Allow me to start off with a euphemism. I am not exactly the biggest fan of the Japanese pop-idol group AKB48. This presents me with a problem. With 12 number-one singles since 2009, the popularity of AKB48 in Japanese culture is to the point where I can enter my local 7-11 and buy anything from "AKB48 the lunchbox" to "AKB48 the flamethrower." Their popularity is so great that the question is no longer "Do you like AKB48?" but rather "Which AKB48 singer do you like?" To which I answer: "The one who dropped out to do porn." (This is not exactly the most well-received response.)

With popularity like this, it was only a matter of time before they spread into other mediums of entertainment. (An AKB48 dating sim was released in 2010 on the PSP and an Idolm@ster clone is coming to the 3DS later this year.) Thus last week, the all-consuming mass that is AKB48 began its conquest of the world of anime with their new show AKB0048.

The plot of AKB0048 is rather straight forward. In the far future, humanity has spread across the stars; and to prevent any wars or other conflicts, many planets have banned all forms of entertainment that can "sway the human heart." This includes music. Thus AKB0048—spiritual successors to AKB48—invades these worlds to sing pop songs hundreds of years out of date to the music-starved masses.

The main characters are three 13-year-old girls who want to join AKB0048 because of an underground concert they snuck into as children. Luckily, AKB0048 just so happens to be holding open auditions for new teenage trial members—because, after all, you have to get them young before they learn words like "easily exploitable" and "15-year non-negotiable contract."

The first episode of AKB0048 should be watched by all future generations to define the word pandering. Of course, what's insane is not that it panders, but rather that it somehow panders to every possible type of AKB48 fan at the same time.

For fans of the music, practically the entire soundtrack is either vocal or orchestral remixes of AKB48's most popular songs.

For the moé fanboys, we have character designs so cute that the light reflections in their eyes—as well as their hair—are heart-shaped! Every action the three main characters make is practically designed to evoke a forlorn "moé" from even the most hardened otaku. In fact, AKB0048 is found written in the book of Revelation as the 5th sign of the Moepocalypse.

Little girls watching are given a show filled with things they think are cool (unicycles, cute outfits, and magical girl wand tasers) and a story about little girls (like them) who become musical superstars. One of the three mains states she wants to be an AKB0048 member because they're just so cute and that she wants a ribbon in her hair just like them! (Yes, apparently in the world of AKB0048, wearing ribbons in your hair is illegal.) Of course, the girls in AKB0048 dress an awful lot like the actual singers in AKB48 so "cute" may not exactly be the best adjective to describe them. The greatest coup for men in Japan is that they have managed to convince Japanese women that "cute" and "sexy" are the same thing. Japan: where a miniskirt (read: belt) and tight blouse are considered "cute."

But what's most amazing is that AKB0048 even manages to pander to the old school anime fans. The writer and director for AKB0048 is none other than Shoji Kawamori, the creator of Macross, Escaflowne, Arjuna, and Aquarion. Seeing him attached to this project is shocking. It's like if Lauren Faust, writer/animator of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and the Powerpuff Girls, suddenly made some totally cash-in project like, say, My Little Pony... wait a sec, bad example.

Sprinkled through the background are numerous references to past Kawamori anime but sadly, despite the writer's pedigree, the first episode of AKB0048 was little more than a "Run-of-the-mill Japanese Melodrama in SPAAAAAACE." Every scene was cliché: a love confession, chasing after a train, the finger-tip-touch-almost-hand-grab, the over-strick dad (and mother secretly helping her daughter on the side), and oh so much over-emotional crying.

And as the credits roll on the first episode, we are treated to a voice over. Allow me to paraphrase. "I love my friends, I love my family, but most of all, I love AKB0048!" If nothing else good can be said for AKB0048, at least they're 100% transparent—not even trying to hide what they want your priorities to be.

AKB0048 is currently airing on various regional networks throughout Japan.

Here's yet another optical illusion making the internet rounds. This one states that only "erotic people" will see the circles move. Can you?

Actually, pretty sure everyone can! And that's not because everybody is sexy time.

Sending optical illusions like this via Twitter has been "the thing" in Japan for a while now, usually prefacing them with statements like, if you can see whatever, then you are blah blah. The above image first hit last year and is still popping up online.

エロい人には [Twitpic]

Because, damn, there really should be. This do-it-yourself LEGO take on Kaneda's bike from Akira was spotted by Hobby Media's Francesco Fondi, and it's fantastic.

The bike is the work of Ghimuretto San, a famed Japanese LEGO builder. Hobby Media's Fondi discovered it at the recent Treasure Festa.

This year, an official one-to-one scale Akira bike raced across Japan, and it went on display in Tokyo this past April.

First serialized in 1982 as a manga, Akira became an iconic feature film anime in 1988.

