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Japanese recipe for Tempura Twinkies takes America’s favourite snack to a whole new level

Move aside, deep-fried Twinkies, Tempura Twinkies are in town.While some people might argue that Japan is home to the best sweets and snacks in the world, for locals the fascination can sometimes be reversed, with curiosity about famous overseas sweets leading many to wonder what they really taste like.Our reporter Takuya Inaba is one such curious local, who became fascinated with Twinkies after watching the 2009 zombie comedy film Zombieland, where the character of Tallahassee, played by Woody

Studio Ghibli calendar figures are back, look amazing whether you check the date or not[Photos]

Give Totoro, No-Face, and Jiji a little time every day, and they’ll make sure you don’t forget the date.From a practical standpoint, smartphones have more or less made watches obsolete. If your phone can already tell you what time it is, in multiple parts of the world even if you’d like, and includes stopwatch and timer functions, there’s really no need for a separate device that doesn’t do all the other stuff your phone can. And yet, wristwatches are still a thing, as many people like their fas

Enoshima’s magical night lantern festival is back this summer with spectacular views

An island transforms into a wonderland of digital art, musical sea shells, and 1,000 glowing lanterns.Summer heat in Japan can be pretty brutal for some people, so it means that a lot of the fun seasonal activities pop up in the evenings, when the sun has gone down and the weather is a little more bearable. This year sees the return of one of the Tokyo area’s popular day-trip destinations providing everyone with an excuse to stay out late and enjoy some beautiful night views.Enoshima Touro

Hatsune Miku crosses over into the real world in Coolish videos with Hoshimachi Suisei[Videos]

These Coolish virtual idol videos are very cool.As the world’s first Vocaloid idol, Hatsune Miku is a native of digital space. And while there’s a real person behind virtual YouTubers like Hoshimachi Suisei, the character herself also exists in the digital world, not the physical one.Or at least that’s how things are most of the time. This summer, though, Miku and Suisei are appearing in the real world through a series of Coolish videos, and also a new duet titled “Ao no Sumika” (“Blue Living Sp

Japan’s Pokémon hot spring reinstalls all damaged statues, adds no-touching rule

Gyarados, Psyduck, and Vaporeon all needed repairs just weeks after the Pokémon footbath opened.Japanese folk wisdom holds that visiting a hot spring isn’t just a fun and relaxing way to spend the day, but that the naturally heated waters also provide health benefits, especially for those recuperating from injuries. However, shortly following the opening of Japan’s first Pokémon-themed hot spring facility this spring, the Pocket Monsters themselves started suffering physical damage.The Wakura Po

World Offshore Week 2026 Brings Asia's Offshore Oil, Energy and Marine Sectors Together in Singapore

Free visitor registration is now open for the 4th Annual World Offshore Week, the #1 Meeting Place for the Offshore Oil, Energy and Marine Sectors.

Suntanned Hello Kitty steals the show in Japanese magazine’s Sanrio freebies

Proof that magazines in Japan are unlike anywhere else in the world.One thing we love about magazines in Japan is the amount and quality of freebies that often come attached to them. That’s certainly the case with the August issue of Sweet magazine, which comes packed with limited-edition Sanrio goods featuring characters in their popular suntanned designs.The standard edition of the magazine, priced at 1,790 yen (US$12.20), comes with a three-piece “Suntanned Sanrio Characters” summ

Piko Taro is back to rock your world with bizarre new Super Cup ice cream video

Legendary performer now has a new song about combining some other forbidden things.It’s been a while since we last saw Piko Taro, the leopard-print loving persona of Japanese entertainer Kazuhito Kosaka who took the world by storm with his viral global hit “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen”. Wherever he’s been hiding, it seems he hasn’t lost his love of combining things, because now he’s back on the scene with a new video encouraging us to stir chocolate biscuits into tubs of ice cream.For this outing, t

Survey shows foreigners’ desire to work in Japan long-term dropping, but that’s not the whole story

Annual study finds sharp decline in interest among foreign residents to stick around for the long haul, but it’s probably leaving out some differing voices.These days, Japan is more popular than ever with international tourists, and that trend doesn’t show signs of slowing down anytime soon. However, the recently released results of an annual survey shows that a big shift may be occurring in terms of how attractive a country Japan is for foreign nationals to live in.Every year, Tokyo-based job-h

InfoComm Asia 2026 - Asia's Super Connector for Professional AV - Takes Place Next Week in Bangkok

InfoComm Asia 2026, Asia's premier exhibition and summit for Professional Audiovisual (Pro AV) and integrated experience technologies, returns to the ...

World Offshore Week 2026 Brings Asia's Offshore Oil, Energy and Marine Sectors Together in Singapore

Free visitor registration is now open for the 4th Annual World Offshore Week, the #1 Meeting Place for the Offshore Oil, ...

