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In my career as a journalist, never have I seen such a debacle. The match in question was a bantamweight match, between Azerbaijan’s Magomed Abdulhamidovand Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu. On five occasions in one round, Shimizu knocked down Abdulhamidov, who also received a two-point penalty. The judges ended up awarding victory by judgment to his opponent, who was the one who spent more time on the canvas, and the referee didn’t stop the match as he would reasonably expected to during one of these downs, nor did he even start counting down a single knockdown. What exactly is going on with refereeing in the London Olympics? Read More

Breathtaking Nagaoka Fireworks Will Make You Want to Spend a Summer in Japan

Summer in Japan is all about matsuri, or festivals. Young people dressed in yukata walking through streets lined with food stalls and game booths, the rowdy, drunken group of local men carrying a giant mikoshi shrine through the crowd while yelling “Washoi! Washoi!” and, of course, the fireworks.

The Japanese take fireworks very seriously, which is why Japan is home to some of the most spectacular fireworks displays in the world. To see what we mean, the fireworks show at this year’s Nagaoka Matsuri in Niigata prefecture has been generating buzz on the net thanks to some amazing video footage posted to YouTube. Check it out below!

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Samsung Fights to Expel Dr. Dre’s Headphones From the Olympics

It must be hard to be an Olympic athlete with all that pressure to perform with the eyes of the world watching you and asking you to do your very best in that one moment.  Not to mention that most of them are far from home in a strange land with strange customs.

For many, the best way to relax the mind and get reconnected to your homeland is by music.  And there’s no better way to deliver this acoustic tranquilizer than through a pair of the increasingly popular brand of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones.  Unfortunately, electronics giant Samsung wants to take those away from the athletes.

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COCOROBO Is the Funnest Vacuum Cleaner Ever! I Know That’s Not Saying a Lot but It’s Really Fun

When robot vacuum cleaners first hit the scene about a decade ago, they appeared to signal the end of lugging around traditional upright models.  However, with a pretty hefty price tag and comparatively limited cleaning ability, they haven’t exactly caught the world on fire.

Seeing this, Sharp has developed a robot vacuum cleaner destined to light a fire under consumers: ladies and gentlemen, meet COCOROBO (also affectionately known as, RX-V100W). So what makes COCOROBO so great? Well, for starters, it’s remote-controlled and able to talk with people.

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A 19 year-old male university student was arrested on suspicion of violating the Minor Offenses Act for attempting to video tape inside another female university student’s room.

The shocking part was how he came to be arrested.  Before starting the story, I would like to emphasize that this criminal was enrolled in an institution of higher learning, which should imply a certain level of intelligence.

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Tokyo’s famous Comic Market (Comiket) 82, the world’s largest doujinshi convention, is set to kick off on 10 August.  We can be sure to expect cosplayers and original comics a plenty, but one particular creation has be stirring up a fair bit of hype weeks before the gates open – the PC game Sutra Master.

Sutras are, in a nutshell, short pearls of spiritual wisdom like something you might find in a high-brow fortune cookie and are often compared to prayers in other religions.  Taken from Buddhist texts and often chanted during meditation or religious ceremonies, sutras are generally treated with solemn dignity but Sutra Master takes them to a weird new place.

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“Shiba Inu Plump Booty Curry” is the Curry of Choice for Dog-Lovers and Booty-Lovers Alike

The Shiba Inu is one adorable little ball of fluff, especially from behind. I mean, who can resist that curled up tail nestled atop a plump little posterior that shakes back and forth as they trot along.

Japanese blogger and Shiba Inu-lover Takedatake has recently found inspiration in that captivating rear view for a novel at-home recipe he calls: “Shiba Inu Plump Booty Curry.”

Instructions on how to make the dish follow below:

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Nyan Cat Song Makes it into Hatsune Miku Project DIVA f

Famitsu has revealed three new songs for the upcoming Playstation Vita game Hatsune Miku Project DIVA f and it looks like one of the internet’s favorite memes, the Nyan Cat song, made the list.

We haven’t been this excited for a rhythm game since Trogdor made it into Guitar Hero II.

