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For the most part, people in Japan take pride in being well-groomed. Skin care gets particular priority, and individuals especially concerned about looking their best carry around packs of oil-blotting papers called abura torigami. When you don’t want to wait until you get home to wash a day’s worth of grime off your face, they’re handy little things, and we mean that literally.

Abura torigami tend to be pretty small, so much so that you’ll usually see people stretching them out with both hands to get the maximum use out of the precious surface area each one offers. Granted, this looks dainty and adorable when a cute girl does it. Other people, though, such as the RocketNews24 male writing team, are far too ruggedly handsome to ever be considered “cute.” Are there no larger abura torigami for the rest of us?

Indeed there are, thanks to a tie-up with anime smash hit Attack on Titan.

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Larger than life Doraemon doll will delight fans, terrify pets and small children

This day, 99 years from now, was (will be?) Doraemon’s birthday! And to celebrate, Bandai has decided to loose this behemoth Doraemon doll on the world to delight fellow Doraemon fans and send small children screaming out of the room and directly to the therapist. Especially after you explain to them that, don’t worry, it’s just a time-traveling robot cat with magic powers. He’s basically an adorable anime Terminator!

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Language of the otaku has infiltrated our Internet forums

I’m sure that many of our readers are acquainted with the Japanese word otaku and its assimilation into English. For those that aren’t, it is a special label given to people who are especially obsessed with what might be considered nerdy hobbies, particularly those related to Japanese anime and manga. In Japanese, it can refer to any person with an obsession, whether it be half-naked figurines or interior design, but it almost always carries the negative connotation of being obsessed to the point of anti-social behavior. In the Western world, however, being an otaku is a badge of honor for many. People who like Japanese manga, anime, and games will often self-identify as otaku and join together with others of like interests over the Internet and other social outlets.

For better or worse, this circle of online anime fanatics has adapted a small vocabulary of Japanese words, creating a sub-set of Internet slang that bridges the language gap between these two similar cultures. Japanese pop culture enthusiasts worldwide cling to words like baka, moe, hentai, and more. But is this particular aspect of otaku culture a healthy thing to have spread? For example, there’s also the potentially disillusioned concept of “mai waifu.”

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Fans become melancholic themselves over the announcement of the end of the Haruhi Suzumiya manga!

The manga for the fan favorite series, “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu), drawn by Gaku Tsugano, will release its final chapter in the next edition of the monthly manga magazine, Shonen Ace (on sale 9/26), and fans are already feeling a little bit down in the dumps.

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Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle limited edition boxset in our sweaty little hands!

It’s finally here, the video game that anime and manga fans have been drooling over for months: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle. And better yet, our resident manga fan and gamer extraordinaire Kuzo managed to grab us one of the “Gold Experience Box” sets, which comes with a heap of limited edition Jojo merchandise.

Join us after the jump as we rip into this box of delights!

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Photos of the JoJo train are finally here and it’s not just the outside that looks cool

Earlier this week, we told you about the Yamanote Line train that will be decked out with the characters from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle (coming to PS3 on August 29). At the time, we could only provide you with a few artist renditions of what the train might look like. But now, may we proudly present to you 31 photos of the actual JoJo train, inside and out!

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JoJo’s All-Star Battle Train to promote Jojo’s bizarre new fighting game

On August 29, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle will become available on PlayStation 3. It’s a fighting game that features all of the major players from the immensely popular manga series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. How popular, you ask? This beat-‘em-up video game is currently the top-ranked game on Amazon, thanks to the huge numbers of pre-orders, it’s so highly anticipated. One might think that a game such as this doesn’t need any more hype, but those who know JoJo know that this particular franchise will stand for nothing less than extremes!

Starting on August 26, one of the trains on Tokyo’s looping central railway, the Yamanote Line, will be plastered both in and out with characters from JoJo’s new fighting game!

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The Running of the Nerds in Tokyo, Summer 2013

Okay, so there isn’t an official event called “The Running of the Nerds” in Japan, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, but what else would you call this biannual spectacle of Japanese otaku frantically clamoring off a crowded train, sprinting up the platform stairs, rocketing past the turnstiles, and…patiently waiting in line for five hours? Read More

Japan loves its fictional robots. The adorable Doraemon and unsettling Evangelion are instantly recognizable to both young and old. The giant statue of Gundam in Tokyo has become a major tourist attraction, despite being in the middle of Odaiba, which was already a major entertainment district with no shortage of other, hipper attractions.

And now, another robot, the Patlabor, has joined Gundam in making the leap into the three-dimensional world, towering size intact.

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Manga artist loses control of right side after stroke, now teaching self to draw with the left

Strokes are serious medical disturbances that we all have to live in fear of, often striking out of the blue and claiming lives or altering them drastically. For manga artist Mahiro Takura, it cost the use of his right hand, perhaps the most valuable body part for someone in his field. For many, that would be enough to send them into a spiral of depression.

However, rather than let his condition control his life, Mr. Takura decided to take control and has been rapidly learning to make use of his left hand instead. He recently tweeted the story of his recovery and we would like to share the translated version with you.

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Ever heard a phrase on TV or in a comic that shocked you right to the core? Maybe a particular line that struck a cord with you and forever afterward you found yourself repeating it? If you’re an avid anime fan, then you might have an answer to that question.

