Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
I have always been a writer of literary fiction, doing translation writing on the side. Now that I have started translation writing for RocketNews24, those two jobs have switched places! I live in Shizuoka city, with my family, and part of my job is to help look after an aging father-in-law. I love taking pictures of Mt. Fuji in all her different moods, and I also love shooting clouds which create such beautiful canvases across the sky. I am KaBooM on Blogspot, a blog that has been archived, but opens up with one of my published short stories. I am ChaChuMas on Twitter and Karen Masuda on Facebook. I regularly post my pictures there.
Posted by Karen Bremer Masuda (Page 3)
Are you familiar with the Q-pot brand of jewelry? It could get a bit sticky if your tried wearing it on your next night out on the town, but it certainly is attractive, and tasty!
That is because Q-pot Cafe arranges chocolates, cupcakes and macaroons into delightful rings, bracelets, and necklaces! Never before has there ever been such delectable mouth-watering jewelry, something that is served up in the most appealing manner at the Q-pot cafe. Read More
Luhur Batukaru Temple, Tabanan, Bali
Indonesia’s Bali Island is full of beautiful temples like the Luhar Batukaru Temple. This temple, strategically located on the southern slope of Bali’s second-highest volcano, protects Bali from evil spirits.
The area surrounding this temple and three other sites in Bali were only recently added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites. On June 24th, at the World Heritage Committee’s meeting, held this year in St. Petersburg, Russia, these sites became a part of the expanding World Heritage Site list.
Now Bali has four World Heritage Sites! What sort of place gets to be a Heritage Site? In order to give you an idea, we headed straight away to Bali to show you these recent additions of officially recognized treasures in our world. Read More
If we asked you your travel plans for your next trip abroad, you would probably come up with a flight plan. It wouldn’t occur to most of us to take a boat. The fastest way to get from point A to point B particularly when B is overseas would have to be flying.
A ferry ride to foreign lands, compared to air travel ,may not be the most efficient way to go, but the sense of embarking on an adventure on the high seas, makes up for it! From an island country like Japan, surrounded on all sides by water, taking a ferry trip overseas is actually very reasonable.
Although it is not widely known, there are several ferry routes leaving at regular intervals from various ports across Japan. Where do these ferries go?
According to information from the Travel site Tripgraphics, ferries leave regularly for destinations in China, Korea, and Russia. There are frequent ferry departures to 8 ports of call in these three countries. Doesn’t it tickle the imagination? At the very least, you can’t help but be curious. What would a sea voyage be like? Read More
Icha Icha is a Japanese term used to describe anything from light flirting to making love. It includes things like ‘necking’ and ‘making out’, but also holding hands or even just entwining pinky fingers. Drawing close and giving long meaningful looks is also included in the realm of icha icha.
Traditionally, Japan is not a touchy country. Unless you are jammed up against somebody on a rush hour train, you tend to keep yourself to yourself. Just think of how hands off bowing, the traditional greeting between two people, is.
Although more young people these days tend to hold hands or hold on to each other in some way, kissing in public, is still quite taboo. It has always been quite shocking to see any couple kissing in the street or on the subway in Japan. (Possibly the refrain to “Get a room” or “take it elsewhere” is universal, but such public displays of affection have always been less frequent in Japan than say, the US or France.)
Being a relatively new thing, this public icha icha-ing, has no guidelines to it. More and more people find themselves in the uncomfortable situation of coming face to face with icha icha without knowing how to react to it.
Yahoo! Japan asked readers for their thoughts on where they draw the line on public displays of affection. In other words: How much public icha icha you are willing to put up with?
If you give a kid a hundred yen to buy a treat on a hot summer’s day, he’ll most likely skip off to the candy store to buy himself a Gari Gari Kun, a very popular ice cream bar sold just about anywhere. It is also the preference of many dark jedi. The standard Gari Gari Kun (gari gari is the sound of ice being crunched or scratched, and kun is an informal address aking to ‘boy’) comes in blue packaging and is cream-soda flavored. When it comes to ice cream bars, why give up a good thing?
Because right now, there is a limited-edition cream of corn soup flavored Gari Gari Kun! Gari Gari Kun comes up with different flavored ice cream bars all the time, though they’re usually a special seasonal flavor, like grape or melon. Although there is no season to cream of corn soup, it would be safe to say that cream of corn soup is a standard ‘soup of the day’ for many fancy European restaurants.
“I like this guy… but is he suitable for marriage?” This is one of the most important questions Japanese women ask themselves in considering a life time mate. Marriage can be daunting even in the best of circumstances, so it’s crucial to have some assurance you’re making a good choice when deciding on that special person that you want to spend the rest of your life with.
