Just last week, after having sat through it for possibly the tenth time in just a couple of hours, I took a screen grab of an unskippable YouTube ad and shared it on my personal Facebook feed. Whether it’s the theme tune, the overly dramatic presenter’s way of speaking or the fact that I care nothing for pachinko, I don’t know, but this ad was slowly driving me mad. As it turns out, I wasn’t alone.

The ad in question is for Gundam-themed pachinko machines in parlours operated by the Sankyo group. While both the original animé and pachinko remain incredibly popular in Japan and we can’t fault Sankyo for tapping into a popular theme, the frequency with which this ad is being shown online is slowly but surely driving YouTube users in Japan to detest both the theme tune to a once beloved animated series and even the ad’s presenter, popular comedian Teruyuki Tsuchida.

Here’s the ad in question, uploaded simply as “that annoying ad” by one Japanese YouTube user:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkX2jtL-tDM&w=580&h=357]

The original commercial is actually only 15 seconds long, but since it’s entirely unskippable and appears online so often, many are netizens are beginning to lose their patience. I, for one, have gotten into the habit of clicking the “mute” button on the video player upon the very sight of Tsuchida’s face and staring at my keyboard while counting down in my head.

Here’s what a small handful of YouTube viewers had to say about the ad:

– Because of that ad I now hate both Tsuchida and Gundam. Thanks…

– The number of ads on YouTube has really increased recently. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen Teruyuki Tsuchida’s face.

– Seriously, can we do something about the number of Gundam ads on YouTube!?

– OMFG, those unskippable Gundamn ads are driving me crazy.

– This is so irritating it’s laughable.

– That Tsuchida ad is making watching YouTube a chore.

The ad is definitely working in as much as that I now know that I can play Gundam-themed pachinko games at Sankyo. But it also makes me determined to never, ever set foot inside such an establishment purely because the company has so mercilessly assaulted my eyes and ears with this ad. Kind of like how the politicians who park their campaign cars outside my house and repeatedly shout their names through megaphones do little more than give me an extra name to add to the list in my head of “people never to vote for.”
[ Read in Japanese ]

It’s been a couple of weeks now since Kitty-gate , or “that time when someone at Sanrio said Hello Kitty wasn’t a cat and the world went nuts”. The issue has now, hopefully, been laid to rest, and we can all get back to watching videos of chubby cats pushing toy wagons around and debating things like which flavour of Pringles is best (answer: Sour Creme and Onion).

But a line in a recently published Japanese gaming guide has now suggested that yet another much-loved character is not what he first seemed. Rather than simply being the giant pink blob that we always thought him to be, it would seem that Nintendo’s marshmallow-faced mascot Kirby is actually “a person” – something that has greatly amused the internet-using public here in Japan.

The discovery of Kirby’s “true” identity was made by Twitter users analysing photos shared by Japanese gaming site Inside Games on Friday last week.

Inside Games

While the characters’ special moves were no doubt of great interest to those itching to play the latest instalment of Nintendo’s super-addictive fighting game, the thing that really caught gamers’ eyes was a line in the description of everyone’s favourite pink puffball, Kirby:

平和の星、ポップスターのプププランドに住む丸い人
[Heiwa no hoshi, poppu sutaa no pupupurando ni sumu marui hito]

Those who have studied even entry-level Japanese will know that the very last word we see here, hito (人), refers to people. It crops up in all kinds of words and phrases, from 人間 (ningen/human) and 人類 (jinrui/humankind) to 人力車 (jinrikisha/rickshaw) and 外国人 (gaikokujin/foreign person). Cats, dogs, vacuum-mouthed pink blobs and the like, however, are never referred to as such, so this line mentioning Kirby as a hito is to Japanese people akin to an English-speaker hearing Donald Duck described as “a seafaring man who doggedly refuses to wear pants in public.”

As you might expect, the discovery of this conspicuous word in the game guide caused great amusement online, with tweets like Kirbypuro’s here being shared thousands of times.

