Featured

animals (Page 49)

Shiro the Cat: The cutest cure for insomnia 【Video】

Japan has a number of sleeping arrangements that can be jarring if you didn’t grow up here. Sleeping in a futon on the floor, often in a space that doubles as your living room and/or kitchen, can take some getting used to. A surprisingly large number of pillows sometimes come filled with, by Western standards, unusual things such as buckwheat husks.

But you know what? Maybe we’re being too picky. As Shiro the Cat shows us, all you really need for a good night’s sleep is a cooking pot, and, if you’re looking to get really luxurious, a sweet potato.

Read More

Dancing bear cubs straight out of Disney movie capture Japanese hearts

The Japanese Internet is going crazy over recent Finnish photos of a group of bear cubs who appear to be dancing around in a circle, reminiscent of the age-old nursery rhyme “Ring Around the Rosie”.

Valtteri Mulkahainen, a 52-year-old Finnish photography hobbyist, says he thought he was imagining the bears dancing around, even going so far as to say the scene was so magical he wouldn’t have been surprised if they had begun singing. Given the man’s situation as he took the now-madly circulating photos, we can’t blame him for momentarily believing he was living inside of a Disney movie.

Read More

Real-life Winnie the Pooh caught stealing honey, on run from the law

When wildlife researchers in Kochi Prefecture set up an unmanned camera in a local forest to find the cheeky wilderness creature stealing honey from an animal trap they’d set up, they probably expected to find a clever squirrel or some other creature too small or quick to set off the trap door.

Instead, what they found in video footage was what can only be described as real-life Winnie the Pooh turned to petty crime to fund his hopeless honey addiction.

Read More

Butterfly visits penguin enclosure at Japanese zoo, whimsical chase ensues 【Video】

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t like penguins. Between their flightless wings and pudgy physique, there’s something inherently funny about them, which is juxtaposed and amplified by the way they look like they’re constantly dressed in formal tuxedos.

But perhaps the most comical thing of all about the monochrome birds is the stubborn dignity they show by standing at silent attention, even when surrounded by onlookers at a zoo.

Unless, that is, there’s a butterfly to chase.

Read More

Finally, your dog can safely leap through flaming hoops with this adorable doggy fire gear

Every dog owner has experienced it: you want your dog to sit, speak, roll over and maybe shake, but your pooch has other ambitions. Bigger dreams. He wants to join the fire brigade (you know this because you taught him to speak), but you’re worried about your little buddy’s safety.

Finally, though, you can let your doggy chase both his tail and his dreams with this adorable doggy flame-retardant suit. Join us after the jump for more adorable photos!

Read More

Beijing man and tiny bird team up to make money

A video uploaded to YouTube earlier this week has been causing quite a stir amongst web users in Japan today. In it, we see what appears to be a homeless man in China’s capital city asking for money from passersby on the street.

Rather than simply holding a cardboard sign asking for spare change or sitting on the ground with a paper cup like, sadly, so many are forced to, this man has a rather neat trick for generating a little extra cash: he has trained a small bird to fly into the hand of those donating their yuan and bring the coins back to him one by one!

Read More

Man cautioned for keeping endangered leopard cat at home for 15 years, then asked for his advice

There are few things quite like the bond between a human and their pet, and most of the staff here at RocketNews24 can’t even begin to imagine life without their respective pups and feline overlords, but there are some animals that we definitely wouldn’t recommend keeping at home–particularly those on the endangered species list.

According to a recent NHK news report, a man living on the Japanese island of Tsushima narrowly avoided prosecution after it became clear that he had secretly kept a wild Japanese leopard cat in his home for 15 years before he was forced to seek assistance. As angered as the authorities were, however, they ultimately decided that they might learn from the man’s experiences and are due to talk to him about how he managed to keep the animal alive for such a length of time.

Read More

Anime fan and pet owner recreates Attack on Titan’s epic opening shot by shot – with cats! 【Video】

This year’s breakout anime hit Attack on Titan snuck up on a lot of people. Sure, previews for the TV series made it look like a fun adventure, but is wasn’t until sometime after it premiered that the franchise became the international success it is today, despite the comic it’s based on having been around since 2009.

Why didn’t more people, from the very beginning, realize just how much entertainment Attack on Titan has to offer? Maybe the story’s antagonists, naked giants who look like anatomy textbook illustrations, were just too repugnantly grotesque. Maybe, being creator Hajime Isayama’s first serial, the artwork on its heroes was a little too rough around the edges. How much more immediately accessible would Attack on Titan have been if they had all been replaced with a more traditionally pleasing aesthetic, like a bunch of cute cats?

Thanks to this feline-infused recreation of the show’s opening animation, now we know.

Read More

Symmetry is creepy! 26 photos of animals “evolving” with the help of mirror images

Thankfully the following images, which popped up on Japanese textboard site 2Channel earlier this week, were all produced using image sites such as PicHacks in order to create a symmetrical image from an existing photo, and are not of real-world creatures genetically engineered by nefarious scientists. Some of them will, however, most definitely be coming after you in your dreams tonight.