Otome Sugoren, a website featuring articles on love, relationships and marriage, surveyed its female readers to get these results. The reporter who compiled the info and wrote the article is a Japanese woman herself, so you can be sure of its authenticity! Here are the top nine things Japanese women check out when Looking for a suitable marriage partner: Read More
There is all kinds of kissing all over the world, but traditionally, in Japan there has only been two kinds and they are the romantic kissing done by couples or kissing babies. Public displays of affection have always been frowned upon, and still are: a kiss on the lips is serious business.
Not to mention how unnaturally kissing comes to most Japanese. The moment for a romantic kiss on any Japanese drama looks excruciatingly uncomfortable, especially in comparison to the “eat each other up” passion of western dramas. The jidaigeki, or Japanese period dramas, feature absolutely no kissing. With this in mind, SK Planet Japan did a survey on 400 20 to 30-year-old men and women to find out young Japanese people’s views on kissing—which is actually pretty interesting considering that kissing has always been an almost taboo subject.
In the midst of present day globalization, and with international marriages on the rise, how do Japanese people fare on the ‘international stage’ of dating?
We decided to find out by sending our reporter to Comiket 82 earlier this month and asking REAL LIVE foreign visitors if they would like to date a Japanese person.
French fries, or “furaido potato”, as they are called here in Japan, are the standard side order to all kinds of fast food. Which fast food shop has the best tasting fries in Japan? My Navi News decided to find out by canvassing 1000 working men and women from the ages of 22 to 32 on Japanese social networking service Mixi.
The results show the top fast food shops ranked by their french fries along with a few select comments from those polled. Their occupations and genders are also shown and although there may not be any direct correlation in occupation to french fry tastes, their education does suggest a discerning taste in french fry eating. The gender of the people taking the survey appears to have absolutely no significance except that ‘gender role-happy’ Japan cares about such information.
The survey was conducted by simply asking, “Which fast food restaurant makes the best french fries?”
And the winners are… Read More
The sea is too clean for the fish!
Efforts to clean up the sea have caused an adverse reaction giving the fishing Industries in Hyogo, Okayama, and Oita Prefectures along the Setonai Seaboard a major headache. The irony being that the sea is too clean for the fish to thrive.
An analysis of the sea water by researchers found the natural levels of Nitrogen and phosphorous in the salt content of the sea water needed for the nutritional growth of healthy plankton have diminished to the point that it has effected the natural eco system of the sea. Without enough plankton, the major nutrition for many small sea animals, the whole food chain is disrupted to the point of great loss to the fishing Industry.
The world’s most venturesome ramen shop, Musashi Noodles, fearlessly created a cold ramen dish with soy milk soup and rayu, or chili oil, ice cream. Musashi Noodles is a Japanese noodle shop franchise. Their Shinjuku branch held a Valentines special promotion back in February featuring Unique Chocolate Ramen.
Summer in Japan is when ramen shops do a booming business in cold noodle dishes like hiyashi chuka. This new creation dubbed ‘tonyu hiyashi men’ or soy milk cold noodles, is available for a limited time only. Notice the scoop of red rayu ice cream floating in the white soy milk soup. A timely creation, full of national pride for all those medals won in the Olympics! But what about the taste? One of our reporters went to check it out. Read More
What kind of person are you attracted to? Good looking and intelligent may be at the top of many people’s list of attractive attributes, but not all of us are blessed with an abundance of physical beauty and/or high intelligence.
Self sufficiency and outspokenness would normally be good characteristics to have but are also widely overlooked by the male species when searching for a female to spend time with. ‘Ah she doesn’t need me’, would be a likely initial reaction. This could be one of the great universal truths: cultural boundaries disappear in the need for us to be needed.
Alright, so something has to be done and since it takes time for someone to find your ‘inner beauty’, you may want to try these sure-fire tactics, courtesy of our female Japanese editorial staff, for getting someone you’re interested in to be interested in you. Ladies, arm yourselves!
Did you know that along with the ultra violet rays of the sun, summer heat reduces collagen in the skin? We have enough to worry about with what aging does to our collagen reserves! The winter provides lots of opportunity to boost collagen intake through eating gelatinous ingredients like pork and chicken cartilaginous cuts of meat, in nabe, the hot-pot dish where everyone helps themselves while sitting around a steaming pot of simmering ingredients. But who wants to eat nabe in summer!
Gelatin is the answer! Gelatin consists of collagen and is used to gel things. A web search for good gelatin recipes resulted in finding jellied eggs from this website, ediva, “Jellied Eggs: Great Recipe for Easter”. Well it isn’t Easter but never mind, jellied eggs can also be eaten in the hot summer, a cooling healthy treat. Read More
The art of goldfish exhibiting can be fully appreciated at this Art Aquarium and Night Aquarium Exhibit called Edo Cooling Goldfish. Sponsored by Diners Card and running from August 17th (Friday) till September 24th (Monday) at the Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, the exhibit consists of artfully arranged aquariums where, the stars of this display, the kingyo, or goldfish, swim around demonstrating their own beauty, as well as being part of an intricate art presentation never seen before.
You have never, and may never again, see so many kingyo in one place at one time!
