Kotaku East

Forever Alone? Not Anymore. This Photography Trick Can Help.

There’s someone for everyone. That’s what they say, right? They, whoever the hell they are, might not be correct. Some folks can’t settle on that special someone for whatever reason, and others don’t necessarily want to. However, surely there are folks who are alone—forever alone—but would at least like photographic proof that they are not.…

There’s a New Hello Kitty Sofa. It Costs Over $2,000.

By no means is this the first Hello Kitty sofa, and no means is it the last. This month, a new Kitty-chan sofa is going on sale in Japan. The sofa is priced at ¥198,000, which is US$2,525 (shipping is another ¥3,150 or $40). Why the high price? As My Navi points out, the made-in-Japan…

Takahashi Meijin, Hudson’s human mascot, is now at Tokyo game company Mages (formerly 5pb).

Is There Any Stopping China’s Vampire Zombies? Doesn’t Look Like It.

Rigor mortis has set in. They are unable to walk. But with their arms outstretched, they hop as they search the night for prey to bite. That’s how they absorb the essence of their victims. They’re called “jiangshi” and are China’s vampire zombies. But these walking dead are not only a Chinese thing. They’re now…

Argument Over Video Game Martial Arts Turned into a Real Fist Fight

The Chinese “Golden Week” is normally a very quiet week. For the many Chinese, it’s a week off work to relax. For others, it’s a vacation nightmare because all the tourist destinations are packed with people. Well during this “Golden Week”, two young men from Deyang, Sichuan province thought it was a good idea to…

Epic Trolling with Added Profanity in Beijing

Those who took the Line 5 on the Beijing subway home tonight were greeted with a surprise: big eff yous plastered all over the place. Chinese news site iFeng shows numerous screens and display read, “Wang Peng ni mei” (王鹏你妹) or as ShanghaiIst explains: it’s literally “Wang Peng, your sister”, but that means something like,…

Terrifying Hornets Attack Otaku and Hikers, Sending 11 People to the Hospital

The “Machi Asobi” event (above) in Tokushima, Japan is a gathering of gamers, anime fans, and other otaku. Part of the event is open air, meaning that organizers must contend with things like the weather. That’s expected. This fall, however, they had to deal with something totally unexpected: scary hornets. On Sunday morning, eleven individuals…

Man Loses Job, Spends Seven Months Living In Net Cafe

29-year-old Jiang Tao has been dwelling inside an internet café in prefectural city of Changde in China’s Hunan province for the last seven months. During that time, Jiang pretty much ate and slept at the café leaving the soft glow of his computer monitor only to clean himself up. While it may seem that Jiang…

Defend the Earth with these Earth Defense Force goods, available on the DP3 webshop.

What Protests? Says Foxconn

Foxconn, the assembler of most of our electronic playthings is in the headlines again this week after reports started to appear about a potential strike happening during China’s “Golden Week” holiday last week. Early reports painted a picture of upwards from 3000 to 4000 employees striking at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant located in central China’s Hebei…

Japan’s Amazing Drink Can Sculptures Will Melt Your Mind

Makaon has a hobby. She likes to make sculptures of pop culture characters as well as insects, animals, and more. But she doesn’t use clay. She doesn’t use stone. Makaon uses cans. Beer cans, soda cans, cocktail cans, and energy drink cans are her palette, which she uses to create her mind-blowingly wonderful work. Makaon…

The Newest Cute Tekken Statue Unmasked!

Julia Chang is the latest Tekken character to get all cuted up in plastic. Chang is joining the likes of Alisa Bosconovich, among other Tekken characters, as part of Kotobukiya’s bishoujo line. The 1/7 scale Jaycee figure is based on Shunya Yamashita’s illustration and would be out next February for ¥7,140 (US$91). Kotobukiya (via Tomopop)…

Yet Another Face-Eating Attack (Can We Knock Off the Face Eating, Please?)

This Saturday in Foshan City, China, a shirtless man started gnawing on a woman’s face. The woman, surnamed “Pan”, told local media that the man approached her on the street, cornered her, and then began eating her face. “I shouted to him asking what is he doing, but he kept seizing my head and suddenly…

One Piece Wants To Be King of PSP Bundles

When upcoming role-playing game One Piece Romance Dawn goes on sale in Japan this December, it will also get a special PSP bundle. The limited edition pack comes with a special One Piece PSP and a copy of the game. Yours for ¥19,780 (US$251). 特別デザインが施されたPSPとソフトがセットになった「PSP ワンピース ROMANCE DAWN 冒険の夜明け麦わらの一味 EDITION [4Gamer] Kotaku East is your…

Scary New Computer Virus Could Be Responsible for the Nintendo Bomb Threat

“This week, I’m going to blow up Nintendo headquarters.” This anonymous online message appeared on September 10 of this year. Japanese police moved quickly to find out who was responsible for the threat—as well as other threats to blow up Ise Grand Shrine, one of Japan’s most important Shinto shrines. The police in Mie Prefecture…

Accel World: Awakening of the Silver Wings Is Interesting, But Flawed

Accel World is a popular anime series based on a series of popular light novels centering around a secret MMORPG fighting game that gives you startling powers in the real world. While this seems like the perfect setting for a fighting game tie-in, its first game is instead an odd cross between a dating sim…

The Complete Shin Megami Tensei IV Trailer Is Almost Five Minutes Long

3DS-bound Shin Megami Tensei IV got a shorter trailer last month. Here’s the full, uncut trailer, and it’s nearly five minutes long. That’s pretty long! 『真・女神転生IV』セカンドトレーラー ノーカット版 [Atlus@YouTube] 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 4am…

This Gamer Girlfriend Advice Sure Seems Patronizing

Hey world, guess what! There are female gamers. There are also females who are not interested in games. And there are dudes who don’t like games, either. SHOCKING, I KNOW. Yet, there’s this: Japanese website Sugoren did a story on nine ways you can get your “beginner gamer girlfriend” to have fun while playing few…

Don’t click on this Resident Evil 6 teaser site. Just don’t!

Some of Japan’s Best Anime-Based Games Have Never Come West

My recent forays into Japan-only anime tie-in games have been a little less than fruitful. Regardless of the quality of the source material, they have either been interesting in concept (but failed in the execution) or have just been mediocre at what they were trying to do But despite my recent frustration at finding good…