▼ “[Newsflash] Kirby-man, Kirby-man, Kirby-man…”

Twitter – Kirbynopuro

But before this unusual wording sparks the gaming equivalent of Kitty-gate and the interwebs become filled with musings on what could possibly have caused Kirby to be transformed from a regular-looking human being into the pink blob we know him as, let’s be clear here: as odd as this line is, no one is seriously suggesting that Kirby is actually human. It’s far more likely that the writer of this game guide is either being a bit careless with their phrasing or simply having a bit of fun, much in the same way that some Japanese speakers, my own wife included, will playfully refer to inanimate objects as “kono hito” (“this person”) from time to time.

Kirby’s a lot of things. He’s cute, insatiably hungry, and surprisingly good to have around in a fight. But he’s not a person, so you needn’t worry that the same, blobulous fate could one day await you.

Unless, of course, as one online commenter pointed out, we’re all being a bit egocentric here. After all, on his own planet Kirby’s probably just a regular-looking dude, so who are we to say that he’s not a hito?

Source/insert image: Inside-Games via Jin
Feature image: Hoi Sokuhou

Japan may hold the reputation as one of the most expensive countries in the world, but that doesn’t mean the majority of the population is struggling everyday just to scrape by. In fact, even part-timers can do pretty well for themselves thanks to the high wages offered for even some of the most basic jobs.

When I was in university, I supported myself by working part-time at a restaurant for 900 yen ($10.80) an hour which carried me through those four years just fine.

Wages seem to be even higher now, perhaps due to a recent scarcity of part-time labor, especially in Tokyo.

To give you a better idea of just how much Japan rewards its part-time employees, I’ve selected a few entry-level jobs from around Tokyo to share with you all. Be sure to let us know how the wages compare with your own country!

※All wages are per hour, converted at 80yen = 1 dollar.

■Pachinko Staff
$15.00（1200yen）,$16.25（1300yen）（for 17-22hrs/wk）,$18.75（1500yen）（for 22hrs/wk or more）
Store： GAIA (Nishiogikubo Minamiguchi branch)
Address：3-9-10 Nishiogikubo, Suginami-ku, Tokyo
※ Pachinko is a unique Japanese arcade game usually used as a gambling device instead of recreation. Pachinko parlors are bright, noisy, cigarette smoke-filled places that may not make for the most comfortable working environment.

■CoCo Ichi Staff
$ 12.50（1000yen）, $ 15.62（1250yen）（22hrs/wk or more）
Store：Curry House CoCo Ichibanya (Shinjuku NS Building branch)
Address：2-4-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
※ Check here if you want to know what CoCo Ichi is all about.

■Gas Station Staff
$ 12.50（1000yen）
Store：JOMO-NET Co. (Nerima Interchange branch)
Address：5-30-7 Tanihara, Nerima-ku, Tokyo

■Volkswagen Dispatch Staff
$ 13.50（1080yen）
※Deliver cars to customers

■Family Mart Staff (Convenience Store Chain)
$ 12.50（1000yen）
Store：Family Mart Shinjuku Yasukuni Dori
Address：5-18-21 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

■Subway Staff
$ 11.87（950yen）
Store：Subway Shinjuku Higashiguchi
Address：3-26-6 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
※Eat fresh.

■Tokyo Disneyland Cast
$ 12.5（1000yen）, $ 19.37（1550yen）（22hrs/wk or more）
Amusement park：Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Disney Sea
Address：1-1 Maihamae, Urayasu-shi, Chiba-ken

■Baskin-Robbins Staff
＄11.87（950yen）, ＄12.12（970yen）（Weekends）
Store：Baskin-Robbins Hikarigaoka IMA
Address：5-1-1 Hikarigaoka, Nerima-ku, Tokyo

What do you think?

I realize the yen is high against the dollar right now but even still, you have to admit those are some pretty impressive numbers for part-time.

Of course, when comparing with other countries, things may pan out slightly different when you consider that there is no tipping in Japan…

Again, feel free to share with us how much part-time jobs pay where you’re from!

Goya champuru, unlike its name, is extremely simple. The dish consists of only a few main ingredients: goya (bitter melon), tofu, egg and spam. It’s a homey comfort food from Okinawa, Japan that highlights the island prefecture’s long history with the United States. Susan Hamaker, writer and editor over at JapanCulture•NYC , an online resource for “all things Japanese in New York City,” let us know about a wonderful booth they ran at Japan Block Fair showcasing this down home dish. Let’s take a look!

