Random Japan

Fans are raving over this amazing Doraemon x Grand Theft Auto V crossover

Jamie Koide

Many of Japan’s classic anime series have managed to engage young viewers from one generation to the next. Perhaps one of the most famous examples is Doraemon, which keeps gaining more viewers the longer it runs. Since its hit television adaptation in 1979, the series has slowly taken the world by storm, finally reaching English-speaking audiences last summer after a partnership with Disney.

That said, in over 30 years few changes have been made to the original series, with its characters never having to grow up like the rest of us. As viewers got older, many of them started wondering what kind of teenagers and adults the original cast would have become. Some of the franchise’s movies, along with a commercial series by Toyota featuring Jean Reno as Doraemon, have set out to answer a few of these questions, but what about fans who didn’t imagine a future quite so bright? It seems the only answer would require illustrating it on your own, which is exactly what one artist did when he decided to reinvent the main cast as characters from video game smash Grand Theft Auto.

LONG LIVE JAPAN!

• Officials at the health ministry say the life expectancy for Japanese girls born in 2014 was 86.83 years—a record high.
• It was the third consecutive year that Japanese females topped the global longevity list. Women in Hong Kong took the number two spot, at 86.75 years.
• The life expectancy for Japanese men—80.50 years—was also a new high, good enough for third place in the world ranking alongside Singapore and Switzerland.
• Topping the list of male life expectancy were Hong Kong (81.17) and Iceland (80.8).

YOU’VE GOT TO BE SH***ING ME

• It was reported that young Japanese women are flocking to tours of rural areas with the purpose of … looking at clumps of moss.
• Organizers of tours to look at rural moss were quoted as saying, “Women are rich in emotions, so they are well-suited to moss viewing.”
• The bible of the movement may well be Hisako Fujii’s Mosses, My Dear Friends.
• An O.L. on a moss-viewing tour of Nagano was quoted as saying, “Seeing clusters of mosses living together, I can forget about our competitive society.”

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Studies show Japanese people drinking less than ever

By Evie Lund,

One of the things you may notice when you come to Japan is how much drinking seems to be going on. Certain Japanese societal circles (the workplace, university clubs, etc) run more smoothly with the help of alcoholic lubrication in the form of after-hours “drinking parties” to facilitate team-building and bonding—it’s called nomication (or nominication), a portmanteau of “nomu” (to drink) and “communication”.

So we were quite surprised to discover recently that Japan’s level of alcoholic beverage consumption is actually way, way down. But why?

The new findings, dubbed the “Alcohol Report”, came to light following research conducted by the National Tax Agency in May this year. The report details the average alcohol consumption per person per year for the period 1989–2013. We’ve crunched up all the data into a handy line graph below for easy digestion.