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Newest Ghibli film brings 40-year-old tune to the top of the music charts

Studio Ghibli’s latest work, The Wind is Rising (Kaze Tachinu), created under the supervision of Hayao Miyazaki, is proud to be represented by its lovely theme song, Hikouki Gumo. The name literally means “airplane cloud” and it was first released a full 40 years ago by the talented singer and songwriter Yuming. Ghibli’s claim over the sweet, old tune has caused a surge of interest in the piece, bringing this 40-year-old forgotten classic to the top of Japan’s Recochoku Daily Ranking and earning it the title of iTunes top song for Saturday, July 20. Studio Ghibli and Yuming are now collaborating in many wonderful ways to celebrate their successes over the past 40 years.

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Domino’s Pizza Japan offers dinner and a show with new toppings and a Hatsune Miku mini-concert

With the majority of its pizzas costing over 2,000 yen (US$20), even in medium size, Domino’s Pizza is positioned a bit more upmarket in Japan than its native U.S. Sure, the convenience of home delivery is worth paying a slight premium for, but with prices stretching beyond what you’d pay in a reasonable Italian restaurant in Tokyo with full table service, Domino’s Japan has to offer something more than just a slab of cheese and sauce.

The pizza giant recently convinced us to open our wallets, though, with a three-pronged attack that’s two parts delicious pork and one part high-tech entertainment.

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Customs authorities in South Korea are pleased to announce that they have cracked a smuggling ring in which gold was brought into the country via people’s cracks. Police have issued warrants for the arrest of the alleged mastermind of the crime, a 47-year-old man going by the name of Zou, along with eight accomplices.

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Fukuoka Aquarium’s black finless porpoises proved themselves to be the true wizards of the sea earlier this month when they began blowing incredible bubble rings like Gandalf the Grey high on pipe-leaf, even passing them back and forth relay-style.

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Capcom Japan offering limited edition ‘blood pillow’ prize to Phoenix Wright fans

Upcoming Nintendo 3DS title Gyakuten Saiban 5 (known in the English-speaking world as Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies) may still be a couple of months away from release in the West, but gamers in Japan are already charging their portable consoles in preparation for its launch this Thursday.

Developer Capcom, too, is helping fans get back into detective mode after their brief hiatus by asking visitors to the official Phoenix Wright website to investigate a crime scene and spot the contradictions in three witness statements. Those who can successfully solve the puzzle will be entered into a prize draw to win one of 50 ‘blood pillows’ designed to transform any sleeping gamer into the victim of a grizzly cartoon murder.

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When it comes to the food we eat, the importance of the consume-by-date should not be underestimated. Depending on the item on sale, going beyond the expiry date by a day or two may not always create too many problems but when the product in question happens to be 46 years old, the possible repercussions of eating it do not bear thinking about…

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Chopsticks: why every gamer should know how to use them

In an age when we do the majority of our multiplayer gaming online, sometimes separated by entire oceans and continents, there’s nothing quite like a bit of couch co-op or split-screen multiplayer. I refer, of course, to the act of playing games together in the same room using a single screen; something that until the arrival of cheap, reliable internet was the only form of multiplayer video gaming there was. Make a night of it with a few chilled drinks, snacks and a couple of pizzas, and you and your gamer pals are in for a great time.

But with this infinitely more sociable form of gaming there also comes great danger: the risk of gross, greasy controllers. I’m sure many of you can recall taking a controller from a friend or sibling during a long afternoon playing Street Fighter II only to find it positively dripping with perspiration. What’s even worse is when said hand sweat is mixed up with pizza grease and cheesy powder from the endless bags of Doritos and Cheetos you and your friends have been working your way though.

It is time, my gamer friends, to learn to use chopsticks.

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It’s Monday, which is the worst way to start the week, isn’t it? So, how about some heart-warming news to get things going?

Let’s see, what have we got? Oh, yes, a story about how, while alighting from a train in Japan’s Saitama Prefecture, a woman slipped and became pinned between the train and the platform.

Wait, that’s not the heart-warming part!

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We recently reported on Japan’s recent trouble with traffic backups in otter pipes, but it seems the country is facing another animal menace: feathered anarchists interfering in the political process!

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Vietnamese Arsenal fan quite literally chases his dreams, is welcomed onto team bus

To achieve your dreams, you have to really want it. You need drive, determination and, if this video is anything to go by, a good pair of legs.

Taken in Hanoi by a member of English Premier League football club Arsenal, the following video sees one young Vietnamese fan chasing after the team’s tour bus for some five miles, waving and pounding the badge emblazoned on his chest with such vigour that the team eventually decides to welcome him on board for a once-in-a-lifetime private autograph and photo session.

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  • Jul 22, 2013

Drink up and smile with this cute limited edition line of tea from Kirin!