In case you’re wondering what goya is in the first place, here’s a picture:

▼ The green stuff on the left…not the spam.

For many visitors to the JapanCulture•NYC booth that day, goya was a completely new food.

▼ Like these cute kids who thought it looks like a pickle.

Despite its strange appearance, goya and goya champuru were well-received by the New Yorkers who visited the booth that day. Here’s the JapanCulture•NYC crew cooking up the Okinawan classic:

▼ Serving up Japanese stir-fried goodness.

It’s great to hear about local efforts to bring Japanese culture to people around the world. If you live in the New York area, keep an eye out for the annual Japan Block Fair , which features Japanese food, performances and crafts centered around one city block in NYC. If you’re itching for even more Japanese culture, you can also check out JapanCulture•NYC for details on upcoming events.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGmtOq1AxUM&w=580&h=357]

Source: JapanCulture•NYC
Images: YouTube ( JapanCulture•NYC )

Would you like to find a new lover, improve your health, and prevent senility? Would you like all those things at the same time? Oh, and did we mention that it’s essentially free too??

It might sound like a regular snake oil sales scam, but trust us, this is for real! Just what the hell are we talking about? Bon-odori dancing!

In case you’re not familiar with bon-odori, it is a traditional Japanese dance form that is largely performed communally at festivals. Typically, participants—which is usually anyone who wants to join in—proceed in a circle around a small tower or raised stage where musicians play. At smaller festivals, even when the music is simply a recording, there will almost always at least be someone playing a taiko drum to keep the beat.

▼An example of a bon-odori dance.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzS_C388Hw&w=853&h=480]

The music tends to be very rhythmic, and the dancers simply repeat the same movements over and over, varying according to song. Notably, most of the movements are focused on the waving of hands—not dissimilar to the para-para dances of J-pop stars. Bon-odori dancers often carry a fan as well, though it’s not necessary.

So where did the bon-odori come from?

The now centuries-old dance is believed to have developed out of the nenbutsu-odori which began in the Heian-period (794 to 1185). This dance was, as its name implies, a religious one that grew in popularity until it reached its peak in the Edo period (1603 to 1868). While the nenbutu-odori was originally meant as a display of faith, it slowly shifted into a dance for performance, before further developing into bon-odori.

What was the point of bon-odori?

In addition to its religious and cultural roots, some have suggested that bon-odori may have served another purpose long ago: matchmaking!

In a time when there wasn’t a lot of entertainment, bon-odori events were probably a welcome break from day-to-day life. Combined with the romantic light of lanterns and the moon in addition to the cool summer breeze, it’s easy to see how bon-odori dances might have sparked more than a few relationships.

Do it for your health!

There are some indications that bon-odori dancing has some health benefits as well. It is thought that the slow repeated arm movements make for great aerobic exercise. In addition, the dances often require participants to move their bodies in ways that they might not normally, giving them a great workout.

And save your brain…

A final theory about the benefits of bon-odori suggests that the music might help prevent Alzheimer’s by stimulating memories and encouraging mental activity. In addition, it is thought that the exercise from the dancing gets blood flowing and helps prevent cognitive impairment. A two-year study carried out in Kyoto seems to support this assertion, showing that dancing once a week markedly improved the mental conditions of elderly people.

Get ready to dance!

If you happen to be in Japan this month, here’s your chance to reap some of the bon-odori benefits!

Roppongi Hills Bon-odori
Dates: August 23 to 25
Time: 5 pm to 8 pm
Location: Roppongi Hills Arena
Phone number: 03-6406-6000
Website: Roppongi Hills

Tabata-ginza Bon-odori Festival
Dates: August 26 to 27
*In case of rain, the event will be extended for one day
Time: 7 pm to 9 pm
Location: Tabata-ginza Hachiman-dori
Phone number: 03-3828-6651
Website: Tabata-Ginza

Kawachi O-bon-odori
Dates: August 28 to 29
Time: event starts at 5 pm
Location: Sumidagawa Shinsui Park
Phone number: 03-3631-0294
Website: Chikyu-no-cocolo

Come on, people, it’s never too early to start taking care of your brain! Let’s get those arms waving!

