Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
funny (Page 155)
Have you made that New Year’s resolution to be healthier but just can’t seem to make the commitment to work out? Is the only flexible thing in your life the elastic band around your sweatpants after you gorge yourself on cake? We think we can motivate you into a more active lifestyle by seeing a Chinese lady in her 50s doing her morning stretching routine that will be sure to shame you into eating healthier and exercising more!
I recently took a few days off to visit my hometown in California. In keeping with Japanese norms, I spent most of my time there eating and loafing around my parents’ house (in my defense they have a really nice couch, and the soba noodles my wife makes at New Year’s are amazing).
Reenergized from a week of rest and relaxation, I arrived back in Japan and went to sleep, fully intending to jump out of bed at the crack of dawn and get right to work. But when I woke up around 5:30 a.m., I stopped to reconsider my plan. Given the near-freezing temperature, was crawling out from under my warm blankets really the best choice, health-wise? Shouldn’t I take it easy for a day and make sure I was over my jet-lag? I could always get serious about work the next day, right?
It turns out that not only is New Year’s procrastination common, there’s even a calendar for it, with solid excuses for nothing doing anything printed right there on it.
If you’ve ever found yourself lost in one of Asia’s complex subway systems, you’re not alone. Since underground rail is the preferred form of transportation in many of Asia’s sprawling cities with hundreds of stops, subway maps, even those printed on the back of your necktie, tend to look like the aftermath of an infant feeding itself a plate of spaghetti unsupervised, and can easily confound locals too.
So it’s good news that a newscaster in Guangdong Province, China – whose dresser apparently teleports all of her normal clothes to Narnia – has decided to help commuters navigate the area’s labyrinthine subway system on a strictly volunteer basis.
Meet Shiro and Mimi, just two of the stars of Kago Neko, a blog all about one Japanese cat fan’s pets. Sadly, the pair were not, in fact, born with such luscious barnets, but their owner, perhaps sensing their inner glam rock star, provided them with a couple of rather fetching blonde wigs. We think you’ll agree that they look pretty rockin’.
One of the biggest obstacles of traveling in a country where you don’t speak the local language and English is not commonly spoken is ordering food. If you could read maps, you would probably be able to navigate around even if you don’t understand the native language, but if you can’t read the restaurant menu, ordering at meal time would be like playing a round of Russian Roulette.
Some restaurants attempt to make things easier for their patrons by including English translations on their menu, which could be a lifesaver for foreigners. But somebody ought to tell this restaurant’s owner that Google translate isn’t the foolproof method…
Okay, who gave this cat coffee!?
Watch this short video to get your daily cat fix and start your week off on a (caffeine?) high – it’s sure to bring a smile to your face and dazzle your feeble human eyes.
Ramen is a popular comfort food in Japan because, unlike many Japanese foods, there’s very little formality in eating it, it’s not especially good for you and therefore tastes wonderful, and you’re generally free to customize to your heart’s content, choosing a broth of your liking and then heaping on the toppings until you can barely see the noodles if you so desire.
Spicy ramen varieties aren’t uncommon, either, with many popular chains such as Ichiran offering customizable spiciness levels from one to ten. Of course, if you’re the right combination of bored, crazy and rich, you can pay extra to exceed the tenth level of spiciness; right on up to 200 times normal.
Here’s a real-life motivational poster for you. Spotted in the Katsushika ward of Tokyo, this little kitty was precariously clinging to a small wall just as those crazy Google cameras came rolling by. Now he is forever immortalized on Google Maps, able to be seen by billions of people around the world.
One of the most iconic scenes from the recent Iron Man films is that of the Jarvis-infused suit attaching itself to Tony Stark as the billionaire walks, falls, or just stands around looking sexy. It might be one of the coolest ways of getting dressed in the history of cinema, but, if we’re being honest, we always thought something could be done to make it appeal a bit more to shojo anime fans.
Well, thanks to a team of South Korean college students, our dreams have been answered…and we can finally find out what a Sailor Moon-style Iron Man transformation would look like. Spoiler alert: Freaking amazing!
