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Audrey Akcasu

Audrey was born in Michigan, raised in Los Angeles but has felt most at home in Nagasaki, Japan. While teaching English in Omura, she discovered her love of nature, the countryside and ultimately Japan. When not working on her black belt in Ryukyu karate, or mastering her Nagasaki dialect, she wrote for and ran the English language magazine Nagazasshi. She loves traveling, frolicking all over Japan and Asia (with a few stints in Africa and Europe). But her best trip to date was her two-and-a-half weeks hitchhiking from Nagasaki to Aomori. Although she has relocated back to the States, she will probably be out the door to somewhere new in no time. Until then she’s enjoying the great outdoors and the bugs that come with it, doing anything from running to rafting, although her current "boom" is rock climbing.

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Posted by Audrey Akcasu (Page 7)

Future Alert: In 2015 you’ll be able to use your smartphone to brush your teeth, kind of

We really are living in the future now! In the past few years toothbrush makers and even candy companies have been trying to find ways to use technology to help us brush our teeth better. In 2012, Oral-B came out with an electronic toothbrush with a separate handheld screen to help you control your brushing pressure. Last year, Hi-Chew candy maker Morinaga announced development of a video game to help kids learn how to brush better. Now, Sunstar, the maker of GUM mouth care products, has revealed the prototype of a new toothbrush attachment that can be linked to an application on your smartphone. The goal is not only better brushing, but making the process more entertaining.

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Pikachu gets hauled away, hopefully to a farm with lots of room to run around in

Earlier this week, a Japanese driver noticed something strange on the highway: A truck carrying a giant Pikachu. However, the poor Pikachu couldn’t see where he was going due to his eyes being covered by a cloth. This image has led many netizens to think the worst about where that truck was heading…

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It’s a Christmas Miracle in Hong Kong! 15 million HK dollars scattered around the city【Video】

Christmas has come and gone. Presents were given, cake was eaten, HK$15 million was scattered around Hong Kong. Wait, what?

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Test your Japanese onomatopoeia skills against YouTuber Sharla in Japan

Have you ever wondered why Pikachu says, “Pika-pika”? It’s just a random noise that sounds like his name, right? Wrong! Pika-pika is actually an onomatopoeia for something sparkling, like lightning– how fitting for a Pokemon whose ability is static electricity! But wait a minute, flashing light doesn’t make a sound! How can it be an onomatopoeia?

Japanese can be, more times than not, a tricky language. Onomatopoeia not only have three distinct categories that far surpass the narrow range of those in English, but can also be used mid-sentence and as various parts of speech. Even seasoned veterans of Japanese can’t always figure out the meanings.

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Vocaloid takes over teen karaoke scene, more than half of 2014’s top 20 songs synthetic

No matter where you are in the world, the end of the year is always fun because you get to look back on the last 12 months and reflect on the different trends, hits and big stories. Joysound, a company that is bringing karaoke and social media together, is doing just that, and recently released a list of the top 20 karaoke songs of 2014 divided by age, from teens to 60-year-olds.

For the older age groups the rankings are pretty similar, with tracks like Neon Genesis Evangelion‘s opening theme song, “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” being a particular favorite, and Frozen’s “Let It Go” managing to sneak into every single group’s list of most-sung tracks. The biggest anomaly, however, was the teen group, with 11 of their top 20 songs being vocaloid tracks, and the remaining nine from anime.

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We love Daiso, but sometimes the weird products just amuse us

When it comes to Japanese 100 yen stores, there really isn’t anything you can’t find. Previously, we’ve looked into the most handy products, a consumer report of the must-haves and products to avoid, and we’ve even put together disaster preparedness kits using their wallet-friendly products.

The owner of Daiso, one of Japan’s largest 100 yen store chains, may not have the most confidence in his company, but for the most part it seems like people love Daiso. While most products are pretty awesome, some shoppers have been finding some really strange products and product displays. Join us after the jump for some weird amusement, 100 yen store-style.

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Kobe Luminarie illumination creators ditched LED for the warmer light of normal bulbs

Tokyo may be trying to take the throne of “City of Lights” from Paris and we’ve seen some dazzling lights in Mie Prefecture, but inKansai, nothing says holiday spirit better than “Kobe Luminarie.” The light display is entering another year of brilliance, as it was originally a display to honor the victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995, pray for the revival of the city, and reintroduce tourism into the region.

In an effort to save energy after the Tohoku Disaster in 2011, Kobe Luminarie changed their lightbulbs to LED lights. Smart move, right? You would think people would be happy with the economically and environmentally savvy improvement, but apparently the results were a little more sparkling than they’d hoped, in the bad way.

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Ninja-cat poised for attack, puns and a difficult dismount

We recently learned about some ninja tools and techniques that made use of cats, but maybe cats are actually the original ninja. This picture is more than enough evidence to prove that this theory is spot-on.

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Melt your lover’s heart with these limited edition Valentine’s Day Krispy Kreme donuts

Krispy Kreme Japan is shooting Cupid’s arrows again this year. Apparently the 2014 limited edition Valentine’s Day donuts were a hit because they are not only coming back, they’ll be better than ever. The donut powerhouse has created four new delectable, chocolatey selections and as V-Day tends to be a girl-confessing-her-love-to-boy-by-giving-chocolates kind of holiday in Japan, there are inevitably going to be a lot of guys with happy tummies this coming February 14. Luckily for all the singles and ladies out there, we don’t have to wait for our suitors to give us delicious chocolate donuts, we can start enjoying them starting January 7, 2015.

