2014
301 posts
2014 301
December 2014
- Happy New Year and thank you from RocketNews24!
- Japan Ministry of Defense develops tiny, grenade-shaped remote surveillance robot
- This month’s slightly bizarre Japanese Twitter trend is showing off overly full Subway sandwiches
- Overheard at Comiket: wise words from the C87 staff
- Prepare yourself for the fundoshi-clad men of the upcoming 2015 RocketNews24 calendar!
- Crowdfunded Little Red Riding Hood makeup debuts as “sickly look” trend continues
- Ring in the new year with a real robot suit, on sale at Keisei Department store
- The impossible circular staircase is just that… impossible【Video】
- Pet owner celebrates the Year of the Sheep by inserting their cat into ridiculous costume
- Dirty Car Art is the perfect excuse not to wash your car ever again
- 2 dudes + love hotel + a bromantic Christmas Eve = fundoshi fun!
- Town in Hiroshima now offering exciting… snow-shovelling tours?
- Nihon-no: Is an entirely English-speaking village coming to Tokyo?
- Courageous kitty offers himself up for dinner during tough financial times
- Chinese city government bans Christmas in schools
- The International Federation of Sports Onigokko hopes for tag to be a part of the Tokyo Olympics
- Japanese scientists debunk popular belief about the “old-person smell”
- “No low angles!” and other Comiket cosplay photography rules
- Kyaraben roundup! We take a look back at 2014’s best packed lunches 【Pics】
- Complaints lead to talks about whether noise from schools should be regulated
- “Malaysian girl holding things” is our new favourite Instagram account 【Photos】
- Pop-pom pigeons are topping Japan’s cute-o-meter this winter
- Legendary violinist upstaged by eight-year-old son’s ridiculously cute gift to Santa
- Oscar and Andre tie the knot? The manga wedding that’s been 40 years in the making
- New Japanese karaoke parlor welcomes Muslims by introducing traditional halal menu
- Check out the awesome cosplay at Comiket 87! 【Photos, Photos, and more photos】
- Give a stranger a flower: Art exhibit & a Parisienne in Tokyo leads to smile seen round the world
- New Final Fantasy may not have playable female characters, will have almost naked male hero
- Why are young Japanese women going crazy for this 100-yen Daiso wristwatch?
- Pick your filling and choose the best Lunch Pack in Japan!
- Shohei Otomo brings the gritty side of Japan to vivid life with a mere ballpoint pen
- Future Alert: In 2015 you’ll be able to use your smartphone to brush your teeth, kind of
- Seaweed and soy beans and mushrooms, oh my! New Japanese-style bagels coming soon
- Hugh Jackman stars, sings J-pop cover, and speaks Japanese in ads for Toyota【Videos】
- Monkey pulls electrocuted buddy from train tracks, revives him as onlookers cheer【Video】
- US actor Misha Collins meets “Santa” in Japan, tweets about it in Japanese
- Pikachu gets hauled away, hopefully to a farm with lots of room to run around in
- In the name of the moon, I will marry you! Couple holds awesome Sailor Moon wedding in L.A.
- It’s a Christmas Miracle in Hong Kong! 15 million HK dollars scattered around the city【Video】
- Samurai Darth Vader figure and his light-katana tempt us to the dark/awesome side of the force
- Grown man hits No. 1 on Vine by playing with action figures in front of his mom
- New app allows commuters to share info on train delays through Twitter
- Regional mascot/hyper pear Funasshi’s new album hits number four on Japanese charts【Videos】
- Make studying violent with these Legendary Weapon pencil toppers
- Otaku armor! Yes, there really is a dude wearing this mountain of anime merchandise
- Japanese politicians propose officially designating March 11 as Great East Japan Disaster Day
- Test your Japanese onomatopoeia skills against YouTuber Sharla in Japan
- Taco Rice: Yummy Tex-Mex cuisine, Okinawan style!
- Japan’s love affair with sea bugs continues — sausage isopods now available as gachapon toys!