Sources: Naver Matome , Ryoutan Daily Newspaper

A lot of unusual art trends have been popping up in Japan lately. From lattes to nails, dextrous Japanese artists are continuing to impress us with creative touches that take things to a whole new level. Now drinking straws are taking centre stage, with their colours and curves twisted into lifelike animals, mythical beasts and cute animated characters.

We take a look at some amazing designs and see how it’s done with an easy-to-follow video tutorial.

One of the current masters of the straw is an artist who goes by the name of TAO. His collection of dragons is particularly impressive, featuring a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

Insects also look good, thanks to straw materials. The detail in each leg is carefully cut by hand.

The extent of TAO’s attention to detail can be seen here, on the belly of this unusual fellow created from a yellow-and-blue IKEA straw. Can you guess what this one is?

It’s a little pill bug! Although they look like insects, these guys are actually more closely related to lobsters and crabs. Other interesting facts: their blood is blue and they can drink through their anuses.

Taking flight, TAO takes us to the animated fantasy realm with some intricate winged characters.

And a cute superhero.

Proving he has a sense of humour, TAO entertains with some colourful, long-limbed characters, reminiscent of the inflatable stick figures outside car yard sales.

He also has some beautiful, simple designs that would make perfect accessories.

TAO often travels around with a stall, where you will be able to purchase some of his artwork. If you’re lucky, he might even teach you how it’s done.

To get started on the craft, check out the video tutorial below. You’ll be able to create a plastic prawn like this one, complete with incredibly lifelike moving legs!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SQVqJlS9Zs&w=580&h=357]

All you’ll need is a straw, a pair of scissors and a good deal of patience (and skill!). Enjoy!

Source: IT Media Inc.
Top Image: Yoblog
Inset images: Facebook Straw Art TAO

The Chinese have a saying: An elderly person at home is like having a treasure in the family. It can sometimes be exasperating having to repeat what you said five times before grandma hears you, or put up with her forgetting your name for the hundredth time, but deep down inside she’s an irreplaceable source of peace and her smile always manages to chase the blues away.

We can’t quite put a finger on what’s so fascinating about our own wrinkly old ladies, but these posts from Japanese Twitter users have convinced us that grandmothers are special people regardless of which country they come from!

Sometimes we can’t quite grasp what they’re trying to say.

“One day I took the granny who always gives me vegetables to an apparel store. At the store she kept conversing with the owner about ‘iru’ and ‘imu;’ I had totally no idea what they were talking about. When I got home it suddenly struck me that they must have been talking about M (pronounced as emu in Japanese) and L (pronounced as eru) sizes.”

“I was talking to the old lady from next door and she began talking about ‘GPS’. For a moment I thought, ‘Oh wow, she knows about that kind stuff,’ but I realized she actually meant ‘ATM’, and I softened a little inside.”

“I’m pretty sure that when grandpa and grandma talk they have one-way conversations 80 percent of the time and they’re rarely talking about the same thing, but somehow they always go home smiling and looking satisfied, leaving me baffled. LOL They seemed well today too, so all’s good.”

“A conversation I had with a granny I’ve never met before.
‘Um… what’s that long mushroom called again? The delicious one.’
‘Do you mean eringi ?’
‘Erwenge?’
‘?!’
‘Erwenge?’
‘Erenge… (getting the goosebumps from this unexpected turn of events)’
‘Ah! It’s enoki ~! Thank you.’
What on earth is an erwenge!?”

Grandma: *brrt**brrt**brrrrt* (passing gas)
Grandpa: Hm? Hmm? What was that.
Grandma: It was a frog…!
Grandpa: What frog!
Grandma: An edible frog!
How did this conversation happen? LOL

And they old people have trouble with modern technology…

“Grandma said she didn’t know how to use a mobile phone, so I taught her, and she surprised me by saying ‘There’s a camera on it but no place to fit the film in, I don’t know what to do’.”

“At an ATM, this granny came up to me saying ‘I don’t know how to use this, please teach me.’ So I helped her with withdrawing 30,000 yen (US$300). I’m worried that she’ll be deceived by ill-hearted people…”

Sometimes they do stuff that leaves us at a loss for words.

