PhD. Lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies. Japan's Politics/Nationalist Activism/History Disputes/Pop Culture. RT/Likes ≠ endorsements
Japanese Twitter users are noting that the decision to replace the iconic Twitter brand name with the letter "X" could turn Twitter Japan into "X Japan." It's a name that has been used for decades by one of Japan's most famous rock bands.
This is the preview for The Exit 8, an upcoming PC game about being trapped in a Japanese metro station and having no idea how to find an exit:
"You are trapped in an endless underground passageway. Take a good look around and find a way to escape."
Aerial footage of Japanese police engaging in crowd control to limit the flow of people at Shibuya crossing last night. The news report notes that 350 officers had been deployed to keep order during Halloween festivities.
Video: It appears that a wild tanuki (Japanese racoon dog) was spotted at Tokyo's Shimokitazawa station last night. This viral video has already received nearly 3 million views.
Kabashima Ikuo served 4 terms as governor of Kumamoto prefecture (from 2008 to 2024). In 2010 his government created Kumamon, a mascot character that has become internationally famous. Here is a video of Kumamon saying goodbye to the retiring governor.
"Gracias, Akira!"
Dragon Ball fans gathered at the Obelisk of Buenos Aires, Argentina today to perform a Genki Dama to honor Akira Toriyama. Some social media accounts sharing videos of the event claim that 20,000-30,000 people participated.
America's newest high speed rail line has opened in Florida. It travels at a speed of up to 120 mph (201 km/h), slightly slower than the 130mph (210km/h) operating speed of the earliest series of Japanese bullet trains that went into service 59 years ago.
In 1985 Hanshin Tigers fans threw a statue of Colonel Sanders into the Dotonbori River, creating the Curse of the Colonel. Today they won the Series and lifted the curse. A fan dressed like Colonel Sanders was thrown into the river in celebration:
Ichiro went to Hokkaido's Asahikawa Higashi High School to give its baseball team some pointers. One of his demonstration hits went over a protective net and into a classroom window, 130 meters (426 feet) away.
A guy cosplaying as Yamagami Testuya showed up today at the site of former Abe Shinzo's assassination. Today is the one year anniversary of Abe's death and a lot of people have come to offer flowers at a temporary memorial.
At this year's Kyoto University graduation ceremony one graduating student dressed up as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It took him three months to grow the beard, but he pulled it off very well:
Popular YouTuber Fidias (2.37 million subscribers) has uploaded a "I Travelled Across Japan For Free" video.
How'd he do it? Simple: by illegally boarding trains without a ticket, hiding in the train toilet, and running when conductors tried to detain him.
The Nara city government considered building a monument at the spot where former Prime Minister Abe was assassinated, but some residents didn't want one. In the end, Abe got this unmarked flowerbed.
The Gundam drone show in Yokohama included a recreation of the famous scene in which Amuro Ray and Char Aznable bumped helmets. Some fans are interpreting this as a nod to fujoshi who have created so much "Charmuro" fan fiction over the years.
This is the preview for The Exit 8, an upcoming PC game about being trapped in a Japanese metro station and having no idea how to find an exit:
"You are trapped in an endless underground passageway. Take a good look around and find a way to escape."
ANN's nightly news included international reactions to Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama's death. Fans in Japan, China, Korea, France, Thailand, and the US reacted with sadness to the passing of a legend whose works were enjoyed by millions.
It is very sad to hear about the passing of Akira Toriyama, an absolute legend in the world of manga, anime, and video games. I will always treasure my childhood memories of playing Chrono Trigger on SNES.
A pro-Trump
#StopTheSteal
march is being held right now in Tokyo. Hours before the
#January6th
march takes place in America, these people are holding their own event supporting the claim that Trump actually won the 2020 election.
