Twentythree

A soap bubble guru is born at the SoraHouse.

Ever since our boss Yoshio purchased a property in the mountains of Saitama for just one million yen (US$9,100), he and some of our workmates have been exploring the 353-square-metre (3,800-square-foot) patch of land and mulling over plans to renovate the two-storey house, which covers 131 square metres (1,410 square feet) of floor space.

That’s a lot of space for our stressed-out Tokyo workers to have fun in, and one of our reporters, Masanuki Sunakoma, decided the ultimate way to destress in such tranquil surroundings would be by throwing a soap bubble party. 

So he packed a suitcase full of bubble machines, procured from 100-yen chainstore Daiso, and somehow managed to convince Yoshio and trusty colleague Go Hatori that this would be one of his best ideas yet.

▼ Masanuki came prepared with 44 soap bubble machines, priced at 330 yen (US$2.89) a pop from Daiso.

Just looking at his 44 soap bubble machines, all lined up in beautiful, neat rows like this, was a sight to soothe Masanuki’s soul.

▼ There were 23 red machines, and 21 green machines shaped like adorable little frogs.

The machines may have looked beautiful to Masanuki, but to Go they looked like a whole lot of work. Each little box needed three AA batteries to run, so Go tugged Masanuki out of his reverie and the two of them began inserting a total of 132 batteries into the machines.

After inserting the batteries, they then had to pour liquid soap into each machine. It was tedious work, and Masanuki began to wonder if the stress involved might be counterproductive to the de-stressing effects of the bubble party at the end of it all.

Still, Masanuki figured a little distress to de-stress was definitely worth it. Once the hard work was done, he arranged the machines in a circle, creating a magic-circle-like barrier between him and the stress of the world.

With preparations now complete, Masanuki sat himself in the middle of the circle, where he looked like some sort of strange guru, surrounded by a cluster of faithful red and green cult followers who were ready to bestow their graces upon him.

Masanuki felt as if some strange festival was about to begin, and he wasn’t sure if this was a form of stress relief or escapism, but as he waited for the festivities to start, he already felt the stress being lifted from his shoulders.

Yoshio began hopping around the outside of the circle like a frog, turning each machine on with the skill and efficiency of a seasoned pro.

Being the giving boss he is, Yoshio was happy to make Masanuki the King of the Bubble Party, but neither he nor Go could’ve predicted the true power of the bubbles they were about to unleash into the room.

▼ The festival began with a gentle scattering of soap bubbles…

▼ …which steadily grew in number as each machine whirred into action.

▼ “Masanuki! *gasp* You’ve never looked so beautiful!“

▼ Behold the birth of the Soap Bubble Guru!

The machines bowed down in worship of Masanuki’s genius, which had brought them together here to create this soapy miracle.

It was a bubble party for one, and all Yoshio and Go could do was gaze upon the miracle, yelling “sugoi!” (“amazing!”) over and over, in complete awe of the situation.

▼ Go remarked that Masanuki looked like he was sitting in a jacuzzi or bubble bath.

Peering out through the sparkling, crystal-like soap bubbles, Masanuki felt as if he’d levelled up as a human being. This was more than stress relief — this was a rebirth, with our reporter attaining all the zen-like serenity of a knowledgeable guru.

▼ “These bubbles, floating softly in the air and bursting in an instant…beautiful and ephemeral, like cherry blossoms.”

Like all good things, Masanuki’s journey to enlightenment took a lot of hard work and effort, but the rewards were definitely worth it.

▼ Take a gander at the work that went on behind the scenes in this video below:

If you too would like to become a soap bubble guru, all you need is 44 soap bubble machines…and a space to enjoy it all in. It just goes to show that once you — or your boss — owns a cheap place in the Japanese countryside, there’s no end to the hijinks and adventures that await you!

Photos ©SoraNews24
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New limited-edition flavour may not be the star of this year’s festivities.