- The true meaning of December 25: The birth of Levi from Attack on Titan
- Merry Christmas from RocketNews24!
- From Dad’s autograph to a pack of peanuts: People in Japan reveal their worst Christmas presents
- Malaysian finalist wins this year’s Gunpla builder’s World Cup
- Becoming Sailor Moon now as easy as saying “moon prism power, make-up!” (and opening your wallet)
- Age ain’t nothing but a number! Japanese beauty pageant for women over 35 crowns newest winner
- Mastered origami? Try the next traditional Japanese paper art: kirie!【Photos】
- Should this Japanese game developer be annoyed with “similar” release by other studio?
- Thanko’s Zero Gravity Armchair takes us to space in the comfort of our homes
- Looking for a job in Japan? Try a convenience store!
- See? Not all My Little Pony fan art is erotic fan fic! Anime-loving MLP fans pony-fy anime stars
- Giving basketball a bit of yin-yang: Chinese martial artist’s amazing performance 【Video】
- Samsung claims rival LG exec purposely broke its washing machine display model in Germany
- Dedicated railroad otaku creates the digital swiss army knife of Tokyo Metro maps
- Naruto fans turn message maker system’s interface lemons into ninja lemonade with awesome artwork
- Around the world in 22 upside-down houses 【Photos】
- Hot and cold and sweet! McDonald’s Japan’s Pie a la Mode is back for the winter!
- Baymax mitarashi dango: The best rice dumplings you can buy or Disney-themed choking hazard?
- Rubbernecking gone too far? Net users react to crowds taking pics of train hit by suicide jumper
- Father plasters son’s face across town to celebrate sweet sixteenth
- “Sushi Chic” is the new style trend we could really sink our teeth into
- Red bean paste and cream cheese — a divinely sweet combination?
- Hand-stitched cards are leading the trend in Korea this Christmas
- Vocaloid takes over teen karaoke scene, more than half of 2014’s top 20 songs synthetic
- Taiwanese sky can’t decide, splits itself in half
- We love Daiso, but sometimes the weird products just amuse us
- Pokémon Dream Tomica arrives just in time for Christmas
- Big Hero 6 ads in Japan leave out the action, moviegoers surprised to find awesome robot flick
- Coming to Harajuku? Check out this new tourist booth for maps, Wi-Fi, crêpes and more!
- Four things women are banned from doing in Japan【Women in Japan Series】
- One Piece becoming a kabuki play with the Straw Hat Pirates taking the stage in Tokyo
- Sharp’s awesome new display tech licensed to Nintendo… who may not even use it for games
- Toilet slides and turd hats: welcome to Tokyo’s crappiest exhibition
- Why making kids cry on camera never gets old
- Mayonnaise and takuan sandwich proves disgusting food combinations are big business in Japan
- Toyota’s Prius c Journeys through Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter
- Truck driver hailed as “hero” for cutting off car on wet highway
- 10 slightly strange Christmas trees from Japan
- Unhinged Japanese boyband fan stalks “rival” on Twitter, demands they delete their account
- Flipping the kanji for “husband” upside-down reveals slightly worrying double meaning
- Get into the groove with this beautiful Japanese confection that looks like a piano keyboard!
- Japan’s premier beatboxer sets YouTube ablaze, annoys fans with lack of beatboxing
- Self-healing glasses on sale next year
- Don’t believe in the magic of the 100 yen store? This product will seal the deal!
- Japanese makeup artist does classic Hollywood glamour, recreates Audrey Hepburn’s coveted look
- Can’t cope with the feeding frenzy at meal times? Why not stack your cats!
- The scariest snow sculpture you’ll see this winter
- Sick of BABYMETAL? How about some sumo metal!
