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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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Win “Exploring Kyoto” and “Kyoto—Heart of Japan” by answering this simple question! 【Closed】

Heading to Kyoto soon? Simply want to know more about Japan’s ancient capital? We have the perfect book and DVD for you—and you could win them by answering one easy question!

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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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How to win at rock-paper-scissors: A three-step guide

Rock-paper-scissors. Scissors-paper-stone. Roshambo. Elephant-man-ant. Whatever you call it, chances are you’ve played it at some point. In Japan, the game is known as janken, and is used to settle any kind of dispute or awkward situation, from who gets the last cookie to which parents have to sit on the PTA that year.

It’s not hard to see why janken is so popular in Japan: it’s simple, and everyone knows how to play. It’s also efficient (particularly if the thing being decided is trivial anyway). Decisions made by janken are stuck to religiously: in three years teaching Japanese schoolkids I never once saw a student complain about the result or demand a rematch. It’s seen as a fair way to make decisions, because the game is based on luck.

Or is it? A group of researchers from Chinese universities has published a paper that shows sure-fire ways to win at rock-paper-scissors. Join us after the jump as we explore how to outsmart small children at their own game!

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[3D Photo Studio] Mr. Sato’s Very Own Lifelike 3-D model has Arrived!

Now that was fast!

It was just 10 days ago that we were detailing our adventurous reporter’s trip to the newly opened Omote 3D Shashin Kan photography studio to be scanned and turned into an ultra-detailed model, and we were told that it’d be a month before the finished product arrived. But would you believe it’s already here! In our sweaty little hands!

And the result is spectacular.

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