Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.
television (Page 3)
It’s amazing how much technology has become an integral part of our everyday lives. Companies continually strive to outdo one another by bringing us the latest modern conveniences and seeking to create new and unique gizmos that we won’t want to live without. That said, there are times when we seem to rely on technology more than we need to, and when it feels like companies release new devices without much of a goal in mind besides trying to be different..
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Super Mega Important Debate is back! This weekend, we’re putting Japanese TV under the spotlight and asking you, our good-looking and never-shy-to-venture-an-opinion readers, whether you think the TV shows broadcast in Japan are wonderfully entertaining or a big bag of steaming horse poop.
In Japan, it’s mandatory to pay for a TV licence if you own a television set or device that can receive a broadcast signal. The money goes to NHK, Japan’s national broadcasting service. It’s much the same deal as in the UK, where your television licence funds the BBC.
But what if you don’t even watch any BBC or NHK channels? Should you still have to pay? Actor, director and outspoken comedian Beat Takeshi doesn’t think so – in fact, he’s calling for the option to “opt-out” of accessing Japan’s NHK’s programming for people who don’t want to pay the licence fee.
As we reported earlier in the week, Islamic State militants are currently holding two Japanese nationals hostage. The militants have said that the men will be executed within 72 hours unless the Japanese government pays a ransom of US$200 million, something that seems highly unlikely to happen.
With this being a rather sensitive subject, many people were extremely shocked and angry when Japanese morning television show Mezamashi Television went on air with a “ticker” onscreen counting how much time had passed since the demands were made.
Some of you may recall us looking back on Japan’s version of Spider-Man from the late 1970s that was so over-the-top it made the old Adam West Batman series look like brooding British melodrama set atop a dew-soaked Northumberland farm.
It kept pretty close to the original storyline of Spider-Man, like how a motorcycle racer got his spider powers from an alien along with a spaceship that transforms into a giant robot to battle the evil Professor Monster, and shouting out, “I’m the emissary of Hell!” in Japanese before doing so.
It’s been a while since those good times but now the Japanese fans that still remember the series are tickled to see Spidey’s old war machine Leopardon has returned in the latest issue of Amazing Spider-Man!
We now join CSI: New York Season 8, Episode 17: Unwrapped already in progress…
Dr. Sheldon Hawkes is busy trying to piece together fragments of a porcelain figure recovered by detectives Messer and Flack. With any luck this figure may be a clue to the mysterious murder of Kelvin Moore, a successful accountant who was trying to give back to his community.
When the figure is complete they find it’s in the shape of a cat. Not only that, it has a strange symbol on the bottom that no one on their team nor all of their technology can appear to decipher.
It’s at this point that viewers in Japan start screaming at their TVs, “It’s NEKO ya dummies!”
Around the world no other club has been the source of wild speculation and urban legends as Freemasonry. This is mostly due to the club’s secrecy on what exactly they do along with its illustrious membership including voice actor Mel Blanc, MLB pitcher Ty Cobb, and circus promoters the Ringling Brothers.
Although very little is known about the Freemasons, one Japanese comedy program, by a sheer stroke of luck, was able to infiltrate their Japanese Grand Lodge and speak with their newly inducted Grand Master.
On 23 May, NHK announced that it has been working with Tokyo University to create a way to not only transmit images over long distances but to also send the sense of touch. Using this, viewers would also become able to actually feel whatever appeared on screen with their own hands.
This system makes use of Tokyo University’s newly developed device which can measure the dimensions and hardness of an object in three dimensions simultaneously. On the other end, NHK has been hard at work on a Touch/Force Display which would allow viewers to get tactile feedback from the images presented on screen.
You know that feeling when you’re watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and think to yourself, “this is great, but I really wish I could see Lisa Vanderpump’s face seven times its actual size”?
As luck would have it, just a few days ago, Samsung began selling a 110-inch UltraHD4K monster of a TV. That means your dreams can be a reality as long as you live in the right place and have the necessary funds–and we have a feeling it’d be totally worth it because as well as boasting amazing picture quality, this thing is absolutely enormous.
Starting this November, the first episode of a new romantic young adult series, Boys Before Friends, will be released to American audiences. The series is based on Japan’s hit manga, Hana Yori Dango (aka Boys Over Flowers). Already, the series has inspired the creation of anime, novels, and live action television dramas from Japan, Korea, and China. However, what should be a highly anticipated American adaptation of this much appreciated manga is encountering a lot of skepticism, especially from the Eastern side of the globe. It makes sense that some changes have to be made to implement an American setting for this Japanese tale, but how much change can the story endure before the tone of the original is totally lost?
Cooking Idol Ai! Mai! Main! was a beloved weekday children’s program that combined anime and live action to entertain and educate children about cooking and nutrition. Its star, Haruka Fukuhara, played the lead role of Main-chan and for the show’s four-year run stood as a paragon of kawaii (cute) on Japanese TV.
