For Natsumi Komiyama's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Picture-less book a hit with kids A book titled "えがないえほん" ("E ga Nai Ehon," or "The Book With No Pictures") has been leaving children nationwide in stitches, taking top spot on online bookstore e-hon early last week. The book was written by B.J. Novak, who ...
A quiz on words that high school girls in Japan use in conversation or when texting attracted plenty of attention online earlier this week, with the hashtag #JK用語クイズ (JK yōgo quizu, or JK words quiz) topping Twitter's trending list for much of Tuesday. "JK" ...
Stablemaster adds fuel to sumo fire Sumo grand champion Harumafuji's stablemaster has come under criticism for expressing displeasure at the questions anchorman Yuta Tomikawa asked the yokozuna during a testy news conference on Nov. 29 in which he announced his retirement. Harumafuji retired from sumo to ...
Unari-kun, the official mascot of Narita City in Chiba Prefecture, defeated 1,157 rivals from localities nationwide to win this year's Yuru-kyara Grand Prix title. Chiryuppi of Chiryu, Aichi Prefecture, and Torai-kun of Higashi-Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, took second and third spots, respectively. Unari-kun is the special ...
Children nationwide on Wednesday celebrated shichi-go-san, an annual traditional rite of passage for children reaching the ages of 7, 5 and 3. Traditionally, children in Japan were required to have shaven heads until the age of 3, but thereafter were allowed to grow out their ...
On Nov. 8, the #おじさんLINE hashtag topped Japan Trending rankings on Twitter. The hashtag refers to the manner in which ojisan (middle-aged men) text other people. That same day, news program "Mezamashi TV" unveiled its top five tendencies of middle-aged men when they text. According ...
Instant noodle producer Nissin Food Products has created a "noise-canceling" fork to mask the sound of someone exuberantly slurping down a mouthful of noodles. Named "Otohiko," the utensil has been developed in an attempt to disguise the excessive slurping sounds that can be found emanating ...
