Subscribejapan
These Cat Donuts Are Almost Too Adorable to Eat
Leave it up to the Japanese to combine two of our absolute favorite things — adorable cats and yummy baked goods — into one creation. It’s too bad that Floresta, the doughtnut chain responsible for these masterpieces, is located in Kawasaki, Japan. The bakers use frosting to approximate cats’ various coats, and almonds for the ears. Floresta doesn’t limit itself to domestic animals: Check out the cow and pig versions after the jump. More »
How Many Famous American Objects Can You Spot in the Crazy Japanese ‘Ponponpon’ Video?
We have spent the last day enraptured by “PONPONPON,” the strange video from Japanese star Kyaru Pamyu Pamyu. She’s part of the culture’s Kawaisa movement, which means she’s simply too adorable for words. She prances around wearing teddy bears as dresses — watch out, Gaga — and dances in a multicolored room filled with toys. Yeah, we still have no idea what “PONPONPON” is about, but we’ve managed to pick out a number of familiar items in Kyaru’s Pee-Wee’s Playhouse-esque toyroom. Some are the exact objects, while others have clearly been influenced by American culture. More »
The Women’s World Cup: An Introduction
The Women’s World Cup finals were yesterday. The Cup ended with a rousing game between the US and Japan teams, ultimately ending with a victory for the latter. While we may have lost, Americans have definitely found a new sport to go crazy over – and with good reason. Next are the seven basic elements of the games, and why you should care. More »
Video: The World’s Steepest Rollercoaster!
Our heart rate is up just from watching this video of the soon-to-open Japanese rollercoaster, “Takabisha,” so we assume actually riding the thing would catapult is directly into a mental institution where’s they’d pump us foll of Xanax and warm blankets. Best of luck to anyone braver than us, though. This thing is STEEP. More »
Fan Service: This Japanese Pop Group’s Perfect (Fake) Woman Could Lose a Lot of Fans
I don’t really get Japanese pop culture’s affection for schoolgirls and girl bands, but the phenomenon you see in this video is pretty universal: AKB48′s newest member Eguchi Aimi is impossibly beautiful, because she’s not real. My first thought was “Robot!”, but no, she’s actually a digital composite of all of the other band members. Eguchi’s fans — some of which were harboring real crushes on the star — were stunned upon discovering the truth, thanks to this leaked making-of video. More »
Will ‘The Real World: Tokyo’ Ever Happen?
MTV’s The Real World is the reality show that refuses to die. The network just renewed the reality show for two more seasons, but their locations have not yet been confirmed.
Several unsubstantiated sources, including a Wikipedia poster, claim that the show’s next season will take place in Tokyo. The second edition of The Real World: Las Vegas (Real World‘s 25th season) just started airing. More »
The Daily Bieber: Justin’s Hair’s Raising Money For Tsunami Victims
Justin Bieber‘s dead, chopped-off hair follicles are officially worth more than you, an ostensibly alive human being. The Biebs’ snipped locks are heading to Miami Beach where they’ll be on display and available for photo-ops — if you’re willing to pay, of course. Proceeds go to the Japanese tsunami relief fund, so that’s good, but still. Still. More »
Fan Service: What You Can Do to Help Japan
Often fandom is viewed as an insular, even selfish community dedicated only to discussion and art related to their specific series. As we saw with the whole Firefly fiasco last week, fans can drum up bad press by appearing way too single-minded.
However, those negative incidents don’t characterize fandom as a whole. For every natural catastrophe that has occurred over the past eight years, I’ve witnessed LiveJournal fan communities unite to raise funds for emergency aid organizations. Their latest efforts, centered in the multi-fandom, multimedia community Help Japan, are reminiscent of the actions that fans took after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. More »
Crush Links: Paris Does Her Part to Aid in Japan Relief Efforts
Paris Hilton carried a “Help Japan” poster in an effort to raise awareness during a shopping trip in Beverly Hills. (Perez Hilton)
Check out a preview of Britney Spears‘ new music video for ‘Til The World Ends.” (Just Jared)
Charlie Sheen’s one-show sold out twice – the first time in under a half hour. Maybe he really is “winning.” (People)
More »
The Daily WTF: Bizarre Constumes At The Tokyo Marathon
Japan, you guys, Japan! We came across these photos from the 2011 Tokyo Marathon and haven’t been able to stop laughing since. Apparently in Japan it’s the norm to run long distances while dressed in ridiculous costumes, which almost makes us like the idea of fitness. Our favorite one? The guy in the suit who holds a newspaper. More »
The Daily WTF: Make Your Ugly Daughter Beautiful!
“I swear to god Tiffany if you don’t smile for the judges this year while doing your routine, I’m going to force one of these little Japanese inserts into your mouth and make you wear it until you’re old enough to learn that boys don’t like little girls who scowl.” More »
Video: Japan’s Idea of Blackface is a Little WTF
In America, we are used to ideas of ingrained racism, and how that’s dealt with, with our long history of turmoil in the Civil Rights movement. But sometimes it’s easy to forget that other nations didn’t enslave black people for many years, and so their version of African-American culture is kind of…um, offensive? Or maybe cut them a break because they seemingly learned everything about black culture from Tyler Perry productions, as evidenced by this blackface Japanese movie, Vampire Girl VS Frankenstein Girl. More »
Paris Hilton Not Allowed In Japan – Aw, not fair, Japan! She hasn’t been accused of hoarding coke for like, 48 hours now! (DListed)
Japan’s Cat Cafes – Two-dozen cats roaming the floors of a cafe? It’s not a Pixar movie, it’s Japan! At Osaka’s Cats’ Time Cafe, feline-lovers without pets of their own can come play with the coffee shop’s furry creatures. The spot charges roughly $9 for an hour of cat-petting time, with an unlimited access pass going for $16 (which includes a free drink and all the health violations you can fit in your purse.) (via Time)
Video: Existential Dolphin Wants Out
Sorry, this video of a dolphin jumping the hell out of his tank at a Japan’s SeaWorld is either going to be morbidly funny or really, really depressing, depending on what kind of mood you’re in today. Our best advice is to try not to think too hard about it, and remember that the dolphin survived and is doing just fine (back in its cage).
… More »
Poll: Would You Enroll In Marriage 101?
Ladies in Japan are so desperado to get married, they are signing up for a new marriage school based in Tokyo, Reuters reports. The school is called Infini, and now boasts some 30 female students who find it difficult to find partners because of Japanese women’s growing economic clout and drifting attitudes toward marriage.
Reports Reuters:
“Before, people would find it easy to get married because families and society would connect them in some way, sometimes pushing them to get married. But… More »
“Best Of” Japan – New Cover
Although we already had a confirmed cover for “Best Of” in Japan, it looks like that cover has been updated! According to CD Japan & Hilary’s official Japanese website, this is the *final* official cover!!
You can see that, although it uses the same font and photo as the previous cover, the new cover is more zoomed out and more fanciful, with the scroll work and stars. Do you like it?
Cover: CDJapan … More »
Best of Hilary Duff – Japan Version
Nov 3 Update: A new cover has been released!! You can see it here
Hilary Duff’s upcoming new CD has a new cover for the Japanese version! Amazon in Japan has released this Best Of cover (see old one here) – what do you think? As a reminder, here is the US / European cover for Best of HiIary Duff:
Images: Amazon (.com / .jp)… More »