Philip Kendall

Editor

Hailing from Liverpool in the UK, Philip Kendall made Japan his second home in the summer of 2006 after dolefully abandoning his childhood dream of becoming a ghost buster. Setting up camp in beautiful Fukushima prefecture, he brought joy to literally hundreds of junior high school children as ‘that tall, handsome teacher’ or more often ‘the one with the big nose,’ before relocating to Tokyo at the end of 2011.

Writer, foodie, gamer and eternal student of the Japanese language, Philip now works as a freelance writer and translator, submitting to Tokyo Weekender magazine and website and Learn Japanese Pod, as well as co-running Suds, Grub & Joe- a website dedicated to all things beer, food and coffee-related in Tokyo. Follow his ramblings on his personal blog or on twitter.

Posted by Philip Kendall (Page 3)

Japan’s cats are figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu’s biggest fans【Pics】

We all know that Japan loves cats. But what do Japan’s cats love? If these photos are anything to go by, the answer is simple: figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu.

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Playing with pandas: Do Adventure World’s zoo keepers have the best job ever?【Video】

Ice cream taster; sleep research participant; full-time sperm donor. There are few jobs that could ever be described as truly enjoyable, but playing with an adorable panda cub is probably one of them.

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“World’s first washable smartphone” goes on sale in Japan accompanied by cheese-tastic ad【Video】

Foolishly allowed a sticky-fingered child to hold your phone? Have a crippling fear of germs and wish you could disinfect everything? Now there’s a smartphone you can wash with soap and water!

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Toyota wants Japan to think of its new model Prius as an “erotic” vehicle【Video】

Why drive a boring old hybrid when you could have an Erotic Vehicle?

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What could be scarier than looking in a mirror and seeing a demon staring back at you? How about being too engrossed in your smartphone to even notice…

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Chinese company mimics levitation trick, unamused authorities immediately shut it down【Video】

Whether it’s deserved or not, China has something of a reputation for producing convincing copies. Another thing the country is known for, however, is having authorities that do not suffer fools gladly… 

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Why do the Japanese call the UK ‘Igirisu’?

Amerika. Itaria. Kanada. The majority of countries are known in Japan by names that sound vaguely similar to their native monikers. So why on earth do the Japanese call the UK ‘Igirisu‘?

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Everything you need to know about dining at a sushi restaurant—in handy infographics!【Pics】

Many of us dream of eating authentic sushi in Japan. But do you know the proper decorum for ordering? How about paying the bill? And what’s the difference between nigiri and narezushianyway?

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The 21st century Game Boy we wish Nintendo were working on【Pics】

We’re sure Nintendo is busy creating something new and exciting to release into the world, but we kind of wish this is what they were working on…

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10 badass four-character phrases to add to your Japanese language toolkit

With enough hard work, anyone can learn to speak and read Japanese. But you know you’ve truly made it as a Nihongo master only when you can effortlessly break out a few yojijukugo, or four-kanji idioms. Join us after the jump for 10 of our favourites!

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Muji enters the tiny house game, showcases its line of wonderfully minimalist ‘Muji Huts’

Japan does small better than pretty much any other country in the world. From intricate origami to beautiful bonsai to sushi made with barely a dozen grains of rice, the Japanese people are known for their dexterity and attention to detail.

It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that Japanese retailer Muji is now getting into the tiny house movement and recently showcased its range of prefabricated ‘Muji Hut’ minimalist homes and hangouts.

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London mayor Boris Johnson takes out 10-year-old Japanese kid during fun rugby match【Video】

It’s not every day that an enormous blonde-haired bear of a man comes to your school, agrees to play a quick game of rugby with you and then proceeds to knock you on your 10-year-old arse rather than let you win the ball.

But then, it’s not every day that London mayor Boris Johnson is visiting Japan…

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20 of the best outfits seen at this year’s New York Comic Con 【Pics】

As the more worldly wise of you will no doubt already know, New York City is not in Japan. Nor is it in any other part of Asia. But as you’re probably also aware, we at RocketNews24 just can’t pass up a bit of quality cosplay when we see it, especially when much of it is based on characters from the island many of our team now call home.

