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Among contemporary writers, there’s no Japanese author with a bigger international following than Haruki Murakami. The novelist and translator is also highly respected within his home country, as Japan holds an especially deep respect for any of its citizens who succeed in making a name for themselves on the international stage.

As such, we imagine one young graduate student was hoping for some sage advice when she contacted Murakami and asked him for pointers on how to become a better writer. The response she got was as surprising, unique, and challenging as Murakami’s books themselves.

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Product lets you build your own Rube Goldberg device – Just add tons of needlessly complex parts!

There’s something cathartic about watching – or even building – a functioning Rube Goldberg device. Maybe it’s because it presents a comforting visual embodiment of how the hopelessly bureaucratic machine we call society sometimes, kind of, actually does what it’s supposed to.

Whatever it is that makes them so hypnotizing, adults and kids alike in notoriously meticulous and bureaucratic Japan love Rube Goldberg machines – or Pythagorean Switch, as they’re known here – to bits. And toymaker Happinet has finally found a way to capitalize commercially on the nation’s love of re-arranging household objects into complicated marble chutes:

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With all of the advanced technology intelligence agencies can employ, plus the fact that so much information is now stored digitally, it’s easy to make the assumption that modern espionage is all hacking and drone surveillance. In fact, though, there’s still plenty of room in the spy game for carbon-based operatives working in the field.

As such, it’s the responsibility of militaries and police forces the world over to be on guard against organic espionage threats. So while you can admire the diligence and zeal shown by a group of citizens and police in Vietnam who captured and detained what they thought was a ring of 16 Chinese spies, the suspects turned out to be innocent.

They also happen to be pigeons.

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There could be a panda in your closet, and a blanket inside the panda with these storage cases

Staying warm during Japan’s chilly winters can be tricky, especially when it’s time to hit the sack. A lot of Japanese apartments don’t have the best insulation, so if you don’t want to blast the heater on high all night long, a nice warm blanket or down comforter is essential.

Unfortunately, six months later the weather becomes hot and muggy nationwide, so all those blankets need to be put away. And while you could just wrap them in plastic garbage bags and stick them in the closet until next winter, the far cuter option is to use a specialized case that looks like a snoozing bear, panda, or wolf.

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What happens when you scratch a capybara’s back? 【Video】

Sometimes, it can be hard to tell exactly what you’re getting with a video just from its title. For example, we recently looked at one called 100 Sizzling Japanese Maids in Action, which sounds like it should be a saucy little romp, but actually has more to do with frying pans, since it’s a cookware advertisement (albeit an awesome one).

On the other hand, the title of Scratching Many Capybaras lets you know exactly what it’s about. What it doesn’t tell you, though, is the adorable thing that happens next.

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Just about a month ago, the Japanese Internet got all aflutter over something that’s been coined the “low-cut turtleneck.” If those two terms sound contradictory to you, perhaps you’ll find the term we used, “boob shirt,” to be more descriptive.

But fashion trends don’t last forever, and it seems some designers are already moving on from the original design. While the initial boob shirt provided a window for the top of the bust to peek out of, the newest version spruces up a woman’s breasts by combining it with the other thing the Internet can’t seem to get enough of: cute kitty cats.

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Hamster, you may be angry, but we just can’t take you seriously

Cleaning is not a fun task, but it’s not so bad if someone else does it for you, right? One little fluff-ball of a hamster does not agree. When Mochitaro’s owner opened his cage to give it a little scrubbing, Mochitaro was in despair.

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10 quirky sights at ramen outlets in Japan

Apart from cats, girls and geeky stuff, food is another aspect we often cover on RocketNews24, and among the many snacks and delicacies we write about, ramen is definitely one of the more popular recurring topics that has made a presence in our archives. Yes, we’ve seen quite a portion of the endless possibilities the noodle dish has; from canned ramen to black ramen to ramen in donuts, sushi and even yarn, but we seldom zoom in on the many characteristic establishments that provide the delectable noodles we enjoy.

Sure, you might have seen a ramen shop even in your local neighborhood, but they’re probably not as amusing without these quirky sights some Japanese Twitter users have spotted at ramen shops in Japan!

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Great deal on “thing that lets you make a USB into a plug,” ask for it by name!

The other day while out shopping for computer parts like that-thing-that-connects-an-old-type-iPod-to-a-PC, one Twitter user stumbled upon a truly great deal. For only 200 yen (US$1.70) you can get…um, you know…one of those “things-that-let-you-make-a-USB-into-a-plug.”

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Last Monday in Japan was Coming of Age Day, the national holiday which celebrates everyone who’s reached the age of 20, and thus legal adulthood, during the past 12 months. 20 is also the drinking age in Japan, and while safeguards against minors getting boozed up are pretty lax in the country, many people decide to exercise their newly acquired legal right to get as tanked up as humanly possible, which probably had something to do with the childishly inconsiderate behavior and scuffles with the police that broke out during some of the festivities in Okinawa.

Not every part of Japan was marked with lawlessness that day, though. As a matter of fact, a coming of age ceremony in Chiba Prefecture featured a special appearance by Chibatman, who showed that he speaks Japanese in the same extra gravely voice heard in the English versions of his most recent movies.

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New smartphone game allows you to date the man, monkey, or dessert of your dreams

A common element in Japanese dating simulator video games is that they all feature an extensive cast of potential romantic partners. Still, there are only so many characters the designers can cram into a single game, and some gamers find that the available roster of would-be boyfriends just doesn’t measure up to their preexisting celebrity or anime crush.