- Piccolo saves Christmas when he’s not saving Namekians
- Clever cat duo cause havoc in the bathroom but are too cute to scold
- Latest evolution of Pokémon cafe to open in Shibuya this January
- 11 never-ending hypnotic GIFs that just made a portion of our weekend disappear mysteriously
- Tips from Japan to make your skin extra beautiful! It begins with a bath and…
- One more time! Anime fans choose the series they’d most like to see rerun on TV
- Fox Japan to release ultimate edition of Commando, announced in series of possibly drunken tweets
- “2D vs. Katana” exhibition shows off recreations of swords from anime and video games in Osaka
- Darth Vader to be featured in large-scale Star Wars snow sculpture at 2015 Sapporo Snow Festival
- Rock band KISS collaborating with Sailor Moon Crystal’s Momoiro Clover Z
- Mythbusters: We drive a car over our smartphone to test the protective film
- Ready to tie the anime knot? Company offers marriage certificate for you and your 2D waifu
- Taiwanese subway debuts second anime mascot, net users experience moe overload
- Man parks over sidewalk guide for the blind, gets lesson in manners from Okinawan fourth-grader
- Burger chain Lotteria trolls McDonald’s Japan’s potato shortage with pithy sign
- New Evangelion short film now streaming on animation studio’s website
- Beautiful Kinkakuji temple even cooler under blanket of snow
- Too busy to wrap Christmas presents? Not if you’ve got 12 seconds, Japanese store shows【Video】
- Six non-traditional osechi New Year’s meals in Japan
- This amazing Weipa recipe tastes every bit like fried rice without frying rice
- Terrorize your figure collection with a fully articulated titan model
- Kobe Luminarie illumination creators ditched LED for the warmer light of normal bulbs
- Love sweets, hate Frozen? Solution: repurpose your Olaf bun into Bert from Sesame Street!
- Blogger offers four pieces of advice for foreign women looking for love with a Japanese guy
- Video of crafty cat’s escape from behind bars shows no simple cage can hold him
- Japanese website wishes users a Happy Xmas with sweet animation【Video】
- Japan’s biggest online retailers now have more smartphone traffic than desktop site users
- We head to the Snickers Hungry Barber for a free haircut, worth every penny
- Wish you could check out Tokyo’s Christmas illuminations? Well now you can! 【Video】
- OPPO’s new R5 smartphone is a multi-tool disguised as the thinnest cell phone ever
- Ninja-cat poised for attack, puns and a difficult dismount
- Melt your lover’s heart with these limited edition Valentine’s Day Krispy Kreme donuts
- Sailor Suit Old Man’s mobile game just as cute and fun as the man himself
- Dumplings that’ll make you pretty! “Gyoza for girls” is the new food trend hitting Japan!
- Cotton Wife and Cotton Husband aren’t huggy pillows, they’re life partners for the lonely!
- Lonely Japanese life hack: Make your empty apartment look like a party (at least in the entryway)
- Pixel’s film posters feature Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Galaga, more
- CosBox: A rentable room in Tokyo for creating cosplay masterpieces
- Sushi and tempura stamps will spice up your New Year’s cards, probably still taste like glue
- Commercial reminds Japan’s tired commuters about the drawbacks of living far away from work
- Why aren’t there more female entrepreneurs in Japan? Pull up a chair… 【Women in Japan Series】
- A farewell to fries: Twitter users document their last meal of L-size Mcdonald’s potato snacks
- Station in China reminds us to kindly “wait outside a noodle”
- Dating websites offer advice on how to land a famous Japanese boyfriend (or at least stalk him)
- Shippers rejoice! 10,000 anime fans pick their favorite same-sex pairings
- The Holy Grail of Sailor Moon merchandise will help your room smell as nice as Princess Serenity
- Hate Frozen? Then you’ll love these photos of the Disney hit’s Olaf being murdered in pastry form
- The cold getting to you? Have a warm drink — from a vending machine!
- Yo-Kai Watch 2 continues to dominate video game sales in Japan
- Awkward: Official PlayStation montage features image taken from Wii U game, Pixiv user’s fan art
- Artist magically transforms Sailor Moon characters into black women
- Real-life Olaf takes Twitter by (snow)storm
- From the internet to your conbini! Ritz debuts new Peach and Mozzarella snacks
- Cosplayers visiting Japan, this is your wonderland! Over 40 realistic backdrops in one place!
