Some new hot searches and some fun suggestions

Yeh!

Some new hot searches finally! We have got to get better at quickly changing the hot searches.

Of course there are a few that we know people love and we feel obligated to leave up, which causes a problem (and we need your feedback) <-- blog post about that problem

We thought that, in addition to the hot searches, these might be interesting search terms too:
Shinzo Abe scandals

English teaching that doesn't suck - Unfortunately this did not bring up many useful links. I had been hoping that someone had written a page on this, but oh well. At least I found this funny video:



There is another related video. But I am going to make you look through the results yourself and find it (don't worry it's in the first results page).

Man-Eating Sushi

"In Tokyo, sushi is finally getting its revenge."

- Andrea Sachs
This is possibly the greatest quote ever :)



What is this all about? And how has this "sushi" finally exacted its diabolical revenge on mankind?!



The bizzare story begins in Ooedo-Onsen-Monogatari, a hot spring in Odaiba...

















It was a sunny day in May 2006, the elementary school children were marching along to their schools in their little yellow traffic safety hats, salarymen in their near-identical black business suits were hussling to work en mass, and a mysterious turkish package was arriving at the doorstep of one of Tokyo's swankiest spas.



Little did they know, it was a package that would strike "mild horror" in the hearts of spa-goers and that's contents would be described as simply "disturbing".



Are you ready?!
























As the first brave soul dipped his hand into the mysterious tank dozens of black creatures warmed!

Oh, THE HORROR!

Like something straight out of the pages of a sci-fi thriller, the Garra rufa hunger for human flesh! Dead human fleshhhhhh!

Hey wait, before you run for the covers, I'm talking about dead skin.



Garra rufa, if you want to get scientific, are natives of the river basins of the Northern and Central Middle East, mainly in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. They are an internationally-sought-after, rare and highly protected....
Fish

That's right a fish, but not just any fish, a "Doctor Fish"

These bizzare little "sushi" actually eat the dead skin off of one's fingers and toes, while leaving the live skin clean, refreshed, and most inportantly, intact!

What a way to get a manicure!

All part of the new excitement at the spas and hotsprings of everyone's favourite odd-ball country.

And so, in a deliciously (or disgustingly) ironic turn of events, in the spas of Japan, the sushi eats you!

- - -
-ToRI

p.s. If you want find more info on this here are some interesting searches using nipponster
Japanese skin-eating fish manicure
Doctor fish
others for you to try on your own:
Doctor Fish Japan Limited
sushi getting revenge

Out with the Old and In with the NEW Hot Searches!

After much lasiness, procrastination, and lack of motivation, Here They Are...

The NEW Hot Searches

nuMber 1 - Mystery men's-room money

no, I&m not going to tell you. You will just have to find out on your own.



nUmber 2)











Online Japanese Train Simulators


NumbeR 3/
O-yatoi Gaikokujin
Meet the foreigners who built modern Japan!

NumBer 4>
Japanese PenPals!

EnJoY, my Fellow Japan-Enthusiasts!
-Tori

p.s. IF you are looking for the old hot searches they are not in the archive, they are here

Ramen... in a Can?!

Not since sliced bread...

What a delicious invention!
Of course instant ramen has been around for awhile but you cannot take that "on the go."

Not so with Ramen-in-a-can...

Mobile Ramen! I dare say that it is the best innovation in ramen since Momofuku Ando invented instant noodles.

<-- Mr. Momofuku. Doesn't he look awesome in this picture :)

Too bad Ando missed this Ramen milestone, he died early this year (and was mourned by hungry college students everywhere :)

I wonder if Takeshi Yamada's name will go down in Ramen history...

Well, at least he got a hot search on Nipponster :)

And here it is! -->http://nipponstercom-swicki.eurekster.com/canned+ramen/

Hasta La Vista Schwar-chan!!!

Awww. It's been a good run for the Governator.

Our Arnold Schwarzenegger hot search "Arinamin V" has been fairly popular, but now it's time for him to say goodbye (or at least "hasta la vista").

If you missed our earlier post about him and the hilarious (And I mean HILARIOUS) video clip of him in the Japanese Arinamin V commercials, check it out

Ando Hiroshige Has Usurped The Throne :)

Absolutely beautiful.



Those are the words that best describe Hiroshige's artwork.



And it is his beautiful artwork that compeled us to make him the next new "reigning" hot search.
(sorry Prince Pickles)








Were we wrong?...


















































:)

Keitaro

The Prince Has Been Dethroned

Prince Pickles that is...



If you haven not checked out that hot search yet, here it is:
http://nipponstercom-swicki.eurekster.com/Prince+Pickles+War+Cartoon/
(and you can comment on it and vote for it in the hot search archive)

For those out of the loop :) prince pickles is mascot of Japan's Self Defense force.
Japan + Military still frightens/angers many (especially in Asia) so the Japanese government is hoping that this cute little guy will help curb those emotions.

I don't know. What do you think?
-James

New "virtual tour of Japan" hot search!

This search is looking like a winner.
Have you ever wanted to see what the streets and famous parts of Tokyo look like? (for those who have not yet been)

Well now you can feel like you're there with these virtual tours.

Helping Foreigners in Japan

One of the most important goals of Nipponster.com is to help foreigners in Japan (and people interested in visiting, studying, or living in Japan in the future).

I know from personal experience that adjusting to life in Japan is very difficult at the beginning (even regardless of speaking ability). Some have lived in Japan for years and still find it difficult (If you don't understand that you probably haven't lived there long enough yet :)

We hope to make things easier for would-be and current "gaijin" and any feedback and ideas about how we can do that better are extremely appreciated (contact us)

I found this video about getting around in Japan (below). It's a little cheesy (in a cute way) at points but I think it's very good and this kind of video theme could be very useful for foreigners.

-Tori

arinamin V

"Daijou-V!"

Oh, I love Schwar-chan! So of course we are glad that he is the next hot search.

and here is a video, just for fun :)




TokyoMango explains

Japan Then & Now