SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

Fran W

Fran grew up on a farm in Northumberland, England’s most northern and least populated county. She relocated to Nagoya in 2011 to teach English and find better edamame beans. On arriving in Japan, she enthusiastically abandoned a lifetime of vegetarianism and now spends her weekends on the trail of the perfect miso katsu. When not attempting to sing k-pop at karaoke, Fran can often be found loitering in old camera shops, or on a hike wishing the manual camera in her backpack wasn’t so heavy.

RSS

Posted by Fran W (Page 5)

Spooky “radiation fog” turns Saitama cityscape into Silent Hill overnight

Fran W
Nov 14, 2014
Tweet

Halloween may be over for this year, but the weather gods in Saitama clearly hadn’t got the message on Wednesday morning this week, as the city was shrouded in a mysterious thick fog – with an even more mysterious name!

Japan
(fog • freak weather • radiation fog • Saitama • twitter)

Taiwan Rugby Union’s naked calendar: Because men have butts too【Photos】

Fran W
Nov 14, 2014

As the internet implodes with the news that Kim Kardashian’s naked posterior is on the front of Paper magazine, we thought we’d jump right on the nudity bandwagon and bring you this exciting missive from the clothes-free front line.

That’s right, Taiwan’s rugby union players are releasing a naked calendar, and we’ve got the pics to prove it!

Taiwan
(calendar • Chinese Taipei • photos • sport • Taiwan rugby)

“Nomad actor” Dean Fujioka makes his American debut in ‘The Pinkertons’

Fran W
Nov 13, 2014

Whatever your job entails, the strongest support is usually closest to home. But actor Dean Fujioka is better known in Taiwan and Hong Kong than he is in his native Japan.

The actor, musician and director, who made his American debut earlier this month in the wild west detective series The Pinkertons, calls himself a “nomad actor” – as long as there’s an international airport, he’ll go wherever his work takes him.

Japan, USA
(actor • Dean Fujioka • debut • The Pinkertons • TV drama)

15 years of wonderfully wacky bras from Triumph Japan【Photos】

Fran W
Nov 12, 2014

It is the year 2000. You run the Japanese division of one of the world’s biggest lingerie brands, and are looking for an original way to promote your company – and your country – on the world stage. What do you do? Well, if your company is Triumph International, you begin launching concept bras like last week’s Frozen-inspired sisterhood bra – amazing and ridiculous underwear guaranteed to push the world’s ‘WTF Japan’ buttons.

We can see in Triumph’s creations the Japanese art of ‘chindogu’, inventions that, while they appear to solve a particular problem, are simultaneously useful and useless. Join us as we rifle through the underwear drawer for 21 of the best!

Japan
(bra • chindogu • Triumph International • underwear • useless inventions)

We think he’s purr-fect! Meet Monty, the cat born without a nose bone【Photos】

Fran W
Nov 11, 2014

Monty is a four-year-old rescue cat who’s amassed fans from all over the world. He suffers from a rare chromosomal abnormality causing him to be born without a nasal bridge. And Monty’s owners are hoping their cat will show the world that ‘looking different doesn’t mean you can’t be fantastic!’

Join us after the jump for more adorable photos of this happy little chap!

Europe
(animals • cat • cute • Kitty • Monty • photos)

“Stock we should never have ordered”: This Japanese store’s pricing posters are way too honest

Fran W
Nov 8, 2014

Employees at the campus co-op store at Nihon Joshi Daigaku may work at Japan’s oldest private women’s university, but when it comes to making their special offer displays, their attitude is anything but old-fashioned. Their witty, super-honest pricing displays regularly have the Japanese Twitterverse in stitches.

Join us after the jump for six of the best!

Japan
(advertising • funny • Japan Women's University • point-of-sale • store • twitter)

Funasshi’s unofficial mascot Satosshi celebrates Halloween 2014 in his own special way!【Photos】

Fran W
Nov 5, 2014

The inimitable Mr. Sato is such a big fan of Funasshi, the unofficial jiggly pear mascot of Funabashi City, that he even created his own mascot-to-the-mascot, Satosshi. This Halloween, Satosshi decided to head down to the famous Shibuya crossing to make friends with fellow costume-wearing Tokyoites.

Might there be other, kindred spirit Funasshi fans there? Will Satosshi be busted as an unofficial impersonator? Could Mr. Sato’s journalistic efforts be thwarted by a sudden attack of deadline confusion? And worse still, what if no one recognises him? Join us after the jump for a photo report from Satosshi’s big night out.

