Preston Phro (or simply Phro as most know him) is a Coloradoan attempting to fit in in Tokyo. (Surely, he would succeed if not for his unruly hair.) He puts his master's in classical Japanese literature to good use by writing silly stories and articles for the Internet. Having lived in Nara, Osaka, and Yamaguchi before moving to the Kanto area, he's quite happy to finally have a place to call home!
When not writing, he enjoys annoying his wife by plucking at his shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese instrument not entirely unlike a banjo) and pestering her with questions about Japanese history. He also occasionally attempts to remember all the stuff he's forgotten since university.
Do you have an active Facebook account with more than 10 friends, a filled-in profile with both profile and cover photos? If so, have we got an opportunity for you!
In a story currently making the rounds among Japanese Twitter users, it seems that SoftBank (the cellphone carrier that recently made a bid to buy Sprint in the U.S.) was seeking “Likes” on Facebook, and didn’t mind paying for them. Read More
We’ve all heard about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world and I’m sure we all wish we could go back in time and see them at the height of their glory. For me, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon might have been the best, even if they probably didn’t actually exist.
Unfortunately, no one’s figured out how time travel works yet. Fortunately, though, PARKROYAL on Pickering seems like a pretty amazing substitute. (And, starting at US$180 a night, probably cheaper than time travel too.)
While Amazon Japan may have its share of amusing, inappropriate, and disturbing reviews written by its customers, this (hopefully) mistaken listing is all on Amazon.
With rumors of a live-action remake of Studio Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service swirling, attention has been focused on the original movie. And now questions about the true nature of the adore cat Jiji are starting to surface. What are we talking about? Well… Read More
The monument for the Iwate miracle tree, which as you might remember was the only pine tree out of 70,000 left standing following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, is finally nearing completion. The project, though, has not been without its fair share of troubles. Read More
Mamechishiki, literally translated as “bean knowledge,” refers to trivia in Japanese. And, if there’s one thing the Internet is good for (besides videos of cats), it’s trivia!
Today’s “bean knowledge” is about the difference in value (by weight) of furikake (dried seasoning sprinkled over white rice) and a Porsche. It originated on a popular Japanese Twitter hashtag “#surprising things said by my teacher.”
One Japanese Twitter user sent out the following tweet. Read More
Burj Khalifa is a tower in Dubai that stands an awe-inspiring 829.8 meters (2,722 feet) tall. With that height, it is currently the world’s tallest building, as well as being Tom Cruise’s favorite thing to climb.
But all that might change in just six months, if everything goes according to plan for one Chinese company. Well, minus the Tom Cruise part. Read More
By now, you’ve surely heard about Google Glass, the head-mounted computer that allows the wearer to interact with data while going about their day thanks to a tiny display that hovers in the top-right corner of their vision. While this all sounds like a wonderful little slice of the future, the product has come under scrutiny recently amid privacy concerns raised by politicians, and many are wondering about the possible implications of using it in the real world.
While most reviews have been from the perspective of native English-speakers, today we stumbled upon an interesting review written by a Japanese speaker. Despite the country being considered by many to be the home of computer wizardry, Japanese people are often a little shy of new devices at first (the iPhone was positively ignored for its first year on the market), so we were keen to get a Japanese perspective.
Just a couple of paragraphs into the writeup, however, we noticed that the reviewer had stumbled upon a couple of minor problems with Google Glass. Read More
As a native of the United States, I’m all too familiar with the controversy around daylight savings time. I’m not sure if anyone actually “loves” it, but it certainly seems like most people hate it. WebMD, the Internet’s favorite doctor, even has an article about the effects the time change has on people’s health, though they seem minimal.
Either way, one of my favorite things about living in Japan is not having to worry about that annual spring torture of moving the clocks ahead by an hour. With no daylight savings, you always know what time it is in Japan. Unfortunately, it looks like one Japanese politician has it out for me and my beauty sleep. Read More
The free hug boom that swept the world nearly a decade ago also made it to Japan. Though only on shaky legs, it seems.
In case you don’t remember or somehow missed it, the idea was that people would stand around in public areas holding signs that read, simply enough, “Free Hugs.” If interested, anyone was welcome to step forward for a warm embrace. Ostensibly, it was an attempt to spread love and peace, and it did seem to bring a lot of smiles to a lot of people. Overall, a net positive.
Though the movement seems mostly to have quieted, one Japanese writer in Tokyo has described his recent experience meeting some Japanese Free-Huggers. Read More
Becoming obsessed with The Legend of Zelda after getting it as a birthday present at the age of six, one fan has found a way to bring items from the game into the real world.
How, you ask with images of magical blacksmiths dancing in your head. Simple: 3-D printing!