- Catatsu is one of the ridiculous new “hot” items for your pet to wear (yes, wear) this winter
- It’s almost Christmas! Time to buy a sexy, freaky, or inexplicable costume!【Photos】
- Smartphone game turns mushrooms into cute anime girls, still gives foreigners wacky accents
- ‘Parasyte’ opening gets re-animated in the style of the original manga【Video】
- Sony to co-produce door locks which can be opened entirely by smartphone
- Stylish pup walks the street in China, rocks full outfit complete with hat and backpack 【Video】
- Enter the double! This is “Afghan Bruce Lee”, and he’s a high-kicking sensation【Pictures】
- We eat the Resident Evil curry, discover it’s very tasty, not at all itchy 【Taste test】
- Izumo’s Starbucks, a stone’s throw away from the gathering place of Shinto’s eight million gods
- Bizarre otaku dancing catches on as Wotagei spreads around the world【Videos】
- The double-cheese-mayonnaise-melon-bread is a mouthful in more ways than one
- Sayonara, spuds! McDonald’s Japan halts sales of medium and large orders of French fries
- All the smartphone accessories you’ll ever need – only 100 yen each!
- Artist creates stunning Chinese-style paintings using cosmetics
- Fans vote for series with the most unfashionable everyday clothing
- Giant disembodied head of middle-aged man spotted floating over Tochigi Prefecture
- Japanese university English teacher fights student misbehaviour with eccentric new rulebook
- Japan is home to the cutest bug in the world, but they’re on the verge of extinction
- Our hero Ladybeard shows us and the world how to properly wear the much-talked about boob shirt
- Pooch’s attempt to get out of bathtime involves oddly slow, amazingly cute doggy paddle【GIF】
- Scandal as pretty star of the “Sunflower Movement” is found to have a shady past
- Street Fighter II creator Yoshiki Okamoto talks games and his new project, Monster Strike 【Interview】
- How much do Japanese girls expect their boyfriends to spend on Christmas presents? 【Poll results】
- More than 100 artists recreate Final Fantasy VII in epic fan video
- Festive cockroach crackers are on their way to help get the party started in Japan
- New poster shows live-action Attack on Titan’s Titan, who’s double the size of his anime version
- New Pokémon Center opens, resellers snatch up thousands of dollars of limited edition plushies
- Japanese conservatives call for ban on Angelina Jolie’s WWII movie
- Life imitates (Sword) Art (Online) as Japanese gamers find they can’t log out of online RPG
- Balloon-carrying bunny is too cute not to love 【Video】
- Have a rice cake! Have a tangerine! Why not have both with the visually stunning mikan daifuku?
- Key keep getting stuck in the lock? Japan’s Miwa Lock has a quick fix for you!
- Attack on Titan, Dragon Ball and more now in pseudo 3-D thanks to the magic of white lines【GIFs】
- Laughter online as Google mistakes Japanese beauty researcher for someone a little different…
- We steel our hearts and sample Namikoshiken’s too-cute-to-eat, aquarium-themed wagashi sweets
- Upcoming Chinese drama criticized for copying video game series Assassin’s Creed
- Japanese business women who’ve beaten the system 【Women in Japan Series】
- Is Japanese TV really as bad as its reputation?
- Universal Studios Japan reveals details of upcoming Attack on Titan attraction
- Celebrate Christmas with Kit Kat themed gift set and cake from the Kit Kat Chocolaterie!
- Pikachu meets Godzilla: 6 Pokémon get the kaiju movie monster treatment
- Character images of new Digimon Adventure series released, expected to air in spring 2015
- Who’s still buying physical media in Japan? Top 20 singles lists for the year reveal the answer
- This cat has a daily routine that is too kawaii for words
- Chinese dude bags super hot Ukrainian wife, generates major envy online
- Adorable circular capybara formation proves they look cute even when doing something nasty
- Disney welcomes 2015 with special edition sheep Tsum Tsum soft toys!
