Tag: Parody

The Japanese media and entertainment world can be almost Stalinist in its approach to damage control. When a celebrity is arrested for an infraction, and especially if it involves drugs or illegal ...

No sooner had JR East announced the name of the new station along the Yamanote Line as Takanawa Gateway, igniting much surprise and criticism, than Japanese netizens turned the naming choice into a ...

While originally a western custom, April Fools' Day has now become something of a tradition recently for Japanese brands and services to trick us with seemingly incredible new products or ...

The ludic Japanese Twittersphere strikes again. Japanese Twitter users like to play tag games where they post a picture of someone (typically someone famous or currently in the news spotlight) and ...

Who says Japanese politics is boring? With the recent passing of the controversial security bills, there has plenty to get excited about. Protesters have demonstrated in their tens of thousands ...

After the immense controversy over the 2020 Olympic stadium design (scrapped over rising costs) and official logo design (scrapped after designer Kenjiro Sano was accused of plagiarism multiple ...

The debacle over the new Tokyo National Stadium is the gift that keeps on giving. Not a week goes by without yet another government U-turn or yet another bump in the already inflated budget. ...

Well, it didn't take long. The threat by IS to execute two Japanese hostages, Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto, in retaliation to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pledge in Israel to help fight Islamic ...

It's nearly summer. The rainy season will soon be upon us, along with cockroaches, humidity and the usual host of great summer matsuri festivals. And loads of summer food. One of the best is ...