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Kotaku East
Hanging Out with Naked Folks All Weekend
One of the most popular things to do on vacation in Japan is head to an onsen or “hot springs”. They’re dotted all over the country, and people—both young and old—enjoy visiting onsen towns, where they eat delicious food and bathe. When taking a bath in Japan, you wash first and then enter the water…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 2, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Would You Buy a Skyrim Hug Pillow?
So many Japanese games have hug pillows—even game voice actresses do. Western games, however, come up short in the hug pillow department. That’s something this Japanese April Fools’ joke appeared to remedy. Yep, you are looking at a phony Skyrim hug pillow mock-up that features Lydia, your in-game “companion”. It should cost ¥18,450 and should…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 2, 2012 -
Kotaku EastTaiwanese Woman Trashes Convenience Store. Clerk Just Watches.
Convenience stores are wonderful. They are truly magical places, but apparently not to this young woman in Taiwan. The woman turned a Family Mart, a Japanese chain which has branches throughout Asia, into a messy mart after going on a rampage, randomly flinging instant noodles, drinks, and sandwiches onto the floor. The Family Mart employee…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 2, 2012 -
Kotaku EastFinal Fantasy Versus XIII Finally Emerges. On the 3DS. As Music Game DLC.
Where the hell is Final Fantasy Versus XIII? Who knows. Oddly, a song from the unreleased game is launching as paid DLC for Nintendo 3DS game Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy on April 4. Hopefully, this means that Square Enix will be talking more about Final Fantasy Versus XIII in the near future—instead of, you know, simply…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 2, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Postponed by the Earthquake, the Anti-Establishment Anime Event Finally Happened
This weekend, the 2012 Anime Contents Expo kicked off in Chiba, Japan. Sister site Kotaku Japan was in attendance to check out the cosplayers, the itasha, the Neon Genesis Evangelion smartphone, and the enormous Maken-Ki! boob pad. The Anime Contents Expo was originally created after anime creators joined forces to protest strict anime and manga…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 2, 2012 -
These Adult Gaming Peripherals Existed Only One Day
And that day was yesterday, April 1. As it does every year, the Japanese erotic game industry showed its sense of humor with a handful of adult-related gaming peripherals that will thankfully never see the light of day. Or will they? There’s Nexton Liquid with Liquid Black Cute, a “dedicated erotic game hardware” it’s apparently…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 2, 2012 -
New Chinese MMO Overdoses on Devil May Cry, Barfs Up DMC
China’s Tencent Games is releasing a new MMO called Age of Guns. The game features a dual wielding hero that looks like he was plucked from the Japanese character design reject pile. Much of the Age of Guns trailer looks familiar. Like stuff I could have sworn I’ve seen before back when this clip was…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 31, 2012 -
Kotaku EastCheck Out Dust, a Stunning Flick from a Special Effects House
Dust is from the folks at Ember Lab, who worked on the very cool student film Turbo. The trailer looks quite nice, and the filmmakers are looking for some extra scratch to help finish their project. Dust [Official Site]
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 30, 2012 -
Kotaku East
The Game Square Enix Was Counting Down To Is…
Crystal Conquest! Just as was foreshadowed. And it’s a browser game. It’s a large scale action battle game—-up to 20 players can face off against 20 other players. Social games are big money makers for Square Enix of late, so don’t expect this to be a one-off thing. Crystal Conquest [Official Site]
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 30, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Teenage Girl Beaten to Death for Not Practicing a Video Game
This week in Osaka, 23 year-old Eriko Tashiro and her boyfriend Daigorou Umezaki, 31, were sentenced to prison for 13 and 14 years respectively. In Sept. 2010, both savagely beat Eriko’s younger sister, Yuriko, to death. The two regularly bullied and abused Yuriko. Both Eriko and her boyfriend were on welfare; but, teenage Yuriko had…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 30, 2012 -
Kotaku East
The Cherry Blossoms Are Coming!
Soon where I live in Osaka, Japan will be bathed in cherry blossoms. The plum blossoms are blooming, but the cherry blossoms haven’t quite started yet. The cherry blossoms bloom at differnet times in different parts of the country. I was talking to a fellow ex-pat the other day who said this is his favorite…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 30, 2012 -
Namco Bandai Is Ripping Off a Japanese Clothing Store?
Namco Bandai’s idol simulator The Idolmaster seems to be getting more than inspiration from an online retailer. The “rare” Idolmaster card for character Megumi Ijuin looks exactly like a photo spotted on Japanese internet retail site Sunflower. Just look at the above comparison. The card is featured in the new social Idolmaster game called Cinderella…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 30, 2012 -
Kotaku EastCruel Costumes or Not, Tokyo Jungle Looks Great, Features Panda Sex
In Tokyo Jungle, animals try to survive and procreate in Japan’s capital. The game has an array of animals (from dogs to dinosaurs), funny outfits, decaying urban sprawl, and apparently panda sex—or rather, panda mounting each other to have panda sex. Tokyo Jungle will be out this June in Japan. Tokyo Jungle [PlayStation]
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 30, 2012 -
Kotaku EastThe Animation for this Disney Commercial Doesn’t Look Very Disney
Above is a quick commercial for Tokyo Disney Resort. It doesn’t look very Disney! There’s a reason for that: Disney roped in Japanese anime studio Madhouse to create this spot. Madhouse is known for Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust It’s interest to see Disney greenlight something that diverges stylistically from its own animation…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 30, 2012 -
Final Fantasy Creator Hard at Work on a Surfing Game. For iOS.
Kotaku previously reported that Hironobu Sakaguchi was working on three iOS games. He’s revealed one of them: a surfing game with the temp title Party Wave. Sakaguchi, who lives in Hawaii, is a huge surfer himself. Above is the first concept art for the game. See that expression on the surfer girl’s face? That’s kind…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 30, 2012 -
Kotaku EastThe Colorful, Crazy, and Curvy World of the Sexy All Sisters
There’s a set iconography. Costumes or accessories that immediately evoke imagery and associations. For countless idol groups, the go-to iconography is the Japanese schoolgirl and all the youthful associations she entails. Not the Sexy All Sisters. They largely eschew schoolgirls in favor of superheroes, juvenile delinquents, and waitresses. The group was born out of low…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 30, 2012 -
An Unauthorized Look at the Enigma Behind Grand Theft Auto
During the mid-1990s, I spent my summers in L.A. I was still in high school and answering phones at a film agency on Wilshire. And in the mid-1990s, super producer Don Simpson ruled Hollywood. Everyone in the movie business had a Don Simpson story. Along with Jerry Bruckheimer, Simpson was the force behind high-concept hits…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 29, 2012
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