I swear this isn’t a Lady Gaga blog, but she keeps doing things that involve Japan, so…. The picture up top is a traditional cover of Vogue Magazine, featuring Madonna on the cover. The new issue of Vogue Japan, however, is a bit more…colorful. Click here to see it if you want, but be warned there’s a lot of…read meat. Yes, RED MEAT on the cover. The new issue features a cover image of Lady Gaga posing in a bikini m...

Dir en grey, to those who are not familiar with the name, are a Japanese metal band that had originally been known as an indie 90′s v-kei band La:Sadie’s. After Kisaki’s departure from La:Sadie’s in 1997, the band broke up, regrouped, and renamed itself Dir en grey, after the 1993 Lareine song. Toshiya replaced Kisaki on bass; the rest of the lineup remained the same. The rest of the lineup is Kyo (vocal), Kaoru (guitar), ...

This is an odd little story. This big old fish, the Asian Sheepshead Wrasse, has been spotted off the coast of Japan. That’s nothing surprising, as the fish is common to the area. What isn’t so common, though, is how this fish supposedly resembles the animated movie character Shrek.  Check out the video: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy I….just don’t see the resemblance. To me, t...

We posted about this bizarre contraption recently, but then I found this article that goes more in-depth about it, so consider this an update filled with juicy details. Leave it to a hi-tech Japanese company to create something that will make the rest of the world supremely jealous. Toto, a company that manufactures various types of toilets and bathroom gadgets, unveiled the “Dr. John” toilet, which, among the obvious purposes, also ...

Wow. Just wow. Yoshifumi Takashe, a 30-year old guy living with his mother in Kasai, Hyogo prefecture, burned down the house they shared after his mom threw out some boxes of Gundam robot action figures. Takashe is quoted in this article as saying, “The Gundam figures are like the partners I spend my life with,” he reportedly said after pleading guilty at western Kobe’s District Court. “I wanted to die with them in a fi...

This is an odd magazine cover, that’s for sure. American pop starlet (ex-diva?) Britney Spears is on the cover of the Japanese Pop Magazine, dressed as a bride in an anime costume. She teamed up with photographer Takashi Murakami, who this article calls “The Japanese Andy Warhol”. The result is a vibrantly colored photo adorning the front cover of the upcoming issue of the mag. I’m not sure why I decided to post about thi...

Photo by Liz Ohanesian Attention, super-cool kawaii tastemakers here in the USA – Rilakkuma is on his way. If you aren’t familiar with the little plush bear (as I wasn’t until about 10 minutes ago), let this post be your wake-up call. Here in the USA, I’ve mostly only noticed Domo-kun and Hello Kitty merchandise everywhere, but I haven’t heard of this Rilakkuma bear just yet. This post on the LA Weekly blog highlight...

Found this insane video over at Japan Probe…apparently this dude, Daisuke Ebihara, is some kind of world-class finger-snapper. That is, he is able to snap his fingers at a pace that is quite ridiculous. Check it: o snapUploaded by himyouknow. – Discover more webcam videos and video blogs. This can definitely be filed under the “random cool stuff” category of life accomplishments, but I’m pretty awestruck by it all. ...

As a passionate fashion enthusiast and DIY fan, I am always searching for new clothing patterns. And today, I have stumbled upon a pattern created by Japan’s most acclaimed designer, Yohji Yamamoto. For those of you who are unfamiliar with his work, Yamamoto, a graduate of Tokyo’s Bunkafukuso Gakuin School of Fashion, is most famous for his avant-garde designs. He has also collaborated with more commercial brands, such as Adidas (Y-3...

Because the folks at McDonald’s CARE about your health and long-term well-being, soon you won’t be able to light up your cigarette inside one of the red and yellow-themed eateries. It’s great to put a ban on smoking, but it’s somewhat ironic to put a health-first regulation in a place that obviously doesn’t care much for ensuring long-term health, what with the food they actually serve to patrons. Still, it’s ...

I’ve been thinking of topics to write about and well a few people mentioned to cover the various fashion  styles that are popular in Japan. So I thought since it was suggested why not. The fist style I am writing about is “Harajuku”. From what I can gather, Harujuku style is a collective of vaious fashion styles from the area around Harujuku train Station in Tokyo. The fashion which makes up the Harujuku style is always changi...

Duel Jewel, one of the great pioneers of visual kei in America, best known for “Hanauta” one of the songs from One Piece anime, are back n hitting us with TWO mini-albums in the same year!! WILL, their last mini-album, came out on 3/17/2010. We are now informed by a sleek, revamped http://www.DuelJewel.jp that we should expect the second mini-album of the year to come flying at us on 09/22/2010. It will be entitled ZERO and it is unc...

Yep, that’s right. The Akihabara district in Japan is now home to “capsule hotels”, or small cube-shaped sleep pods where users can cramp up and sleep off train delays or just take a nap in the comfort and relaxation provided by a…small box. As the website states, these “capsule hotels” contain  public lounge space including bathing, and the other is a private space where the sleeping rooms (capsules) are arr...

They were trying to wish Kato a happy Birthday.... Well, he was still old, but not the age officials thought he was. According to this story from BBC, Sogen Kato, believed to be a remarkable 111 years old, actually died approximately 30 years ago. How did they find this out? Well, welfare officials interested in visiting him and seeing how he was doing were repeatedly shushed away by his family. Authorities grew suspicious and sought an investiga...

Takeru Kobayashi, the famous competitive eater, had his charges dropped by a judge in Brooklyn as long as he stays “out of trouble” for 6 months. What did he do to get into this mess? Kobayashi was charged with obstruction of governmental administration, resisting arrest, trespassing and disorderly conduct after storming the stage at last month’s Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, as this article describes. I ...