SoraNews24 —Japan News—

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

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

Master Blaster

Writer / Translator

Master Blaster is the two-man translating team of Canada’s Steven Le Blanc and Japan’s Masami M, a pair who in addition to writing work are in English education and created the StudyNow app for Japanese students of English.

Together they have written somewhere around 1,500 articles for RocketNews24 covering such diverse topics as Chinese men selling sanitary napkins to each other and a Japanese guy dragging an ear of corn around the Tokyo train system. A few of these were actually good, but don’t take our word for it! Here’s what our beloved readers had to say:

“One isn't always in the mood for bold tastes. But when I'm in the mood for bold flavor I turn to you.”
“Stupid article. Who cares what the Japanese think it's cool. You don't call a monkey, "gorilla".”
“You know, this is about the most cogent explanation of how a turbocharger works that I have ever seen in the non-motorsports world.”
“Thanks for the article peter!”
“It's people like you who make exploitation possible.”
“It looks yummy and the story was great. Thank you for the smile.”

StudyNow App

Twitter RSS

Posted by Master Blaster (Page 197)

Commuters, Mothers and Government Bump Heads Over Baby Buggy Posters

Master Blaster
Aug 31, 2012
Tweet

Japan is a country notorious for its high level of politeness. However, deep within its tangled, serpentine train system, common courtesy is often cast aside and Thunderdome rules apply. I’ve seen grown men push aside old ladies and old ladies push aside me in order to get the best spot.

This being the case, Tokyo Metropolitan Area’s rail companies and the city itself began to spread over 5,000 posters calling for passengers to give some leeway to women with baby carriages. As a result, they have received over 1,000 complaints and growing.

Japan
(baby • buggy • carriage • poster • stroller • Tokyo • train)

Video Shows Chinese Airline Worker Either Attacked by Customers or Playing Possum, You be the Judge

Master Blaster
Aug 30, 2012

On 20 August, a lengthy flight delay turned ugly at an airport in Beijing, where frustrated customers complaining snowballed into a scene from a zombie movie. In the middle of the fracas someone took a video and posted it on the internet.

In the video, a peculiar image of an airline employee just lying motionless on the floor has people asking: “Did he confuse his ‘what to do during a customer complaint’ manual with his ‘what to do during a bear attack’ one?”

China
(airline • angry customer • dead • Eastern • pretend)

New Candy Commercial Featuring an Infantized AKB48 Hits a 9 on the Creepy Meter

Master Blaster
Aug 30, 2012

AKB48, the darlings of the Japanese pop scene, may have danced one step over the line sweet Jesus with their newest commercial for Puccho candy. The commercial first aired on 25 August and seems to have drawn a collective “yuggghhh” from the nation.

In it the girls dance away brandishing the product as only they can do. Except this time, all but one of their bodies have been digitally replaced by 5 and 6 year olds.

Japan
(AKB48 • Gingham Check • malformed dwarf dance • Puccho)

Flat-Screen Folk Art Rallies to Save the Surprisingly Deep Culture of Putting Stuff on Top of Your TV Set

Master Blaster
Aug 29, 2012

After the recent switch from analog to digital terrestrial broadcasting in Japan, more and more people are making the switch to flat screen units. And as the streets find themselves more and more littered with discarded boxy cathode ray tube model TV’s, Japan may have accidentally thrown something else in the trash – a piece of their culture and heritage.

Japan
(akabeko • flatscreen • folk art • history • kokeshi • panda • wooden bear)

Upper Class Chinese Paying People to Do Prison Time for Them? More Moral Conundrums in China

Master Blaster
Aug 29, 2012

Be it drowning family members or rescuing neighbors from pits of crap, China continues to not disappoint in the things that make you go “hmmm” department.

This time, let’s say that the son of a wealthy family killed an innocent bystander while drag racing on city streets and is up on a variety of charges, possibly resulting in the death penalty.

In an effort to protect their unfortunate son, the family asks you to be his substitute in prison. The sentence is guaranteed to be reduced to – oh, let’s say 3 years – and you’ll get paid for every day of it. What would you do? What would you charge?

China, Internet
(convict • ding zui • Gu Kailai • Hu Bin • substitute)

Japanese Clothing Ad Gives Us a Glimpse at the Real Japan

Master Blaster
Aug 27, 2012

People often ask me why I moved to Japan and I say “to be with people like me – with blonde hair and blue eyes.” Japan is a homogenous country to be sure, but a recent advertisement from clothing chain COMME ÇA ISM boldly challenges this mistaken stereotype that Japan is full of Japanese people.

