moe (Page 2)

Well, that’s one way to bring all the boys to your well-raked yard…

Read More

Japanese boat racing turns to fantasy sports to boost fanbase, may have turned too far

Despite being one of the few legal forms of gambling in Japan, boat racing (kyotei) is not enjoyed by most people. Many Japanese people have never been to a race and would struggle to give you directions to one of the large-scale venues across the country where they take place.

So Boat Race Biwako has taken the daring move of implementing a new promotional campaign of hardly even acknowledging the existence of boats and instead starting a fantasy sports system based on a quintet of doe-eyed moe girls…because it just wouldn’t be Japan if they hadn’t.

Read More

Japan Post gets moe fever with 2016 anime-fied New Year’s postcards

If you thought having to send a couple of Christmas cards to close friends and far-flung cousins during the holidays was annoying, wait til you get a load of the nengajo (New Year’s card) tradition here in Japan. Not only is one obligated to send nengajo to family and friends, but you’re also obligated to send them to co-workers, bosses, anyone who regularly provides you a service, anyone whom you regularly provide a service to, your landlord, your mother’s landlord, Crazy Uncle Jeb over at the asylum, the stray cats in your neighborhood, and your mortal enemy (just to let him know you’ve got your eyes on him).

In fact, you’ve gotta send these things to so many people, it’s not uncommon to drop by the Japan Post near you and see people purchasing stacks of hundreds of these things. And unless, like me, you avoid any and all human contact, you’ll probably also come home one winter day to find your mailbox stuffed to the brim with the things. So, given their ubiquity, it’s no surprise that Japan Post (who prints and distributes loads of nengajo every year through both their yubin-nenga.jp website and physical post office locations), occasionally tries to mix it up with some very nontraditional designs.

This year, bizarrely, the running theme seems to be… moe. As in those super-cute anime girls and dreamy, slightly effeminate anime guys who are all the rage in Japan.

Read More

Asahi Shimbun’s app featuring moe school-girl broadcasters is a deceptively good study tool

As in any country, a Japanese newspaper’s credibility often rests on a very fine political line. If their reporting leans even a little left or right, they run the risk of being called a stack of toilet paper scribbled on by talentless hacks by half the population. It’s a precarious position, and one in which releasing an app wherein you dress up school girls as a reward for current event awareness only seems to provide fuel for your detractors.

And yet on October 14 one of Japan’s leading newspapers, Asahi Shimbun, released just such an app called Kikasete Tensei Jingo. It features several moe girls reading from selected editions of the paper’s long-running Tensei Jingo editorial column. However, as pointless as it may appear on the surface there is some heavy language practice potential buried in there.

Read More

New anime-style mascot character for Taipei government is an out-of-this-world cutie

It seems to be that moe girls, those cute, sometimes slightly sexualized, doe-eyed animated characters, have spread from their origin in Japan throughout Asia. Not only have we seen them being used to mock government initiatives in Indonesia. In Taiwan, they’ve been employed extensively as subway mascots, and now the Department of Technology in Taipei has joined the moe bandwagon with 230-chan.

Read More

Netizens are head-over-heels in love with the “cutest McDonald’s goddess” in Taiwan 【Photos】

Many of my guy friends who have been to Taiwan came back raving about how cute Taiwanese girls are. We know that Kaohsiung is the place to visit if cute 2-D girls are your cup of tea, but if you would rather interact with real girls, McDonald’s is perhaps the most convenient place to try your luck.

If you remember, McDonald’s in Taiwan has a glorious track record when it comes to cute girls since their staff started cosplaying in maids’ dresses, sailor uniforms, and other outfits since 2013. Among the sea of adorable McDonald’s female staff, however, net users have been raving over a particular young lady, whom they think is the “cutest McDonald’s goddess in Taiwanese history”.

See more photos of this doll-like beauty after the jump!

Read More

Taiwan’s moe train mascot’s new image song somehow reminds Japanese netizens of erotic games

The “K.R.T. Girls”, moe mascots fronting the line for Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Rapid Transit (KRT), are no stranger on our humble website. Just recently, we saw them taking over their trains with full-length decals, and just a couple of days ago they released a new image song for one of the girls that briefly mentions a few of the stations along the subway lines.

It’s a catchy pop tune befitting of the cute, refreshing image of the mascot girls, but some Japanese netizens are saying that it sounds like a theme song for an erotic game. Give it a listen after the break!

Read More

Artist strikes back at Indonesian government’s Internet censorship with parodic moe character

If you’re in Indonesia and trying to view some lewd content on the Internet, it will most likely be blocked. Strict Internet content regulations have been an area of controversy for some time in the country, but a recent development has put a new spin – and a new face – on the fight against governmental censorship.

Ipo-chan is a moe anthropomorphism of the Indonesian Ministry of Communication’s web-filtering service, “Internet Postif”. She’s cute, she looks tough, and she’s becoming so much more than the embodiment of Internet police.

Read More

Taipei mailboxes become local attraction after powerful typhoon bends them out of shape【Video】

Last weekend, Typhoon Soudelor, a powerful storm whose winds were recorded in excess of 230km/h (142mph), tore through the island nation of Taiwan before heading north to batter Southern China. It claimed the lives of at least six people in Taiwan alone, and has left a literal trail of destruction in its wake.

