Officials in Osaka, Japan are keeping their heads down this week after their mayor, Toru Hashimoto, made some uncool comments about the country’s role in keeping "comfort women" during World War II. His exact (-ish) words were (as translated and quoted by Japanese media): "In the circumstances in which bullets are flying like rain and wind, the soldiers are running around at the risk of losing their lives. If you want them to have a ... Read More

There is weird shit out there for everyone, and students from Japan have just added to the world's long list of odd objects. Created for lonely students, the "girlfriend replacement coat" intends to mimic the satisfaction a wearer can get from receiving a hug from behind by a girlfriend. The lifelike hugging action is accompanied by a female voice that whispers into the wearer's ear through connected headphones. According to online gaming ... Read More

Objectifying women’s bodies in advertising is hardly something new.  However, Japanese firm Wit Inc. is taking it to a whole new level.  Wit Inc. is now recruiting women to wear stickered advertisements on their thighs, literally turning these women’s legs into billboards.  Paid up to $121 per day, women are required to be over the age of 18, have a significant number of followers on social media websites, and ... Read More

Beate Sirota Gordon, an integral advocate for women’s rights in Japan, passed away on December 30 at the age of 89. At 22, Gordon became the only woman on the American board that wrote the post-war Japanese constitution. She created the portion on women’s rights and, having witnessed the inferior treatment of Japanese women for ten years, was focused on protecting and improving their quality of life. With no education pertaining to ... Read More

Here’s some Friday cuteness for you.  It’s a Buzzfeed post that’s gone viral depicting a magical place of happiness and fur called CAT HEAVEN.   Well, it’s not actually called Cat Heaven.  This place riddled – neig, COVERED – with cats is a Japanese island called Fukuoka.  For the past five years, photographer Fubirai has documented the lives of semi-wild cats that inhabit the island, ... Read More