Lego Kaneda Bike: La moto di Akira fatta di mattoncini! [Hobby Media]

If you live in Japan (or, well, Asia), you have a rice cooker. If you don't own one, get thee to a store and buy one. But, if you want something non-tech and have access to lots of firewood, there's a work around.

Last week, I went way into the mountains with some friends and made lunch. This is how we cooked rice: putting water and washed rice in this tin and then leaving it over an open flame.

Honestly, I'd never cooked rice this way, and I thought it was pretty darn neato.

How did it taste? Pretty good. I didn't do a taste comparison with the same rice cooked in a rice cooker, but it worked out really well. The best rustic cooked rice I've ever had in Japan was cooked in hollowed out bamboo shoots. Now that was good eating.

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In Bandai-Namco's Idolm@ster series, you take on the role of a music producer and create and manage a group of teenage popstars. By mixing Japan's idol and video game cultures, it is no surprise that this series has a fanatic following among Japanese otaku (geeks). But is this following deserved, or is The Idolm@ster nothing more than shameless pandering directed at an eager audience? Let's dive in to The Idolm@aster 2 on PS3 to find out.

Good — Rock Out Like A Popstar!

If you have any kind of interest in J-pop, you will find plenty to like about the soundtrack of The Idolm@ster 2. Over the course of the game, you will choose five (out of 18) songs for your group to sing that range from slow ballads to cutesy, pop tracks. But perhaps the coolest thing about the music is that the songs actually change based on the members you have in your group. In fact, you can hear every single song sung by every possible combination of the game's 9 singers. Some events even allow you to have your lead singer perform a song solo or have your backup singers sing it as a duet. For some of the songs, you can even invite your friends (or rivals) on stage to perform a special five-person version of them.

Mixed — Play, Replay, and Play Again

For better or worse, The Idolm@aster 2 is a game made to be replayed. Beating the game unlocks a wealth of new content and gives you a chance to play the game with an entirely new set of characters. Money and unlocks carry over, allowing you to try for the best endings for each character on your next playthrough.

Of course, this also means that the game is designed so that your first time through you'll be lucky if you don't get the worst possible ending by default. In other words, the first 20 hours you plug into the game are largely futile and forgettable-so forgettable, in fact, that the game deletes your save data every time you beat it.

Mixed — Repetitive Yet Oddly Fun

There's really not much variety of gameplay in The Idolm@ster 2. You play one of four music mini-games or do a timed, interactive conversation. While many other games have even less variety, the best of those tend to let the story or some other facet of the game do the heavy lifting. The story in The Idolm@ster 2 is little more than what it seems at first glance: to produce a best-selling pop group. Getting to know the girls is somewhat interesting, but this does little to break the game out of its weekly cycle: Morning meeting, make schedule for the week, do two events/lessons, evening meeting, and repeat. Yet, I think this game must stimulate the same part of my mind as Harvest Moon because every time I leveled a skill or won a music festival I couldn't help but notice that I was indeed having fun.

Bad — DLC Price

The Idolm@ster 2 DLC really takes the cake. New costumes cost up to a staggering 1500 yen ($18.86) while new songs cost an insane 2000 yen ($25.14) a piece. Now granted the DLC tracks do include at least 9 different versions of the song (one for each character) but there is no excuse for the costumes. Even small accessories cost at least 300 yen ($3.77). To buy every piece on DLC currently on the PSN would cost 71,180 yen ($895.02)—almost nine times the cost of the game.

Bad — A Jailbait Love Story

My pop group consisted of three girls: a 17-year old, an 18-year old, and a 15-year old as my lead singer. This in and of itself is not that odd considering most Japanese idols do debut in their early to mid-teens. Of course, once 15-year old Miki started forcing my character on dates and referring to him as "Honey," it got more than a little creepy. It only got worse when he started to reciprocate her feelings. So let's recap. I played as a producer managing a band. Even if we assume he's 22 and right out of college (though he is likely a fair bit older), he is still a grown man dating a 15 year old girl.

Did I mention this game is rated ages twelve and up?

Final Thoughts

The Idolm@ster 2 is a repetitive game that has little to offer in its story or in its (painfully easy) minigames. Yet, despite this, I had a great time playing it. Every time I released a new song, faced off against my group's rivals, or picked out a new set of costumes, I was legitimately enjoying myself. The game has its flaws no doubt (jailbait love stories come to mind), but it also imparts a sense of accomplishment—which along with its undeniable charm—makes for a game that's more than a little addictive.

