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Mysterious “The Color of That Sky” bath bombs selling at Don Quijote
You know, “that” sky… The unbearable heat of this summer seems to have finally given way to chillier temperatures in Japan. As such, our bath-time correspondent Masanuki Sunakoma was excited to soak...
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One Piece helps lead LA Rams to victory during collaboration event at SoFi...
Anime proves to be a valuable addition to the playbook. As the NFL season gets deeper into its final months, the Los Angeles Rams find themselves in a tight race for second place in their division...
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Our writers take on the world’s smallest four-player Othello game
The real Othello battle rages within. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the classic board game Othello, as trademarked by Goro Hasegawa in 1973. As such, the Japanese producer of the game...
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Our Tokyo reporter sees how Osaka is getting ready for the 2025 Expo
“It’s the Expo alright.” It’s hard to believe that the 2025 Osaka/Kansai Expo is only about 500 days away, largely because not much really seems to have been built or decided about it yet aside from...
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Setting up a campfire-heated footbath at our cheap Japanese country...
McGyver would be proud. Our head writer Go Hatori was hard at work in our ultra-fixer-upper SoraHouse when he heard an excited voice from outside shout: “Mr. Hatori, come here! I want to see you!” It...
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Mr. Sato tries his luck with a lucky bag of mystery underwear
Mama always said life is like a lucky bag of outlet underwear. As we’ve seen in past years, our reporter Mr. Sato is the kind of adrenaline junkie who prefers buying lucky bags – known as “fukubukuro”...
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Trying out Amazon Japan’s lowest rated magic wand
This article has flashing images and may not be suitable for those with photosensitive conditions. For a long time now, our reporter Masanuki Sunakoma has enjoyed perusing the worst Amazon Japan has...
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Ringing in the holiday season with a 3-D ugly sweater
We’re dreaming of a green Christmas. Our reporter Masanuki Sunakoma was reading about how Western people like to wear knitted sweaters with tacky patterns and abrasive color schemes for the holidays...
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The Thanko lucky bag overfloweth with interesting products
Mr. Sato gets way more than he bargained for. In Japan, the end of the year is often a time to look back and give thanks, and what better way to do that than with Thanko? This company has made a name...
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Osaka Ohsho’s Food Loss Reduction Eco Lucky Bag a sleeper hit of 2024...
It’s some no-frills food and fun. Every time the end of the year comes around, all kinds of businesses bring out their lucky bags, also known as “fukubukuro.” It’s become a competitive event with...
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We stay out of the cold and sumo wrestle with another man pressed tight...
Mr. Sato x Yoshio: The New Empire It was an especially frigid day in Tokyo and our poorly insulated offices were no exception. On this day, our writers Ahiruneko and Go Hatori were hard at work on...
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We uncover the dark and disturbing secret behind Mr. Sato’s happiness at 50
We all have our own ways of coping with life. Writers must sometimes face the dilemma of whether or not to publish an article that they have written for fear of the repercussions of it. This happened...
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Can our writer get lucky with a lucky bag of outlet sexy underwear?
Great deals on butt floss to be had this holiday season. Earlier this month, Mr. Sato took a chance on a lucky bag of factory outlet underwear he bought online and made out rather well in the end. It...
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Our Japanese writers were taken to a mystery destination for their year-end...
You can’t spell “mystery” without a “mys.” With the end of every year comes the annual Japanese custom of bonenkai year-end company parties. While surveys have shown these events to be dreadful...
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We earn enough EXP to get a Final Fantasy fukubukuro from Square Enix
Ikuna gets the limit break of lucky bags. Every year, Square Enix offers a range of fukubukuro lucky bags based on their hugest titles: Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts. And every year...
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Nerunerunerune candy designed for taking medicine wins top honors at product...
A spoonful of Nerunerunerune helps the medicine go dowowowown. The candy Nerunerunerune has been loved by children in Japan since the 1980s for its combination of sweet-tasting goo and the wonder of...
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Tokyo Government to release official dating app
Love, Tokyo style Dating can be hard in this day and age with hurdles such as global pandemics and sold-out marriage vending machines. That’s why more and more people are turning to the convenience of...
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Yoshiki auctions off beloved crystal piano to support Noto Peninsula...
It’s the end of a crystal era. It’s an unfortunate truth that natural disasters don’t care what day it is, so the residents of the Noto Peninsula and surrounding regions faced an extraordinary...
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A look inside Amazon Japan’s lowest-rated lucky bag
If you buy one, don’t forget to adjust the knob. New Year’s is the season for fukubukuro lucky bags in Japan. These are collections of goods often sold at a large discount and occasionally with the...
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Our “Dark Curry” puts the luck back into potluck with a curry of unknown...
We once again dabble in the dark culinary arts. Long-time readers of this website might remember the times we made a Dark Nabe hotpot and Dark Ehomaki sushi roll. This is where each person brings one...
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