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cute (Page 154)

Creative bento lunches from the past hint at the origins of “kyaraben”

Kyaraben, short for “character bento”, are insanely popular in Asia and Japan in particular. Young mothers, and some fathers too no doubt, spend hours crafting special lunch boxes, using all manner of foodstuffs to create shapes, faces and designs, and there are even entire books and monthly magazines containing hundreds of ideas. Over the years, we’ve seen lunch boxes based everything from Nivea hand cream to video game smash Metal Gear Solid, but it’s easy to forget that the practice of dressing up a packed lunch has, in fact, been around for quite some time.

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Limited edition ANA Starbucks bottles are available over Japan, but not in it

Just like it does in other markets, Starbucks offers special limited edition merchandise for specific locations in Japan. But even if you’ve already got special tumblers from Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, and Hiroshima, you collection won’t be entirely complete without this special Starbucks bottle that you can only purchase onboard ANA flights inside or connecting to Japan.

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It’s not for you, it’s for the cat! The ad company sending catnip-scented mail

With an estimated 50 percent of unsolicited mail being thrown away without even being opened, one advertising agency has come up with an original idea: send the mail to cats, instead of their owners!

As you might expect, the product being advertised is cat-related! When Canadian company Bulk Cat Litter Warehouse approached ad agency Rethink Communications for a direct flyer, they came up with this clever mailout that your kitty will adore!

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Korea’s “MAJO&SADY” themed café is the cutest place we’ve seen in a long while!【Photos】

We’ve seen plenty of cat cafés, maid cafés and even owl cafés here on RocketNews24, but putting living things aside, this themed café in Seoul which features the characters of a Korean online comic MAJO&SADY, could probably top our list of cute cafés!

The simple yet chic café provides a cozy and relaxing atmosphere that anyone can enjoy, even if you’re unfamiliar with the comic’s characters. Check it out!

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Celebrate the release of live-action Kiki’s Delivery Service with these limited edition treats!

With the live-action version of Kiki’s Delivery Service set to hit cinemas in Japan on March 1, it’s time for the celebrations and tie-in promotions to commence! Japanese bakery chain, Little Mermaid, is one of the first to step up to the plate, paying homage to the movie with this collection of delightfully cute offerings. Available only for a limited time, the three new baked varieties are named in honour of Kiki, her black cat Jiji, and Ms Osono, Kiki’s mother-figure and resident baker. Can you guess which design is which?

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Splish-splash, kitty taking a bath! Cute videos to help you enjoy the weekend

There’s a long-lived stereotype that cats love to eat fish–particularly the fish we like to keep in bowls in our homes. For a house kitty, a fish bowl is like having an ice cream truck in your living room–but never having the change to get a cone.

Of course, no one wants their pets–furry or scaly–to get eaten! But keeping a house full of cats entertained is a tall order…and whipping a laser pointer around the living room might turn it into a disaster zone. Fortunately, one cat gentleman has found a way to keep a room of cats both docile and engaged: Letting a mechanical toy fish swim circles in the bathtub!

But just how well do you think that’s going to work out for all the munchkin kitties gathered to watch?

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Happy Cat Day! (=^･^=)

February 22, aside from looking really cool with triple twos, is officially known as Cat Day (Neko no Hi) in Japan. The Japanese word for “two” (ni) sounds similar to the word for “meow” (nyan), and so a day commemorating Japan’s favorite felines was born. It’s well known that Japan is home to cat cafés and a cat island, and almost everyone has seen at least one of Maru’s videos, so it’s no surprise Neko no Hi exists. So in honor of Cat Day in Japan, let’s celebrate by watching adorable videos of Japanese cats.

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Bunny stampede! The joys of Rabbit Island【Video】

Everyone loves rabbits! With their long ears, adorable noses, cute plump bodies, and prophetic abilities, they’re almost as loveable as penguins or kittens!

And fortunately for all you rabbit lovers out there, a veritable rabbit paradise exists in the form of Ōkunoshima, an island just 3.4 kilometers (about 2.1 miles) off the coast of Japan’s Hiroshima Prefecture! Here hundreds of wild bunnies romp freely and openly around the island–happy to bound up to humans for food. You don’t know cute until you’ve seen a literal “rabbit stampede!”

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Shibuya’s Hachiko statue gets a snow family for a short time

The tragic yet sweet story of faithful dog Hachiko is infamous in Japan and many parts of the world. One dog’s unflinching love and dedication inspired a statue to be erected in his honor outside Shibuya Station where the real Hachiko once stood.

With a second helping of snow dumped over Tokyo in the late hours of Fundoshi Day, someone took it upon themselves to offer Hachiko with a companion.

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Werewolf cat! Spooky new feline equal parts cute and creepy 【Photos】

You might have seen something—or someone?!—like the guy above prowling in the moonlight, but I’m afraid he’s not proof of the supernatural, he’s just a new breed of cat called a Lykoi, or “wolf” in Greek. Of course, most people are just calling the breed what it looks like: a werewolf cat!

