I’ve been writing for SoraNews24 (previously known as Rocketnews24) as a daily author since December 2014. I get to bring Japanese/Asian current events, social media explosions, and funny videos of cats to a Western audience.
In addition to my regular articles, I also write “W.T.F. (Weird Top Five) Japan” where I count down the top five items in a “weird” theme, such as “Top 5 unique Japanese toilet functions” or “Top 5 most difficult kanji.” You can see the whole series here:
● W.T.F. (Weird Top Five) Japan
I’ve written hundreds of articles for SoraNews24, but here are some of my most popular ones, or articles I really enjoyed writing:
Most Popular
● Bandai to release life-like posable plastic figures to help you draw “realistic” epic poses
● Boy entering all-girls high school creates real-life harem anime
● Forget dog-earing and bookmarks that fall, make easy origami bookmarks instead!
● Japanese company helps child organ transplants by giving toys donated limbs
● Japanese dad teaches daughter how to handle alcohol, has Twitter in tears
● Japanese Twitter celebrates new “Muslim Lolita fashion” trend
● Japanese Twitter user’s comics depicting office-lady life will hit you right in the feels
● New magnetic “slate” lets you write on actual paper, digitize your drawings in real-time
Japanese Culture
● Japan’s biggest yakuza organization tweets that Halloween is cancelled this year
● Japanese high school boys hold annual beauty pageant, look as cute as ever
● Japanese university “otaku class” is strict: “You must watch 20 anime per week”
● Only in Japan: Rent a hot guy to make you cry then wipe your tears away
● We tried Tokyo’s “rent a middle-aged Japanese man” service, and it was awesome!
Japanese Language
● Only one out of five Japanese people can pronounce these hiragana — can you?
● Say sayonara to “sayonara” – 70% of Japanese people don’t use this word for goodbye
● Seven mistakes foreigners make when speaking Japanese—and how to fix them
● The science behind why English speakers can’t pronounce the Japanese “fu”
Articles I’m Particularly Proud Of
● Americans support Okinawa, locals ask “Why doesn’t Japanese news show this?”
● Beautiful, tear-jerking tributes to late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata
● Creepy abandoned Japanese amusement park is open and waiting to devour your soul
● The five-patty Lotteria burger wasn’t big enough, so we made a 35-patty burger instead!
● Winning poems from otaku haiku contest hilarious, hit way too close to home
LOL Cute Animals
● Japanese cats join couple every night for beautiful meals, cute photos
● Shiba Inu stuck in a bush is so cute you’ll soil yourself!
I also briefly wrote the weekly series “Learn Japanese through Ridiculous Manga” (link below) where I taught the Japanese writing system through funny comics. Drawing comics with a mouse in MS Paint ended up being a lot harder than I thought, but I learned a lot and it helped me get started on my W.T.F. Japan series.
● Learn Japanese through Ridiculous Manga
(Featured image via SoraNews24)