Amazon Japan – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today. Thu, 07 May 2026 05:00:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/05/en_rocket_1024.png?w=32 Amazon Japan – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com 32 32 176746664 We turn to a shady Amazon Japan gadget to try to stop Tokyo crows from stealing our hangers https://soranews24.com/2026/05/07/we-turn-to-a-shady-amazon-japan-gadget-to-try-to-stop-tokyo-crows-from-stealing-our-hangers/ https://soranews24.com/2026/05/07/we-turn-to-a-shady-amazon-japan-gadget-to-try-to-stop-tokyo-crows-from-stealing-our-hangers/#comments Thu, 07 May 2026 05:00:35 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=732601 
Man and machine versus nature.
The fact that we call the items “hangers” is proof of how hard it is for us humans to imagine any use for them other than hanging clothes. And yet, despite their nudist tendencies meaning that they never have to hang laundry, the crows living in the neighborhood of our Japanese-language reporter Yuichiro Wasai love his hangers so much that they routinely steal them from his apartment balcony.
That’s because crows have learned that hangers make great nest-building materials. But while the crows are at least considerate enough to leave Yuichiro’s clothes behind when they steal his hangers, that still means that his laundry ends up in wet piles on the ground. Hanging his clothes inside isn’t an option either, as Japan’s small living spaces and high humidity mean that laundry rarely, if ever, dries properly indoors, and instead ends up damp and musty-smelling.
Unfortunately, no amount of diligence has helped Yuichiro keep his avian antagonists away from his hangers. As soon as he hears even the slightest shuffling sounds coming from the balcony, he tears back the curtain to see what’s going on, only to be left watching helplessly as the crow already flies off with one of his hangers. His desperate search for a solution eventually led him to Amazon Japan, where he discovered <deep breath>…
Newest Reiwa Era Version Cat Repeller Animal Repelling Machine Ultrasound Rat Expeller Solar and USB Charging IP64 Water-repellant Effective Range 150 Square Meters Strongest 16 LED Flashlight Increased Repelling Power Harmful Bug Expeller Stary Cat Sparrow Palm Civit Crow Owl Repelling Machine Dog Repeller Bird Repelling Items Harmful Animal Repeller Harmful Insect Countermeasure Machine Animal Droppings Damage Noise Pollution Damage from Birds Damage to Food Unoccupied Home Countermeasure Fields and Garden (Green)
▼ We were on the fence, but “Green” really sold us on it.
It might be kind of hard to notice, being buried in the middle of the lengthy name, but the product does promise that this device will keep crows away. Plus, it apparently is the newest version for the Reiwa era, which began in 2019, so it’s got to have some pretty fancy tech, right?
However, at the same time, we’ve learned in our time as online shoppers that sometimes the length of a product’s name is in inverse proportion to its quality. Like we said, though, Yuichiro is desperate, and if he doesn’t do something soon he’ll be approaching the situation where he has no clean clothes and will have to start showing up to work shirtless, something we (generally) don’t allow at SoraNews24 HQ.
Yuichiro paid 3,480 yen (US$22) for the Crow Repelling Machine, as we’ll call it for short. Once it arrived and he had it in his hands, though, he wasn’t quite sure that it represents cutting-edge Reiwa-era technology, as it’s kind of a clunky-looking design.
Still, it is equipped with a motion sensor that detects when an animal is nearby and activates functions designed to scare the creature off. Testing it out in his living room, Yuichiro saw that the eyes and mouth light up and flash on and off when the sensor is triggered.
The device comes with a USB charging cable, as well as a small pole that you can assemble if you don’t already have someplace to hang it, but there’s also an opening at the top so that you can tie it to your laundry pole, which is what Yuichiro planned to do.
Also at the top of the unit is a solar charging receptor, so you actually don’t even have to bother with the USB cable, as long as you’re deploying the Crow Repelling Machine in a spot where it’ll get sunlight.
Once he had a load of freshly washed laundry to dry, Yuichiro hung everything up on hangers, then put them outside on the rack along with the Crow Repelling Machine.
Then he went out to take care of some errands. When he got back home a few hours later, he went to the balcony to check on the results, and…
…as always, some of his laundry had been left plopped on the ground, with the hangers he’d placed it on nowhere to be seen.
So, is the Crow Repelling Machine a worthless piece of junk? It’s probably too soon to make such a harsh assessment. See, while Yuichiro was relying on the flashing lights to keep crows away from his clothes, he actually was only using half of the device’s functions. In addition to the lights, the Crow Repelling Machine can also emit ultrasound noises when its motion sensor is triggered.
There’s a little dial on the front of the unit that lets you adjust the volume, and in its default setting, Yuichiro found it to be incredibly loud and annoying to his human ears, and he figured his neighbors would find it similarly unpleasant to hear every time a crow came near his laundry. Even after turning it down to the lowest setting Yuichiro still found the noise more invasive and aggravating than the “mosquito buzz” that people have been noticing near Shibuya Station in downtown Tokyo these days.
Because of that, for Yuichiro’s test of the Crow Repelling Machine, he decided to turn the ultrasound function off entirely. This means, though, that the device wasn’t running at its full (purported) effectiveness, and with Yuichiro doing his test in the afternoon, the flashing lights probably had less sensory impact too.
Unfortunately, due to Yuichiro living in the relatively densely populated environment of suburban Tokyo, he’s not prepared to crank up the volume, since that might mean winning his battle with the crows at the expense of courting fights with his neighbors. So while the Crow Repelling Machine didn’t do the trick for him, it might still be a viable option for people living in the countryside with wider buffer spaces between residences, especially if they’re not quite ready to go full Monster Wolf with their pest control solutions.
Related: Crow Repelling Machine Amazon Japan listing
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2026/05/07/we-turn-to-a-shady-amazon-japan-gadget-to-try-to-stop-tokyo-crows-from-stealing-our-hangers/feed/ 0 732601 3_81a706 New cherry blossom party picnic essential: This super-handy folding cardboard table https://soranews24.com/2026/03/22/new-cherry-blossom-party-picnic-essential-this-super-handy-folding-cardboard-table/ https://soranews24.com/2026/03/22/new-cherry-blossom-party-picnic-essential-this-super-handy-folding-cardboard-table/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2026 16:00:37 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=729233 
This might be the perfect hanami table.
With sakura season officially underway and full bloom coming to many parts of Japan over the next two weeks, it’s time to start finalizing hanami (cherry blossom-viewing) party plans. The classic, and many would say still the best, way to enjoy the cherry blossoms is to head to a park, find a spot under the sakura trees, and enjoy a leisurely day of relaxing, snacking, and drinking, either soft drinks or alcoholic beverages, under the pink petals.
Ah, but it’s easier to eat and drink if you’re got a table, isn’t it? However, with public transportation being the primary way of getting around in Japan, lugging a standard folding table to the park isn’t really an option. However, it turns out there’s a handy, convenient, and extremely affordable alternative.
We actually bought this 487-yen (US$3.15) Folding Cardboard Table a while back, through Amazon Japan, while putting together a disaster preparedness kit. It says right there on the packaging, though, that it’s perfect for outdoor events like cherry blossom parties, and since we’ve got a bunch of those coming up in the very near future, we decided to test the table out at home first to see if it really works as well as advertised.
Folded up, it measures roughly 26 by 36 centimeters (10.2 x 14.2 inches), making it compact enough to easily slide into a moderately sized backpack or tote bag, but once it’s put together the tabletop is a more expansive 34.5 by 51.2 centimeters. Being made of cardboard it’s light too, weighing just 420 grams (14.8 ounces).
After removing the wrapping we saw that the entire thing consists of just three parts: the tabletop (which folds in half), the base, and one additional piece. To assemble it, you actually start by unfolding the tabletop and placing it on the ground, upside down. Then you unfold the base so that it crisscrosses like shown in the photo below, and slide in into the tabletop’s notches.
The base has two notches in it too, at corners of its central diamond…
…and this is where you insert the third piece, which acts as extra bracing.
Once you’ve done that, all that’s left is to flip your table over!
The whole process takes literally just a few seconds, and the tabletop is actually rather steady, with no significant wobbling when we tried jiggling it with our hand.
However, because the table is so light, it could get blown around if you’re outside with it on a particularly windy day. There’s an easy solution to that, though, and it’s something you’ll no doubt be planning to do: put stuff on it, which will help weigh it down.
According to the manufacturer, the Foldable Cardboard Table can support five kilograms (11 pounds) of weight, and with a standard-sized can of beer or soda weighing around 370 grams, that means you should be able to put 13 of them on there. Unfortunately, we didn’t have quite that much liquid refreshment stockpiled for our test, but the table did handle two cans, plus a bottle of wine, with no problem in structural integrity or stability.
So yeah, this thing should work perfectly for a cherry blossom party. While you can’t fit an entire opulent feast on top of it, it’s big enough to accommodate you and a couple buddies.
In addition to the low cost and light weight, the cardboard construction also means that if you’re picnicking with kids, you can let them doodle or put stickers on it, and if/when the table reaches the end of its service life, you can put it out with your other recyclables on trash day. And should you need more space, in addition to a single table for 487 yen, Amazon Japan is also selling a bundle of two for 974 here.
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2026/03/22/new-cherry-blossom-party-picnic-essential-this-super-handy-folding-cardboard-table/feed/ 0 729233 10_036592 How much is Amazon Japan’s lowest-rated currency calculator worth in yen? https://soranews24.com/2026/03/20/how-much-is-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-currency-calculator-worth-in-yen/ https://soranews24.com/2026/03/20/how-much-is-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-currency-calculator-worth-in-yen/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2026 03:00:30 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=728936 
Some things have an incalculable value.