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  • Aug 7, 2012

Hungry For Some Singaporean Food? You Can now Enjoy a Taste of Singapore in Central Tokyo!

If you’ve visited Singapore, you may be familiar with the tasty local noodle dish, hokkien mee. Well, now that the Singapore Restaurant and hokkien mee specialty shop “Yac Man” has opened in Omote-Sando, those of you based near Tokyo won’t have to travel all the way to Singapore to get your fix! And since we’re always on the lookout for new and interesting foods, we sent one of our reporters to “Yac Man” to see what hokkien mee is all about.

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Adorable New “Pokemomo” Brand Goods Coming to Pokemon Center Stores Across Japan

Collecting is one of the predominate themes of the Pokémon franchise and Nintendo never seems to run out of new things for fans to spend their Pokédollars on.

For example, on August 3, The Pokémon Company reveled, “Pokemomo,” their newest lineup of adorable Pokémon merchandise featuring the artwork of Japanese illustrator Momo Okada.

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A lone salaryman walks in to a room with bento in hand and sits down at a table to enjoy his lunch in privacy. He unties the knot holding together the bandana bundle to reveal a small brown bento box and chopsticks case. Finally, the man removes the lid from the bento to unveil a mouth-watering assortment of…colored yarn?

What follows is some hardcore lunchtime needlework.

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For the past few years, Japan has been in a fuss about soushoku danshi, literally translated as “herbivore boys.” These are young men who represent the antithesis of the rowdy, skirt-chasing, big-spending corporate man associated with the 1980s bubble economy: they’re passive, conservative with money, prefer to stay in instead of going out drinking with coworkers and are generally uninterested in sex.

Such personal lifestyle choices wouldn’t be considered problematic if Japanese society wasn’t struggling with a declining birthrate and low consumer spending. But when an ever-increasing portion of your male population is enjoying their evening with a cup of tea at the local manga cafe when you need them to be out buying cars and procreating, you’ve got a situation on your hands.

To make matters worse, a survey conducted by The Japanese Association for Sex Education (JASE) reveals that the number of young Japanese women who have had sex has decreased dramatically over the past 6 years.

Perhaps the ladies of Japan have finally given up on trying to get their male counterparts into bed and joined convent themselves.

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How to Make a Horror Bento, Perfect for Fights with Loved Ones

We’ve covered the phenomenon of charabens in the past ranging from the extremely cute to the downright bizarre. However, as with any art form, the horror genre cannot be left out.  Inspired by some photos of horror bentos found online a reporter from the website Pouch, Hotaru Yamakawa, has decided to make her own series of 3 horror bentos and help you make your own.

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Even Non-Alcoholic Drinks Should be Limited to 20 Years Old and Up According to Survey

To all our under-age readers, I feel for you.  Understandably, alcoholic drinks are off-limits as they can be harmful to your growth at a young age.  But now, it seems the adults want to take away your non-alcoholic drinks as well according to a recent survey.

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We Take a Slow Ride to the Disputed Russian/Japanese Island of Sakhalin, Taking a Boat Can be Much More Enriching than a Plane

While in Hokkaido I decided to go to the Sakhalin Island just North of Japan.  This island has had a long history of passing between Russian and Japanese control for centuries.  In the closing days of WWII Russian forces took the entire island although no treaty was made to officially declare their ownership.

As a Japanese person it stung a little to need a visa to visit this Sakhalin but the dispute over this island has been quieted recently.  A Japanese Consulate was established there and businesses in Japanese frequently make the trip thanks to warming ties between the two countries.

And so I decide to make the most of this journey by taking a ship rather than a plane.  Ultimately it was full of surprises – good and bad.

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During the London Olympics, two young ladies from the Kazakhstani team Zulfiya Chinshanlo (19) and Maiya Maneza (26) each earned gold medals in their respective weight classes as well as setting a World and Olympic Record respectively.

However, their celebrations were short lived as China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency declared that they are in fact secret Chinese nationals, Zhao Changing (19) and Yao Ling (26) who were sent on a clandestine mission to Kazakhstan to spread the sport.

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