JAPAN TODAY
 
NEW YORK — Japanese musician Yoshiki performed two back-to-back sold-out shows at New York’s famous classical venue, Carnegie Hall, on Jan 12 and 13. The drummer, pianist, composer, and leader of X Japan played a selection of his band’s popular songs, his original classical composit...

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JAPAN NEWS
 By Masafumi Taga / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
The “mightiest samurai warrior” and the many mysteries surrounding him are the focus of “Sanadamaru,” NHK’s epic historical drama, which started airing on Sunday.
 
The warrior is Sanada Nobushige, widely known as Sanada Yukimura. Masato...

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ROCKET NEWS
Popular Japanese snack Pocky has had a makeover and they’re now available heart-shaped and in “lucky” blue for a limited time!
We’re sure many of our readers are familiar with Pocky, which are basically thin pretzel sticks covered with chocolate (with one end uncoated of course, so yo...

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JAPAN NEWS
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Dragon Quest video game series produced by Square Enix Co. has reached its 30th year. The first edition of the series was developed in 1986 for the Family Computer Disk System, also known as the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Square Enix announced Wednesday that...

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NEWS ON JAPAN
Officials with Tokyo's metropolitan government say flu season has started in the Japanese capital.
They said on Thursday that the number of people diagnosed with influenza in the week through Sunday was 1.7 per medical institution. That figure is high enough to indicate an outbreak....

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NEWS ON JAPAN
Top Japanese brewer Asahi Group Holdings is taking a gamble amid a new wave of global consolidation.
 
Asahi is poised to submit a bid to buy Grolsch and Peroni, two brands of beer owned by U.K.-based SABMiller. A deal could be worth around 400 billion yen ($3.37 billion).
But Asahi...

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ROCKET NEWS
The Sailor Moon girls are bringing their gorgeous meals and treats to Osaka for the very first time. 
Sailor Moon fans after a taste of their favourite warrior were over the moon last year when Anion Station, a cafe and bar operated by Namco in Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighbourhood, brought ...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Top Japanese design studio nendo has designed this coffee mugs for Starbuck’s in Japan.
Sold at Starbucks branches throughout Japan, the mugs have a print on the bottom that makes it look like the cup is full of coffee. This means when they are drying or sitting upside down on your k...

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JAPAN TRENDS
Everywhere around the globe has been going Star Wars crazy due to the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
This is especially the case in Japan, though, which saw anarray of merchandise and exclusive products throughout 2015, as well as traditional folding screen paintings with B...

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JAPAN TODAY
TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he aims to strengthen his political base by winning an upper house election this summer, while underscoring the importance of the recently agreed free trade area among Pacific nations.
“In order to achieve results, we need a stable basis. ...

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