- Hello Kitty hot spring lets you fill two spots at once on your Japan bingo card
- 16 years after his death, new song by X Japan guitarist hide released with vocals by…hide?!
- This crazy 4-minute clip is the most epic fan-made anime tribute we’ve seen this year
- BABYMETAL keeps turning metalheads, voted Best Metal Album of the Year
- If The Avengers could have one Japanese superhero, who would it be?
- Wear black – The 20 most memorable anime deaths, as chosen by fans
- Korean Air chairman admits he failed to raise his ‘nut-rage’ daughter properly
- Head of Japan’s most successful 100-yen chain calls himself “hopeless,” might need a hug
- This map shows the probability of a white Christmas for each of Japan’s prefectures
- Fan creates cosplay bag from favorite anime series by attaching severed heads of its characters
- LDP deems gay rights legislation ‘unnecessary’ according to multi-party survey
- Avengers assemble! In a Chinese college student’s house【Photos】
- 5 common misconceptions most westerners have about Japanese food
- Photos from 140 years ago show Tokyo’s skyline was amazing long before the Skytree was ever built
- 3-D color printer used to bring Hokusai’s masterpiece to life for visually impaired
- “Tax” declared the official kanji of 2014
- Can’t keep your “little buddy” in the right position? New men’s underwear TOOT is here to help!
- Tohoku University team discovers blue light is effective at killing insects
- Naruto stage play releases first photo, announces cast, adds performances outside Japan
- 7 Japanese daily planners to suit every lifestyle, from hostess to otaku!
- One Piece New Year’s Eve Special apparently set to make series fans cry big, fat tears of pirate joy
- Japan’s cutest rodent commuters take the high-road【Video】
- A restaurant in China is offering discounts to overweight men and thin women
- Alice in Moeland! Japanese netizens react to art style of new US book cover
- Old footage shows Aikido master tangle with Robert Kennedy’s security staff
- Hayao Miyazaki reveals the kind of otaku he hates the most
- Director of Summer Wars and Wolf Children announces new anime film: The Boy and The Beast
- Hyogo town scares children away with mechanical kappa in park’s pond
- State of the otaku union – Survey reveals vocaloids up, adult games down in 2014
- 【TBT】Sh*t Japanese girls say and other hilarious truths from an American living in Japan
- Let the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra transport you into your favorite Square Enix games!
- Elementary school student’s “robots of the future” drawing is too creepy for words!
- Restaurant refuses to serve couples on Dec. 24 so singles won’t be reminded of their loneliness
- Lotteria to give away another life-size tower burger gadget — this time a mouse!
- Japanese beauty trends of the 20th & 21st centuries, and predicting future fashions
- Here’s how the CEO of Sony tweaked ‘The Interview’ after North Korea threatened war
- We desperately want to hire these adorable Indian freelance “idols”
- The top 10 Instagram photo locations for Japan in 2014 【Photos】
- South Korean ferry disaster: Rescue ship was fitted with salmon-fishing sonar
- See the world as it should be with a pair of Disney Princess glasses
- Theatrhythm: Dragon Quest announced for Nintendo 3DS
- Musician performs beautiful projection-mapped piano themes of Laputa, Frozen, Final Fantasy
- Taiwanese festival tries to put itself on the map, or blow itself up trying【Video】
- Christmas cards are too mainstream, get your hands on these awesome anime-inspired cards!
- Attack on Titan teas are selling out faster than a giant can eat a human
- Apple opening first non-U.S. development center in Yokohama, Japan
- Up your cosplay game by shooting fire from your hands
- We visit Hong Kong’s luminous landscape during the holiday season for an added holiday twinkle
- We’re hard-pressed to find anything not delicious in the new tamatoro pressed tonkatsu sandwich
- Aomori’s ramen restaurant in a bus serves up steaming hot noodles in the snow
- Video series of cats with mikan and kotatsu is also a cute survival guide for Japanese winter
- We search for the fabled bed and breakfast inside Narita’s runway that’s just 10 bucks a night
- Love banana bread? Love ice cream? You can have both with this Banana Bread Ice Cream Sandwich!