Twitter is almost universally popular nowadays. While Facebook is seeing declining usage in Japan and among teens in general, Twitter seems to be hanging on to its popularity. It’s hard to say how long this will last–does anyone remember Mixi?–but for now, getting attention on Twitter in Japan is still a big deal.
So when Reika Oozeki’s Vine video got retweeted almost 5,000 times, we had to check it out!
For Japanese people, studying English is almost a given. Even folks who may have no interest in actually leaving their home country may feel compelled to study the language for business or simply because they’re supposed to. But it’s hard to enjoy learning a language that you don’t have any interest in–and having fun is one of the best ways to facilitate learning.
This has opened up something of a cottage industry for people trying to make the learning part fun. There are nonsensical textbooks and sexy teachers, but then there are the college textbooks that seem like their authors weren’t even trying.
Well, for any Japanese English-learners who are on the verge of giving up – and perhaps for those of you struggling with learning Japanese – there may be one ray of hope still shining: Majime na Eibunpou, a surprisingly funny English grammar smartphone app!
Asian films can’t hold a candle to Hollywood films in terms of worldwide popularity, but when it comes to movies with intense fighting action, Asian stars such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li shine above the rest with their impeccable kung-fu moves. But such agile movie stars are hard to come by, so film-makers often rely on filming techniques and computer graphics to boost the intensity of action scenes.
Four Singaporean youths brought things back to the basics with an amateur action video clip and showed us that you don’t need state of the art CG to show the audience a powerful kick. All you need is some powder. And of course, some sleek martial art skills.
The Japanese love to have fun with words. Kotoba asobi (wordplay) makes up a pretty large portion of Japanese humor on variety programs and comedy shows – possibly a side effect of so many kanji characters sounding phonetically identical despite wildly different meanings.
But YouTube’s The World Video Tour has taken it to a whole new level with a video series of Japanese words and phrases that sound a lot like totally unrelated English terms. Below, we’ll watch the series’ host have some fun with foreign tourists to see if they understand what he’s trying to say.
Ah, young love. The furtive glances; the sheer ecstasy of receiving that very first text message; the tears and emo music marathons when it all goes pear-shaped… We’re sure this young man is far from the first – or last, for that matter – to have his romantic advances cruelly spurned, but it makes tremendously amusing viewing nonetheless.
In Japan, it is still considered “rude” to do things like talk on the phone or apply makeup on the train. Although the latter is becoming far more common as people come to realise that a girl touching up her war-paint in public is hardly the most scandalous act one can engage in, there are still many, mostly of the older generation, who believe that it should not be done in shared spaces and to be so openly “vain” is simply shameful.
We wonder, then, what the average older Japanese citizen would think if they saw a commuter like the young lady in the following video, who has thrown caution to the wind and slaps on a cleansing face mask during her travels.
Have you ever wondered how militaries transport their massive weapons and ordinances across countries or even continents? We always just pictured gigantic airplanes like in Operation Dumbo Drop, but apparently not. It turns that they just get trucks, latch the weapon on, and take off down the highway! Simple, if not just a little disappointing.
But for one Chinese army truck driver lugging an enormous gun, that operation turned out not to be quite so simple after all…
Perhaps we were wrong about cats being secret geniuses plotting to overthrow the world. This video, which is receiving a lot of attention in Japan today, suggests that there is at least one member of the feline federation that is perhaps a few strands short of a cat’s cradle.
When two-year-old Chai here spots a plastic bag on the floor of her owner’s apartment, she is naturally keen to investigate. Little does she know, though, that once she climbs inside it, the bag will simply refuse to let go…
While the Japanese education system is often highly praised by people in the West, many Japanese folks aren’t so keen on it these days. Yutori kyouiku, or “pressure-free education system,” a phrase used to describe what many see as an education system whose standards are too lax, has skyrocketed in use. Every time a young person does something stupid, it’s followed by sighs of “yutori kyouiku” by observers, who went through much harder schooling in their youth.
Although we often think people are really exaggerating when they say that the “kids of today” don’t know a thing, a recent study carried out by a professor at Tokai University has us wondering if today’s youth are lacking a little common sense…
It’s Monday again and you know what that means! Your Monday Kickstart video is here to get you going through another week.
