Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
funny (Page 135)
Hi everyone! Did you enjoy Sports Day in Japan?
In case you’re having a hard time getting back into the swing of things after a three-day weekend, we thought we’d share this amusing photo of one manga artist’s four cats stalking a helpless victim–a freshly grilled fish. Note to self: never grill fish when there are hungry cats around!
You really never know who you are going to meet when traveling. That’s one of the things that makes it so enjoyable. But imagine our surprise when we ran into the leader of the free world in an isolated hot spring town in Kyushu! It might have something to do with the name of the place though…
Some people say life is like a movie. Well, that’s certainly true in some respects, since there are many movies and dramas that are inspired by real-life events. But we all know some scenes and plots in movies are blown out of proportion to achieve a more dramatic expression on-screen, and sometimes movie plots are too exaggerated to ever be thought of as anything more than works of fiction.
One Korean YouTuber has seemingly been pondering such issues as well, particularly why kidnap victims in movies and dramas can’t scream for help simply because they have a piece of duct tape over their mouths. And to prove her point, she tries it herself.
We previously introduced Kabe-don, the romantic wall pound that has sent Japanese girls swooning. For guys that want to show off their tough love, this is the way to do it. In fact, it became so popular in Japan that even cats were found to have jumped on the Kabe-don bandwagon. Nevertheless, this writer has never experienced Kabe-don nor seen anyone actually do it. If you also long for a Kabe-don moment yourself, there is now a cafe in Harajuku, Tokyo that helps you do just that! The catch is, the Prince Charming of your Kabe-don is in fact a…life-sized figure.
Voice acting seems like it should be a pretty cushy job. You sit in a booth, slip into character, and just, well, talk. Nothing to it right?
Well, for quieter scenes, that may be true, but it’s hard to get a proper performance for a fight sequence without really throwing yourself into the role. So while it may not be as physical as live-action stunt work, when the vocal cast of the newest Dragon Ball Z movie showed up to do their lines, they worked every muscle in their throats and faces, plus a few more, as seen in this video of the recording session.
As anyone who has studied Japanese for any length of time will tell you, leaning lists of vocabulary can be tough. On some occasions, the very first time you’ll meet a word will be on paper; some abstract or complex term that’s almost impossible to remember as it’s so rarely used in the real world. Other times, you’ll have heard–or perhaps even used a word yourself–in conversation, but when encountering it on paper for the first time it may appear completely alien due to the characters with which it’s written.
Thankfully, though, since kanji characters are based on meaning rather than speech sounds, it can be easy to decipher a written word even if you’re still not sure how to pronounce it. But sometimes, translating a word too literally can land you in all kinds of trouble, or at the very least leave you chuckling to yourself while native Japanese speakers are left wondering what’s so funny…
It’s natural to think of people in the old-timey days as having no time for joviality, what with being tied up in battling polio, Kaisers, and other threats most of the developed world doesn’t run into so much anymore. Likewise, in a lot of ways Japan is a no-nonsense kind of place, where work, school, and family responsibilities generally take precedent over everything else.
So you’d think a picture taken in Japan around a century ago would be a double-exercise in dourness, but as this photograph shows, while fashion and technology may change with the times, silliness has always been a part of life.
In Japan, it seems like almost every time I see a dog owner out for a stroll with their pet, it’s wearing some sort of clothing. It always strikes me as a little weird, since dogs are already covered with fur, and for most of the year, Japan doesn’t really get cold enough to warrant an extra layer to keep them warm.
Still, I guess the owners get a kick out of it. I do feel a little sorry for the dog sometimes, though, especially if he’s been stuffed into some cutesy, frilly costume. Wouldn’t he be happier in something more masculine, like a suit of doggy armor?
Speed is the name of the game in modern entertainment. With thousands of competing channels and websites just a button press or click away, you can’t afford to waste any time delivering the goods, and that goes double for comedy. Get in, do the job, and make your exit before the laughter dies out.
Take this insane Japanese video for example. Woman enters room, sits down, and BOOM – punchline! And we mean that “BOOM” literally.
If you’re a fan of the wildly popular manga and anime series Attack on Titan, then you’ll be more than familiar with the violent and jarring scenes of gigantic monsters biting off and chewing human heads, arms and various other body parts. But while you might expect such gruesome images in your comic books, commuters riding the Tokyo subway might not appreciate seeing such gory poster images on their way to work every morning.
So when advertising a new Attack on Titan exhibit opening next month at a Tokyo museum, the poster designers decided to creatively self-censor their own work with some very cleverly placed food items.
Chinese media is abuzz with serious concerns about the combat effectiveness of China’s military as it was revealed that, at a recent college military reserve training session, over 100 reservists’ camouflage pants simultaneously ripped out of nowhere.
The explosive rippage was apparently triggered when around 4,500 reservists – both men and women – were commanded by a drill instructor to sit down. We can only assume the drill instructor was the Chinese equivalent of R. Lee Ermy, as some of the reservists apparently took his command so seriously that they sat down with enough force to utterly destroy the stitching in their standard issue pants.
Here’s something to make “Not Sure if…” Fry’s head explode out of sheer confusion. It looks like there may or may not be a zombie epidemic spreading throughout Tokyo which affects only young, college-aged girls.
…Or it could be a strange, niche soft porn site for lonely Japanese lovers of horror and very cute girls.
Usually, Jesus limits his food-based appearances to grilled cheese and Cheetos in certain—shall we say—conservative areas of North America, but it seems like he is making inroads to Asian pastries with an appearance in a dessert offered by Japan’s popular Komeda Coffee chain. And not just that, he decided to present as a famous recent incarnation: the monkey-faced botched restoration of Ecce Homo!
