Brian Ashcraft

Taxis in Gion. Kyoto, Japan. By Joon (shot on 35mm). JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

Even Dragon Ball‘s Creator Isn’t Always Thrilled with Dragon Ball

When Dragon Ball is great, it’s friggin’ amazing. When it’s not, Dragon Ball is anything but. Take heart. If you aren’t happy, chances are its creator Akira Toriyama isn’t either. AsYahoo News! Japan points out, a 30th Anniversary Dragon Ball Super History Book is getting released in Japan. It features extensive Toriyama interviews and Dragon…

VR Could Change the Way You Watch Fighting Games

Don’t think of how VR headsets could change the way esport games are played, but rather, imagine how they could change they’re viewed—in particular, fighting games. Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono explains how. In an interview in the latest Weekly Famitsu, Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono and Namco’s Katsuhiro Harada briefly touched on this topic. “For fighting game competitions,…

Last Week, Microsoft Reportedly Sold 99 Xbox Ones in Japan

In a nation of 127 million people, last week only ninety-nine of them wanted to buy an Xbox One. Ouch. Double digits! In comparison, according to data tracking company Media Create (via 4Gamer), here’s how the other console sales looked for the week from January 11 to January 17: 1. New Nintendo 3DS XL: 30,172…

Gotokuji Shrine. Tokyo, Japan. By Noah (Arkboy). JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

How Not To Complete Your Dragon Ball Cosplay 

Let’s be honest. All you actually need are an orange Turtle School gi and some spiky hair to complete your Dragon Ball cosplay. You do not need a mini-segway, hoverboard, whatever. According to ETToday, a man in a Dragon Ball costume was spotted riding a Flying Nimbusthrough the Taipei streets. In the above photo, he…

If you are curious about (some of) the PS4 games Japan is getting this year, this PlayStation clip is a good primer. It features some cool music courtesy of Tofubeats.

These Bare-Assed Birds Would Be Great in a Shooter

As far as I know, there isn’t a class-based multiplayer shooter with bare-assed birds like these. But dammit, there should be. Japanese Twitter user Takio-chan, who now works as a CG graphic designer, recently uploaded these character models, which were done while in vocational school. [Image: Takio-chan] [Image: Takio-chan] [Image: Takio-chan] No wonder they’ve been…

Now That Hideo Kojima Is Free, He Can Do What He Wants

Last year certainly didn’t seem like fun for Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima. But that was 2015. This is 2016. This past December, Kojima has set up his own studio, Kojima Productions, a name that sounds vaguely familiar, and he and his team are working on a PS4 title for Sony. Unfettered by the…

Snow Covered Sprawl. Tokyo, Japan. By Jerome Senaillat JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

If you were wondering were Tri-Force heroes fits in the official Zelda timeline, rest easy! Nintendo has updated the official chronology. It takes place several years after The Legend of Zelda: A Between Worlds. Noted! You can see more details on the chronology here and here

Explaining the Biggest News in Japan: a Boy Band Apology

This is Smap. Sorry, SMAP. Last night, the pop stars appeared on television to apologize, garnering massive television ratings, and resulting in a comment from the Prime Minister of Japan. This is a very big deal. How big of a deal? As you can see, the live apology broadcast does seem to have caused Twitter…

How One of Japan’s Biggest Games Was Created

In Japan, games don’t get much bigger than the Dragon Quest franchise. Recently, series creator Yuji Horii uploaded some of the first game’s original design documents, providing an inside peek at its birth. [Photo: Yuji Horii] According to Horii, first the stages were drawn out on paper. Then, the positions of in-game characters were drawn…

Interested in how Japan saved American fashion? Read this interview with one of my favorite Japan writers W. David Marx or, better yet, check out his book Ametora on the subject!

Umbrellas. Kyoto, Japan. By Mike Kowalek JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

It looks like Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is coming to Steam according to this teaser. According to the clip’s description, it’s hitting “this February.”

When Politicians Campaign with Anime

Over the weekend, Tsai Ing-wen became the first woman to be elected the president of Taiwan. Above is a GIF from her political campaign. Because anime is real. The biggest cornerstone of her agenda is perhaps protecting Taiwan’s own identity, but her campaign did what it could to appeal to the country’s youth by playing…

Sega announced that the Phantasy Star Online 2 closed beta test for the PS4 version will run from February 25 to March 6 in Japan. The game’s official launch is April 20 in Japan. In Japan. In. Japan.

The Evangelion Popcorn Bucket Is Suitably Insane

At first, I thought the 3,980 yen (US$34) price tag was the craziest thing about this Neon Genesis Evangelion Unit-01 popcorn bucket. Nope! The light-up eyes are. The bucket is available at Universal Studios Japan during the Cool Japan 2016 campaign, which wraps up in late June. This popcorn bucket looks like the Eva Unit’s…

Reminder: Do Not Wear High Heels in Snow

I don’t care if you are a guy or a gal, please do not wear high heels in snow. Just don’t! Because, as you can see in the above GIF, you will slip and fall. Today, Tokyo got covered in snow. Throughout the morning, Tokyo internet friends on my Twitter feed kept saying there were…