Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
USA (Page 33)
Hatsune Miku made her American TV debut on Wednesday night, performing on none other than the Late Show with David Letterman. Miku, of course, is a vocaloid, a super-famous Japanese idol who just happens to be virtual. The turquoise-haired star surprised viewers by performing an English song, “Sharing the World”.
Mr. Letterman, meanwhile, looked a little nonplussed.
Back at the start of the year, we all had the urge to go out and fight some monsters when we saw Hollywood blacksmith Tony Swatton recreate the massive sword wielded by Final Fantasy VII’s Sephiroth. Of course, Sephiroth is just one member of the gigantic collective cast of the long-running video game franchise. With so many more iconic weapons to choose from, it was only a matter of time until craftsmen went to work on armaments from the other games in the series, and next up is a real-life version of Squall’s gunblade from Final Fantasy VIII.
On Monday night about two dozen journalists, steak-enthusiasts and all-around hungry people gathered in a private room at Old Homestead Steakhouse in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District to enjoy an experience months in the making.
For the first time ever, Americans were about to dine on the highest quality Japanese Wagyu steak purchased at one of the country’s exclusive beef auctions. Greg Sherry, a co-owner of Old Homestead along with his brother Marc, traveled to Japan’s Gunma prefecture to bid on some beef and bring it back home.
The US Department of State announced on its website the number of people from each region chosen for their 2013 visa lottery program, also known as the green card lottery. Those lucky enough to be chosen will then go through the application process to receive a visa granting them permanent residency in the good old US of A. Read on for more details about the lottery and to learn which parts of the world received the most visas.
If there’s one thing that makes video gaming even more fun than it already is, it’s appropriate snack food. And while we’d never normally suggest that chocolate and controllers could possibly be a good combination (seriously, greasy controllers are a big no-no), we can safely say that you won’t find a more appropriate gaming fuel accompaniment than a plate of tiny, edible classic controllers.
For many of Japan’s most successful music acts, there’s a huge gap between their popularity at home and abroad. Five-man vocal unit Arashi has been at the top of Japan’s boy band heap for years, and while they’ve picked up a few ardent devotees in the U.S., their fan base there is miniscule compared to their legions of followers in Japan.
This became even clearer than usual last week, when Arashi had a concert in Hawaii. The effective cost of a ticket bought in Japan for the event calculates out to some 100,000 yen (US$925), but in Hawaii, you could pick up a ticket for less than a fifth of that price.
I love sushi. I really can’t overstate that fact, and it’s to the point that I’d totally understand if you asked, “If you love sushi so much, why don’t you marry it?”
First, I’m already married, and there are several ways in which my lovely and human wife is a superior spouse compared to a slice of raw fish, no matter how delicious the latter may be. Second, even if I were single and ready to take my relationship with Japanese cuisine’s most famous discipline to the next level, what kind of ring would I use to propose?
Here with the answer is American designer Carolyn Tillie, who’s crafted a whole line of sushi-themed accessories.
Apple’s iTunes service released a trailer for the English dub of Studio Ghibli and Isao Takahata‘s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya on Monday.
This month Kantai Con, ‘the anime convention on an aircraft carrier’, was held aboard the USS Yorktown in South Carolina, and attracted some fabulous cosplayers dressed up as the hottest warships in town.
The lawyer for the family of Darrien Hunt, the 22-year-old man allegedly shot and killed by police officers in Saratoga Springs, Utah last week, said that the family believes Hunt was cosplaying an anime character when he was shot. In particular, the family’s attorney Randall Edwards said that they believe Hunt was dressed as the character Mugen from the anime Samurai Champloo, with a Japanese-style katana sword on his back.
On September 10, two officers confronted Hunt while he was carrying the sword near a credit union in Saratoga Springs. After one shot was fired near the credit union, Hunt was shot and killed about 200 yards away near a Panda Express restaurant.
Munenori Kawasaki currently plays for the Toronto Blue Jays as a shortstop. Originally from Japan, Kawasaki is a pretty good player who bats left, throws right, and has a .294 batting average. However, it’s not his baseball skills that have gotten him a lot of attention around the world and online recently. No, Kawasaki’s willingness to bust a move on and off the field are what everyone’s talking about right now.
A man wearing what appears to be a Pikachu hat and carrying a Pikachu plush broke the security perimeter at the White House when he jumped over the North Fence on Thursday evening.
Martin Cruz hails from Iselin New Jersey, is a killer at playing church music on the drums, and is just three years old! Watch four videos of this little guy owning that kit after the jump.
We’ve all seen a strange work of public art at some point while traveling–you know, that piece that makes you scratch your head and look at it upside-down to try to figure out just what the heck is going on. Fortunately for the residents of San Francisco, they have their very own bizarre–and ginormous–piece of public art to contemplate whenever they feel like it.
Japanese internet users recently stumbled across photos of this particular sculpture created by Chinese artist Zhang Huan and were quick to comment on its unique appearance. One fan even decided that it resembled nothing other than the final boss of a video game. While we’re pretty sure that’s not the interpretation that the artist was going for, the fan’s cleverly manipulated photo still gave us a chuckle.