The earthquake that hit Ishikawa today was so strong that it apparently knocked over the stone lantern at the Sanjoso Hachimangu Shrine up the coast in Niigata prefecture. (Niigata recorded an earthquake intensity of 5+ on the JMA scale)
This is definitely not the kind of news you want to see on your screen in front of you while you're on an airplane. (Uploaded by somebody on a different flight)
A word of warning to those on Twitter today: the sun has already gone down for the night in Japan and news media has not broadcast any images of tsunamis causing major damage. if you see tsunami videos on social media, a lot will probably be mislabeled footage from 2011.
An advanced monkey-based simulation of tonight's Japan vs. Croatia match has determined that Japan will win 3-1 and advance to the next round of the World Cup:
NHK is reporting that Abe Shinzo was apparently shot in the chest while delivering a campaign speech in Nara. A reporter is saying they heard 2 gunshot sounds and saw him fall over, bleeding from his chest. He has been taken away in an ambulance.
Famous manga authors have created cover illustrations for the new edition of Shueisha's World History manga for young readers. Some examples:
•Lenin by Noda Satoru (Golden Kamuy)
•Churchill & Hitler by Endo Tatsuya (Spy × Family)
•Ramses II by Hara Yasuhisa (Kingdom)
•Caesar…
Today I learned that YouTuber Mr. Beast creates Japanese dubs for his videos and his voice is performed by Takeuchi Junko, famous in Japan as the voice of Naruto.
The Sanja Matsuri is taking place in Tokyo's Asakusa area this weekend. This festival is infamous as a place where one can see yakuza openly participating in a festival and flaunting their elaborate tattoos.
A company is selling tours to the Iwafuneyama Quarry in Tochigi, where tourists can have their photo taken in front of special effects explosions (for a price of 35,000 yen, or about $250):
Endō Tatsuya, creator of the popular Spy × Family manga series, now has a gold checkmark on Twitter, which is supposed to cost $1,000 a month and be reserved for organizations. According to this tweet, it seems he didn't apply or pay for it.
Osaka's Tennōji Zoo held a training exercise today to prepare staff for the possibility of a lion escape. As you can see from this NHK news video, they put great effort into making it very realistic.
In Japan there is a tradition to eat pumpkin and soak in a yuzu bath on the day of the winter solstice. The capybaras at Ishikawa Zoo were able to enjoy both.
Brazil's Vice President shared this "Thank You, Japan!" image to thank Toyota for making large investments in his country.
He stands over characters from Dragon Ball, Card Captor Sakura, Naruto, Saint Seiya, and Pokémon. (Unfortunately, the kanji on his kimono are backwards.)
Muito obrigado pela parceria, Toyota!
- Confiança: R$ 11 bi de investimentos, até 2030, sendo R$ 5 bi até 2026
- Renda: 2 mil novos empregos diretos e 8 mil indiretos, até 2030
- Inovação: novos modelos de automóveis
- Sustentabilidade: veículos ainda mais eficientes, inclusive…
Early in the video he was briefly detained by the police after refusing to pay a bus fare. It's clear he knows he is breaking the law, and continues to do it anyway. The thumbnail of the video seems to mock Japanese police for being unable to catch him.
Here is another frightening video showing what it was like inside Kanazawa station when the earthquake hit today. Many people were probably visiting to see family for the holidays, or visit Ishikawa's tourist attractions.
Most people in Tokyo were roused from their beds by earthquake alerts at 4:16AM today, but the Kabukicho entertainment district never sleeps. Here is some street footage of the moment the earthquake struck.
Video: Osaka Toin High School's cheering squad played the "Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa" (Dubidubidu) meme song to support their team at Japan's 96th National Invitational High School Baseball Tournament.
A repost of a TikTok meme cat video complaining about how Japanese companies deduct income tax and medical insurance fees from workers' monthly salaries has gone viral, with over 11 million views on Twitter.
A Japanese media outlet has broken the silence and released the name of the religious group that Abe's assassin has a grudge against. It's the Unification Church.
The government of El Salvador made a declaration of national mourning over the passing of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama.
