RocketNews24 / Bringing You Yesterday's News From Japan and Asia, Today (Page 4)

Cool Japan: Big Data Helps Predict Japan’s Next Big Hits (With Awesome ‘Weather’ Map)

5 days ago by Cara Clegg
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Japanese exporters may have been suffering lately, but Japan still has one major export up its sleeve: Cool.

And now there’s a new strategy for spreading Cool Japan across the world. Up until now businesses haven’t really connected with what’s popular, but from here on a new public-private initiative will use “big data” to more comprehensively measure and predict the foreign appetite for Japanese culture. Read More

Japan’s Top 10 Favourite Cat Breeds for 2013: Who will be Top Cat?

5 days ago by Oona McGee
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There’s no doubt that Japanese people are fond of their cats. After all, many of them have grown up with a furry friend companion, even if it was only a virtual cat like Doraemon or Hello Kitty. Now, there are cat cafes where people can pay to pass the time with some feline company, and owners can enhance their relationships with a spot of cat massage. With all this feline love, though, we have to wonder which breeds would be the nation’s most beloved? To find out, we toyed with the idea of putting puss against puss in an old-fashioned beauty pageant. But then, after thinking about the inevitable cat-fights, we decided to take a look at a survey of 10,000 respondents instead. Surprisingly, the top ten breeds remain unchanged again this year, as they have for several years. Read More

Take a Ride on Japan’s New Amphibious Bus and See the Sites of Tokyo!

5 days ago by Andrew Miller
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Japan’s latest tourism offering looks set to capture the attention of both sightseers and locals seeking a spot of adventure. From the Japanese company that embarked on such enterprises as the open air double-decker bus comes the “land and water bus”. The development of the vehicle is part of a new Tokyo sightseeing strategy undertaken by Japanese automobile company “Hinomaru Bus”. The service, dubbed “Sky Duck Tokyo Splash Tour”, launched on March 2013 and has been fully booked since its first day of operation.

5 days ago by Preston Phro
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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

‘He Ain’t Ugly, He’s My Robot’ – Creative Use of Garbage in China Results in One Man’s Robo Pal

5 days ago by Philip Kendall
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“Johnny Five… is alive!” Despite both betraying my age and likely alienating half of my audience by using a quote from an obscure 80s robot movie, I can’t help but think that if this young man’s robot could speak, he’d immediately thank his lucky stars that his master breathed life into what was once little more than a pile of junk. You see, the two-metre-tall robot standing with his arm around ingenious inventor Tao Xiangli here was built at home using nothing more than parts salvaged from scrap.

5 days ago by Mike
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Japanese college students, having apparently resigned themselves to living out the stereotype that Japan is one big, racially homogenous hive mind, seem to be foregoing their chance to really do something unique after years of mandatory school uniforms and opting to just wear whatever the guy or girl next to them is wearing.

This is resulting in some eerie Twitter photo galleries of literal rooms full of students wearing more or less the exact same outfit.

6 days ago by Philip Kendall
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Despite being a country where firearms are incredibly rare and licences to own them notoriously difficult to obtain, there nevertheless remain thousands of gun nuts in Japan. Thankfully, the majority of firearm fans here are content to spend hours poring over photos and technical diagrams of weapons, occasionally visiting shooting ranges or watching videos of pretty girls squeezing off a few rounds while dressed as French maids.

For those who prefer to have something to play with at home, there are airsoft guns from makers such as Tokyo Marui, which feature a shockingly high level of detail and come with all manner of bells and whistles in an attempt to recreate the experience of firing the real thing without the risk of death, serious injury or being arrested. But as aesthetically pleasing as these firing replicas are, one key element was always missing: sound.

Enter: Bakuon Gun-Sound replicas.

6 days ago by Preston Phro
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Most famous artists, no matter how original, tend to work in established mediums. Even Picasso and Dali, who flaunted the rules of perspective like biker gangs buzzing cabbies, are known mostly for their paintings. But every now and then, someone comes along and blows our minds with utterly gorgeous work in an extraordinarily unique medium.

Today, that mind-blower is Ryo Sehata. And just what is his medium? Why, none other than regular, shop-bought cellophane tape.

6 days ago by Master Blaster
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What started as a simple school memo sent out to parents last Friday has mushroomed into a nationwide discussion the issues of censorship and bullying in schools and online.

The issue was triggered by a tweet which was sent out on Friday by a now disabled account showing a photo of the letter along with the caption “my school wants to ban Line and stuff lolololol.”

Line has become a highly popular app in Japan for its variety of functions including instant messaging, image sharing, and free voice calls over the internet.

6 days ago by Preston Phro
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Car washes are all pretty standard, aren’t they? Sure, marketing theory (that’s a real thing, right?) necessitates some sort of diversity among competitors, but there’s not much you can do beyond lowering prices or having, um, eye-catching employees. Wax is wax, and high-pressure water is high-pressure water, right?

Well, one car wash owner in China has started using a more novel cleaning product: milk! Read More

My Smell-o-phone! Japanese Company Set to Make Your Smartphone Stink

6 days ago by Cara Clegg
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Remember Google Nose? No, we don’t either, because it was just an April Fool’s joke. But, naturally, a Japanese company has taken the idea way too seriously, and is set to release a bizarre new plug-in device for your smartphone. Read More

Chinese Photoshop Trolls Part 3: This Time It’s Personal

6 days ago by Master Blaster
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Just when you thought it was safe to ask someone to touch up your photo, China’s Photoshop-proficient wags are back to corrupt people’s innocent image processing wishes.