It’s actually full of white people!

Japan
(advertising • caucasian • comme ca ism • doing it wrong)

Tokyo Electric Employee’s Children Targets for Bullying, Forced to Give Money to Classmates to Repay Rate Hikes

Master Blaster
Aug 23, 2012

Tokyo Electric Power Company has lost a considerable amount of goodwill following last year’s nuclear disaster. While the level of blame that should be placed on the company as a whole is still to be determined, low level employees of the company often face the immediate brunt of the hostility.

It appears now that even the children of TEPCO employees are having to answer for the choices their parents’ employers made by their classmates. But how are elementary school students so up to speed on the nation’s energy situation?

Japan
(bullying • TEPCO • Tokyo Electric)

Award Winning Manga to be Freely Used by Anyone for Anything Anytime, Author Will Not Request Royalties

Master Blaster
Aug 22, 2012

Shuho Sato, the writer of Burakku Jyakku ni Yoroshiku, which commonly translates to “Say Hello to Black Jack,” is planning to make the award winning, 10 million copy selling manga available for free “second use.”

This means that after 15 September anyone in the world will be free to novelize, televise, create merchandise, or in any way adapt the original work for either commercial or non-commercial purposes without having to pay royalties. This is the latest move in the writer’s quest to find alternatives to the “outdated” model of intellectual property rights.

Global, Japan
(Black Jack • copyright • Give My Regards to • Say Hello to • Shuho Sato)

Eat like a Champ, Eat with a Woman’s Legs, Just Remember to Remove the Stockings First

Master Blaster
Aug 22, 2012

So by now all us alpha-males have purchased our bathing beauty iPhone cases, but are left wondering: How do I hypnotize the ladies with my machismo during meals? It would be rude to pull out one’s mobile phone while eating after all.

Well, picture this: Just before having dinner with that lucky lady you slowly and gently peel down the stockings along those smooth and silky legs – of your sexy lady chop sticks!

Trust me boys, the deal will be sealed after that.

Japan
(chopsticks • legs • women)

Company Accidently Recreates Milky Way Using a River in China

Master Blaster
Aug 22, 2012

The river you see here has been used by the residents of this part of Wenzhou, China daily for doing the wash. However, on the morning of 9 August they awoke to a puzzling sight.

The river had been dyed a milky white color overnight.

China
(latex • milk • pollution • river)

Increase in Lightning Observed Across Japa… What the Hell Is That?!

Master Blaster
Aug 21, 2012

In addition to two months of temperatures over ３５℃, Japan has recently been hit with a spate of lightning storms. In fact, when writing a previous story my building was hit by lightning knocking out my computer and forcing a rewrite. The son of a…

Anyway, with all this lightning around and pretty much the entire population carrying cameras built into their phones, a person’s natural inclination is to try and take a picture of a bolt.

One person though was not only lucky enough to actually be able to catch a bolt in a photo, but found something far stranger.

Internet, Japan
(lightning • photography • twitter)

Overseas Edition of “Prince’s Proposal” Getting Turned Down by Fans: “Princes Look Disgusting”

Master Blaster
Aug 20, 2012

Unlike American game makers, Japanese video game companies often sweat over every detail before selling their games overseas to make sure it fits the culture. Although the sentiment is appreciated the results are often poor, as people in other countries enjoy those cultural differences more often than not.

Case in point is Prince’s Proposal’s (Ojisama no Puropozu) treacherous journey abroad. Prince’s Proposal is an otome game where your character, a university student, has a chance encounter with six princes whom you must find romance with by making the right choices throughout the story.

Its recent westernized incarnation called Be My Princess, however, decided to replace the stylish anime princes and characters with rubbery, emotionless ones.

Global, Japan
(Android • Be My Princess • iPhone • otome)

Free Underwear! Innovative Business Set to Give Away Up to 7 Pairs a Month

Master Blaster
Aug 19, 2012

I have to admit, I’m the kind of guy who clings to his underwear until it’s little more than two threads attached to a stretched out, useless elastic band. Guys tend to be creatures of habit and would rather put up with worn down shorts than go to the store to buy new ones.

Freepan (short for Free Pants) is a totally new patented service prepared to send up to seven free pairs of underpants every month – with free delivery!

Catch? Yes, there are a couple catches but not as bad as you might imagine.