A big hassle of traveling abroad is trying to figure out the currency of a different country, but our reporter Masanuki Sunakoma found a device on Amazon Japan that helps to relieve the stress of shopping in a foreign land. However, like many of Masanuki’s Amazon purchases, this was no ordinary foreign currency calculator; it was the lowest-rated one, with a rock-bottom score of 1.0.
You might be thinking this is because calculators and even online currency converters are already easily available on our phones. While that is true, there is some appeal to a dedicated device that you can just quickly punch numbers into and that doesn’t affect your phone’s battery. No, this product’s problems go far beyond that.
According to the reviews, the LCD screen was broken, and the buttons are too small, making them difficult to press. Those are valid complaints, but being the seasoned low-ranked product shopper Masanuki is, he realized that it’s usually only the customers who got burned who write in to complain. There very well could be thousands of satisfied customers for every one who got a bum display.
This is why our writer does what he does. This was a mission to right the wrongs of skewed reviews and redeem the reputation of items that were unfairly represented in the world of e-commerce. So he paid the 1,780 yen for the foreign currency calculator and welcomed it with open arms.
At first glance, it looked pretty good. There was a neck strap for easy access, and Masanuki felt the size was good for a travel gadget.
Since it’s just a calculator, it can’t get the current exchange rate from the Internet. Instead, the rate has to be first input manually, but after that, conversions should be super simple. That all sounded fine to our writer, so he eagerly turned it on to try it out.
▼ Masanuki: “Huh…”
Rather than the typical numbers one would expect a calculator to display, all that could be seen were random fragments of liquid crystal in varying shades of black.
Unless this thing was set to the currency of the Predator planet, something was seriously wrong. Masanuki could only imagine the panic a tourist might experience if their currency calculator bugged out like this while traveling.
However, something about the way the LCD display was faded in parts led our writer to believe that the batteries might just be low. It’s certainly not unheard of for items with batteries included to experience some considerable drain before landing in a customer’s hands.
So, he went to his local drug store and picked up a fresh one.
Perhaps all those people who gave this device a one-star review also just didn’t realize it needed a little TLC to get working properly.
▼ Masanuki: “Damn it…”
Were all of these calculators actually broken like this? It was starting to appear so, but how could a business operate by selling broken calculators?
Masanuki really wanted to give this a good review and help a struggling electronics maker get some much-needed business. However, now the proud owner of a useless piece of plastic and two batteries, one of which he had to go out in the middle of the night to get, he could only say that this was the worst calculator he’d ever seen in his life.
And while he still believed there are unfairly maligned products out there on Amazon Japan, this was not one of them. It earns every one-star rating it has and then some. Still, our reporter will continue to search the dregs of online shopping and find hidden gems wherever they may be.
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2026/03/20/how-much-is-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-currency-calculator-worth-in-yen/feed/ 0 728936 We go looking for a monkey mommy like Punch with Amazon Japan’s ultra low-rated orangutang plushy https://soranews24.com/2026/03/20/we-go-looking-for-a-monkey-mommy-like-punch-with-amazon-japans-ultra-low-rated-orangutang-plushy/ https://soranews24.com/2026/03/20/we-go-looking-for-a-monkey-mommy-like-punch-with-amazon-japans-ultra-low-rated-orangutang-plushy/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2026 15:00:17 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=728992 
Can the Laughing Sensor Orangutang bring a comforting motherly presence to our office?
In the office, certain members of the SoraNews24 office have a sort of familial role. Mr. Sato’s experience and wisdom often make him a sort of big brother in our interpersonal dynamics. Seiji Nakazawa, meanwhile, is a bit more like our younger brother, who we can’t help but root for as he pursues his passions. Big sister? That’d be Ikuna Kamezawa, who breezes in and out of the office on her way to or from her latest travel adventure. And playing the part of father, of course, is our boss Yoshio, even if he’s more likely to give out hugs to chocolate eggs than to the staff.
What we don’t have, though, is any sort of team mom at SoraNews24 HQ. In that sense, we’re kind of like Punch, the monkey at Japan’s Ichikawa Zoo who was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth. Punch has now become world famous for coping with his emotional trauma by bonding with a stuffed animal orangutang from Ikea, and so our reporter Masanuki Sunakoma got the idea that maybe the same plushie could boost out office morale by providing a soothing, comforting presence.
Unfortunately, as a result of the Punch-produced publicity, Ikea’s orangutang plushie is now frequently sold out. Luckily, Masanuki is an experienced online shopper who’s always ready to search the depths of Amazon Japan’s product listings, which is where he found the Laughing Sensor Orangutang from Emma, a subdivision of Osaka-based toy and novelty item maker Tabata.
If you’ve been following Masanuki’s shopping history, you might remember that he specializes in finding and testing Amazon Japan’s lowest-rated items. The Laughing Sensor Orangutang has an average customer review score of 1.0 out of 5, but with no written explanations of just why people have been so disappointed with it.
Taking it out of its packaging, Masanuki did feel right away that it might be a little overpriced. The Laughing Sensor Orangutang had cost us 3,067 yen (US$19.80), but the softness of the materials and the quality of the stitching felt like something you should be able to get for half that price. That said, it isn’t shoddily made, so maybe the reason this thing has such bad reviews is because it doesn’t work as advertised? As you might have guessed from its name, the Laughing Sensor Orangutang is equipped with a sensor (situated in its belly button). Once the sensor detects that someone in standing near it, the plushie will laugh for 10 seconds.
Batteries are included and come pre-installed, so all you have to do is open up the cover and remove the protective tape. Using the Velcro strips on The Laughing Sensor Orangutang’s hands, Masanuki hung it on handle of one of our office cabinets and tested it out.
The sensor noticed Masanuki right away, and the orangutang orangutang started shaking with laughter.
Really…really…really loud laughter.
This isn’t human laughter, either, but the energetic screeching of am excited primate, so it didn’t exactly get Masanuki in the mood to laugh along with it.
The noise was definitely distracting, at best annoying and at worst startlingly frightening. So, naturally, Masanuki decided to leave the Laughing Sensor Orangutang in place and see how his coworkers would react.
After a few minutes of Masanuki lying in wait with camera ready, fellow reporter Takamichi Furusawa came through the door.
▼ “GWAHHHH WHAT IS THAT?!?!?”
OK, so placed in this position the Laughing Sensor Orangutang wasn’t going to provide the soothing maternal presence Masanuki had set out to create. Being located in a spot where people might not even notice it until it began screeching at them from behind obviously wasn’t helping things, so he decided to reposition it somewhere where you couldn’t miss the plushie, someplace where it would be in your direct line of sight as you entered the room…like, say, on top of the toilet in the office bathroom.
Since the office bathroom is a one-stall setup, it was only a mater of time until someone would need to use it. So once again, Masanuki waited, and this time it was writer Takashi Harada who, in heeding the call of nature, unwittingly became Masanuki’s guinea pig.
▼ “GWAHHHH!!!”
Once again, the Laughing Sensor Orangutang failed to produce the comforting, emotionally reassuring aura that Masanuki had hoped for. So far, all it was doing was scaring the crap out of people, and to an almost literal degree, as Takashi had been so startled that Masanuki began to worry about the possibility of people accidentally soiling themselves when the Laughing Sensor Orangutang surprised them in the bathroom. Maybe he should take the plushie down from its spot on the toilet, he thought, but then the Laughing Sensor Orangutang, as though it could read his mind, shook itself so strongly with its laughter that it slid off the commode all on its own.
▼ At least it didn’t fall into the bowl.
In the end, Masanuki is of a mixed opinion as to whether or not the Laughing Sensor Orangutang deserves its abysmal Amazon customer review score. On the one hand, it’s reasonably well-made, and it’s advertised function of making noise when someone draws near works very well. However, with how loud and startling it is, the sound it makes isn’t exactly fun or cute, though it is excellent for terrorizing your office/housemates, so depending on your goals, its true value could be anywhere from a 1-star ranking to a full 5.
Related: Laughing Sensor Orangutang on Amazon Japan
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2026/03/20/we-go-looking-for-a-monkey-mommy-like-punch-with-amazon-japans-ultra-low-rated-orangutang-plushy/feed/ 0 728992 ao 1 Don’t judge Amazon Japan’s lowest rated massage sandals until walking a mile in them https://soranews24.com/2025/08/23/dont-judge-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-massage-sandals-until-walking-a-mile-in-them/ https://soranews24.com/2025/08/23/dont-judge-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-massage-sandals-until-walking-a-mile-in-them/#comments Sat, 23 Aug 2025 13:00:11 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=710092 
Provided both you and they can last that long.
For years now, our reporter Masanuki Sunakoma has been scouring the pages of Amazon Japan in search of items that have been lambasted by customers. Whether it’s menswear or magic wands, nothing is safe from the wrath of unsatisfied reviewers, but a chance for redemption awaits should they find their way to Masanuki’s screen.
This time, the product in question was a pair of foot reflexology sandals called the Tai Chi Rotating Massager for 2,662 yen (US$25). According to the description, wearing them for just 15 to 20 minutes a day can improve blood circulation and alleviate fatigue.
However, according to the one-star review they got, they broke after being worn twice and were impossible to fix. Even the best products occasionally put out a defect from time to time, so it’s certainly possible this one review was a stroke of bad luck for an otherwise solid product.
