Kotaku East

In Japan, You Can Hire a Handsome Butler Dentist

This butler doesn’t serve lunch. He cleans teeth. For around a hundred bucks, you can even put your head in his lap as he brushes yours. Located in Tokyo Midtown, PureCure isn’t your typical dentist office. It’s designed to look like an “Asian resort hotel.” Dr. Taro Masuoka, PureCure’s head dentist, dresses like a butler,…

China’s Human Helicopters Keep Spinning and Spinning

Chinese teens have figured out a way to pass the time: making human helicopters and spinning around. Hey, sure beats schoolwork! Warning: These GIFs might make you dizzy. In Chinese, spinning around with your buddies like this is called a “human body helicopter” (人体直升机 renti zhishengji), among other names like “human body carousel” (人体旋转木马). According…

The New Theatrhythm is Everything I Want in a Final Fantasy Music Game

I have already talked at length about how the music of Final Fantasy has affected me, so you can probably guess that I enjoyed the original Theatrhythm—though that’s not to say it didn’t have its problems. Luckily, the sequel, Theatrhythm: Curtain Call, has done a great job addressing these problems. Good – A Lot of…

Square Enix Says Not To Expect Final Fantasy XV and KHIII at E3

Because Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III, that’s why. Or, rather, something about optimal timing. But don’t worry, everything is just fine! In an interview with Famitsu, Square Enix exec Shinji Hashimoto revealed that there won’t be new info about Final Fantasy XV at this year’s E3. Who knows, maybe Square Enix will change…

It’s Ghost in the Shell, But with Fish

As we approach the premiere of the third theatrical release of Ghost in the Shell: Arise in Japan later this month, an official parody flash animation series has begun appearing on YouTube. It’s pretty damn funny (at least, if you speak Japanese). The series is made by FROGMAN, the writer/director/animator of the popular Eagle Talon…

Watch Us Play the First DS Game on Wii U Virtual Console

One of the coolest features of the Wii U gamepad is that allows for the possibility of playing DS games that require a touch screen. So now that Nintendo has released its first virtual console DS game, Brain Age, let’s see how it all works out. Check out the video above to see it in…

Here, Have Some Official Sailor Moon Chopsticks

Over the years, there have been numerous Sailor Moon chopsticks released in Japan. These are the latest ones. Priced at 1,620 yen (US$15.84) each, there are Sailor Moon Spiral Heart Moonrod chopsticks, Sailor Uranus Liprod chopsticks, and Sailor Neptune Liprod chopsticks. In Sailor Moon, these rods are used by the characters to transform, so perhaps,…

Stealing One Piece Doesn’t Make You King of the Criminals

An 18-year-old prep school student and his-19 year-old friend have been arrested for allegedly stealing a large amount of manga. Kanaloco reports that 76 manga copies were stolen in Kamakura, Japan, including One Piece and whatnot, totalling 36,000 yen or US$352. The manga in question were the tankoubon (単行本) or “single volume” versions. The two…

Takahashi Meijin, formerly of Hudson, was one of the biggest promoters of gaming in Japan during the 1980s. He’s now set up his own game company called Doki Doki Groove Works.

Anna From Frozen Looks Freaky in Real Life

Japanese Twitter user Urihcim really wanted to turn into Anna from Frozen. She gave it her best shot, and this is the result. The freaky result, that is. GAH. As we’ve seen in the past, makeup has shown how freaky anime eyes are. Disney eyes are abnormally large*, too! These images have been retweeted over…

New Fighting Game Character Spoils Popular JRPG

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is one of the new Persona games coming out later this year. The sequel to Persona 4 Arena, the new game is adding new features and new characters. One of which completely spoils the original JRPG. In this week’s issue of Weekly Famitsu, Persona series developer Atlus revealed some of the…

Think You Have What It Takes To Be a Professional Animator?

Anime studio Khara Inc., the folks behind Rebuild of Evangelion, just released a YouTube video aimed at potential job applicants. It shows the skill sets pro animators need. As reported by IT Media, the video has the following challenge: By using the sample scene data, please show a character climbing Box A and jump to…

New Arcade Joystick Comes with Wrist Rumble

Dubbed the Arcade Stick Inazuma, this is, well, an arcade-style stick, but with a cool feature: Wrist rumble. While using this GameTech stick, you can wear a special strap on your wrist and get force feedback while playing. I’ve never really thought about wrist rumble before, but I’d certainly be keen to give this a…

PlayStation Boss Wows with His Phoney Soccer Skills

If only Sony Computer Entertainment Hiroshi Kawano was this good at soccer! The Sony exec recently admitted that he needed some postproduction help for this online clip. Just in time for the World Cup, huh? Hell, if only I were this good at soccer—or computer trickery! ワールドカップに向けてスペシャルメッセージ！～SCEJAプレジデント 河野 弘より[PlayStation] To contact the author of this…

Japan’s Next Big Trend Could Be “Neo Gals”

Pink hair. Ripped jeans. Bling. Meet Japan’s “Neo Gals,” part Americana, part Tokyo, and lots and lots of bleach. During the 1990s, “gal” (ギャル or gyaru) fashion was in vogue with the nation’s youth, with young women tanning their skin, dying their hair brown, and wearing impossible platform shoes. Now, as one of Japan’s biggest…

Well, That’s a Good Way To Piss Off Korean Gamers [Update]

Anime, gaming, and cosplay event Japan Expo is underway in Paris. And since Riot Games is in attendance, the studio created a notice on the League of Legends website. The image accompanying the announcement has some Korean gamers up in arms. Over on the League of Legends forum, member Twking pointed out that the character…

Please Don’t Spoil the New Persona Game, Begs Atlus

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, the latest game in Atlus’ popular Persona franchise, comes out on the 3DS in Japan today, and the developers want people to be considerate. It’s in our nature to want to talk about or share the things we like and think are cool. But, just because you’ve seen the…

One City In China Is Cracking Down On Net Cafe Smokers

Secondhand smoke is terrible, but good luck getting away from it when you visit an internet cafe in China. In recent years, restrictions on smoking have been passed on locations such as restaurants and net cafes, but even so, people still smoke. Now, in China’s city of Wuhan, the authorities are cracking down. In a…

Now, Here Is How You Celebrate Transformers

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Transformers. There’s a big expo going on for robots at the Venetian Macao in, well, Macau At the expo, there are over one thousand figures on display as well as giant Transformer statues. Very cool! As pointed out by CITS and CRI, the expo wraps up in early…

Chinese League of Legends Pro Apologizes To Fans For Poor Performance

Professional gamers, like professional athletes, have their up and downs. When they disappoint, they have to face their fans and that’s exactly what a Chinese League of Legends pro did. CaoMei (Strawberry), whose real name is Wei Handong, plays top laner for a Chinese LoL Team, Team WE. After a poor performance in this past…