Archive for the 'Living in Japan' Category

New gadgets in Japan this season

Living in Japan, you’ll know that every season there are new products introduced into the market and this autumn is no different.  In Fuji TV’s Mezamashi morning TV show, we see some new products including,  the new super thin  Sony Vaio X-series of notebook computers, , a small humidifier shaped like a tree – good for Japan’s dry winters with a leaf shaped remote control, a desk lamp that can be used to recharge USB gadgets, a  cute new memory card reader from Elecom, Elecom headphones shaped like plastic building blocks and transforming Transformer USB memory sticks.

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source: Japanprobe

Posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009
Under: Japanese TV, Living in Japan | No Comments »

Japanese girls the Guide e-book

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For those of you who are enjoying the fun Japansugoi Friends service (run by the guys at Worldfriends networks), we recently came across an e-book called Japanese girls – the Guide. The e-book contains some very useful information about dating Japanese girls especially if you’re new to the scene and need a few tips to figure out why you’re striking out.  So whether you’re just trying to make friends or seriously want a Japanese girlfriend or wife, click here to find out more.

Posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
Under: Living in Japan | No Comments »

Japanese car blog Manablog

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Manablog is a car blog written by a 39 year old car enthusiast from Tokyo.  Though the site is in Japanese, you can watch his great youtube videos that shows his passion for all the latest cars available in Japan and attending all the auto shows.

Japanese car blog Manablog videos

HONDA CR-Z 2009

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LEXUS LFA 2009

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Toyota Auris hsd 2009

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Posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009
Under: Living in Japan | No Comments »

Bald Japanese girls invade Harajuku and Shibuya

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Earlier this year, wanting to create some publicity,  Japanese hair fashion magazine HairMag.jp. hired some bald models to walk around Harajuku and Shibuya.  The Japanese girls with no hair (wearing bald wigs actually) created quite a stir everywhere they went.

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Posted on Friday, October 30th, 2009
Under: Japan Art and Fashion, Japan websites, Living in Japan | No Comments »

Why Japanese search engines are better for searching for gravure idols and maids

Japanese maid

Ever wonder why Japanese search engines are better for searching for gravure idols and maids? a) the results are geared for otaku b) they search in Japanese c) they don’t have family filters or d) they index content better than Google. The answer is probably b) searching in Japanese as most web content about gravure idols and maids is in Japanese language.

goo NTT

We base our answer on the following funny TV commercial from top Japanese search engine and portal “goo” owned by Japanese phone giant NTT. Type a search for “gravure maid” in your local area and get the following results.

Posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Under: Funny Japan, Japan TV commercials, Japan websites, Living in Japan, japan technology | No Comments »

Algorithm March videos

There are alot of folks like me who can never tire of watching the amazing Algorithm March from the kids TV Show Pitagora Suicchi (maybe its because I’m so uncoordinated that I marvel about be able to peform it one day!)

There are 2 types of Algorithm movements

Algorithm Taiso is the exercise movement while Algorithm Koushin is the march.

Personally I like the music from Taiso and the movement from Koushin

Japan Sugoi Videos

Algorithm Taiso

Algorithm Koushin

Algorithm March with J-league 2nd Division Team Kawasaki Frontale

Posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Under: Japanese TV, Living in Japan | No Comments »

Happy Tokyo Bartenders

Bartenders vary from place to place. I haven’t come across too many bad bartenders in my time but I’ve often wondered what makes them tick. Unless they are the bar owners, very few stick around in a bar for a long time as it’s just temporary or casual work. The other thing I’ve noticed is that very few of them smile, perhaps because of the low wages and the no tipping custom in Japan. I think someone should hire some young happy girls who are always cheerful and smiling (like Cold Stone Cremery ice cream parlour) and the bar would be full!

Posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Under: Living in Japan | No Comments »

Kei truck drifting

kei truck Dihatsu Hijet

When you think of Japanese drifting cars, you think of souped up sports cars twisting along narrow roads.  At one Japanese practice track, a modified Kei truck 軽トラック, a type of micro truck or van is drifting in way that would make drift king Keiichi Tsuchiyama proud.

Posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Under: Living in Japan | No Comments »

Tasty Yukari Furikake

Furikake
Yukari is a product name for a type of furikake.

Furikake is a dried “seasoning” that is sprinkled on rice to add flavour to it. It is very popular in Japan and comes in endless varieties.

Yakari Furikake is made from red beefsteak plant, sugar, and salt. Beefsteak plant is known in Japanese as shiso, which many people outside of Japan are familiar with. Green shiso leaves can be used as a garnish with a variety of dishes.

Try getting some at your local supermarket or Asian grocery store. You’ll love it mixed with plain white rice. Yummy.

Posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Under: Japanese Products, Living in Japan | No Comments »

Japan Drifting videos

Tokyo Drift photo
The Japanese love cars, Formula 1 and race queens. If you’ve seen the movie The Fast and the Furious, Tokyo Drift, you will know what drifting is.

The following is a video clip from a drifting event in Japan featuring various drifting manuevers, including a sportscar drifting around a number of race queens standing in a line. Pretty impressive driving but probably doesn’t help in congested Tokyo traffic.

This next clip purportedly shows a drifting expert’s underground drifting video filmed on the roads of Japan.

Posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Under: Living in Japan | No Comments »