ROCKET NEWS
Earlier this week, our hearts were Kentucky-fried a flutter over the news that KFC will soon be opening an all-you-can-eat buffet in Osaka. As it turns out, though, that’s not the only big development for the restaurant chain. Right now, the world’s most popular fried chicken outfit h...

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ROCKET NEWS
Japan’s public transportation network gets high marks for its punctuality and cleanliness. Not every ride on the rails is a pleasant one, though, because some lowlifes called chikan use the crowded conditions on commuter trains as cover to grope unsuspecting women.
Now, one high schoo...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Buy a piece of Japanese postwar design history and donate to a good cause by purchasing one of the items of furniture and fixtures from the Hotel Okura Tokyo.
When the iconic Hotel Okura Tokyo closed at the end of August, design fans and hipsters around the globe lamented the passing...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Border Shirtsizer is a new type of musical instrument gadget that films the stripes on a shirt with a video camera and then converts the lines into sounds. The “player” stands in front of the camera wearing a stripy shirt and moves to produce music.
Created by Open Reel Ensemble’s Ei...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Japan is famous for its vending machines because there are so many of them (five million!), but also because they are constantly “doing” new things.
While usually the headlines are generated by the latest hi-tech advances — vending machines that can take selfies, for example — someti...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Japan is a country known for its great generosity when it comes to serving customers, both current and potential alike. The level of customer service can be seen in various forms of service, from marketing freebies you can collect on the street (such as packets of tissues and paper f...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Kagawa prefecture on Shikoku island, famed for its udon noodles, has found another way to turn its popular food to good use — power.
Chiyoda Manufacturing in Takamatsu City has announced “udon power generation” in which waste udon noodles are fermented to make methane gas, which is t...

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JAPAN TRENDS
This is sure to get fans of Sanrio’s popular feline character super excited.
Behold, folks, the Hello Kitty Color Contact Lens, a pair of violet-colored contacts with the Hello Kitty character decorating them in a cute circle of cat faces and hearts.
Needless to say, these are not co...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang will be arriving in Roppongi in March 2016.
The Snoopy Museum, the second in the world, is opening in Roppongi for a limited two and a half years.
It will be located near the Roppongi Hills development and exhibit the original dr...

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ROCKET NEWS
If you forgot to stop by your local Hot Topic store to check out their very cute Studio Ghibli collection, go soon, because it’s all on sale now!
However, keep in mind that those pieces are so last season.
If you’re more of a fashion-forward Ghibli fan, you’ll be happy to hear that a ...

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