Jessica Kozuka

Jessica Kozuka is a freelance writer and editor living in the exciting, interesting and sometimes perplexing city of Tokyo. Her work has appeared in Wine Spectator, CNN Travel, and The Japan Times, as well as numerous other print and online media outlets. She writes a column on NPO/NGOs and volunteer work for Metropolis, the largest English-language magazine in Japan, and specializes in EFL educational materials and travel writing. Kozuka is rarely to be found without a book or two within arm’s reach, though there's no telling if they will be serious literature or frivolous guilty pleasures, and she runs a monthly book club for other bibliophiles in the Tokyo area. She's also an enthusiastic if mediocre cook and daily laments the smallness of Japanese kitchens.

All Stories by Jessica

Food Rage: Korean Deported Over In-Flight Ramen Brawl

Apr 24, 2013 by Jessica
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Over the weekend, a Korean businessman got into hot water when he complained about his in-flight meal on a trip to the United States. Apparently, he wasn’t satisfied with the taste of his ramen or with the service, and expressed his displeasure by assaulting one of the cabin crew. As a result, he was turned over to the FBI and prevented from entering the country.

Here’s what we know about this bizarre incident. Read More

Construction Worker Finds Human Skeleton During Road Repairs

Apr 23, 2013 by Jessica
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The picture above shows the kind of sound-deadening walls installed along the Tomei Expressway in Kanagawa Prefecture. Yesterday, a construction worker performing repairs removed one of the panels and got a grisly surprise: a headless human skeleton. Read More

Huge Crack Opens in Shizuoka Hill, No Sign of Legions of Hell… Yet

Apr 23, 2013 by Jessica
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A 150-meter long crack has suddenly widened on the ground of a Shizuoka Prefecture tea farm, while officials evacuated six local households over fears of a landslide. Read More

Not So Smooth Criminal: Woman Tries to Pay With Obviously Photocopied Yen

Apr 20, 2013 by Jessica
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An unemployed young woman was arrested in Shizuoka Prefecture this week after she tried to pay at a convenience store with an obviously photocopied counterfeit bill. The master criminal’s excuse? “I was in a bind because I didn’t have any money.” Read More

Nerd Fantasy: Play Your Favorite Online Game With a Hot Girl (For a Fee, Natch)

Apr 19, 2013 by Jessica
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A new service is gaining popularity among Chinese gamers. For the small fee of 15 yuan an hour (about US$2.40), you can play your favorite online game with a beautiful woman. Strait News reports that male game fans are calling it “good news.” Read More

How Times Change: Japanese Men in Edo Period Not Interested in Breasts (NSFW)

Apr 18, 2013 by Jessica
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The above image, would you believe, is titled “Glorious view of Mt. Fuji.”

The image of sex in the Edo Period is that is was more uninhibited than it is today and that there was a whole lot more of it. This idea is based in part on the erotic woodblock prints, known as shunga, by artists of the period such as Kitagawa Utamaro and Katsushika Hokusai.

But one thing many people have noticed about shunga is the treatment of women’s breasts. In contrast with the minute detail lavished on the engravings of genitals and pubic hair for both men and women, breasts are often given little attention. The nipples are not colored and sometimes not even drawn in. What gives? Were men back then just not interested in waps? Read More

Classy Nerdism: Gallery Specializes in Otaku Oil Paintings

Apr 16, 2013 by Jessica
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If you’ve ever wanted to hang a classy oil painting of your favorite anime or manga character over the fireplace, it looks a gallery in Nagoya may have you covered. Gallery Egao, specialists in otaku oil paintings, get permission from the original artists to do oil reproductions of famous characters at their workshop in Fujian, China.

Apr 16, 2013 by Jessica
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Egashira 2:50, or Ega-chan for short, is a Japanese comedian with a very unique style. He’s a scrawny, partly balding middle-aged man, who usually appears bug-eyed and disheveled in a diaper or skin-tight pants to perform very physical, usually very dirty gags. His motto is “It’s better to appear once and become a legend than to be a regular all season long,” and his appearances are certainly memorable.

Now, for our viewing and reading pleasure, he’s taking his bizarre style to the publishing world, with a instructional yoga book released this week titled Ega Yoga.

Apr 15, 2013 by Jessica
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This week in Beijing, the trial began for a 45-year-old man accused of killing a man with a samurai sword after he picked a fight with the man’s 23-year-old son. The incident occurred on October 19 last year and started over an argument on the bus. Read More

Forget 3D, Nagoya Movie Theater Goes 4D With Moving Seats, Wind, Smells

Apr 11, 2013 by Jessica
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Japanese cinema chain Korona World has announced that it will be opening the country’s first full-body, immersive “4D” movie theater in Nagoya on the 26th of this month.

According to the company, the theater will be equipped with 4DX technology, a system developed in South Korea that adds motion, humidity, aromas, strobes, bubbles and other effects to the standard audio and video experience. Read More

The Very Best of Japanese Love Hotels 【Photos】

Apr 10, 2013 by Jessica
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In a country where a lot of people live at home until they get married, it can be hard for couples to get a little private time. Luckily, Japan has solved this lovers’ dilemma with the love hotel, a place where you can get a room for a couple of hours of sexy times. And not just any room! Love hotels are famous for their crazy themed rooms and over-the-top decor.