Sadly, our bosses refused to pony up the cash for a plane ticket to the Big Apple so we could check out New York Comic Con 2015 for ourselves, but our friends over at Pixable (you do know we’re on Pixable now, right?) were there with cameras in hand, and they were good enough to share their photos with us.

Check out 20 of our favourite cosplayers at New York Comic Con 2015, after the jump.

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Attack on Titan fans left “waiting”, start tweeting, as subtitles freeze during first screenings

With part one of the live-action movie adaptation released for the first time outside Japan on Wednesday this week, fans of the hugely successful manga and anime series Attack on Titan were no doubt incredibly excited to see their favourite giant-slaying characters brought to life by living, breathing Japanese actors.

Little did then know, however, that when one of the English subtitles added to the movie for its North American release would appear on-screen, it would remain there—for a full 20 minutes—while the action continued behind it.

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Super Mario Bros. creator explains how and why he designed World 1-1 of the 8-bit classic 【Video】

Ahead of the launch of Mario-themed level-building game Super Mario Maker, video game industry legend Shigeru Miyamoto sat down with veteran game designer Takashi Tezuka to take questions from journalists and show off its features.

Before leaping into the level creation proper, however, Miyamoto took a few minutes to talk about the creative process that is involved in building a Super Mario level, talking his audience through the steps he and his team took when creating the original Super Mario Bros., and explaining why World 1-1 of the game—for many their first ever brush with Mario on Nintendo’s 8-bit system—was built the way it is.

You’ve no doubt cleared this level countless times by now, but you may not have realised the hidden genius and careful planning that went into the positioning of every block, pipe, and pit of doom.

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Five types of foreigner you’ll meet in Japan

Japan attracts all kinds of people from all over the world. Some come to work, others come to play, and thanks to its relatively low crime levels, high standard of living and abundance of delicious food, Japan is a very easy place to call home for a while. Plus, isn’t Japan where all those anime, video games and ninjas come from? It’s got to be worth a visit!

But today, instead of talking about the myriad things Japan has to offer visitors, we’re going to have a bit of fun by taking a closer look at some of the visitors themselves. You might not encounter each of these five types of people if you’re staying in Japan for just a couple of weeks, but if you’re here for work or an extended sojourn, then you’re bound to meet at least a couple of them along the way…

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Japan’s censorship of PlayStation 4 horror game Until Dawn is spectacularly bad 【Video】

Considering it’s the same country that gave us movies like Battle Royale, Tokyo Gore Police and Ichi the Killer, Japan’s method of handling violent video game content can be quite perplexing at times.

Despite being able to attack the undead hordes in survival horror beat-em-up Dead Rising with everything from ‘wet floor’ signs to katanas, decapitations were notably absent from the Japanese version of the game when it released back in 2006. More recently, Japanese Metal Gear Solid and Gears of War fans were shocked to see that numerous scenes and animations were cut from the versions released in their homeland, even though the games were clearly marked as “adults only”.

Japan’s video game censors have struck again this week, this time taking their (presumably family-friendly) hatchets to newly released PlayStation 4 horror game Until Dawn—and the method of censoring the scenes deemed too much for Japan is startlingly bad.

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The cosplay of Comiket 88: Sailor Moon, Splatoon, Love Live! and more【Photos】

Comiket 88, the world’s largest dojinshi fair, is now underway at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre. And while thousands of people are already rushing to buy some of the best and rarest anime, manga and video game merch money can buy, others were there for one thing only: cosplay.

Despite the beating sun and intense humidity that comes as standard with Summer Comic Market (you did read our Comiket survival guide, right?), the almost complete lack of shade outdoors did not deter Tokyo’s cosplayers, who stood out for photo after photo, striking their best poses and wowing our reporters with their incredible outfits.

Join us after the jump for a look at some of our favourites!

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Man bursts into wife’s lover’s office, severs penis with garden shears, flushes it down toilet

No, you read that headline right. We’re going to skip past any form of real intro here and get right into it with this one. You may want to start crossing your legs now, fellas…

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“Hang Em Hyrule” takes Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda to the Wild West 【Video】

The Legend of Zelda‘s Link has worn many hats over the years, both literally and figuratively. We’ve seen him as a train driver, a goat herder, sailing the high seas with a bunch of cartoonish pirates, cavorting with fairies in the forest, you name it. Never, though, have we seen him as a gunslinging cowboy.

That is, until now.

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