Even people born and raised in famously polite Japan are amazed by Iwate Prefecture’s manners.
safety (Page 4)
Bright idea could keep you safe if an earthquake or typhoon leaves you without electricity.
If you’d like more coffee and fewer traffic accidents in your life, this safe driving app is for you.
Yes, Japan’s Shinkansen is an amazingly stress-free way to get around the country, but that doesn’t mean the driver should be this relaxed.
After 11,000 bike accidents last year, the Tokyo metropolitan government is considering new safety regulations.
After a year of taxes and a previous year of rings, “safety” is the word that resonates true in the hearts of Japanese in 2015.
If you take a seat on the Yokohama subway next month don’t be surprised if a warlord from China’s Three Kingdoms period advises you on proper public transport behavior.
Wei leader Cao Cao showing you how to give up your seat, or legendary warrior Lu Bu advising you not to run onto trains are but two of the nine posters recently previewed online. Let’s take a look at them all!
We’ve all heard about how safe Japan is. But unless you live here, you may not understand why Japan is considered so safe. The uninitiated may presume that safety is enforced through a rigid society that doesn’t allow freedom of expression, that Japanese people are too worried about losing face to commit a crime, or that the government comes down unnecessarily hard on people who step out of line. In reality, none of these rings true.
But we can’t deny that there’s one thing that Japan does better than anyone else. Join us after the jump for some insights and our own observations.
If you saw this car on the street, you’d half expect a comically large number of clowns to come piling out of it. But it turns out despite its Looney Tunes-esque look, there’s a noble—if somewhat bizarre—concept behind this new car from Toyoda Gosei.
This is the “Flesby,” a new concept car that Toyoda Gosei will display at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show next week, with the “concept” being essentially that the entire outer body of the car is one gigantic airbag. Let’s take a look.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Japan is pretty obsessive when it comes to societal safety and manners. Japanese people often go to ridiculous/disgusting lengths to stay safe and to make sure that visitors are aware of all the unspoken rules that permeate throughout the country.
But sometimes it’s all just too much, even for the native Japanese themselves. So we present to you a list of the top 10 things that even Japanese people think they’re too obsessive over. Are you just as paranoid as they are, or would you be considered a carefree spirit in Japan? Read on to find out!
If you’re a driver, chances are at some point you’ve been behind a slow-moving truck or semi-trailer, trying to overtake but unable to see if there is traffic coming in the opposite direction. This can be frustrating, but it can also be deadly if you pull around at the wrong moment.
South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung may have found a solution to this problem with their prototype Safety Truck, however. It uses a wireless camera and outdoor screens to give drivers following the trucks a view around them.
There’s no shortage of people doing out of the ordinary things on bikes in Japan. It’s not uncommon to see people riding while holding umbrellas, having their whole bikes covered in a parka, using a walking bicycle, or even a bicycle specifically made for wearing a kimono.
But the golden era of crazy Japan cycling may have come to an end. As of June 2015, a set of 14 laws have been passed nationwide to enforce safe and correct use of bicycles. If you plan on riding a two-wheeled foot-powered vehicle in Japan, then you may want to check them over to make sure that you don’t end up having to pay a hefty fine.
Delays on a train are annoying but inevitable, since with such a massive transit system in Japan, not everything is going to work 100 percent of the time. No one wants to see the words “train delay” on the information screen at the station, but even more so, no one wants to see the reason for the delays attributed to “human accidents,” the catch-all term Japan uses when people are found on the tracks while the trains are running.
An unfortunately common station for such accidents is implementing a number of changes in order to curb the rise of these incidents. It’s not just barriers and fences, prevention can start with you! So join us after the jump to see what sort of changes are being made to Shin-Koiwa Station.
When we think of superheroes or other magical beings with fast-healing abilities, we rarely think of children. But if you’ve seen a toddler fall, smack itself in the face, cry for a few seconds, and then run off giggling, you might realize that we’re looking for our superpowered guardians in the wrong age groups.
Of course, that’s not to say that children aren’t vulnerable to all sorts of injury, and we most definitely need to be careful with them! It’s just that they seem to have a strange resiliency that’s somewhat rare in adult humans. Take, for example, this three-year-old who fell out of a window last week, hit a parked car, and then just walked the whole thing off!