Some brilliant person at the Vipper Housoku message board here in Japan started a thread asking people to post pictures from love hotels, and we’ve collected the best of them for you here! Don’t worry, they are all totally safe for work, just utterly mind-boggling. Read More

Bird Flu Spreading? Netizens Report Mysterious Bird Deaths in China

Apr 10, 2013 by Jessica
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China is currently dealing with an outbreak of deadly bird flu (H7N9 virus). As of April 10, there have been nine deaths and 28 confirmed infections, largely in the Shanghai area. Officials have been taking measures to prevent the spread of the disease, but they may have acted too slowly.

A rash of shocking photos from around China has been shocking Web users over the last couple of days. The images show sparrows and pigeons lying dead on the ground with no visible signs of injury. And not just one or two, but several and sometimes more than 10 mysteriously downed birds, leaving many to speculate whether bird flu is to blame. Read More

Forget Google: Head-Scratching Questions from Japanese Job Interviews

Apr 9, 2013 by Jessica
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April marks the beginning of a new fiscal year in Japan, bringing with it the season for job hunting. Of course, that means interviews. NicoNico News wondered what interview questions might be lying in wait for the unsuspecting, so they sent out a questionnaire to 1000 businesspeople to hear what questions had stumped them in the past. Here are some of the best, from the truly bizarre to the especially thought-provoking. Read More

Japan’s Crossdressing Fishermen Festival (Video)

Apr 8, 2013 by Jessica
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In the port town of Numazu in Shizuoka Prefecture, a very strange festival is held each April. The local fisherman don women’s clothes, board brightly decorated fishing vessels, and make the boats “dance” around the bay, all while singing and dancing on deck for the spectators. The tradition is said to bring safe seas and good catches to the town. Or curious tourists, at the very least. Read More

Six Things I Learned at Tokyo’s “Food and Bev Expo”

Apr 5, 2013 by Jessica
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This week, a major food and drink expo was held in Tokyo’s Odaiba area called The World Food and Beverage Great Expo 2013. It’s actually a combination of six different events, including a dessert and wine fair. With hundreds of exhibitors from Japan and abroad showing off their latest and tastiest concoctions, we decided to check it out and see how many free samples we could gobble up. Here’s what we learned. Read More

Man in Singapore Chews Your Face Into a Lollipop

Apr 4, 2013 by Jessica
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A pretty fascinating video has been making the rounds on the Web today. In it, you see an older man, a so-called “lollipop street artist”, in Singapore’s Chinatown furiously gnawing on a lollipop while staring intently at a young tourist sitting opposite him. He’s not being a creeper, though, he’s creating a portrait in candy! Read More

Dress as Your Favorite Pokémon: Character Fleeces Available on Etsy

Apr 3, 2013 by Jessica
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On the shopping site Etsy, you can find all kinds of wonderful things that aren’t available in stores, and we’ve found a doozy for anime fans: fleeces designed to look like Pokémon characters! Read on to find out if your favorite monster has been recreated in jacket form. Read More

What Keeps Japanese Schoolgirls Up at Night: Constipation, Bad Karaoke and Chapped Lips, Apparently

Apr 2, 2013 by Jessica
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Ah, elementary school! The carefree days of youth when my biggest concerns were the ingredients in the cafeteria’s “special” lunch and whether the boy sitting next to me did, in fact, have cooties. Sure, those concerns seemed weighty at the time, but with the benefit of hindsight, I know those were halcyon days indeed.

At the risk of sounding like a old crank, I have to wonder if young girls today are missing out on those years of blissful ignorance. A new book, published here in Japan, suggests that the weight of the world may be falling on the shoulders of elementary school girls much earlier than it did for girls of my generation.

Being a Girl collects a variety of concerns expressed by elementary school girls and offers advice from doctors and other specialists, and you might be surprised what secret worries burden young girls’ hearts. Read More

Lifehack for Cooks: How to Remove Garlic Skins Quickly and Cleanly

Mar 30, 2013 by Jessica
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Ah, garlic. It’s so fragrant and delicious. These days, cooks are using fresh garlic even for everyday dishes because it’s just so tasty and relatively easy to use. There’s just one small problem: getting that papery skin off the clove without ending up with bits of it all over the kitchen! More people would probably use that delicious, delicious garlic if it didn’t make such a mess.

No need to worry about that any more, though, because we’ve discovered a simple tip that will remove those pesky skins cleanly and easily. Read on to discover how. Read More

Corn Soup, Robots and Pheromones: Strange New Beauty Product Hits Japanese Shelves

Mar 29, 2013 by Jessica
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We’ve covered the Japanese obsession with corn soup here on RocketNews24 before. It’s a popular flavor for all kinds of snacks and even comes in little cans out of vending machines. But this latest corn soup product might be taking the obsession a bit too far…

LC Love Cosmetics has announced it will be selling a product billed as a “kiss beautifying liquid” that is supposed to give you extra kissablity by adding the taste of corn soup to your lips. Read More