Internet, Japan
(advertising • Free Pants • Freepan • underwear)

iPhone App “Burner” Let’s You Keep Your Original Number Clean or Get into All Kinds of Mischief

Master Blaster
Aug 19, 2012

With mobile phones steadily evolving into smart phones the days of prepaid units may one day slip away from us. However, a new app called Burner keeps the tradition of making and receiving anonymous phone calls alive on your regular smart phone.

The app is named after a slang term for a cheap prepaid mobile phone that could be untraceably used in illegal dealings. Once the job is done, you can just toss the burner in a dumpster severing all connection with that number. This app saves the trouble of getting and disposing of a handset by putting the burner inside your iPhone side by side with your regular service. Yet this app surely can be used for legal purposes too… right?

USA
(burner • iPhone • prepaid phone)

Website Lets You Check if Anyone Was Murdered or Committed Suicide in Your Home

Master Blaster
Aug 18, 2012

None of us wants to live in an apartment or house where someone was killed, also known as stigmatized properties. It’d be pretty creepy in the least. However, in Japan the desire to not live in a place like that is so intense that you’d think Poltergeist was a documentary.

Oshima Teru is an up and coming website that also must be a real estate agent’s worst nightmare. Its main purpose is to map out every property where unnatural deaths occurred. Originally only focusing on the Greater Tokyo Area, they have expanded into nearly worldwide coverage including North America and Europe.

Global, Internet
(murder • Oshima Teru • stigmatized property • suicide)

Domino’s Pizza “Manager of Excellence” Pawns His Domino’s Themed Rolex Reward, Company Appears Shaken

Master Blaster
Aug 18, 2012

There are many pizza places in the world but very few have achieved the worldwide notoriety of Domino’s Pizza. So it’s comforting to know that they reward their workers handsomely when outstanding work is done.

In Japan, a manager deemed “excellent” by the corporation gets rewarded a Rolex watch. Granted the Rolex is engraved with the Domino’s logo in places, but it’s still a Rolex, and it’s worth a pretty penny too according to the pawn shop one was sold to.

Japan
(Domino's • pawn • Reward • Rolex)

Internet Ladies Going Nuts Over Gymnast’s Arm Pit Hair, Fantasies Involve Using It as Seasoning

Master Blaster
Aug 16, 2012

Move over Ryohei Kato! There’s another male gymnast whipping women into a frenzy online. His name is Kohei Uchimura, and while his boyish good looks and personality scores points with the ladies, it’s a certain part of his body tucked away that sets him apart from others.

That’s right. Women can’t seem to get enough of Uchimura’s arm pit hair. In fact, there’s a lot of talk of using it a garnish as one person commented “I want to sprinkle his fresh pit hair over my soba and savor the taste.”

Internet, Japan
(armpit • gymnast • hair • Kohei Uchimura • Olympics)

Bottles? We Don’t Need No Stinking Bottles! In China Everyone Carries Cucumbers to Beat the Heat

Master Blaster
Aug 14, 2012

In these dog days of summer it’s a pretty good idea to carry around a bottle of water or sports drink to stay safe from heat stroke. However, in China, home of the melt-proof ice pop, people are into a much more low tech way to keep cool.

One of our reporters was standing at a traffic signal in Shanghai when he spotted an attractive businesswoman rummaging through her purse. Finding what she was looking for, she pulled out a huge cucumber and started munching on it as nonchalantly as one would drink a cup of coffee from Starbuck’s. Mildly aroused, he decided to investigate this spontaneous act more deeply.

China
(cucumber • heat stroke • summer)

How Many Winks Can You Expect to Catch with these Blindfolds? Over NINE THOUSAAAAAAND!

Master Blaster
Aug 12, 2012

Have trouble getting to sleep? The sensory depriving qualities of a sleep mask might be just what you’re looking for. Sure, you may think eye masks are for wealthy dowagers and other fuddy-duddies. However, these masks cater to the hip, urbanite otaku in all of us with patterns ranging from mainstream (Sailor Moon) to the obscure (Black Butler).

Japan
(anime • blindfold • Dragon Ball • eye mask • manga • Sailor Moon • sleep mask)

Yakuza Themed Restaurant Operating in Bangkok, Still Not Sure Why Thailand Digs the Yakuza

Master Blaster
Aug 10, 2012

There seems to be something about the yakuza that appeals to the people of Thailand. First, we witnessed a brand of possibly yakuza themed tea: Chakuza. Now we are presented with Yakuzaaa Man Man Japanese Kitchen, which seems to be a hit with local youths and foreigners. You might be thinking from the name that it’s a gay restaurant, but it’s not.

At least I’m pretty sure it’s not…