Makio Inoue is most famous for voicing Lupin III’s Goemon Ishikawa XIII. Today, it was announced that the long-time voice actor had passed away at the age of 81. Inoue got his start with minor characters in Astro Boy and other roles at Tezuka Productions in the early 1960s. In the 1970s, he had breakout…
Doraemon, a blue robotic cat from the future, now has his own store in Tokyo’s Odaiba—the first of its kind for the character, apparently. The shop, called Doraemon Future Department Store, features an array of Doraemon related goods. What makes Doraemon so cool is that he always pulls out an array of gizmos from his…
When the one-off performance of Star Wars kabuki was announced, it made sense. Star Wars is deeply influenced by Japan, so it seemed as though this would work. That it did, but better than I could’ve imagined. The kabuki version is a fascinating take on Star Wars. Even the program was excellent. The performance was…
Have you ever wondered why some people are better at first-person shooters than others? One important difference might be how people see while playing. Nikkei recently posted a clip tracking a professional FPS player’s vision while playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and compared the data to the vision of an amateur player. Both players…
This year’s Tokyo Comic-Con wrapped up over the weekend. There were big stars, merch, comics, and yes, cosplay. Let’s have a look at the best get-ups of the show. Since this is Tokyo Comic-Con, the cosplays are typically Western comic book, movie, or TV characters—though, this isn’t always the case.
Nintendo Tokyo opened on Friday. Lots of people came to the first day, and you’d think that by today, the crowds would have subsided. Nope! Twenty minutes after opening today, the wait reached 4 hours. Within 45 minutes, it was over 6 hours. Even this afternoon, at 3:15 PM, the wait was around 2 hours.…
Have you played every big-time game franchise? Are there any well-known game series you haven’t checked out? In Japan, a recent poll asked people about which famous series they haven’t played. There were 2,362 votes in this Goo Ranking poll. Here are the top responses. 16. Persona series – 44 votes 15. Taiko no Tatsujin…
This week, a new Pokémon Center is opening in Tokyo. Yesterday, Kotaku showed a short preview of the shop. Today, let’s have a closer look. The Pokémon Center opens this week in Shibuya. With is dark, sleek interior and life-sized Mewtwo display, it does look different from other Pokémon Centers. So does the merch. Just…
You are looking at the cartridge art for Street Fighter II Turbo’s Japanese release. It’s not only different from the US version but more mysterious. Can you tell who is on the cover? Ryu? Chun-Li? Which character is it? Twitter user Tekitouaki wrote that for years, he thought that Ryu was on the cartridge art. …
This week, Nintendo Tokyo will open its doors to the general public. Today was a press preview, allowing for a peek inside for what to expect. Naturally, there is a ton of merch, including some excellent Japan-only items. The statues and the store layout look nice! There is also a Pokémon Center right next door!
In 2005’s Kingdom Hearts II, Ayumi Ito first voiced Tifa Lockhart and since then has continued to be the character’s Japanese voice. Naturally, she will be returning for next year’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, but sadly, she has recently received threats of violence. The Sankei News reports that earlier this summer, a woman in her…
To promote Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima has been going on a world tour. It was announced early last month with Kojima visiting cities across the globe. Below are the locations included in the original announcement. It was recently announced on the PlayStation Hong Kong Facebook account that Ludens Ducks signed by Kojima would be part…
Since Nintendo isn’t including King of Fighters character Mai Shiranui in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, fans have started adding Mai any way they can. As previously reported, director Masahiro Sakurai said Mai would not be added to the game because, as he explained, “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is for good boys and girls of many…
High school students in Japan decided to bring the RX-O Unicorn Gundam to life. The statue is for the school’s cultural arts festival. Twitter user Tosshii and some classmates worked together on the creation, which took about two years to finish. Here is the front: And the back: As Kotaku previously reported, Bandai Namco built…
Online in Japan, fans are wondering why the mascot character and the official representative for the country’s biggest game magazine Famitsu appear in Death Stranding Famitsu recently gave the game a perfect score—one of only 26 to get the coveted 40/40 in the publication’s history. A thread on 2ch, the country’s biggest bulletin board, pointed…
Anime eyes might look OK in, well, anime, but on real-life humans, they look freaky as hell. Previously, we saw giant anime eyes brought to life with Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel. This time around, big eyes are back, but as a pointed play on anime conventions like schoolyard renai (love)—and more importantly, a way…
Each year, folks in the town of Chikuzen, Japan, create sculptures out of rice straw to mark the fall harvest. Previously, they made a Godzilla statue. This year, they’ve brought Space Battleship Yamato to life. According to Nico Nico, the rice straw version is over 54 feet long and at most 15 feet high. The…
Super Nintendo World won’t open at Universal Studios Japan until next spring. But recent snapshots show how construction is coming along. It looks like this area of the theme park will be impressive and noticeable. Twitter user L.C.A. Studios has been documenting progress. It’s possible to see the Super Mario flagpole from different parts of…
Twitter user Namio’s hobby isn’t just crocheting, but crocheting woolen Gundam helmets. It took days to crochet each helmet. The RX-178 Gundam Mk-II helmet, for example, took four days, with Namio working on them from morning to night for two of those. The result is glorious. Perfect for winter, too. Yes, that’s a crocheted face…
Shoko Nakagawa’s connection to Pokémon runs deep. She’s hosted several of the variety shows, including Pokénchi, which currently airs in Japan. She has done Pokémon commercials and press conferences, she’s sung Pokémon anime theme songs, and she’s even voiced characters. Now, she’s doing animation. If you are keeping score, Nakagawa started hosting variety show Pokémon…
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