For the past few months, 17 year-old student Wang Jia Yun has been tearing the internet up in both China and South Korea. In China, she was quickly given a nickname: “chong qi wa wa” (充气娃娃 )or “inflatable doll”. Like so many of the young internet idols emerging out of China (ditto for the West),…
This year, a new iPhone looks set to hit. The big question now is when it will be released: this summer or this fall. Late last month, a Japanese TV crew filmed an interview with a Foxconn recruiter, who said the phone would be out this June. South Korea’s Maeil Business Newspaper begs to differ.…
Life as a net idol is tough! If your old lady isn’t bursting down the door when you are chatting with your online fans, she wanders in when you’ve got your shirt off—which is apparently what this awkward photo depicts. Many young women are holding court on “live” video chats sites on Japan’s Nico Nico…
Today, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported that Sony is axing 6 percent of its global workforce—approximately 10,000 individuals—by the end of the year. Half the cuts will supposedly come from Sony’s chemical and LCD businesses. The paper also added that Sony is asking the seven executive directors who served through the last fiscal year to return…
There are other customized Akira bikes, sure. But there is only one that has been officially recognized by Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo. This is it. As previously posted, this US$121,000, custom-built bike raced across Japan for charity. Its final destination was a Katsuhiro Otomo exhibit, which was also for charity. Sister site checked out the…
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If there’s one good thing that has come from Angry Birds, it’s this: Korean politician Jeong Hong created an Angry Birds themed re-election video called “Hong-ry Birds”. Geddit? Hong-ry? Hilarious! Hong is a member of the rightwing incumbent party, the Saenuri Party, which is seeking re-election in the upcoming April 11 election. As website Korea…
Kingdom Hearts is one of those series whose quality varies wildly from game to game. Sometimes they are nothing but near pointless filler while others are as solid as the numbered iterations in the series. Much like the “even-number Star Trek films curse,” fans of the series believe those Kingdom Hearts titles released on Nintendo…
They really do. This 1960s era photo is from a school athletic meet, and it shows a group of sumo dressed up as cheerleaders to entertain the kids. Decades later, I know I’m entertained. Sumo wrestlers dressed up as Cheerleaders 1960s [Japan Sugoi]
Ever wonder what it’d be like to play a massive 100-person game of Bomberman? Well Konami read your mind and released 100-Person Battle Bomberman late last month for smart phones in Japan. While it seems like an amazing idea to have 100-man Bomberman battles, this game has one major downside: 99 of those people are…
This might not be Neo-Tokyo, but that sure looks like Shotaro Kaneda’s bike in cyberpunk anime Akira. Masashi Teshima from Fukuoka, Japan thought he’d like an Akira bike for himself and spent seven years and ¥10 million (US$121,000) to make it. While there are other Kaneda bike projects, this one is officially recognized by Akira…
So did Kinect Star Wars, for that matter. This totally unlicensed shirt was spotted by writer Brian Michael Bendis in Tokyo. It’s glorious. Check out Kotaku‘s Kinect Star Wars review here. Check out this shirt somewhere in Tokyo. Infringe-a-licious Tokyo tee: best Star Wars shirt ever? [BoingBoing]
People live in Japan longer than they do in any other country. The number of centenarians is at record numbers. Know what all those old people mean? Higher chances of old people crime! The Yomiuri Shimbun is reporting that a 97 year-old man was arrested earlier this week for trying to kill an 84 year-old…
When you think of third-person shooter Starhawk, you probably think of space, giant mecha, and multiplayer game play. You most likely do not think of a dude with eye paint or a dude dressed up like Golgo 13. In this clip, Japanese comedians (and a lady from Sony) help us through a walkthrough of the…
Way back in the year 1999, Sega took its successful horror light-gun game, House of the Dead 2, swapped guns for keyboards and released it in arcades under the name The Typing of the Dead. Two years later this typing tutor was released in America on the Dreamcast and PC. It was—and still is frankly—the…
Commuting can be so dull. Just sitting there on the train, which, throughout much of Asia, is always so damn quiet. Boring! But sometimes, exciting things happen. Sometimes, you get this. This being—I’m not quite sure what this is. There’s a businessman passed out on a seat. Next to him there is a blue Power…
As Kotaku previously posted, Ezio Auditore da Firenze’s Assassin’s Creed outfit is coming to role-playing game Final Fantasy XIII-2 as downloadable content. Here are some screenshots that show Noel Kreiss, Final Fantasy XIII-2’s male protagonist, decked out in AC gear. Collaborations like this are neat and all, but they also seem off putting. Like, why…
Music has its Elvis impersonators, but video games? Video games have cosplayers, but there’s a difference in the nuance. “Cosplay” implies an element of play—as though you are going from outfit to outfit. Not this lady. This lady is Elin Kuzunoha, and while she’s cosplayed as characters from One Piece and Final Fantasy, there is…
This week, Dainiji Super Robot Wars Z: Saisei-hen, the latest in the Super Robot Wars series, came out for the PSP making it the 64th Super Robot Wars related game in a series that is nearly 21 years old. The Super Robot Wars series was born from the most basic mindset of any fanboy: “What…
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