Azia Phreak Mail Surver

KFC Japan’s “The American Burgers” include a pile of guilt

KFC set out to recreate the image of three parts of the U.S. in sandwich form, and it looks like they hit at least one bullseye.People in Japan are well aware that KFC originated in the U.S. Seeing as how Kentucky doesn’t get a lot of international tourists or pop culture attention, though, very few Japanese people have any strong impression of Kentucky Fried Chicken’s home state, to the extent that most Japanese people call KFC itself simply “Kentucky.”So for the trio of sandwiches KFC Japan is

Japanese government to allow desecration of flags on kids’ meals

A victory for freedom of eats.The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been hard at work drafting a bill to criminalize desecration of the Japanese flag. It’s apparently a pressing matter, even though I’ve never seen anyone do anything bad to a flag before. In fact, I rarely see the flag used much at all, good or bad. But it’s perhaps in anticipation of continuing protests to the current administration’s efforts to roll back the pacifist elements of the constitution that they feel this is a prior

World Internet Conference Asia-Pacific Summit 2026 concludes, gathering global technology dignitaries to deepen Asia-Pacific digital collaboration

HONG KONG, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Hosted by the World Internet Conference (WIC), organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government, and co-organised by the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau, the 2026 WIC Asia-Pacific Summit was held in Hong Kong on 13-14 April 2026 and concluded successfully. The two-day international flagship event brought together around 1000 global innovation and technology (I&T) stakeholders, including government and business leaders, representatives from international organisations, experts and scholars from over 50 countries and regions. The Summit further deepened regional digital cooperation, showcased Hong Kong's progress and advantages in driving digital transformation and AI governance, and reinforced its position as an international I&T centre and a two-way platform connecting the country and the world.

Two new Sailor Moon art manhole covers are coming to Usagi’s real-world Tokyo neighborhood

Outer Senshi join their anime/manga magical girl sisters on the streets of Minato Ward.Sailor Moon features some pretty fantastical settings, with much of its mythos involving ancient kingdoms on the moon and antagonists hailing from even farther reaches of the cosmos. However, most of the series takes place in Minato, one the actual wards of real-world Tokyo, where Usagi and her friends live, go to school, and fight many of the manga/anime’s monsters of the week,So a while back, Minato Ward dec

Krispy Kreme releases new limited-edition fox doughnuts at only four stores in Japan

Kitakitsune Milk celebrates the charm of Hokkaido with kawaii style. Japan’s northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido is famous for many things, including high-quality milk, thanks to the region’s many dairy farms, and the indigenous Ezo red fox, known locally as the “kitakitsune” (“northern fox”).Both these renowned claims-to-fame are now being honoured in a new Krispy Kreme product called the “Krispy Kreme Premium Hokkaido Kitakitsune Milk“.The “Krispy Kreme Premium Ho

APEC ministers' meeting seeks broadest common ground on economic, trade cooperation: MOC

NANJING -- The 2026 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting that concluded Saturday in China's Suzhou has actively ...

Used chopsticks upgraded from “waste” to “valuable material” by Kawasaki City thanks to ChopValue

They’re very good at using chopsticks.Every day, millions of people in Japan crack open a bento or dig into a restaurant’s meal while holding a pair of chopsticks that are destined for the garbage once finished, possibly even sooner if one is dropped on the floor. On the bright side, they’re biodegradable compared to plastic utensils, but it still seems wasteful to discard so much material after one use.It’s something the Canadian company ChopValue has been working to address by developing

APEC ministers’ meeting achieves multiple results, consensuses; China’s leading role injects more certainty into regional and global economy, Chinese expert says

The 2026 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting that conclud Saturday, achieving results and consensuses in five ...

APEC ministers' meeting seeks broadest common ground on economic, trade cooperation: MOC

The 2026 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting that concluded Saturday in China's Suzhou has actively sought the ...

Gundam teams up with 300-year-old daruma maker for wood-carved anime mecha figures[Photos]

It’s a Gun-daruma!Being a mecha anime, Gundam is very focused on the future. As a matter of fact, it’s so focused on the future that the franchise has made up multiple “Century” and “Era” names for its timelines, freeing it from the need to align its narratives with real-world history as its characters head out into space.That doesn’t mean that the anime’s mobile suits can’t combine beautifully with traditional earthbound aesthetics, though, and as proof Gundam is partnering with a Fukushima cra

Tokyo’s new extra-expensive ramen restaurant is dividing opinions, so we tried a bowl

