Tomorrow is the Hinamatsuri, or Japanese Doll Festival. During the festival, dolls are displayed on stands against gold leaf backgrounds. This evening while I was working (and making things for you to read), Mrs. Bashcraft and my two kids went to a friends to celebrate it. The holiday is for girls—and a good excuse for…
The Gundam VS series has been headlining Japanese arcades for almost a decade now with its fast-paced Virtual-On-style robot-on-robot gameplay. The upcoming Mobile Suit Gundam VS Full Boost is the latest iteration in the series. It sports a roster of over 50 mobile suits, with at least one suit from every single Gundam series—it even…
The world has heard about the conditions in the Chinese factories where gaming hardware is made. But what about the factories where, um, condoms are made? They look like this, apparently! Website Buzzfeed is running a series of Reuters images of the Safedom condom factory in Zhaoyuan, China. Safedom is the fourth largest condom marker…
It’s easy to forget, but shoes can make or break an outfit—especially a cosplay. Good shoes, whether you’re dressing as a soldier or Sonic the Hedgehog, matter. That was evident at the recent Comic World in Busan, South Korea, where some fancy footwear was on display. Comic World is a huge fan-based comic convention held…
Most Japanese bento lunches are either cute (for little kids) or boring (for adults). This one is…different. Online in Japan, some are saying it’s based on Detroit Metal City, the popular Japanese manga about heavy metal. However, as Kotaku reader lone_wolf99 pointed out, it’s based on The Evil Dead Lunch has never looked so horrifying.…
At TGS 2010, just inside the media entrance, there sat a van owned by Inti Creates (a game studio formed by ex-Capcom staff). As I came upon it my first day, I saw Kotaku‘s own Brian Ashcraft standing beside a crowd of Japanese photographers who were fighting for position in front of the van. I…
Remember when Japan got meat buns shaped like the Slime character from Dragon Quest? Well, now your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is getting his own bun, too. Ditto for Hello Kitty. There will be Snoopy buns with custard in them, instead of meat. Starting March 14, they’ll be available at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka for…
“I used to be into video games during the PS2 era,” Benny Her says, as he buys a green tea espresso at convenience store in Osaka’s fashionable youth district, Americamura. “But then I started apprenticing and didn’t have any free time.” That apprenticeship was a huge gamble. And Benny Her didn’t look like a gambler.…
While Metal Gear Online‘s servers will be shutting down soon, there is one last place to get your Metal Gear Online fix: Japanese Arcades. Developed by Kojima Productions, Metal Gear Arcade is a light gun-FPS released in Japan on December 20, 2010. Much of Metal Gear Arcade is identical to Metal Gear Online with many…
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Taiwanese cosplay photographer Znmoon has a fantastic website filled with wall-to-wall cosplay pics. There’s months and months of content to be had here, with photos from a variety of anime, manga, and game events. Lovely pics, lovely costumes. 2號流動攤販 [znmoon 的相簿]
After nearly 9 months, game developer Crispy’s has broken their silence and announced new information, including the release date, of Tokyo Jungle. Originally announced at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, Tokyo Jungle garnered interest for its depiction of a post-apocalyptic human-less Tokyo city overrun by forest and a multitude of animals. The game is an…
On Feb. 26th, at the Xbox 360 event in Akihabara, I got a chance to take a look at Dragon’s Dogma, Capcom’s upcoming game for the Xbox 360 and Playsation 3. When news first broke of the game, I had assumed it was just a fantasy-based Resident Evil or Devil May Cry, but after a…
No, you are not reading Hideo Kojima’s Twitter (though, I think it’s silly that guy gets heat for posting pics of his food—he should be able to post whatever he wants!) Today I had lunch at my desk. The morning was spent doing an interview for a very cool story I’ll be running tomorrow. It…
On a chilly afternoon this past weekend, well over 100 people waited in line in Akihabara to see Microsoft’s “Xbox 360 Kansyasai in Akiba” (Xbox 360 Festival of Thanks in Akihabara). The event was a joint effort between Microsoft and Capcom, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Japanese release of the original Xbox (February…
This is Da Peng. He is a Chinese variety show host, and he recently made his American television debut—for ripping off Conan O’Brien. On a recent episode, Conan O’Brien showed how Da Peng’s program, Da Pang Debade, totally copied Conan‘s opening animation. O’Brien then copied some of the silly antics of the Chinese show in…
No, really. Daisenryaku Perfect: Ruler of the Battlefield looks ugly. The game might be great—the most compelling ever to grace this Earth. It still looks awful. But according to the game’s official site, Daisenryaku Perfect: Ruler of the Battlefield has been delayed. Again. It was delayed last May and pushed to the fall. It didn’t…
And why shouldn’t Nintendo go 3DS crazy? Today, the Kyoto-based game maker revealed a new 3DS color: Cobalt Blue. I quite like it. The new color launches on March 22, but that’s not all Nintendo has in store for this spring. There are two Monster Hunter 3 G start packs that include either Cosmos Black…
While in college in Kyoto, Tomoko Nakajima was dubbed a beauty. She was even “Miss Campus” at her school’s art festival. But Nakajima wasn’t just a pretty face. Blessed with a quick wit, she was one of the most popular comedians of her generation. That is, until she seemingly lost control of reality and fell…
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