This fan, who documents the creations at the incredible blog Hyrule Founder, recreated the 8-bit items as 3-D, digital models and printed them with a high-quality 3-D printer. Read More
It wouldn’t be going too far to say that Photoshop is the best friend of many creators. As such, it’s understandable that there’s a lot of interest in the most recent announcement from Adobe, the software’s creator. The company announced on May 7 that they would be changing all of their products to cloud services with monthly fees.
As such, the company has set up a public blog for Japan, where they answer questions submitted by users concerned about how the changes will affect them. And that’s how the trouble began! After the same question was submitted over and over and OVER, the following exchange appeared on the site, brimming with unrestrained frustration. Read More
It’s just been one of those weeks. You have to rent a boyfriend, we’re under attack by marshmallow goo, and all that salt you dumped in while cooking your spaghetti was a total waste.
It’s times like these that you just wish the Internet would give you what you really want: pictures of adorable cats.
Well, you’re in luck, because we got ’em! Read More
In 1597, Japan was reaching the end of the Warring States period and starting to unify under the rule of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. At the same time, which was 15 years after the Tenshô embassy (the first Japanese embassy to Europe), three Japanese men were completing their (unwilling) journey to Mexico, of all places.
Using records from the Inquisition found in the National Library of Mexico, Lucio de Sousa (University of Evora in Portugal) and Oka Mihoko (University of Tokyo) have discovered conclusive proof of the men’s journey to the New World. They’ve also managed to piece together a few details of their stories.
You’re on a date with the most amazing person you’ve ever met. It’s all going well, and you know you’re not going home alone tonight. But as you finish up your meal, it hits you out of nowhere: the stomach rumbles of a vicious fart. Your mind races: what to do?! Should you hold it in or break wind and try to blame it on the waiter?
Well, today we have a translation of a Japanese article about this very topic! Now you’ll know what happens when you hold in those Silent-But-Deadlies.
As a developing country, there’s a lot about India that people from other countries might find surprising (and, we can only assume, visa versa). But here’s one that is particularly surprising.
Whatever images you may have of the South Asian country, when you think of pharmacies, you would probably expect the type you’re familiar with. If you’re from the United States, it might be of neatly organized bottles, tacky Hallmark cards, and lots of white everything. If you’re from Japan, you might be imagining neatly organized bottles hidden away behind windows, uniformed employees, and way more herbal remedies. Well, here’s one Indian pharmacy that takes your neatly organized bottles and plays Jenga with them.
In conjunction with the release of Resident Evil Revelations in the UK, Campcom is pulling out all the stops (and arteries, ha-ha) for their newest PR campaign. Last year, they had a butcher shop serving up fresh “people meat.” (We’re starting to wonder if there wasn’t some miscommunication about exactly what kind of game this is.) So, how about this year?
Well, on May 25 and 26, Capcom’s jumping in the deep end with a pool literally filled with blood. And, if you find you’ve forgotten how to swim, zombie lifeguards are standing by to…rescue you? (Wait, aren’t zombies kind of aquaphobic?) Read More
Here at RocketNews24, we like to bring you the latest and greatest, whether it’s (potentially) killer mechs or adorable new fonts! But sometimes it’s nice to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of raw human ingenuity. Read More
As with most weeks in Japan, robots seem to be dominating the news, but this one’s much cuter and waaaay more alarming.
Sakakibara Kikai (or Sakakibara Machines), a well established manufacturing company in Gunma Prefecture, has released a video of their KID’S WALKER CYCLOPS out for a test drive. (No buildings were destroyed by errant missiles in the filming of this video.) Read More
It seems every time a news story about robots appears, someone inevitably freaks out, screaming about Skynet or the Matrix. Well, this time, they might be right!
While it lacks the dexterity and sweetness of other robots, this one can not only assess and comprehend its surroundings but also learn through the Internet! (Oh, please keep it away from Wikipedia. It’ll conquer the world in a month.) Read More
Should you happen to be in Tokyo this Golden Week, you have until Tuesday (May 7) to check out a free (!!!) art gallery displaying some beautiful works by Amano Yoshitaka. If the name doesn’t ring any bells, some of the projects he’s worked on surely will: Final Fantasy, Vampire Hunter D, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, and the incomparable Sandman: the Dream Hunters.
And if you happen to have a few extra yen laying about, you can also pick up some original pieces! The least expensive one we found was only about 40,000 yen (US$402), and the most expensive we spied was about 3.8 million yen (US$38,381). Even if you can’t pick up the original art, you can still get postcards, posters, notebooks, and calendars with Amano’s brilliant art. And! You’ll get a poster just for coming by!
Photo and event information below! (Some of the photos are not safe for work!!!) Read More