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Japan is home to the cutest bug in the world, but they’re on the verge of extinction

Yes, you read that right: A cute bug! Well, that is up to debate, but it is definitely not as a gross as other bugs, like that hand-sized spider I had in my house that one time…

Because of the way they hover and their fuzzy bodies, these cute little fellas kind of look like a cross between a hummingbird and a bee. Their long mouth/noses resemble those of a nasty mosquito, but the fact that they are barely 10mm long (approximately the length of the first part of your pinkie finger) and harmless pollinators make them really people-friendly. Join us after the jump as we meet arguably the world’s most affable insect: the Tiger Bee Fly.

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How much do Japanese girls expect their boyfriends to spend on Christmas presents? 【Poll results】

Christmas Eve in Japan is very much a date night, perhaps the biggest of the year. Couples go to see festive Christmas lights, have a nice dinner and exchange gifts; the night really matters. But about those gifts…

How much money are you planning on spending on your significant other this holiday season? How much are you expecting them to spend on you? If you’re single, how much do you think your potential darling would want to dish out for a Christmas present? A recent poll gives us a great insight into how much we should probably be spending.

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Balloon-carrying bunny is too cute not to love 【Video】

What do you get when you put a rabbit in a room full of partially deflated balloons? A very happy bunny! Join us after the jump for severe cuteness.

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Is Japanese TV really as bad as its reputation?

Foreigners living in Japan, our own editor included, often give Japanese TV a hard time. For many, it’s either too weird, too predictable or too obnoxious. If it really is so bad though, surely shows like Iron Chef and Ninja Warrior (Sasuke) would never have been introduced in the US? Nor would America have created the show I Survived a Japanese Game Show. So if foreign stations are taking cues from the Japanese TV shows, the originals must have some merit, right?

One Reddit user finally asked the big question, “Japanese television. Is it really so terrible?” As you’d expect, the responses poured in, both in favor of and adamantly against it. One user proclaimed that Japan only has three kinds of programs, “Shows about celebrities. Shows about food. Shows about celebrities eating food.” But like TV in any country, there are actually a lot of different kinds of shows, so it’s probably worth a moment to take a walk through some of the programming options.

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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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Attack on Titan teas are selling out faster than a giant can eat a human

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s this anime (and manga) called Attack on Titan… Who are we kidding? Of course you’ve heard! After sharply rising to popularity with the release of the anime in spring 2013, this post-apocalyptic story, featuring man-eating giants and tree-swinging military characters, has been everywhere from iPhone cases to bananas, even joining in collaborations with Marvel and Universal Studios Japan.

When the directors of Mori Art Museum in Ueno were thinking about what kind of special goods they wanted to sell along with their Attack on Titan exhibit, they thought, “Well, why don’t we team up with a top-line tea maker like Lupicia?” Because dainty tea is the obvious first choice to pair with a dark fantasy. Low and behold, the Attack on Titan blended teas have been selling out faster than any other product in the gift shop.

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Keep your flowers alive with this planter shaped like the forest god from Princess Mononoke

I don’t know about you, but I am not good with plants; I can never keep them alive. It’s okay though, because now I might stand a chance with pot planters designed to resemble the Shishi god from Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke.

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Forget shuriken: 10 stealthy and dangerous ninja tools you didn’t know existed

Growing up in the 90s, I was raised with the notion that ninja were teenage turtles, silent assassins or similar to the characters in Naruto. As much as we’d like to believe these were the reality, according to an interesting article from Listverse, the ninja that actually roamed the streets and castles as spies and assassins were humans who didn’t always dress in black (apparently they wore dark blue), and they didn’t regularly use the famous weapons we know so well.

So, if they weren’t using shuriken and long swords all of the time, what did they use? Researchers have been investigating the ancient style for decades and have uncovered some pretty amazing and ingenious items that you would never even dream of. There are probably thousands of ninja tools and techniques out there, but we’ll just focus on the few that Listverse brought into the open.

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This dog does NOT want to go home and her adorable defiance is cracking up the Internet【Video】

Have you ever been on a vacation or had such a good day that you just didn’t want to go back home and return to the daily grind? You’re not alone. In fact, sometimes even dogs don’t want their jaunts into the big outside world to end.

One Japanese dog was so adamant about not wanting to go home after her walk in the park, that she just laid on the ground and refused to get up, but with a big ole smile on her face the whole time. She was so dogged (pun very much intended) that the owner had no choice but to take this adorable video.

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Congratulations Nippon! Japan takes on the title of “Top Country Brand”

Every year a brand consultant agency called FutureBrand comes out with a report of the Country Brand Index (CBI). The “country brand” (think “Made in Japan”), is measured similarly to consumer or corporate brands (Nike, Toshiba, etc).

The index is a measure of the global perception of each country’s “brand,” not just for the quality and popularity of their export products and big name businesses, but also taking into account social aspects of the country. Having spent the last few years cozily in the top ten, Japan took the number one position in the 2014-2015 CBI report.

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Hello Kitty now makes 90% of her money abroad

After 40 years of hard work, Japan’s precious Hello Kitty character (affectionately known as Kitty-chan in Japan), has brought Japanese “kawaii” to all corners of the globe. It hasn’t been all fun and games for her though; she has had to work really hard to keep her parent company, Sanrio, afloat.

But now, thanks to Kitty-chan’s popularity overseas and her success branching into other markets, Sanrio isn’t just floating, it’s positively surfing on waves of international profit.

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