When they arrived, Masanuki admired the authentic-looking tai chi design with the strategically placed nubs to either massage his feet or fall apart depending on who he believed. Each nub was positioned at a pressure point on the sole of the foot that has a beneficial effect on overall health. By walking in them, the nubs compress into the sandal to provide just the right amount of pressure and also rotate for that extra massage-like sensation.
But when Masanuki inspected them, the nubs didn’t seem to twist at all. He wasn’t sure how important the rotating action was to the whole massage system, but it was mentioned in the name, so it’s hard not to be a little disappointed.
They were also sold in S, M, L, XL, and XXL sizes and had a conversion chart to European shoe sizes, so our reporter had to do a little research before finding his 27-centimeter feet would slip into an XL nicely. The Velcro straps can also be used to fine-tune the fit.
Masanuki decided to ease into them at first by wearing them with socks on. Despite this, an intense pain enveloped his foot and did not relent. It was like stepping on a pile of Lego bricks.
He wondered if this pain was his feet correcting themselves and would eventually turn into pleasure. Next, he tried it with his bare feet to get the full effect. After all, far be it from him to question a holistic art that has been around for millennia.
It was a form of torture our writer had never experienced before. The agony seemed proportional to the amount of weight he put on his feet, so he attempted to walk in slow, gentle steps while taking measured breaths, almost as if performing tai chi.
After about five minutes, he couldn’t take any more and slipped out of them. The bottoms of his feet were beet red, but much to his surprise, they felt amazing!
It turns out that wearing Tai Chi Rotating Massagers is a hell few have ever known, but the after-effects are pure bliss. Perhaps if he got more accustomed to them, the pleasure might actually start to outweigh the pain.
Not only that, but after a week of use, they were still completely intact. The intensity certainly isn’t for everyone, but Masanuki felt these sandals worked incredibly well and were absolutely worth the price. So, it looks like this was yet another case of an unfairly maligned product on Amazon Japan that has been debunked by our investigative reporter.
Related: Amazon Japan
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2025/08/23/dont-judge-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-massage-sandals-until-walking-a-mile-in-them/feed/ 0 710092 Trying to keep our cool with Amazon Japan’s lowest-rated fan and lucky amulet set https://soranews24.com/2025/06/09/trying-to-keep-our-cool-with-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-fan-and-lucky-amulet-set/ https://soranews24.com/2025/06/09/trying-to-keep-our-cool-with-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-fan-and-lucky-amulet-set/#comments Mon, 09 Jun 2025 05:00:55 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=704165 
The lucky amulet will ensure luck in online shopping, starting after this purchase.
Summer is just around the corner and keeping cool isn’t just a good idea, it’s a matter of staying healthy in these ever-increasing temperatures, so our writer Masanuki Sunakoma set out to invest in a new fan. This was also another chance to test the waters of the items sold on Amazon Japan with the lowest ratings around.
This is usually destined for failure, but when you think about it, fan technology has never been better. Fans sold at the 100-yen store or as toys have significant air output, so even the lowliest of fans sold online should do a decent job of providing a cool breeze for Masanuki.
As a general rule, low-rated items on Amazon have names that run up to 20 words for shameless search engine optimization, and this fan — called the “Tabletop Mist Fan: Functional Fan with 3 Functions: Humidification, Ventilation, and Cooling. Comes with an Original Amulet Card to Ensure You Don’t Fail when Shopping Online (Black)” — was no exception.
That all sounded good, and the addition of a Japanese lucky amulet known as an “omamori” really helped to set it apart from other fans. On the other hand, it had a unanimous one-star rating, the lowest possible, along with comments complaining about weak wind, not turning on, and possibly being made on a 3-D printer. Even the lucky amulet couldn’t escape the scathing reviews, with one calling it “pointless.”
Reviews have been wrong in the past though, so Masanuki went ahead and placed an order for this fan and lucky amulet, which was priced at 1,980 yen (US$14). It arrived a few days later and included the fan, charging cable, instruction manual, and lucky amulet card.
Normally omamori are made of fabric, but this was just a small postcard that read “Omamori so You Don’t Fail at Online Shopping.”
Also unlike other omamori, this had a set of rules on the back as follows:
- The benefits only work for the next three purchases after receiving this card.
- Write your name in black ink in the space below.
- Wear this while shopping online.
- After your third purchase, be sure to dispose of this as “burnable trash.”
- This only works with online shopping and not shopping at brick-and-mortar stores.
- This is merely an “omamori” and there is no guarantee of its effectiveness.
Masanuki wasn’t sure how he should “wear” his paper card and there was a bit of grim foreshadowing in the fact that the lucky amulet to prevent failing at online shopping doesn’t claim to work on this purchase. Considering his past shopping record, he was looking forward to really putting this amulet to the test for his next three questionable purchases, but today’s challenge was the fan.
Looking at the main unit, as some of the reviews said, it did look rather shoddily made for its price. But a fan was only as good as its wind, so it was time to take it for a spin.
He decided on a dry run first, without putting any mist-generating water in the tank. The fan has three settings which he visualized with the help of a tissue.
▼ Setting 1: Sleep-Friendly Gentle Wind
▼ Setting 2: Comfortably Natural Wind
▼ Setting 3: Powerful Wind
We assure you those animated gifs are not a mistake and all three power settings had the same effect on the tissue, which is to say almost none. Despite the evocative names for each of the settings, none of them could make the tissue move more than a few millimeters. It was almost impressive how the fan blades seemed to defy physics by moving faster without generating any additional wind.
On the bright side, the misting function did work and generated a cool fog at three different strengths properly.
It also had some lights built-in to make the water tank glow different colors, which was nice. Unfortunately, it was too bright out to show the full effect of the lights.
Those aspects made Masanuki rate this fan two stars out of five. That being said, few online shoppers have seen the horrors he has, so he tends to be more forgiving to pieces of junk. At the end of the day, a fan that doesn’t blow simply blows and no one should buy this item unless for the lucky amulet card.
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2025/06/09/trying-to-keep-our-cool-with-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-fan-and-lucky-amulet-set/feed/ 0 704165 Trying out Amazon Japan’s lowest-rated wall decoration https://soranews24.com/2025/05/14/trying-out-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-wall-decoration/ https://soranews24.com/2025/05/14/trying-out-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-wall-decoration/#comments Tue, 13 May 2025 15:00:23 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=701649 
Amazon makes our writer an offer he can’t refuse.
After an enlightening job performance review with his senior colleague Mr. Sato, our writer Masanuki Sunakoma was feeling a bit in a rut. That’s why he got a sudden urge to refresh his mood by redecorating his living environment, preferably something with a little pizzazz.
He decided to search on Amazon Japan for something that could spruce up his homestead within his budget. However, after years of seeking out the worst products on the e-commerce giant, his search results have gotten a little skewed.
One product that caught his eye was the Giraffe Head Wall Hanging for 2,585 yen (US$18). It’s a simple 3-D bust of the savanna’s gentle giant that creates the illusion of it popping its head into your living space, as if to munch on some mimosa leaves.
The product image made it look incredibly life-like too. It would certainly wow guests who came to visit and looked sure to put a smile on his face every day as he walked past it. It also had a feel of a hunter’s lodge but in a more fun way that doesn’t say, “I shot and killed an animal that’s as big as a house and yet somehow also completely non-threatening.”
However, the reviews for it were less than stellar. It has a rock-bottom rating of 1.0 stars and reviews claiming the real thing was nothing like the image. Knowing that products have been unfairly maligned by picky reviewers before, Masanuki decided to take the plunge and purchase a giraffe’s head.
It took about two weeks for the wall hanging to arrive from overseas, and our writer was filled to the brim with suspense about how it would look. Then, one fateful day, his package arrived.
▼ Cue the Godfather theme…
▼ Duh-duhn-nuh-nuh-nuh-neh Nuh-neh-nuh-neh-nuh-nuhhhh…
▼ Duh-duhn-nuh-nuh-nuh-neh Nuh-neh-nuh-neh-nuh-nehhhh…
▼ Duh-duhn-neh-nehhhh, duh-duhn-neh-nehhhh…
▼ Duh-nuh-neh-neh-nuh-neh-nuh-neh-neh-nuh-neh…
▼ Nehhhhhhh…
Far from the vibrant herbivore shown on the Amazon page, this giraffe looked like it had been dead for quite a while.
It was also covered in a white powder that might have been caused by the resin it was made of. It managed to make the giraffe look even less alive and cursed to roam the world as a soulless, long-necked wraith.
Needless to say, this was not the pick-me-up that Masanuki wanted, but he decided to give it a shot anyway and hung it on his wall.
He looked at his new objet d’art and contemplated if it had any redeeming qualities he might have overlooked.
It was then that he realized even the false window was horrendously made. Rather than peeking its head in from the lush foliage of Kenya, this giraffe seemed to be struggling to escape the ectoplasmic confines of an eldritch hell.
▼ Sometimes that giraffe looks right at ya. Right into your eyes. And the thing about this giraffe is he’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes. When he comes at ya, he doesn’t even seem to be livin’… ’til he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then… ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’.
Rather than brightening his day, this wall hanging cast an even heavier pallor over his home. He even felt he would be hard pressed to find a more depressing decoration than this.
Maybe someone out there would have a need or desire for such a thing, but it wasn’t Masanuki. He took down the cursed item and went in search of something else to lift his spirits. It would seem interior decoration was a lot harder than he had thought.
Related: Amazon Japan
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2025/05/14/trying-out-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-wall-decoration/feed/ 0 701649 Taking Amazon Japan’s lowest-rated light-up nunchucks out for a spin https://soranews24.com/2024/11/12/taking-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-light-up-nunchucks-out-for-a-spin/ https://soranews24.com/2024/11/12/taking-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-light-up-nunchucks-out-for-a-spin/#comments Tue, 12 Nov 2024 01:00:02 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=683405 
Don’t just buy any illuminated weapons. Do the research first.
