Exam season has arrived but don’t gripe, Japan has found a solution.

Not really but for what they believe will bring better luck is a wonton noodles known as “Ganbare Students” (try your hardest or don’t give up) by Myoujou FOods. They are sold in convenience stores all over with cherry blossom colored wontons with flowers embedded in the soup’s kamaboko (if eaten, they bring good fortune supposedly).

But if you’re not hungry and need some loving, there’s also lotion! Waimack Jewel Cosmetics released a “refreshing lotion” designed to clear your mind and encourage students.

All of it sounds like a hoax to me but I wouldn’t mind trying out those wontons.

Source: CScoutJapan
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Tags: exams, lotion, ramen, student

A picture is worth a thousand words, but I only can think of a few for these. As David has blogged earlier, 2008 is full of memorable moments that can continuously be remembered with photos.

Here are a few from the year that can make me smile, cry and laugh.
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Tags: 2008, asia, memories, photos

If I ever regretted being a human, it would be right now.

According to recent news, stationmaster Tama has raised 10 million dollars for a dying train station. She was originally a stray cat that was found by one of the station’s staff members. They had the brilliant idea of dubbing Tama as their stationmaster which eventually attracted a lot of tourism. As such, she was given her very own cat themed train. How fair is that?

This cat is definitely making its way up the ladder; possibly someday she’ll surpass Hello Kitty. She was recently featured on the Colbert show in a “Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finer” segment. Colbert gave his “tip of the hat” to Tama and recommended that all the financial leaders be replaced with cute animals. I second that btw. Anything that’s adorable and can raise money is good in my book.
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Tags: cat, colbert, cute, hello kitty, million, stationmaster, train

Anime has commonly featured their characters dancing which in return has had fans band together to learn and perform them in the streets. Not only are these dances cute and easy to learn, but they’ve become a popular trend; sort of like the moon walk. While Michael Jackson couldn’t save his life to be cute, other characters have beaten him to the punch.

There are lists beyond lists of popular dances in anime, but the most famous of them all are the Hare Hare Yukai and Lucky Star Cheer Dance. Both are common dances that have been done many times over by fans around the globe in addition to each other (Haruhi Suzumiya characters have done the Cheer Dance and vise versa). Although they aren’t America’s Best Dance Crew material, they’re definitely something of wonder.
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Tags: anime, barack obama, caramelldasen, cheer dance, dances, fun, hare hare yukai, haruhi, hilary clinton, lucky star, manga, music

Inspired by the infamous Danny Choo’s “A Week in Tokyo”, I wanted to share with you a day in New York. Honestly, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be but it is a fun tourist spot. I spent most of this day just walking through visiting various Asian hot spots namely the Kinokuniya Bookstore and Ktown. Eek!
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Tags: bust a move, danny choo, grenich village, kinokuniya, korea, ktown, new york, okinawa, pc bang, sanrio, sauna, taegu, times square, tokyo

As you know Ningin is always expanding its horizons and this past weekend one of our new, upcoming bloggers was at the Cosplay Day event along side with yours truly.

I wasn’t able make it to the event on time but luckily we had someone else to take more photos for us, Jason Linetsky aka Taraka. He was there way before I got there and was also in the front during the Team US cosplayers interview. He took a lot of great photos of the cosplayers some of which I didn’t as well as Team USA. They’re part of the same album with credit to him of course. Be sure to take a look, they’re awesome!

Him and I will also be at New York Anime Festival in September so be on the look out for us. We’ll possibly be cosplaying. /gasp!

View the photos from Cosplay Day here

Tags: bloggers, cosplay, cosplay day, event, kinokuniya bookstore, new york anime festival, photography

This past Sunday August 17, 2008, the Kinokuniya Bookstore in New York City was holding a Cosplay Day in honor of the USA representatives for the 2008 World Cosplay Summit (the Olympics of cosplaying). Also, anyone who cosplayed received a discount on merchandise within the store. Sweet! It was honestly one of the most entertaining things I’ve done in awhile (other than AM Classic the previous day).

The event started at 10AM but I didn’t arrive till 3PM which was when the USA reps were giving their interview. Before I even walked in the store I was giggling like a little girl. I was really excited since this was my first cosplay/anime event that I’ve ever been to. The store is 3 stories and the event was held on the highest floor. It had the most amazing view of Bryant Park but that’s not important.

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Tags: 2008, anime, bryant park, cosplay, cosplay day, event, kinoku, manga, new york, olympics, world cosplay summit

Since Elena has already described parts of the opening ceremony, I thought it would be nice to have some visual aid. I fell asleep during parts of the ceremony, but good thing it was only when the countries came out to walk (by the time I woke up they still weren’t done). Well anyways like Elena said, the opening ceremony was amazing. It was something I’ve never seen before both artistically and technically. I love LCD screen so when I saw HUGE movable LCD screen, I was astound. China has really set the bar for the Olympics and I can only imagine how the next two and half weeks will be like.

Best of luck to all the athletes.

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Fifty one Korean beauties competed in the 2008 Miss Korea Pageant held on August 6th at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul. The winner? Definitely nothing compared to the previous years or even this year’s Mr. Hong Kong. Her name is Na Re Keum.

While the rest of her is really cute (and by that I mean the crown and her dress), that face of hers could use a few touch ups. Even the runner ups look more pleasant. She kind of reminds me of an ajuma covered in rhinestones. 

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Pizza Hut in Japan released a Pizza last year that had an interesting mixture of Hot Dogs in a Bun as the crust of a Pizza. Bizarre right? No of course not! After living in Korea, I have eaten the weirdest things but they all turned out to be really delicious like muffins with corn inside, red bean chocolate and a bunch of other abnormal things. I love each and every one of them and crave them extremely right now.

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