Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Osaka (Page 22)
If you’re walking into a branch of KFC, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re there to eat fried chicken. You could even argue that the whole process of ordering is partially redundant, since the question isn’t whether you want some of the Colonel’s deep-fried bird, but simply how much.
And if your answer to that query is “All of it,” then head on over to Osaka, where the first all-you-can-eat Kentucky Fried Chicken buffet is about to open.
Japanese vending machines are a great example of the culture of convenience so prevalent in Japan. Whether you’re after orange juice that looks like soy sauce, or a hot, clam-packed miso soup to cure your hangover, if you want something fast, the nation’s vending machines will be there for you, come rain or shine.
Now one of the country’s largest drinks manufacturers, DyDo, is catering to customers who actually do find themselves caught out in the rain, with a free “rental umbrella” service attached to a number of their machines in Nishi Ward, Osaka.
In Japan, some of the most prized types of sushi are loved by gourmets for their rich flavor. High-quality uni (sea urchin) is decadently creamy, and the premium cuts of tuna are those with extra fat.
But this chain of restaurants in Japan might be offering the richest sushi ever, since the pieces have a pat of butter on them!
Despite the famous “Gotta catch ‘em all!” tagline, Pokémon trainers don’t spend every moment of their adventures traipsing through the underbrush searching for new Pocket Monster species. Part of the process of becoming a Pokémon Master is making a pilgrimage to gyms where trainers can strengthen their skills and bonds with their adorable biological arsenal.
Until now, the only places to find these gyms were within the video games and anime of the Pokémon franchise, but next month marks the opening of the first official Pokémon gym in Japan, where fans can meet and train with a variety of Pokémon in interactive and augmented reality attractions.
The Limited Express Rapi:t that shuttles passengers back and forth between Kansai Airport and Namba Station in Osaka has been offering some fun rides lately. The train’s distinctive deep blue exterior was given a red makeover last year in a Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn promotion and it even received its own superhero earlier this year.
Now passengers are in for another treat with news of the train’s next big adventure: as a jet-black ambassador for the Star Wars: The Force Awakens enterprise. With awesome interior and exterior details, including a wrap that features all the new characters from the upcoming movie, this is bound to be a welcome sight for visitors landing at the airport from November this year.
Universal Studios Japan (USJ), one of Osaka’s most popular tourist attractions, was hired out for an exclusive event on September 24 for an events called JAL Premium Night. As many of you will know, Japan Airlines, or JAL, is the official airline of USJ and was offering the chance for lucky ticket holders to attend this after-hours event.
And, as luck would have it, one of very own RocketNews24 reporters attended the spectacular event and was fortunate enough to enjoy the exclusive JAL Premium Night, snapping a load of photos for the rest of us to enjoy!
A little over a year ago, someone in Japan tweeted that they would “love to live in Junkudo”, one of the country’s largest book store chains. Little did they know that someone at that very company would not only see the tweet, but decide to make that pipe dream a reality, inviting a small band of book lovers in Tokyo to spend the night in the giant bookstore with sleeping bags, giving them entirely free rein to pick up any book or magazine they pleased.
This year, the company is bringing the “Try Living in Junkudo” project to an even bigger three-story shop in Osaka—and on Halloween, no less!
It is a well-known stereotype in Japan that Osaka oba-chans, or Osaka ladies of a certain mature age, are strong-willed, sassy, love loud clothing, and aren’t afraid to speak their mind. And with cup clingers being all the rage recently, who better to sit on your cup and chastise you then a set of the legendary Osaka oba-chans?
Will you get a mouthy, big-haired cougar-type? Or perhaps you prefer the UV-hating full-body track suit oba-chan? Read on to see all the oba-chans that await you!
Osaka is famous for Osaka-style okonomiyaki as well as takoyaki. We’ve taught you all about okonomiyaki before, including how to make it at home, and we’ve taken you with us octopus hunting in the Seto Inland Sea where we showed you not only how to catch an octopus, but how to turn its head inside out. So it’s only natural that we feel you are ready to advance your octopial knowledge by exploring what happens to the eight-legged creatures after the catch. Welcome to the wonderful world of takoyaki, battered octopus balls!
Takoyaki is to Osaka what monjayaki is to Tokyo. There’s even a Takoyaki Museum just outside of Universal Studios Japan on the Universal City Walk, with a collection of food stalls where visitors can taste varieties of the snack as well as see the implements used to make it. And since this is Japan, you can also buy numerous takoyaki-inspired souvenirs.
Let’s delve into the delectable world of takoyaki together, after the jump.
Now that the Attack on Titan exhibit has wrapped up in Kyushu, it’s moved on to its next stop, Osaka.
Somewhere along the way, however, the titans and military decided to stage a battle in the middle of Osaka’s central train line, or rather, the train line’s bathrooms. On a mission to remodel some of the not-so-popular toilet facilities located inside five of the stations on the Osaka Loop Line, the bitter enemies are working together for the first time to clean things up.
In the lead-up to the release of the first Attack on Titan live-action movie, we were inundated with all sorts of fantastic collaborations. There was the tie-up with an epilation salon in Shinjuku, a campaign against illicit substances with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and even “Advancing hot dogs” at Aeon cinemas.
Since the film’s release, the giants have been quiet for a while but it seems they’ve just been gathering steam for their next amazing project: destroying public restrooms at stations on the Osaka train line.
Osaka is known throughout Japan for being a foodie’s paradise. The area has such a focus on food and dining and has given birth to so many well-known dishes that there’s even a famous saying: Kyo no kidaore, Osaka no kuidaore, meaning “Dress up till you drop in Kyoto, eat till you drop in Osaka”.
