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Ghibli fans express their thanks to Miyazaki with six-second Vine masterpieces

Fans around the world say thank you to Hayao Miyazaki by creating some amazing art of their own.

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Marutaro the hedgehog is still as cute as a button, and now he’s a family hedgehog! 【Pics】

When we first met Marutaro the hedgehog last year, he was just about the cutest thing we’d seen in months. Now, over 12 months later, we have to say that’s still the case! And it looks like the adorable little spike ball is only getting more and more popular—popularity that we’d say is well deserved.

In case you haven’t been following Marutaro on Twitter, we’ve decided to round up a few of our new favorite photos and videos of the little guy being adorable, as well as some family photos. Get your fill of loveable cuteness below!

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Grown man hits No. 1 on Vine by playing with action figures in front of his mom

Say what you will about the evils and pitfalls of social media, but if nothing else, it’s at least made it easier than ever for people to enjoy a small taste of fame. Social media like Facebook, Twitter and Vine democratize what becomes popular and what doesn’t, what people want to see and what they don’t.

In this case, the viewers of Vine have spoken: They want to see people playing with action figures in front of their moms.

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Japan’s cutest rodent commuters take the high-road【Video】

Apparently they really know how to treat their rodents and entertain their patrons down in Kyushu. The other day we mentioned Nagasaki Bio Park, spotlighting their hot spring for capybara. Now, a Vine video has surfaced, taking us to the guinea pig area at the same zoo. The little critters get to “commute” from one play area to the other in an adorable single file line.

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Noodle-tossing bunny is the most random, hypnotic Vine you’ll see today

While she may not be quite so well-known abroad, My Melody, one of cute factory Sanrio’s many mascots, is kind of a big deal here in Japan. Over at the Sanrio Puroland theme park, throngs of kids and women old enough to know better flip out and squeal with delight at the very sight of the hood-wearing bunny, and Sanrio makes a small fortune each year from My Melody-themed merchandise.

But none of that really explains this video recently released by Sanrio Puroland, which plays an endless loop of My Melody aggressively tossing noodles in a sieve. In total silence.

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The funniest high school girl in Japan is back! Reika Oozeki does Frozen

When we introduced the teenage comedian Reika Oozeki last year, we knew she was funny, but we had no idea how far she’d end up going. With 287,000 followers on Twitter and nearly 220,000 more followers on Vine, her influence has certainly grown quickly! She’s even crossed national borders, with people the world over laughing at her manic videos. And, at last, she’s back!

Of course, to be fair, she never really went anywhere–those of you following her on Twitter know that’s she’s as active as ever. But some of her recent Vine videos have left us laughing so hard, we had to share! So click below and get ready for your day to get a whole lot better.

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Vine Boin Bounce: In which we start a new dance craze and have a punny good time

While most of the articles you find on our lovely site are about Japanese news–be it current events in the anime world or photos a hundred years old–sometimes we like to just kick off our shoes and have some fun too.

For example, four of our colleagues from the Japanese side of the site (great for reading practice in case you’re studying the language!) decided to make these, shall we say unique Vine videos. We won’t say that they’re the weirdest thing you’ll see today…but only because we never know when some deep sea divers are going to find new, bizarre fish.

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Japanese high school student becomes Twitter sensation showing difference between time with boyfriend and friends

Twitter is almost universally popular nowadays. While Facebook is seeing declining usage in Japan and among teens in general, Twitter seems to be hanging on to its popularity. It’s hard to say how long this will last–does anyone remember Mixi?–but for now, getting attention on Twitter in Japan is still a big deal.

So when Reika Oozeki’s Vine video got retweeted almost 5,000 times, we had to check it out!

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