- Professional grade mind games: Japanese company dispatches hot dudes to make your man jealous
- Japanese pets find ways to keep warm despite the cold snap 【Photos】
- Survey ranks convenience store rice balls – salmon, sea-dwelling poultry & plants steal the show
- Keep your flowers alive with this planter shaped like the forest god from Princess Mononoke
- How to make a Whack-a-Mole game your cat will love in just 60 seconds【Video】
- Visiting a maximum security shrine at the foot of the Narita airport runway
- Korean Air vice president throws fit over getting nuts in a bag, orders plane back to gate
- Delicious, foamy coffee art at home! We try new 3-D latte art machine “Awataccino”!
- Forget shuriken: 10 stealthy and dangerous ninja tools you didn’t know existed
- New smartphone game turns car models into anime girls with model-worthy looks
- Nausicaä re-imagined as an action movie! Check out this awesome fan art!
- Hi-Chew is such a hit that the Japanese candy is getting its own factory in North Carolina
- Asada sisters nail it with “Let it Go” figure skating routine
- Japanese net user shares clever idea for a (not so easy) DIY doghouse
- Dark Horizon textbooks go beyond “Hello my name is…” to “Who are you calling a bitch, bitch!”
- Historic Kyoto temple first in Japan to offer gay weddings
- New ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ film site launches countdown to…something!
- New, Japanese-made Godzilla movie to start filming next summer
- Singaporean artist creates beautiful works of art using bicycle tire tracks
- Snickers may have come up with their best campaign ever: A free barber shop
- Japanese iPad drummer recreates rock beats with lightning-fast fingers【Video】
- Skinny dude tries to prank chubby girl, gets owned instead 【Video】
- Japanese TV reveals the revolting truth about the source of jasmine’s alluring fragrance
- Dog tummy wraps are all the adorable rage in Japan this winter【Photos】
- Fashion gone wrong? Boob shirts take Twitter by storm
- 【Monday Kickstart】Care for a spin? Silly kitty randomness to start off your week
- Anna and Elsa shine like never before – as million dollar platinum calendars and Christmas trees!
- Famous Japanese television personality mimics what foreign languages sound like to non-speakers
- A funny thing happened at the game center: 10 strange crane game tweets from Japan
- Japanese pianist stuns us with faithful representation of Mario Kart music and sound effects
- These “Engrish” T-shirts are kinda lame, compared to what we’re used to
- The 20 most wanted Christmas presents in Japan
- Train station in Japan devises an adorable new way to prevent roadside bicycle parking
- Now even cats in Japan are taking post-breakup selfies!
- McDonald’s Japan may be winning back fans with Crab Croquette Burger
- This dog does NOT want to go home and her adorable defiance is cracking up the Internet【Video】
- Mr. Sato takes a sperm test, passes with flying colors
- Dog seems to appear from plank of wood in either coolest pet trick or silliest astral projection
- Police crack down on bar, adult establishment touts during year-end
- Yamato undies remind you where you put your junk
- Cute dog turns traditional fish pond into personal swimming pool【Photos】
- You might never eat seafood again after you watch this horrifying lobster molting on land
- Skinny Japanese man isn’t skinny enough, makes greatest face at realization!【Photos】
- Craving cheese? Try Burger King Japan’s hamburger cheese fondue!
- Strange English signs in China and Japan really hate vegetables, sometimes threaten to kill you
- Just in time for 2015! Hoverboard becomes reality, proves Back to the Future was legit
- Pepsi reboots Japan’s Peach Boy with 3 action and monster-filled ads that’re 8 kinds of badass
- Self-taught Singaporean artist creates unbelievably realistic art on plywood
- Curry and melon bread! Together…at last? Anyway, Yamazaki’s new curry melon bread is here
- Japanese convenience store’s registers play Final Fantasy victory theme for special items 【Video】