Okinawa man convinced he won 700 million yen by scammers, saved by...
To serve and protect. Convenience store workers really don’t get enough credit. Often working for minimum wage, they have a wide array of duties, including sales, banking, postal services, and...
View ArticleGo to hell! …at a limited time historical art exhibit coming to Osaka
It’ll be a hell of a good time. The concept of hell has existed in Japan for a long time, but it’s a much more nebulous one compared to the clear-cut fire-and-brimstone version of Western countries....
View ArticleMovie about Shinzo Abe assassination reportedly in the works
Too soon? In 2022, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who at the time had retired and was a Member of Parliament, was shot on the street while campaigning for a fellow party member in Nara City and...
View ArticleElderly couple donates 400 million yen to erect Myaku-Myaku statue in Osaka
Multi-million-dollar Myaku-Myaku donation. It’s been nearly a year since the closing of the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, but its official mascot, the gooey humanoid Myaku-Myaku has managed to secure a...
View ArticleOne Piece Day 2026 brings new art, music, and new cast announcements
Two days, One Piece. Another One Piece Day has come and finally hoisted anchor to set sail until next year. But this year’s two-day event continued to deliver in bringing entertainment and news to...
View ArticleTurn octopus, spaghetti, and more of your favorite foods into crackers with...
You haven’t truly eaten a food until you’ve made it into a cracker. Who doesn’t love a good cracker? They’re dry, portable, can be customized with a vast range of toppings, or be used as toppings...
View ArticleTime-lapse footage shows just how fast rebuilding in Kumamoto can go
All in a day’s work. Whenever major natural disasters hit Japan, I’m always amazed by the engineering feats that were set up in various places to minimize casualties and damage. It’s hard to feel a...
View ArticlePolice ask Kumamoto residents to not get blackout drunk as much during...
Hard times and hard drinking don’t mix. Of course, there’s never a good time to experience a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, but late July and early August is a particularly bad season for it. The addition...
View ArticleOne Piece Day returns to Tokyo Big Sight and worldwide on Youtube 22 and 23...
A day so nice they made it twice. It’s beginning to look a lot like One Piece Day, everywhere you go. But it’s at Tokyo Big Sight to see the pirates that will be arriving aaaaaashore… Sorry, I just...
View ArticleOver 400 titles of free translated manga from publisher Shueisha available...
It’s their birthday, but we’re getting the presents! Shueisha is the publisher behind many of manga’s top titles, from One Piece and Naruto to Chainsaw Man and Demon Slayer. It’s also celebrating its...
View ArticleJapan’s Super Volunteer, 86-year-old Haruo Obata, heads to the Kumamoto...
Your friendly neighborhood Super Volunteer. On 28 July, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture, just outside of Kumamoto City. Having taken years to recover from a set of comparable...
View ArticleKoei Tecmo continues to be an investment firm that also happens to make video...
I’ve yet to see Berkshire Hathaway’s psychological horror game. I’ve long been a fan of games by Koei Tecmo, whether it’s their individual classics like Koei’s Dynasty Warriors or Tecmo’s Ninja...
View ArticleOkayama man arrested for catching butterflies in central Japan
It’s becoming a regular Gotham City out there. Things just aren’t the way they used to be in Japan. It wasn’t too long ago that it used to be safe for a butterfly to flutter by down the street without...
View ArticleJapanese government okays plan to create a backup capital city
Always good to have a spare lying around. Capital cities are essential parts of all countries, serving as the center of government, hubs of economic activity, and symbols of the national identity....
View Article61-year-old Kyoto man arrested for playing guitar and radio too loudly for...
Those darn sexagenarians with their loud rock music. A lot of people have music in their hearts, and that’s great, because the rest of us can’t hear it deep inside there without some sort of EKG...
View ArticleYakuza members arrested for building a road on mountain they don’t own
Darn gangsters! Building infrastructure without permission. On 15 July, about 120 officers with the Hiroshima Prefectural Police conducted a search of the headquarters for the Harada faction of the...
View Article“Stab-kill for two deaths” and other fun Japanese baseball terms
And it’s one, two, three strikes you’re dead at the old ball game! The rise of Shohei Ohtani has completely cemented Japan’s already famous reputation as a country that has wholly embraced the sport...
View ArticleMass murder plot stopped by friend of Akihabara mass murderer
A friend to the friendless. On 11 July, Toyama Prefectural police knocked on the door of an apartment in the city of Namerikawa. They informed the 53-year-old resident that he was under arrest for...
View ArticleShizuoka police inspector punished for playing crane games on duty
To serve and get plush toys. They say it’s the place where dreams are made. People from far and wide are drawn to the bright lights and all the glitz and glamour that crane games, or UFO catchers as...
View Article3-second salt company jingle becomes #1 karaoke song in Japan across all genres
Everyone’s feeling a little salty this summer. It’s often said that as technology gets faster and faster, our attention span shrinks in response. TikTok feeds condition millions of people to… Hey,...
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