The end of the year is the prime party season in Japan, when groups of coworkers and friends gather to celebrate Christmas, the end of the old year, and the start of the new one. Generally, most attendees are conent to chat, eat fried chicken or other broadly popular grub, and drink far more than would be socially acceptable in most other countries.
At some gatherings there are games to be played, too. Bingo and quizzes are both pretty common, but if neither one of those is quite exciting enough for you, maybe you’d like to spice things up by having you and the people you see every day at the office ask each other potentially embarrassing questions. And just to make sure the atmosphere of awkwardness is 100-percent genuine, why not bring along one of these handy head-mounted lie detectors from toymaker Takara Tomy?
Most of us have probably heard of the weird questions people get at top-paying tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook and, whatever, Chia Pet or something. You know what we’re talking about: “How many toilets do you think are in San Francisco?,” “If you were a pizza delivery man, how would you benefit from scissors?,” “Why is a tennis ball fuzzy?,” and, of course, “Why did you sleep with my sister and did you really think you’d get away with it?” (Just me?)
But we bet the last place you’d probably expect to get one of these abstract, no-right-answer kind of logic puzzle questions would be, say, an interview for a part-time job flipping burgers at McDonald’s, right?
Let’s play a little word association game. Ready? Chinese-made children’s toys.
I’m guessing “high quality” isn’t the first thing that popped into your head. You don’t have to go far to find stories of people buying knock-off dolls or action figures in China, then giving them to their kids or younger siblings, only to watch them heartbroken as they don’t work as implied by the packaging.
But that doesn’t mean all toys made in China are shoddy, because some do indeed work well. Sometimes even too well, as one Japanese father found out when he brought back a Chinese flying doll for his daughters.
“That damn cat!” Now, that’s a phrase that even the most doting cat owner has surely uttered more than once. As much as we love our kitties, they do seem to have an affinity for testing the limits of our affection–tearing up shoji and mercilessly knocking any object that dares to be close the edge of any desk, table, or counter onto the floor. Despite the best training efforts, it eventually becomes necessary to just admit that although cats may live indoors, they’re not exactly “domestic.”
Unless you’re this cat owner, who decided to shame her misbehaving cat on Twitter!
While the settings of Studio Ghilbi’s anime are filled with whimsy and fantasy, their characters can at times seem remarkably real. Even if you’ve never found a forest serviced by a network of Cat Buses, for example, the emotions that Totoro’s Mei and Satsuki deal with feel so genuine that you can’t help but think of them as real people who’ll eventually grew up and continue their lives long after the movie ends.
The same goes for the cast of Kiki’s Delivery Service. But while it’s easy to imagine titular witch Kiki continuing to work in the magical courier industry throughout her adulthood, what about her friend, Tombo? One fan recently offered his theory on what the future holds for the bespectacled lad.
One cool thing about living in Japan is that, whether you’re in a bustling city or the open countryside, you’re never too far from a vending machine. True, you won’t find any canned ramen in many machines outside of Akihabara, but so long as there’s power to run one, you’re pretty much always within a few hundred metres of a machine selling both chilled and hot drinks.
We’ve seen some unusual things turning up in Japan’s vending machines over the years, but cans of peach juice with money taped to them is definitely a new one.
Athletes devote their lives to fully unleashing the potential of their bodies and pushing the limits of how far they can go every single day. But what happens when top-performing athletes take something as mundane as shaving seriously? We’re not sure if this is something normal people even wonder about, but Japanese electronics maker Philips already has the answer for us.
To promote of its electric shavers, Philips came up with the “Extreme Shaving Tournament” featuring a number of top athletes from Japan. And guess what? The top shaver gets to shave in outer space!
Foreign traveler caught trying to sneak into Japan by climbing down rope from cruise ship
Studio Ghibli unveils new goods that tip the hat to The Cat Returns
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
One of Japan’s oldest castles now lets travelers spend night on the grounds, drink in its keep
Orange Juice Crisis ’24 – Japan’s OJ supplies drying up
Starbucks at Shibuya Scramble Crossing reopens, but is it really bigger and better than before?
Bad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screens
Studio Ghibli unveils massive T-shirt collection featuring top anime movie characters
McDonald’s Japan’s new pancake pie is a taste sensation
All-you-can-drink deal for US$4 in Shinjuku is one of the best finds in TokyoForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of societyBad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screensMcDonald’s Japan’s new pancake pie is a taste sensation
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy day
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotesOne of Japan’s oldest castles now lets travelers spend night on the grounds, drink in its keep
Ghibli Park now selling “Grilled Frogs” from food cart in Valley of Witches
Two things to do, and two things not to do, when leaving a traditional Japanese innMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese thingsJapanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutions
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in Tokyo
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social mediaMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label designForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappoint
Starbucks at Shibuya Scramble Crossing reopens, but is it really bigger and better than before?
Bad tourist manners at Mt Fuji Lawson photo spot prompts Japanese town to block view with screens
Studio Ghibli unveils massive T-shirt collection featuring top anime movie characters
McDonald’s Japan’s new pancake pie is a taste sensation
All-you-can-drink deal for US$4 in Shinjuku is one of the best finds in Tokyo
Two things to do, and two things not to do, when leaving a traditional Japanese inn
History’s largest force of Samurai Colonel Sanders deploying to KFC Japan branches
Mikado Coffee is a 76-year-old coffee chain with a major celebrity connection
What makes this new Japanese convenience store chain better than 7-Eleven?
Pizza Potato crisis causes turmoil in Japan for chip-lovers and opportunists alike
Japan’s one-person bento box-sized rice cooker can give you freshly cooked rice at the office
Kagawa Prefecture becoming Slowpoke Paradise this spring
Eating all the cat treats at Japanese convenience store Family Mart