Seeking to solve this problem is mobile game developer GimmickPlus, with a new smartphone title that lets you drop pictures of your favorite actor or girls’ manga character straight into the game. But as we’ve seen before, when you give users a template to create romantic tension with you also give them the means to craft bizarre humor, and Fantasy Condominium-You Can Fall in Love with Your Ideal Boyfriend is no exception.

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QR codes and pop culture, what are you doing in my textbooks?

Textbooks are boring. There is too much text, few pictures and back in our school days you had to accept whatever was in the textbook and struggle through it. It was an uphill battle…both ways! But with all the advancements and conveniences of technology, why not bring a little of the 21st century into the classroom?

Textbooks around Japan have been incrementally upping their game with QR codes, “hip” songs and whatever else to keep students entertained and excited about learning. But sometimes these advances in textbook technology don’t provide any benefit, and actually confuse more than they teach.

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Japanese man invites neighbor in for a few beers immediately after being shanked by him

A story out of Saitama Prefecture almost sounds like the script to a heartwarming movie. In an apartment house in Kawaguchi City, until a few days ago, two senior citizens were living next door to each other. The men shared a love of beer, and since they were both living alone, would even sometimes pass off their excess food to one another if they happened to buy too much at the grocery store.

Sure, 64-year-old Shingo Tsutsui didn’t like the noise his 70-year-old neighbor made walking around the hardwood floors of his thin-walled apartment, but that little bit of cantankerousness just adds to the Odd Couple-like appeal of the story, doesn’t it? Or at least it would, if Tsutsui had responded by contorting his face into comically frustrated expressions instead of what he actually did, which was to attack his neighbor with a kitchen knife.

As shocking as that is, though, it’s not nearly as unexpected as the victim’s reaction: inviting his attacker in to have a couple of beers together.

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Poseable North American Mega Man figure lets you admire the character’s belly in three dimensions

Back in the 1980s and ‘90s, it wasn’t unusual for Japanese video games to be released internationally with box art different from that which was used at home. Many overseas publishers worried that the original versions were too cutesy, concluding that the covers needed an extra dose of testosterone in order to appeal to machismo-seeking non-Japanese gamers.

The logic itself is sort of shaky, but what made things worse was how most of the new box art bore little resemblance to the in-game designs, plus rarely looked appealing even when judged solely on its own non-existent merits. While much of this lazily produced art has been fittingly forgotten, there are some things you just can’t unsee. Like discovering a dead pigeon inside your bag of fast food takeout, the North American cover of the very first Mega Man has been burned into the memories of older gamers, and the pudgy sci-fi hero has now made the jump into three-dimensional space with his own figure.

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Not too long ago, we took a look at an anime girl figurine with its butt lovingly crafted out of soft, pliable silicon. Clearly, this is a sign of the hyper-sexualized nature of certain Japanese animated series, and the depressingly horny psyche of many male otaku.

Except, the fact of the matter is that everyone loves butts. As proof, feast your eyes on these pervy mouse pads for female anime fans.

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That moment when you realize you forgot to take your dog out of your handbag

People are always forgetting to take stuff out of their bags. Sometimes you’ll hear your phone ringing and have to rush to unzip all your rucksacks, or you’ll have to scrabble through endless purses to find the one you left that receipt in. Or sometimes you’ll hear your dog barking and… huh?

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There’s just something soothing about the face of Baymax, the caretaker (and superpowered) robot that plays a prominent role in Disney’s Big Hero 6. Baymax looks like a big pillow to some people. Others say he more closely resembles Japanese dumplings, or the rounded discs of mochi used as New Year’s decorations in Japan.

Or, as these photos show, you could also duplicate Baymax’s inviting aura of soft plumpness with a white T-shirt and large pair of breasts.

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The secret ingredient to miso soup? Rock music!

Let’s get this out of the way first: Miso soup is delicious. It’s a great addition to nearly any meal, but we have to admit that it is pretty…basic, in every sense of the word. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that! Basic doesn’t mean bad, though we imagine it presents a bit of a marketing problem–how do you differentiate one brand of miso soup from another? If you deviate from the tried-and-true recipe too much, it’s just not miso soup anymore!

Well, it looks like Marukome, one of Japan’s top miso paste producers, has found a way: They’ve played loud, fast, and raw rock music for their newest instant miso soup–right in the miso paste factory !

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Mock game box imagines what a Japan-produced, moe “Call of Duty” might look like

Back in the day, Japanese console games were king. What late-20s gamer doesn’t fondly remember the classics like Final Fantasy VII, Tactics Ogre, Street Fighter, Metal Gear, the original Super Smash Bros, and the spate of Japan-produced side-scrollers owing their lineage to Mario?

Unfortunately, while great Japanese games do exist and are still being made, general consensus on English-language gamer forums is that the vast majority of modern Japanese games have devolved into 25-hour, barely interactive CG films and creepy boob-ogling simulators.

And, with this widening rift between Japanese game fans and Western gamers, the darker, dirtier corners of the Internet can get a bit cheeky with their memes.

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Japanese UFO catcher prizes just keep getting weirder…

“Oh shoot, I’m out of dish soap, let’s go to the game center.” If this sentence seems incongruous, you clearly have not spent enough time in Japanese game centers. Sure game centers have good old fashion arcade games, air hockey and photo booths, but a lot of the space is taken up by UFO catchers (adorably pronounced, oo-fo in Japan), aka claw/crane games.

Usually, UFO catchers are filled with cute toys or cool figurines, but sometimes things get a little too practical. Other times, the prizes are just a bit… off. Twitter users across Japan have shared their strange finds with us before, but they just keep coming and they keep getting weirder. 

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