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Take a glimpse into the natural habitats of female Japanese otaku 【Photos】

While we here at RocketNews24 have no shortage of stories on geeky men in Japan, it should be noted that there are plenty of women that fulfill the otaku stereotype of being obsessed with anime, manga and video games. The recently published photo book Corrupted Rooms gives readers a peek inside the cramped living quarters of 50 self-professed otaku and shows the extreme level of dedication these women have to their hobbies. From rooms packed with action figures to racks of cosplay outfits, click below to catch a glimpse into the world of the female otaku!

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There are certain meats you can find at restaurants in Japan that aren’t exactly common in the western world. Whale is the one most likely to get foreign visitors up in arms, but with some pretty extensive searching, you can also find establishments serving up monkey and frog.

That isn’t to say Japanese culinary/cultural values are completely different from those of Europeans and North Americans. For example, people in Japan don’t really believe in turning dogs into food.

But turning food into a dog? That’s something the whole world can get behind.

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Meet Sakura-chan, the sprinting penguin in love with a human【Video】

Penguins are, without a doubt, one of the cutest animals in the world. This is not a statement that many people would even think to argue with–it’s as close to an obvious truth as you can get without breaking out the math! But we may have found a way to up the cuteness quotient for penguins from just “exceptionally cute” to “brain-asplodey cute.”

How? Simple: Set them jogging after their (human) crush!

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Powerpuff Girls Get Furry in Japanese Crossover Campaign

The Powerpuff Girls and Japan’s Ponta mascot are crossing over to celebrate the cartoon’s 15th anniversary. Sega, Pizza Hut, and Cartoon Network Japan are participating with various goods featuring the Powerpuff Girls with ears and tails.

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Perfectly timed photo reminds us that life’s not all bad

Yes, it’s still only Wednesday, and that means we’re only half way through the week. But if you’re a glass-half-full kind of person like the little guy pictured above, that means we’re now half way through the week, and the weekend is in sight!

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Ultra-cute “chibi” Final Fantasy VII figures now available for pre-order

It may be hard to believe, but it has been almost 17 years since Final Fantasy VII, arguably the most revered entry in Square Enix’s iconic RPG series, was first unleashed on the world. And in honour of the game’s impeding birthday, its creators have commissioned a series of ridiculously cute “chibi” figures for hardcore gamers and fans of all things cute alike to enjoy, with pre-orders already being taken months ahead of their release.

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Teacher hides touching message to departing students in final test

Even though the Japanese kind of have a reputation as stoic individuals reluctant to express emotion, we’ve shown you time and again that the Japanese are suckers for a good heart string-tugging story as much as the people of the next country.

Still, it’s safe to say there’s more than an average amount of social pressure to keep your feelings to yourself in Japan, especially for authority figure types like teachers. Which might explain why the teacher in this next story went to extraordinary lengths to pass on one final message to his recent graduating class.

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  • Feb 4, 2014

Disney presents the amazing Duffy Bus — a real life teddy bear on wheels!

In the world of fantasy, Studio Ghibli gave us the magnificent Catbus in the anime film My Neighbor Totoro. Who wouldn’t want to catch a ride on a live, furry bus like that, right? Well, now in the real world here in Japan, it seems Disney is coming out with a unique ride that, while maybe not an exact recreation of the Catbus, comes pretty close. Yes, it’s the amazing furry “Duffy Bus”, and it’s a real-life cross between a bus and a stuffed animal! It’s so unique, you’ll have to see it to believe it!

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  • Feb 2, 2014

Sailor Moon fans can now buy transformation compact mirrors from a gashapon machine!

We’ve shared with our readers quite a few Sailor Moon products in our past articles, from sexy Sailor Moon lingerie to sparkly  Sailor Moon  chopsticks. Now, while fans may be delighted with the wide range of Sailor Moon goods available, particularly the cute gadgets from toy maker Bandai, there are so many of them that it probably isn’t realistic to try to collect all of them, especially considering that some of the items aren’t exactly cheap.

In fact, some of our reporters at sister site Pouch who are die-hard fans of the series, had just recently been wishing aloud that Bandai would come out with an affordable range of Sailor Moon transformation compact mirrors. Well, it seems their wish has now come true! Just this week, Bandai released a new range of lovely compact mirrors, and more importantly, they’re cheap and can be bought right from a Gashapon vending machine!

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10 house points to the boy or girl who can correctly identify this bizarre bread beast

Twitter user Zarame25 shared the above photo on earlier this week along with the comment: “My mother bought this bread, but I have no idea what it’s supposed to be. Is it a character or something? It’s some kind of weird animal.” Having spent the best part of this morning staring at it and throwing suggestions around, we have to admit we’re not sure what it’s supposed to be ether.

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