Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
ranking (Page 10)
Let’s see… We got Amazon sales, YouTube videos, pet breeds, video games, and search terms. What else can we rank up for this newest of new years?
How about something a little less quantifiable like sounds? Rion Co. asked 1,000 Japanese people what sounds linger most in their minds when looking back at 2013. Two years ago, the sounds of the Olympics were stuck in people’s heads. A year before that it was the Tohoku Earthquake. Now, here are the 10 most resonant sounds of 2013.
Amazon Japan announced the top 10 games bought on their site from December 1, 2012 to November 30, 2013. Let’s take a look at Japan’s favorite games!
Even though most apartments in Japan are fairly small, many animal lovers still find room to house a dog or cat. Many pet owners choose to dress up their precious pooch or upload hundreds of videos of their beloved cat. That’s why thousands of cat and dog owners visit online pet photo site, “Pacha and my pet” (pacha is the sound a camera makes) to show off their furry friends. The site has just revealed the most popular dog and cat breeds in Japan for 2013. Let’s take a look at the results!
Generally it’s nice to have your country or town be number one in something. Even if it’s for something as despicable as bag snatching, you can at least gain a slightly twisted sense of pride for toughing it out in such a rough-and-tumble locale.
However, when a recent study reported by Bloomberg Japan declared that Japan had overtaken the U.S. in smartphone and tablet app purchases, people we less than enthused leaving comments such as “Japan’s screwed,” and, “This is sad news indeed.”
With the end of this year fast approaching, we now enter the season of reflection for 2013 via ranking lists. In these last fleeting days let’s take a moment to see which albums, apps, shoes, books, and cockroach traps Japanese shoppers flocked to buy online in the largest numbers. Perhaps then we can form a clearer picture of what life in Japan was like for this two-thousand thirteenth year of our lord.
Last month, the outspoken Japanese blogger Madame Riri gave us all a lesson in how to tell whether or not a restaurant abroad serves authentic Japanese food. But let’s be honest, it takes more than tradition to make a dish delicious, and there’s something to be said for adjusting the menu to match local preferences. We’ve certainly experienced this phenomenon in the wide world of sushi!
And so, to celebrate the creation of successful Japanese eateries across the globe, here are the top 10 restaurants that serve Japanese food in foreign countries!
The name you give to your child will stay with them for the rest of their life, so parents are always careful to choose one that will stand the test of time and carry them through to adulthood. In the United States, Sophia and Jacob took the top spots for baby names in 2013, while Ava and Noah took first place in the UK (depending on which site you consult). Let’s take a look at this year’s top 10 baby names in Japan as reported by Japanese pregnancy and parenting site, Tamahiyo.
In a recent article from Famitsu, the weekly video game magazine considered by many Japanese gamers to be the authority when it comes to their medium of choice for entertainment, a list showing the current total video game sales for all platforms in Japan between January 1, 2001 and September this year caught the attention of gamers both at home and abroad. Aside from the fact that the number of games sold in Japan over the last decade or so is simply staggering, Nintendo’s dominance in its home territory when it comes to total software sales is quite remarkable.
Join us after the jump as we see Japan’s 10 most popular video games of this century so far, and how, with a little help from some clever pocket monsters, Nintendo is absolutely raking the cash in.
Autumn and spring are arguably the best seasons in Japan. Although mercilessly short, these seasons both offer visually beautiful natural treats. Springtime in Japan brings us the pink and white clouds of cherry blossoms, and autumn presents us with the rich contrasting colors of its changing leaves.
We recently showed you the best places in Kyoto to catch an eyeful of autumn tranquility, but for those who might not make it there this year we’d like to share the ten best places in all of Japan to enjoy the fall.
With the Olympic Games slated to return to Tokyo in 2020 a lot of prep work needs to be done. And as facilities are being planned and developed there’s also the difficult task of providing entertainment, particularly in the opening ceremony. China’s powerful and impressive ceremony raised the bar for what’s expected of a country in terms of presenting their culture in a fun and meaningful way.
To get the ball rolling, the Japanese Olympic Committee held a survey asking everyone which musicians they would most like to see appear at the opening ceremony. A total of 143,394 people responded and the following top twenty artists were recently announced.
