Reaction to the deconstruction and departure of the 18 meter tall landmark Gundam statue in Tokyo’s Odaiba area was bittersweet, but with the announcement that the previous RX-78-2 Gundam would be replaced by a bigger and better full scale Unicorn Gundam with special transformation abilities, complaints weren’t heard for long. This past weekend, the new and improved Unicorn Gundam was unveiled in Odaiba’s Diver City, and it is easily the biggest and most impressive Mobile Suit statue yet! 内山さんとユニコーン変形 pic.twitter.com/krEH8KRLWy — エイジ (@EIZ_510) 2017年9月23日 Standing at 19.7 meters tall, this RX-0 Unicorn Gundam clocks in at a one-to-one scale, and doesn’t just sport improvements in size. The new Gundam features…

When you think of Japanese instruments, you may be familiar mostly with the koto, shakuhachi, and shamisen, as well as how they can be used to give popular music a beautiful and traditional Japanese twist. Thanks to Twitter user @wyrm06, many even in Japan are now discovering an otherworldly rippling instrument that they had never heard of before called the Hamon Slit Drum. With 70,000 tweets, many are surprised to find out that the pings and echoes of the Hamon Slit Drum actually come from a Japanese instrument. 日本にもヤバい金属楽器はある！という事で「波紋音」です。あまりにも豊かな倍音成分がヤバくて無限。Rav drumと同じ金属製のスリットドラムですが作品ごとにランダムな切れ込みになっており、完全に自分だけの楽器になります。この個体はオーナーが中に鎖を仕込んでいてビビり音が出ます。 pic.twitter.com/0gW0R3gvsz — サカン@世界の打楽器 (@wyrm06) 2017年9月17日 Of course, the Hamon is very similar to the Russian RAV Drum (seen below), along…

Japanese festivals seem to put a priority on spectacle, whether they be magical lantern festivals that seem like they came right out of Spirited Away, or penis festivals with giant marching phalluses, guests always walk away with a sight to remember. Japan’s most northern prefecture of Hokkaido is home to a many regional festivals, but it’s dramatic fire-walking festival held in the town of Furubira may be one of its most spectacular. Source: @katuka2 While not the only fire-walking (hi no watari) event in Japan, Furubira’s festival adds a theatrical flair by having a Tengu cross a barrier of towering wall of flames. Tengu (“Heavenly Dog”) are somewhat disruptive spirits…

While by no means a booming fashion trend, in recent years Japan has seen a growing interest in the colorful niche of themed swimsuits. While they are obviously attention-getters at any beach or poolside gathering, they also function as valuable pieces for cosplayers and models, as seen with the Shrine Maiden Bikini. Japanese fetish and design brand School Fiction has been leading the way with a fashion lineup of “sexy” swimsuits with the aesthetic of traditional Japanese school uniforms. The latest in their series takes another classic Japanese school uniform, the gakuran, and transforms it into a stylish and very convincing swimsuit. Source: School Fiction The gakuran is a stand-up…

Japan’s love for cat cafes has yet to burn out. The feline trend has evolved beyond a simple opportunity to sip coffee and play with cats, and spawned interesting varieties that offer up incredibly luxurious cat host clubs, cafes with cosplaying kitties, and even opportunities to raise awareness for and adopt FIV+ cats. Recently, Japan continued the evolution of cat cafes by introducing the world’s first cat cafe train, courtesy of Yoro Railways. More photos from Sunday's first ever cat cafe train. One train in Japan with 30 kittens. For 2 1/2 hours, the cutest place on earth. #cats pic.twitter.com/BV8HRYsenv — Bill Adler (@billadler) 2017年9月11日 The event, hosted by Yoro…

Many traditional Japanese sweets (wagashi) are lauded not only for their exquisite taste, but also their intricate and beautiful designs as well. As recently seen with a Japanese jelly dessert that reveals a different picturesque scene with each slice, many longstanding wagashi makers are looking to enhance the aesthetic qualities of these treats, but sometimes it’s the simple creative effort people apply at home that stands out the most. Take for instance, animal lover and Japanese Twitter user Nao’s (@england618) take on dango, a Japanese dumpling sweet made from mochiko rice flour. Nao has made perhaps the cutest dango Japan has ever seen, as they are shaped and decorated to…

Sometimes, the most ordinary and even beat-up items around us carry a meaning deeper than an initial glance will yield. Japanese Twitter user R1A (@ 922_riaru) recently found that out when she noticed that her father often favored wearing a shirt that had become tattered. She writes that even when holes would open up in the shirt after he continued to wear it for 20 years, he would sew them closed and fix the shirt himself. Puzzled by this, she would complain to him that “it looks lame, why don’t you just buy a new one?“ Source: @922_riaru Her father kept his answer to himself, likely having been told the…

Whether it be performing funeral rites, staffing a hotel, or simply being a terrifying poop demon, Japan seems to have a robot for everything. When its not flexing its technological muscle in more adventurous ways, however, Japan focuses on practical uses for these clever robos, and Japanese robotic engineering company Yaskawa’s Yaskawa-kun may be living out the most practical use of all–giving people ice cream. 会社にいるアイスクリームロボット。100円でソフトクリーム🍦作ってくれる😋 An ice cream-serving robot pic.twitter.com/N4ldjYiS17 — とら(Steve) (@torachitech2) 2017年8月24日 you might remember Yaskawa from when they developed a sword-wielding robot to duel Japan’s modern samurai, but the adorable (and somewhat creepy) Yaskawa-kun is a little less aggressive, handing over soft-serve ice cream to customers…