With Halloween now done and dusted for another year, Starbucks isn’t wasting any time getting into the festive spirit, releasing its first Christmas Frappuccino of the year in Japan on 1 November.

This year, the first limited-edition Frappuccino of the holiday season is called the Chocolate Strawberry Festive Frappuccino, and it’s not the only seasonal beverage available from 1 November. Also released on the same day is the Chocolate Strawberry Festive Mocha (priced from 510 yen [US$4.50]), the Creme Brulee Latte (from 490 yen), the Gingerbread Latte (from 470 yen), the Caramel Almond Milk (from 451 yen), and the Joyful Medley Tea Latte (from 440 yen).

▼ That’s a lot of festive drinking.

Our Starbucks expert K. Masami was looking forward to getting a taste of her first festive Frappuccino of the year, and while she wanted to try all the new beverages, she also wants to stay on Santa’s good list, so she limited herself to just the Frappuccino and the Creme Brulee Latte for this visit.

Starting off with the Frappuccino, priced at 660 yen, the first thing that caught her eye was the generous mound of sticky, gooey berry syrup at the top of the drink.

This looked set to be a very berry experience, with a large serving of strawberry mixture in the base of the drink as well. Both pulp and juice are used in this syrup, to provide a tangy, fruity contrast to all the rich chocolate sauce spread throughout.

According to Starbucks, the chocolatey, berry hues are said to be inspired by the chocolate-covered strawberries enjoyed at Christmas markets in Germany, with the bright red strawberry pulp topping designed to look like “a red stand at a holiday market”.

Upon looking at the drink, Masami did get a sense of the festive spirit, and when she tasted her first spoonful, she was pleased to find the sweetness of chocolate and the tartness of the strawberry were perfectly matched.

It was a harmonious blend of flavours, brought together beautifully with the smooth whipped cream topping and crunchy chocolate pieces.

This was a delicious Frappuccino, but there weren’t any hidden surprises to make Masami go “wow” here. So she licked her lips clean and reached for the Crème Brulee Latte in the hopes that this one might exceed her expectations.

Sure enough, this was exactly what Masami needed. Not only did the sugary surface of the drink resemble the burnt top of a Crème Brulee, it had the same aroma and taste as the sweet French dessert as well. Still, it wasn’t overly sweet, allowing the espresso in the latte to stand out, creating a well-rounded balance of coffee and Crème Brulee flavours.

Masami reckons Starbucks has made a good start with its first festive Frappuccino of the season, but for her, the Crème Brulee Latte ended up stealing the show on release day. While she’s hoping the chain’s next festive Frappuccino will amp up the wow factor, like it did last year, she’s still got plenty on the menu to keep her entertained at the moment, with the Chocolate Strawberry Festive drinks available from 1-23 November, and the lattes and almond milk spicing things up right until Christmas Day.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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Sailor Moon is here to give us a tutorial in transformation magic!

Throughout October, our resident cosplay and makeup expert Natsuki Gojo has been giving us styling tips for nailing Halloween cosplay…even if, in these pandemic times, you’ve got a mask covering up half your face.

For her final instalment in the series, Natsuki is sharing some tips that’ll last us well beyond Halloween, as it’s all about perfecting big, sparkly manga/anime eyes. And to show us how it’s done, she’s dressing up as one of her all-time favourite characters, Sailor Moon.

Natsuki says the first thing to keep in mind for any magical girl transformation is that makeup has the power to change not just your appearance but also your state of mind, making it a vital component of getting into character. And one of the most important points to remember is to always choose makeup shades that match the colour of the wig you’ll be wearing.

To match her golden locks, Natsuki chose: golden shades for her eyebrow powder and mascara (top left), brown and white liquid eyeliners (top middle), warm brown and glittery eyeshadows (top right), brown fake lashes (bottom left), and powders for shading, which can be in brown hues to match your skin (bottom right).

To help create the illusion of big, anime eyes, it’s best to attach false lashes over both the top and bottom lashes. For natural-looking top lashes, opt for the ones that add oomph to the outer corner of the eyes, and to increase the size of your eyes, make sure the lower lashes are a pinky shade of brown.

