Suicide is serious. It's horrible. It's touched me personally as well as many people in Japan, which has one of the…
Life is funny. It starts out one way, with you wearing Soviet uniforms, brandishing machine guns and wearing…
In Japanese geek meccas like Tokyo's Akihabara and Osaka's Nipponbashi, otaku (nerds) flock to maid cafes. The…
Exercise is important. Some jog. Others play tennis. In Tokyo, a group of folks don medieval armour, wield swords,…
Whether it's a Japanese video game or a comic convention, he's bound to pop up. He even appeared on fan-made Valentin…
Yesterday, Japanese game designer Hideo Kojima posted a photo of himself wearing the jacket actor Ryan Gosling wore…
Today is Valentine's Day in Japan. The day is slightly different from its American counterpart—2012, more so. Early…
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Music wasn't what brought singer Emi Evans to Japan. But it's what made her stay—and what is making her famous.…
When Sony was hacked in 2011, it was major news. People's personal information was put at risk. This latest…
Early last year, pro gamer Linda Liao made waves when she joined Team Razer's competitive gaming team. Lao isn't…
The Taj Mahal built in snow? Aizuwakamatsu Castle? Taiwan's National Palace Museum in ice? Meh! (Okay, all these are…
When I first moved to Osaka, I lived near Shinsekai—a rough part of town in the south. My apartment was clean and…
Japanese anime, manga, and game characters sometimes have blond hair. Sometimes they have blue eyes. But, that's…
Hello Kitty is an icon. You don't only find the cat in video games, on toilet paper, and even an infamous vibrator.…
Most teachers are regular folks. Before they entered education, maybe they worked in an office. Maybe they were…
There are 64 volumes of popular Japanese manga One Piece. Each copy is about half an inch thick and weighs 5.30…
For a generation, Anna Miller's was more than a coffee shop. For a generation, it inspired video games, anime, and…
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Everybody's got to start somewhere. For fashion blogger turned singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, it was the streets of chic…
Games and game hardware came packaged. They're sealed shut, some of them completely shrink-wrapped. and covered in…
Westerners notice it. The clothes run slightly smaller, and a medium in Japan would be a small—or even a petite—back…