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RocketNews24 is now SoraNews24!

Brand-new name, same great news from Japan and Asia!

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Merry Christmas from RocketNews24!

We’re not sure if we should thank Santa or Pikachu, but when we woke up this morning, our homes were filled with presents!

Christmas might work a little differently in Japan, but it’s still an occasion for sharing time and joy with loved ones, so you might be hearing from us a little less frequently over the next few days. Rest assured, though, that you’re all in our thoughts and we’ll be back to full speed shortly covering all things weird and wonderful from Japan and Asia.

In the meantime, whether this holiday season has brought you an eye-opening calendar, some captivating reading material, a chance at romance, or even just some nice, practical coal, all of us here at RocketNews24 wish you and yours the very best.

How can we improve RocketNews24?【Survey now closed – thanks for your input!】

Love RocketNews24 and simply can’t get enough? Want to see more of one thing and less of another? Now’s your chance to tell us!

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Win a Premium Japanese Kit Kat box, courtesy of TokyoTreat!【Contest closed】

Love Kit Kats? Wish you could get your hands on the amazing varieties available only in Japan? How about a whole box of them?

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This is what happens when you order US$80 of extra pickles on a Burger King Whopper

We continue our tradition of pushing the limits of our local Burger King staff’s kindness by ordering a double Whopper topped with around 80 bucks worth of pickles.

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Merry Christmas from everyone at RocketNews24!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s December 25, and that can mean only one thing: we’re currently either lying on our couches watching Die Hard on loop or are slumped over a table somewhere, breathing heavily and sweating a combination of chocolate Santas and Colonel Sanders’ secret mix of 11 herbs and spices.

We’ll be slowing things down a little over the next for days to get in some much-needed R&R, but rest assured there will still be plenty of Japan and Asia-related news, weirdness, cats and hamster bottoms to keep you going over the year-end break, so be sure to check back soon!

So from me and all of our sexy, hard-working writers here at RocketNews24, have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Fantastic Festivus, or whatever else you want to call this time of year. Thank you, as ever, for stopping by our site. Now go and spend some time with the people you love or, failing that, eat some more fried chicken.

RocketNews24
xxx

It’s huge!! Win a copy of The Anime Encyclopedia 3rd Revised Edition! 【Contest closed】

Calling all anime enthusiasts and obsessive collectors! Today we have a very special announcement that will put a big smile on your face and have you doing flappy hands like a sugar-rushing toddler in a toy shop. Thanks to the good people at Stone Bridge Press, we have one hardback and three electronic copies of the incredible The Anime Encyclopedia 3rd Revised Edition to give away!

Join us after the jump to find out how to make this book your own.

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RocketNews24: The Book hits shelves on 25 March, Amazon pre-orders already open!

The year 2015 is officially the year of publishing here at RocketNews24. Readers of our Japanese sister site may already be aware that our reporters Mr. Sato, Hatori GO, and Takashi Harada have each released books in the past two months alone.

And that was all just a prelude to our grand release: The Secret of RocketNews24 (RocketNews24 No Himitsu). It’s a compilation of the Japanese website’s greatest hits along with all new exclusive content – all for the low, low price of 500 yen (US$4.13).

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Boy, have we ever got a treat coming up for all of you loyal Rocketeers!

To help ring in the new year, our staff is busy putting the finishing touches on a 2015 calendar featuring the classy men of our sister site, the Japanese language edition of RocketNews24. Not wanting to be outdone by all the other “eye candy calendars” out there, our team of Japanese writers have truly gone all out to show their appreciation for all the love and support they’ve received from our readers over the past year.

Get ready to feast your eyes on a sneak preview of what’s about to become the sexiest 2015 calendar ever to grace the internet!

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Quiz of the Week: Round 8 (More fun than a swift kick in the nuts)

Happy Friday, everyone! We trust you’ve all had a fun week and, if you happen to be one of the poor souls stuck in the snow in Kanto and Northeastern Japan this past seven days, that you’re gradually thawing yourselves out.

We have 10 more Asian news-based multiple-choice questions for you this week, touching on everything from nipple chafing to popular TV drama. So let’s not waste any time; let’s get right into it!

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Quiz of the Week: Round 7 (Because what else are you gonna do? Go outside like a weirdo!?)

Hello there, beautiful. Welcome to round seven of our weekly multiple-choice quiz! It’s been a busy and extra weird kind of week for news stories from Asia (yes, even by our standards), so we hope you’ve been taking notes and brought your thinking caps.

Join us after the jump for some Asia news-based brainteasers, and of course a few insults for underperformers.

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Quiz of the Week: Round 4 (Now with 100% more otter!)

It’s nearly the weekend! Yaaaay! But before you all skip off to join your friends and pretend to be a normal human being, make sure you have all the info you need and are up on the week’s weird news from Asia. After all, how else will you win the respect of your peers? With love and kindness!? Madness. Take our weekly multiple-choice quiz, see how much awesome you have flowing through those veins of yours, and maybe even learn an interesting fact or two.

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The weird and wonderful Quiz of the Week: Round 3

Welcome to round three of our weekly multiple-choice quiz!

It’s been another fun week, with plenty of weird, wow and “WTF?” news stories from Asia, so it’s time to recap and, as well as see who’s been paying attention, give you a chance to discover some of the best stories that have emerged over the past seven days. Plus, if you can get 10 out of 10, Mr. Sato promises to lose the loincloth, or at least cover his nipples.

Mongoose taunting, chocolate massage and nostril flaring all after the jump.

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Why do Foreigners Like Japanese Manga so Much? We Head to Comiket to Find Out!

While manga is ubiquitous in Japan — just ride the subway in any major city and you’ll see people from all walks of life flipping through a comic book — many Japanese people are surprised to hear how popular manga has become overseas. After all, aren’t Westerners only interested in macho superheroes or short comic strips?

Perhaps that was the case in America before, but in recent years many major bookstores have begun to reserve more space near the front of the store for Japanese comics and in some European countries like France and Germany manga occupies a large portion of overall comic sales.

But why?

Earlier this month, we sent one of our Japanese reporters to Comic Market (or “Comiket“), the world’s largest self-published comic book fair and otaku mecca, to interview real live foreigners and ask them why they like Japanese manga so much.

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Why Do Foreigners Like Japan so Much? We Head to Comiket 82 to Find Out!

Many foreigners view Japan as some marvelous dreamland of technology and culture; a place where crazy is the norm and embracing fantasy in everyday life is acceptable.

But to Japanese people, Japan is just that place you were born. Everyone and everything is routine, and it’s often difficult to see why the rest of the world get’s so worked up about “Japanese culture.”

Earlier this month, we sent one of our Japanese reporters to Comic Market (or “Comiket“), the world’s largest self-published comic book fair and otaku mecca, to interview real live foreigners and ask them what it is they really think about this country.

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