16 German Volunteers Clear Rubble In Tohoku; Sliced Fingers Are “No Problem”

In the middle of this month, the town of Ofunato in Iwata, badly damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake, was visited by 16 German university students and lab workers with their families, who volunteered in the town for half a month of rubble-clearing and visits to evacuee facilities. In the wake of the disaster, many Germans left Japan fearing contamination from the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. But this…
Read more...The shape of the UK suggests a woman conscious of the size of her breasts

For the full story of why this image was made, we turn to the following thread on the Japanese Internet forum 2channel: 368:名無しさん@涙目です。(神奈川県):2011/09/18(日) 18:11:51.12 ID:RWfXEPS40 Can you see it? 371:名無しさん@涙目です。(iPhone):2011/09/18(日) 18:12:50.54 ID:84g6CRe60 >>368 Sorry, can’t see it. 372:名無しさん@涙目です。(千葉県):2011/09/18(日) 18:12:51.10 ID:zIPVIWO70 >>368 Uhhhmmmmmm. Can you draw a picture? 483:名無しさん@涙目です。(神奈川県):2011/09/18(日) 18:36:08.92 ID:RWfXEPS40 Like this 488:名無しさん@涙目です。(大阪府):2011/09/18(日) 18:37:33.38 ID:17Uk2fzs0 >>483 How cute! 560:名無しさん@涙目です。(北海道):2011/09/18(日) 18:55:40.55 ID:WOuqz3rM0 >>483 Is it a little girl, or a genteel…
Read more...Gree Caught Copying Madoka Magica, K-On!, Pokemon

The Japanese cell phone site Gree is well known for its incessantly advertised “free mobile games” that are, of course, not free at all. They have made several million dollars skimming Japanese kids’ cell phone bills in this way. Now a 2ch user has pointed out that most of these games actually steal character designs and content from popular anime and games. Can you name them all? “Contract ★ Magical…
Read more...Children Demonstrate In Tokyo: “Raise Our Allowance!”

“Raise our allowance!” “Extend summer vacation!” 22 children from Nerima’s Kami-Shakuji Children’s Center in Tokyo took to the streets in a “Children’s Pride” demonstration after writing their own demands on placards. The Children’s Center is linked to an artist’s studio that helps the children with these activities. The aim, say the artists, is to raise awareness of their feelings in society. As they approached a yakitori stand on the corner,…
Read more...From Turkey With Love: Islamic Nation Aids Wakayama Prefecture

Repaying a 121-Year-Old Debt, Turkey Aids Japan In 1890, the Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul sank in a storm off of Wakayama prefecture. The rescue of dozens of sailors from the sinking boat by local residents established a pattern of Japanese-Turkish friendship that has lasted ever since. Today, as Wakayama recovers from the terrible effects of Typhoon #12, Japan’s Turkish embassy has been offering considerable human and material aid. Meanwhile, in Tokyo’s…
Read more...Japan Papercraft Awards: Schoolgirls Kissing, Greek Rabbit Gods

Entrants for Japan’s Paper Arts Prize were on display in a Tokyo gallery this week, including an arrangement of folded paper that attracted 2channel’s attention: “Unopened Flower” The other entries are no less stunning: Note that an exact mirror image of the piano is on the other side of the sculpture! Original source: Itai News (Japanese)
Read more...European Philosophers Become Magical Anime Girls

UPDATE: This book is being translated by the author of this blog. Subscribe to this blog or follow me on Twitter if you’d like to receive updates. (Obviously they’ll be mixed in with a lot of other stuff.) Author Junji Hotta has blessed the world with “Tsundere, Heidegger, and Me”, a tour de force of European philosophy… in a world where all the philosophers are self-conscious anime girls. The books…
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