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Preston Phro

Preston Phro (or simply Phro as most know him) is a Coloradoan attempting to fit in in Tokyo. (Surely, he would succeed if not for his unruly hair.) He puts his master's in classical Japanese literature to good use by writing silly stories and articles for the Internet. Having lived in Nara, Osaka, and Yamaguchi before moving to the Kanto area, he's quite happy to finally have a place to call home! When not writing, he enjoys annoying his wife by plucking at his shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese instrument not entirely unlike a banjo) and pestering her with questions about Japanese history. He also occasionally attempts to remember all the stuff he's forgotten since university.

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Posted by Preston Phro (Page 35)

While the Internet may run on cats, they’re certainly not the only cute creatures on the planet. (We’ll leave it up to you to decide if they’re the cutest or not…)

One of the underdog challengers to the Internet Cuteness Throne is the otter.

And this otter, named Piisu-kun, is bringing more than cuteness—he’s helpful, too!!

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Put your kitsune up! BABYMETAL is set to dominate the world with ‘dangerous kawaii’【Interview】

In 2011, the world was first baffled and then enthralled by the release of BABYMETAL’s “Doki Doki☆Morning” music video.

Not quite metal, not quite idol music, the video of three “dangerous kawaii” Japanese middle school girls singing and dancing to heavy metal music was difficult for some to comprehend. Were they for real? Was it okay for us to like them? And why couldn’t we stop listening to this song?

Two years later, the group has proved themselves to be anything but a joke, with legions of fans both in Japan and abroad. This Wednesday (June 19), they released their second major-label single, titled “Megitsune,” so we sat down with the group for an exclusive interview to learn more about them.

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Osaka Obachan are here to rock your world, make sure you don’t go hungry

Typified by the saccharine songs of AKB48, the Japanese idol world is largely the province of the young. One rarely expects to see a singer over the age of 25 among the mini-skirt-clad ranks of the ultra-kawaii groups.

Usually.

A group from Osaka—called Obachaaan—are ready to change that up.

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The funniest anime with the craziest collaboration at the best price: Check out Peeping Life!!

Like peanut butter and jelly, some things are so good together you can’t imagine a time without them. Well, this isn’t quite the same… but it is incredibly delicious.

Peeping Life, the insanely funny anime that illustrates the “boring” lives of of everyday people, has collaborated with some of the most influential figures in the anime world—Tezuka Productions and Tatsunoko Productions! Not only that, but the videos are available FREE on YouTube.
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Next to the USA, the second largest economy in the world used to be Japan. But after the bubble collapsed, the Japanese economy has been stagnant and, in 2012, fell to third place. Second place, as you probably know, was taken by China, whose economy is expanding at an unprecedented rate.

China’s rise is an undeniable fact. But is it true that Japan is on the wane? Mr. Chong Wong, a Chinese expert on diplomatic issues, took up the question. Writing on his blog (Chinese only), Mr. Wong offered up evidence that Japan wasn’t in decline but was actually the best in the world in some ways. We’ve listed the major ones below.

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Vampire smartphones! ‘Resqcable’ renders your phone undead

As smartphones have become more popular and advanced, their battery lives have grown shorter and shorter and shorter.

As someone who uses a smartphone so much it’s probably causing me physical harm, I find mine needs charging sometimes twice a day. But when you’re out and about, it’s often hard to get enough time to sit down and plug it your phone in. And what if your external battery pack just died, but you desperately need to upload a photo of your lunch to Facebook? What happens then!?

Well, you could whip out your handy Resqcable power leacher!

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Good guy Luigi: Even picks you up at the airport!

That magical time of year when game companies throw themselves a giant party and start spilling family secrets like your drunk aunt is finally upon us. That’s right, E3 starts Tuesday! And all this week, excited fans will be glued to the blogs, chomping on the bits for new info from Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, and many other major publishers. One company that won’t be giving a massive, blow-all-the-fuses presentation, though, is Nintendo.

Even so, that doesn’t the company is skipping the event entirely.

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Go to jail, learn to… dance? 【Videos】

Going to jail is, regardless of the country, never fun. Between wardens forcing you to do their taxes for barely a bottle of suds, and the food, it’s got to be a horrible way to spend a few years of your life.