Who among us hasn’t saved up our money for months in the hopes of buying not just a pair of nunchucks, but the really fancy kind that light up when you twirl them around? However, having purchased them, you find that they are just another piece of garbage churned out by a predatory company exploiting our never-ending lust for light-up nunchucks.
On the other hand, there are also times when people’s personal frustrations unfairly punish products that are actually decent. So, who can you trust?
Luckily, SoraNews24 is here to help. Normally, our writer Masanuki Sunakoma is in charge of reviewing the worst-rated items sold on Amazon Japan on this website, but this time Go Hatori will take the reins because he has more experience in the martial arts.
Go ordered two pairs of Fluorescent Nunchucks from Amazon for 1,888 yen (US$12.36) each. The website showed an overwhelming number of one-star reviews with comments such as “Broken,” “Didn’t work at all,” and “A waste of time.”
The reviews were not promising, but could they really be that bad? After all, it’s just a couple sticks with lights in them and that seems pretty hard to screw up. Perhaps this was a case of a vocal minority of people who had defective products while the vast minority of satisfied customers were too busy happily twirling away to leave a review.
Go opened his packages only to quickly find that one pair of nunchucks indeed did not work at all. Perhaps getting a dud really is a common occurrence.
Go returned the defective one and got a new pair that did work… to an extent. It seemed to have a short somewhere and would only light up if the cap was loosened a little.
One of the nice touches was that each pair came with way more button batteries than needed to power the lights. However, Go also interpreted that as the maker saying: “This thing eats batteries so fast, you’re going to need all of these, chump.”
Assembly was a breeze. Just pop in the batteries and screw the caps on each end of the sticks.
Also, contrary to the name, these use LED lights (actual fluorescent light nunchucks would be interesting. You’d only get one shot with them but it’d be an exciting one).
▼ The batteries go in under the lights.
The lights seemed rather rinky-dink, much like the kind you’d find in dollar-store products like a glowing poop on a stick. There’s also no switch so the only way to turn it off right away is to remove the batteries.
It does go into a sleep mode automatically if kept still for a period of time but that’s not very efficient for the batteries. Go was starting to feel like he could make a better pair by himself from scratch.
But this nunchuck review wouldn’t be complete unless the nuns were actually chucked, so Go donned his assassin outfit and went to the park to try them out.
They surprisingly looked pretty good in action. The way they changed colors was nice and the brightness of the LEDs were better than Go had previously thought.
▼ Go’s Instagram post has a more high-res look at the nunchucks in action.
Our reporter was about to change his tune regarding the Fluorescent Nunchucks but when the spinning stopped, he noticed that the screw-in parts that the chain was attached to were coming loose. Had he played around with them much longer, one or both sticks would have likely flown off his weapon and that could be dangerous.
In conclusion, Go felt that if someone is really, really, really in need of light-up nunchucks and can’t find some anywhere else, they can try buying these. However, the fact that one pair didn’t even work from the get-go and there are some serious structural integrity issues, he felt compelled to agree with the one-star reviews and not recommend buying Fluorescent Nunchucks that aren’t even fluorescent.
Source: Amazon Japan / Fluorescent Nunchucks
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2024/11/12/taking-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-light-up-nunchucks-out-for-a-spin/feed/ 0 683405 Defying gravity and common sense with the lowest-rated tensegrity table on Amazon Japan https://soranews24.com/2024/08/30/defying-gravity-and-common-sense-with-the-lowest-rated-tensegrity-table-on-amazon-japan/ https://soranews24.com/2024/08/30/defying-gravity-and-common-sense-with-the-lowest-rated-tensegrity-table-on-amazon-japan/#comments Thu, 29 Aug 2024 17:30:02 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=676709 
This table defies a lot of things, but gravity isn’t one of them.
If you’ve been scrolling through social media in the past several months, you probably would have come across a picture of a tensegrity table. These are the types of tables whose weight pulls down on a central chain while simultaneously pulling upward on the chains on the edges. The two forces balance each other out but since the chains are all oriented in the same direction, it gives the illusion that the table is floating.
If you haven’t seen one of these things we’ll give you a look shortly… we hope. The fact is, we entrusted this job to Masanuki Sunakoma and as he always does, he decided to purchase the tensegrity table with the lowest rating on Amazon Japan, so the chances of it working properly are not good.
This product is called the Tensegrity Anti-Gravity Device Balance Physics Toy Ornament. Only some of these words accurately describe what it is, but we can’t blame them for putting a little razzle-dazzle to back up the 2,980 yen (US$20) price tag. However, it has received an average rating of only 1.3 stars with comments such as “defective,” “faulty,” and “the worst product ever.”
That seems a little harsh for what’s ostensibly just a table with a rather gimmicky support system. Could they really have screwed something so simple up that bad?
Well, for starters, what you see above is everything that was included in Masanuki’s delivery. Notice that there are no instructions which means he would have to refer to the picture on the Amazon page to put it together.
Among the parts, a mini screwdriver and Allen key were included. The screwdriver was handy and the Allen key was certainly thoughtful since it wasn’t compatible with any of the table’s parts. It seems that it was just a freebie.
As he started attaching the parts to each plate, he noticed that there was some more randomness to what was included. He was short one eye bolt.
And it seems that to make up for the missing eye bolt, he was given nine extra rubber bands for the central support. Extras are nice, but nine was kind of overkill. If only there were instructions to explain what was going on.
Because of the missing eye bolt, Masanuki could only attach three of the four outer chain supports. It seemed like this would throw off the balance but he had no choice.
He attached the rubber band to the central support…
Then lifted the top plate directly above the bottom…
▼ Masanuki: “Ooooh…”
It was a success! Despite the missing part, our writer’s tensegrity table stood upright and appeared to magically float in the air.
You could even say the one loose chain only added to the illusion.
Masanuki began to wonder if the lack of instructions and seemingly random assortment of parts and tools was all by design. Because of it he couldn’t help but feel an extra sense of pride in what he built and marveled at how it appeared to defy the odds in more ways than one.
Of course, a tensegrity table isn’t a table if you can’t put stuff on it. Luckily, this was indeed capable of holding small items.
The one small catch is that they have to be very carefully placed to one side or the whole thing will violently collapse into itself.
Despite the fun and satisfaction Masanuki got out of this product, he can’t recommend it in good conscience. People tend to want reliability in their tables and the lack of structural integrity in this one merely makes it tense.
Related: Amazon Japan
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2024/08/30/defying-gravity-and-common-sense-with-the-lowest-rated-tensegrity-table-on-amazon-japan/feed/ 0 676709 Amazon Japan makes payment policy change that could be a problem for foreigners in Japan https://soranews24.com/2024/06/03/amazon-japan-makes-payment-policy-change-that-could-be-a-problem-for-foreigners-in-japan/ https://soranews24.com/2024/06/03/amazon-japan-makes-payment-policy-change-that-could-be-a-problem-for-foreigners-in-japan/#comments Mon, 03 Jun 2024 01:00:33 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=669001 
One payment option is disappearing in less than a week.
A few days ago, Amazon Japan made an announcement through its Seller Central discussion forum, but it’s one that affects buyers as well. The e-commerce giant will be altering its payment options policy, and shoppers will no longer be able to choose to pay by cash on delivery, or daikin hikikae (代金引換), as it’s called in Japanese. The option is being removed for all items sold through Amazon Japan, both those sold by Amazon itself and those offered through Amazon Marketplace.
This won’t matter to the many shoppers who already chose to pay for their online shopping with credit cards, but the new policy might be a problem for some members of Japan’s foreign resident community. While it’s not impossible for foreigners to get credit cards in Japan, obtaining one can be a frustrating struggle. Reasons aren’t always given for rejected applications, but non-permanent residency is generally considered a credit risk, as is income that’s relatively low or irregular, which is often the case for foreigners in Japan working in teaching positions or doing freelance work. It’s not that those factors contribute to a card with a lower credit limit, either, but that they lead to the application being rejected in whole.
So if you’re legally living and working in Japan, but can’t get a credit card, cash on delivery was a very handy thing if you were buying something from Amazon Japan, but one that’s going to be going away soon.
Thankfully, there is still a way to buy things through Amazon Japan and pay for them in cash, though it involves a few extra steps. Amazon Japan will be continuing to offer “convenience store payment” (コンビニ払い) as a payment option. With this method, when you place your order with Amazon, you receive a confirmation email with a payment number. You then take that payment number to a branch of the 7-Eleven, Family Mart, Lawson, MiniStop, Daily Yamazaki/Yamazaki Store, or Seico Mart convenience stores, where you either plug the number into the in-store ticket payment kiosk or show it to a clerk at the register. You can then pay for your online purchase in cash, and when Amazon receives confirmation of the payment, they’ll ship your item to you.
▼ Once again, Japanese convenience stores are awesome.
Alternatively, credit card-less shoppers can transfer the necessary money to Amazon Japan from their bank account using either an ATM or their bank’s online money transfer services, though these usually require a service fee.
Amazon has given no reason for the policy change other than “continuing efforts to improve both buyers’ and sellers’ experiences.”
The last day for cash-on-delivery payments for Amazon Japan orders will be June 5.
