Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
Global (Page 41)
This winter has seen some astonishingly low temps and heavy snow even in places that normally enjoy mild winter weather. In fact, the chilly weather has even stopped one finicky feline from pursuing her favorite pursuit: meowing to be let out and then meowing to be let back in.
Having learned the hard way that some TV series exist simply to keep viewers hanging for years (yes, Lost, I am looking at you), I have to admit that I gave the TV adaptation of Game of Thrones a wide berth for quite some time after it first aired. A few months and the contraction of a very nasty cold later, I found myself in bed with a heap of medication, a DVD box-set and little else to do. By the time I was back on my feet, I was a huge fan of the series (and may have run “Game of Thrones blonde girl” through Google a couple of times) and swallowed, along with the last of the medicine, my usual stubborn pride by telling friends that I was ready to join in their nerdy conversations and even read the books that they had all finished with years ago.
Little did I know, though, that the TV show could be made all the more awesome by recreating some of its more memorable scenes in the style of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, with all of my favourite characters looking like they reside in feudal Japan rather than Westeros.
International hacking group “Anonymous” has stated that it breached and shut down the official Wakayama Prefecture website earlier today as a taste of what may come should local fishermen continue to hunt dolphins. The prefecture is home to Taiji, the coastal town that shot to infamy in 2010 following an exposé in the film The Cove, which documented the mass slaughter of thousands of dolphins that takes place in the area each year.
Declaring your love, or even just your like, for a boy or a girl in Japan can be a pretty big deal. While we don’t think most people’s stories are quite as dramatic as in anime, with characters struggling for seasons just to admit their fond feelings for another, it’s certainly true that many Japanese people are pretty shy about asking each other out.
While it’s kind of cute and kind of frustrating if you’re used to a more forward culture, is it really that different from other countries?
Some diligent animators took Banpresto‘s “One Piece Cry heart ~Fuyujima ni Furu Sakura~) (One Piece Cry heart ~The Cherry Blossoms That Fall on Winter Island~) line of crane game prize figures and created a five-minute stop-motion short last month. The “One Piece: Cry heart~” short recreates the famous “Hiluluk’s Cherry Blossoms” scene from Eiichiro Oda‘s manga and anime:
Welcome to round three of our weekly multiple-choice quiz!
It’s been another fun week, with plenty of weird, wow and “WTF?” news stories from Asia, so it’s time to recap and, as well as see who’s been paying attention, give you a chance to discover some of the best stories that have emerged over the past seven days. Plus, if you can get 10 out of 10, Mr. Sato promises to lose the loincloth, or at least cover his nipples.
Mongoose taunting, chocolate massage and nostril flaring all after the jump.
Welcome to the weekend, boys and girls! Feels good to be here, doesn’t it? But before you run off startling donkeys and eating moon pies, we have to check that you’ve been paying attention and swatting up on our weird and wonderful news from Japan and Asia.
Suspicious dogs, kindly couples, adultery and the afterlife all feature in this week’s multiple choice quiz based on our favourite bits from the last seven days’ stories. So click the link and let’s find out just how much you went outside this week.
Here’s a shocking fact: Despite decades of gender stereotypes insisting that men are disgusting pigs that would gladly hump anything without too much back hair even if they’re already in a relationship, recent studies suggest women are cheating about as much as men (presumably also provided there’s not too much back hair).
One reason for the persistent stereotype may be that women are just a bit smarter and better at hiding their affairs than men are. While a cheating man is liable to show up to his SO’s house with a pair of panties on his head, cheating women are apparently much more discreet, a Japanese survey of 50 unfaithful women reveals. The Niconico News survey also offers a few tips for girls who are currently cheating or who may be considering a little love on the side in the future:
Real estate brokerage Movoto generally focuses their interests on, you know, real estate, but every now and again, they’ll also post their estimates on fictional properties. Most recently, they turned their interests to Naruto Uzumaki’s apartment in Hidden Leaf Village. Factoring in location, furnishings, size, and market, they came up with $100,000.
