Earlier this summer, photos of “Bunny Island” popped up on English language sites. The island, officially named Okunoshima, has been internet fodder in Japan for years. But usually, people only focus on the cute rabbits—and not, you know, the disheartening history bit. Recently on 2ch, Japan’s largest web forum, commenters uploaded photos of Bunny Island…
Last week, Half-Life 2 voice actor John Patrick Lowrie said that Half-Life 3 wasn’t being worked on. Since Lowrie has appeared in many Valve games over the years, his comments were taken seriously. Now, Lowrie says he misspoke. “My comments just seemed to cause a whole bunch of confusion and when I tried to minimize…
A university in Thailand offered a novel way to prevent students from sneaking peeks at classmates’ tests: Anti-cheating hats. Depressingly humiliating anti-cheating hats. They’re not only ridiculous, but they’re so depressing! Students at Kasetsart University’s agriculture school were photographed wearing the hats, and the photo was uploaded to the university’s Facebook page. That’s… embarrassing! According…
Missed the Pokémon Game Show? Well, here are two clips that might show you what the experience was like. Looks as though kids had a great time.
This might be the least appetizing ice cream I’ve ever seen. And if the toilet wasn’t enough, there’s a bug hovering above the soft, brown swirl. But it’s a paper bug, you say! And that’s not real poop. This is “Ku-Sofuto”, a word play on the Japanese for “soft serve ice cream” (ソフト or sofuto)…
Sega unveiled a new Yakuza game. It’s called Ryu Ga Gotoku: Ishin. Here’s a first look. “Ryu Ga Gotoku,” of course, is the original Japanese title for the Yakuza games. “Ishin” (維新) means “restoration” as in the Meiji Restoration. This led into the Meiji Period, an era of rapid modernization and industrialization in Japan. It…
Why stop at the penthouse when you can put something on the penthouse? Something like a traditional Chinese pagoda, an American style suburb, or even a mountain? Time to scale China’s unusual—and often illegal—high rise structures. Building on buildings is not a new thing in China—or in many cities with tall buildings. For years now,…
New Studio Ghibli anime dated! Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya) was originally supposed to be out this summer, but it was delayed to fall because the storyboards weren’t finished. Now, according to IT Media, the anime finally has a release date in Japan: November 23.
Persona 4 Arena Update: According to Famitsu (via Siliconera), there’s a new version of arcade fighter Persona 4 Arena for Japan. Good news: it adds Yukari Takeba and Junpei Iori from Persona 3.
This isn’t a boy in Beijing playing with crickets. No, it’s a sidewalk drawing. Make that, an incredible sidewalk drawing. Over the years, I’ve seen tons of sidewalk drawings. The best ones are amazing, but they’re usually, but not always, giant holes and images of similar ilk. The one above is a standout. Recently in…
In the past mannequins just showed off clothes. You know, they gave you an idea of what you, the shopper, would look like in a particular outfits. But now, it seems like they’re just frightening the hell out of everyone. During the past few years, there’s been an increasing number of scary-looking mannequins, especially in…
What do E.T., Nemo, and Jesus have in common? They all apparently look like stones housed in one of Japan’s most peculiar (and charming) museums: the Hall of Curious Rocks. Located in Saitama, outside Tokyo, the collection is filled over 1,700 stones—over 900 of them are “face rocks.” The museum’s founder, who passed away in…
According to former Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski, “here’s another closely cropped image of something I’m working on.” That’s right, Cliff Bleszinski is doing NBA 2K15. Kidding! The previous image Bleszinski showed was dry and dusty, and there was someone, perhaps a soldier, holding a gun. His latest image is sporty. So sporty. For…
Some restaurants you go for the food. Not these, though. You patron these because they’re interesting, unique, or down right odd. With the Tokyo Game Show kicking off next month, now might be as good a time as any to look at some, certainly not all, of Tokyo’s most peculiar restaurants and bars. Some of…
Japan’s Smoking Culture Research Society has rushed to Hayao Miyazaki’s defense. According to Yahoo News Japan, the group points out that there isn’t data on the number of smokers when the anime is set. But! Data from 1950 states that 84.5 percent of Japanese men smoked. The second point the group made was putting more…
Behold the ocean’s version of crop circles. But this wasn’t made by aliens or humans pretending to be aliens. A single, small fish made this circle. Last fall, there were the reports of “mysterious” underwater sea circles, discovered 80 feet below sea level off the coast of Japan. Yoji Okata, an underwater photographer with over…
Arcades might be a thing of the past in North America, but they live on in, um, North Korea. The country’s state media recently released photos of an arcade that supposedly just opened on the Rungna Islet in Pyongyang, the country’s capital. The islet is home to the world’s largest stadium, basketball courts, a skateboard…
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has a brand new CG trailer, and geez, it’s looks good. CD Projekt RED, of course, is developing The Witcher 3; this trailer, however, is from Oscar-nominated visual effects studio Platige Image. Slated for the Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and the PS4, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be out…
Over the years, Micrsoft’s Windows OS has changed. It has evolved. There’s an easy way to explain the differences between each version, and it involves houses. Yes, houses. Here ya go, from Windows 95 to Windows 8 with the variations explained using dwellings: Of course, this comparison omits earlier versions, such as Windows 3.0, which…
Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki smokes. A lot. And so do the characters in his latest film, Kaze Tachinu. It’s like nearly every character, save for the female lead, smokes in Kaze Tachinu. If you think about the 1920s and 30s setting, the excess cigarettes make perfect sense: It seemed like nearly everyone smoked in…
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