In case, you missed Part 1 or even Part 2 of the series, the process involves someone asking for their photo to be improved, only to have the meaning of their words intentionally twisted for the sake of (our) humor. For example, the lady above was hoping she could look “sexier” through doctoring. Alas, she soon found that sexiness is in the eye of the beholder, or rather the person doing the ‘shopping.

Now that we’re all up to speed, on with the show.

6 days ago by Casey Baseel
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On May 17, Japanese hamburger chain Lotteria’s ramen burger went on sale in the Tokyo area. Comprised of a slab of seasoned pork and a handful of noodles sandwiched inside a bun, with a cup of broth on the side, the sandwich is a collaboration between Lotteria and the popular ramen restaurant chain Musashi.

Representing the convergence of two of fast food’s all-stars, the ramen burger has been a hit, with lines stretching out the door when it went on sale. But our stomachs are fickle masters, and we decided to tear the two star-crossed lovers apart once again by using the ramen burger to make a bowl of ramen noodles. Read More

Lotteria Mega Ramen Burger Challenge: Mr Sato Takes on a Tower of Carb Power

6 days ago by Oona McGee
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Mr. Sato’s love of hamburgers and ramen noodles is perhaps known by thousands of people across the world. But what if we put bun and noodle together and served them up in an enticing tower of excess? We decided to put his love to the test by pimping out the new Lotteria Ramen Burger with an extra 10 servings of noodles. Because we’re nice like that.

So who will win, man or beastly carbohydrate? Will the burger ultimately contribute to its own demise by giving Mr. Sato the carbs he needs to complete the challenge? Or will they tire him out with a good old-fashioned belly bloat? We’ve got the photos and video of their tryst inside.

6 days ago by Master Blaster
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Countries of the world have a lot of different features and services that make them unique to each other, but one of the things you can always find from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe is the humble taxi cab.

Of course not all taxis are equal; the cars used and more importantly the fares charged can vary greatly. If you’re interested in where your country stands or if you’re planning a trip abroad, Trip Advisor Japan has whipped up a quick and handy infographic ranking 25 places around the world by the rates of their taxis.

May 19, 2013 by Oona McGee
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Latte art, created with a skilled pour of steamed milk and some clever manoeuvres, has been mesmerising coffee lovers for well over a decade. While the most common creations are heart and leaf designs in different shades of mocha, here in Japan we’ve spotted 10 hot, candy-coloured manga characters, of the Sailor Moon variety! We fell in love with these designs and needed to know how the pretty guardians and their pals came to life in coffee form. And, more importantly, whether it’s something we can do at home. Mouths watering and hearts fluttering, we asked the artist directly to find out.

May 19, 2013 by Kay
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I’m sure many of you have memories of reading tales from Beatrix Potter‘s famous Peter Rabbit series as a child and being fascinated with the exquisitely drawn anthropomorphic animals in the books. Although Peter and his friends wore brightly colored human clothes, they looked so real that they seemed like they might walk out of the pages of the book at any time, didn’t they? You probably even had a favorite character too. (Mine was Tom Kitten, by the way.) Some of you may also recall the 2006 Hollywood movie Ms. Potter, which told the extraordinary story of how the Peter Rabbit series came into being, with Renée Zellweger starring in the title role.

But now, as an adult, do you ever feel the urge to see such pure, wholesome characters from your childhood acting just the slightest bit naughty? Well, Japanese comic artist Keiichi Tanaka apparently had just such an urge and actually produced a drawing depicting exactly that — our beloved Peter Rabbit indulging in kinky behavior! Read More

Transmitting Information Via the Sense of Touch: NHK Researchers Create a New Hope For the Visually Impaired

May 19, 2013 by Andrew Miller
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NHK, Japan’s public service broadcasting corporation, has created a technology which offers hope to the visually impaired by making use of the sense of touch in relaying information to the brain. The technology promises to be able to recreate the sense of touching an object with your fingers or hands despite the object not actually existing in the real world. It is a technology that could endow the visually impaired with a much higher degree of sensual richness.

May 19, 2013 by Casey Baseel
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When you’re a kid, theme parks are a place where your dream can come to life. Wouldn’t it be great to feel that excitement once again?

In search of that childlike wonder, one of RocketNews24’s reporters recently visited the Lecian Grand Carnaval amusement park in Mandaue City on Cebu Island, in the Philippines. While it doesn’t have the high-tech animatronics and pyrotechnics of Disneyland, it offers plenty of old-fashioned attractions like a tilt-a-whirl and haunted house, plus a life-endangering roller coaster and very lenient napping policy. Read More

The Grave of Christ and Vampire Ice Cream – Japanese Town Solves Many of the World’s Mysteries

May 19, 2013 by Rachel Tackett
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For being a country so heavily steeped in traditional culture, Japan sure does love to fiddle with an amalgamation of spiritual folklore. Just listen to the bizarre conglomerate of beliefs practiced in one particular “town of mystery” in Aomori Prefecture of the Tohoku Region. Shingou Town claims to be the true burial site of Jesus Christ, and if that’s not crazy enough, just wait until you hear about their connection to Dracula and the pyramids! Read More