Kotaku East

I’m Terrified of Hard Choices, But This Game is About Hard Choices

Whenever I’m given an option in a game, be it choosing what my character says or how he/she acts, I always want to make the “best” choice. So when I’m faced with two equally bad options, I lock up – and right off the bat, it looks like Nippon Ichi Software’s newest game is going…

Hideo Kojima on Why Solid Snake Is Called Solid Snake

Metal Gear’s creator took to Twitter to talk about the conceptual origins behind the name of series protagonist Solid Snake. Over eight tweets. It… makes sense if you think about it, really. Have a look: Did you get that? Solid for battle-hardened, Snake for stealthy. Only a snake can beat a snake, so Solid Snake’s…

Japan’s Most Unusual Bullet Train Has Foot Baths

This is the future of Japanese train travel. And boy, it doesn’t get much faster—or interesting—than this. The bullet train (新幹線 or shinkansen) typically isn’t that fancy—though, the first-class “Green Car” carriages are certainly nice. However, the really fancy Japanese trains, such as the Twilight Express or the Seven Star, aren’t bullet trains but sleeper…

Are you in Japan? Do you like indie games? What about cool music? BitSummit kicks off in Kyoto later this week, with the first public day on Saturday. Click here for more info.

The Attack on Titan Burgers Look Utterly Disgusting

And by disgusting, I mean, revolting. And by revolting, I mean that I might actually want to eat this. Maybe not. Today, the Attack on Titan burgers go on sale at Lotteria fast food chain in Japan. There are three different sizes: five-patty, seven-patty, and ten-patty. But there is only one price—around US$20. Here is…

Hey Children! Here’s Your First Conveyor Belt Sushi Set

If you want to eat at a conveyor belt sushi (回転寿司 or “kaiten zushi”) restaurant, kids in Japan need to have their parents take them. Not anymore! Soon, they’ll be able get aboard the sushi train at home. This is “Super Seizing At Home Conveyor Sushi,” a toy that will be out this spring in…

Heroic Man Makes Working Toilet for His Toys

In Japan, there are plastic models of… urinals. I’m convinced that they’re a gag product for folks who want to mess around with figurines, but yeah, they exist. And one guy named Masa just did something amazing with one. He got it to work! The plastic model urinal is just designed to look like a…

Ever Wanted to Play Frozen in an MMO? Now You Sorta Can!

Popular South Korean MMO Aion just got an update. Included in this recent patch was a new golden blond braided hairdo. Gosh, this looks like Elsa from Frozen As pointed out by tipster Sang, the patch, which is called “Purple Light Revolution Update,” was released today. Above, you can see how the hairstyle compares to…

Three Years After Her Death, Daughter Sends Parents a Touching Letter

March 11, 2011 was truly a tragic day in Japan. Lives were changed and lives were ended. Yet, three years later, two parents who lost a daughter have just received a letter she mailed a decade ago. “Mom and Dad, by the time you get this letter, perhaps you’ll have a grandchild?” the daughter wrote.…

Nose Typing Doesn’t Get Faster Than This

Everyone has something they are good at. Something that makes them special. For India’s Mohammed Khurshid Hussain, that’s typing really fast. With his nose. Late last week, Hussain set the world record for typing an English language sentence in the fastest time. The sentence read, “Guinness world records have challenged me to type this sentence…

A History of Video Game Consoles, In Japanese Commercials

Last week, we saw what the history of video games looks like through Western commercials. But the birthplace of Nintendo and Sony has a history of consoles all its own—and the commercials to match. *Note: The vast majority of these commercials come from gaming channel Kazuya Games. Head there for many more retro Japanese gaming…

“We don’t have any information on the Xbox One hardware,” BlazBlue producer Toshimichi Mori told Siliconera. “I’m curious if Xbox One will even come out in Japan. I’ve been asking people about it and not one person has given me a definitive answer.”

Japan and Korea Now Arguing Over Stomping on Anne Frank’s Face

At a recent anti-Japan protest in South Korea, participants carried signs with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s face crossed out. They also carried signs with Anne Frank. One protestor appeared to stomped on both. Or did he? Whatever is going on? Relations between Japan and South Korea, to be blunt, suck. As The Wall Street…

Attack on Titan Turned into a Comedy Spoof for Japanese TV

Human-eating giants might not be funny, but human-eating giants with new jobs in construction are. Yesterday, Japanese variety show Smap x Smap did a short Attack on Titan skit called “Shiniri no Kyojin” (新入りの巨人), which translates as “Giant Newcomer” (though, the show used the subtitle “Newcomer on Titan”). It’s a pun on the anime’s Japanese…

Rube Goldberg Death Traps are the Best Death Traps

Deception IV: Blood Ties is a game built around one concept: building elaborate, overly complicated death traps to violently dispose of the heroes sent against you. In the game, you have three kinds of death traps: movement traps—which do a small amount of damage but move the victim into another location, damage traps—which focus on…

Get Your Official North Korean Desktop Wallpaper

Something missing from your computer? Something North Korean? You can change that right now. Red Star 3.0 is the North Korean Linux operating system, and computer scientist Will Scott, who has a copy, uploaded Red Star’s desktop images. Many of them look like they’ve had the hell photoshopped out of them. Some are kind of…

You Can Make $40 A Day Cosplaying in China

Cosplay is huge in China and Taiwan. It’s become an industry in itself, where young men and women get paid to dress up. However, as glorious as it is to get paid to for cosplay, one girl’s tale reveals that cosplayers in China may not be making as much money as one would think. In…

Japanese Prime Minister Thinks Country Can Learn from…Nintendo

Nintendo is having atruly difficult year. Things are tough! Yet, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe thinks the country can learn from Nintendo. Earlier today, a member of the Diet asked him for his growth strategy for Japan. “Well, for example, there’s a company called Nintendo,” Abe replied. “Over there, they made hanafuda cards, but gradually…

In Japan, Sony is ceasing aftercare service for the launch PlayStation 3 consoles: the 60GB CECH-A00 model, the 40GB CECH-B00 model, and the 40GB CECH-H00 series models. Also, Sony Japanwon’t be offering aftercare for PlayStation 1, the PlayStation 2 model SCPH-50000MB, and the 1000 and 2000 series for the PSP.

Power Rangers Make the Best Diplomats

Taiwan has had fairly good relations with Japan—that’s taking into account that Japan once occupied the island. To celebrate and to strengthen these relations, Japan’s NGO Earth non government organization recently sent a group of volunteers to the island. The volunteers were Power Rangers. As reported by various Taiwanese media, NGO Earth visited North Taiwan’s…