works, the story uses absolutely no dialog, but still manages to convey a message of familial piety which transcends cultural borders and is almost certain to evoke some tears. It’ll have you scrambling for the phone to call home and show thanks to those who have supported you throughout the years.
With Sony’s PlayStation 4 set to launch in Europe in just over a week’s time, it’s not only everyday paupers who are itching to get their hands on the shiny new hunk of black plastic. Britain’s Prince William also reportedly can’t wait to grab one of those touchpad-toting controllers and start taking headshots online.
Apparently, the new father hinted that he hopes Santa will leave a PS4 under the Christmas tree this year, but he’s not sure whether his wife Kate will go for the idea.
Here’s an elementary school math question for you all:
Apples are sold for 100 yen each. If you buy 5 what is the total amount?
If you said “5 × 100 = 500” then I’m sorry but you just flunked second grade math in Japan… if there were only one question all year.
The reason is an old teaching method that is employed in elementary and middle schools throughout the country. It’s also a method that many, such as a blogger by the name of Uncorrelated, want stopped as it leads to strange logic where six times seven does not always equal 42 and five times 100 might not equal 500.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! …and Hello Kitty.
As a kid, whenever you heard the TMNT theme song, you knew it was on! What’s better than pizza-loving, Japanese weapon-toting, “cowabunga dude” catch phrased mutant turtles who also happen to be ninjas? That’s right, nothing’s better. Except maybe this TMNT/Hello Kitty collaboration. We know they’re not Pokemon but we just gotta catch them all!
While there are genuine differences between Japan and the West, oftentimes you can find cultural equivalents with just a little searching. Japan may not have ice cream trucks, for example, but mobile food exists in the form of sweet potato vendors who cruise the streets of residential areas. Christmas is Japan is usually spent on a romantic date or partying with friends, but then everyone goes back home to spend time with the family over New Year’s.
Likewise, satirical website Kyoko News exists as Japan’s counterpart to The Onion, running stories that almost seem plausible, but never actually happened. Nonetheless, it seems the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) either didn’t get or didn’t appreciate being the subject of one of Kyoko News’ recent jokes. The organization eventually got the retraction it was seeking, but not without seeing the complications involved in asking for one from a website that states upfront that what it’s saying isn’t true.
The art of home furnishings is still struggling to keep up with the advent of smartphones and tablets. We’ve seen advances in upside-down racks but they can be large and unwieldy for everyday use. Enter Utsubusene Cushion (Face-down Sleep Cushion).
The idea of such a chest-rest is not new. The makers, Thanko Co. Ltd. say that this kind of chair-thingy has been around since ancient times in Japan. However, Thanko is hoping this ultra old-school technology will be the savior of sleepy portable device users everywhere.
What do you normally see in a piece of tissue paper? Is tissue something that’s useful but to be casually discarded without much thought once it’s been used? That may often be the case, but Japanese tissue maker Nepia has created a video which can hopefully change that and raise consumers’ appreciation for this ubiquitous paper product by showing how a piece of tissue can be changed into works of art. Viewers of the video from around the world have apparently been seriously impressed, giving the video a definite two-thumbs up, and we just had to share it with you, since we thought it looked … well, simply awesome!
Just four days after the launch of the Sony PlayStation 4, and barely 24 hours after we brought you news that over a million units of the console had been sold on its very first day in stores, reports are appearing online of a “Red Line of Death” – believed to be caused by overheating – with brand new PlayStation 4 consoles locking up completely.
On 13 November, Google India posted a three-minute advertisement on YouTube titled Google Search: Reunion. In the span of only two days it reached nearly one and a half million views and as of this writing is swiftly approaching four million.
All along the way, it’s received overwhelmingly positive reviews such as “NOT just an ad”; “This little 3 minute video is better than all the movies I have seen this past year”; and “I am not from India, but I still appear to have something in my eye that is making it water.”
The Japanese stereotype for otaku is far from pretty. Hardcore fans of anime and video games are largely regarded as social outcasts and are characterized as unkempt men in button-up plaid shirts, high-waisted pants and running shoes, carrying around backpacks and shuffling quickly through the streets of Akihabara on the hunt for the latest game, hardware or erotic 2-D merchandise.
The Japanese text board 2channel appears very well acquainted with this skittish sub-section of society, so when someone asked why it is that otaku walk so fast, the anonymous responders had a lot to say, and it certainly opened our eyes!
Girls und Panzer is a popular anime, manga and light novel series following a group of girls who live in an alternate universe where women participate in “the art of battling tanks” and young girls attend schools where they learn to operate WWII-era tanks as a martial art. The series is extremely popular in Japan as well as abroad and will soon be turned into a video game for PS Vita.
Japan’s urban and rural areas alike are dotted with temples and shrines, but there’s no practice of attending regular services at them. Instead, visitors primarily come to offer a few yen as a donation, say a quick prayer, and pick up one of the plethora of good luck charms and amulets sold there, many of which have specific purposes such as passing an important exam or finding a new love.
But every member of our team is already out of college, and so popular with the opposite sex that we’re starting to feel bad about not leaving any for the rest of the populace. Looking further down our to-do list, we noticed that “build mansion with supermodel grotto” was preceded by “achieve economic success,” so we decided to head to our local Shinto shrine for Tori no Ichi, Japan’s annual festival for buying good luck charms for success in business.
Convenience stores play an integral part of life in Japan. The various chains themselves appear to have a life and ecosystem of their own sprouting up and dying off all over the urban landscape in fierce competition. Regardless of which one you choose, be it Lawson, Family Mart, 7-Eleven, Mini-Stop or one of the other countless chains, you can always expect to find some high quality stuff.
No one knows this better than our food reporter Kuzo who has sampled every form of junk food the nation’s convenience stores have to offer. This time, however, he leaves the shores of Japan to test the wares of a remote branch of the famous Lawson Station chain in Hawaii.
As a proud resident of Osaka Prefecture it’s always nice to see the place excel at something. Even for something as nefarious as purse snatching, it seems that the Osaka way is to go big or go home.
So let’s all give Osaka a big round of applause for being number one in incidents of purse snatching for the third year in a row! Even though stats are only available up until October, so many cases of people grabbing women’s bags and running away – or riding away as is often the case – have occurred that we have officially clinched the standings for 2013.
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