Yoshito Ueda

GM

Posted by Yoshio (Page 3)

Another handy new feature that came along with the recent iOS5 update has been discovered! With this little hack you can listen to your favorite YouTube videos without having to stare at the actual video, which most of the time is just a still photo of an album cover for me anyways.

Using this feature closes the full YouTube application and lets you run just the audio stream in the background. As I type this I can almost hear all Apple devices’ batteries breath a collective sigh of relief.

This should sound familiar for those of you who used to do this iTunes, because it’s exactly the same thing, except using YouTube. For those who are new to this, don’t fret. It’s as easy as 1-2-3 to enjoy a new level of App freedom.

– How to Play YouTube Audio-Only Streams

Read More

The Ultimate Dragon Ball Costume: The Balls Themselves

Comiket 81, hadn’t disappointed for a moment in its quality and variety of cosplayers. Walking through the market I was treated to the best in amateur costumes. Although I may have dubbed Garo as The Most Kick-Ass Cosplay of Comic Market 81! this time around, I feel there is another costume worthy enough to honor. It was a Dragon Ball costume – literally, a costume of the actual Dragon Balls that the series is named after.

Read More

Does Your Bum Need a Cleaning, America?

Do you know what a washlet is? It’s that strange device you often find attached to the toilet in Japan. You know, the one that shoots a cleansing spray of water at your anus after you take a dump!

Read More

Epic Advertisement Recounts 10 Years in the Life of a Family

We often take the simple invention of the light bulb for granted. Even though our lives have their bright and dark moments, we are always under the reliable warm glow of our lights.

This is the premise of a new commercial by Toshiba, created to promote its new LED light that they claim lasts 10 years, that follows the life of one bulb as it lights a family’s life for 10 years (3653 days including leap years).

Read More

The Most Kick-Ass Cosplay of Comic Market 81!

Comiket 81, the world’s largest self-published comic book fair, was held 29 December, 2011 at Big Sight in Tokyo. Like Comikets before it, the cosplayers came out this year in full force. Yet, among the standard cosplay fair was one who stood out in the crowd like no other.

Read More

About 70km from Fukushima Daiichi, on the boarder of Fukushima and Tochigi prefectures lies the city of Shirakawa. It’s was a pleasant city with lots of green space that was mentioned by Basho in his famous poem The Narrow Road to Oku. Every year they hold the Daruma Ichi festival that celebrates Daruma dolls, traditional toys that symbolize perseverance and good luck.

However now the background radiation is at times 0.60μSv which is about three times the average dose of radiation we receive during our daily lives. Here, a tearful mother of two confesses to reporter investigating financial compensation something that a mother should never have to say: “I wish my daughters were never born.”

Read More

Six Business Hotels in Tokyo You Can Spend the Night in For Under 3,500 Yen

When deciding to travel in Japan we are faced with a rather large assortment of hotels that don’t exist in our home countries, one of which is the “business hotel”. The label of business hotel may conjure up images of the infamous “capsule hotels” for some, while for other’s it may have the sense of a dank, narrow, room that was occupied by the cast of Mad Men. I suspected such things at first until, in an effort to save money, I bit the bullet and tried a few out.

I can now confidently say that despite their label, business hotels are actually rather comfy – some of them downright elegant!

These hotels don’t skimp on the amenities. For instance, it wouldn’t be hard to find a business hotel that offers air conditioning, humidifier, or even an air purifier. Most have fairly spacious bathrooms and offer a complimentary breakfast. Even if you are just looking for a place to have a brief romantic rendezvous, a business hotel can be a cheaper alternative to a dingy motel or robotic love hotel.

Let’s take a look at 6 prime business hotels that can be found in the Tokyo area. All hotels charge rates less than 3,500 yen (US$44.80) per person when two people are staying in the room at a rate of 7,000 yen total ($89.60).

Read More

Ever since the Great Tohoku Earthquake led to one of the worst nuclear disasters at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant people have been left with a lot of uncertainty. Information has not been coming from places of authority in a free and timely fashion. News broadcasts often tell stories of contaminated food and radioactive puddles near schools. Still, these stories are after the fact and often hard to process given the complex nature of radiation.

Luckily, on 27 December, Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute (KURRI) announced they are working with Fukushima Transportation Inc. to begin testing a system to monitor radiation in Fukushima City that is in real time and is accessible by anyone over the internet.

Read More

Apple’s Lucky Bag Returns for 2012! We Are in for Some Massive Line-Ups Again

Apple has given word that they will be selling Lucky Bags (Fukubukuro) again this New Year’s! The sale will begin on 2 January at 8:00am.

Read More

What Recession? World’s Largest Uniqlo to Open in Ginza

Uniqlo, the clothing retailer who has achieved ubiquitous status in Japan is continuing its ambitious plans to expand worldwide. In order to achieve their goal of earning 5 trillion yen (US$60 billion) by 2020, they have been aggressively building larger and larger flagship stores around the world.

Read More

This Year’s Hot Chirstmas Gift for that Special Someone You Never Want To See Again: The Frank Mulle…I Mean Miura Watch

Are you looking for something to give to that special someone in your life? Choosing the right gift is a huge burden for many of us this time of year, especially with so many options to choose from.

Read More

Calbee Plus Store Opens in Harajuku, Offers Hot Potato Chips Straight From The Fryer!

Snack food giant, Calbee, opened up their latest Calbee Plus store in Harajuku on 7 December, where you can buy their famous potato chips straight from the deep fryer. Calbee already has shops located in Kyoto and New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, but this newest store gives Tokyoites their first chance to enjoy piping hot potato chips.

I rushed out to get a first-tongue taste.

Read More

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3