When we think of Chinese food in the West, we usually picture boxes of delicious takeout that are perfect for a mid-movie marathon feeding frenzy, and even better for breakfast the next day. Sure, over-consumption might lead to intense MSG-related headaches and general feelings of bloatedness and guilt, but in general we don’t really think of Chinese food as something that’s likely to kill us. But then again, maybe it’s because we don’t import tons of frozen foodstuffs from China like they do in Japan, where fear of Chinese-produced food is an ever-present topic that regularly pops up to scare the beejeezus out of people and ruin their enjoyment of chicken nuggets forever.
But is there anything to fear, or have people just got their knickers in a twist over nothing? Well, a shocking new report claims that up to 48 percent of ALL the food China produces for export contains stuff that’s almost guaranteed to make you sick. Yikes.
In today’s globalized economy, it’s perfectly normal to be wearing shoes made in Malaysia, listening to an American pop star on a Korean smartphone while driving a German car fitted with Japanese tires. But how many times have you taken a good look to find out where those new jeans or those headphones you got for Christmas were really made?
Recently Japanese consumers have been discovering that some of their products are from “P.R.C.,” a country they had never heard of, and would like some answers on what appears to be a legal gray zone in product labeling regulations.
Context is everything in determining what constitutes a long time. For example, if your boss rewards you for finishing up a long, difficult project by permitting you to take a seven-second vacation, I’m guessing you’d find that amount of time to be less than sufficient. On the other hand, if I asked you to calm a hamster that’s both frenzied and weaponized by pressing it firmly against the warmth of your breast for seven seconds, I have a hunch that’s longer than you’d be willing to hold out for.
Seven seconds is also way too long to be chilling in the middle of the road as you cross the street. That sort of lollygagging is liable to get you hit by a car, or, if you’re this man in China, three of them.
While you won’t see any blood or gore, be aware that this article’s title is not a clever play on words, and it really does contain video of a dude getting hit by multiple automobiles.
Cell phones, and smartphones in particular, are amazing tools. They let us keep in touch with our friends and family, provide us with incredibly convenient maps and directions when we are lost, and are the ultimate tool in settling bar bets. They are our life support, our life line to everything, so what happens when our every waking moment revolves around it?
There have been numerous issues recently about people who endanger those around them when they constantly look at their phone while walking. A junior high school boy in Nagoya found out just how dangerous staring at your phone can be, both to himself and to the hundreds of people he put in danger.



















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Mr. Sato takes a walk on Tokyo’s American-style street to get some American/Japanese ice cream
The Japan Burger Championship 2026 in Yokohama next month is the ultimate battle of the beef
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Japan’s izakaya pubs closing at record pace, failing to attract foreign tourists
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Japanese temple burns to the ground, fire burning inside for 1,200 years unharmed
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Tokyo’s life-size Gundam anime mecha statue will be removed this summer
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Ichiraku Ramen-inspired ramen sets from Naruto anime pay homage to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura
Kanji ice cream becomes a sell-out hit in Japan
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Japan now has gyoza doughnuts, and they taste like no other doughnut we’ve tried before
Studio Ghibli releases new anime keychains that are like miniature figurines
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
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Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid
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No more using real katana for tourism activities, Japan’s National Police Agency says
Japan reportedly adding Japanese language skill requirement to most common foreigner work visa
Japan’s 5.3 million beautiful Hitachi Nemophila flowers are now in full bloom[Photos]
Gundam teams up with 300-year-old daruma maker for wood-carved anime mecha figures[Photos]
Krispy Kreme releases new limited-edition fox doughnuts at only four stores in Japan
Tokyo restaurant offers lunches for less than 1 U.S. cent…if you’re good enough at rock-paper-scissors
Two new Sailor Moon art manhole covers are coming to Usagi’s real-world Tokyo neighborhood
Own a piece of anime history with U-Treasure’s Astro Boy gold miniature figure
What makes the Starbucks Japan chocolate terrine so popular?
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KFC Japan’s “The American Burgers” include a pile of guilt
Cloud’s Final Fantasy Buster Sword is now a cat scratching pad thanks to Square Enix Pets
Tokyo’s new extra-expensive ramen restaurant is dividing opinions, so we tried a bowl
Government says 5.7 trillion yen of Japanese media was pirated last year, thinks AI could help
Japan’s instant ramen snack theme park features an athletic course even adults can enjoy
Japanese temple burns to the ground, fire burning inside for 1,200 years unharmed
Used chopsticks upgraded from “waste” to “valuable material” by Kawasaki City thanks to ChopValue