To add extra sparkle and largeness to the eyes, Natsuki used the eyeshadow shades marked with stars below. She blended the top three warm brown shadows over her eyelid, gradating them for a natural look, before adding the glittery shadows in special sections for extra sparkle.

The brown liner was used to add definition to the top lid, while the white liner was used on her waterline to make her eyes appear larger. Be sure to attach your lower lashes under your natural ones, to make the gap between your eye and lashes seem even bigger, and then add the glittery shadows to three special sections around your eye (circled below).

▼ By adding sparkle in these areas, you’ll be able to draw people’s eyes away from your eyeball, making it appear even larger.

A secret hack to nailing the anime-eye look is to use an eyeshadow with finer glitter on the inner corner of the eye and the centre of the upper eyelid, and an eyeshadow with larger glitter underneath the eye.

Another hack for mask-wearing cosplayers is to remember to shade the sides of your nose to make it appear smaller, just as you would when revealing your entire face. As the top part of your nose is still visible when wearing a mask, this is an important point to bring the whole look together.

▼ Adding blue-coloured contact lenses completes the transformation sequence!

Natsuki’s eyes are always beautiful with or without makeup, but now they display a special magic that gives her the power of the moon!

According to Natsuki, there’s quite a lot of makeup needed to master this look, as well as some application know-how, but once you’ve tried it a few times, the whole process becomes a lot faster and easier to handle.

Now that she’s tried her hand at masked Sailor Moon cosplay, she’s keen to take her look outdoors, and she knows exactly where she’ll be going — the Sailor Moon illumination event that’s set to open at Lake Sagami Resort’s Pleasure Forest next week!

Photos ©SoraNews24
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After an 11-year-run of anime-themed food and giant robot merch, it’s last call at the Gundam Cafes.

It was literally just a few days ago that we were all excited about the announcement of some new menu items at Japan’s Gundam Cafes which recreate food and drinks seen within the hit mecha franchise. And while we’re still looking forward to trying them, no matter what seasonings the chefs use we’re pretty sure their flavor is going to be bittersweet, because they might be the last meals we ever have at the anime eateries.

Right now, there are four Gundam Cafes in Japan. Two of those are in Tokyo (one in otaku mecca Akihabara and the other in Odaiba, right next to the full-scale Unicorn Gundam statue), the second is in Osaka, and the fourth is in Fukuoka. On November 1, though, came the sudden announcement that all four of them will be closing permanently in less than three months.

▼ In addition to food and drink the Gundam Cafes also offer a wide arrange of awesome merch.

No reason for the closure has been given, but it’s likely that the severe travel downturn caused by the pandemic played a large part in the decision. All of the cafes are located in neighborhoods that, under normal public health conditions, receive large numbers of visitors not only from other parts of Japan, but from overseas as well, with even non-otaku tourists often wanting to take a peek at the fan culture of Akihabara or gaze up at the Odaiba Gundam’s transforming (but not Transformer) face.

The shutdown brings to a close more than a decade of Gundam Cafe history, and the chain took a moment to thank its fans while breaking the news:

“We opened our first cafe in Akihabara in April of 2010, and our customers have supported us at every step along the way. On behalf of our entire staff, we are more grateful to you than words can express.

We don’t have much time left, but we will continue doing our utmost so that everyone who visits can have wonderful memories to take home, and we hope you’ll enjoy yourselves at our cafes right up until the very end.”

▼ The closing of the Akihabara branch will also be the end of the attached Zeon’s Diner Tokyo and Fortunelatte Caffe takeout counter.

There is a sliver of hope in that the announcement ends with “Please look forward to our next project,” so maybe we’ll see the restaurant chain make a comeback like Sega recently did after closing one of its most famous Tokyo landmark arcades.