Rumor has it that the world-famous Bill Gates has started building a vacation home in Japan’s premier mountain resort town Karuizawa, Nagano!
After it was substantiated in an article in Shinken Shinbun, a local construction periodical, the Bill Gates Mansion became the talk of the town. The land for it includes an area of 19,979 square meters. It will be one-storied and go down two stories into a basement. There will be a heliport and a private underground road accessing the grounds where a 2000 square metered garden is planned.
Imagine, if you will, a conversation in your Pilattes studio or gym locker room, or even on the train in any city in Japan, between two slender women, whom nobody would ever guess to be worried about their weight. These women could be any age, married, single, with or without children, the point being that they are slender.
“I’m getting fat! I really have to watch what I eat!”
“Me too! My weakness is snacks I can’t help eating snacks!”
“Oh, guess what? I found an article on RocketNews 24 about ‘diet snack food’! It introduces 20 of them, I’m pretty sure it says they are no more than 100 calories each!”
Two heads meet in the center to gaze over an i-phone. Read More
The goya represents summer in Japan in many ways. This bitter gourd is a staple of Okinawa cuisine with a tropical image, its bitterness is celebrated as one of the healthiest foods around. If you can stand the bitterness then it is excellent for the skin, a beauty aide for women!
The ever popular ‘green curtain’, which is a vine plant grown on netting over windows to keep out the heat, often consists of goya plants. The leaves grow thick and can keep direct sunlight out considerably saving on cooling costs!
Goya growers and super markets throw out the over-ripe goya when it yellows, I suppose because it stops being the well-loved summer vegetable we all know.
But wait! If you let it ripen, it turns into a bright yellow sweet fruit! WOW! Where did that bitterness go?
Read More
If you don’t live in Hokkaido, Japanese summers are hot and humid! A good way to stay cool, other than staying in a confined room where air-conditioned air is piped out from a room cooler, is to use a uchiwa. It only takes just a little muscle to keep a constant breeze and recently there are highly functional ones that will help send cool air your way!
Stainless Steel type, put it in the Freezer!
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
The oldest tunnel in Japan is believed to be haunted, and strange things happen when we go there
Arrest proves a common Japanese saying about apologies and police
Wear Japan’s most iconic landmark on your shoes with this Adidas collaboration【Photos】
Is the new Shinkansen Train Desk ticket worth it?
Starbucks reopens at Shibuya Scramble Crossing with new look and design concept
Beautiful Sailor Moon manhole cover coasters being given out for free by Tokyo tourist center
We tried Japan’s Strawberry Daifuku? liqueur, one of three dessert-themed liqueursMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Disney princesses get official manga makeovers for Manga Princess Cafe opening in Tokyo
We try out “Chan Ramen”, an underground type of ramen popular in the ramen communityStarbucks reopens at Shibuya Scramble Crossing with new look and design concept
Beautiful new Final Fantasy T-shirt collection on the way from Uniqlo【Photos】
Foreign English teachers in Japan pick their favorite Japanese-language phrases【Survey】Is the new Shinkansen Train Desk ticket worth it?More foreign tourists than ever before in history visited Japan last month
There’s a park inside Japan where you can also see Japan inside the park
Japanese convenience store packs a whole bento into an onigiri rice ballMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Studio Ghibli releases Kiki’s Delivery Service chocolate cake pouches in Japan
Japan’s bone-breaking and record-breaking roller coaster is permanently shutting down
New definition of “Japanese whiskey” goes into effect to prevent fakes from fooling overseas buyers
Foreign passenger shoves conductor on one of the last full runs for Japan’s Thunderbird train
Our Japanese reporter visits Costco in the U.S., finds super American and very Japanese things
Kyoto bans tourists from geisha alleys in Gion, with fines for those who don’t follow rules
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 Kitty
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
Studio Ghibli’s new desktop Howl’s Moving Castle will take your stationery on an adventure
Wear Japan’s most iconic landmark on your shoes with this Adidas collaboration【Photos】
Is the new Shinkansen Train Desk ticket worth it?
Starbucks reopens at Shibuya Scramble Crossing with new look and design concept
Beautiful Sailor Moon manhole cover coasters being given out for free by Tokyo tourist center
We tried Japan’s Strawberry Daifuku? liqueur, one of three dessert-themed liqueurs
Japanese convenience store chain begins testing remote controlled robot staff in Tokyo
New virgin-killing sweater discovered, modeled in Japan【Photos】
Artist creates “PokeMonstrosities” that are the stuff of nightmares
Randomly running into a great sushi lunch like this is one of the best things about eating in Tokyo
Dogs now allowed on Catbus! Ghibli Park vehicles revise service animal policy
Make your instant coffee 10 times yummier with this one simple trick
Jamiroquai doll from Japan lets you control your own Virtual Insanity 【Video】
What is Teru Teru Bozu? The tragic history behind the Japanese fine weather doll