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Counselor Has Harsh Words for Parents of Hikikomori: Over 30 Year-Olds Are Screwed, Over 40 Are Hopeless

Counselor Has Harsh Words for Parents of Hikikomori: Over 30 Year-Olds Are Screwed, Over 40 Are Hopeless

As the social phenomenon which goes by the Japanese name of “hikikomori” continues to grow in Japan and other parts of the world, with the first generation is now well into middle age.  Hikikomori refers to people who engage in social isolation by remaining in their homes for extremely long periods of time.

Carpe Fidem is a website which offers support to families with members who have become hikikomori. However, a column they published recently describing questions which come up during consultations with parents of hikikomori children has been stirring up controversy. In it, the counselor recommends some “tough love” style approaches and may have offended some with their level of frankness.
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New Must-Have Baby Item: Diaper Sushi

New Must-Have Baby Item: Diaper Sushi

It’s so hard to know what kind of gift to bring for a baby shower. You have to know what the expectant parents need, the sex of the baby, the colors they like, what other people are bringing… It can take a lot of thought. Or you can just bring them something guaranteed to be original, useful and cute: Diaper Sushi! Read More

Japan’s Latest Twitter Sensation: Shit My Mom Says

Japan’s Latest Twitter Sensation: Shit My Mom Says

In a woman’s life, she has perhaps no greater teacher than her mother. As she encounters and overcomes life’s various twists and turns, a woman may begin to realize her mother told her things that are important and sometimes even a little profound.

And now everyone can share in this maternal wisdom (if you speak Japanese) thanks to a new Twitter account called Shit My Mom Says. Read More

Taiwanese Teen Discovers Older Sister in Online Sex Video, Awkwardness Ensues

Taiwanese Teen Discovers Older Sister in Online Sex Video, Awkwardness Ensues

When I was a lad the only thrills we got were from watching the blacksmith’s daughter’s enormous breasts bounce around under her petticoats as she skipped across the village square each morning to buy bread and milk. But then again, I was born in 1840 and we didn’t have the computers then, let alone the Internet…

Kids today have only to power up their laptops and they’re just a few clicks away from several lifetimes’ worth of insanely graphic sexual content, meaning that parents have to keep a close eye on their offspring’s web surfing to ensure that they don’t stumble upon anything they shouldn’t.

But spare a thought for the high school student in Taiwan who, during a harmless search for a little online smut, accidentally discovered a video of his older sister that had been uploaded without her knowledge…

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“Son, Please Be More Careful With Your Condoms! Love, Mom x”

“Son, Please Be More Careful With Your Condoms! Love, Mom x”

We’re sure we all have things that we’d rather our parents didn’t see. That folder within a folder within a folder on the computer titled “schoolwork” that isn’t really anything of the sort; that moustache waxing kit at the back of the drawer; the small collection of letters penned by an old love…

But a parents discovering – and then returning – a condom is perhaps one of the worst experiences a young man or women living at home can have.

Spare a thought, then, for the poor chap who discovered this misplaced condom along with a note from his mother waiting for him when he returned home one evening.

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Chinese man sold his own child away to bring up someone else’s child

Chinese man sold his own child away to bring up someone else’s child

We’ve all heard the stories of Chinese parents selling away their babies. Some do so because the government allows only one child per family, and they would rather have a son than a daughter. Some do so because they are too poor to support a child. Some do so in order to fund their online gaming habits.

But this 72-year-old Chinese man from Chongqing, he sold away his daughter in order to bring up someone else’s daughter.

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Twitter User Offers Theory on Ghibli Characters’ Past, Japanese Internet Goes Mental

Twitter User Offers Theory on Ghibli Characters’ Past, Japanese Internet Goes Mental

Those of you fortunate enough to have been introduced to Studio Ghibli’s animated feature films will know that they’re of the highest quality and easily rival Disney’s own productions.

Back in my native UK, comparatively few people have met with Ghibli’s heart-warming animated creations, with some people, in fact, falling into the trap of thinking that anything foreign and “a bit manga” is probably not for them. Thanks to the UK’s relative reluctance to embrace the movies, it was not until I was 15 years old when, one rainy Sunday afternoon, My Neighbor Totoro was shown on cable TV that I first became aware of Hayao Miyazaki’s work. At the time, I had no idea what I was watching, but have been a huge fan ever since.

Over in the studio’s native Japan, however, Studio Ghibli has become something of a national treasure since its establishment in 1985, with the studio’s near-annual releases always eagerly awaited, and usually met with both an abundance of praise and mounds of cash.

For most Japanese, Ghibli characters like My Neighbor Totoro’s Satsuki and Mei, Spirited Away’s Chihiro, or broomstick-riding Kiki from the movie of the same name, form a part of their childhood or are attached to fond memories, perhaps even more-so than Mickey, Donald and pals are toWesterners.

So when one hawk-eyed Twitter user suggested that perhaps certain Ghibli characters have cropped up in more than movie without us realising it, internet users understandably paid attention…

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Is Incest Japan’s Latest Literary Craze? Popularity of “My Little Sister” Light Novels on the Rise

Is Incest Japan’s Latest Literary Craze? Popularity of “My Little Sister” Light Novels on the Rise

Japanese “light novels” are a type of short and often serialized young adult novel that are usually heavy on dialogue and light on narrative depth. The growing popularity of light novels has made them common choices for manga and anime adaptations, such as the Haruhi Suzumiya series.

One of the more popular light novel series in recent years is My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute, which tells the story of a normal high school student who finds out his prodigious younger sister is actually a closet otaku, obsessed with anime and incest-themed adult computer games…

It’s probably less unwholesome than it sounds (at least by Japanese standards), and the point is that the series has become so popular that it has spawned an anime and manga series as well as several video games.

It has also seemed to usher in a new craze of light novels about the relationship between normal older brothers and their not-so-normal little sisters.

That’s totally wholesome…right…?

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