Can you guess whose cute little bottoms these are? If you’re a Disney fan, chances are you already have a good idea. Well, I chanced upon these bottles recently in a convenience store, and they were so cute I just had to buy them all! And if these adorably packaged bottles just happened to contain a nice cool drink, so much the better, especially since the drink was a unique type of tea I had never tasted before.

But first of all, let’s take a look at the face of the characters who are showing their lovable derrieres for all the world to see:

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We try one meter of skewered grilled chicken: The Mega-Yakitori

When out on the town many drinking establishments in Japan offer yakitori, which is basically grilled marinated chicken on a stick. These are offered in a wide variety using different parts of the chicken, added vegetables, or different sauces, salts and spice blends.

Now Zenyaren Sohonten Tokyo is offering a one-of-a-kind type of grilled chicken called The World’s First Mega-Yakitori. This limited edition menu item is said to contain 30 times the meat of a regular stick of yakitori. This isn’t a simple case of quantity over quality either as the chicken is specially selected from regions across Japan.

Before anyone even asked him, Mr. Sato was digging out his most loose-fitting jeans and on his way to try it out.

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Get paid one million yen (US$10,000) for three months of hardcore gaming!

For anyone who loves gaming but often gets told by those around them to put their efforts into something more productive, we here at RocketNews24 have some great news. It comes in the form of a job post searching for someone to play video games for three months that carries a million yen (US$10,000) reward. Gaming all day only to be paid a salary at the end of it, is for many, the stuff dreams are made of. But believe it or not, this is a real job posting that is valid right now in Japan.

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Yasu High School continues to impress with their promotional soccer videos

For any young man in Japan looking to get into professional soccer, enrollment in Yasu High School in Shiga Prefecture would be a good decision. This school has graduated several pros in Japan and is continuing to build a reputation for soccer skills since winning the National High School Soccer Championship in 2006. In case you don’t believe them, they posted a promotional video on YouTube showing a brief minute-and-a-half flurry of fancy footwork along with surprisingly good cinematography for a high school video.

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  • Jul 21, 2013

There are probably very few of us who haven’t been touched by Disney magic at one time or another, and I’m sure we all have our favorite Disney characters (whether childhood or current). Well, have you ever thought about what it may be like to receive a letter from your Disney character? It turns out, there’s a way to actually make that happen! Read More

From the eyes of an idol, developer debuts video of Hatsune Miku and Oculus Rift

Oculus Rift is surely one of the most highly anticipated devices of this gaming generation. In case you’ve somehow not heard about it, Oculus Rift is a virtual reality headset that is already garnering rave reviews from industry insiders and little old ladies who are more hardcore than you. What makes Oculus Rift so exciting is its high-quality dual display that uses motion detectors to dynamically show users the game world as they turn their head. Basically, it’s supposed to be a completely immersive experience. Right now, the device is still mostly limited to developers hard at work trying to take advantage of its full power, but most of the demos we’ve seen have been great. One Japanese developer decided to create an adorable mini-game staring everyone’s favorite fictional idol: Hatsune Miku.

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We try the $10 Quarter Pounder Ruby Spark, smacks us in the mouth with flavor

On 20 July, McDonald’s Japan released their third and final luxury Quarter Pounder Jewelry Series burger, the Quarter Pounder Ruby Spark. Like the Black Diamond and Gold Ring that came before it, the Ruby Spark sold for the exorbitant amount of 1,000 yen (US$10).

The Ruby Spark’s special premium ingredient was a few slices of chorizo developed specifically for this sandwich. As customers started devouring the one-day-only sandwich and took to the net to voice their opinions, public sentiment was unusually divided straight down the middle with a balance of comments declaring it “perfect” and “not good enough.”

Curious at how polarizing one burger can be, we sent a reporter to check one out.

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Summer vacation is in full swing now, meaning everyone’s at the beach drinking lots of cold beer, in the park drinking lots of cold beer, or in the mountains drinking lots of cold beer. Basically, breweries are getting rich and we’re happy to help.

But, as one Chinese man recently found out, you need to be careful! Too much beer can have…explosive results. Read More

Cool down this summer with Ice Cup Noodles

When it’s the middle of summer, what do you reach for to get a little relief? Ice cream? Watermelon? How about Cup Noodles?

For most, boiling hot soup is the last thing you want to eat on a hot day, but the official Nissin website has a solution: Ice Cup Noodles. Last year, they suggested adding ice cubes to their popular instant ramen, but the exact amount of ice was unclear, resulting in unhappy (and sweaty) summer soup eaters. This year, Nissin has an exact recipe for those in need of a summer treat. Hungry and desperate for a little relief from the hot Tokyo afternoon, our reporter set out to make the perfect Ice Cup Noodles.

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