Recently, a survey was conducted among Japanese fans online regarding whether manga character lines left lasting impressions on their viewers. Out of over 700 inquiries, about 31 percent answered that yes, they’d been moved by particular phrases from manga. Here are some of the most heart-wrenching, go-getter phrases picked by fans.

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JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure creator’s pasta challenge to be held on upcoming Shonen Jump app

With the announcement by Japan’s premier manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump regarding their highly anticipated smartphone app Jump Live, information has been coming out in drips and drabs about its features.

However, their most recent announcement has fans jumping for mild confusion: it’s a multimedia pasta cooking challenge between the creator of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Hirohiko Araki and creator of Assassination Classroom Yusei Matsui.

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Children’s books and television shows these days are nothing compared to the ones that many of us had growing up. At least that’s what we tell ourselves. I think back fondly on those days of watching Rugrats and Scooby Doo marathons and scoff at the thought of modern-age children rotting their brains with Spongebob and Annoying Orange. But the fact of the matter is that letting kids subject themselves to those books and animations is important to the development of reading comprehension and critical thinking skills, though the shows now seem like garbage to our fully-developed minds.

In Japan, the same sort of issue arises with kids becoming obsessed with manga and anime. Parents may try to insist that their children put away the comics and pick up a real book. Some may even go so far as to throw out their child’s comic magazines as they begin to pile up. However, according to one of the professors at Tama University, Yuichi Higuchi, in his short essay “Are you a Bad Parent?” keeping kids away from their anime and comics is a terrible thing to do!

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Calbee partners with Baki the Grappler creator, Unleashes tyrannosaurus steak-flavored potato chips

Keisuke Itagaki, creator of the Baki the Grappler manga series, has teamed up with Calbee to produce Grappler Baki potato chips.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, Baki is a young wrestler who travels and fights around the world, honing his skills in the hopes of following in the footsteps of his father, Yujiro, to become the strongest fighter on the planet. In staying with the theme of strongest, Itagaki decided the Baki-themed chips should be flavored after one of the most powerful creatures to walk the planet, Tyrannosaurus rex. According to Itagaki, the packaging of the chips is also designed to reflect “forcefulness” and “intensity,” traits associated with the popular manga character.
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Afghani Embassy picks up a copy of Saint Onīsan to learn about Japan’s religious views

For those learning Japanese, manga can often be a good text. With the help of pictures and rather short sentences we can read along without much effort and perhaps enjoy the studying process a little more.

Well it turns out a member of the Embassy of Afghanistan in Tokyo thought the exact same thing. While out on a stroll last Sunday he picked up a particular manga that he thought would help him learn both the Japanese language and what Japanese people think about religion.

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Line of Attack on Titan capsule toys soon to be released, give children nightmares

The hit anime and manga title Attack on Titan (Shingeki No Kyojin) has grabbed readers and viewers with its combination of high-flying action and surprisingly disturbing giants.

More than just being violent, something about the titans in this series strikes the creepy chord perfectly in people. So when figure maker Kaiyodo released four capsule toys based on the series they wanted to make sure that feeling came through.

And come through it did. Be warned that some of these figures depict scenes of violence and gore.

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Who needs copyrights when you’ve got over nine dozen iconic anime characters?

The past few years have seen a handful of anime projects featuring anime characters crossing over from one franchise to the other. Famed thief Lupin III crossed paths with the great detective Conan himself in 2009, and the pirates of One Piece have teamed up with both omnivorous master hunter Toriko and Dragon Ball hero Son Goku.

But what if instead of just combining one or two series, you tried to combine all of them?

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This year marks the 20th anniversary of Sailor Moon. Since the series’ start as a manga comic serial in Kodanhsa’s Nakayoshi anthology, its team of planetary-themed, pleated skirt-wearing protectors of humanity have appeared in five seasons of televised anime, three theatrical features, a live action TV drama, and numerous video game adaptations.

Sailor Moon also inspired a live-action stage musical, with 27 variations and over 800 performances during its 12-year run that ended in 2005. As part of the franchise’s 20th anniversary festivities, a new version of the musical is set to open this fall, and producers have just announced the starring cast.

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J-World Tokyo: One Piece, Naruto and Dragon Ball Attractions at Shonen Jump Manga Theme Park!

Fans of the iconic manga periodical Weekly Shonen Jump should be clearing their schedules and marking down July 11 on their calendars. For on this day, the clouds will part and a shaft of light will appear as the doors to a new manga paradise will open, offering five Naruto, One Piece and Dragon Ball attractions, along with stacks of merchandise and themed food to save us all.

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Desperate to master the power moves we’d seen so many times in our favourite anime (Japanese animated cartoon), we practiced them day and night. Nothing impresses friends and destroys enemies like a well-timed “Turtle Destruction Wave”. Sure of our eventual success and rise to glory, we eagerly followed in the footsteps of heroes, mimicking their warrior cries and poses. Our best efforts were doomed to fail, but we kept on trying. You did too, right? Probably. Hadouken!

MyNavi News asked 286 men and women in Japan which moves they practiced as children. Here are the most common (and surprising) responses.

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