‘Honshū’ Is a Fun Map-Building Game Set in Feudal Japan
As noble lords and ladies, it’s your job to craft the best city in the map building game, ‘Honshū’.
Continue ReadingAs noble lords and ladies, it’s your job to craft the best city in the map building game, ‘Honshū’.
Continue ReadingRebecca Angel’s teens took a sushi class and watched ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi,’ an inspiring documentary about the most famous sushi restaurant in the world. Now Jiro has come out with a pocket-sized, simple beauty guide to his famous menu in ‘Sushi: Jiro Gastronomy.’
Continue ReadingAt long last the Nintendo 2DS–that plucky, hinge-free handheld–is set to see a proper Japanese release.
Continue ReadingWhile I’m certainly hopeful that this iteration of the 3DS will eventually be made domestically available, I remain unconvinced. So much so that I went out of my way to import a New Nintendo 3DS from Japan.
Continue ReadingOur kids were raised on many movies from the imagination of Hayao Miyazaki. So when our travels took us to Japan, missing a visit to the Ghibli Museum was not an option. But first, we needed to buy some tickets.
Continue ReadingHello Kitty Con 2014: I went in with high hopes and left with mixed feelings.
Continue ReadingJust when you thought it was safe to make a handheld purchase, Nintendo of Japan drops a bomb on gamers everywhere. New hardware with new specs in both 3DS and 3DS XL flavors will be available soon in Asia – the rest of us seemingly have to wait. Here’s what we know so far.
Continue ReadingIf you thought Pokémon Conquest, the 2012 Nintendo DS mash-up of Pokémon and Nobunaga’s Ambition, was weird, wait until you get a load of what The Pokémon Company and Bandai Namco have lined up for 2015.
Continue ReadingFor those of us who prefer exceptionally tiny plants…
Continue ReadingI’ve got a number of steampunk-related artwork books on my shelves full of paintings, sketches, jewelry, sculptures, clothing, weapons, and goggles… lots of goggles. But most of them have a decidedly British or American style running behind the scenes, probably due to the fact that I’m an English speaker and tend to collect books that I can actually read and don’t require any translation. This means that I’m most assuredly missing out on a number of foreign books that focus on steampunk, and that’s a real shame.
Continue ReadingMiyazaki father and son collaborate on a slice of life story set in Japan in 1963 that has a great deal of the Studio Ghibli visual magic.
Continue ReadingHappy news for your sweet tooth: Candy Japan is a monthly subscription service that brings the unusual, delectable confections of Japan right to your door.
Continue ReadingJapanese steampunk. Yeah, I said Japanese steampunk. Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff is a dystopian feudal Japan setting with Iron Samurai wielding chainsaw katanas. Chainsaw katanas. It is a well-done kung-fu movie as a book, but with a female heroine, and a detailed new fantasy setting.
Continue ReadingBy now I’m sure you all realize I’m a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan. So, when Nickelodeon offered me the chance to interview another one of the actors involved, I jumped at the chance. Last week, I spoke with Kelly Hu, the voice of Karai, the newest character being brought in for season 2. Kelly has quite the geek cred with appearances on Arrow, Young Justice, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 and X-Men 2 under her belt.
Continue ReadingThanks to a trip to Japan when my daughter was 13months, she’s known in *our* house as “Tokyo Meow-Meow.” Do you have a story about Sanrio and Hello Kitty? Are you a superfan? Or a super hater? Now’s your chance to spill your feelings about that ubiquitous little minx. Send an email with your […]
Continue ReadingA friend of mine just sent me a link to a marvelous photography blog. I’m enchanted with these self-portraits of Natsumi Hayashi- who always photographs herself levitating. That’s right, let me say that again – these are SELF-PORTRAITS! After years of following the Adventures of the Dancing Kids, I guess I’m a sucker for […]
Continue ReadingI’m not entirely sure what applications SWITL will eventually have outside the lab, but the demos are amazing. Basically, the SWITL (we couldn’t find a reference to what that stands for) is a motorized, hydrophobic, conveyor-belt system that can lift …
Continue ReadingJust a nudge that our friends over at O’Reilly are doing something special today. For the Deal of the Day, they’re offering 50% off any O’Reilly, No Starch or Tidbits title and using all of the proceeds to benefit the …
Continue ReadingIt’s difficult to explain a situation to your kids when you’re having a hard time wrapping your head around it, too. The scale of the devastation in many parts of Japan after last week’s cataclysmic earthquake and tsunamis is near-incomprehensible …
Continue ReadingIt’s been a rough week when it comes to world news. It’s impossible to turn on a television or pull up an internet opening page without seeing images and stories coming out of Japan. The numbers of dead, missing, and suffering are hard to comprehend. As I catch the tears that beg to fall from […]
Continue ReadingOne of the many nice things about working for G4 is traveling. Thanks to Attack of the Show and Ninja Warrior, my husband and I have been to Japan quite a few times – and this October we took our daughter (then 13 months) with us. Tokyo with a toddler in tow was just incredible. We met people […]
Continue ReadingHow much would my kids love to trade my mundane noonday meals on the go for, say, an edible rendition of Totoro? Or Calvin and Hobbes? There are, happily, people in the world who find aesthetics to be just as important as nutrition. AnnaTheRed (who crafted the Super Smash Bros. lunch at left) and Santos […]
Continue ReadingWhen I was a kid, I remember visiting Japantown in San Francisco and drooling over all the cool toys in the shops there. Well, our friend Frankie just posted a great set of scans of classic Japanese toy posters that …
Continue ReadingOne of the most amazing things about the growth of GeekDad has been making contacts all around the world with people who are into toys and geeky gadgets. One of those contacts is Francesco Fondi, an Italian ex-pat living in …
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