Source: Amazon Japan (1, 2, 3), Impress Net Shop via Yahoo! Japan News via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2024/06/03/amazon-japan-makes-payment-policy-change-that-could-be-a-problem-for-foreigners-in-japan/feed/ 0 669001 AJ 1 A look inside Amazon Japan’s lowest-rated lucky bag https://soranews24.com/2024/01/23/a-look-inside-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-lucky-bag/ https://soranews24.com/2024/01/23/a-look-inside-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-lucky-bag/#comments Mon, 22 Jan 2024 17:30:07 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=648768 
If you buy one, don’t forget to adjust the knob.
New Year’s is the season for fukubukuro lucky bags in Japan. These are collections of goods often sold at a large discount and occasionally with the contents unknown. Of course, it isn’t New Year’s anymore so our writer Masanuki Sunakoma was surprised to find a lucky bag delivered to his door. This wasn’t just any lucky bag, however, it was the worst lucky bag Amazon Japan had to offer according to customer reviews.
The New Year Lucky Bag, Gift Box, Good Luck Gift, Amazon Returns Appliances, etc – wherein “etc” is part of the name and not me being lazy – normally sells for 4,450 yen ($30) and while its contents are unknown the promise of “appliances” and pictures of game consoles, cameras, laptops, VR sets, and more high-end goods on the Amazon page are very enticing.
However, this product also has a unanimous rock-bottom one-star rating with reviews such as “This is the worst product,” “too cruel,” and “I learned a lesson in unscrupulous business.” While those are very concerning, Masanuki wondered if these weren’t just sour grapes from the ones who lost the gamble of this potentially lucrative bag of luck.
The only way to find out was to buy one, and as luck would have it, it was on sale for only 2,200 yen (US$15). In general, even the contents of a “bad” fukubukuro are at least worth the price paid for it, which means this would have to be a truly abysmal bag to not even be worth that much.
So, Masanuki opened his delivery with a cautious optimism…
First, he pulled out a “high quality” USB cable, though the package’s use of Comic Sans didn’t exactly scream “quality.” Still, USB cables tend to be handy things to have around.
Next, is a wireless headset that also boasts voice controls. At first, this looked relatively impressive, but a quick internet search found that this particular earphone sells for between 200 and 500 yen (US$1.30 – $3.40).
Then there was a USB-powered light, which will definitely come in handy the next time Masanuki has to light up something within three inches of a USB port.
There was also a USB MicroSD memory card reader in a sassy hot mauve.
A cigarette lighter USB charger was also included in this haul.
Fukubukuro usually have a centerpiece item and perhaps the one for this lucky bag was the Christmas-themed Projection Flashlight, which displays festive scenes on the surface of your choice.
Masanuki decided to try this item out with the hope it would help his visual development and logical thinking.
First, he slid one of the image cartridges into the slot.
Then he turned on the light.
He took it into a dark room and…
He could kind of make out old St. Nick.
The next image was… Charlie Brown and a cat?
Try as he might, Masanuki just couldn’t get any of the images to project clearly.
It wasn’t until he moved the flashlight right up to the wall that an image appeared.
▼ Masanuki: “Oh!”
Holding the light within an inch of the wall revealed a parade of adorable animals.
▼ Masanuki: “Now, I get it…”
▼ Masanuki: “I don’t need this at all!”
Our writer also looked up this product to learn more about this product and found that it sells for about 100 yen on the ultra-cheap e-commerce site Temu.
In this product’s defense, Masanuki understandably overlooked the English instructions on the box to “adjust the knob” to focus the image. This seems to be a common problem too as even the promotional image above shows little curvy arrows to help people figure out how to get it to work.
Nevertheless, when all was said and done, he had received about 1,000 yen ($6.75) worth of items in this lucky box. This means that even at 50 percent off, this purchase was still a huge rip-off and this is probably deserving its horrible reviews.
That’s not to say it’s impossible to get lucky and win a nice piece of electronics, but you’re probably better off trying your luck with something more trustworthy, like those sketchy capsule machines.
Related: Amazon Japan/New Year Lucky Bag, Gift Box, Good Luck Gift, Amazon Returns Appliances, etc
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2024/01/23/a-look-inside-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-lucky-bag/feed/ 0 648768 Amazon Japan’s Ice Cream Lucky Box will make you feel like you’ve won a dessert lottery https://soranews24.com/2024/01/04/amazon-japans-ice-cream-lucky-box-will-make-you-feel-like-youve-won-a-dessert-lottery/ https://soranews24.com/2024/01/04/amazon-japans-ice-cream-lucky-box-will-make-you-feel-like-youve-won-a-dessert-lottery/#comments Thu, 04 Jan 2024 01:00:50 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=647063 
This is one fukubukuro that deserves all its high ratings and rave reviews.
Just about every company in Japan celebrates New Year by selling fukubukuro lucky bags, and over at Amazon, there’s a lot to choose from. Our ice cream-loving reporter Masanuki Sunakoma didn’t have to think twice about which one to buy, though, as he headed straight for the Ice Cream Lucky Bag, priced at 4,280 yen (US$30.16).
With over 100 reviews and a high rating of 4.2 out of 5, this wasn’t like any of his low-rated budget buys, and the rave reviews from buyers made him excited to open the box when it arrived on his doorstep.
Raising the flaps on the box, Masanuki lifted out the newspaper that was protecting his precious ice creams inside.
The paper insert had been taken from the Sports Nippon newspaper, commonly known as Sponichi. The main news story on this page was dedicated to 2023 World Junior Figure Skating champion Mao Shimada, the first Japanese female to successfully complete a triple axel and a quadruple toe loop in one program.
Masanuki couldn’t help but wonder if the company had purposely included this article about skating because of the icy contents of the bag. In any case, it made him smile, and now it was time to check out the ice creams!
▼ Wowsers!
Check out this haul! Masanuki almost leapt up and punched the air with delight, because there were 30 type of ice creams before him, making him feel like he’d just won an ice cream lottery.
There were so many ice creams he could barely stuff them into his freezer. He certainly wouldn’t be needing to stop by a convenience store for an ice cream anytime soon.
Before he packed them away, he stopped to get acquainted with each one, which made him feel like something of a teacher getting to know his students. At the head of the class were these four Häagen-Dazs, playing the role of well-dressed students who come from luxury backgrounds.
▼ Tubs of Häagen-Dazs like these retail for around 350 yen at the convenience store, so these four are valued at 1,400 yen, which is around a third the cost of the bag.
The popular and casual-style ice creams like Ogorimasse, which has a fun gorilla on the package, and Garigari-kun were the sporty athletes of the class, while the sensible Home Run Bar (pictured below) was the class representative.
Morinaga’s Mow Prime Double Hokkaido Adzuki was a little messy, but it had a heart of gold, or in this case, red beans.
The Mow turned out to be one of the best ice creams in the entire collection, and Masanuki had no complaints with any of the other items.
He was incredibly satisfied with the contents of his haul, and now he’s gotten a taste for ice cream, he’s tempted to explore more of the country’s lesser-known regional varieties!
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2024/01/04/amazon-japans-ice-cream-lucky-box-will-make-you-feel-like-youve-won-a-dessert-lottery/feed/ 0 647063 Amazon Japan ice cream lucky bag fukubukuro 2024 6 Can our writer get lucky with a lucky bag of outlet sexy underwear? https://soranews24.com/2024/01/04/can-our-writer-get-lucky-with-a-lucky-bag-of-outlet-sexy-underwear/ https://soranews24.com/2024/01/04/can-our-writer-get-lucky-with-a-lucky-bag-of-outlet-sexy-underwear/#comments Wed, 03 Jan 2024 17:30:05 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=646771 
Great deals on butt floss to be had this holiday season.
Earlier this month, Mr. Sato took a chance on a lucky bag of factory outlet underwear he bought online and made out rather well in the end. It was a really exciting purchase that made him the envy of the office. So much so that his fellow writer Go Hatori was inspired to try his hand at a random underwear lucky bag of his own.
He hopped on Amazon Japan in search of an underwear-themed lucky bag and came across a vendor by the name of G-Station. They offered bags with his choice of one, three, or five pairs of randomly selected boxers, briefs, thongs, or jock straps, so he decided to go for a modest three-pack for 990 yen (US$7).
It’s a heck of a price, but there is a catch in that these are also outlet goods and have either small tears, loose threads, or marks on them. That was hardly a deal-breaker for Go, though, since he didn’t expect anyone to see his underwear anyway, but he must have forgotten what he did for a living.
Sometime after placing his order, a package arrived. Even though it was just three pairs of underwear, it was still much smaller than he expected but what they lacked in size they more than made up for in pizzazz.
Taking out the three pairs and laying them on the table, Go still wasn’t quite sure what to make of them.
He decided to go through them one by one, starting with the one that got its own resealable bag.
The label said they were pink bikini briefs, but upon opening them, pink seemed to be in the minority of the color scheme. Maybe that was why they were outlet?
He tried them on, but with some under-underwear to keep things tasteful.
Go thought they were pretty good; the vibrant colors kept things thrilling but they still covered enough real estate to stay on the conservative side of things.
The same, however, could not be said for the next pair of underwear, and we use the term “pair” very loosely here. At first, Go understandably thought it was some kind of handmade face mask.
But there was no mistake that these straps were meant to go around an entirely different set of cheeks.
Putting them on, Go was a little surprised at how well they covered his frontal crotch area.
Still, the backside was so wide open that he doubted he had the confidence to wear these ever again.
The final pair was what really piqued our writer’s interest. They resembled the kind of shorts that K-1 fighters wore with slits along the legs to facilitate kicking.
But when Go lifted up the front, he realized these were no martial arts shorts at all.
Rather, these flaps were intended to cover up a similar marble bag to the one he had just tried on.
