Osaka, which is no stranger to kaiju (giant monster) attacks, has fallen under threat from a new, horrible menace; a unnamed kaiju which takes the form of a rubber duck. This monster was reportedly created by mad scientist artist Florentijn Hofman in France. Although it has been spotted in other cities around the world, this is the first time it has menaced Japan.
More photos of the giant duck can be found below.
Fuji TV, hearing about Hugh Jackman’s love of sushi, decided to take him on a tour of Tsukiji’s famous sushi restaurants. Sound familiar? That’s because NTV did the same thing a few days ago. Hugh was polite and friendly as always.
Of course, these little Tsukiji trips give hope to Hugh’s thousands of fans; they now realize that if they work hard, stay in school, star in an international blockbuster, and are voted People’s Sexiest Man Alive, then they too can get free sushi.
–Via Japan Probe
With it’s fifth and final episode airing earlier today, the Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya arc (episodes 20-24 of the Haruhi re-airing, and episodes 10-14 of the “second season”) has come to an end. This arc’s claim to fame (or lack thereof) was how unremarkable it was, at least compared to the huge storm of controversy that Endless Eight generated. Fortunately, Sighs has been well-received by the fans; especially in the case of the last two episodes where, by all accounts, the art improved to “near season-1 levels”.
Select screenshots from the episode are posted below.
On a recent trip to Japan to promote his new film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hugh Jackman took the opportunity to learn about Japanese culture by visiting a shrine, a calligraphy shop and a few of Tsukiji’s famous sushi restaurants.
–Via Japan Probe
You know that glowing feeling you revel in after going to an anime festival? Well that lasts only a month unless you have something real to show for it. In this case, I was happy to come home from Manifest with a few Good Smile Lucky Star Winter Version Figmas to complete my collection. Was not really my intention to buy them, but am sure glad I splurged. However, the lovely Good Smile Company has decided to release a new range of Lucky Star Figmas in order to continue tempting absolute fan boys like myself. Now that all the girls have been announced, the only thing holding me back from acquiring is my potentially fatal lack of money…
Breakfast of Champions!
Picture this: You’re a sumo wrestler, in the throes of a mighty Mega Mac Attack. You hunger for the succulent taste of a McDonald’s hamburger… but all the seats and booths at your local restaurant are too small to support your excessive girth. What do you do?
Well, if you live in Ryogoku, Tokyo, you’re in luck. The local McDonald’s has just installed special sumo seats for its plus-sized clients. Now Japan’s most powerful and respected athletes can have a burger with the rest of us.
Today we have this nifty little AMV created by Rei, set to Fude Pen ~Ballpoint Pen~. I think it does a great job of profiling K-On!’s prevalent mise en scène. Enjoy!
What Japan Thinks recently posted the results of a survey of Japanese men, which asked them about their favorite “secret fetish”. The top result, unsuprisingly, was zettai ryouiki, which is Japanese for “absolute territory”; in other words, that glorious bit of flesh between the top of a girl’s thigh-high socks and the bottom of her skirt. I must say, the Japanese have fine taste.
Now, purely for the purposes of scientific analysis, I’ve included some examples of thigh-high-wearing women below.
It’s no secret that the fan reaction to Endless Eight has been highly negative. A Project Haruhi poll found that 69% of our readers hold a negative opinion of E8 (with 16% classifying it as “an absolute disaster” and 24% saying they didn’t even bother to finish watching the arc). Fans were further disappointed by E8’s ludicrously exorbitant DVD releases, which were priced at ¥6,930 (approximately $72 USD) apiece upon release. As a result of this atrocious marketing strategy, the E8 DVD releases all have very low user ratings on Amazon Japan, averaging around 1.5 stars. Now, Kadokawa seems to be acknowledging that fans may be hesitant to spend hundreds of dollars to purchase a substandard Haruhi filler arc. The following text comes from an interview between Men’s Cyzo and an employee of the “Kadokawa Media Bureau”.
“Even in the company hardly anyone knows why it took eight repeated episodes spread across 4 DVDs with two episodes each in order to unravel the mystery thoroughly. We are aware of the fan reaction, but…”
When asked if the E8 DVD sales could match those of Season 1:
“Well… All that can be said is that it would be nice if they sell, wouldn’t it?”
Given that E8 aired late at night (which ensured low ratings and less advertising revenue), the fiscal success of the new Haruhi season likely rests on these DVD sales. Unfortunately, it seems even Kadokawa does not think their prospects are very good.
A figure of Hachune Miku (the chibi version of Hatsune Miku) is set to be launched in a rocket later this month. The rocket, built by the Social Media Satellite Development Project (SOMESAT) will be taking part in the eXtreme Performance Rocket Ships challenge. XPRS, closely linked to AERO-PAC, involves a group of amateur rocketeers who frequently meet in the Nevada Desert and attempt to win one of several rocket launching contests. Entries into the event are varied, covering everything from minature replica Patriot missiles to Astro Boy.