“Out of the blue, my grandma stormed into my room and changed my sheets and covers to something really unfashionable, and walked out. They’re really, really awful, totally uncool.”

“Granny has this friend who makes wonderful roll cakes, and after singing her praises, we received a roll cake the size of a telescope today. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.”

“The handwriting in Grandma’s letter is too beautiful. I can’t read a word of it.”

“Granny fixed the loose button on my coat but sewed right through the pocket so I can’t open the pocket now… Oh Granny…”

“On the train, Granny took out this out-of-this-world lipstick in the shade of a purple-pink hydrangea and started dolling herself up. How cute.”

“The granny sitting next to me coughed and suddenly exclaimed “Paan!!!!!!!!!!!” LOL  …What the hell!? LOL

They can also be a little absent-minded at times.

“Granny kept nagging at me to get my fringe cut, but she never said a thing after I finally did…”

“My grandma stuffed her hand up her sleeve saying something felt cold in there, and pulled out a pair of regular-sized scissors, and a shocked expression washed over her face. I had the same shocked expression on my face, having watched the whole incident unfold. How did they get in there!? How could they have gone unnoticed!?”

But they never fail to make us feel all fuzzy and warm inside! Do you have a memorable episode with good ol’ granny? Share your story in a comment below!

Source: Naver Matome (Japanese)
Images: Bilmoore , SAITORYOKO.NET , Capcom , Rakuraku Okiraku Furafura Nikki , YouTube

What would Pikachu look like under the flesh? It’s a question that’s, weirdly, been asked a number of times over the years, with several hypotheses appearing online in the form of cute yet macabre drawings, usually sketched by talented artists and anime fans.

But what if we asked for a professional opinion? As far as we know, Pikachu’s official X-ray slides are yet to be discovered, but if they ever were, they would probably look just like the image above. Because this latest rendering of the electric Pokémon’s skeletal structure comes from the mind of a professor who studies bones and vertebrae for a living.

Professor Takashi Oda of Seian University of Art and Design has an impressive background in bone studies, having published several books of dinosaur skeleton illustrations. As a long-standing member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Professor Oda is the perfect candidate for X-raying Pikachu without the use of radiology equipment.

▼ This sketch, requested by his students, took Professor Oda 10 minutes to create and has scored him more than 13,000 retweets

今日の板書。学生のリクエストでピカチュウ骨格図。 http://t.co/m5neJfT943

—
小田隆 (@studiocorvo) June 04, 2015

The following day, Professor Oda continued to enthrall his students and followers with another sketch, this time one that includes the clavicle, or collarbone.

ピカチュウ骨格図。鎖骨を追加したヴァージョン。 http://t.co/8JnCqG32zs

—
小田隆 (@studiocorvo) June 06, 2015

Proving that what you put out there comes back to you twofold, fellow Twitter user ShinkaiOgino revealed his own computer-generated 3-D designs, which support the accuracy of the professor’s skeletal depiction.

@ studiocorvo さんのと比較．見慣れてきてしまったのか，これでもいい気がしてきた． http://t.co/kbUftqZIIU

—
ShinkaiOgino (@Shinikai_OGINO) June 06, 2015

We wonder who will be the next artist to reveal the insides of our beloved Pikachu online. With bones this cute, we can’t wait to find out!

Source: はちま起稿
Images: studiocorvo ShinkaiOgino

As its popularity continues to grow, Attack on Titan seems to be seeping into the real world more and more, whether with figurines (in both hyper-realistic and, well, potato versions ) or replicas of the heroes’ 3-D maneuver gear . Soon, though, fans will have a chance to reverse the trend and experience the world of the hit anime first-hand at a series of Attack on Titan-themed escape games.

Japanese company Scrap has made a name for itself producing the events it’s dubbed “real escape games.” Combining the mental challenges of puzzle solving with the thrills of a walk-through haunted house, Scrap put on real escape games in Japan, the U.S., China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Scrap has developed a reputation for creating intensely immersive settings with some fiendishly difficult mysteries, sometimes with success rates below 10 percent.

