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Kotaku East
Adult Video Games, S&M Play, and Foot-Sniffing Can Drive Away Sweethearts
Hobbies are a personal thing. What might float your boat might not float your lover’s. And sometimes, your hobby might repulse them entirely. An online survey of one thousand revealed what hobbies have caused boyfriends or girlfriends to run far, far away. Those hobbies were largely otaku and fetish related. Here’s a list of hobbies…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Digging Up Bamboo Shoots. And Then Eating Them.
This week is Golden Week in Japan—a series of holidays. Because it’s Golden Week, Japanese game news has pretty much come to a halt. The entire country is on vacation. Earlier this week, I had a day off. And I spent the morning digging up bamboo shoots, or as they’re called in Japanese, takenoko. (I’m…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku East
This FPS Cover Girl Reminds Japan of a One Piece Character
There’s already been a real-life Boa Hancock doppelganger (check here). Online in Japan, netizens are calling Chongqing-born model Ai Shang Zhen China’s version of Boa Hancock. Boa Hancock is the Snake Princess from One Piece Zhen is a popular model in China, promoting electronics and Italian sports cars. She is also one of the image…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku East
China’s First Home Console Is Expensive and Elusive. Yet, I Found One.
China’s first home grown console hit China late last month. But the console was incredibly hard to find. This wasn’t because it was flying off shelves. It was because nobody had heard of it. Originally known as the Ebox and the iSec, the now named CT510 from Eedoo felt very much like vaporware. In China,…
By Eric Jou Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Japanese Arcade Owner Is So Sad about Japanese Arcades
Video arcades are a dwindling business in Japan. Since the peak of the market in 2006, the number of arcades and scale of individual arcades has been dropping steadily. Kiyoshi Kameyama, the owner of the Amnet Gotannda arcade described the current video arcade climate in an interview with website Online Player EX. Arcades used to…
By Toshi Nakamura Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Hidden Sexual Innuendo In The World Of Super Mario
Mario, the Italian plumber with a kidnap prone girlfriend is the poster child of Nintendo. But is there hidden sexual innuendo in the world of Super Mario? Some Japanese players seem to think so. Consider the following: Mario: The size of his nose as a metaphor for a large member. Luigi: His name in Japanese…
By Toshi Nakamura Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku EastLittle Girl Played with an iPad. She Got Her Teeth Knocked Out.
Scrolling and swiping. Flat on her back, a young girl in Taiwan was playing with an iPad on her bed. When she got tired, the iPad slipped out of her hand and hit the girl in the mouth. The corner of the iPad hit her front teeth, causing them to chip. Cracked smile aside, the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Man Wanted Porn Star to Follow Him on Twitter. She Didn’t, So He Took Legal Action.
On Twitter, just because you follow someone, that doesn’t mean that person will follow you back. That’s just how it works. Aoi Sola is one of Japan’s most popular adult video actresses. She also has a huge following in China. No wonder she has over 300,000 Twitter followers. People love Aoi Sola. A 40-something man…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Japanese Manga and Anime Titles Are Too Damn Long. Here’s Why.
The anime scene in Japan, while not exactly booming in recent years, has certainly kept up appearances, starting over 50 new anime series in the month of April alone. Most are sequels or are based off of existing properties, like manga or light novels. Among some of the recent popular shows based on light novels,…
By Toshi Nakamura Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Pikachu Meets Gundam Meets Holy Crap
It’s like best of both worlds made better—way better. Japanese model builder mashed Gundam Wing with Pokémon to create this Pikachu Wing. Brilliant! Have a look at more pics in the above gallery. Pikachu Wing Version [Modelers Gallery]
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku EastChina Gets Its Own Virtual Idol
Hatsune Miku is a Japanese virtual idol. She is not the first Japanese virtual idol, but she’s the most successful. And China, well, China now has its own virtual idol, which recently apparently on television. Online, people are calling this Chinese virtual idol a Hatsune Miku rip-off, complete with a Vocaloid sounding voice. I’ll just…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku East
You Can Use Chopsticks? And Other Remarks that Bother Some People.
Hearing complaints lavished on the use of chopsticks. People praising your Japanese after you utter an “arigatou”. The endless and repetitive questions. In Japan, some find these remarks and questions irritating—a form of “soft racism” called “microaggression”. But are they? As Derald Wing Sue, Ph.D. and David Rivera, M.S. pointed out in a 2010 Psychology…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Persona 4 Website Mentions Xbox 360 and Kinect. Wait, What? [UPDATE]
Persona 4: The Golden is getting a Western localization—that we know. But, as Japanese websites have pointed out, it *might* be getting a PS3 version and an Xbox 360 version as well as a Kinect version. Persona 4: The Golden was released on the PS Vita. Since the Western version’s website also has a PS…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 -
Kotaku EastIt’s Like Final Fantasy, But with Adults-Only Scenes
Futsuno Fantasy might look like Final Fantasy—or maybe Dragon Quest The game’s initials, FF, echo Final Fantasy‘s. There are Chocobo-like characters called “Choko” and even Dragon Quest Slime characters called “Slimy” (“Metal Slimy”, too!). And the in-game sprite maps reek of DQ But make no mistake. Futsuno Fantasy is not Final Fantasy—nor is it Dragon…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 -
Kotaku EastSo How Does Diablo III Sound in Korean? Hear It Compared to English.
Like this! Above is a sample of the game’s Korean voice track compared with the English voice track. While some non-Korean speakers seem to think this voice track is pretty groovy (even saying they’d prefer it over the English track), many Korean speakers aren’t exactly thrilled. Case in point? At around the 2:17 to 2:20…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Do Not Have Sex in the Cable Car
Just because cable cars offer wonderful nature views, doesn’t mean they should offer views of folks getting down au naturel. The cable car service in China’s Yaoshan mountain is supposedly safe, but bumping and grinding might cause the cable car to start-a-rockin’. That seems far less safe. It’s not just shaking cable cars that led…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Win Blowfish and Salamanders with This Arcade Game
Crane games typically offer stuffed animals, not real animals for prizes. This crane game, however, looks to be anything but typical. Spotted by author and game localizer Matt Alt, this UFO Catcher is stocked with fugu (poison blowfish) and axolotl salamanders. According to Alt, “they’re almost impossible to win” due to the weak claw arm…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012 -
Kotaku EastSometimes Porn Parodies Bring Porn Apologies
Japan does not have a shortage of video game inspired porn parodies. In the past few years, dirty moviemaker TMA has specialized in skin flick takes on popular games, anime, and manga. One parody, however, will vanish from its line-up. Layers;Gate is a blue movie version of Steins;Gate, a visual novel originally created for the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 2, 2012