(I've seen Japanese mainstream media coverage of the French government's reaction, but not much about Latin American countries.)
One year ago today former Prime Minister Abe was assassinated in front of Nara's Yamato-Saidaiji Station. Japanese conservatives wanted to build an Abe memorial on the site, but local residents opposed the idea. In the end, all Abe got was an unmarked flowerbed.
Video: passengers escape from a burning JAL flight at Tokyo's Haneda airport today, after it collided with a Japan Coast Guard plane. All the passengers and crew from the JAL flight survived, but several of the coast guard crew are missing.
"RUN!"
A big yellow block is appearing on the screen telling everyone near the highlighted areas of the coast to immediately flee their homes. Tsunamis are expected soon.
From TBS: An Indian woman cooked chicken curry for 100 people in Japan's earthquake-hit Noto Peninsula. It looks like many of these elderly residents of Himi City had never eaten Indian-style curry before, but they were very happy and grateful.
A lot of people commented that "The Exit 8" computer game reminded them of their experiences at Shinjuku station. This video shows a journey from Shinjuku-sanchome exit C8 to Nishi-Shinjuku exit E8. It takes 27 minutes, but the video is at 16x speed.
This is the preview for The Exit 8, an upcoming PC game about being trapped in a Japanese metro station and having no idea how to find an exit:
"You are trapped in an endless underground passageway. Take a good look around and find a way to escape."
A local TV news program in Louisiana aired a report on the passing of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, with their newscaster wearing a Goku-inspired outfit. Does this count as cosplay?
Video: an news announcer on NHK is shouting for anyone who is in the tsunami warning area to immediately run. Do not stop for anything. If people stay in front of their TV set, they could be caught up in a tsunami.
"RUN!"
A big yellow block is appearing on the screen telling everyone near the highlighted areas of the coast to immediately flee their homes. Tsunamis are expected soon.
Yesterday at the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament a team from Ishikawa was due to play, but their supporters were not there due to earthquake that had occurred one day earlier. Students from other high schools created a cheering squad for them.
One of Japan's worst livestreamers is allegedly about to confront with one of America's worst livestreamers. Rengoku Koroaki claims he and his boys are heading to the location of racist American livestreamer "Johnny Somali."
It is quite possible that Fidias is lying and actually did buy Shinkansen tickets so that he wouldn't have been arrested if police had in fact caught him after this stunt. Even if that were the case, his actions might constitute some form of illegal obstruction of business.
Yesterday a "Space-Out Competition" was held in Tokyo - based on zoning-out competitions that began in Korea in 2014. It looks like it attracted a sizable number of young people - more than I've seen at many political demonstrations in Tokyo.
Reiwa Party leader Yamamoto Taro is facing punishment after he tried to use physical force to prevent the Upper House Judiciary Committee from approving revisions to immigration law that will make it easier for the govt to deport refugee applicants.
Unfortunately, due to his huge platform, a large number of fans will probably watch the video and some will come away with the impression that they can do the same if they take a vacation to Japan. He's also probably left Japan already, so it's too late to arrest him now.
A video of an NHK sign language news report about the death of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama is going viral in Japan today because people have noticed that the sign for "Dragon Ball" looks like someone performing a Kamehameha energy attack.
Japan Airlines has apologized after announcing that they were unable to rescue two pets that had been checked-in on the flight from Sapporo to Tokyo that caught fire yesterday after a collision with another airplane.
Video: Japanese police struggle to restrain a suspect and ultimately decide to wrap him up in a blanket like a big burrito. This is a standard procedure to deal with violent/drunk suspects without resorting to the use of weapons.
Is it hard to believe that Ippei Mizuhara had access to Shohei Ohtani's bank account?
No. It's quite plausible, says Katsunori Kojima, a former interpreter for the Mets/Giants. He handled lots of financial transactions for players.
