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Kyoto City planning to sell cremated people’s precious metal fillings for...
Waste not, want not. In Japan, people tend to be cremated when they die, which helps our chances somewhat in the event of a zombie apocalypse. However, it is not without its setbacks. Cremation is an...
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Ueno Station has signs that show ambient sounds as onomatopoeia for deaf...
One of the most fun accessibility features you’ll ever see. Train stations in Japan can be chaotic places full of rushing machinery, echoing chimes, and a steady stream of announcements. In no city is...
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Ash Ketchum wins Pokémon World Championship!
News immediately broadcast in streets of Kanto. It was 25 years ago that Ash Ketchum, known as Satoshi in Japan, first set out to become the very best like no one ever was. However, being the very...
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The 12 Days of Universal Studios Japan’s winter holiday attractions 【Photos】
These 12 things are a lot better than french hens and lords a-leaping. On the twelfth day of the winter holiday season, our dear friends at Universal Studios Japan (USJ) sent to us… 12 Souvenirs...
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Don’t uninstall that Covid-tracking app yet, warns Japanese government
It can’t even go away properly. Back in June of 2020 the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare released the COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application or “COCOA” for short. It was quickly discovered that...
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It’s a race against time with Amazon Japan’s lowest-rated hourglass
The hour is upon us. Amazon reviews should always be taken with a grain of salt. More often than not, people would feel motivated to complain rather than praise items they bought, and with the...
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This gummy-based roast beef sauce recipe is sure to make an impact on your...
We’re going on the assumption that there’s no such thing as a bad impact. In the culinary arts anything goes and sometimes the wildest ideas yield the best results. Even at home, it’s possible to make...
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Junior high in Yamaguchi in turmoil after student’s tablet records teachers’...
Tech tattled on touchy teacher talk. For a couple of years now, schools in Japan have been adopting the Giga School program in which textbooks are replaced by a single tablet device for each student....
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Egg tart vendor promises not to accidentally sell realistic plastic samples a...
They say it’s a charm. A popular fixture of the Japanese cityscape is the many plastic food samples that grace the windows of restaurants and other food retailers. These fake foods are crafted with...
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Japan forced to call off first-ever unmanned Moon-landing attempt
I swear, one of these days, OMOTENASHI… Bang, zoom, right to the Moon! It must be hard going to the Moon, and yet we rarely hear about the failed attempts to reach our rocky orbiting neighbor. Even...
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Bottled hot water selling like bottled hot cakes in Japan
Hot water is the hottest water around. Bottled waters have long been the rage in Japan, with store shelves lined with all kinds of flavors and levels of carbonation to appeal to increasingly...
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Japanese construction firms hoping to attract talent from eSports to operate...
It’s Minecraft meets The Last Starfighter. The popularity of eSports continues to grow as many young gamers polish their skills to one day be able to compete at the professional level. But as with any...
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Asahi Breweries to gift its over 3,000 employees with 30,000 yen each to eat out
Christmas is coming early for Asahi Breweries workers. Times are a little tough in Japan recently, as a pandemic-fatigued economy struggles with inflation and prices of everything from PlayStations to...
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Mr. Sato gets his first pole dancing performance invitation, nearly blows...
You’re only as old as you feel. Starting as an uncoordinated youth who shunned athletics, it’s nothing short of inspiring to see how our reporter Mr. Sato began pole dancing in his 40s and...
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Man rides motorbike into lobby of Fukuoka police station, demands they crack...
If it worked for the Terminator, why not him? When I took the police tests for a Japanese driving license, one of the most important things was to keep my car very close to the curb. It’s not...
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Mr. Sato takes on the “Trap or Treasure” capsule machine for 500 yen
One man’s trap is another’s treasure. Our star reporter Mr. Sato has always been a sucker for suspicious capsule machines. Actually, he’s a sucker for just about any kind of capsule machine…even ones...
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Saitama man arrested for calling police 2,060 times in 9 days to yell at them
Quick, someone call the cops! The Japanese language tends to have a lot of labels for different forms of harassment from the well-known “sexual harassment” and “power harassment” to more obscure forms...
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Our expert analysis on Japan’s World Cup progress
“Kick” is our middle name. Group E of the FIFA World Cup had an especially turbulent round of dramatic matches, but when the dust settled Japan emerged on top. And having earned wins against two...
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We read and then eat a rare edition of the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper made...
Extra! Extra! Eat all about it! In the northern reaches of Japan lies the large island prefecture of Hokkaido. Although famous for many things such as its great food, natural scenery, and roads, it...
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Japan does “Scared Straight” quite differently with stunt performers and...
Kids are still in for a memorable lesson though. On 2 December, a group of students and residents gathered at a junior high school in the town of Mibu in Tochigi Prefecture. The purpose was to watch...
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