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Dance For Me My Pretties! (Two Hours with The Idolm@ster 2)

Among hardcore Japanese otaku (geeks) there are few games more popular than those of The Idolm@ster series. The premise is simple. As a music producer, it is your job to take a group of recently debuted teenage "idols" and turn them into Japan's most popular popstars.
Or to look at it another way,... More »

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Music Minigames (and Not Much More)

The Idolm@ster series is (in)famous for giving gamers the ability to create and manage their own teenage female popstar group. But what exactly does that entail?
Well, besides a lot of talking and dialogue trees, The Idolm@ster 2 is mostly a collection of music mini-games combined with light RPG... More »

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Game studio Rovio is working on a follow up to its wildly successful Angry Birds. Today on Finnish television, Rovio honcho Mikael Hed gave the first details about his studio's upcoming title.

According to Finnish news network YLE Uutiset, the game is called Amazing Alex, and it is based on intellectual property Rovio purchased from the Rube Goldberg-like game Casey's Contraptions.

The Rovio game centers on a boy named Alex, who loves to build things. Amazing Alex aims to have an educational element.

"The quality pressure is high," Hed said.

Angry Birds has been downloaded a billion times.

There is even an Angry Birds theme park (and an endless supply of merch).

"We want to maintain the high standard Angry Birds fans have come to enjoy," he added.

Amazing Alex will be released in the next two months.

New Amazing Alex game chases Angry Birds [YLE Uutiset Thanks, Timo!]

Last summer, Nintendo's 3D television service "Itsu no Ma ni Terebi" launched in Japan. It featured short two-minute 3D clips that were free and exclusive to the 3DS.

Today, Nintendo announced that the service is ending in Japan on June 20. The 3DS, however, will continue intermitted distribution of 3D videos for 3DS owners—a good thing.

To be honest, I only checked Isu no Ma ni Terebi out a few times. The novelty wore off pretty quick.

いつの間にテレビ終了 [Nintendo]

Things have been better for Sony. But now, things are not good. In Tokyo trading, the company hit a 31-year low after it failed to miss forecasts. [Bloomberg]

This year, like every year, the Japanese arm of underwear maker Triumph showed off its latest concept bra.

The concept bras are always stunts. They're not intended for sale—even though, some in the Western media mistakenly think they are.

The bras are always themed, and usually relevant to current news or trends. This year's concept bra is the "Super Cool Bra" (above, via BoingBoing and Reuters).

With Japan shutting now its nuclear reactors and this summer looking to be hot, it's fitting.

Above, two models show off the concept lingerie, which contains a gel material that is designed to cool the body. One model holds a miniature fan, while the other holds a "hishaku" (柄杓) or a ladle. These are the traditional ways of keeping cool in Japan during the dog days of summer. The hishaku is used to sprinkle water on the street and ground, which actually lowers the temperature.

Also, their bras have "fuurin" (風鈴) or "wind chimes", which symbolize summer in Japan.

Triumph holds contests for young fashion designers to enter, ensuring that the inventive underwear continues.

Have a look at some of Triumph's concept bras from year's past. Each of them reflects what was happening in Japan at that time, whether it is solar energy, women marrying later, or the newly re-instated jury system.

Fish Bras for Summer Heat [BoingBoing]

Online in Japan, the vast majority of game news first hits 2ch. And it's not just games—so much news is shared through 2ch threads. It's a wealth of information. It's a wealth of rumors. Apparently, it's also a wealth of drugs.

Last December, word broke that 2ch could be covered in illicit substances. There were stories of coded lingo and online transactions, white "shiro" (white) referring to amphetamines and "yasai" (vegetables) referring to marijuana.

Of course, massive bulletin boards like 2ch cannot monitor everything that happens on its forums. The rub is that, according to Japan's National Police Agency, 2ch ignored 97 percent of request to delete iffy posts. Rub, indeed.

"With such posts left on its bulletin board, the site is indirectly facilitating the creation of an environment in which drugs can easily be traded," said the NPA (via Kyodo).

2ch has its own criteria for deleting posts, and it has its own team of moderators to monitor content. Typically, however, it removes posts that it deems slanderous or ones it legally must remove.

And the takedown rate at 2ch is probably so low, because that's exactly what 2ch doesn't do—take down threads. It's part of 2ch's DNA. It's part of what makes 2ch so different from many mainstream Japanese sites, which quickly cave when threatened.

"We don't believe all of 2channel is bad," the NPA removed. "But there may be blind spots. We just want them to make improvements."

The "improvements" sound worrying, however. When the police get involved, where does it stop? Is more censorship on 2ch the answer? That will only push drug traffickers to other sites and to other tech. There really isn't an easy answer for 2ch or the cops.

Going after 2ch for facilitating drug trafficking is a Pandora's Box. The same argument could be made for phone carriers or email provides—both of which, yes, can facilitate the sale of drugs.

Sometimes "shiro" is just white, and sometimes "yasai" is just vegetables. And sometimes, they're not.

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