Samantha Tanabata

A Southwestern United States native, Samantha has been a fan of Japanese language and culture since age 12, when Sailor Moon, Pokemon, and Tamagotchi first swept the nation. After years of hard work attaining Japanese fluency, she now lives and works in Tokyo as a translator and game localization professional. She's found that no two weekends in Tokyo are ever the same but a combination of the following may happen: an 8k run, an all-nighter at Nichome, an all-day picnic at Yoyogi Park, a visit to a beautiful shrine, iced coffee on a sunny cafe patio, dodging crowds in Omotesando to wander the shops, going to Tokyo Disneyland or DisneySea, watching beautiful men dance and act in a live-action play based on an anime, buying doujinshi in Ikebukuro, and/or spending the day at a public bath.

Posted by Samantha Tanabata

This Michigan Starbucks barista looks just like a Final Fantasy character

It’s hard to believe this photo of a barista in a Michigan Starbucks is a real photograph of a real person, not an image created by the team at Square Enix.
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We visited Egawa Beach, the closest you can get to walking in the world of Spirited Away【Pics】

This stunning view will transport you to another world.

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Chocobo and rider gallop up a Kazakhstan highway in fake but funny video 【Video】

Yes, yes, we know chocobo aren’t real, but let us dream!

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The top ocean-themed anime otaku most want to cool off with this summer ranked

It turns out the otaku of Japan want to watch high school girls who are also Marines in training forced to become pirates on the high seas.

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