For their latest effort, Scrap is developing an Attack on Titan game. Players take on the role of new recruits into the Scout Corps, the intrepid band of humans fighting to protect humanity from the man-eating Titans. On the players’ first day as full-fledged members of the Corps, though, the city is invaded by the colossal monsters.

Seeing as it would be impractical to outfit each player with the wire-launching 3-D maneuver gear and pair of swords used to combat the Titans in the anime, the goal instead is to flee to the inner sanctum of the walled city, solving puzzles to pass through the gates in the anti-Titan walls along the way. Players have a time limit of one hour to make their escape, after which any left outside the safe haven will presumably be eaten by the giant monsters (or politely guided to the exits by Scrap staff).

In keeping with the scale of Attack on Titan’s antagonists, the game, dubbed Escape from a Certain Walled City, will have the most venues for a Scrap production yet, with the event being held in six cities across Japan starting this spring. The current schedule is:

May 3,4: Yokohama, Yokohama Stadium
May (exact date to be announced): Osaka (exact location TBA)
May 25, June 1: Nagoya, Toyota Stadium
June 22: Sendai, Rakuten kobo Stadium Miyazaki
June 27, 28, 29: Fukuoka, Yahoo! Auction Dome
August (exact date TBA): Tokyo, Meiji Jingu Stadium

Advanced tickets can be purchased for 3,000 yen (US $28.85) and are highly recommended. Not only does it assure you’ll get to play, it also saves you 500 yen compared to getting your ticket at the door.

▼ On that day, mankind received a grim reminder: we lived in fear of paying full price.

Source: Attack on Titan Real Escape Game official website
Related: Scrap
Top image: Attack on Titan Real Escape Game official website
Insert image: TV Tropes
[ Read in Japanese ]

Producers sometimes run into a tricky problem when picking voice actors to portray anime characters: In the case of a teen boy, is it better to cast a man or a woman to play the part?

Especially if the character isn’t a particularly macho lad, and if the production committee is thinking long-term, such roles are often given to women. The rationale is that an adult man would sound too old, and an adolescent actor’s voice will change once he hits puberty. In fact, some of anime’s most famous male characters, such as Dragon Ball Z’s Goku, Evangelion’s Shinji, and Rurouni Kenshin’s Kenshin are all played by women.

Until now we’d have been confident in adding Attack on Titan’s blond and gentle Armin to the list, as the supposedly male friend of protagonist Eren is voiced by Ms. Marina Inoue. But is Amrin actually a guy? Maybe not, and the source of the rumor looks to be none other than Attack on Titan creator Hajime Isayama himself.

A photo, originally attributed to Twitter user Futomayu , has been making the rounds online in Japan. The snapshot looks to be of a question-and-answer column in which fans could ask Isayama what they wanted to know about his hugely successful anime and manga franchise.

One question came from a Saitama Prefecture resident going by the name Hello Again, who was curious about the always professional Mikasa .

▼ Mikasa, ready to go to work killing Titans

Mikasa isn’t just cool in the sense that she takes down her giant foes without showing a trace of fear, though. She’s also a bit standoffish and intimidating, which got Hello Again wondering about the kind of relationships she’d formed with her comrades in the 104th Training Corps graduating class. “Out of the girls in the 104th, who is Mikasa closest friends with?” the fan asked.

Isayama’s terse response?

“That’d be Armin.”

Internet commenters had the following reactions:

“I knew it.”
“So, does this mean Eren and Armin can hook up?”
“The fujoshi must be crying.”
“Isn’t his gender ‘Armin?’”

Isayama didn’t go into any greater detail, and some fans aren’t sure whether he’s being serious or just showing off a deadpan sense of humor. Given how many other characters in Attack on Titan are harboring startling secrets and hidden identities, though, we can’t just dismiss the possibility outright that Armin is actually a woman.

For that matter, off the top of our heads, we can’t recall a point in the series when Armin directly refers to himself as a guy, although there’s a possibility we’ve just forgotten. Maybe it’s time to take on the solemn and difficult task of rewatching every episode of the hottest anime series in the last 20 years. You know, for research purposes.

Sources: Hamster Sokuho , Jin
Top image: Natalee
Insert images: Divine Gate , Imgur