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Category Archives: Japan
Japanese Gaming: Half-Breaking the World
A Recurring Cultural Theme One issue continually revisited by Japanese video games, and the writing and storytelling culture that infuses it, is the idea that the world is corrupt in many ways, and it must be changed – but breaking … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Japan, video games
Tagged change, culture, fantasy, final fantasy, heroes, Japan, RPG, storytelling, Tales of Vesperia, video games, villains, writing
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The Language of Shinto: “Kami”
Kami Large and Small In reading up on Shinto at Wikipedia (link here), I read it stated that Shinto scholars think translating “kami” as “god” or “deity” can cause a misunderstanding of the term. I mulled this over. If there … Continue reading
Cool Japan: Amphibious Snake Robot
This One Won’t Bite You’ll want to click on the video above and see this amazing robot in action. It’s meant to emulate how a snake moves on ground – and in water, the latter being quite remarkable as a … Continue reading
Posted in Japan, Weird Stuff
Tagged amphibious, cool stuff, Diginfo, Japan, robot, snake
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Hatsune Miku Promoting Toyota Corolla
Hatsune Miku + Corolla = ? Hatsune Miku is a “vocaloid,” which means, rather than synthetic music, she is a synthetic singer with an unnaturally high pitched voice through the use of a computer program. Being a product from the … Continue reading
Crazy Japan: Mind-Controlled Nekomimi (Cat Ears)
…Wow. Straight from “Oh my GOD!” territory comes this story from Popular Science magazine, detailing nekomimi (lit. “cat ears”) that rise and flatten out on command from human brainwaves. A video is posted after the break.
Posted in Culture, Japan, Weird Stuff
Tagged cat, crazy, ears, high tech, Infinite Stratos, Japan, nekomimi, sci fi, Tabane
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Japan Gaming Culture: Super Turrican
Old Times, Good Times Super Turrican is one of the games for the Super Nintendo that, owing to the system, had “Super” tacked onto the front. Featuring a man in an armored suit, with some similarities to Metroid, this action … Continue reading
Posted in Japan, Music, video games
Tagged 90's, culture, gaming, Japan, music, sci fi, Super Turrican, synth, video games, YouTube, Zen
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Auto Culture: Honda Goldwing 2012
A Short Demonstration Once upon a time in my former career as a translator, I came across a company called DigInfo (as in, digital information) that regularly posts videos about cool things from Japan on YouTube. This is one example: … Continue reading
Posted in Japan
Tagged auto, automotive, cars, Diginfo, Goldwing, Honda, Japan, motorcycle, YouTube
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Gaming: SRW Z 2 Gameplay Videos
More Videos The above is a gameplay video on YouTube showing the first stage of one of the potential main characters in Super Robot Taisen (“Super Robot Wars”) Z the 2nd, on PSP, sequel to SRW Z, on PS2. As … Continue reading
Posted in Anime, Gundam, Japan, video games
Tagged 2, 2nd, gameplay, Gundam Wing, SRW, suparobo, Super Robot Taisen, video, YouTube, Z
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Origami: Hearts
Have A Heart The heart is yet another type of origami design. As I explained in my original origami post, origami is the word we use for paper folding regardless of the culture the design is from. The heart is … Continue reading