Here’s the listing they whipped up:
You know that feeling when you’re watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and think to yourself, “this is great, but I really wish I could see Lisa Vanderpump’s face seven times its actual size”?
As luck would have it, just a few days ago, Samsung began selling a 110-inch UltraHD4K monster of a TV. That means your dreams can be a reality as long as you live in the right place and have the necessary funds–and we have a feeling it’d be totally worth it because as well as boasting amazing picture quality, this thing is absolutely enormous.
Did you know that the ice cream emoji is just the poop emoji re-purposed?
In honor of the Emoji Art Show in New York City, creative agency 5Loom created a timeline of emoji development that points out this and other pivotal moments in emoji history.
Check it out:
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s Christmas Day! And while that may not mean much to the majority of Japan and people go about their day like it’s any other Wednesday in December, we at RocketNews24 are taking it easy and spending some quality time with our friends, families, and of course lots and lots of food – be it traditional roast turkey or fried chicken courtesy of Japan’s most beloved Christmas cook, Colonel Sanders.
Although things will be slowing down here a little over the next few days, you can rest assured that we’ll still be around to bring you enough weird and wonderful news from Asia to keep you going until the new year – we wouldn’t want you to go hungry!
So have a great day, thanks for stopping by our humble site, and merry Christmas from the entire RocketNews24 team!
Photo via Stripes
Dear Santa,
I know it’s December 24, but is it too late to change my Christmas wish-list?
Let’s forget about the Power Rangers pyjamas I originally asked for, and we can put the Super Sonico hug pillow on hold this year. *This* is what I really want, and there’s only one of them in the whole world: a backlit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES and four amazing controllers.
Compared to older forms of media such as books and movies, the video game industry is still somewhat wet behind the ears. But as technology advances and developers become increasingly able to realise their creative visions without having to rein in their imaginations due to hardware limitations, we are finally reaching the point where games are able to not just entertain but challenge us both intellectually and viscerally, creating emotive experiences and acting as vehicles for genuinely engaging tales.
9.03m does precisely that. Developed by independent Scottish game studio Space Budgie, the game, whose proceeds go towards those affected by the disaster, stands as a memorial to the victims of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, questing players with gathering the possessions of those lost in the tsunami, which have been carried across the ocean from Japan to America, with each object telling the story of a lost soul.
At once heartrending and beautiful, this is a title that deserves the attention of not just every gamer but every person with access to a PC.
It’s been over 80 years since the words “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!” were made famous by the 1920s song of the same name. Well, here we are in the 21st century, and it looks like we’re still screaming for ice cream, because who doesn’t love the sweet, cold stuff, right?
Even in the middle of winter, frozen treats like yukimi daifuku and other ice cream products in tantalizing seasonal flavors (seriously, why do they have to come up with ice cream flavors like pumpkin, apple pie and french toast?) can be incredibly tempting. Among our favorites, of course, is Häagen-Dazs ice cream, and today, one of our reporters from the Japanese RocketNews24 site shares with us his very own quick and easy recipe for creating a yummy dessert using store-bought Häagen-Dazs ice creams cups. And what makes it interesting is that although it involves ice cream, it isn’t a frozen dessert!
Generally it’s nice to have your country or town be number one in something. Even if it’s for something as despicable as bag snatching, you can at least gain a slightly twisted sense of pride for toughing it out in such a rough-and-tumble locale.
However, when a recent study reported by Bloomberg Japan declared that Japan had overtaken the U.S. in smartphone and tablet app purchases, people we less than enthused leaving comments such as “Japan’s screwed,” and, “This is sad news indeed.”
When I was a kid, I used to watch Japanese anime that were dubbed in English or Mandarin because the original versions were not broadcast on the local TV channels. Most of the time, the theme songs of these anime remained in Japanese, and I had fun singing along to the catchy tunes even though I had absolutely no idea what the lyrics meant. However, it isn’t entirely uncommon for international versions of anime series to have theme songs localized to the audience’s native language and tastes for music.