It was an improvement though, since he could still feel the thrill of a g-string while keeping his modesty intact.
Go imagined bringing a special someone home and making a dramatic reveal with these beauties.
▼ Business up front
▼ Party in the back
It was Go’s first time ever wearing underwear quite like this so he still wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Still, it was certainly surprising and these were some items he never would have bought for himself had they not been randomly selected and the defects G-Station mentioned were hardly even noticeable. The excitement of all this alone made it well worth the price for anyone interested in taking a little walk on the wild side.
Related: Amazon Japan / G-Station Underwear Lucky Bags
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2024/01/04/can-our-writer-get-lucky-with-a-lucky-bag-of-outlet-sexy-underwear/feed/ 0 646771 Trying out Amazon Japan’s lowest rated magic wand https://soranews24.com/2023/12/18/trying-out-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-magic-wand/ https://soranews24.com/2023/12/18/trying-out-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-magic-wand/#comments Sun, 17 Dec 2023 17:30:33 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=645148 
This article has flashing images and may not be suitable for those with photosensitive conditions.
For a long time now, our reporter Masanuki Sunakoma has enjoyed perusing the worst Amazon Japan has to offer based on customer reviews. Although there have been a few diamonds in the rough, for the most part, these duds have been worthy of their low number of stars.
This time, however, Masanuki found a very peculiarly low-rated item in a pretty magic wand. It would seem that magic wands are destined to disappoint when the buyer discovers they aren’t magical. As we all know, the only real magic wands are forged from the wood of the Tree of Orgath, grown in the soil fertilized by 100 human sacrifices – and good luck finding that on Amazon.
This product wisely sidesteps that issue by declaring itself a “toy wand” suitable for cosplay and birthday parties. So, why did this wand only get a 2.2-star rating from previous buyers? To find out, Masanuki placed an order for one. It cost 225 yen (US$1.60) and he was given the option to pay in two installments of 112 yen with 0% APR, but since our reporter’s stocks did well this year, he decided to pay it all at once.
A few days later, his magic wand arrived. As he tore open the package, he thought back to the reviews which seemed deeply divided between “terrible” and “a conscientious buy for the price.” Either way, it seems to elicit a lot of emotion from all those who lay their hands on it.
It came sealed in a Ziploc bag so he knew it was fresh.
Masanuki got a Christmas tree-shaped wand in honor of the holiday season, but they’re also available in hearts and butterflies. Perhaps it’s symbolic that the real magic lies in all of our hearts… as well as butterflies and pine trees.
The tip is full of colorful little beads that should enhance the brilliance of it when it lights up.
Assembly was relatively easy and just involved shoving the stick along with its excess LEDs into the Christmas tree.
After that, he removed the paper blocking the battery terminal and positioned his thumb over the switch.
▼ Masanuki: “Whaaaaaaam…”
▼ Masanuki: “Baaaaaaaam…”
▼ Masanuki: “Thank you ma’am!”
It ended up working exactly as it should. Pretty colors lit up and glittered all over the magic wand. For most people, it wouldn’t be anything spectacular, but for Masanuki, who’s grown accustomed to the disappointment of low-rated Amazon goods, it was perfect!
But it seemed like a waste to use it in such a brightly lit room, so he took it to the darkest corner of his home: the toilet.
He was pretty sure there were some evil spirits afoot in this chamber too, so perhaps the healing light of his new wand would do the trick.
In the darkness, this wand really shined, though it had a bit more of a party vibe than a magical one. Also with the contrast affecting Masanuki’s vision, the Christmas tree started to look more like a coil of poop.
Still, it looked really nice and Masanuki felt that had he been a little girl, he would have loved this.
Heck, even as an old man, he was fairly pleased with it, so maybe it has some magic in it after all. At the very least, it delivered on its promise without a single flaw that our reporter could detect, and all at a very low price.
And that’s why he gave this magic wand a five-star review and added it to his list of unfairly maligned products on Amazon Japan.
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2023/12/18/trying-out-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-magic-wand/feed/ 0 645148 Checking Amazon Japan’s Bath Salts Fukubukuro Lucky Bag for 2024 https://soranews24.com/2023/12/09/checking-amazon-japans-bath-salts-fukubukuro-lucky-bag-for-2024/ https://soranews24.com/2023/12/09/checking-amazon-japans-bath-salts-fukubukuro-lucky-bag-for-2024/#comments Sat, 09 Dec 2023 05:00:10 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=644410 
How many Japanese bath salts can we get for US$25?
Around this time every year, our reporter K.Masami buys Amazon Japan’s Bath Salts Fukubukuro. In Japan, fukubukuro (“lucky bags”) are filled with random goodies that offer excellent savings and are commonly sold around New Year’s. While they can be hit-or-miss in terms of what you get, Masami is never disappointed with the Bath Salts Fukubukuro.
▼ “Nyuyokuzai Fukubukuro” (“Bath Salts Fukubukuro”)
Even though Masami has been buying this fukubukuro for years, she’s still surprised every time it arrives, because it’s absolutely packed with different bath salt sachets.
▼ As the “Fukubukuro 100” on the box suggests, this lucky bag contains 100 sachets, and it costs just 3,658 yen (US$25).
There aren’t many other places where you can get such a large amount of different bath salts all at once so in terms of impact, Masami reckons this is probably one of the best lucky bags in Japan.
Doing the math, this collection of bath salts could last you half a year if you used one every second day. Because Masami, like most other people in Japan, bathes every single day, a fukubukuro like this always comes in handy, and it’s especially good as the price has stayed the same, despite the price of bath salts having recently risen at stores.
▼ The price has stayed the same, and so too has the quantity and quality.
Some of the items included in the box were the tablet-shaped fizzy “Roten”, a “Setouchi Whole Squeezed Lemon” sachet, and the milky “Blessings of the Earth – Healing of White Water – Soy Milk”.
At the very bottom was a 10-pack box of Roten no Yado (“Open-air Inn”), one of the most popular types of bath salts in Japan.
Masami liked the fact that there was no bias in the brands represented, offering her a wider variety than usual and introducing her to types she never would’ve tried otherwise.
Seeing as they’re not easily perishable, the bath salts stay good for a long time, so Masami is always grateful for this value-for-money bulk purchase.
Plus, she only recently discovered that this lucky bag is one of those rare ones that are available year-round, so she might have to up her purchases to twice a year, so she can have a variety of bath salts all year long!
Related: Amazon Bath Salts Lucky Bag
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2023/12/09/checking-amazon-japans-bath-salts-fukubukuro-lucky-bag-for-2024/feed/ 0 644410 Amazon Japan fukubukuro lucky bag Japanese onsen bath salts 2024 shop news photos 4 Checking Amazon Japan’s most suspiciously high-rated solar panel charger https://soranews24.com/2023/07/20/checking-amazon-japans-most-suspiciously-high-rated-solar-panel-charger/ https://soranews24.com/2023/07/20/checking-amazon-japans-most-suspiciously-high-rated-solar-panel-charger/#comments Thu, 20 Jul 2023 01:00:24 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=630411 
We don’t know what to believe anymore.
Our writer Go Hatori has spent much of his career wallowing in the seedier corners of the Internet, where the worst scammers and thieves call home. He does this in the hopes that it will shed light on their practices and keep us all safe, and to get the occasional recipe while he’s at it.
▼ This fried rice was made thanks to some kind of multi-level marketing person
But years of doing this have taken their toll on Go, and he’s grown incredibly cynical about everything he sees online. Even the reviews on Amazon arouse suspicion, so he recently started using Sakura Checker, a website that scans Amazon pages for suspected “sakura” which is the Japanese term for a “shill” or someone who fraudulently promotes a product or service.
By copying and pasting the Amazon link into Sakura Checker’s search bar, it will assign a Sakura Rate which is a percentage of how many of the reviews it believes are fake. Go immediately began auditing everything he’d ever bought on Amazon, including his Elecaenta 30W Solar Charger 3-USB Port PD18W/QC3.0 Rapid Charge.
He had bought this solar-powered smartphone charger exactly one year ago, but never had a chance to get outdoors enough to try it out. It received good reviews, with an average of 4.1 stars over 539 ratings and cost him 7,399 yen (US$53).
However, when he ran it through Sakura Checker, it claimed that 99 percent of those reviews are fake. It also gave it’s approximate real rating of only 1.59 stars out of five.
Go’s heart sank at the results. It was a fairly expensive device and he’d been led into the sakura trap like a sucker. Having never actually used it, this so-called “solar-powered charger” might just be a pile of useless plastic.
Then again, simply because the product uses sakura doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a piece of junk. It could just be a normal product trying to get ahead in a highly competitive marketplace. And in the spirit of total paranoia, who’s to say that Sakura Checker is all that it’s cracked up to be? He had just come across it recently, after all.
To find out if it really was a pile of useless plastic, he took it to the super-cheap SoraHouse in the countryside, where he tests out all of his dubious purchases, and waited until it was needed.
▼ Yoshio: “Hey! I need a charge.”
Yoshio’s iPhone’s battery hung at a precarious 49 percent while far away from civilization.
This was a job for Elecaenta.
Go spread out the solar panels on the lawn. It was a partly cloudy day, but there should be plenty of sunshine to get the job done.
On one end of the panels, there’s a little pouch where the actual charger is located. It had three USB ports for simultaneous charging if needed. By the looks of it, there was a USB 3.2, USB 2.0, and USB-C port.
Go peeked inside and was delighted to see the charger’s little LED had lit up. This suggested it was working and ready to start charging.
Yoshio’s charging cable went in without a hitch.
