Brian Ashcraft

Some of the Best Pranks from Japanese TV

On Japanese TV, there are lots of comedy shows. And on those comedy shows, there are often pranks. And, boy, Japanese pranks can be so cruel, but also so epic. Japanese comedy shows typically aren’t centered around pranks. They are often elements of the shows, as are the games known as “batsu geemu” (罰ゲーム). These…

Get a Good Look at the PS4 User Interface

Today, screenshots showing the PS4’s user interface have popped up online. 2ch, Japan’s largest online bulletin board, is pointing to a series of images on Japanese site Game no Hanashi The images looks like the user interface Sony showed at its recent event in New York City, and depict the user home page, which lists…

North Korea Doesn’t Need Instagram to Look Retro

Instagram, with all its hipster filters, can make anything look retro. But you know what, North Korea really doesn’t need Instagram. It’s already as retro as you can get. Still, Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder is in Pyongyang, uploading photos to his Instagram page, points out TechInAsia Explains Guttenfelder on his Instagram page: “…the local…

Fashion Model in Trouble After Claiming Samurai Heritage

You ever see Kagemusha? It’s that terrific 1980 samurai flick Akira Kurosawa made. The movie centers around Shingen Takeda, an iconic feudal lord in Japanese history, and according to fashion model Anri Takeda, a relative. Takeda recently appeared in Koakuma Ageha, a magazine that focuses on nightclub hostess fashion and that has lent some of…

In Japan, Business Cards Matter. And This Business Card Is One Tough Bastard.

This isn’t the most beautiful business card. Folks like Goichi Suda (No More Heroes) or Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid) have much better looking cards, but certainly not more amazing than Nihon Falcom’s seemingly indestructible cards. While it’s unlikely that these business cards will ever experience rough treatment, they are bound to be impressive in…

The Wonderful and Charming World of PaperChildren

Somewhere between comics, cartoons, and real life, PaperChildren exist. These are 2D drawings, thrown into 3D space. And they’re often adorable. Paper children have been around for a while now. They first appeared in South Korea way back in 2004 when an illustrator uploaded images of the first “PaperChild” online. The motif spread from there,…

Two New 3DS Colors for Japan

On March 20, Japan is getting two new 3DS colors: Light Blue and Gloss Pink. They are priced at ¥15,000 (US$163) and come with 4GB SDHC memory cards, instead of the standard 2GB ones. Note that the new memory cards don’t make these handhelds cost more. ニンテンドー3DSに新色2色を追加 [Nintendo] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian…

Oh Yes, Persona Cosplay Is Pure Magic

Megami Tensei spin-off series Persona looks great. Its characters are cool. Their clothes are cool. Persona is cool. So, it’s pretty easy to see why fans love cosplaying as characters from the Persona games—especially Persona 3 and Persona 4. As we do every Wednesday, here’s a round-up of some—not all—of the best Persona cosplay the…

Thank AMD for the Best Video Game Hair Ever

Video game hair, generally speaking, looks awful. It really does. But computer giant AMD is changing all that with some fancy new hair tech. Oh yes, hair tech As AMD points out, making realistic hair is really, really hard. You need a bunch of math and calculations to make it happen in a natural and…

Japan’s Coffin Apartments Are Not for Claustrophobes

Tokyo is dense. Packed. And crowded. If you don’t have much money and want to live in places like Shibuya, you could live in a box. Literally. A Japanese news program recently showed off an “extremely cramped share house” (“geki-sema share house” or 激せまシャアハウス in Japanese). There’s a communal toilet and bath for the residents,…

Make a Gummy Snack of Yourself. Because That’s Romantic.

March 14 is a special day in Japan. It’s White Day. On White Day, men are supposed to give chocolates to the women who gave them chocolate on Valentine’s Day. But why give chocolate when you can make a gummy version of yourself? As website Spoon & Tamago points out, Shibuya’s FabCafe is doing a…

Japan’s Advice for the Next Xbox

Japan loves foreign products—Apple, BMW, and even Red Wings shoes are popular here. Yet, there’s the Xbox 360. Gathering dust on store shelves in cities like Tokyo and Osaka. Unloved. People in Japan just don’t care! Poor Xbox. The original Xbox was a failure in Japan. The Xbox 360 was a failure in Japan. Microsoft’s…

Famed manga artist Mari Yamazaki is doing a biographical manga series on Steve Jobs (via ANN).

Delight in How These Photos Totally Look Like Anime and Video Game Characters

Sometimes, people look familiar. You know you’ve seen them before. Maybe they look like a friend from college. Or an animal. Or an electrical appliance. In the West, there are websites such as Totally Looks Like that compare images which… totally look like each other. On web forums, Japan does the same thing, finding images…

Is Final Fantasy XIV Coming to the PS4? Somebody Asked That Question.

Final Fantasy XIV‘s road to the PS3 has been rough. But now that the game is finally coming to the PlayStation 3, Square Enix’s Yoichi Wada was asked whether or not the game is headed to the PS4. “Basically,” said Wada, “I want to offer it through any means possible, but only after we’ve nailed…

Voice Actress Invents a Thong That Turns into a Wristband. (No, Really.)

Dubbed the “Wristunder” (geddit? GEDDIT?), the special panties were invented by Chiaki Takahashi, the voice actress who brings life to video characters in The Idolmaster, BlazBlue and many more. Takahashi is dubbed a “sexy voice actress”, and it often seems like she tries really hard. Probably too hard. But, hey, she tries. There’s always trying.…

Learn How To Make Swords, Guns, and Other Weapons from Japanese Video Games

Usually, when there’s a geek event in Japan, cosplayers show up in droves. Somewhere between the folks in skimpy outfits, there are always cosplayers carrying enormous swords and guns. They’re not real weapons, of course, but they can really help complete the cosplay. Want to learn how to make those awesome custom weapons? Like, yourself?…

It’s the year of the snake, and this snake drawing will blow your mind. Promise.

One Way Sony Could Fight Piracy: Load Times

Piracy is bad news! That is, if you are a big game company. If you are a pirate, then, I’m sure, it’s all gravy. But big game companies like Sony are hoping to put an end to that freeloading gravy train. A Sony Computer Entertainment patent from August 2011 that was published this month and…

Pikachu Used To Be Way Cuter (and Fatter)

Pikachu, the iconic Pokémon from Pocket Monsters, looks slightly different these days. Adorable, sure, but not nearly as adorable as in 1997, back when the Pokémon anime first debuted. Not nearly as fat, either. Over the weekend, a thread called “Pikachu in the early days was way too cute” (初期のピカチュウかわいすぎ) appeared on 2ch, Japan’s largest…