Recently, a clip of the Arabic version of the popular anime series, Arupusu no Shojo Haiji (Heidi, Girl of the Alps) has been making waves among Japanese netizens due to its localized opening song, which was starkly different from the Japanese original. Videos after the jump!
On December 13… RocketNew… I’m sorry.
It’s just I can’t stop staring at it. None of us can. How many times have we looked at the menu screens of our iPhones or iPads? Too many times to count, but we could never see what was going on right in front of us all this time.
Last month, the outspoken Japanese blogger Madame Riri gave us all a lesson in how to tell whether or not a restaurant abroad serves authentic Japanese food. But let’s be honest, it takes more than tradition to make a dish delicious, and there’s something to be said for adjusting the menu to match local preferences. We’ve certainly experienced this phenomenon in the wide world of sushi!
And so, to celebrate the creation of successful Japanese eateries across the globe, here are the top 10 restaurants that serve Japanese food in foreign countries!
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
New private rooms on Tokaido Shinkansen change the way we travel from Tokyo to Kyoto
A trip to hell on Japan’s ‘vomit ship’: Is it as bad as everyone says it is?
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
We tried Korea’s way-too-big King Tonkatsu Burger at Lotteria 【Taste Test】
Secret Kitchen bento serves Japanese flowers, birds, wind and moon in a box, but is it worth it?
Family Mart makes matcha dreams come true with new lineup of strong green tea sweets in Japan
Studio Ghibli releases new action figures featuring Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind characters
Eight Japanese words we’d love to import into EnglishMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
Starbucks reopens at Shibuya Scramble Crossing with new look and design conceptStudio Ghibli releases new action figures featuring Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind charactersFrench Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Studio Ghibli glasses cases let anime characters keep an eye on your spectacles
Is the new Shinkansen Train Desk ticket worth it?New private rooms on Tokaido Shinkansen change the way we travel from Tokyo to Kyoto
Beautiful Ghibli sealing wax kits let you create accessories and elegant letter decorations【Pics】McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Studio Ghibli releases Kiki’s Delivery Service chocolate cake pouches in Japan
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese things
Studio Ghibli unveils Mother’s Day gift set that captures the love in My Neighbour Totoro
Domino’s Japan now sells…pizza ears?
New Japanese KitKat flavour stars Sanrio characters, including Hello KittyAll-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky loungeMore foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutions
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitelyMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sold-out Studio Ghibli desktop humidifiers are back so Totoro can help you through the dry season
Japanese government to make first change to romanization spelling rules since the 1950s
Ghibli founders Toshio Suzuki and Hayao Miyazaki contribute to Japanese whisky Totoro label design
Doraemon found buried at sea as scene from 1993 anime becomes real life【Photos】
Tokyo’s most famous Starbucks is closed
One Piece characters’ nationalities revealed, but fans have mixed opinions
We asked a Uniqlo employee what four things we should buy and their suggestions didn’t disappoint
Princesses, fruits, and blacksmiths: Study reveals the 30 most unusual family names in Japan
We tried Korea’s way-too-big King Tonkatsu Burger at Lotteria 【Taste Test】
Secret Kitchen bento serves Japanese flowers, birds, wind and moon in a box, but is it worth it?
Family Mart makes matcha dreams come true with new lineup of strong green tea sweets in Japan
Studio Ghibli releases new action figures featuring Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind characters
Eight Japanese words we’d love to import into English
Sakura tree falls on man at Sannenzaka near Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto 【Breaking News】
Katsudon vs. tonkatsu vs. katsu sandwich – What’s the best way to eat pork cutlet in Japan?
Japanese company starts project to restore Nakagin Capsules to capsule hotel
Hey, Japanese taxi driver! Take us to your favorite restaurant in Tsuruga City!
Japan’s tallest skyscraper ever, taller than Tokyo Tower, to be built near Tokyo Station
What happens to Cup Noodle Mystery Meat when you cook it in a rice cooker?
Cute ekiben station bento looks like it’s from Japan but it’s from a different place entirely
