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J-rock star Yoshiki donates 10 million yen to coronavirus relief, asks everyone to stay home

Katie Pask
Apr 23, 2020
Tweet

“I’m making my donation with the hope that it can help, even if it’s just a little.” the rock god said.

Japan
(coronavirus • COVID-19 • donation • music • musicians • Nico Nico Douga • touching • X Japan • Yoshiki)

Learn to make realistic-looking, edible insects with these cool tutorials【Videos】

Jamie Koide
Jun 12, 2016

Here are some creepy crawlies we wouldn’t mind coming across in our kitchen.
Read More

Entertainment, Internet, Japan
(cool • desserts • edible insects • japanese cooking • Nico Nico Douga • recipe • traditional sweets)

Niconico user makes cute, petable Pokémon with needle-felted plushies 【Videos】

Rachel Tackett
Oct 18, 2013

This fall has people across the globe down with a case of Pokémon fever, ever since the release of Nintendo’s first 3-D Pokémon game set, X and Y. Thanks to one of the game’s brand-new features, Pokémon Amie, it’s possible to build greater bonds with our battling monsters than ever before, by petting, feeding, and playing games with them. Still, not even that comes close to the adorable magic of having an actual creature to cuddle.

Niconico Douga user, Tatsuno’otoshigo (meaning seahorse), filled that hole in her heart by crafting her own Pokémon plushies with needle felting! Her ever-expanding pokédex of wooly little monsters is the envy of many collectors. But it’s hard to say if she’d be willing to trade. Her videos reveal exactly how much love she puts into each and every pokémon.

Japan
(craft • cute • games • Nico Nico Douga • nintendo • Pokemon • Pokémon X and Y • toys)

Wanna sleep next to Hatsune Miku? There’s an app for that!

Rachel Tackett
Oct 8, 2013

Up until now, lonely otaku wishing to tuck in with their favorite anime character had to rely on the cotton-blend comfort of their beloved dakimakura, aka “love pillows.” I’m sure it’s nice to wrap around the 2-D image of one’s imaginary lover, but it must be a bit of a letdown considering that a pillow only satisfies two of the major senses: sight and touch. Just think how far these fan’s crazy fantasies could carry them if sound and scent also came into play.

Well, Vocaloid fans rejoice, because a member of Nico Nico Douga’s engineering department has put together an application which allows the user to not only see and interact with a 3-D virtual model of Hatsune Miku in her bed, they can also hear, touch, and even smell her! Talk about dreams come true!

Japan
(HatsuneMiku • Nico Nico Douga • pillow • sleep • Vocaloid • wtf)

NicoNico Livestreaming E3 in English! 【PSA】

Cara Clegg
Jun 11, 2013

Japan’s answer to YouTube, NicoNico Video, will be showing live coverage of the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) in both Japanese and English!

Global, Internet, Japan
(E3 • Nico Nico Douga • Playstation 4 • video games • Xbox One)

Japanese Video Sharing Site Niconico Wants YOU to Translate Their Videos, Launches New English Interface

Steven
Oct 18, 2012

While most of us use YouTube to upload homemade productions and watch funny cat videos, much of Japan still turns to their domestic video sharing site, Nico Nico Douga.

Yet whereas YouTube sees content from users across the world, Nico Nico Douga has remained primarily an exclusive club for Japanese speakers since it began in 2006. An English language beta website, Niconico.com, was launched in early 2011, but failed to generate interest even among foreign users of the Japanese site, due in part to the separation of Japanese and English videos between two domains.

Perhaps realizing that they’ll never be able to attract a sizable userbase from YouTube, Nico Nico Douga has shifted its strategy away from encouraging original English content to making its Japanese content more accessible to English speakers, replacing the English website with an English interface for the Japanese domain, nicovideo.jp.

Internet, Japan
(business • Evangelion • Hatsune Miku • meme • Nico Nico Douga • niconico • YouTube)

When Idol Meets Dog: Intricately Detailed Dog-Sized Hatsune Miku Outfit Wows Internet Users

Philip Kendall
Oct 12, 2012

Electronic idol Hatsune Miku’s popularity seemingly knows no bounds.

If we’re not seeing stories of catastrophic cakes being made in her image, we’re hearing reports that one of her uber fans has spent an exorbitant amount of money acquiring the last Hatsune Miku edition Sony MP3 player ever made.

Clearly Ms. Miku has her share of fans, but when you come to think about it, is dropping a ton of cash really equate the greatest measure of fandom? Surely just about anyone with a computer and some spending can bid on an MP3 player!?