Japan
(costumes • Funasshi • halloween • mascot • Mr. Sato • Satosshi)

Queens of stage and screen: Thailand’s transgender beauty pageant kicks off for 10th year

Fran W
Nov 3, 2014

In many ways, Miss International Queen is just like any other pageant: finalists parade in evening gowns, swimsuits and national dress, and the winner will perform twelve months of promotional and charity duties. There’s one major difference, though: all the contestants are transgender women, and the top prize includes cosmetic surgery for the winner – if she wants it.

As the world’s largest transgender pageant hits the stage in Thailand (where else!) for its 10th anniversary year, we take a look at this unique contest.

SE Asia
(beauty • beauty pageant • Miss International Queen • Thailand • transgender)

Five ways to trap your boyfriend into revealing that he’s cheating on you, and why they are dumb

Fran W
Nov 1, 2014

There’s a list of the “five best ways to check if your man is cheating on you” that resurfaces every now and again on Japanese matome and magazine sites. If you’re harbouring doubts about your man’s fidelity, you’re supposed to watch how he responds when you try out one of these five awesome tricks (spoiler alert: like many things in life, they’re not that awesome).

After we’d gotten over our disappointment that none of the suggestions involve hidden cameras or going out undercover in a big coat and fake nose, we started to wonder where these ideas had come from. We did a bit of digging, and it turns out this “top five” first appeared a few years ago on the Japanese variety TV show Honma Dekka!?, in a segment with marketing expert Megumi Ushikubo and clinical psychologist Rie Ueki.

Japan
(cheating • love and relationships • relationships in japan)

Chinese table tennis champ stripped of $45k prize after emotional outburst【Video】

Fran W
Oct 30, 2014

A table tennis champion has been stripped of his $45,000 prize money for kicking an ad hoarding in an over-excited celebration.

Chinese player Zhang Jike fly-kicked two hoardings after beating Ma Long in the final of the Liebherr Men’s World Cup in Düsseldorf. Now, the International Table Tennis Federation has decided to withhold his prize money in light of his actions.

China
(China • funny • sport • table tennis • video)

The Yakiniku Rules: dating advice from the front line

Fran W
Oct 29, 2014

“When you take a girl out for yakiniku, you have to follow the rules“, says Natsuko. “Too many men these days forget about TPO“, she adds, referring to the importance of the three things – Time, Place, and Occasion – that are supposed to dictate appropriate behaviour in social situations.

We asked one yakiniku-loving Japanese girl to give us her honest opinion on the dating game, and – well, it was pretty brutal.

Japan
(dating advice • dining • Restaurant • yakiniku)

Admission is $30 and all the paintings are fakes – so why is the Otsuka Museum of Art so popular?

Fran W
Oct 28, 2014

The Otsuka Museum of Art is a place of extremes. It’s the biggest exhibition space in Japan, housing masterpieces of Western art from antiquity to the modern day. The route around its 1,000 artworks is 4km long (2.5 miles), and it takes a full, tiring day to see it all. And with a 3,150 yen (US $29.22) adult admission fee, it’s also Japan’s most expensive gallery.

The works on show are, quite literally, too good to be true. The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Guernica, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Rembrandt’s self-portraits: everything is here. And every single one of them is a replica. But why are so many people prepared to pay through the nose to see prints of masterpieces?

Japan
(gallery • museum • Otsuka Museum of Art • paintings • replicas)

Meet Menswear Dog, the world’s most stylish Shiba Inu【Photos】

Fran W
Oct 28, 2014

Bodhi is a five-year-old Shiba who lives in New York City. He’s also a talented model and one of the best-dressed dogs on the planet, so it’s no wonder he’s already racked up 150,000 followers on Instagram.

Owners Yena Kim, a former designer at Ralph Lauren, and her boyfriend David Fung started dressing Bodhi up for fun last year, posting the pictures to Facebook as a joke. Now Menswear Dog is so doggone lucrative, they’ve both been able to quit their full-time jobs to work with him.

USA
(animal photos • animals • cool • cute • dog • photos • Shiba Inu)

Now that’s clever! Yurikamome line’s new ergonomic seats are designed to keep you in your place

Fran W
Oct 27, 2014

There’s something about being on public transport that seems to bring out the worst in us. Whether we’re talking on our phones, bringing smelly food onboard, or taking sly swigs of chūhai when we think no one’s looking, most of us are guilty of some kind of train faux pas.

A company in Japan has come up with an ingenious design solution to a very particular kind of anti-social behaviour – people taking up more than their fair share of space on the train.

