Archive for July, 2010

Nicolas Cage vs. Japanese Magician Kids

Two Japanese kids meet Nicolas Cage at the Japan premiere of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and try to shock him with a few simple magic tricks:

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Video: Baby Monkey Plays With Tiger Cubs

“Shimura Zoo” puts some adorable tiger cubs together with a baby Japanese macaque and discover that they will play together:

When other TV shows have tried similar experiments with other species of animals, it has resulted in pretty messed-up situations that could easily be considered animal cruelty. However, the monkey and tigers in this case seemed to be getting along rather well.

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

72-year-old Resident Evil Badass Shiro Suzuki

72-year-old Japanese announcer/actor Shiro Suzuki has a hobby that is unusual for his age group. He likes to play video games. He loves the Resident Evil (Biohazard) series of games, and is quite proud of his mad gaming skillz.

Here is he getting a very high score on Resident Evil 4 that is apparently almost doubled the required point total to be considered a “pro”:

It does not appear to be a hoax, nor are his skills limited to the Wii version of the game. In fact, there are several videos up on YouTube in which Suzuki shows off his Resident Evil abilities, including this one from 2 years ago:

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Bear in Hokkaido

A wild bear accidentally finds his way into the downtown port area Shari, Hokkaido:

The area is known for bears, but it is pretty rare for one to wander around in a populated area of the town.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Are Japanese snacks cool or just weird?

According to N-H-K Cool Japan, it seems there are wide variety of snacks and confectioneries available at supermarkets in Japan.

Japanese snack
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With snacks like “Takoyaki yasan” for example, we can even enjoy the process of making it.

I remember “Nerunerunerune” as similar kind when I was a kid, but to be honest I felt it was sick and gross. Even though I was a kid, I felt something artificial about a snack like that. It was a lot healthier and better to help with my mom’s cooking if I wanted to experience the process of making foods.

Salty snacks mixed with sweet taste or the vice versa just like “ramen candy” or “takoyaki caramel” may sound funny and interesting enough to bring back as a souvenir but I wonder if they taste any good.

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Contributor Bio: Kirin is a Japanese woman spending her life so far somewhere around Tokyo. She now works from home and is also spreading Japanese kawaii culture and etc. through her popular blog, Tokyo Kawaii,etc.
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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
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Big Stinky Flower Blooms in Tokyo

The media has been excited the last few days about the rare blooming of a titan arum (the world’s largest flower) at a garden in Tokyo. Here are a few videos of the flower:

At the Koishikawa Botanical Gardens — managed by the University of Tokyo — the titan arum bloomed for the first time in 1991. The plant that flowered just recently was grown from a seed given by an American researcher in 1993.

On the afternoon of July 22, the leaves surrounding the 1.5-meter-tall stem began to open. The plant reached “full bloom” at around 7 p.m. the same day, with a diameter of about 80 centimeters.

The distinctive feature of the titan arum is its strong smell reminiscent of rotten meat, which the plant gives off to attract insects for pollination.

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• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)