Kotaku East

Kirby‘s Creator Isn’t Thrilled with Video Game Storytelling

“As a long time gamer, I often find the stories told by games to be bothersome.” Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai writes in his Weekly Famitsu column. Indeed, many games seem to take their time laying out the beginning of their stories, showing long (and sometimes unskippable) cutscenes, or limiting what actions the protagonist can take…

An Elderly Woman Thrashing Dragon Quest X on Japanese TV

It’s not everyday you see senior citizens talking role-playing games. It’s not everyday you see them thrashing one of them on Japanese television. In primetime. Famed Japanese actress Keiko Awaji, with credits in movies like Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog, is a huge Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy fan. Did I say “huge”? I meant HUGE.…

Here are twenty reasons why Japanese people are glad they were born in Japan.

It Felt Cheap at First, But Demon Gaze Is a Solid Vita RPG

“What the hell is Demon Gaze?” was my first response when I heard about this new game for the PS Vita from Kadokawa Games. The game was released on January 24th in Japan under the genre of “dungeon RPG,” and almost immediately sold like crazy. Well… relatively crazy. It is a Vita game after all,…

The Batmobile, Totally Geeked Out

Hong Kong toy company Hot Toys recently held an “itasha” competition to see who could cover its Batmobile/Tumbler model in nerd cool the best in hopes of winning Batman figurines. In Japanese, the slang “itasha” (痛車) literally means “painmobile”. These sticker-covered cars have become a way for Japanese geeks to show their nerd pride while…

Aliens: This Time It’s an Amazing Ice Sculpture

Fish and animals are typical ice sculpture fodder. This isn’t your typical ice sculpture. It isn’t that at all. According to Obvious Winner, Japanese ice artist Koji Kareki and Ottawa’s Kei Sakugawa carved this Queen from Aliens for the annual Winterlude winter festival in Canada. Very impressive! If you dig their work (and really, why…

A Superhero Movie Unlike Anything You’ve Ever Seen

Bare man ass. Panty mask. Spinning crotch attacks. WTF? The newly released trailer for HK is really unlike any other superhero movie you’ll ever see. Scratch that, it’s like anything you’ll see. Ever. First teased this past fall, HK is short for Hentai Kamen (“Masked Pervert”), a parody manga featuring a sexed up superhero, who…

Latest Dead or Alive 5 Patch Brings Enhanced Boob Control

Just because Team Ninja, the developers behind Dead or Alive, are all out of fucks to give about releasing hyper-sexualized games, that doesn’t mean they’re not updating Dead or Alive 5. The latest update sneaks in, wait for it, a breast jiggling Easter Egg. Shocking! Spotted by GameFAQS, patch 1.03A for the PS3 version gives…

Ys and The Legend of the Heroes developer Falcom is opening a new smartphone and tablets studio.

Asians Taking a Test To Tell Asians Apart

Who looks Japanese? Can you distinguish between Korean and Chinese people? Website AllLookSame.com tests people’s facial recognition ability. This week, the website’s test has been appearing on numerous popular Japanese blogs, such as Rocket News. How are people in Asia doing with recognizing people from other nationalities? The “average” score is seven out of 18.…

Two Dudes Making a Little Girl Wait To Play an Arcade Game That’s… for Little Girls

At most arcades in Japan, there’s a section for kids. The kiddy games are often card (or plastic puck) based. There are kiddy arcade games aimed at little boys and ones aimed at little girls. Sounds like these two clowns didn’t get the message. This photo was snapped at a Sega arcade in Japan. Two…

Blame Japan’s Perverted Superhero for This Panty Insanity

Hentai Kamen, “the abnormal super hero”, is getting his own movie. The flick was teased last fall, and a live-action film called HK is slated for an April release in Japan. This post has content some readers might find unsuitable. Hentai Kamen is a manga that followed a mankini-wearing hero who got superpowers from wearing…

The New Ghost in the Shell Series Gets Its First Trailer

Earlier tonight here in Tokyo, Bandai Visual held a launch event for Ghost in the Shell: Arise, the new Ghost in the Shell anime series announced earlier this year. The event was full of interviews with the various creators of the new series and had several interesting announcements—like the fact that it is a prequel…

How to Play Games From the Japanese PSN on Your Non-Japanese Vita [Update]

Do you have a PlayStation Vita and a love of Japanese games, but feel the games you want to play take too long to get localized or—worse yet—will never leave Japan? Well, there is good news for you: The Vita is region free and can play any game from any region. However, there is also…

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is getting an online FPS next year, Famitsu reports

Yes, This Is Bruce Willis Made Out of Chocolate

As part of a promotion for A Good Day to Die Hard, a life-sized chocolate statue of John McClane (née Bruce Willis) was wheeled out for a press conference this evening in Japan. The flick opens on February 14, which is Valentine’s Day—hence the chocolate. Shame the statue doesn’t really look like Bruce Willis. But…

This Modern Japanese Ruin Would Make a Fascinating Computer Game

“Haikyo” (廃墟) means “ruins” or “abandoned building” in English. Previously, a haikyo and the story it told provided inspiration for an indie game. This latest discovery could, too. Website Tokyo Times explored a huge abandoned house that belonged to a wealthy Japanese politician. The house was built from concrete in 1928. Two years later, the…

This Man Really Loves Ramen Noodle Soup

Meet Steven Jo. The guy loves ramen noodle soup. So. Damn. Much. Check out more of Steven Jo’s music on his YouTube channel Ramen Noodle Soup! [StevenJoTV@YouTube via BuzzFeed] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from…

Japanese Politicians Make the Best Zombies

Zombies make everything better. They really do. Even Japanese politics. Spotted at the recent Wonder Festival figure event, here is a collection of “Zombie Politician Busts.” The small statues are of Japanese political bigwigs, former PMs Yukio Hatoyama and Naoto Kan, power broker Ichiro Ozawa, and politician Azuma Koshiishi The busts are an interesting commentary…

How a PS3 Game Launched Japan’s Newest Sex Symbol

These days, it seems like you cannot turn on the TV in Japan without seeing her. Her name is Mitsu Dan. She’s currently Japan’s biggest sex symbol, appearing in racy TV shows and even racier movies and photo spreads. But before rocketing to fame last fall, she was just another pin-up model, and her biggest…