However, as of 29 March Cooking Idol Ai! Mai! Main! was taken off the air much to the dismay of thousands of fans. One fan responded to this by uploading a pseudo time-lapse 30-second video to YouTube showing Ms. Fukuhara age from 10 years old in 2009 to the 14-year-old she is now.
Fuji TV proved itself the forerunner of equal opportunity employment for digital labor earlier this week when they announced they had brought CG character Lune Anri on board as the network’s newest announcer.
At first glance, this tech news report seems to be telling us of an intriguing augmented reality app that’s scary good. When you point your camera at an object, it can automatically read your mind about what you’ll want to do next on the internet with respect to that object, like get a coupon for it or research about it on Wikipedia. Which would bring to mind various questions, such as, is it like auto-fill/auto-complete, remembering what you or others have done before, taken a few steps further? Is it selectively taking you to a website that’s ultimately aiming to get your money? Is it inviting you to give up your free will and just be satisfied with the website it saw fit to jump you to? How does it know what you want to do? Read More
A life-sized figure of manga and anime character Fujiko
Mine has been drawing criticism from fans on the Web. Comments have ranged from “Why did they make her like that?” to the more succinct, “Who the hell is that?” Apparently, she’s looking a bit off-color. Read More
We’ve all come to expect the best of everything from the folks at Tokyo Disney Resort who operate Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. Now, they’ve come up with a delightful TV commercial that is gaining very high praise from not just viewers in Japan but from overseas as well.
Here’s what the Tokyo Disney Resort official website says about the TV commercial that is attracting so much attention.
Shiro Suzuki has been eagerly practicing to beat his high score of 178,270 in the Mercenary Mode of Resident Evil 4 (called Biohazard 4 in Japan). Most who have played the game would agree that this is an impressive score, whereas hardcore gamers may scoff at the number.
What makes Mr. Suzuki unique, however, is that on 10 February, 2012, he celebrated his 74th birthday.
Toyota made waves by casting Japanese heartthrob Satoshi Tsumabuki as Nobita-kun in its live-action Doraemon commercials two weeks ago, but fans of the adapation of the popular cartoon were in for an even bigger shock the following week.
Toyota rolled its second wave of live-action Doraemon commercials off the line on November 18 with film star Jean Reno playing the role of Doraemon.
I slung my camera over my shoulder, ready to invade the world of cosplay for the first time at this year’s summer Comic Market 80 at Tokyo Big Sight.
Red light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
Japan’s massive matcha parfait weighs 6 kilos, contains hidden surprises for anyone who eats it
McDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Beautiful Red and Blue Star luxury trains set to be Japan’s new Hokkaido travel stars
Historical figures get manga makeovers from artists of Spy x Family, My Hero Academia and more
Akihabara pop-up shop sells goods made by Japanese prison inmates
Haku is…Chihiro’s dead brother? Studio Ghibli fans blown away by Spirited Away theory
Non-ramen Ramen Restaurant Stars: The quest begins at Tokyo’s Oreryu Shio
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
Shabani the gorilla is so handsome he’ll be appearing on sweets in Japan this Valentine’s DayMcDonald’s new Happy Meals offer up cute and practical Sanrio lifestyle goods
Japanese ramen restaurants under pressure from new yen banknotes
All-you-can-drink Starbucks and amazing views part of Tokyo’s new 170 meter-high sky lounge
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 KyotoRed light district sushi restaurant in Tokyo shows us just how wrong we were about it
Studio Ghibli glasses cases let anime characters keep an eye on your spectaclesTokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
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 goods
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 banknotes
New Japanese KitKat flavour stars Sanrio characters, including Hello KittyAll-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
Akihabara pop-up shop sells goods made by Japanese prison inmates
Haku is…Chihiro’s dead brother? Studio Ghibli fans blown away by Spirited Away theory
Non-ramen Ramen Restaurant Stars: The quest begins at Tokyo’s Oreryu Shio
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market site to be redeveloped with 50,000-seat stadium, hotel, shopping center
Shabani the gorilla is so handsome he’ll be appearing on sweets in Japan this Valentine’s Day
New Pokémon cakes let you eat your way through Pikachu and all the Eevee evolutions
Anime girl English teacher Ellen-sensei becomes VTuber/VVTUber and NFT
The town with Japan’s best castle also has one of Japan’s best breakfasts. Here’s where to eat it
Buying a can of coffee from an unmanned, AI-controlled kiosk in Tokyo
The best Japanese cosplayers from Day 4 of Winter Comiket 2019【Photos】
Not so fast! Japan’s super-high-speed maglev Shinkansen line opening has been officially delayed
The Ultimate Battle for Ham Sandwich Supremacy – we rank Japan’s convenience store sandwiches
Do ANA international inflight meals taste better on the ground than they do in the air?
Chun-Li cosplay cold shoulders inspire crazy Photoshop “fixes,” help spread love between rivals