Remember that one cartoon back in 2001 about a samurai who is thrown into the future and wanders around, looking for a way back into the past? Well, it seems there are plans for the series to have a feature film with J.J. Abrams (Star Trek film) as the producer. More »

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From Girlybubble: Not to be confused with Jpop singer Hiromi Sato, artist Hiromi Sato makes some of the cutest, most girly, illustrated artwork I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, due to my lack of Japanese knowledge, there isn’t much I could find about her background. What you can discern from her illustrations is that she creates art that appeals to simple childhood fantasy. For me, it seems like everything that was great about my childhood is represented in a lot of her illustrations. More »

What’s better than a British person with a British accent speaking Korean? New Moon star Robert Pattinson, speaking Korean with a British accent. Personally, he can speak whatever language he wants and it’d still have the effect of busting my ovaries. The SBS reporter can attest to this after having recently interviewed Robert Pattinson about New Moon. More »

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From Rekuru:

Here it is. When the cultural bomb of Ninja Scroll (Yoshiaki Kawajiri, 1993) hit American shores, the Japanese entertainment industry could assure itself of two things:

1) Its national role as tastemaker to the West was assured for one hundred years. 2) Its image as a sedate and refined nation was ruined for one hundred years. More »

Anime contains so many different types of ninja characters. There are those who provide comic relief and there are those who help move the story forward. Some are spies for their masters while others are ruthless killers. It was difficult for me to choose which ninjas would make my top 5 list but I was able to narrow it down to these talented characters (Not in any particular order). More »

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From Rekuru:

It will sometimes happen that I post about bands I don’t listen to myself, but there are so big I figure people should know about them. A drunken middle-aged man in a bar once told me that I would never understand Japan until I could list all the members of SMAP, and perhaps he was right (though I still can’t). One such group is the boy-band Arashi. More »

In the West we often don’t view tofu eaters very well. Probably due to a deep distrust of people who won’t eat a chicken wing when offered one. The East on the other hand has no problems with people eating tofu. It’s just part of the usual diet. But recently certain tofu makers are trying to break out of the soggy tofu mold that they’ve put themselves in by making tofu more ‘manly.’ More »

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Let’s face it, Ninjas beat all the martial artists (besides Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris) to their doom. They are so skilled that one could only dream about becoming one. They are a combination of a top gymnast, assassin, survivalist, stuntman, judo, karate master, weapons master and of course black magician. It’s a great thing video games have been able to capture all the fun of being a Ninja, from the comfort of your own home or out for a fun night at the arcade. My list summarizes the top genre defining Ninja video games. More »

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One of my first experiences in Japan was visiting a public bathroom at my local university. After a long flight I felt the very strong urge to spend some quality time alone, sitting in deep thought about my journey to Asia. I didn’t spend all that much time thinking before I become increasingly aware of the sound of running water coming from my stall. While very relaxing in itself, I became overly paranoid that the high tech toilet would erupt on me. More »

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You know, I thought I knew all the classic Christmas songs, but it seems I totally missed one. There’s a Christmas carol that has 2NE1’s name in it and it’s for Baskin Robbins. Cute wallpapers, and new videos all accompany this promotion. More »

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From Rekuru:

Unfortunately, not all ninja games for the Nintendo DS are as good as monday’s Ninjatown. Like Tenchu: Dark Secret for example. Take everything you like about Tenchu. Got all that? Good. Now throw it all out the window. What’s left you ask? Tenchu: Dark Secret, perhaps one of the worst titles in the franchise’s history. More »

Who is best suited to sing a theme song for the Japanese release of a movie based on Disney’s popular fairy icon, Tinkerbell? None other than Ayumi Hamasaki of course! More »

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From Wirebot:

Welcome back to another exciting installment of Games You’ve Probably Never Heard Of. This week (in honor of the release of Ninja Assassin) we take a look at some horrible ninja, assassin, and samurai games, from the world of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. More »

Trying to be a ninja without ninja supplies? If you are about to go shopping for ninja items, check this out! You’ll be thankful. More »

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The mass fear of catching swine flu has made Japan a bit paranoid lately. It’s not that I have had classrooms full of students wear masks, or that I can honestly say that there are some children I’ve never seen without masks, it’s just that I think people here have gone a bit… overboard. More »

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From Girlybubble: One thing that I love about an amigurumi turkey for Thanksgiving, is that I don’t have to consider wearing pants with an expanding waistline to dinner. Amigirumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, cute creatures. ‘Ami’ means crocheting or knitting, while the ‘nuigurumi’ part of amigrumi means stuffed doll. More »

In May 2010, Atlus will give you 3D Dot Game Hero: a game with 3D graphics mixed with old school pixels. More »

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From Rekuru:

Ninjutsu, the bread and butter of the ninja repertoire. Without it, a ninja just wouldn’t be much of a ninja. But how much do you know about Ninjutsu? Whether you don’t now your Bōjutsu from a Sōjutsu (like me) or you’re a ninjutsu novice, allow this article to fill some gaps in for you. More »

From Rekuru:

It’s important to answer the literal question first: in a fight, of course, ninja would win. No matter how skilled a swordsman, your samurai can’t be awake every moment of the day, and no ninja worth his (or her) salt will be dumb enough to charge their foe head-on in broad daylight. But since these two warrior archetypes are so often juxtaposed, it seems worthwhile to ask: how are they related, and what do they represent? Sure, ninja, unlike samurai, “have no honor,” but isn’t the truth (as usual) more complex? More »

From Rekuru:

Ninjas are primarily known for being assassins, jumping from rooftop to rooftop as they stealthily home in on their prey before landing a handful of shurikens to their head. Besides leaving people with lethal migraines, these shadowy mercenaries served other roles as well and in this article we’ll look at some of those roles. More »