Japan
(anti-social • behaviour • design • Mitsubishi • train • Yurikamome)

What’s this Tibetan temple doing in the middle of Japan? We go to find out!

Fran W
Oct 26, 2014

Moriyama-ku is an unassuming suburb of Nagoya city, backed by mountains and surrounded by forest park, which has in its midst an extraordinary hidden gem: a Tibetan Buddhist temple!

The female chief priest at Chambalin temple was trained at the sacred Jokhang monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, and she also holds the unusual honour of being the first Japanese woman to be ordained as a Tibetan chief priest.

Hearing this, our widely-travelled writer Mr. Kurosawa grabbed his reporter’s notebook and camera and headed down to take a look at this unique cultural property – and its adjoining Tibetan café.

Japan
(Buddhism • Chambalin • Nagoya • temple • tibet • Tibetan Buddhism)

Mini movie theatre seats now on general release, collectors of tiny chairs rejoice

Fran W
Oct 26, 2014

We all love a good gashapon capsule toy. But whether it’s One Piece characters or doggy bread, getting more than one of the same toy is usually a disappointment. No wonder some collectors skip the vending machine step altogether and buy completed sets second-hand. Duplicates are no fun.

There’s one Japanese toy company that flips that idea on its head, however. Unlike conventional capsule toys, Epoch’s scale models actually look better the more identical items you have! And these miniatures of seemingly mundane items such as school desks, shopping trolleys and folding chairs have proved a runaway hit.

So when our reporter Mr. Sato heard about the latest capsule item from Epoch, he immediately grabbed a bunch of hundred-yen coins and headed out to start collecting…miniature cinema chairs! Here’s what he found.

Japan
(capsule toys • chairs • gachapon • gashapon • miniature)

Nicocafe dishes up a serving of surreal with manga meat, half an umaibo, and rice teishoku

Fran W
Oct 25, 2014

Niconico is Japan’s biggest video sharing website – apart from that other one – and this week sees their unique café and creative space re-open in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

The new nicocafe aims to bridge the gap between the online and offline worlds with its online interactive ordering system, which allows viewers watching at home to order items to be delivered to the guests at the bar!

We’re not sure how happy you’d be to actually receive some of these menu items, though…

Japan
(cafe • Ikebukuro • menu • nicocafe • niconico • Tokyo • weird)

The plot thickens: Pizza Hut Japan’s feline employees disappear overnight, forcing store closure 【Video】

Fran W
Oct 24, 2014

Back in August we brought you the news that Pizza Hut in Japan was now under the control of four bossy cats. Along with millions of other pizza and cat fans, we couldn’t get enough of the adorable antics of Tenchō, Hime, Dora and Detch as they manned (catted?) the phones, were startled by the sound of the cash register, and rode a rumba around the store.

This week, the chain announced the emergency closure of its Pizza Cat store, citing the mysterious disappearance of the four plucky feline workers. Where could they have gone? And why? We did some detective work to try and find out.

Japan
(cat videos • cats • fast food • pizza • Pizza Hut)

Cats trapped in circles! Japanese blogger shows the best way to outsmart your kitty【Photos】

Fran W
Oct 24, 2014

In a documentary about the making of Spirited Away, director Hayao Miyazaki is shown in his studio explaining how he wants a certain scene to look. When the dragon’s jaws are wrenched open, he says, it should look like a dog clenching its teeth, gums bared. Faced with blank stares at this analogy, he asks the animators if any of them have a dog. “I had a cat once”, offers up one young man. “A cat!” exclaims Miyazaki in despair, before whisking the entire team off to a vet’s surgery to have a closer look at some canine mouths.

Cats and dogs, as we know, are quite different, and one thing that sets them apart is cats’ contrariness. A dog’s reward is pleasing you, while a cat’s reward is pleasing itself. Getting a cat to do what you want, therefore, can be extraordinarily difficult. Unless, that is, you can manage to convince your cat that it made the decision all by itself.

From Japanese cat blog guremike, we bring you: the power of the magical cat-attracting circle.

Internet, Japan
(animals • blog • cat circles • cat pictures • cats • cute • photo)

Mount Ontake: some hikers “died taking photos of the erupting volcano”, pathologist says

Fran W
Oct 23, 2014

More details have emerged about the final moments of those who died during the sudden and tragic eruption of Mount Ontake in central Japan last month.

This week, pathologists confirmed that of the 56 people who died when the volcano erupted on September 27, 20 were killed instantly when they were struck in the head or neck by falling rocks and debris. One doctor involved in the case told the Mainichi Shinbun, however, that around half of the victims they saw had been taking photos of the eruption when they died.