The last day for Gundam Cafe Osaka will be January 10, with Gundam Café Tokyo Brand Core (Akihabara), Gundam Cafe Odaiba, and Gundam Cafe Fukuoka shuttering on January 30. The cafe at the Gundam Factory Yokohama facility will remain in operation, but only until the end of March 2022, when the entire center will shut down, at which point we’ll have no choice but to subside on those canned Zeon rations.

Source: Gundam Cafe via Hachima Kiko
Images: Gundam Cafe
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App publishes a ranking of the names that got the most hits during expectant parents’ searches.

Even just five years ago, parents-to-be might have thumbed through a book of baby names to help them select the perfect name for their child. In this age of there’s-an-app-for-everything, however, many couples have turned to their phones instead.

One free online Japanese baby naming app managed by Recruit Staffing (“Recstu”) released a ranking of the past year’s most popular names for boys and girls on October 27. The list accounts for the names that were accessed most frequently on the app between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021. Let’s see how they compare to a similar list of names released last year by another company, beginning with the girls.

Top Ten Girl Names in 2021

The numbers in parentheses denote each name’s ranking on Recstu’s top ten list last year.

10. Haruna 陽菜 (7)
9. Kaede 楓 (new)
8. Aoi 葵 (4)
7. Reira 莉来 (new)
6. Koharu 心陽 (new)
5. Mio 澪 (3)
4. Ema 恵茉 (12)
3. Kokoro 心桜 (new)
2. Rin 凛 (2)
1. Tsumugi 紬 (1)

In addition to the top two names maintaining their respective places from the year before, a general trend of using plants and other terms from the natural world in girls’ names seems to be continuing as well. Number 7’s “Reira,” which features a kanji meaning “jasmine flower,” was singled out for being a particularly hot new addition to this year’s list.

OK, let’s now turn our attention to the other half of the list by moving on to the boys.

▼ “All right, what’s Number 1 gonna be this year…?”

Top Ten Boy Names in 2021

The numbers in parentheses denote each name’s ranking on Recstu’s top ten list last year.

10. Saku 朔 (new)
9. Minato 湊斗 (new)
8. Ren 蓮 (5)
7. Itsuki 伊槻 (new)
6. Hiroto 大翔 (13)
5. Ibuki 伊蕗 (new)
4. Gen 絃 (new)
3. Ao 碧 (1)
2. Hayate 颯 (2)
1. Haruto 陽翔 (new)

The most general trend this year for the boys appears to be names ending in “to,” which can be represented in kanji in a couple of ways. The top pick “Haruto” and Number 6’s Hiroto feature a kanji for “to” which has a meaning of flying or soaring.

We must admit that we’re a little surprised that no names from the global hit Kimetsu no Yaiba: Demon Slayer phenomenon have managed to break into the top ten…

▼ “What do you mean Tanjiro’s not on list?!”

If you’ve now got an urge to delve even deeper into Japanese nomenclature, you might be interested in checking out the top baby names over the past few 30 years or even the top cat names.

Source: My Navi News via Otakomu
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2)
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A chance at love means a higher probability of good customer behavior, she says.

Working in the food service industry is a tough job, and it doesn’t get any easier when you have to deal with rude customers. Unfortunately, if you’re a server there’s no way to know for sure whether the diners walking in your door that night are going to be jerks.

Or is there? According to Japanese Twitter user Teijidash-chan (@teiji_oriental), there is at least a way to put the odds in your favor in terms of having customers who are as polite and respectful to you as you are to them. It’s not just a matter of working at a high-class restaurant, either, though a certain amount of ambiance is part of the plan. So what’s the secret?

Get a job at a restaurant that’s popular for gokon, or Japanese matchmaking parties.

Those aren’t always the same restaurants that are popular for dates, though there’s often some overlap. For gokon, an even number of unattached singles get together for dinner and drinks, usually with somewhere between 6 to 10 people total, so a good gokon restaurant doesn’t just need a fashionable atmosphere, but also small banquet rooms so the group can relax and talk comfortably. A good selection of set-course meals, which let the participants focus on getting to know each other instead of reading through the menu, are also a plus, as is a downtown location, in case people are coming from work and also in the event that any pairs hit it off and want to continue their date on their own afterwards.

