Earlier this year, we saw that Chanrio Maker is the easiest way to reimagine yourself as a Sanrio character. Now that the end of the year is approaching, it turns out you can use your own Chanrio to make the cutest New Year’s cards ever!
cute (Page 105)
Looking up into the vastness of space, it’s only natural for one to wonder if we’re really all alone here. There are reports of contact with alien life all the time, sometimes even with photographic material to support them. Some of them are undoubtedly hokey, but others make you pause and wonder…
Like this photo, of a martian living on a lone street in a Japanese neighborhood. A young five-year-old had seen the martian many times before she took her mother along to see. The mother then snapped a photo of the encounter and posted it on Twitter for the world to see…
Depending on where you grew up, prairie dogs might be nothing more than hated, pesky varmints you just wish would go away. But in Japan, they are adorable little creatures deserving all your squeals of “kawaiiiii” — especially when they end up in a traffic jam!
Halloween may be over, but that hasn’t put a stop to the internet being flooded with pictures of all the amazing and not-really-amazing-but-still-popular costumes that people wore.
One costume that was especially popular this year was the Inklings from the Wii U game Splatoon, but the ones who pulled it off the best have to be this pair of Japanese kids. Not only are their costumes homemade, but they look absolutely adorable while running around covering everything in pretend ink.
Doing school or office work can be a real drag. Taking notes? Completing worksheets? Writing reports? You’ve got more pressing matters to attend to, like checking all of your social media sites for the fifth time in five minutes.
But in the end those things just have to be done, so why not mix it up a bit? Let your “latte” sharpen your pencils, your bottle of mayo white-out your mistakes, and your naan hold all of your writing utensils together. Take a look below to see all the nifty stationery goods that don’t even look like stationery at all!
When you’re looking for cute inspiration, you don’t have to look much further than Japan. As the birthplace of the world’s beloved wide-eyed, chubby-faced anime characters, the nation is full to overflowing with commercials, posters, sweets and goods that are so adorable even self-respecting adults can’t help but squeal like delighted children when they catch sight of them.
Now Japan’s cast of cute characters have found a home for themselves across the seas in a gorgeous little Airstream trailer in California, where they continue to pop up in limited numbers in the best way ever: as deliciously sweet macarons. Come with us as we take a look at some of the cute critters and adorable edibles in the collection after the break.
During these crisp, cool days of autumn, the leaves are changing color to vibrant reds and yellows. Along with that change in the scenery comes a shift in fashion, as people step out in sweaters, coats, and other cold-weather attire.
But while you or I can put on a heavy jacket to help ward off the chill, that’s not an option for Japan’s woodland animals. Don’t worry, though because while these tanuki can’t put on additional layers of clothing to keep warm, they can add additional layers of tanuki by sleeping in an adorable bunch.
The anime series Gintama has been having a great season, starting off with a hilarious parody in which main character Gintoki re-enacted shamed Japanese politician Ryutaro Nonomura’s very public bawling session from last year. Then, mid-way through this season, there were a couple of genderbent episodes in which members of the cast were suddenly transformed into the opposite sex, including the cool and masculine Gintoki who became the cute and busty Ginko!
To celebrate the fun of that mini-arc, Premium Bandai is selling 1,000 limited-edition figures of Ginko-chan and we can’t get over how adorable she is!
Though it may not seem like it, Japan is actually a fairly sizable country, with a lot of ground for sightseers to cover. It’s so big, in fact, we imagine it’d be difficult to a regular tourist to see all of it.
But what if you grew up in Japan and spent all your free time traveling around the country? Well, in that case, we bet you’d get to see a whole lot more of it, and for one Japanese Internet user, that exactly describes their life—but with one very cool addition. It turns out this anonymous traveler loves to take photos of cats at their various destinations.
Check out the awesome and adorable photo album below!
Attack on Titan fans who pre-ordered the new Levi figure by Good Smile were no doubt super-excited when orders started shipping last month. But one buyer, who goes by the username @Levi_Eren_Karin on Twitter, couldn’t help but tweet about her surprise when the contents inside weren’t quite what she had been expecting…
Japanese often say that a good view makes a meal taste better, so it goes without saying that a cute-looking lunchbox would also enhance the contents inside. From meals served in Shinkansen-shaped containers or rabbit-faced boxes that can be reused as coin banks, to lunch boxes that play music or have collector’s items hidden inside, Japan’s ekiben take Japanese food to a whole new level.
