Kotaku East

Japanese Woman Got a Driver’s License Dressed as Chun-Li

Well, you gotta wear something when you get your license photo, don’t you? Previously, Kotaku reported that in Japan, you can dress up as whatever when you take your driver’s license photo—just as long as you are not wearing a hat. Also, it’s reported that unnaturally bright wigs are not allowed, either. Other than that,…

Chocolate Sauce Creates Incredible Video Game and Anime Art

You think drawing your favorite with paper and pencil is difficult? Trying drawing them with chocolate sauce on plates. In Seoul, there’s an anime, comic book, and video game shop called Saboten Store. As tipster Sang points out, the staff do cosplay and dress as maids, but this isn’t exactly a maid cafe per se.…

Naked Buddhas Attack! Attack On Buddha?!

In Attack on Titan, humanity is on the verge of extinction brought upon by giant naked humanoids called Titans. Well in Jinan, in North China’s Shandong province, the cartoon world may be merging with the real world according to recent sightings of giant, naked butthas. Warning, you’re about to see some naked statue butt. In…

Japan’s Biggest Pop Group Ripped Off by a Chinese TV Show?

If you follow Japanese pop, you know that groups don’t get much bigger than AKB48. (Literally!) One of the troupe’s latest singles was allegedly copied by a Chinese variety program. The show, whose title roughly means Enjoy Forever with Your Family, is broadcast on Hunan satellite television in China. Above, you can see a performance…

How Kickstarter Opened Up Consoles to a Chinese Developer

For game designer Loup Zhou, working on video games had always been a passion that he grew up with one that he couldn’t escape. Originally from Beijing, Zhou, grew up playing video games on PC and console. Zhou says he remembers playing on the original Nintendo Entertainment System. “I brought an original Famicom from a…

Infamous Manga Gets Cafe with NSFW… Food

As far as infamous manga (and meme!) characters go, they don’t get any more infamous than the Yaranaika Guy. And this weekend, he got his own cafe. For one day. In Akihabara, Cosplay Bar Pachinoff was revamped as the official cafe for the 1987 gay manga Kuso Miso Technique. One of the manga’s lead characters,…

Budget Rent-a-Car and ANA Commercials Dubbed “Racist” and “Crude”

Not sure why companies in Japan keep insisting on this kind of imagery, but they do. And this time, it’s not just a Japanese company. As noted by websites Japan Probe and Debito, ANA’s new commercial features imagery that some non-Japanese residents living in the country find offensive. “The end result is crude racial humor:…

China’s Virtual Sunrise Story Called “Bullsh**t”

Late last week, a story surfaced on several sites that the pollution in Beijing was so bad, the sunset had to be broadcast on a huge LED screen so people could watch it. You can see the image directly above. The story, however, is disingenuous. Yes, the pollution in Beijing is bad. It’s a serious…

Korea’s Teddy Bear Museum Makes the World a Cuter Place

Sometimes the world isn’t very adorable. If only it looked a bit more like this! You know, like it were filled with teddy bears. As recently noted by Korea Realtime, South Korea’s Jeju Island is home to all sorts of interesting museums. There’s a sex museum, a computer museum, and a teddy bear museum, which…

A Final Fantasy X Comparison: HD vs. SD

While the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster won’t be out in the West until March, it hit Japanese shelves last month. So join me as I dust off my old PS2 and compare just how much better Final Fantasy X looks on the PS3 with its new HD coat of paint. [*Note: The PS2 version…

Hatsune Miku Has Her Own Store in Japan. It’s Not Virtual!

Virtual idol Hatsune Miku might not be real, but her popularity sure is. In Japan, the character, who stars in own line of Sega music games, now also has her own store. Called “Miku Wing Shop,” the store will be opened for a limited time only at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The name “Wing Shop”…

I Can’t Decide if Samurai Flamenco is Brilliant or Terrible

Usually when an anime hits its halfway point, I like to give a point-by-point review of its first half. However, in the case of Samurai Flamenco, this has proven impossible for me. Because depending on how the series so far is interpreted, it’s either brilliant or terrible—and I can’t seem to decide which. [Note: This…

Even with the less than stellar Wii U sales, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said he won’t resign. According to Iwata, “There will be no major management shake-up in the short term.”

The Poetic Beauty of the World’s Busiest Train Station

Shinjuku Station in Tokyo is the busiest train station in the world. And this video brings it to life with haunting beauty. Using a super high speed camera, photographer Adam Magyar filmed from a train as it pulled into Shinjuku Station. Playing the footage at a normal frame rate makes it look super slow due…

The Vita TV is the Most Convenient System I Own

Back when the Vita was revealed, I remember dreaming about playing a game on my HDTV, then picking up my Vita and continuing to play the same game on the go. Of course, that’s never really panned out on the PS3—though it has with the Asian-only Vita TV. A bit of backstory: since I wrote…

Japanese Children’s Show Featured a Puppet with a “Penis Head”

Yikes! This week in Japan, photos of a puppet popped up online. The puppet appeared on a kid’s program in Japan. Online, commenters are saying its head looks “totally” like a dildo. Note: This article contains content some readers might find objectionable. The show in question is called Nihongo de Asobo (“Let’s Play in Japanese”)…

Inside the World’s First Kit Kat Specialty Shop

Earlier today, the world’s first Kit Kat “specialty shop” opened in Tokyo. It’s called the Kit Kat Chocolatory, and you can see a photo of it right up there. As previously reported, the new Kit Kat shop offers gourmet Kit Kats. That’s it! There are three flavors currently: the “Sublime Bitter,” which is made with…

Devoid of Details, Japanese Still Want Persona 5 So Damn Bad

Atlus proves that sometimes, name value is all you need. The 2014 game lineup is looking pretty exciting so far. With the upcoming release of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in Japan, Japanese gamers have a lot to look forward to. Japanese gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu asked its readers what games they were looking…

Check Out Japan’s Ridiculous Anime-fied Fairy Tales

The vast majority of book cover art in Japan is fairly conservative. Tasteful, even. But one publisher is trying to “update” classic books by covering them in anime art. Tokyo-based Kadokawa is one of Japan’s largest publishers. In recent years, the company has expanded into movies and video games. Seeming to take advantage of its…

Xbox One Will Suit Japanese Rooms Just Fine (Apparently)

2014 is here. Seriously, when is the Xbox One coming out in Japan? Apparently there are some issues Microsoft needs to address first. Microsoft has previously expressed their commitment to the Japanese market. However, with the complexities involved with different cultures, customs, standards and regulations, they have been hesitant to make any definite statements on…