Shohei Ohtani’s press conference avoided two important questions:
How did Ippei have access to his bank account?
How did he not notice multiple $500,000 payments leaving his account over several months?
It’s hard to believe any story without hearing answers to those questions.
Japan does not owe anyone in America an apology after caving into US pressure and giving a special early release to someone serving a manslaughter sentence for an accident that killed two people.
There are risks our military families face while deployed overseas.
Being imprisoned for a car accident caused by an unforeseen medical emergency shouldn’t be one of them.
America owes the Alkonis family a debt of gratitude.
Japan owes the family—and the U.S.—an apology.
Video: NHK has aired this frightening footage of a building collapsing in Ishikawa during today's earthquake. It registered as 6+ on the JMA Seismic Intensity Scale.
Video: Penguins wearing mini backpacks!
The Japanese school year starts in April, so Matsue Vogel Park marked the occasion by giving their penguins miniature versions of the randoseru bags typically worn by elementary schoolers.
A 26 year-old YouTuber was just elected to the Hiratsuka city council. Shin runs a local Pokémon card shop and has a YouTube channel that reviews local restaurants. Instead of using his real full name, he officially ran as "Shin the Hiratsuka YouTuber" and received 3,827 votes.
Misinformation alert: This is not a Japanese police officer. It's right-wing Japanese YouTuber Gotō Takeshi (AKA Reiwa Take-chan) and there's no evidence that the foreigners he harassed for social media views are unemployed.
NHK has aired tsunami footage from the town of Shika. This video was taken at around 5:40PM, about 1.5 hours after the first earthquake. This tsunami was not powerful enough to push over barriers and into the town.
BREAKING: American Kick streamer Johnny Somali has been formally charged with a crime in Japan. He will face criminal prosecution for "forcible obstruction of business" over his livestreaming of nuisance behavior inside a beef bowl restaurant in Osaka.
Here is a clip of Fidias illegally evading a Shinkansen fare. He is wearing a hoodie so that police will not recognize him during the attempt. A ticket between Hakata and Okayama is usually about $90, a price he could easily afford.
Takashima Ryosuke, the 26 year-old newly-elected mayor of Ashiya, has an impressive CV. He left Tokyo University after one year to go to Harvard. While still a student he founded a non-profit that would help 300+ Japanese students go to university abroad.
Prime Minister Kishida yesterday vs. today. He's changed into his disaster preparedness uniform. (This is common among Japanese politicians when a natural disaster occurs and they want to look like they're taking it seriously.)
From NTV's Bankisha program: a report about a 49 year-old Japanese man with no military experience who volunteered for the Ukrainian military. Recruiters almost rejected him, but his past experience as a yakuza convinced them of his willingness to fight.
Tokyo Pokémon card shop bans sales to adults so kids can enjoy the hobby: Hareruya 2 in Akihabara will not sell new Snow Hazard and Clay Burst packs to anyone over junior high school age, hoping it will block adult resellers and make the new cards more accessible to children.
YouTuber Fidias also walked into a hotel in Kyoto, tricked an employee into thinking he was a paying guest, and ate a "free" buffet meal.
Does it require "research" to understand this is unacceptable in Japan? In what country's culture is this okay?
Update: YouTuber Fidias has responded to the anger over his video.
It's a semi-apology and an excuse about having not done enough "research" to realize that Japanese people don't like crime.
He has not taken the video down.
Reiwa Party leader Yamamoto Taro explained his actions to an audience of supporters last night: Because the revised law will cause people to lose their lives, he felt compelled to physically stop its passage. The LDP had 10 lawmakers on hand to block him.
Reiwa Party leader Yamamoto Taro is facing punishment after he tried to use physical force to prevent the Upper House Judiciary Committee from approving revisions to immigration law that will make it easier for the govt to deport refugee applicants.
Video: a fire is raging in Wajima, a city along the coast of Ishikawa prefecture. Earthquakes often trigger fires by knocking down stoves/heaters or damaging electric/gas lines.
