Win $100 in Flutterscape’s “All I Want For Christmas Contest”: Our friends at Flutterscape are throwing a pretty great contest: you post a product you love from Japan, people vote for you, then Flutterscape gives you a $100 Amazon gift certificate. Pretty good deal, right? [via Flutterscape]

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Experience the tsunami-affected areas of Japan through Street View: Google has, for once, used Google Street View for good by using it to survey the damage done by the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami. Of course, many of these areas have since been rebuilt, but it’s still nonetheless an interesting and sobering reminder of the disaster. [via Google LatLong]

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ampm Closes in Japan: The perennial gas-station favorite ampm announced this week that all ampm stores in Japan will close in Japan or be re-branded as Family Marts. Given the sheer number and awesomeness of convenience stores in Japan, it’s not too surprising that this American chain had a hard time keeping up. Looks like Japan just had too much good stuff. [via reddit]

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[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1-Z_z4iT9k']

Néojaponisme Videocast #1 – Japanese Third-Category Beer Tasting: The always well-dressed Marxy of Néojaponisme is joined by Matt of AltJapan and author Patrick Macias to taste some so-called “third-category beer,” a type of alcohol that makes Pabst Blue Ribbon seem like a dark, flavorful drink. [via Néojaponisme]

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Japan Airlines To Start The World’s First In-Flight e-Comic Next Spring: Some airlines are introducing in-flight wi-fi to their airplanes to please customers, but you know what? Internet is pretty passe. Japan Air is opting to pimp out their planes with electronic manga instead. Who needs Facebook when you can bury your nose in some digital comics? [via Asiajin]

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That wraps up this week and, seeing as Christmas falls on the last Sunday of the year, will be our last Sunday news post of 2011. See you all in 2012!

P.S. Know how to pronounce Néojaponisme? Please, please tell me on Twitter.
P.P.S. Look down upon me for my linguistic ignorance? Check us out on Facebook or Google+.

Fortunately, there a lots of great Japan blogs and news sites that cover all the things that we can’t.

We thought we’d provide a recap of the top 10 best stories from the last week:

Eight Ferraris wrecked in million-dollar pileup: In what Japanese officials are calling “a gathering of narcissists,”a dozen or so luxury sports cars wrecked on a Japanese expressway. And the cause of this insanely expensive crash? A dude in a Ferrari tried to pass a Prius. Looks like Prius owners get the last laugh after all. [via Yahoo!]

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Korean Grammys rolling into Japan: It’s no question that K-Pop has caught on in Japan like wildfire, with groups like Girls’ Generation AKA SNSD making a splash on the Japanese pop charts. But what about Japanese pop groups like AKB48? Is there an Asiatic war in the works over girl-group domination? God help us all. [via Majirox News]

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Japan Poll Finds Record Good Will for U.S.: This week, a group of pollsters slipped Japan a note asking “Do you like the US? ☐ Yes ☐ No.” Fortunately for the US’s self-esteem, Japan went ahead an gave America a big ol’ ☑. [via The New York Times]

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Japan’s Biggest Website, Awash in Illegal Drugs: Earlier this week, a drug ring was uncovered on Japan’s infamous 2channel textboard. Investigator are still working hard to uncover why this was a surprise to anybody. [via Kotaku]

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World’s oldest dog dies at age 26¾: Not only does Japan have the oldest people in the world, but up until earlier this week, it had the oldest dog in the world too. Will the Japanese never get sick of one-upping the rest of the globe with their longevity? Maybe the rest of the world should start measuring age in dog years. [via The Japan Times]

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Havin’ Babies in Japan – A Gaijin Dad’s Tale: Hikosaemon, possibly the wisest Kiwi in the world, once again sheds some light into the sometimes confusing world of Japanese culture and society by recounting his experience as a foreigner becoming a father in Japan. [via Hikosaemon]

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Christmas on Monster Island: I forget where Godzilla fits into the story of Christmas, but with all of the Godzilla-themed Christmas decorations in Japan, he must have played some big role in there. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention in Sunday School, so I can only guess. Was Godzilla one of the Three Wise Men? Maybe he pulls Santa’s sleigh. [via AltJapan]

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Kengo Kuma Designs Starbucks: One of Japan’s top designers is designing one of Japan’s latest Starbucks. Because, of course, the world is in dire need for more Starbucks. [via Japan Trends]

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Japanese men in the kitchen: part 1 of 2: Despite the stereotypes, men in Japan cook more often than you might think (and not just instant ramen)! Head on over to What Japan Thinks to see a breakdown of how men in Japan feel about cooking. [via What Japan Thinks]

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Google+ Occupied By AKB48 Within A Day In Japan: Okay, so Google+ might not be destroying Facebook the way everybody had hoped, but if nothing else, it’s providing yet another haven for AKB48 fans to congregate. So Google might not have made a Facebook killer with Google+, but l think they may have created the world’s greatest AKB48 social networking site. (That’s like, the same thing, right?) [via Asiajin]

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So, what was your favorite Japan-themed bit of news from this week? Let us know in the comments!

P.S. Do you too have monster-themed Christmas decorations? Tell us on Twitter.
P.P.S. Perhaps you’re more of an Ultraman Christmas kind of person Check us out on Facebook or Google+.

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