But hand-crafting a tiny, intricately-detailed Hatsune Miku outfit for your pet dog? Now that’s what we call a fan!

Internet, Japan
(cute • dog outfit • Hatsune Miku • Nico Nico Douga • video)

Zen and the Art of Flushing: Japanese Man Installs Bamboo Fountain on Toilet

Steven
Oct 12, 2012

Among other things, the toilet is a place for peaceful introspection. It provides an isolated and quiet space for us to devote a few minutes from our busy schedules to just sit and think.

Some people seek to enhance the spiritually soothing properties of the toilet by adorning their bathroom in calming pastel colors or setting a bowl of potpourri or other aromatic atop the toilet’s porcelain tank.

One Japanese person, true to his culture, has taken excremeditation to new levels by installing a working traditional Japanese bamboo fountain on top of his toilet.

Uncategorized
(bathroom • fountain • garden • Nico Nico Douga • shishi-odoshi • toilet • YouTube)

Inspiring or Inconsiderate? Foreigner Plays Guitar for Frustrated Train Passengers While Stranded in Typhoon

Steven
Oct 5, 2012

On Sept. 30, Typhoon Jelawat struck the eastern part of Aichi prefecture, Japan and then proceeded to move north, causing flight delays and affecting public transportation across the eastern region of the main island.

In Tokyo, train schedules throughout the city were disrupted and one section of the JR Chuo Line was even forced to shut down before trains could make it back to their stations, trapping passengers inside the cars until weather conditions improved.

Now, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that nothing can ruin a day (week?) like being held up in an unexpected transportation or traffic accident. The general mood among passengers in those stranded cars must have been pretty sour. Which is why it’s amazing one foreigner had the pluck to take out his guitar and start serenading his fellow passengers while they waited for the storm to pass.

Internet, Japan
(manners • music • Nico Nico Douga • Tokyo • train • YouTube)

“Aaaaaaaaa!” or “When Scribble Gets Out of Hand”

Philip Kendall
Sep 13, 2012

Remember how much fun it was practicing writing the alphabet when you were a kid? Every single letter; upper and lowercase; again and again; page after page after page. Good times, no?

Well, at least one Japanese NicoNico Douga user seems to think that there’s no better way to pass the time than filming herself writing a few Japanese characters on a sheet of paper. Sorry, did I say “a few” characters? How about just one character? 30,000 times… Read More

Internet, Japan
(aaaaaa • graffiti • movie • Nico Nico Douga • writing)

Hatsune Miku 7-Eleven Parody Video Will Give You Nightmares

Steven
Aug 24, 2012

If you weren’t in the know (and by the know we mean Japan), Japanese convenience store chain Family Mart and Hatsune Miku are running a promotional campaign from August 14 to September 10 to celebrate the Vocaloid’s 5th birthday.

To spread word of the campaign, Family Mart created a 15-second television commercial featuring Miku singing the store’s signature jingle and posted it to YouTube on August 17, though a ripped version had been posted to Japanese video sharing site Nico Nico Douga a few days earlier.

One group of enterprising viewers saw the video and immediately got the idea for a parody, which he posted to Nico Nico and YouTube on August 19. The parody, titled “Miku LOVES Seven Campaign [Fiction]”. features a super deformed Hatsune Miku singing the Japanese 7-Eleven jingle and is absolutely terrifying.

Japan
(convenience store • creepy • Family mart • funny • Hatsune Miku • music • Nico Nico Douga • otaku • Vocaloid • YouTube)

Watch a Businessman Go to Work on an Adorable Sewn Bento

Steven
Aug 6, 2012

A lone salaryman walks in to a room with bento in hand and sits down at a table to enjoy his lunch in privacy. He unties the knot holding together the bandana bundle to reveal a small brown bento box and chopsticks case. Finally, the man removes the lid from the bento to unveil a mouth-watering assortment of…colored yarn?

What follows is some hardcore lunchtime needlework.

Internet, Japan
(bento • food • Nico Nico Douga • video • YouTube)

Guy Debuts Open-Fly Prevention Device, Awkward Dance Moves in Web Video

Jessica
May 28, 2012

Everyone has the embarrassing experience at least once in their life of forgetting to zip up their pants and going out into the world with their fly down. Well, a creative fellow on the video sharing website Nico Nico Douga has made a handy little device to make sure your privates stay private, and he’s shared his bargain-basement methodology and funky dance moves with the world. Read More