That said, some prisons certainly are better than others. For example, the dancing prisoners in the Philippines sure do seem a lot happier than if they were forced to do manual labor. And while a visit to a prison might not exactly be on the top of your average holiday to-do list, this is one jail you would want to go out of your way to get into! (At least for the show.)

Here’s RocketNews24 Japan‘s Sekai no Shogo with the report!

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What could possibly be worse than having to put down your beloved dog? How about that dog coming back from the grave and hunting you down?

Okay, that’s a gross exaggeration, but as you’ll see, there’s a good reason for that being my first thought when I saw this story.

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Gamarjobat: The funniest mimes to trot the globe

Humor, generally, is very subjective. Even when everyone’s speaking the same language, local cultural differences can have a massive impact on how jokes are received. Attempting to bridge these divides can be both difficult and frustrating. Not to mention dangerous if you happen to offend the wrong crowd.

All of which makes it even more impressive when someone does manage to leap over the gap with aplomb.

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Hey, do you like trains? And I don’t mean in a “that’s a long train, let’s count the cars” kind of way; I mean like going out and taking hundreds of pictures and traveling hours to see rare locomotives “like” trains.

While there may not be all that many train hobbyists among you, there are plenty of major train enthusiasts here in Japan. And now some of them are living together!

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On Thursday this week at around 3:30 P.M., a rail employee in Nagoya City was struck and injured… by the body of a suicidal customer.

Hold on, let’s rewind a bit.

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Hom-Bot Square: Cleaning those hard to reach places

Though we haven’t gotten our flying cars or cyborg super-strength arms yet, the future has kind of arrived in the form of robot cleaning machines. The Jetsons this isn’t, but at least it’s quiet, right?

One of our distinguished reporters over on the Japanese side of RocketNews24 happened to pick up the “Hom-bot Square” and wrote the following review. Now you’ll know what to put in your home so you can more like us! (A worthy ambition indeed.)

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Looking for love? Tweet and ye shall find!

Ah, spring. The season of love. Or at least it’s supposed to be. Some people get completely passed by, leaving them staring at cherry blossoms alone and no one to share their delicious strawberry kakigouri (shave ice) with. They’re just… lonely. So very, very lonely.

But maybe you want to change that. Find someone to spend the summer vacation with, someone to laugh at your jokes, bicker with about which Pokémon is cutest.

Well, now you can–through Twitter!

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SoftBank buying Facebook ‘likes’, hints at possible new job opportunities!

Do you have an active Facebook account with more than 10 friends, a filled-in profile with both profile and cover photos? If so, have we got an opportunity for you!

In a story currently making the rounds among Japanese Twitter users, it seems that SoftBank (the cellphone carrier that recently made a bid to buy Sprint in the U.S.) was seeking “Likes” on Facebook, and didn’t mind paying for them.
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Amazon Japan lists withered alien figurines in place of adorable Kiki’s Delivery Service goods, Internet wets itself

While Amazon Japan may have its share of amusing, inappropriate, and disturbing reviews written by its customers, this (hopefully) mistaken listing is all on Amazon.

With rumors of a live-action remake of Studio Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service swirling, attention has been focused on the original movie. And now questions about the true nature of the adore cat Jiji are starting to surface. What are we talking about? Well… Read More

The monument for the Iwate miracle tree, which as you might remember was the only pine tree out of 70,000 left standing following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, is finally nearing completion. The project, though, has not been without its fair share of troubles. Read More

Teachers say the darnedest things: How rice flavoring is more expensive than a Porsche

Mamechishiki, literally translated as “bean knowledge,” refers to trivia in Japanese. And, if there’s one thing the Internet is good for (besides videos of cats), it’s trivia!

Today’s “bean knowledge” is about the difference in value (by weight) of furikake (dried seasoning sprinkled over white rice) and a Porsche. It originated on a popular Japanese Twitter hashtag “#surprising things said by my teacher.”

One Japanese Twitter user sent out the following tweet. Read More

The future is up: The next ‘world’s-tallest-building’

Burj Khalifa is a tower in Dubai that stands an awe-inspiring 829.8  meters (2,722 feet) tall. With that height, it is currently the world’s tallest building, as well as being Tom Cruise’s favorite thing to climb.

But all that might change in just six months, if everything goes according to plan for one Chinese company. Well, minus the Tom Cruise part.
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