On display at last month’s Otakon anime convention, this incredible feat of cosplay blurs the line between outfit and scale model, with the wearer requiring a small team to help them put it on.
During our Japanese correspondent Yoshio‘s recent trip to San Diego’s Comic-Con, he was struck by an insatiable craving to eat some quality sushi. From what he’d previously heard, while most American sushi restaurants offer western-inspired uramaki ‘inside-out’ rolls such as the California roll, it would be harder to find nigirizushi (the kind with a topping over a block of rice) on the menu. So what’s a hungry guy far from home to do?
After asking several Japanese people living in the area, Yoshio headed over to the highly recommended Sushi Ota. He went in with some reservations about the authenticity of the sushi, being outside of Japan and all, but left after a mind-blowing experience–in fact, he now considers Sushi Ota to be in the top three sushi restaurants he’s ever been to!
It’s been over a year since the Japanese release of anime legend Hayao Miyazaki’s last film, The Wind Rises. A highly personal film which serves as a powerful closing statement to his storied career, many had hoped it would win Miyazaki his second Oscar, only for the nod in the Best Animated Feature category go to Disney’s juggernaut (and endorser of traditional Japanese cuisine) Frozen.
That doesn’t mean the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has no love for Miyazaki, though, as it’ll soon be bestowing an honorary lifetime achievement award upon him.
While Fox’s Animation Domination High-Def has a long history of skewering anime properties and tropes, like this battle between Naruto and Sasuke, the ultimate anime hero, and super-powered schoolgirls, it’s all out of love. And now, in response to Studio Ghibli‘s announcement that it may dismantle its production department, ADHD has posted a tribute video called “Goodbye, Ghibli.”
One of the great joys of RocketNews24 editors and writers is getting to see how fast food chains operate in different countries. The sometimes slight and sometime huge changes to the menu can really give us more insight into the local cultures than you might expect. However, for the most part these multinational restaurants originate from the USA, so it’s really a special treat to see how the huge gyudon (beef bowl) chain Yoshinoya looks when localized for American customers’ tastes.
Recently a commercial for the salaryman’s favorite restaurant was posted on YouTube and drew some curious opinions from those back in its home country. The response was largely positive, especially regarding the American take on Yoshinoya food, but some wished the US would stop with the whole Japan = ninjas thing already.
In Japan, there’s the phrase “neko no te mo karitai” (literally “want to borrow even a cat’s hand”), meaning that you’re so busy, you even want the cat to help. Well, Pizza Hut took this idiom to heart in its new campaign, hiring four rough-and-tumble cats to manage a franchise called Pizza Cat! As you’ll see in the dramatic “movie trailer,” these cats are fired up and can’t wait to rescue people who’re too busy to prepare dinner.
Read on to learn more about the comical and kawaii campaign, and to watch a few of the 15-second promotional videos that reveal what would happen if cats really lent a paw. Plus, if you live in Japan you may even have a chance to win a Pizza Hut hat for cats. So are felines one opposable thumb away from world domination, or are we slowly approaching a utopia in which pets will fetch us pizza? And hey, didn’t Samurai Pizza Cats already get started on both?
Foreigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Japanese city loses residents’ personal data, which was on paper being transported on a windy day
Should you add tartar sauce to Japanese curry rice? CoCo Ichi makes diners an unusual offer
Suntory x Super Mario collaboration creates a clever way to transform into Mario【Videos】
Smash Bros. director Sakurai stabs Kirby in the face, has delicious justification for it
Secret Kitchen bento serves Japanese flowers, birds, wind and moon in a box, but is it worth it?
Akihabara pop-up shop sells goods made by Japanese prison inmates
Mt. Koya planning to instate visitor’s tax to cope with huge tourist numbers
Pokémon Sleep camping suite and guestrooms coming to Tokyo Hyatt along with giant Snorlax burgers
Anime girl English teacher Ellen-sensei becomes VTuber/VVTUber and NFT
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Studio Ghibli releases new action figures featuring Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind characters
New private rooms on Tokaido Shinkansen change the way we travel from Tokyo to Kyoto
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
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 goodsForeigner’s request for help in Tokyo makes us sad for the state of society
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 TotoroJapanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotesAll-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
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutionsMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Sales of Japan’s most convenient train ticket/shopping payment cards suspended indefinitely
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
Secret Kitchen bento serves Japanese flowers, birds, wind and moon in a box, but is it worth it?
Akihabara pop-up shop sells goods made by Japanese prison inmates
Mt. Koya planning to instate visitor’s tax to cope with huge tourist numbers
Pokémon Sleep camping suite and guestrooms coming to Tokyo Hyatt along with giant Snorlax burgers
Anime girl English teacher Ellen-sensei becomes VTuber/VVTUber and NFT
Studio Ghibli’s Mother’s Day corn set is a heartwarming gift for Totoro fans
Häagen-Dazs brings back its popular mochi ice cream line with two classic, luxurious flavors
French Fries Bread in Tokyo’s Shibuya becomes a hit on social media
Japanese breast size study shows rapid growth in previously smallest-busted region of county
Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron gets North American screening date in September
Ghibli Park now selling “Grilled Frogs” from food cart in Valley of Witches
Twin Tail Day makes Twitter a paradise for guys in Japan【Photos】
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
