Kotaku East

Utada Hikaru Is Releasing A New Album This September

Utada Hikaru is releasing her first full album in eight years. Announced tracks include “Manatsu No Tooriame,” which is now the theme song of a Japanese news show; “Hanataba Wo Kimini,” which was the theme for a TV drama; and “Sakura Nagashi,” which was the theme for Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo. According Yahoo!…

Japanese Products That Sound Awful in English

Japan has come up with some truly fantastic English product names. “PlayStation,” for example, is terrific. Then, there are some product names that are bad. Wonderfully so. This article was originally published on May 4, 2015. This isn’t really Japan’s fault. The country’s language, like English, borrows a bunch of foreign words and has done…

This August, a Kirby Cafe is opening in Japan with Kirby themed food and original goodies for sale. Stay tuned.

Leon’s Jacket From Resident Evil 4 Only Costs $1,200

Only! For that price, you can dress like Leon from RE4 with this replica bomber jacket. Capcom is asking 129,600 yen (US$1,286 with tax) for the leather jacket with wool lining. According to Famitsu, it’ll be out this November. This isn’t the only pricey Resident Evil jacket Capcom has released. Previously, we saw another $1,200…

Shibuya at Night. Tokyo, Japan. By Fernando Reyes Medina JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

Tokyo Trains Get The Dragon Quest Theme

Like, actual trains departing the station to actual Dragon Quest music. Only in Japan! As pointed out on Kuma News, when trains on the Tokyu Toyoko Line depart Shibuya Station, they are sent off with the Dragon Quest Overture. Other train stations in Tokyo have jingles or play melodies (Ebisu Station, for example, has the…

Japanese Politician Campaigns With A Cat

It’s not that cats are important in Japanese politics. Cats are important. Full stop. This is Satoshi Shima. He previously worked at mobile carrier Softbank, and before that, he was a member of Japanese Parliament. He’s now running to represent the Mikawa region in Aichi Prefecture in the upcoming election. During Japanese elections, candidates plaster…

Mount Koya. Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. By Kenneth Choy. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

Nintendo Wants Unreal Engine And Online Game Experience for App Development Jobs

Nintendo already released its first smartphone app Miitomo earlier this year. Now, apparently, it’s hiring more folks for future ones. According to Game Watch Impress, the listings are for both the company’s Kyoto headquarters and its Tokyo office. They might give an insight as to what Nintendo is up to. These listings come as last…

Student Makes Silly Contraption For Clean Air 

Dorm life can suck! Especially if your roommates smoke and you don’t. One college student in Nanning City, China constructed a breathing contraption to combat secondhand smoke. As pointed out on GameOver and Shanghai Daily, the student shares a dorm room with several smokers. So, he bought a fan to blow in clean air from…

The Bleach Manga Is Ending Soon

Everything must come to an end, even Bleach Back in 2013, it was announcedthat the manga was starting its final act. According to Seiyu Fan, that act will come to a close this fall when Bleach’s 74th volume is released. Manga artist Tite Kubo launched Bleach back in 2001. Since then, there have been anime…

Attack on Titan Season 2 Hits Spring 2017

Finally! The second season of the Attack on Titan anime will be aired next spring. Wit Studio, which did the first season back in 2013, is returning to handle the second one, andTetsuro Araki, who was first season’s Series Director, is also back to helm as the show’s Chief Director. Via the show’s official site,…

The River. Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan. By Nicolas Cheung JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

The Squid Sisters from Splatoon are the latest costume cameos for Super Mario Maker. Perfect for the underwater levels!

According to Nintendo.co.jp, there won’t be any new package retail Wii U games released in July or August in Japan. There are a few download-only and Virtual Console titles, but no big new releases. This could change, but there you go.

Deoksugung Palace. Seoul, South Korea. By Mike Hattsu JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

Those Goofy Leaked Pokémon Are Real

Overnight, footage of some silly-looking characters from the upcoming Pokémon: Sun and Moon leaked online. No way they could be real. Turns out, they were. Clips of each new Pocket Monster appeared on YouTube sporting what looked like Russian game board ratings. Considering how there are always fakes and seeing how these designs looked questionable,…

You Gotta See China’s Super Smash Bros. Rip-Off

It’s really quite something else. Slated for mobile, Pocket All-Stars Smash Bros. might sound like Smash Bros. How it plays, though, is totally different. Forget the recent Splatoon clone, this one is even more brazen. Under the game’s Chinese title, it reads “Smash Bros.” (スマッシュブラザーズ) in Japanese. Smash Bros., it’s not. As pointed out by…

Report: Hunter x Hunter Is Going On Hiatus. Again. 

Hunter x Hunter manga artist Yoshihiro Togashi, who is well-known for taking breaks, is going back on, you guess it, a break. Togashi’s longest Hunter x Hunter publication streak is 30 issues, while his longest hiatus is 80 issues. The manga returned to print earlier this year, but, as Buzz Plus now reports, the upcoming…

Red Bridge. Nikko, Japan. By Vittorio Giorgi JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!