
China’s “completely original” giant Gundam statue has apparently reappeared, with some modifications, after a mysterious disappearance.
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Akihabara’s “pedestrian paradise” is back – the roads are closed to all but foot traffic on Sundays once again, and many thousands of shoppers packed the area in celebration.
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Japan’s railway network may be renowned as one of the best in the world, but that doesn’t stop large parts of it, particularly many tiny rural stations, from being rather shabby – train and photography otaku share the worst examples:
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- Author: Artefact
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Jan 13, 2011 19:14 JST
- Tags: Bizarre, Copyright, Crime, Hyogo, Kobe, Police, PS3, Tourism, Wii

Japanese gamers apparently face arrest if they lend their games to friends – police recently executed a search warrant based on the unauthorised lending of 5 games, charging the lender with copyright infringement.
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Not to be outdone by Japan’s famed giant Gundam statue, China has decided to copy the whole thing.
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The organisers of the recent Lucky Star Konkatsu dating event are crowing over the fact that “35%” of the otaku participants successfully formed nascent otaples.
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The recent protest against Akihabara shops selling to Chinese tourists has incited something of a backlash against the protesters, who have been roundly condemned as being akin to bunch of yakuza thugs attempting to shake down retailers.
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Akihabara has seen noisy demonstrations by extreme right-wing groups demanding the expulsion of the Chinese from Japan.
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The humble fisherman who allegedly rammed a Japanese coast guard ship and then became a pawn in China’s plots to extend its borders into Japanese seas was treated to a hero’s welcome on his release and return to his hometown.
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China’s response to Japan releasing its captain is to continue the confrontation and further humiliate Japan by demanding money and an apology.
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The crisis over Japan’s detention of a Chinese fisherman accused of ramming a Japanese coast guard ship in a remote group of Japanese islands claimed by China has ended with Japan releasing the captain, after China’s threats culminated in the possible execution of 4 Japanese captured as “spies,” but widely considered innocent hostages.
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- Author: Artefact
- Categories: Japan, News
- Date: Sep 14, 2010 04:29 JST
- Tags: Aeroplanes, Apple, Bizarre, Crime, Kyoto, Law, Ninja, Police, Tourism, Weapons

Apple fuhrer Steve Jobs is reportedly enraged at having his ninja aspirations denied by Japanese customs, after they stymied his efforts to take shuriken out of the country on his private jet.
As retaliation he threatened he would “never come to a country like this again!”
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