This October, the city will be showing us just how much their food culture means to them, with a giant floating sushi train carrying plates of gigantic sushi up and down the river, and we’re taking a sneak peek at video and photos of the trial run!
A little while back, we brought you news of Electrical Udon developed by Kurare of Arienai Rika (“Unbelievable Science”) for an event to be held in Osaka. Well, that event has come and gone, and we were fortunate enough to be there to get a taste of his technicolor noodles along with some other off-color foods like blue rice topped with even bluer curry and fried chicken with a secret green sauce.
We also got to see some of the DIY science that made Arienai Rika a cult hit with science and tech enthusiasts in Japan.
Since 1 July, a small corner of the Chayamachi district in the downtown Umeda area of Osaka has been holding a huge deal: All-You-Can-Eat-and-Drink Alley. For a flat rate of 3,500 yen (US$28) you can have three hours to run wild and eat as much as you want from eight different restaurants in the alley, going back and forth among them freely.
Still not enough? Okay picky pants, how does also having all-you-can-drink of any drink from coffee to wine sound? We thought that would convince you! Let’s take a quick look at what’s in store (or stores rather) for you there.
Thanks to movies like Jaws and the rare instances of human shark attacks, most people don’t conjure up images like the friendly-looking guy above when they think about sharks.
To clear up much of the misconceptions and misinformation surrounding these sea creatures, the Discovery Channel began airing a weeklong marathon of shark-based programing, named Shark Week, in 1988. Celebrating over 15 years of annual shark science documentaries and mockumentaries in the summer, it’s gone on to be the longest running cable television event in history.
But this July, after the Discovery Channel finished up its Shark Week marathon in the U.S., Japan soon took up the baton with the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan’s Shark World event that began July 17. In order to attract attention the aquarium has been putting up a number of poster advertisements around stations and on trains, leaving those that spotted the ad feeling consumed by surprise.
People travel to Japan for all sorts of different reasons. Many are seeking a taste of tradition and history, and plan visits to the country’s most important shrines and castles. Some are drawn by Japan’s natural beauty, heading for its mountains and forests, while still others come to throw themselves into its neon-soaked urban entertainment centers.
But no matter what’s on your itinerary, at some point you’re going to need to get something to eat, and when your stomach starts growling, you can rely on the experience of those who made the trip before you with TripAdvisor’s list of the 10 best restaurants in Japan.
Earlier this week, what is being hailed as Japan’s “trial of the century” by many (in our office) has come to an abrupt end. The Osaka District Court handed down some rough justice in the case of a company president who sued the building he was renting office space from to the tune of 840,000 yen (US$6,800).
The president’s claim that the building’s urinals had caused excessive splash-back of pee were dismissed due to several reasons including the president’s own “pee experiments” being deemed inadmissible by the courts.
Was the president a quack who didn’t know how to urinate correctly? Or was he a victim of greedy cost cutting landlords and toilet moguls? This is their story based on court documents.
Recently a certain greeting has become popular over Twitter in Japan. According to internet legend these two sentences will cause someone from Osaka to “punch you in the face.”
It sounded like an outrageous claim and yet people seem to be latching onto it. The story goes that by approaching someone from Osaka with “Heee, Kimitte Osaka Hito nanda. Yoroshikudenganamangana” will cause them to lose their minds with rage.
Has this Twitter user stumbled upon an exposed nerve in the fabric of Japanese society, or is this just another drop in the bucket of specious internet claims? We conducted a small experiment to find out.
You knew it had to happen at some point. Sooner or later we were bound to ask you to choose which of Japan’s biggest and most famous cities is best. That’s right, folks, it’s Tokyo versus Osaka; Kanto versus Kansai; east versus west.
Click the link, make your choice, argue about it in the comments section. No biting, hair-pulling or bringing our mothers into it.
We at RocketNews24 believe that to truly understand a country’s people you need to know something about their history and where they came from. So following last week’s popular Japan Bucket List: Things you need to do to really understand Japan, this week we offer you eight places that contributed greatly to the development of Japan, its culture, and people.
Get ready to take your understanding of the Japanese people a step further with eight historical places that have helped shaped them into the people they are today. Let’s go!
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Merry Christmas from SoraNews24!
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Uniqlo announces first-ever collaboration with horror manga master Junji Ito【Photos】
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Japan’s most popular castle raising ticket prices by up to 200 percent for non-local tourists
Furikake rice seasoning sales are soaring, which is bad news for Japan as a wholeJapanese company develops classy heavy metal band frames for glassesThis downtown Tokyo cafe is like a time machine that takes you back 50 years into the past
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[Deleted] Article written for April Fool’s Day 2018
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
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Japanese convenience store Family Mart announces abolishment of eat-in spaces
Life-size vibrating Legend of Zelda Master Sword for sale from Nintendo【Photos】
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
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Japanese train station vending machine has the best souvenirs for rail otaku
Kura Sushi adds new cake party train to conveyor belts at select restaurants
79-year-old Japanese granny who fell in love with Initial D sports car finds perfect new owner【Vid】
Top cosplayer Enako’s Christmas cosplay is here, but is “Santacos” really an accurate term?【Pics】
One Piece teams up with the Los Angeles Lakers for pirate anime/pro basketball crossover
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Standing sleeping pods coming to Tokyo cafe, promise to relieve fatigue and stress【Pics】
Japanese government will check and judge new baby name pronunciations, presents guidelines
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Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
This downtown Tokyo cafe is like a time machine that takes you back 50 years into the past
Sonic creator thanks fans for loving character so much that his ugly movie design will be changed
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