Furby is now a sexy anime girl figure[Photos]

Kotobukiya gives the ‘90s robo-pet a Bishoujo makeover.As one of Japan’s top manufacturers of anime and video game figures, Kotobukiya is no stranger to attractive characters. However, sometimes Kotobukiya’s designers perceive cute or playfully sexy sides to their muses that the rest of us might not be able to perceive. There was that time, for example, when Kotobukiya turned the Transformers’ Optimus Prime and Megatron into anime girl-style figures, and now they’re taking inspiration from a dif

Family Mart changes its Famichiki packaging for the first time in nine years

Japan’s beloved convenience store fried chicken is getting a new look, but “I am Chicken” is nowhere to be seen.When it comes to iconic Japanese convenience store foods, Famichiki is right up there amongst the all-time favourites. The boneless piece of fried chicken has long been the bestselling hot snack at convenience store chain Family Mart, and instantly recognisable by its distinctive packaging, which has the humorous phrase “I am Chicken” printed on it, with bright yellow stripes.▼ N

3-second salt company jingle becomes #1 karaoke song in Japan across all genres

Everyone’s feeling a little salty this summer.It’s often said that as technology gets faster and faster, our attention span shrinks in response. TikTok feeds condition millions of people to…Hey, where are you going? OK, fine. I’ll get to the point.Major Japanese karaoke service provider Joysound released their weekly ranking for the first week of July, and surprised everyone with the announcement that a 3-second jingle for a brand of table salt was the most sung track of all tracks in the

Japan’s Hormuz-triggered black-and-white potato chip bags regain some, but not all, color

Calbee’s potato chips and shrimp chips get partway back to normal as war in Iran drags on.For the past several months, much of the world has been getting an unpleasant geography reminder about the importance of the Strait of Hormuz. But while it seems like even casually glancing at a map should have been an indicator that the U.S.-led war in Iran was going to disrupt global shipping, it was harder for the average person to see just how widespread the effects would be, such as forcing changes in

Three new starter Pokémon Jets to fly in Japan, first begins carrying passengers this month

30 years after the releases of Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue, travelers in Japan can ride on the Red, Green, and Blue Pokémon Jets.As Pokémon level up, their stats increase and they learn new attacks and techniques. However, their Type won’t change unless they evolve into a different species. So, for example, while a weak Bulbasaur can become a stronger Bulbasaur, there’s no way for it to become a Flying-type Bulbasaur.At least, there aren’t any Flying Bulbasaurs within the Pokémon video games an

McDonald’s Japan reveals new Pokémon collaboration range, covering McNuggets and lucky bags

Huge new campaign has us catching ’em all, all summer long. Today, McDonald’s Japan revealed the first two releases from its massive “Pokémon Summer McDonald’s” collaboration, which is being held to celebrate two major milestones: the fast-food chain’s 55th anniversary in Japan and Pokémon’s 30th anniversary.The joint promotion, dubbed “Pokémon Summer Mac”, is described as McDonald’s Japan’s biggest-ever collaboration with a single partner, and it consists of four special releases spread a

Solid gold Hedorah kaiju from the Godzilla series is now available to pre-order

Made of solid gold, this slime monster is a sound investment.It was in 1971 that everyone’s favorite radioactive iguana faced off with one of its more iconic foes, the pollution monster Hedorah. It proved to be a tough fight for Godzilla as Hedorah’s sludge-like body was highly resistant to most attacks.▼ He could also turn into a flying slime ship, which bothered Godzilla to no end.This classic match is now celebrating its 55th year, and what better way to celebrate such an anniversary than wit

Godiva Japan is now offering two Chocolixirs for the price of one, and here’s how to get them

Luxury chocolatier serves up a very sweet deal for its 100th birthday.Godiva is known for its premium chocolates…and its premium prices. So when the chain announced it would be running a two-for-one ice cream campaign at participating stores in June, we couldn’t quite believe it.▼ Yet, lo and behold, when we stopped by a store to take up the offer, we were indeed given two ice creams for the price of one.When the campaign ended on 30 June, we didn’t think we would ever see the likes of it again,

Hollywood live-action Naruto movie announces global search for its Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura

Believe it! The Hollywood Naruto is finally ready to look for its live-action ninja stars.You could be forgiven for forgetting that there was a Hollywood live-action adaptation of Naruto supposedly in the works. It’s been close to a decade since the Naruto: Shippuden anime TV series ended, and the manga’s conclusion is even farther back in the past. Even spinoff/sequel Boruto’s anime aired its last episode three years ago (though its manga version is still ongoing).So it’d be totally understanda