Yoshito Ueda

GM

All Stories by Yoshio

Tokyo Area Residents Shocked by Miracle Salon’s Flyer

Jan 16, 2012 by yoshio
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A humble hair salon has become the center of attention in Tokyo because of its seemingly impossible ability to change men’s appearances completely.

Residents in the flyer distribution area of Dear-Logue hair salon (Shimokitazawa area) discovered this mind-blowing secret tucked in their junk mail and quickly took to the internet to spread the word. “Yesterday in Tokyo, I came home as usual, but when I checked my mail – I noticed this incredible flyer” wrote one bemused blogger.

Jan 15, 2012 by yoshio
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I’m sure there’s a lot of iPhone users out there among our readers. Heck, every time I get on the subway I can see five people using them in any direction I look. But how many of us ever think about the wallpaper we use on our phones?

Jan 14, 2012 by yoshio
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Another handy new feature that came along with the recent iOS5 update has been discovered! With this little hack you can listen to your favorite YouTube videos without having to stare at the actual video, which most of the time is just a still photo of an album cover for me anyways.

Using this feature closes the full YouTube application and lets you run just the audio stream in the background. As I type this I can almost hear all Apple devices’ batteries breath a collective sigh of relief.

This should sound familiar for those of you who used to do this iTunes, because it’s exactly the same thing, except using YouTube. For those who are new to this, don’t fret. It’s as easy as 1-2-3 to enjoy a new level of App freedom.

- How to Play YouTube Audio-Only Streams

Jan 13, 2012 by yoshio
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Comiket 81, hadn’t disappointed for a moment in its quality and variety of cosplayers. Walking through the market I was treated to the best in amateur costumes. Although I may have dubbed Garo as The Most Kick-Ass Cosplay of Comic Market 81! this time around, I feel there is another costume worthy enough to honor. It was a Dragon Ball costume – literally, a costume of the actual Dragon Balls that the series is named after.

Jan 12, 2012 by yoshio
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Do you know what a washlet is? It’s that strange device you often find attached to the toilet in Japan. You know, the one that shoots a cleansing spray of water at your anus after you take a dump!

Jan 11, 2012 by yoshio
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We often take the simple invention of the light bulb for granted. Even though our lives have their bright and dark moments, we are always under the reliable warm glow of our lights.

This is the premise of a new commercial by Toshiba, created to promote its new LED light that they claim lasts 10 years, that follows the life of one bulb as it lights a family’s life for 10 years (3653 days including leap years).

Jan 10, 2012 by yoshio
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Comiket 81, the world’s largest self-published comic book fair, was held 29 December, 2011 at Big Sight in Tokyo. Like Comikets before it, the cosplayers came out this year in full force. Yet, among the standard cosplay fair was one who stood out in the crowd like no other.

Dec 30, 2011 by yoshio
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About 70km from Fukushima Daiichi, on the boarder of Fukushima and Tochigi prefectures lies the city of Shirakawa. It’s was a pleasant city with lots of green space that was mentioned by Basho in his famous poem The Narrow Road to Oku. Every year they hold the Daruma Ichi festival that celebrates Daruma dolls, traditional toys that symbolize perseverance and good luck.

However now the background radiation is at times 0.60μSv which is about three times the average dose of radiation we receive during our daily lives. Here, a tearful mother of two confesses to reporter investigating financial compensation something that a mother should never have to say: “I wish my daughters were never born.”

Dec 29, 2011 by yoshio
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When deciding to travel in Japan we are faced with a rather large assortment of hotels that don’t exist in our home countries, one of which is the “business hotel”. The label of business hotel may conjure up images of the infamous “capsule hotels” for some, while for other’s it may have the sense of a dank, narrow, room that was occupied by the cast of Mad Men. I suspected such things at first until, in an effort to save money, I bit the bullet and tried a few out.

I can now confidently say that despite their label, business hotels are actually rather comfy – some of them downright elegant!

These hotels don’t skimp on the amenities. For instance, it wouldn’t be hard to find a business hotel that offers air conditioning, humidifier, or even an air purifier. Most have fairly spacious bathrooms and offer a complimentary breakfast. Even if you are just looking for a place to have a brief romantic rendezvous, a business hotel can be a cheaper alternative to a dingy motel or robotic love hotel.