Today we’d like to tell you about “Ekiben”, a little book by Aki Tomura which introduces the best and most unique train station lunch boxes in Japan. We’ve chosen just a few to highlight from this gorgeously photographed, pocket-size book. The word Ekiben is a combination of two Japanese words: eki (station) and bento (lunchbox), so make your next train trip a gourmet ride with these bento available at various JR stations—just waiting for you to buy, smile, and devour.
Let the fun begin!
Last weekend, it was like someone flipped a switch and put an end to the pleasantly mild weather Japan has been enjoying this fall. Since then, it’s been piercingly cold winds, gray skies, and as of this morning, a steady downpour on the Tokyo area.
To fight off the chill, many people fired up their halogen space heaters. Handy as they may be, though, they don’t warm the air so much as the body of whoever is sitting closest to the device. As such, everyone wants the prime spot right in front of the heater, including this cozy pet parrot.
As Halloween gets increasingly popular in Japan, “Trick or treat!” is becoming part of the country’s extensive lexicon of popular foreign phrases. After all, just saying the words instantly legitimizes your reason for cosplaying and gets you some free candy.
Of course, you don’t actually have to know the phrase to celebrate Halloween. This cute kitty, for example, is getting in on all the fun of dressing up and eating treats, even though it can’t say a single word, thanks to its clever owner.
While tiny dogs don’t mind being ferried about in designer handbags, cats would rather scratch our arms off than let us take them outside the front door. Cat owners have suffered for too long, going about their lives outside without the company of their feline companions, but now there’s a clever way for us to carry a cute kitten around in our bags and keep our arms at the same time, with the adorably realistic cat pouch from Felissimo.
If there’s one rule of the Internet, it’s that cats make everything cute: kimonos, headbands, air fresheners, and apparently even stealing things too.
Case in point: a kitty-sized lottery ticket booth was recently broken into by one greedy cat, and the owner caught the animal red-handed, posting the adorable evidence on Twitter. Stealing is bad, but these cats make being a thief look so cute!
October 24 may be seven days before Halloween to most people, but for those in Japan with a Java sparrow (called buncho in Japanese), it’s the day to celebrate your cute little buddy.
Last year the hashtag #文鳥の日2014 (#buncho no hi 2014) was trending and owners all over the country shared pictures of their pet birds. Luckily, this year we were treated to even more pictures of Java sparrows as proud owners wanted to share their joy with the Twitterverse.
Enjoy the best selection of these adorable little guys, after the jump.
Gearing up for Halloween, we’ve already seen our share of humans dressing up like cats, but how about some costuming felines? Of course, as we’re sure all you cat people out there already know, getting kitty dressed up in a ridiculous outfit is a lot easier said than done.
…Or is it? Turns out the owner of Maru, “the most famous cat on the internet” has devised an easy way to get even the most stubborn of felines to get into the Halloween spirit with these cute animal costumes.
There’s an annual autumn event in Japan called Shichi-Go-San, which is a celebration for children aged three, five, and seven. My brother-in-law’s youngest daughter is seven this year, so on the special day my wife and I gave her a small monetary gift. Sweet kid that she is, she immediately thanked us, but as we left the party my brother-in-law handed us a small cake to express his appreciation as well.
This pattern of giving someone a gift to say thank you for the gift they previously gave you is fairly common in Japan, where gracious manners are always held to be of the utmost importance. As a matter of fact, it’s such a part of life in the country that apparently even one animal, a thankful tanuki, is following the custom.
It appears these white little critters have recently been creating a bit of a”flutter” in the Japanese Twitterverse, and we guess that should come as no surprise, considering how utterly cute they look. But what exactly are these fluffy white balls? They’re actually coin purses made by craft artist Piyoyama, and people who have fallen in love with the little birds are asking where they can get their hands on one of them!
It’s almost Halloween, and even here in Japan, where the holiday is still but a shadow of the American take on the creep fest, an avalanche of orange and black gewgaws and processed sugar confections is pouring off retail shelves.
But if you’re looking for Halloween sweets with a little more culture and class, check out the awesome skulls made from wasanbon, a premium fine-grain sugar from Shikoku!
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