A favourite otaku (geek) hobby in Japan is taking photos of toys. The pictures can make oh-so-cute miniature figurines look lifelike. But this trend isn’t only a Japanese thing. It’s also a Formula One racer thing — at least for one man. Via social media, Spanish F1 driver Fernando Alonso provides a look at Formula One that fans expect: fast cars, scenic locals, and killing time between races. He also shows a different side of the motorsport. A nerdier one.
This morning in Japan, kids and adults alike paused momentarily. They wore funny glasses and turned their eyes to the skies. This Monday morning, just as a new week started, a solar eclipse was visible. And Japanese television chronicled the whole thing the best way it could: sometimes serious and sometimes anything but.
Detective Conan (aka Case Closed) is one of Japan’s most popular manga and anime. In Tottori Prefecture, the hometown of Detective Conan‘s creator, Gosho Aoyama, is dotted with little bronze Conan statues for the locals to be proud of and for visitors to pose with.
It was a touching scene. A young American male sat outside of a McDonalds in Nanjing, sharing a meal with a homeless lady. He had purchased two orders of French fries and poured water into her water bottle.
For years now, teens in Tokyo’s fashionable Harajuku have been pushing the envelope with their Gothic Lolita outfits. Many young Japanese are fashion conscious, but cliques in Harajuku excel at wearing truly head-turning dubs.
Even for people in Japan, it’s easy to forget how awful World War II was. Entire cities were firebombed. Children were killed. Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Horrible.
Nothing quite says a home cooked meal like a droid cooked one. If you ever find yourself in Harbin, China, head over to “Summer Sky Ocean Robot”, a restaurant staffed with robot waiters and robot cooks.