*** The following was written by our chip-loving Japanese reporter equipped with a fighting spirit and an English dictionary. Please enjoy her top ten ranking of the best potato chips in Japan. ***
What is your favorite potato chips? Lay’s classic? Ruffles BBQ? Or Pringles hot & spicy? You might stick to your favorite one for refreshment, but when you get a little tired of it and feel like to have something Japanese you can try our recommendation.
Here is the ultimate ranking of potato chips in Japan (on RocketNews24 English’s own judgment). We tried to choose unique and Japanese flavors as much as we can. Therefore, the ranking does not include something standard like just salt, classic…etc. We hope you have a chance to try all the snacks here and put some of them on your favorite chips list!
Japan is a country with a lot of cute characters. Starting with the obvious ones from anime and manga like Totoro and Doraemon, there’s also ones featured in video games like Pikachu or Sonic, and corporate symbols like Hello Kitty. Going further we can delve into the deep ecosystem of costumed mascots that can be found everywhere throughout Japan. Finally we can pile on all of the imported characters from North America and Europe.
All these cuddly animals and monsters running around beg the question: Which one is the most popular amongst children? To answer that, we have the semiannual Characters and Children Marketing Survey results which were recently published in Japan. Let’s take a look.
When people think of Japan, they usually think of sushi, girls in kimono, otaku types camping outside electronics stores, and maybe this guy. But did you know that Japan is home to some seriously intense roller coasters? Yup, there are more corkscrews, loops and positive Gs in Japan than you can shake a paper fan at, so we decided it was about time we introduced you to 10 of the best roller coasters the country has to offer. We hope you had a light lunch!
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum claimed the top spot for the second consecutive year on Trip Advisor Japan’s list of the most popular sightseeing spots for foreign tourists. It’s a touching memorial that has moved countless visitors to tears and reminds the world to never let such an atrocity happen again, prompting one Trip Advisor user to describe it as “sad, informative and a must-see.” Let’s take a look at the other sightseeing spots on Trip Advisor Japan’s list for 2013.
It’s a little-known fact that until the Meiji era (1868-1912), the ordinary men and women of Japan did not have surnames. Rather, those names were reserved for people in positions of power, nobility, or those of noted artistic ability.
There are an estimated 100,000 family names in Japan — much more than in many Western countries, and vastly more than in neighbouring Korea and China — however what’s curious is that of these surnames 10 are incredibly common, with millions of people sharing the exact same moniker. If you’re on your way to Japan or learning the language, knowing how to read and pronounce at least a few of these will almost certainly get you out of a jam at some point or other, so allow us to introduce Japan’s 10 most common surnames, their meanings, and a few fun facts on top, just because we’re nice like that and we like your face.
Observed by those who don’t play them, video games may all seem a little bit peculiar. Mushroom-eating plumbers stomping hammer-throwing turtles, ultra-violent military shooters whose protagonists bound across battlefields shouldering rocket launchers while hurling grenades and taking bullet after bullet to the chest, and of course the hordes of zombie titles that, like their lumbering stars, simply won’t die. For those accustomed to the rules of these digital worlds, though, this all makes perfect sense.
There are occasionally, however, a few titles that even the gaming elite would recoil from wearing an expression somewhere between “ermahgerd” and “turd sandwich”, and YouTube-based ZoominGames believes they’ve identified the cream of said crop. So let’s take a look at the channel’s “Top 5 Weird Games” one by one and see if they’re really they freaky affairs they’re made out to be. Oh, and did we mention that all five happen to have been made in Japan…?
Countries of the world have a lot of different features and services that make them unique to each other, but one of the things you can always find from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe is the humble taxi cab.
Of course not all taxis are equal; the cars used and more importantly the fares charged can vary greatly. If you’re interested in where your country stands or if you’re planning a trip abroad, Trip Advisor Japan has whipped up a quick and handy infographic ranking 25 places around the world by the rates of their taxis.
OK, hands up: how many of you have ever paid a visit to North Korea? For purposes of photography, our man Kuzo recently found himself crossing the border into what is admittedly a country that differs in many respects to anything many of us have ever seen before. While he was there, he kept a list of things that stood out, impressed and downright confused him. Our reporter’s top 10 awesome things about North Korea after the break.
A chart surface on the Internet recently titled: 100 American College Music Majors Analyze Japanese Musical Talent and the Relationship with the Number of Members.
How exactly this information came together is unknown, but the name suggests that 100 American music students were surveyed about several Japanese music acts past and present. Those results were then plotted against the number of members in each band.