Now that the storm has passed, however, people in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei have been lining up around the block for a unique photo opportunity with a couple of objects which only just survived the powerful winds…

Read More

Taiwan pulls ahead of Japan in moe race, plasters subway cars with doe-eyed girls

You wouldn’t be alone in thinking that the whole “moe” phenomenon – you know, that chibi, super cute anime girl style of animation and illustration that’s all over Tokyo’s infamous Akihabara district – is a Japan-only thing. But in reality, moe has spread throughout Asia and even beyond. It seems a lot of fans are captivated by the adorable schoolgirl outfits, exaggerated mannerisms and impossibly huge eyes of these distinct animated girls.

One such region in which moe has really taken hold is Taiwan, which is so obsessed with the animation style that it’s kind of doubled down on the moe-ness, pulling ahead of even Japan’s moe obsession by plastering its subways with moe characters.

Read More

New anime Gate entertains, tries to recruit you to the Japan Self-Defense Forces at the same time

We’ve seen the Japanese Self-Defense Forces get quite creative with trying to entice new recruits, but never before have we seen them do an all-out official collaboration with an anime.

And Gate is the perfect anime for them to team up with. It’s about the JSDF traveling through a portal to another world, taking down monsters, teaming up with cute girls, and just generally making it look like joining them would be the most amazing thing ever.

You can bet the JSDF is milking it for every last drop they can, starting with posters that are giving us a strange urge to visit our local recruitment center.

Read More

Gachapon banana peel figures in cute poses? Yes, please!

We never would have thought that people would pay real money for toys based on food refuse, but we guess that’s why we’ll never be rich. Someone in Japan obviously thought that a figure based on a banana peel was a good idea, because they designed it, sourced a manufacturer and put those slippery little guys on the market for everyone to buy.

And, wouldn’t you know it? They’re stupidly cute. Yeah, we just called banana peels cute. What’cha gonna do about it?!

Read More

Is “Ago-kui” the next “Kabe-don”?

Kabe-don” ranked among Japan’s top anime buzzwords of 2014. Facing a woman with her back on the wall, the man places his hand on the wall beside her with a “don!” (the Japanese sound routinely used to represent something hitting a hard surface), with his face close to hers. This situation common in girls’ comics is also frequently seen in TV dramas and movies, and many young women who watch this scene dream of finding themselves in a similar situation with the object of their affections.

But is the ago-kui set to be 2015’s kabe-don and among its most-used phrases?

Read More

Taiwanese subway debuts second anime mascot, net users experience moe overload

Remember Xiao Qiong, the Taiwanese anime subway mascot we introduced you to last month? If you thought she was cute, just wait till you check out her new partner in crime who takes the moe madness to dangerous new levels.

We’re proud to present the second mascot character of Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit System (高雄捷運, or KMRT for short). Everyone, say hi to the blonde bombshell Emilia!

Read More

Ultra kaijū get cute makeovers in new line of anthropomorphized figurines

Just what on earth will toy manufacturers think of next? Sure, we can understand the charm behind cat sushi figures, but really now, are swimsuit-wearing, anthropomorphized figurines of famous kaijū (monsters) designed to look like beautiful girls completely necessary?

Yet oddly, we find ourselves wanting to decorate our office with them…

Read More

Tokyo’s moe temple is now selling Buddhist goddess anime figures

A few years ago, a temple called Ryohoji in Tokyo’s Hachioji district started to use moe girls – cute-sexy adolescent anime characters – to promote the temple. They put up a new sign at the entrance with moe girls explaining the temple grounds. The temple has become a minor tourist destination for pilgrimaging otaku, and is commonly known as moe-dera (“moe temple”).

Until the moe temple came along, people interested in both Buddhist iconography and youthful cartoon girls had to enjoy their two hobbies separately. But now, the clever people at Ryohoji have come up with this official moe figure of Benzaiten. Maybe they thought the goddess needed a little anime improvement…

Read More

Ultra-cute moe pilgrims embark on Shikoku’s 88-temple journey in new TV show

2014 marks the 1,200th year since Buddhist monk Kukai made his holy journey to 88 temples on the southern Japanese island of Shikoku. The Shikoku Pilgrimage now attracts people from all over Japan as well as the world to visit the same temples along the 1,200 km-route.

Now, a new TV series, Ohenro, is out to appeal to a new generation of religious travelers and features three female pilgrims stylized in the ever popular moe fashion of super-cute anime characters.

But Japanese netizens, eager to soak up all things moe, are wondering if they will have to make their own “holy trip” since only four broadcasters are airing the show!

Read More

Experience the ultimate moe flight with Asian Air x Mirai Airlines

Danny Choo, founder of Culture Japan and inexhaustible ambassador for all things moe, announced the collaboration between his mascot Mirai Suenaga and the Thai airline Asian Air on his website this week. Read on to find out just how far their plans for anime-themed air domination go.

Read More

Hatsune Miku themed restaurant opens in China

If any Hatsune Miku fans find themselves in China’s Guangxi Province, they might want to stop by the city of Yulin for an unexpected surprise, because it’s in this city that the Vocaloid singing sensation has gotten a fast food restaurant dedicated to her, though likely not in any official capacity.

Read More

Otaku app lets you shop from your phone with help of cute mascot

Soon Japanese otaku will have even less reason to leave their rooms. Mobile software company jig.jp have announced a shopping app dedicated exclusively to anime goods, and with its own moe mascot to make the experience even sweeter!

Read More

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4