Kotaku East

Nintendo has been a family business. After the company’s former president Hiroshi Yamauchi died last fall, he left his stake in the company to his four children. And now, Bloomberg reports, they’re looking to sell stock.

You Can Play Wii in North Korea… for Therapy

The outside world doesn’t know a whole lot about what is really going on in North Korea—how the people actually live and what they do. One thing we can prove, however, is that at least one North Korean citizen has played the Nintendo Wii. In the above photo, a North Korean woman plays Ping Pong…

Oh, Just a JPop Group Covering The Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”

Here’s Akihabara-based idol group Dempa Gumi Inc. covering the 1994 classic “Sabotage.” Nothing more, nothing less! Courtesy of Japanator, you can listen to a short version of their cover here. Or, you can see them performing the tune in concert—something they’ve done for a while now and something that will never cease to surprise. If…

Young Chinese Woman Spun Around for Four Hours

At the recent Spring Festival Gala in China, 15 year-old Wei Caiqi served as “Time Girl” and spun around. A bunch. Days before the gala was broadcasted, it was announced in the Chinese press that Wei would spin for four hours and start spinning faster as the Chinese New Year approached. And, well, that’s what…

RoboCop Is Throwing Beans at People in Tokyo

Come quietly, or there will be beans. Well, there will be beans either way. Today, is Setsubun (節分) in Japan. It’s a bean-throwing festival to cleanse evil and bring in good luck. People in Japan either attend Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples to throw beans, or at home, they throw beans at a family member…

The Perfect Way to Hold a Hamburger, Proven by Science

We’ve all been there: You’re holding a big ol’ hamburger with both hands, you bring it to your mouth to take a bite, and the whole burger falls out all over the place. But guess what, there’s an “ideal” way to hold a burger. This is it. A while back, Japanese television show Honma Dekka!?…

When Anime Birthdays Look Like Black Magic

Kuroko’s Basket is a popular manga and anime. It’s one of the biggest sellers in Japan! And today is the main character’s birthday. Some people are really excited. To mark Tetsuya Kuroko’s birthday, fans created a Twitter hashtag to upload images of the character, fan art, and notes—which is neat. And since it’s long been…

Watch Us Explore the Awesomeness of Kirby in 3D

Sucking is usually a bad thing—unless of course you’re playing Kirby The newest Kirby game, Kirby: Triple Deluxe, came out in Japan on the 3DS earlier this month. It is full of all the goodness you’ve come to expect when platforming. As everyone’s favorite pink puffball, you float around, suck in enemies, copy their powers,…

Kyousougiga is Beautiful and Touching but Way Too Convoluted

Kyousougiga is a touching story about family, set in a fantasy world inside a painting. It has a beautiful setting and well-animated action. Unfortunately, it also gets far too convoluted for its own good. Good – Set in a Fairytale Kyousougiga has its roots in a Japanese fairytale. A lonely monk draws a rabbit which…

Convenience Store Controversy Leads to Oddly Profound Internet Meme

A Japanese convenience store chain shelved plans for a foie gras boxed lunch after animal rights activists complained. The whole thing has even spawned an internet meme. Non-profit group Animal Rights Center created the following image to raise awareness about animal rights. The image is still currently on its Hope for Animals website. Have a…

Persona 4‘s Train Station Is Real (And It’s Closing)

Persona 4 takes place in a rural town called “Inaba.” And the town’s train station, Yasoinaba Station, is where the game’s protagonist arrives on the scene. The station is based on an actual place, and soon it will be gone forever. The real station is Isawa Onsen Station (石和温泉駅) and is located in Yamanashi Prefecture.…

Policeman in Trouble After Forcing Others To Eat Too Many Burgers

A police sergeant in Osaka, Japan came under fire for repeatedly forcing subordinate officers to eat large amounts of food. The sergeant has since left the force, reports the Japanese media. According to Yomiuri Online, from February 2010, the 40 year-old sergeant began forcing four subordinate officers into gluttony. In over ten occasions, he ordered…

Korean Plastic Surgery Is Not What It Seems

It appears whenever some people mention South Korea, they can’t help but wallow in one thing: plastic surgery. Let’s use some common sense when we discuss it! Folks seem to check that at the door. Okay, yes. There’s lots of plastic surgery happening in South Korea! That is undeniable. You know what else is undeniable?…

The Entire Opening Of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Remade In MS Paint

Microsoft Paint is probably not the best tool to remake anime openings (or anything), especially not the superb one for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and I’m pretty sure it took OurFinalForm a million billion hours to finish this masterpiece. It’s not just a replica of the original. The creators changed most of the scenes and filled…

Tokyo Is Getting a Tomato Vending Machine

From bras to batteries, Japan is no stranger to unusual vending machines. But its latest peculiar vending machine might make sense. Kinda! Japanese food company Kagome, which specializes in tomato-based eats, recently installed a vending machine at a runner’s facility in Tokyo. According to The Asahi Shimbun, Kagome hopes the vending machine will highlight the…

How Metal Gear Solid Has Changed in a Single Image

Metal Gear Solid has changed. It’s not about rudimentary polygons, or abstract graphics. It’s an endless series of awesome photorealism. Hideo Kojima recently tweeted this image from a Kojima Productions presentation titled, “The Present and Past of Game Development.” My, how far we’ve come. 新人朝会でのジョニーのプレゼン [Kojima_Hideo] To contact the author of this post, write to…

Forget Square Watermelons, Japan Now Has Pentagon-Shaped Oranges

There’s no better way to say, “Good luck on your school exams,” than with citrus fruit pentagons, am I right? Fruit farmers in Ehime Prefecture, Japan have created “Gokakukei Iyokan” (五角形イヨカン). A mix of mandarians and oranges, “iyokan” is sometimes called a “Japanese Summer Orange.” And in Japanese, “gokakukei” (五角形) means “pentagon.” But this special…

Massively Popular Gundam Arcade Game Gets a PS3 Release in Japan

While Gundam games are pretty badly misrepresented in the West, as often only the awful games are localised, the Gundam Versus games are very much some of the best of the bunch. And this Thursday, Japan is getting a PS3 port of one of the best Gundam games ever: Gundam Extreme Versus Full Boost. Full…

Proof That Sexy Advertising Is Plain Silly

Sex sells. It’s sad, but true. We see that in the world of video game games, music, and wire mesh. Wire mesh? In Taiwan, wire mesh. For the past few years, a Taiwanese wire mesh company has apparently been using models to promote its wire and, uh, mesh products. This was something popular Taiwanese sites…

The New Wonder Momo Game Hurts Much Less Than The 1987 Original

The new Wonder Momo game is shaping up to be fun, sleek, and cool, while successfully giving me flashbacks of my traumatic experiences with the original. If you’ve ever gotten through the original Wonder Momo, be it the arcade version or the port on the Turbografx-16 or Wii Virtual Console, then congratulations; you’re a better…