If there’s a wall, you’re going to want to lean on it. If there’s a sofa, you’re going to want to sit on it. And if there’s a gigantic double bed in your hotel room, by George, you’re going to want to belly flop into it. And sometimes, your friends capitalize on this very notion, with some hilarious results.
Studio Ghibli adds new Jiji’s baby plush toy to its anime merchandise range in Japan
Beautiful off-the-beaten-path spot near samurai castle in rural Japan looks like a Monet painting
Wagyu ramen for foreign tourists appears in Kabukicho, with a very high price tag
Tokyo sweets store has a “350% Pudding Soft Serve”, and people are going wild for it
Japanese figure skating star Yuzuru Hanyu and Winne-the-Pooh announce crossover merch line [Pics]
McDonald’s Japan’s new Chiikawa Happy Meal figures are here![Photos]
Studio Ghibli releases new Kiki’s Delivery Service Jiji music box for anime fans
Did you know? Only one Beard Papa’s in all of eastern Japan sells soft serve in a cream puff
Stray cats almost became classified as an invasive species in Japan but the change was overturned
Japanese convenience store food gets turned into hyper-realistic stationery you can peel open
Japanese toilet aims to attract foreign tourists but not everybody is happy about it
New Japanese vending machine at Shinkansen station sells cups of ice on platform
Anime fan in Japan arrested for ordering and cancelling over 4.3 billion yen in anime merch
Starbucks Japan teams up with Traveler’s Company for new stationery and goods collection
Pokémon Center Online designates first Pokémon items that will require Japanese ID card to buy
Beautiful Totoro bonsai figure needs no watering, makes soothing rain showers whenever you want
Japan’s new beer glass is designed to force you to drink…water [Video]
End of a manga era as Weekly Shonen Jump’s circulation drops under one million
Kochia calling: Right now is a great off-season season to visit this beautiful Japanese park
This beautiful rural Japan river is a great alternative to touristy summer retreats [Photos]
Tokyo subway installing new ticket gates that don’t accept payment through Suica or other IC cards
Japan now has human refrigerators inspired by Japanese vending machines
Hatsune Miku collaborates with Hokusai’s art in new Vocaloid ukiyo-e illustration series [Pics]
New Shinkansen luggage drop-off system begins in Japan, making train travel even easier
Studio Ghibli releases anime T-shirts that pay homage to one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most personal films
Air-conditioned dress shirts arrive in Japan to save working professionals from sweltering heat
Japanese Shinkansen becomes an overnight hotel for three nights this summer
Cup Noodle unveils first-ever cold-water instant ramen in JapanPokémon Center Online designates first Pokémon items that will require Japanese ID card to buy
99-year-old woman rescued while attempting to climb Mt. Fuji
Japan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Studio Ghibli has a new anime out, and there’s only one place in the world where you can see it
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]Tokyo subway installing new ticket gates that don’t accept payment through Suica or other IC cards
Japanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroad
Salomon releases Japan-exclusive Mt. Fuji hiking gear that doubles as an amazing souvenir
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
McDonald’s Japan’s new Chiikawa Happy Meal figures are here![Photos]
Studio Ghibli releases new Kiki’s Delivery Service Jiji music box for anime fans
Did you know? Only one Beard Papa’s in all of eastern Japan sells soft serve in a cream puff
Stray cats almost became classified as an invasive species in Japan but the change was overturned
Japanese convenience store food gets turned into hyper-realistic stationery you can peel open
Japan’s new beer glass is designed to force you to drink…water [Video]
7-Eleven Japan adds new doughnut-like tonkotsu ramen fried chicken to its hot food section
Are Japan’s room-temperature curry packets the boxed lunch heroes we’ve been looking for? [Taste test]
This awesome Japanese arcade chain has crane game coaches to help you win prizes
This Japanese chopping board sanitising bag might be the handy kitchen gadget we never knew we needed
Toyota Museum’s international retro vehicle parade returns to Aichi this autumn
Tokyo’s Giga Mart lets visitors “steal” from a convenience store… if cameras don’t catch you
Over 1,400 cities in Japan see foreign population rise, total populations drop in new statistics
Studio Ghibli theme park announces new expansion saluting a previously off-limits anime