So come with us now as we step into the world of creepy evolutions and nightmarish creatures. And they said facial symmetry is a mark of beauty…

Read More

Keep warm and confuse your cat this winter with this wearable feline blanket

We’re so jealous of cats. They get virtually all of the attention on the Internet, they’re allowed to lounge around convenience stores day and night like they own the place, drinking cat wine, and generally being doted on.

Finally, though, Japan’s obsession with cats and cat paraphernalia is making it possible for us to become the cat. Behold, the hooded cat blanket from online retailer Felissimo.

Read More

Japanese company unveils “Nyan Nyan Nouveau” red wine for cats

Cats have been working on us humans for years now, using the internet to their advantage and doing whatever it takes to look adorable. And now it seems they’ve taken a significant step towards their ultimate goal of world domination: a Japanese company has manufactured wine especially for felines. 

Read More


  • Oct 15, 2013

Meet some unexpected web-footed friends – at the penguin bar in central Tokyo!

You know life is good when it’s Friday night and you can hole up in a bar with some friends to enjoy a relaxing drink or two (or three or four). But you know what may be even better? How about being holed up in a bar where you can watch cute sea animals while having a drink? It turns out there’s a bar where you can do exactly that – right in the middle of Tokyo!

Yes, the recently opened Penguin no Iru Bar (literally, “the bar where there are penguins”) lives up to its name by actually being home to live penguins that customers can view right in the bar. Wow, real live penguins at a bar? We definitely had to go see this ourselves, since it’s no big secret that we’re quite fond of penguins here at RocketNews24. So, what exactly was this unique penguin bar like?

Read More

What cheeky animal fit itself into this bookcase?

Those of us with pets likely all have a story of finding our animals in all sorts of strange positions, hidden places and just plain odd situations. Twitter user jack4520 recently found their beloved pet in what looks like an incredibly uncomfortable place, although the smile on the animal’s face says otherwise. Click below to find out what animal found its way into this crowded bookshelf!

Read More

Is that a horse in your parking lot or are you just happy to see me?

While Japan is certainly home to a wide variety of animals, from adorable Shiba Inu to emotive puppies, one creature you don’t see too often is the horse. Sure, they’re out in the countryside doing horse stuff–eating, pooping, and running like the wind–but it’s not like you see a horse just hanging out in front of convenience stores. I mean, seriously, this isn’t The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Or is it??

Read More

Emoti-pup! Twitter users’ hearts melt at photo of puppy with natural “frowny face” markings

Twitter exploded in a mess of coos and smiles last night when a single photo of a puppy whose markings look almost exactly like the classic Japanese “frowny face” emoticon (>_<) was shared by user panda_tamio. Puppies rarely have to try especially hard to be adorable, but this one may just be the cutest thing we’ve seen all week.

Read More

You’ll feel guilty about more than just the calories when you eat this Rilakkuma cake

We’ve already elaborated on how much food-themed characters freak us out, but until now we thought we were pretty much fine with food based on characters. When we saw this photo of a Rilakkuma birthday cake being served at a Japanese restaurant, we found ourselves suddenly overwhelmed with melancholy, plus a touch of revulsion.

Read More

This fish is so good you’ll literally s&#t

We can all agree that there are few things more embarrassing than sudden, public diarrhea.

If forgetting to zip your fly is a one on the scale of public embarrassment, and tripping down an entire flight of stairs is maybe a four, explosive diarrhea has got to be an 11 or 12. With this in mind, you’re really taking your social life in your hands when you eat this bizarre but incredibly delicious fish in front of friends.

Read More

The little hedgehog that couldn’t (but it’s still fun to watch him try) 【Video】

They may not have the swoon-inducing power of 14 baby pandas in a row, but hedgehogs are nevertheless incredibly cute, and they make great little pets. They’re passive, clean, ideal for those who are out during the daytime, and, as this video proves, hugely entertaining to watch wrestle with the inside of a toilet roll.

Read More

Blind kitten who regained her sight through loving care is thriving one year on

One day, one ordinary person and his family found it in their hearts to take in a tiny, abandoned kitten who had lost her sight due to a bad case of conjunctivitis. They already had two dogs under their roof, which would make it difficult to keep a cat. Nevertheless, the father devoted himself to her care as she hovered between life and death, praying for the kitten’s full recovery. He didn’t intend to give the kitten a name at first, as he was worried about becoming too attached, and just called her “cat” (neko in Japanese) but somehow everyone started calling her Niko, which means something like “happy smile”.

Read More

Spend a day at the zoo on Google Maps

Google Street View is amazing. Not only does it allow us common folk a few glimpses of abandoned islands, strange pigeon people, and the inside of the Ryōgoku Kokugikan sumo hall, anyone anywhere can now enjoy looking at the cuddly animals at zoos around the world. From the famous San Diego Zoo to the Chengdu Research Base in China, Google Maps will transport you to a world of cute (and you don’t even have to pay an admission fee).

Read More

  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 44
  5. 45
  6. 46
  7. 47
  8. 48
  9. 49
  10. 50
  11. 51