Let’s take a look at 6 prime business hotels that can be found in the Tokyo area. All hotels charge rates less than 3,500 yen (US$44.80) per person when two people are staying in the room at a rate of 7,000 yen total ($89.60).

Dec 27, 2011 by yoshio
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Ever since the Great Tohoku Earthquake led to one of the worst nuclear disasters at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant people have been left with a lot of uncertainty. Information has not been coming from places of authority in a free and timely fashion. News broadcasts often tell stories of contaminated food and radioactive puddles near schools. Still, these stories are after the fact and often hard to process given the complex nature of radiation.

Luckily, on 27 December, Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute (KURRI) announced they are working with Fukushima Transportation Inc. to begin testing a system to monitor radiation in Fukushima City that is in real time and is accessible by anyone over the internet.

Dec 27, 2011 by yoshio
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Every once in a while I come across an escalator that seems out of order. But upon taking my first disappointed step to walk up, the elevator gently shakes to life and carries me triumphantly the rest of the way thinking “How do they know?”

Dec 26, 2011 by yoshio
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Apple has given word that they will be selling Lucky Bags (Fukubukuro) again this New Year’s! The sale will begin on 2 January at 8:00am.

Dec 23, 2011 by yoshio
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Since the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake in Japan, Taiwan has shown itself to be a nation of extremely generous and caring people, who helped us through one of our darkest times. What you may not know, however, is that Taiwan is also a nation full of some of the hottest women you’ve ever seen. With the announcement that an online poll has selected Taiwan’s 10 Most Beautiful Women, Rocket News 24 would like to return the care and attention that they have given Japan. We also hope you join us and not miss out on the hottest women Taiwan has to offer!

Dec 22, 2011 by yoshio
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Recently a lot of attention has been directed at Japanese mothers’ painstakingly crafted packed lunches called charabens (character bentos). It’s something of a competition for mothers to send their children off to school with not just the best tasting or healthiest food, but also the most creatively arranged. The BBC ran a feature showing how housewives attend classes to arrange rice, seaweed, and other ingredients into characters ranging from Hello Kitty and Totoro to Michael Jackson and Barack Obama.

Dec 20, 2011 by yoshio
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We’ve heard similar stories before. A woman involved in a car crash falls into a coma. Doctors are unable to wake her and things begin to look bleak, until the voice of a loved one miraculously brings them back to consciousness. Here at Rocket News 24, we are especially interested in such amazing events. What set this story apart from the others though are the magic words that against all odds accomplished what medical science could not.

Dec 19, 2011 by yoshio
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Uniqlo, the clothing retailer who has achieved ubiquitous status in Japan is continuing its ambitious plans to expand worldwide. In order to achieve their goal of earning 5 trillion yen (US$60 billion) by 2020, they have been aggressively building larger and larger flagship stores around the world.

Dec 16, 2011 by yoshio
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Where else but China can you talk on your fake iPhone while checking email on your fake MacBook Air (both bought from a fake Apple Store) and eating fake pork chops with a side of fake eggs? The country that is on the cutting edge of forgery is also a commuter’s nightmare—just imagine trying to get a seat on a bus in a country of over one billion people!

Of course, where there’s a will, there’s a way to rip off: recently, a number of women in China have been caught faking pregnancy to get access to priority seating on trains and buses.

Dec 14, 2011 by yoshio
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Are you looking for something to give to that special someone in your life? Choosing the right gift is a huge burden for many of us this time of year, especially with so many options to choose from.

Dec 12, 2011 by yoshio
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Snack food giant, Calbee, opened up their latest Calbee Plus store in Harajuku on 7 December, where you can buy their famous potato chips straight from the deep fryer. Calbee already has shops located in Kyoto and New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, but this newest store gives Tokyoites their first chance to enjoy piping hot potato chips.

I rushed out to get a first-tongue taste.

Dec 9, 2011 by yoshio
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Who could forget, Masako Mizutani, the 40-year-old magazine model who laughs in the face of time and recently set the international internet community ablaze. Her perplexingly unfailing sex appeal has even caused some of our readers to suspect vampirism or cryogenic freezing, while others were left with uncomfortable thought about their mothers.

Now, we’ve tracked her progress from age 20 to 30 in search of her secrets, so let’s take a trip down memory lane to see how this stunner pulled off what most women (and let’s face it, men too) could only dream of.

Hopefully we won’t encounter any vampires on the way.