But why does working at a gokon-friendly restaurant often mean nicer customers? Because, as Teijidash-chan explains:

“In college, my friend who worked at a bunch of different restaurants that were popular for gokon told me ‘It’s an easy job. The customers are all so polite to the wait staff because they want to make a good impression on the gokon members of the opposite sex.”

大学生の時に友人が『合コンが開催されまくるお店でバイトすると、みんな異性から好かれたいが故に、我々店員にとても優しくなるから楽だわ〜』とか言って、様々な合コン御用達の店でバイトしまくってたの、今思い出しても賢すぎて笑う。

— 定時ダッシュちゃん(マッチングアプリ芸人) (@teiji_oriental) October 27, 2021

A key element of gokon is that, generally, almost everyone is meeting each other for the first time. The most common way one comes together is a guy and a girl who are platonic acquaintances will realize that they each have a number of friends who are single too, and then invite those friends to the party to see if anyone is compatible. It’s sort of like a blind date, except that no pairings are decided on ahead of time. That encourages everyone to make the best first impression that they can, and no one wants “Oh, this person is being a jerk to the server” to be the first thing that makes them stick out from the rest of the potential partners.

Teijidash-chan’s friend’s experiences made sense to many Twitter commenters, who reacted with:

“Smart thinking!”
“People know they’ll be more attractive if they’re polite to the staff.”
“Everyone’s on their best behavior.”
“I could see myself working in that environment for a long time.”

It’s worth noting that not everyone who goes to a gokon ends up as part of a couple. There’s no reality dating program-style formal declaration of who you liked best at the end of the party, and it’s not unusual for a participant to realize, halfway through, that they’re not going to be making a romantic connection. Even then, though, there’s an understanding that spoiling the mood for everyone else would be bad form, so even once they’ve checked out of the search for a boyfriend or girlfriend, they can usually be expected to still be civil and polite, in which case the waitstaff will still have a table of problem-free customers.

Source: Twitter/@teiji_oriental via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Pakutaso
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Tells police his goal was to “kill a lot of people.”

Shortly before 8 p.m. on Halloween night, a Keio Line express train in Tokyo was traveling from Hachioji to Shinjuku. One of the passengers was a 24-year-old man dressed in a purple suit, green shirt, and necktie who was seen smoking a cigarette onboard the train, in violation of the rules.

At 7:54 the train pulled out of Chofu Station, and shortly thereafter the man stabbed a 72-year-old passenger in the chest with a knife with a 30-centimeter (11.8-inch) blade. As panicked passengers fled, the attacker then spread lighter fluid around the train and lit a fire, with flames spreading to the next car over.

A passenger hit the onboard emergency notification button and told the conductor what was happening, and the train made an emergency stop at the next station, Kokuryo. However, because the platform position the train stopped at was different than what it should be under normal conditions, the train and platform doors did not align, and the train’s doors did not open, forcing passengers to climb through the windows to get to safety. The stabbing victim was rushed, unconscious, to the hospital, and 16 other passengers required treatment for smoke inhalation.

▼ Video of the attacker and incident

After the train stopped, the attacker, later identified as Kyota Hattori, remained inside the train, where he was apprehended by police officers who had been dispatched to the scene. “I came up with a plan to kill a lot of people on Halloween” said Hattori during questioning. “Since about last July I was screwing up as work,” says the currently unemployed Hattori, “and I’m not having good relationships with friends, so I wanted to die.” His intent for the attack, he said, was to kill enough people that he would receive the death penalty. “I wanted to be like the Joker, who kills people. I bought this outfit to wear when I committed the crime.”

Sources: Yahoo! Japan News/Kyodo via Otakomu, NHK News Web (1, 2), The Sankei News via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Wikipedia/MaedaAkihiko
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