The results certainly do suggest that there is a correlation between the number of members in a music act and the perceived crappiness of said act. So lets examine this more deeply with some samples and a translated version of the chart above.
A couple of days ago this little graph surfaced online displaying some interesting statistics. It’s a bar chart of the busiest train stations in the world, measured by the number of people who pass through them each year.
Perhaps coming as no surprise to those who have experienced its mind-numbingly complex transport complexes, Japan tops the list. What is surprising is the degree to which Japan dominates this list, with all but six stations residing here, and about half of them in the Tokyo area alone.
Starbucks Japan releases a new Cream Puff Frappuccino for a limited time
Japanese government planning higher ticket prices for foreign tourists at Tokyo National Museum
Silicone testicle covers banned from Japanese sauna following cups being left behind and on shelves
Spring pollen may be damaging your skin, so what’s Japan’s best moisturizing anti-hay fever spray?
Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura cherry blossom collection for hanami season 2026
One Piece creator has hidden secret of anime treasure’s identity in chest at bottom of real-world ocean
Mister Donut unveils new sakura doughnuts for cherry blossom season 2026
Osaka icon loses legs, restaurant says famous crab is exhausted
Pizza Hut releases a turtle pizza that looks like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
Visiting Japan’s one-and-only, and only-for-a-limited-time, Dragon Ball noodle restaurant[Photos]Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura cherry blossom collection for hanami season 2026
Japan’s cherry blossom season predicted to start earlier than we’d thought, especially in Tokyo
Is Tokyo Station’s startlingly expensive wagyu bento boxed lunch worth its high price?[Taste test]One Piece creator has hidden secret of anime treasure’s identity in chest at bottom of real-world oceanJapanese government planning higher ticket prices for foreign tourists at Tokyo National Museum
Live-action One Piece’s Luffy teaches Sesame Street’s Elmo a Japanese word for friendship[Video]
Studio Ghibli now sells Ursula’s backpack from Kiki’s Delivery Service at its anime shop in Japan
Sakura Festival in Chiyoda mixes illuminations, boats, music, and Rilakkuma in the heart of TokyoSilicone testicle covers banned from Japanese sauna following cups being left behind and on shelves
Starbucks Japan releases first-ever Hinamatsuri Girls’ Day Frappuccino
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura cherry blossom collection for hanami season 2026
Foreigners accounting for over 80 percent of off-course skiers needing rescue in Japan’s Hokkaido
Super-salty pizza sends six kids to the hospital in Japan, linguistics blamed
Starbucks Japan unveils new sakura Frappuccino for cherry blossom season 2026
Foreign tourists in Japan will get free Shinkansen tickets to promote regional tourism
The 10 most annoying things foreign tourists do on Japanese trains, according to locals
Take a trip to Japan’s Dododo Land, the most irritating place on Earth
Naruto and Converse team up for new line of shinobi sneakers[Photos]
Survey asks foreign tourists what bothered them in Japan, more than half gave same answer
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
We deeply regret going into this tunnel on our walk in the mountains of Japan
Studio Ghibli releases Kodama forest spirits from Princess Mononoke to light up your homeJapan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
No more using real katana for tourism activities, Japan’s National Police Agency says
One Piece creator has hidden secret of anime treasure’s identity in chest at bottom of real-world ocean
Mister Donut unveils new sakura doughnuts for cherry blossom season 2026
Osaka icon loses legs, restaurant says famous crab is exhausted
Pizza Hut releases a turtle pizza that looks like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
Visiting Japan’s one-and-only, and only-for-a-limited-time, Dragon Ball noodle restaurant[Photos]
10 things you should buy at 7-Eleven in Japan
Taste-testing Japan’s real-world Dragon Balls and Senzu Beans at Marugame Seimen
Studio Ghibli now sells Ursula’s backpack from Kiki’s Delivery Service at its anime shop in Japan
Japan’s cherry blossom season predicted to start earlier than we’d thought, especially in Tokyo
Japan is full of ghosts: Visiting the grave of Taira no Masakado’s head
How to properly eat a traditional Japanese tonkatsu meal
Prefectural rivalry in Japan: Survey reveals which areas compete against each other, and why
Japan’s top 10 travel experiences in the sky【Survey】
New vending machines sell products from iconic Japanese stores