Crab, Claaaaab, and high prices in Asakusa.Rising prices in Japan have put ramen restaurants in a tricky position, since part of what makes the beloved noodle dish so beloved is that, traditionally, it’s been not only a tasty meal option, but an affordable one too. As inflation continues, though, a growing number of ramen restaurants are now charging more than 1,000 yen (US$6.50) for a bowl of ramen, and crossing over the four-figure threshold in price has made restaurant ramen a tougher sell to

Bizarre Japanese vending machine sells “Peace and Equality” and “Angels and Demons”

We find out just how devilish and angelic these 100-yen surprises are.Our reporter Natsuno Futon was strolling the streets of OyamaCity in Tochigi Prefecture the other day when she came across an unusual vending machine. The first thing that caught her eye was the huge “100 yen” (US$0.63) sign on the front, but then, as she stepped closer, she became even more intrigued.There, in the window display, were the words “いろんなおもちゃ” (“various toys“), and beneath them:

Japan’s instant ramen snack theme park features an athletic course even adults can enjoy

Sample ramen pizza, alongside other limited-edition items to pick up, or just make your own treats.Snacks in Japan come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from ever-feuding mushrooms and bamboo shoots to make-your-own sweets, but one that I see fairly often in the hands of little children are packets of Baby Star Ramen. A popular snack made of deep-fried, crunchy, bite-sized pieces of instant noodles, Baby Star Ramen came about in 1959 when the founder of Oyatsu Company realized that the broken n

Pizza Hut Japan’s drinkable curry pizza is here – Is it all we dreamed it would be?[Taste test]

Too much of a good thing, or just enough?We weren’t sure if curry pizza is something that should exist. You could make the argument that the combination seems too weird to work. Alternatively, one could contend that, with curry and pizza already being two of the world’s most delicious foods as separate entities, combining them carries the risk of creating some sort of super cuisine that, once tasted, we’d all be unable to stop eating, leading to the collapse of society as all other human activit

Man in Japan calls in bomb threat because he doesn’t want to go to his own work farewell party

Whatever happened to just faking a stomach ache?In March, a restaurant in Saga City received a phone call, and when an employee answered it, the voice on the other end of the call gruffly commanded “Go check your entrance.” When the staff did, they discovered a piece of paper with a chilling message written on it:“I have planted a bomb.”On this same night, the restaurant had a reservation for a farewell party, in which a group of coworkers was celebrating a colleague who was leaving the organiza

Memorial bell inside Hiroshima’s Peace Park has been silenced, but for a sweet reason

Children’s Peace Monument is going to be a quieter place for a while.Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is located in the center of Hiroshima City, right across the street from where the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945. Aside from being a tranquil green space, the park contains several monuments to those who lost their lives in or after the bombing, one of which is the Children’s Peace Monument.The Children’s Peace Monument was built in 1958, following the death of Sadako Sasaki, who was a

Japanese temple burns to the ground, fire burning inside for 1,200 years unharmed

Sacred fire saved from non-sacred fire on Miyajima.Hiroshima Prefecture’s Miyajima Island, famed for the torii gate that stands in the water just off its coast, is home to one of Japan’s most beautiful and historically significant concentrations of shrines and temples. Among them, though, Daishoin Temple is especially noteworthy, as it’s the oldest Buddhist temple on the island, founded by traveling monk Kukai (a.k.a. Kobo Daishi) in the year 806.Located on Mt. Misen, along a popular hiking trai

Pokémon Company to require Japanese government ID cards for some online Pokémon card purchases

New system would prevent non-residents from buying certain items from Pokémon Center Online.Scalping is becoming an increasingly big problem for the Pokémon franchise in Japan, and we’ve been seeing increasingly inventive attempts to counter resellers’ attempts to snatch up in-demand items and flip them for profit, such as stores making shoppers pass a Pokémon quiz before they can make a purchase or taking scissors to the packaging afterwards. Now the Pokémon Company itself is considering possib

Krispy Kreme Japan is bringing two special donuts to the most-forgotten big city in the country

Local sweets-fan favorite serves as inspiration for one of two donuts not available anywhere else in the world.You’d think it’d be hard for a city of nearly two and a half million people to get overlooked, but that’s the position Nagoya often finds itself in. Despite having some very cool stuff (like a castle and good access to the Studio Ghibli anime theme park), Nagoya is often skipped by travelers and pop stars alike, perhaps because it can’t match the big-city glamor of Tokyo and Osaka, but

Japanese vending machine find introduces us to a new drink you can’t get anywhere else

An iconic Japanese candy, now in drinkable form. Japan is filled with vending machines, and one of the people helping to prop up the industry is our very own reporter Mr Sato. He buys at least one bottle of water from a vending machine every day, so he’s become a bit of a pro when it comes to knowing what type of beverages are inside them. However, when he was out and about visiting Saitama the other day, he came across something that made him stop and do a double-take.▼ There, inside the