And Go grew increasingly relieved to see that the phone was detecting the charger.
The pouch was a nice idea since it would be terrible to have to leave your phone out in direct sunlight while it charged.
He left it sitting in the grass, while the team got back to the demanding work of cleaning literal crap out of their house.
About an hour later, Yoshio went back to check on his phone…
The look on his face said it all.
▼ Yoshio: “It charged!”
The Elecaenta managed to generate about a quarter charge in one hour on a partly cloudy day. Had the sky been perfectly clear, the performance probably would have been even better. That still wouldn’t be a blazing speed compared to charging it in an outlet, but for a solar charger it wasn’t bad at all.
Go was very happy to learn that despite its apparent use of sakura, his Elecaenta wasn’t a bad product after all. He put it back in his closet for safekeeping until his next outdoor adventure.
I guess the moral of this story is that there’s so much fake stuff on the Internet these days that it doesn’t even always result in something bad happening. That’s not an especially comforting moral, but it is a reminder to take everything you see online with a grain of salt.
Related: Sakura Checker, Amazon / Elecaenta 30W Solar Charger 3-USB Port PD18W/QC3.0 Rapid Charge
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2023/07/20/checking-amazon-japans-most-suspiciously-high-rated-solar-panel-charger/feed/ 0 630411 Trying out Amazon Japan’s lowest-rated fireworks with 60 consecutive shots https://soranews24.com/2023/06/22/trying-out-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-fireworks-with-60-consecutive-shots/ https://soranews24.com/2023/06/22/trying-out-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-fireworks-with-60-consecutive-shots/#comments Thu, 22 Jun 2023 01:00:31 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=627422 
Sparks fly with this much-maligned piece of pyrotechnics.
Summer is fast approaching in Japan which means it’s time to break out the fireworks and light up the sweltering night sky. Our writer Masanuki Sunakoma agrees, but when it comes to buying something he can’t help but browse the dregs of Amazon Japan to find the lowest-rated products around.
This time it led him to a peculiar item: the Rokumaru Damashi launching fireworks. Among the over 2,000 fireworks for sale, this one seems to be deemed the worst. The name “Rokumaru” means “6-0” and alludes to the promise that it “fires 60 red, greed, and yellow sparks in succession to a height of about 20 meters (66 feet),” and is “a force that will shake your soul.”
That all sounded good and even the package seemed to exude a certain level of quality. And yet on the Amazon page, there were reviews claiming “it only fired nine shots” and “half of them didn’t even fire.”
After buying his Rokumaru Damashi for 2,050 yen (US$14), Masanuki decided to do a little research on fireworks to see what he should expect. He learned that with these kinds of consecutive fireworks, the larger the number of shots, the smaller each burst tends to be. Also, since it’s essentially dealing with explosives, it’s hard to predict how many shots you can get with accuracy.
Even the package had a disclaimer that read: “Because the sparks are designed to shoot up at the same time, it might be difficult to confirm 60 shots in a row.”
Still, nine out of 60 was pretty far out of the realm of expectation, so he could understand why other customers would be upset.
This was going to be one of Masanuki’s hardest product reviews to date. Even the product itself was telling him that he probably wouldn’t be able to count the number of shots accurately, but he was going to try anyway…
He set his Roumaru Damashi up in an empty lot even more secluded that his normal product-testing empty lot and lit the fuse…
▼ Masanuki: “Oh crap!”
▼ Masanuki: “What the…”
▼ Masanuki: “Dammit!”
Masanuki tried to take as many photos of the launch as he could, but they were all firing off a lot more rapidly than he expected and he couldn’t snap photos fast enough to keep up. He fumbled with the settings to switch to video partway through.
Just based on his gut instinct from watching it, he’d have guessed that around 37 to 40 rockets had gone off.
However, reviewing the video at a slower speed, he noticed that there were some additional shots that he couldn’t catch with the naked eye.
So, in a part where he had counted seven or eight shots at the time, he saw 10 go off in the video because two went off at once. This meant that 60 shots was probably not an exaggeration at all.
Meanwhile, Masanuki had been so focused on the launch port that he never had a chance to actually look up at the fireworks in the sky. There could have been a gorgeously sparkling array of red, green, and yellow 20 meters above him, but he wouldn’t have known.
It was a reminder that we shouldn’t get hung up on technical details like the specific number of shots the Rokumaru Damashi fires on average. In doing so we might miss out on something beautiful happening right over our heads.
Masanuki hopes you agree, because then you wouldn’t be too upset that he botched this review and couldn’t get an accurate count of shots or a good look at the results. It didn’t seem like a bad firework though, and probably better than the reviews suggest. It was certainly better than Pop’s Fart-loon, but that isn’t saying much.
Related: Amazon Japan / Rokumaru Damashi Launching Fireworks
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2023/06/22/trying-out-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-fireworks-with-60-consecutive-shots/feed/ 0 627422 For just 5 yen, Amazon Japan’s cheapest possible outfit will have you looking like 0.04 bucks! https://soranews24.com/2023/05/18/for-just-5-yen-amazon-japans-cheapest-possible-outfit-will-have-you-looking-like-0-04-bucks/ https://soranews24.com/2023/05/18/for-just-5-yen-amazon-japans-cheapest-possible-outfit-will-have-you-looking-like-0-04-bucks/#comments Thu, 18 May 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=623885 
But beware the secret of the extra-extra-extra-large pants.
As regular SoraNews24 readers know, our Japanese-language reporter Masanuki Sunakoma regularly plumbs the depths of Amazon Japan, testing out the lowest-ranked products available. Just in the last few weeks alone he’s tested a dismally reviewed stress-relief bobblehead, ab roller, and screaming pot.
▼ There are better screaming pots out there…probably…
But we realize that spending so much time in the lowest abyss of e-commerce can cause long-term damage to the psyche, so sometimes we give Masanuki a break and instead allow him to review the cheapest things he can find on Amazon Japan instead. For example, last year we gave him 10 yen (US 7 cents) to put together an entire outfit. This year, though, our boss wouldn’t approve such a large budget, and so Masanuki’s funds were cut in half, to just 5 yen (4 cents).
And you know what? He still managed to get everything he needed, shirt, pants, and shoes, for just 5 yen!
The items Masanuki will be modeling for us today are:
● A 2-yen shirt (listed on Amazon as “Men’s Short-sleeve Florrita Hemp Men’s Print Male V-neck Solid Cut Sew Spring Simple Sweat-Absorbing Blouse Outerwear Fashionable Summer Striped Individual Big-size Short-sleeve Sports Thin Cool Going to School Casual Exercise Interesting Comfortable Loose-fitting)
● A 2-yen pair of shoes (Dress Shoes Mens Slip-on Fulorrita Leather Shoes Mens Dress Shoes Black Brown Easy to Walk In Walking Sneaker Breathes Well Anti-odor Light Anti-sliip Can Run in Them Big Size 24cm-29 cm fashionable Easy to Walk In Summer Platform Slip-on)
● A 1-yen pair of pants (Sarouel Pants Mens Zoiearl Cargo Pants Loose-fitting Fashionable Wide Pants Hakama Pants Big Silhouette Aladdin Pants Solid Sweat Pants Loose-fitting Pants Going to Work Breathes Well Quick-drying Big Size Casual Wide Pants)
All of the items shipped from China, with the shirt and shoes coming in one package and the pants on their own. Masanuki was pleasantly surprised to see that they’d been packed with care, the shirt in particular was neatly folded, with no signs of the rough handling/possible curses that he often experiences with his low-rated/-priced online purchases.
The shirt’s product page says that it’s comfortable to wear even without an undershirt, with a material that’s fast-drying for comfort even in warm, sweat-producing weather. Feeling the fabric with his fingertips, Masanuki felt like it would probably hold up to that claim.
The shoes aren’t made of leather, but an imitation material of some sort. The product page, though, says that this actually makes them more water and mold resistant that genuine leather shoes would be. They’re also supposed to have a sort of platform-effect, making your legs looks longer and giving you a more dashing silhouette in a suit.
As for the pants, they’re pretty much just ordinary athletic pants, but at just 1 yen, they have the potential to be the especially amazing bargain here. Just look at all the “scenes” you can use them in, according to the product page!
“For use as/for roomwear, casualwear, businesswear, schoolwear, extracurricular club activities, job interviews, hands-on work, travel, school cultural festivals, school athletic festivals, drinking parties, after-parties, class reunions, dinner parties, presentations, thank-you parties, days out, leisure, outdoor activities, running, weightlifting, jogging, walking, soccer, basketball, badminton, tennis, baseball, golf, fishing, hiking, other sports, business, formal, parties, barbeques, camping, dates.”
Pants that you can wear for lifting weights, interviewing for a job, and getting drunk? With this much versatility at this price, this might be the best purchase Masanuki’s made since that 1-yen hat that he turned into a high-percentage-return money-making scheme!
By the way, as the above photo shows, Masanuki made sure to order the pants in extra-extra-extra-large size. Though he’s on the tall side for a Japanese guy, Masanuki isn’t particularly plus-sized. However, when he bought the pants for his luxuriously expensive 10-yen outfit last year, the ones he received were incredibly tight, even though he’d ordered extra-large ones, so he went two sized bigger this year.
▼ Masanuki’s extra-large pants from a year ago
So how does Masanuki look in his new 5-yen ensemble?
Starting at the top, the shirt’s actually not bad at all. No telling if it’ll hold up after multiple washes, but it looks fine, and a nice touch is that the length is in that sweet spot where Masanuki could wear it either tucked in or out, depending on his mood.
