Brian Ashcraft

In Japan, You Can Hire a Handsome Butler Dentist

This butler doesn’t serve lunch. He cleans teeth. For around a hundred bucks, you can even put your head in his lap as he brushes yours. Located in Tokyo Midtown, PureCure isn’t your typical dentist office. It’s designed to look like an “Asian resort hotel.” Dr. Taro Masuoka, PureCure’s head dentist, dresses like a butler,…

China’s Human Helicopters Keep Spinning and Spinning

Chinese teens have figured out a way to pass the time: making human helicopters and spinning around. Hey, sure beats schoolwork! Warning: These GIFs might make you dizzy. In Chinese, spinning around with your buddies like this is called a “human body helicopter” (人体直升机 renti zhishengji), among other names like “human body carousel” (人体旋转木马). According…

Square Enix Says Not To Expect Final Fantasy XV and KHIII at E3

Because Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III, that’s why. Or, rather, something about optimal timing. But don’t worry, everything is just fine! In an interview with Famitsu, Square Enix exec Shinji Hashimoto revealed that there won’t be new info about Final Fantasy XV at this year’s E3. Who knows, maybe Square Enix will change…

Here, Have Some Official Sailor Moon Chopsticks

Over the years, there have been numerous Sailor Moon chopsticks released in Japan. These are the latest ones. Priced at 1,620 yen (US$15.84) each, there are Sailor Moon Spiral Heart Moonrod chopsticks, Sailor Uranus Liprod chopsticks, and Sailor Neptune Liprod chopsticks. In Sailor Moon, these rods are used by the characters to transform, so perhaps,…

Stealing One Piece Doesn’t Make You King of the Criminals

An 18-year-old prep school student and his-19 year-old friend have been arrested for allegedly stealing a large amount of manga. Kanaloco reports that 76 manga copies were stolen in Kamakura, Japan, including One Piece and whatnot, totalling 36,000 yen or US$352. The manga in question were the tankoubon (単行本) or “single volume” versions. The two…

Takahashi Meijin, formerly of Hudson, was one of the biggest promoters of gaming in Japan during the 1980s. He’s now set up his own game company called Doki Doki Groove Works.

Anna From Frozen Looks Freaky in Real Life

Japanese Twitter user Urihcim really wanted to turn into Anna from Frozen. She gave it her best shot, and this is the result. The freaky result, that is. GAH. As we’ve seen in the past, makeup has shown how freaky anime eyes are. Disney eyes are abnormally large*, too! These images have been retweeted over…

Think You Have What It Takes To Be a Professional Animator?

Anime studio Khara Inc., the folks behind Rebuild of Evangelion, just released a YouTube video aimed at potential job applicants. It shows the skill sets pro animators need. As reported by IT Media, the video has the following challenge: By using the sample scene data, please show a character climbing Box A and jump to…

New Arcade Joystick Comes with Wrist Rumble

Dubbed the Arcade Stick Inazuma, this is, well, an arcade-style stick, but with a cool feature: Wrist rumble. While using this GameTech stick, you can wear a special strap on your wrist and get force feedback while playing. I’ve never really thought about wrist rumble before, but I’d certainly be keen to give this a…

PlayStation Boss Wows with His Phoney Soccer Skills

If only Sony Computer Entertainment Hiroshi Kawano was this good at soccer! The Sony exec recently admitted that he needed some postproduction help for this online clip. Just in time for the World Cup, huh? Hell, if only I were this good at soccer—or computer trickery! ワールドカップに向けてスペシャルメッセージ！～SCEJAプレジデント 河野 弘より[PlayStation] To contact the author of this…

Japan’s Next Big Trend Could Be “Neo Gals”

Pink hair. Ripped jeans. Bling. Meet Japan’s “Neo Gals,” part Americana, part Tokyo, and lots and lots of bleach. During the 1990s, “gal” (ギャル or gyaru) fashion was in vogue with the nation’s youth, with young women tanning their skin, dying their hair brown, and wearing impossible platform shoes. Now, as one of Japan’s biggest…

Well, That’s a Good Way To Piss Off Korean Gamers [Update]

Anime, gaming, and cosplay event Japan Expo is underway in Paris. And since Riot Games is in attendance, the studio created a notice on the League of Legends website. The image accompanying the announcement has some Korean gamers up in arms. Over on the League of Legends forum, member Twking pointed out that the character…

Now, Here Is How You Celebrate Transformers

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Transformers. There’s a big expo going on for robots at the Venetian Macao in, well, Macau At the expo, there are over one thousand figures on display as well as giant Transformer statues. Very cool! As pointed out by CITS and CRI, the expo wraps up in early…

Thank Goodness This Cat Is Faster Than Racehorses

There was a close call recently at Ohi Racecourse in Tokyo. During yesterday’s race, a cat wandered onto the track, right in front of the oncoming horses. Thankfully, the cat was quick and safely escaped. According to Nikkan Sports (via Yahoo! News Japan), it’s incredibly rare for a stray cat to end up on the…

Nintendo DS title Brain Age has been released on the Wii U’s Virtual Console. The game will be available in Japan free of charge until June 30. After July 1, the game won’t be downloadable and after that its status is TBA. No word yet on a Western release. [Pic: yutaro365]

Fighting Couple Terrorizes Neighbors, Makes a Horrible Mess

Yikes! A video of destruction caused by a couple throwing things out of their window, including pots and pans, has gone viral in South Korea. According to Korean news sites like WikiTree, the fight happened at around 5:30am. The cars in the parking lot, including a BMW M3, were damaged. You can see another car…

This Is Not Aquarium Porn. It’s Art.

For the past few years, Hidetomo Kimura has been dazzling fish lovers with his high-concept aquatic displays. Called “Art Aquarium,” they are probably like nothing you’ve ever seen. As Time Out Tokyo notes, Kimura, a self-styled “art aquarium producer,” creates kaleidoscopes as he references traditional Japanese motifs and culture. In the video below, you can…

College Student Called the Cops Over a Cockroach

Taiwan is a tropical country. And as in most tropical places, cockroaches are bad news. But are they worth freaking out about and calling the police? SET News reports how Taiwanese cops must deal with things like geckos, but answering a call about a roach is a bit ridiculous. The news channel reports, as does…

Two New PS Vita Colors Coming to Japan

Just as the country says goodbye to the PSP, it’s getting two new PS Vita hues: Red/Black and Blue/Black. Game Watch reports that these Wi-Fi versions will be bundled as part of a Super Value Pack, priced at 18,980 yen (US$185). According to Siliconera, the Vitas are bundled with an 8GB memory card pre-loaded with…

Celebrity Plastic Surgery: The Horror Film

Upcoming Vietnamese film Scandal: The Comeback deals with one of the most frightening things on this Earth: showbiz’s plastic surgery obsession. Via Twitch Film, here is the psychological horror movie’s synopsis: Scandal: The Comeback is the story of Bella, a once-famous actress trying to recapture her old glory days with the help of plastic surgery.…