You've probably seen Actresses without Teeth. Or Celebrities Without Eyebrows. Or Small Face Celebrities. Now, There's Pin the Face on the Celeb. Lovely.

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Wreck-It Ralph recently opened in Japan, where it's titled Sugar Rush. Besides enjoying the flick, Japanese moviegoers are doing something else: Comparing the character Vanellope to a real idol.

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For several weeks after its release, every game store I went to was sold out of Square Enix's 3DS game, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy. The game has proved to be a hit in Japan, thanks in part, indirectly, according to producer Tomoya Asano, to Japan's biggest pop idol group, AKB48.

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Last week, Japanese singer Minami Minegishi shaved her head after a tabloid photographed her leaving a boy band member's house. In the strict world of Japanese idols, dating boys is a no-no. Cover-ups, however, are totally fine.

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Remember when Britney Spears cut off all her hair? That was disconcerting. This week, Minami Minegishi, a member of Japan's biggest girl group AKB48, appeared in a YouTube video, apologizing and crying. Her head was shaved. Likewise, disconcerting.

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On the eve of an election, a politician stood before a crowd. The speech was fiery. And flags fluttered. If this were anywhere else, nobody would think twice. But this wasn't anywhere. It was Tokyo.

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The Wii U is out in North America, but Japan will have to wait until December to get the new Nintendo console. To build hype, Nintendo is now running commercials for the hardware. But that's not the only game in town. There are entire channels filled to the brim with wonderful Japanese commercials. Some of them are… Read…

Earlier this year, AKB48 Read…

There's this notion that "kawaii" (可愛い) or "cute" rules Japan. That's not entirely true. Everything isn't simply cute—and kawaii isn't the only game in town. There's also gurokawaii (グロカワイイ). This is the world of the grotesque and sadistic filtered through Read…