Sakura (@kawauso_sakura) is a one-year old otter, and it’s pretty fair to say that she is the lead star of an otter popularity boom on Japanese social media that may have resulted in at least one pet cafe that lets you cuddle with otters. Like many otters, Sakura is rather playful, but since she’s still young, she has yet to move on from a certain sleeping habit she has. According to her Twitter account, she can’t quite accept her bedtime without having something to cuddle up tightly with–namely this stuffed piggy doll! ぬいぐるみぎゅーしないと寝られない系女子！ pic.twitter.com/7QVZKNODQx — カワウソさくら (@kawauso_sakura) 2017年8月23日 The ease with which she falls asleep after getting in a good…

Comic Market, or Comiket as it is often called, is Japan’s largest comic convention. Convention-goers are known to turn train stations in war zones with their mad dash to get to the convention, but one of the main attractions at the event is the high level of cosplay to be seen. While many elaborate and painstakingly made costumes are on display, Japanese bodybuilder Taichi Shimizu shows that sometimes a bare bones approach can have just as attention-grabbing an impact with his beefy Master Roshi cosplay. 今日コミケで見た亀仙人が完全一致だった笑 pic.twitter.com/SdEcIJtBJT — morio (@rock_and_sxzn) 2017年8月13日 清水泰地さん(@taichi_shimizu_ )ドラゴンボール 亀仙人 亀仙人最強説。魔人ブウとかはワンパンだろこれは。#C92 pic.twitter.com/2w1yYRSVLh — かわうそ (@adventure_tm) 2017年8月13日 Shimizu clearly takes his training seriously, but he also made…

By now you may be familiar with the work of Tokyo-based French anime artist Thomas Romain (Symphogear, Space Dandy, Aria, Macross Delta, and Basquash!), who literally illustrates the artistic bond he shares with his two sons in a series of artwork titled “Father and Sons Design Workshop Illustrations”. In it, Romain takes the creative sketches of his sons and applies his skill as a talented professional animator to bring them to life with an awesome anime aesthetic. Romain told us the project has given his eldest son inspiration to become an animator himself, and he also mentions that one day he wants to collect them all and make a book…

Ukiyo-e, which translates to “image(s) of the floating world,” is a genre of Japanese art that thrived from the 17th to 19th centuries. Artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of everything from scenes of folk tales to erotica, and though the number of artists specializing in ukiyo-e has diminished since the genre was at its zenith, efforts are being made to bring it back into the modern art world. Some of these efforts include applying an Ukiyo-e aesthetic to popular franchises such as Star Wars, and legendary Iron Maiden mascot Eddie. One of the more charming and eccentric examples of this we have seen lately comes from Atsushi Segawa, a…

In that past, we’ve seen some incredibly intricate and beautiful work produced by the art form of kirie, or traditional Japanese paper cutting, which is also very similar to kirigami. While origami may be the more famous Japanese paper art, Japanese Twitter user and artist @mi_kocoa (Risa), is giving some much needed love to kirie in an absolutely gorgeous way with her intricately carved designs. Source: @mi_kocoa Risa’s animal and floral designs have gained her quite a following on Twitter, but its her latest text-based piece of kirie that is gaining her the most accolades. Intricately carved, she has taken an excerpt from Kenji Miyazaka’s classic Japanese fantasy novel Night…

In what has become an annual event in Yokohama’s Minato Mirai area, the The Pikachu Outbreak Festival runs for nearly a week long (8/9-8/15 this year) never fails to impress with its inexorable onslaught of Pikachus. Home of Japan’s longest running Pokemon Center store, every year Yokohama is invaded by 1,500 Pikachus who dance, march, and cuddle guests in a festival that takes over major train lines and buildings with Pikachu decorations. This year, however, the Pikachu army isn’t just marching through the streets–they are taking to both air and land in the form of Pikachu boats and blimps! 輸送 #ピカチュウ大量発生チュウ pic.twitter.com/fkkVDid4Sj — オーナー🍕🌭🍢 (@hurousu_07) 2017年8月9日 #ピカチュウ大量発生チュウ pic.twitter.com/GOwTo5Y3U8 — ナーミ…

We’ve seen some of Japan’s incredible cardboard artists apply their craft to feline goods, including an awesome DIY sushi restaurant house for their cat, as well as a commercial kitty conductor train, but one couple on Twitter may have trumped them all with some creative teamwork. Husband @kyoryu_kuramo is a designer and illustrator, with a talented welder for a wife who has applied her skill to their feline problems before. One such example is this custom grating she made to keep their curious cat from playing in the sink. 妻が猫入らないようにする蓋を作ったみたい。溶接工ってすごいなぁとつくづく思う pic.twitter.com/4peO2TZjZx — 倉持ｷｮｰﾘｭｰ@(日)東M13a (@kyoryu_kuramo) 2017年4月7日 Knowing his wife’s skill and their cat’s penchant for mischief, @kyoryu_kuramo took advantage of his…