The maker of Sakuma Drops is going out of business. This candy, which is probably best known today for its appearance in the 1988 film Grave of the Fireflies, was first manufactured in 1908.
Today is the one-year anniversary of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's assassination. However, July 8th is also Gundam Day because the mobile suit from the popular 1979 anime series had a "78" model number. Right now Gundam is actually above Abe in the trending terms ranking.
Bad News: American livestreamer Johnny Somali is still in Japan. He went silent for a few days after his stream with Rengoku Koroaki and encounter with the police, but he's live today at Tokyo Disneyland, loudly swearing and playing racist music on a speaker while he streams.
Shortly after Rengoku Koroaki and his fans left the area, someone physically assaulted Johnny Somali. People in his chat were warning him it was dangerous, and he was telling them to shut up:
Video: British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran filmed himself playing his guitar and singing at cat cafes in Japan. Even though bowls of food were laid out around him, almost all of the cats were driven away by his music.
Japanese netizens are sharing this clip, commenting on how Taiwan's earthquake preparedness seems much better than Japan. TBS reports that high quality shelters and emergency showers/toilets were available within hours of the earthquake.
More reports about the assassin's motivations, with more vague wording about a "certain group" (特定の団体) that he hated and associated with Abe. This is even more vague than earlier reports that suggested it was a religious group. 1/
NHK: "He had a grudge against a certain organization and believed that Abe had connections to it, which led him to commit the crime." "his mother became involved in the organization and donated a large amount of money to it, which ruined his family life.
A day after telling a group of Japanese livestreamers and YouTubers that he would stop livestreaming on trains, American streamer Johnny Somali was at it again today. However, he was being followed by Guts, a Japanese YouTuber known for catching voyeur photographers and chikan.
One of Japan's worst livestreamers is allegedly about to confront with one of America's worst livestreamers. Rengoku Koroaki claims he and his boys are heading to the location of racist American livestreamer "Johnny Somali."
A golden retriever named Happy has received a lifesaving award after barking to alert humans after hearing cries of help from a man who had fallen into a canal. The award included horse meat jerky and some dog chews.
Video: About 200 people gathered in front of the famous Cosmovitral Botanical Garden in the Mexican city of Toluca to perform a Genki Dama and sing Dragon Ball songs to honor Akira Toriyama.
A viral video of a young Japanese girl reacting to news that Shohei Ohtani has married somebody else (an example of what social media users are calling "Ohtani loss" [大谷ロス]) :
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida is going to visit North Carolina. YTV's news coverage noted that most viewers probably don't know much about NC, so they rolled out a table to introduce two of its famous products: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Pepsi Cola.
Japan Airlines (JAL) has uploaded a TikTok video of its cabin attendants and crew synced with the opening song of the most recent season of Jujutsu Kaisen ("Specialz" by King Gnu).
Tonight 1,300 Osaka police officers will be dispatched to the Dotonbori River area if the Hanshin Tigers win the Japan Series for the first time in 38 years. 26 fans, including this guy, jumped into the river to celebrate their pennant win in September.
Video: Billionaire Elon Musk went on stage at Tokyo's Sonicmania music festival to livestream a performance by his ex-girlfriend.
This is going viral in Japan because people are annoyed he was disrupting the show and blocking the audience's view.
Tired of restaurants that use deceptive photos to make you think portion sizes are large?
Yamauchi Shokudo in Akita has become famous on social media because it does the opposite. Actual dishes are many times larger than its menu photos.
Update: Kadokawa has decided to cancel the publication of its Japanese translation of Abigail Shrier's "Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Crazy Seducing Our Daughters" ahead of a planned protest outside of company offices. They also deleted a Twitter thread promoting the book.
The relevant department of Kadokawa has decided to cancel the publication of a Japanese translation of Abigail Shrier's "Irreversible Damage", after many people sent critical comments about the content of this book.