Anime

Yo-Kai Watch Release Date For Europe Announced

February 24, 2016 Eoin Farrell

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The Yo-Kai Watch release date has been announced by Nintendo. The game, developed by Level-5 RPG has been given a release date of April 29 on 3DS for us European types. It’s a Pokémon-esque game about a kid with the power to see the Japanese spirits that cause mischief known as Yo-Kai. You can befriend various kinds of spirits to […]

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Featured

Dir En Grey – ‘Sustain the Untruth’ – Track of the Day

February 24, 2016 Ross Brennan

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Declan actually liked the song I chose yesterday so let’s go to the opposite end of the spectrum and choose something that’ll have him question why he lets me write for The Arcade. Yep, it’s Japanese avant-garde metallers Dir En Grey! ‘Sustain the Untruth’ is a fantastic song for the discerning metalhead, with sludgy guitars, […]

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Culture

Hokkaido – The Great White North | Life In Japan

February 21, 2016 Andy Kavanagh

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It’s probably common knowledge that Japan is a nation of extremes. Its people are known as much for their obsession with manners as they are for their obsession with how flagrantly foreigners disregard them. Young ladies are generally shy to the point of self-implosion but businessmen read hentai on the train and give approximately zero […]

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Latest

Rock Newcomers Clarity Release Teaser For Debut Single

February 18, 2016 Ross Brennan

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Clarity is a name you may not know yet, but will soon enough. The Japanese band have only just put out the teaser for their debut single, ‘In The End’, but believe me when I say it’s gonna make your eardrums very, very happy. Clarity are fronted by our own Andy Kavanagh and formed in […]

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Art

Gallery: 67th Annual Sapporo Snow Festival

February 9, 2016 Andy Kavanagh

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Sapporo is the biggest city on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido and being so close to Russia, Sapporo is famous for being subjected to an annual hammering of snow in the Winter. Never a nation to waste an opportunity to make everyone else feel talentless, the citizens of Sapporo have, for the last 67 years, […]

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Featured

Track of the Day: coldrain – ‘The Revelation’

February 9, 2016 Ross Brennan

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Time for some awesome metal with one of Japan’s biggest names, Coldrain! ‘The Revelation’ lifts a few tricks from Bring Me The Horizon’s playbook, with a similar use of ambient electronics mixed with pounding metalcore breakdowns that brought Bring Me The Horizon so much success with Sempiternal. Indeed, ‘The Revelation’ does sound similar to ‘Shadow […]

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Featured

Music Monday: AKB48

February 8, 2016 Andy Kavanagh

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If you’re not familiar with AKB48, you probably don’t live in Japan. AKB48 are, essentially, an absolutely massive pop group with 48 members that rotate in and out of active duty based on popularity rankings and an annual general election. The group has been around basically forever, certainly as long as any J-POP fan can […]

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Culture

Life In Japan: Life, Lies and Live Music

February 7, 2016 Andy Kavanagh

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I’m usually hesitant to rely on cultural tropes or stereotypes, partially because they’re reductive and potentially offensive, but mostly because as an Irishman, I tend to live up to a lot my own. As the old saying goes, men in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. I don’t however, having lived in Japan for just over […]

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Latest

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu Announces Third World Tour, Best Of Album And More

February 1, 2016 Andy Kavanagh

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J-Pop superstar Kyary Pamyu Pamyu has been relatively quiet of late, as quiet as you can be when you’re the most popular pop-star on continent, but she broke her silence last night at a bizarre press conference broadcast live across LINE, Japan’s most popular social network service, to announce her plans for 2016 – a […]

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Anime

Cowboy Bebop Figure Skater

January 27, 2016 Declan Doody

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We know little to nothing of ice skating other than the figure skaters make the sport look so easy! So easy in fact we dare try it every Christmas at the local ice rink and end up with more bruises and swollen ankles than something with a lot of bruises…and multiple sore ankles! Okay bad […]

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