internet
Our roundup of the country’s craziest April Fool’s Day products and services we actually wish were real.
$10,000 burning a hole in your pocket? Dislike receiving emails? Then the Internet Escape Pod is for you!
Sunshine, the Chinese high school girl band branded “China’s ugliest perfomers” shoots to stardom, briefly.
We take a look at a Japanese website that lets you transform your photos into 8-bit, Gameboy-style works of art!
The digital image created captures kitty in a moment of quiet determination, with a face of uncertain triumph.
And Japanese Twitter users are quick to provide us with some hilarious political commentary.
Dealing with angry customers all day is harrowing work, but Apple’s team was able to quell our reporter Hatori Go’s rage with but a single word.
Major Kusanagi and the members of Public Security Section 9 are on a quest to promote cybersecurity as part of an upcoming public awareness campaign.
Parenting in the internet age is a whole lot more difficult than it was before our world was taken over by machines. Back then, the scariest conversation you had to have with your kids was about the birds and the bees, but now it’s the birds and the bees and the creepy old guy pretending to be a high school girl in an online chatroom.
One Japanese mom posted the conversations on Twitter that she’s recently had to have with her nine-year-old son, and they’ve been getting a lot of attention online. Read them for yourself and you’ll crack up over both how true and how hilarious they are.
The fact that cameras are just about everywhere these days has all but guaranteed that you’ll get caught doing anything even remotely socially unacceptable unless you do it in the privacy of your own home (and even then you better make sure you close the curtains).
Gone are the days of anonymously ringing the crazy cat lady’s doorbell and running away, or sneaking in to your local Masonic Temple to uncover their nefarious, cult-ish deeds (true story!). You can pretty much forget about doing anything in an elevator.
Oh, and, better be sure to tell your supervisor before you take that smoke break, or the ever watchful, judging gaze of the Google Street View car might out you to your employer, as a Japanese Netizen apparently found out recently.
The internet is full of awesome stuff, isn’t it? Cute cat videos, like-minded folks to chat with, and Mr. Sato of course. But the internet is also notorious for its dark underworld, where trolls, annoying memes, and fraudsters lurk. When it comes to online jerks, you’ll have trouble finding anyone who is more gleefully evil than the fake online seller.
Here’s the tale of a particularly duplicitous individual whose trickery regarding a Nintendo 3DS XL seemingly led to someone being duped out of 47,000 yen (almost US$400).
It’s been quite a few years since director Mamoru Hosoda’s widely acclaimed animated movie Summer Wars was released, but fans of the film can experience it again in a new way – by turning Twitter into the virtual world of OZ from the movie.
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Man in China says he likes Pokémon’s Team Rocket on social media, company makes him issue apology
Sleep next to the railroad tracks at the closest hotel to a train station platform in Japan
Japanese Twitter in an uproar about Tokyo ward that banned homeless from evacuation shelters
World’s #1 Smash Bros. player takes on random kid in Japan’s Narita Airport
Fake schoolgirl prostitution extortion ring busted by Tokyo police
Starbucks Japan releases new limited-edition mugs, cards and travel bottles for Halloween
Godiva tapioca tea on sale in Japan just in time to get in on the country’s boba boom【Taste test】
Japanese Phantom Cheesecake: A sweet so popular 2,000 sold in ten minutes
Wild boars leap from river, run across rice fields like a scene from a Ghibli anime film【Video】
Typhoon Hagibis turns skies in Japan purply pink, makes people fear the end is nigh
Weekly
- Japanese Phantom Cheesecake: A sweet so popular 2,000 sold in ten minutes
Japanese Mame Shiba Inu banknote design pays homage to nation’s beloved dog
You can now turn your smartphone into a Pokémon Pokédex thanks to Bandai【Photos】
Typhoon warning from NHK Japan “to all foreigners” causes controversy online- Typhoon Hagibis turns skies in Japan purply pink, makes people fear the end is nigh
- World’s #1 Smash Bros. player takes on random kid in Japan’s Narita Airport
PewDiePie buys house in Japan, calls it “a dream come true”
Shibuya rats scuttle along streets in the wake of Typhoon Hagibis【Video】
Seiko makes limited number of Godzilla watches for 65th anniversary
Japanese news agency under fire for announcing Nobel Prize goes “to foreigners”
Monthly
- PewDiePie buys house in Japan, calls it “a dream come true”
Naruto’s author Kishimoto reveals what characters’ names would’ve been if editor didn’t intervene- Japanese Phantom Cheesecake: A sweet so popular 2,000 sold in ten minutes
- Japanese Mame Shiba Inu banknote design pays homage to nation’s beloved dog
- You can now turn your smartphone into a Pokémon Pokédex thanks to Bandai【Photos】
Uniqlo announces new line of awesome Dragon Ball T-shirts and hoodies【Photos】 
We took advantage of Burger King’s Whopper Jr. sale in an extreme way
Kyoto Animation will use none of its arson donations for business recovery, all of it for victims
Pakistani Japanese citizen is tired of the cops asking him for his foreign resident card
Hayao Miyazaki has turned down multiple offers from Hollywood to make live-action Nausicaa movie
Yearly
Which Pokémon are you? Official quiz reveals your Poké-personality, and how to take it in English- PewDiePie buys house in Japan, calls it “a dream come true”
- Naruto’s author Kishimoto reveals what characters’ names would’ve been if editor didn’t intervene
We asked a Niantic insider 30 questions about Pokémon Go, learned a lot of useful information
Japanese woman stumbles on the power of the infamous “gaijin seat” phenomenon during flight
Why do Japanese recycle bins have two openings but dump everything into the same compartment?
Tokyo public schools will stop forcing students with non-black hair to dye it, official promises- Japanese Phantom Cheesecake: A sweet so popular 2,000 sold in ten minutes
Japanese baseball teen refuses walk after getting hit by pitch, follows up with home run【Video】- Japanese Mame Shiba Inu banknote design pays homage to nation’s beloved dog
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Starbucks Japan releases new limited-edition mugs, cards and travel bottles for Halloween
Godiva tapioca tea on sale in Japan just in time to get in on the country’s boba boom【Taste test】
Japanese Phantom Cheesecake: A sweet so popular 2,000 sold in ten minutes
Wild boars leap from river, run across rice fields like a scene from a Ghibli anime film【Video】
Typhoon Hagibis turns skies in Japan purply pink, makes people fear the end is nigh
We recreate the delicious-looking meatball stew from Laputa: Castle in the Sky【SoraKitchen】
TeamLab Borderless: A visitor’s guide to Tokyo’s new jaw-dropping interactive light museum
Canadian rugby team volunteers in typhoon-struck Japan following cancellation of World Cup match
Japan to release a Complimenting Card Game through crowdfunding
Over 40 percent of Japanese high school girls say their dads smell bad in survey
Kyoto Animation arsonist begins physical therapy, regains ability to speak
Uniqlo announces new line of awesome Dragon Ball T-shirts and hoodies【Photos】 
Starbucks Reserve Roastery Tokyo: A visitor’s guide to the biggest Starbucks in the world
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