KFC Invades Japan, Weird Commercials, Angry SOs, and More [Sunday News]

by 16 Comments

A mixed bag this week for news, with stories about fast food, the emperor, and strange CMs. Let’s dive in, shall we?

The KFC Double Down Invades Japan!: In case you’re unfamiliar with the infamous KFC Double Down, it’s the culinary equivalent of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It’s as if a KFC executive saw the Tracy Jordan Meat Machine from 30 Rock and through that it was a good idea. And now we’re exporting this blight on humanity to Japan? God help us all. [via Crunchyroll]

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Japanese man swims palace moat ‘to meet emperor’: As crazy as a Japanese guy swimming over to meet the emperor sounds, it still can’t beat what happened in 2008, when a British guy skinny dipped in the moat around the imperial palace. Is that all you got, Japan? Looks like gaijin are still crazier. Next time, bring your “A” game. [via Reddit]

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What you wish your Japanese boyfriend/girlfriend would quit doing: Yet again, What Japan Thinks shines some light on the Japanese mind with this poll about what annoys your Japanese significant other. The most surprising result for me? Japanese men hate it when their girlfriends want to go out for ramen. Sorry Japanese dudes, but you don’t know how good you’ve got it. [via What Japan Thinks]

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VIDEO: “Eternal Sunshine” Director’s Japanese Commercial is as Weird as You’d Expect: If you’ve ever seen any of Michel Gondry’s movies – like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or The Science of Sleep – then you know how weird of a guy he can be. So it shouldn’t be any surprise that his newest Japanese commercial is just plain strange (but hilarious). [via Crunchroll]

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Review – A Brutally Honest Take on “Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist” by Baye McNeil: Japan blogger Loco of Loco in Yokohama recently put out an eBook about his experiences in Japan. Our good pal recently read through it and detailed his (sometimes emotional) response to it. Not being a huge eBook reader myself, I’m waiting for the physical copy to come out. [via Hikosaemon]

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Nintendo bets on Wii U to reverse profit slide: Time have been rough for Nintendo recently with the apparent failure of its newest handheld, the 3DS. Could this be the end of the once-great game giant? Only time, and the Taiwanese animated news, will tell.

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That’s it for this week in news. Did I miss an important story from this week? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. Double Down look appetizing to you? Follow us on Twitter.
P.P.S. Rather grab something from a Japanese fast food place? Check us out on Facebook or Google+.

  • Anonymous

    If the biggest problem with Japanese guys is poor table manners, maybe I need to get me a Japanese boyfriend! On the other hand, I’m not sure I could cope with the fallout if, heaven forbid, I used “uncouth” words. Maybe I’ll have to stick with my English boyfriend after all! 

  • Anonymous

    If the biggest problem with Japanese guys is poor table manners, maybe I need to get me a Japanese boyfriend! On the other hand, I’m not sure I could cope with the fallout if, heaven forbid, I used “uncouth” words. Maybe I’ll have to stick with my English boyfriend after all! 

  • Ewen_711

    What is “slagging off other people”?  Is it speaking poorly of others?

  • Whitetiger

    I think it is taking food off their plates

  • Whitetiger

    whoops..it is making fun of…

  • Whitetiger

    yes

  • Whitetiger

    no no no

  • http://twitter.com/Ball_Tazer Michael Ball Tazer

    How the hell do big feet have anything to do with shopping….?

  • p_ó

    I guess his foot is swelling up every time he hits it, but he doesn’t mind the pain because he went killer deal shopping.

  • ザッカザッカ君

    Specifically, it’s taking a Zuckerburger off their plate.

  • Anonymous

    The video about Nintendo is ridicolous.
    Wonder if they do know what ‘Nintendo Difference’ means, and why people used to – and still do – believe in Nintendo.
    Also, wonder if they tried the 3DS before judging it, considering that the 3D is working, and it’s working rather well, since PSVita is a complete fail.

    For the other news: interesting, the loco book is really tempting. I do appreciate his blog, sometimes a little too rude, but gives a good view of how things worked for him, and how some don’t still now.

  • http://www.tofugu.com/ Hashi

    ^this

  • Anonymous

    Hands/feet growing to a ridiculous size is a recurring theme in Gondry’s work. As a kid apparently he had
    nightmares where his hand would inflate to a giant size and it’d freak him the hell out.  It happens in Science of Sleep (http://photos1.blogger.com/photoInclude/blogger/1815/2264/1600/req4.jpg) and also the Foo Fighters music video for Everlong (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBG7P-K-r1Y&ob)

  • http://twitter.com/shollum Shollum

    The 3DS is failing for several reasons:
    1.) Nintendo refuses to accept that many people can’t see through the graphics. 3D might be nice, but this weird crossbreed of sprites and polygons doesn’t do much justice. Choose one or the other please (I personally like sprites better for a lot of things).

    2.) Nintendo keeps using similar names for their products, giving the impression that it is an upgrade and not a new console. Many people (including me) thought that the WiiU was just a controller for the longest time. The 3DS just sounds like a DS that has 3D capability, should developers decide to incorporate it.

    3.) There were few (if any) launch titles worthy of buying. No one (especially in the US) is going to buy a console that doesn’t have games that they want to buy, especially at the launch price.

    With that, Nintendo had to halve the price for the console and it’s still selling poorly.

    I personally think that the Vita will do well, if only because of the launch titles and the number of big games that are already in development and will soon be released. I don’t care for gimmicks, I just want a game console with good games. The problem I have with Sony that I don’t have with Nintendo, is the resilience of their consoles. Nintendo has really tough products (at least the GBA was, still one of the best consoles. Portable, large library of games, SNES style sprites) while Sony’s products tend to go for lots of processing power with little to protect it.

    Sorry for the long post.

  • J.T.

    Thought this would be the most appropriate article to post this in – Bacon Strips! Bacon Strips! Bacon Strips! http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118050777?refCatId=1009

  • http://www.facebook.com/baye.mcneil Baye McNeil

    Hey Hashi-San, Loco here. Well the paper version is out. Have you had a chance to read it yet? Would love to hear your thoughts (-;