What you’re looking at right there is the SOM, a piece of personal hardware that the sad men and women across Japan and soon weeaboos across the US can use to help them…what’s a good way of saying…reach climax. That’s right it’s Jack Mehoff machine that can also be aligned to work with the lady parts or certain naughty fellas.

The Gundam in the picture above is 59′ tall and it’s been built in Japan for one reason only;  To help them win their bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, if they can build robots this big give them the Olympic Games after the effort that’s gone into this they deserve it.  I can’t wait to see what crazy ideas they’ve got for the stadium itself.

Hidetoshi Fukuzawa is a leecher, and got arrested for it. He just selfishly downloaded the recently killed “rape game” Rapelay, and didn’t bother to share with the rest of the internets.

It wasn’t the fact that he had an illegal game in his possession that got him in trouble, but it was the mere fact that he downloaded it.

You see…file sharing is illegal in Japan. They even have a special “High Tech Crine Unit” in Kawasaki City (neighborhood of Kyoto). I can only imagine that the police crashed into his home like Major Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell or with a tank from Dominion Tank Police. I love anime, it’s given me such skewed views of life in Japan.

Better than this.

I’m no Weeaboo, but back in the day I loved me some Dragonball Z. I’m sure there are better anime out there but all it needed to keep me hooked as a kid was likeable characters, huge explosions and crazy fights (which the preparation for would often take an episode alone). While the most likely god awful film adaptation comes out this year, it seems that karma has struck for the Dragonball Z fans who are willing to tolerate this mess in the form of a redone Dragonball Z, now in HD and in proper widescreen. I’m 10 days late with this story but my UK Editor Gandysampras insisted I post a story about it. From what the translation on the site source says, these are the facts:

• The DBZ TV series is receiving an extensive “refresh” for Japanese television airing
• This is a celebration of the 20th anniversary of DBZ
• While based on the original animation production, it is being updated with new technology
• This includes extending the frames for formatting on an HD 16:9 display (note: not cropping the image)
• The original Japanese cast is re-grouping to re-voice the show (where available, and unfortunately not including those that have passed on, such as Hirotaka Suzuoki [Tenshinhan])
• Sound effects are being updated
• Unlike the general show, the OPs and EDs are being completely redone
• While not in the above announcement, other reports are noting that the number of episodes is being reduced from 291 to approximately 100
• This begins 05 April 2009 @ 9 am

It all sounds good and I’m looking forward to NOT torrenting this from Japan.  A reduced number of episodes may seem bad but you have to remember that there was a lot of filler and AHHHHHHHHHHH epsiodes in DBZ. As for Gandy, well he’s wanking off  already. The only negative? You can guarantee there will be a new youtube meme by the end of the first episode.

Via

Just like our dear bear boss, I love almost anything about Japan, specially it’s culture and music. J-music (especially J-Rock) has been a big part of my life. But for me, there is one band that’s more special than all the rest, there should be no shock that they’re one of the most popular and influential bands not only in Japan, but also for all of Asia. I’m talking about L’Arc~en~Ciel of course, a band who has proven that great rock music can also be mainstream. This brings me to the topic of today’s I wuv Japan, their album True and why it’s so damned good.

I’m venturing that a good portion of the people visiting this site (minus me, King, and Styos) don’t know who Kamui Gackt is. Let’s just say that the man is a huuuuuge star over in Japan and the subject of today’s I <3 Japan article, though more accurate to say his masterpiece album Mars.

I love damn near everything to do with Japan. I have studied its language, culture, and cuisine, but the one thing that I keep coming back to is their pop culture. In my opinion, there is no other country on the planet that can compare to the campy awesomeness that Japan kicks out every week. The same country that is responsible for Malice Mizer and other ‘themed’ J-Pop groups is also the land of the soundtrack, and the main reason I am writing this article.

Just rifling through my iPod you’ll find about 20% of the total space being filled by either J-Pop, J-Rock, or various soundtracks from Japan. Some of my favorites are the OSTs from some of anime’s most venerable titles, such as Cowboy Bebop, Full-Metal Alchemist, FLCL, Macross, Gundam, The Slayers, Ranma 1/2, Tenchi Muyo!, and Bubblegum Crisis.

For the longest time, I couldn’t understand the lyrics but enjoyed listening to the music nonetheless. There’s always been something about Japanese vocals that has held a place in my heart and mind, yet it wasn’t until I started going to college that my love for the country grew exponentially. In fact, the ONLY class in college that I ever managed to get an A in without much effort was my Japanese class that I looked forward to each day.