-
Kotaku EastJapan
Detective Pikachu’s Face Is Spawning Endless Fan Art In Japan
The latest Detective Pikachu trailer shows a rather down-in-the-dumps electric rodent sleuth. Online in Japan, people have fallen in love with this shiwa–shiwa (しわしわ or wrinkly) Pikachu, calling the character cute and creating fan art. Here are some images of the wrinkly Pikachu One Twitter user called the movie’s version “Shiwachu” (Wrinkle-chu). Everyone seems to…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 7, 2019 -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Senorita
More Latin vibes in K-Pop is unquestionably good, as faint as they may be. (G)I-DLE is one of the newer girl groups on the block, and as they approach their one-year anniversary this coming May, their early hype has coalesced into a budding tour de force in Korean pop music. They already achieved one of…
By Seung Park Published March 7, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapanFirst Look Inside Japan’s New Moomin Theme Park
On March 16, a Moomin theme park will open in Saitama, Japan. Let’s have a peek inside. Called Moomin Valley Park, it will feature various Moomin attractions, similar to Moominworld in Finland. The beloved Scandinavian characters have long been popular in Japan. Previously, the park’s concept art was revealed, which we can now compare to…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 6, 2019 -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Noir
The music video for Sunmi’s latest, Noir, is a biting critique of the image-obsessed Instagram influencer. This strikes me as ironic. Considering Sunmi’s pedigree in one of K-Pop’s biggest idol groups and an active participant in possibly one of the most unhealthily exterior-obsessed, nip-and-tuck-fueling industries in the world, it’s worth considering if this is all…
By Seung Park Published March 6, 2019 -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: I’m Not Laughing
Leessang was one of the greats of mid-to-late-2000s Korean hip-hop, and one listen to any of their title tracks is enough to make you fall into the well of their rhythmic and strangely powerful music. While many of Leessang’s later releases would abandon a lot of traditional hip-hop for a more mainstream, conventional sound (compare…
By Seung Park Published March 5, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapan
Today, The PlayStation 2 Was Born In Japan 19 Years Ago
On March 4, 2000, the PlayStation 2 launched in Japan. It went on to become the biggest selling video game console ever. The PlayStation 2 would launch later that year in North America on October 26, 2000 and in Europe on November 24, 2000. Since then, over 155 million PS2s have been sold, and some…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 4, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapan
That Creepy Momo Sculpture Has Been Destroyed
The “Momo Challenge,” which allegedly caused children to commit violent acts on themselves and others, turned out to be a viral hoax. Momo herself, however, is a real sculpture—at least, she was Since 2018, the Momo Challenge—in which a picture of Momo would purportedly pop up in memes and other media with an explicit or…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 4, 2019 -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Love Options
Korean indie music is all well and good, but sometimes you’re in the mood to listen to slickly cheerful popstragavanzas injected straight into your veins. BESTie’s Love Options may be your best, ahem, option. BESTie was a relatively short-lived group, even by K-Pop standards; they debuted in 2013 and released their final songs in 2015.…
By Seung Park Published March 1, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapan
Raw Fish Makes For Some Beautiful Food Art
Instagram user Mikyou loves slicing up fish and making some incredible sashimi art. Sashimi, of course, is thinly sliced raw fish (sushi is raw fish served on vinegar rice). Typically, sashimi is made from tuna, salmon, and Japanese amberjack, among other fish. Here is some of the sashimi that Mikyou has sliced for elegant homecooking…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 28, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapan
Pokémon Sword And Shield‘s Starters Kinda Look Like Powerpuff Girls
Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble are the starters for the newly revealed Pokémon Sword And Shield. They look familiar. Namely, that people think they look like The Powerpuff Girls. As Twitter user Sazanami Salami points out, Scorbunny looks like Blossom, Sobble look Bubbles and Grookey looks like Buttercup. This image has been liked over 39,000 times.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 28, 2019 -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: So Sorry
In the middle of my first listen of So Sorry, I found myself wondering: how have I never heard of Joy o’clock before? For the first minute and a half of So Sorry’s runtime, it’s a fairly milquetoast piano-accompanied ballad, the kind that you might hear around episode 12 of a mediocre K-drama. Then: the…
By Seung Park Published February 28, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapan
Today, Pokémon Was Born 23 Years Ago
On February 27, 1996, Pokémon Red and Blue were released, giving birth to one of the most popular franchises in history. Card games, sequels and anime followed, all of which have been enormously popular. Pokémon director took to Twitter to celebrate the series’s birth, adding, “Today is a day that’s been supported by numerous people.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 27, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapan
Working Conditions In The Anime Industry
The Japan Animation Creators Association has released the results of a recent study on working conditions in the anime industry. Around 1,500 people were sent questionnaires, and the association received replies from 382 individuals. Out of those 57.6 percent were men and 41.4 percent were women. The average age was 39 years old, with the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 26, 2019 -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Round 1
Do you want to hear a idol group named Dalmatian sing lyrics like “doggy dog woof woof woof”? Yes, yes, you do. In 2019, Dalmatian is a mere footnote in K-Pop history, but when they debuted in 2010 with Round 1, they garnered a bit of hype for not only this very catchy song but…
By Seung Park Published February 26, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapan
Pokémon Go Player Arrested For Allegedly Hitting A Police Officer
While playing Pokémon Go in Japan’s Matsuyama City, a 40-year-old man was stopped by a police officer for questioning. The man reportedly got upset that his game was interrupted and allegedly struck the officer in the face. According to Yahoo! Japan, there were around fifty people gathered near a hotel in the city’s Chifunemachi area,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 25, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapan
The Tokyo Hotel For Manga Lovers
This month, the Manga Art Hotel is opening in Tokyo. With 35 guest rooms, the hotel has around 5,000 manga titles for guests to read. Massive manga libraries have long been a draw of net cafes and manga cafes, which, thanks to private booths and showers, make a viable option for those traveling Japan on…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 25, 2019 -
Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Maybe Blue
As winter starts to ebb to a slow and meandering close, I find myself drawn to more lo-fi, jazzy tracks than usual. And amidst my search for such lo-fi, jazzy tracks (because I spend far too much time scrolling through new K-Pop releases on YouTube), I happened upon Miyao’s Maybe Blue. It’s a short but…
By Seung Park Published February 22, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapan
If There Was Another Live-Action Dragon Ball, Japan Wants These Actors For Goku
There has not been a new live-action Dragon Ball announced, but if one were, which Japanese actor would make a good Goku? In 2009, Hollywood made a live-action version of Dragon Ball called Dragon Ball Evolution. It starred Justin Chatwin as Goku. According to Anime Anime, Japanese polling site Ranking asked 10,638 men and women…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 21, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapan
This Life-Sized Pokémon Plush Toy Is Quite Long
Furret is a Long Body Pocket Monster measuring in at 5 feet, 11 inches long. The character is getting a life-sized plush toy that is, well, long. Fun fact: While Furret is 5’11”, Charizard is only 5’07”. Priced at 30,240 yen ($273), this life-sized Furret is available for order in Japan from February 23. Back…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 20, 2019 -
Kotaku East
How Sushi Was Invented
If you like sushi, there’s one man given credit for the creation of the iconic Japanese meal as we now know it. His name is Yohei Hanaya. Certainly, there are several different kinds of sushi. Hanaya, however, is called the father of nigiri-zushi or the “hand-pressed” type of sushi. When people think of sushi, they…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 20, 2019