Things aren’t so great at Masanuki’s feet, though, where…
…the shoes are so small that his heels stick out from the backs.
And no, he didn’t order the wrong size. Masanuki wears a 27-centimeter show (a men’s size 9 in the U.S. system), and he ordered 27-centimeter shoes, which were also the largest size available for them.
But where things really get cooky size-wise is the pants.
That form-fitting cut sure doesn’t look “extra-extra-extra large” to us.
Sure, they don’t necessarily look bad, but remember, these are the Sarouel Pants Mens Zoiearl Cargo Pants Loose-fitting Fashionable Wide Pants Hakama Pants Big Silhouette Aladdin Pants Solid Sweat Pants Loose-fitting Pants Going to Work Breathes Well Quick-drying Big Size Casual Wide Pants. That’s two declarations each of “loose-fitting,” “wide,” and “big,” plus mentions of “hakama” and “Aladdin pants,” both of which also imply a loose, breezy fit.
And again, we can’t stress enough, these are the extra-extra-extra-large pants!
By the way, some of you might be saying “Hey, Masanuki didn’t really put together a whole outfit for 5 yen! What about his underwear?” To that we say that going commando is always an option, and in this case might even be an absolute necessity, since those pants are snug enough there might not be space to fit another layer of fabric underneath them.
Related: 2-yen shirt, 2-yen shoes, 1-yen pants Amazon listings
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2023/05/18/for-just-5-yen-amazon-japans-cheapest-possible-outfit-will-have-you-looking-like-0-04-bucks/feed/ 0 623885 PU 13 We try Amazon Japan’s lowest-rated ab roller with elbow supports, reviewed as “The literal worst” https://soranews24.com/2023/04/22/we-try-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-ab-roller-with-elbow-supports-reviewed-as-the-literal-worst/ https://soranews24.com/2023/04/22/we-try-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-ab-roller-with-elbow-supports-reviewed-as-the-literal-worst/#comments Sat, 22 Apr 2023 05:00:44 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=621604 
“I’d give it no stars if I could” only served to pique our curiosity.
Our Japanese-language reporter and Amazon product reviewer Masanuki Sunakoma has been doing a lot of traveling and eating out lately, so he’s been thinking it’s time to work off all those extra calories. After some browsing through the countless varieties of workout products on Amazon, he stumbled upon something called the “New Model Ab Roller”.
The New Model Ab Roller’s full name is actually the “New Model Ab Roller Automatic Rebound-style Ab Roller Ab Machine Muscle Training Abdominal Comes with a Knee Mat, Elbow Supports, Timer, and Smartphone Holder Train Your Abs and Your Core”, but that’s an awful mouthful, so we’ll just stick to calling it the New Model Ab Roller. The price, by the way, was 3,299 yen (US$24.58).
Apparently, this product is great for everyone, from beginners to seasoned athletes, and since it’s also quieter than many other products like it, it can be used in apartments, even those with thin walls, without bothering the neighbors. And to make it even more appealing, it comes pre-assembled, so you don’t even have to go through the trouble of putting it together.
The only problem was that it only had a single review, and boy, was it scathing. “It’s the literal worst product. You’ve got to be kidding me. I’d give it no stars if I could.” Obviously, something about this product enraged someone so much that they felt called to write such a withering review. But, as with all of Masanuki’s other lowest-rated Amazon product trials, this only served to deepen his interest, so he clicked “Buy Now” and waited to see if he would experience any regret.
He waited a while. It took about 10 days to arrive, so Masanuki had all but forgotten about it when it was delivered to his doorstep. The box had the Chinese characters “多攻能肘撑健腹轮” written along the side, as well as “Multifunctional Power Roller”, which he assumed was the English translation. This rang a bell, but the name was much different from the New Model Ab Roller advertised on Amazon, so it took Masanuki a minute to remember.
But once it all came back to him, the one thing he recalled being excited about was the fact that it would arrive ready to use right out of the box. And yet…
…it was definitely not pre-assembled. And what’s worse, the assembly instructions only came in Chinese.
“This is so aggravating!!!” Masanuki roared, once he’d finished fishing out the many different parts and found no other instructions.
He probably wouldn’t have been so annoyed if he’d been mentally prepared to assemble the product ahead of time, but the product page on Amazon had clearly promised “No annoying assembly required!”, and this made him even angrier.
He stared at the pictures, trying to decipher how he might assemble the pieces. It seemed like the largest piece, which looked like a toilet paper holder, was central to the design.
As he worked to decipher the pictures and use the included screws to put the product together, Masanuki’s bitterness gave him several suspicions about this product. For one, the reviewer had said, “The box was all beat up and full of holes.” Masanuki wasn’t sure if that meant the box it was shipped in, or if it was separate packaging within the box. Masanuki’s had only one box. Was it supposed to have more proper packaging?
Furthermore, the picture included in the review showed a very different mat. Masanuki began to get the eerie sense that the seller had simply bought random things on the Internet and combined them together into one product.
While Masanuki mused on these mysteries, he managed to somehow assemble the New Model Ab Roller. He honestly didn’t really know what was so new about the product, and half wondered if it was just a rip-off of some other company’s product.
Well, he’d gone through the trouble of assembling it, so he figured he might as well try it. The pictures in the manual suggested that you’re supposed to put your knees on the mat, rest your elbows on the armrest, and then roll back and forth to train your abs.
The timer that it came with was kind of a special feature, letting you easily set an interval for your workout (and see how much longer you have to suffer when you want to give up after ten seconds). Though Masanuki had some doubts about the product page’s claims and still felt resentment about the fact that he had to put it together, it really didn’t seem like “the literal worst product.” At least, not so far.
Without further ado, Masanuki gave it a try.
Oh…it actually made a lot of sense. The armrests helped keep his upper body stabilized, so it would be great for beginners. Masanuki actually found himself pretty grateful for the included mat, too.
It also had a phone holder, which, according to the product page, lets users “watch videos while you work out, so you won’t get bored.” Masanuki decided to test this feature out.
But the angle was so low he couldn’t even see his phone’s screen while rolling. This, he concluded, was not a great feature.
In conclusion, this was not, in Masanuki’s opinion, “The literal worst product.” The stability provided by the elbow rests was a really nice feature that made it more comfortable to use than a regular ab roller, and it was, in fact, a pretty quiet product. Sadly, it lost points for lying about the assembly required and for the pointless smartphone holder. All-in-all, Masanuki would give it 2.5 stars; not as good as the Nejirunba, as far as low-rated products go, but leagues better than the levitating speaker.
Source: Amazon
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2023/04/22/we-try-amazon-japans-lowest-rated-ab-roller-with-elbow-supports-reviewed-as-the-literal-worst/feed/ 0 621604 ab roller3 Takeshi’s Castle returns, and we make news with overseas press for our fundoshi https://soranews24.com/2023/04/22/takeshis-castle-returns-and-we-make-news-with-overseas-press-for-our-fundoshi/ https://soranews24.com/2023/04/22/takeshis-castle-returns-and-we-make-news-with-overseas-press-for-our-fundoshi/#comments Fri, 21 Apr 2023 15:00:58 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=621757 
When everyone else wears sensible clothes to a press event, we wear loincloths.
On 20 April, the world premiere of Takeshi’s Castle was held at Yebisu Garden Place in Tokyo, the day before its worldwide release on 21 April.
With no expense spared for the premiere, the event space took three days to construct, as guests were treated to a mini recreation of one of the show’s most popular games — Ryujin-Ike, known overseas as Dragon God’s Pond.
▼ Some of the show’s celebrity hosts appeared outside an hour before the premiere.
Contestants navigate Dragon God’s Pond by jumping on stepping stones to reach the other side of the pond, and in the 2023 iteration of the show, the distance to reach the goal has increased, making it more difficult than ever to reach successfully.
It’s a game our Japanese-language team knows intimately, as they were chosen from over 1,300 applicants to join the 300 lucky participants appearing on the show. As participants, they were also invited to the premiere in Tokyo, where they were able to meet up with some of the other contestants, whom they hadn’t seen since filming took place last summer.
▼ The army that attempted to capture Takeshi’s Castle last summer.
Joining the participants for the premiere screening were social media influencers and members of the press, including members of the foreign press, who approached our loincloth-wearing team for photos.
Our team were excited to watch the first episode, but during the screening, they were surprised at just how much the press were laughing. The level of laughter was beyond what they’d been expecting, and Mr Sato says the cheers and screams from the foreign media behind him was incredible — it was on par with the reactions you’d see at a World Cup match.
▼ Don’t worry, Mr Sato — we’re sure they were laughing with you, not at you.
With the original ’80s program being broadcast in over 150 countries, Takeshi’s Castle has an iconic reputation that precedes itself, and the foreign media were lapping up this first episode of the revival. It was a great reminder of how programs like these, where everyday people attempt to take down a mighty foe, translate so well across countries. It also reminded him that laughing at people falling flat on their faces is a commonality that’s just as universal.
How many times will our team fall flat on their faces? And how many times will they make us laugh? You can find out right now by checking out the first four episode on Amazon Prime, which began streaming on 21 April, with the four final episodes streaming on 28 April.
Related: Takeshi’s Castle
*Photos ©*2023 Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved / SoraNews24
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2023/04/22/takeshis-castle-returns-and-we-make-news-with-overseas-press-for-our-fundoshi/feed/ 0 621757 Fuun! Takeshi's Castle amazon Prime Japan remake date RocketNews24 SoraNews24 TV show watch new online 1-1-1 Fuun! Takeshi's Castle amazon Prime Japan remake date RocketNews24 SoraNews24 TV show watch new online