The next Tokyo Marathon takes place in late February. Last fall it was named one of the six World Marathon Majors, joining the likes of New York, Boston, London, and more. But, the Tokyo Marathon is just filled with your typical marathon runners. There are also a noticeable group of cosplay runners dressed up as anime and video game characters. Oh, and Jesus.

Website Tofugu did a round-up of the cosplaying marathon runners, featuring the photos of photographer Jim Gris. The Jesus marathon cosplay made a big splash when it first hit a few years back. Have a look in the above gallery for more costumed runners, or check out Gris' Flickr page.

Tokyo Marathon [jimgris@Flickr via Tofugu]

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I'm a huge fan of Nintendo's strategy RPG series Fire Emblem. In fact, I'm just a fan of well done SRPGs (strategy role-playing games). Unfortunately not many get translated to English; just look at the Super Robot Wars series. The lack of new SRPGs and the fact that I had to wait a month for Fire Emblem had me searching for something "new" to fill the void, and that was how I came across Sword Requiem by Chinese game developer JoyMaster. While Sword Requiem has captured my attention and time, it sadly isn't Fire Emblem.

At first look, even before you start the game, Sword Requiem looks very similar to every asian styled hack and slash "RPG" found on Google Play and the App Store—games such as Inotia and Zenonia. However Mama Jou always said to look beyond the surface, so I decided to try Sword Requiem out, and to my honest surprise it actually was an SRPG that my mobile device desperately needed.

The game takes place in a medieval fantasy world where people fight with swords and magic. The world is under turmoil and war is about the break out between the nations. The main hero, Siegfreid, or Igfreid, wakes up with amnesia and is whisked away to save the kingdom with a group of dedicated warriors. Sounds lovely.

Generic story aside, Sword Requiem plays exactly like Fire Emblem, so much so that I would call this a direct clone. Like in Fire Emblem, gameplay takes place on a huge chess board. The player can move units every which way during the player turn and then the AI moves. Heck, even the battle animations scream Fire Emblem.

Unfortunately for Sword Requiem, it's not Fire Emblem. Part of what made FE so great was the rock paper scissors weapon system where swords beat axes but lost to spears, and axes beat spears. This dynamic is lost on Sword Requiem, making the game more of a regular beat'em up tactics game. All you have to do is swarm a unit and beat it to death—there isn't much strategy on that front.

Chinese fans were also quick to point out the similarities between Sword of Requiem and Fire Emblem. One user of Chinese app download site Char009057 says that the game is "just a Shanzhai version of Fire Emblem". Another commenter, Cairnan, agreed, saying that the game, despite not being Fire Emblem, holds its own as a simple SRPG.

Luckily one feature that Sword Requiem did include was the controversial "Perma-Death", where characters that die are gone forever. In the first two missions of the game, basically any character dying means a game over. However, despite the addition of the perma-death feature, one can save after every move, which kinda defeats the whole point of perma-death—if my character's going to die, I can just load an earlier save.

The game also lacks the polish of Fire Emblem. Visually it looks too much like a Gameboy game, and on top of that, the screen is cluttered. The menu button is on the screen at all times, creating an unnecessary eyesore. What baffles me the most is that the game doesn't take advantage of the whole screen real estate that it's given. I'm playing on a 4.3 inch screen but on both sides I get black bars, creating virtual dead space.

The major redeeming factor for Sword Requiem is that it fills a gap in a much needed genre of game on Google Play. I can't complain too much considering that I'm still playing the game, but one thing I can definitely say is that this is not Fire Emblem

Oh, I almost forgot to mention: the game is available in both English and Chinese!

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Late last week, Google Earth updated satellite imagery that blogger and internet sleuth Curtis Melvin (via WSFJ) thinks could show the country's latest gulag.

As the Wall Street Journal points out, there are six gulags in North Korea, not including this possible one. They are located in mountainous regions. Some are larger than major cities and house individuals who are deemed enemies of the state—as well as those who are simply related to those "traitors".

The newest satellite imagery is dated 2011-9-21, and shows what could be either the newest kwan-li-so (관리소) or prison camp. (That, or it could also be an expansion of an adjacent gulag, the infamous Camp 14.) Keep in mind, this is speculation—informed speculation on the part of Melvin.

Melvin has spent years using Google Earth and firsthand accounts of visitors to North Korea in his effort to map the interior. You can read more about his efforts here.

Below, see how the 2011-9-21 images compare with 2006 satellite pics (click to expand to full size). Images show what are believed to be guard posts and a security perimeter.

This is believed to be the new camp entrance (latest picture on the bottom).

This is believed to be the new camp interior (latest picture on the bottom).

Speculation time: A new kwan-li-so? [North Korean Economy Watch via WSJ]

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This is Pikachu, and his trainer, Ash (or "Satoshi" as he's called in Japan). This is how they've looked in the Pokémon anime. Nothing really strange here at all. Ash and Pikachu, hanging out. Got it.

But if you, like Twitter user @KoTa_OTL want to mix things up and get crazy, here ya go:

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This image has gone viral in Japan, where it's been re-tweeted over thirty thousand times in just two days. Pikachu with Ash's eyes isn't so bad (it's actually a thing, after all), but Ash with Pikachu's eyes is nightmare fuel.

サトシとピカチュウの目を入れ替えてみたら [@KoTa_OTL]

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Tantrums involving video games are nothing new, particularly when they involve children losing their gaming privileges. However, when the tantrum is thrown by a young adult, it becomes something that's, well... sad. That's exactly what happened to the Yang family in Chongqing last week as reported by the Chongqing Times.

Yang Yang (pseudonym) was at home playing video games all day last Wednesday. Unhappy that her son was gaming all day, as well as worried for his well-being, Yang's mother wanted him to take a break.

After a failed attempt by the her mother to get Yang Yang to relax, Mr. Yang became fed up with his son's attitude and barged into his room. Seeing his son's room covered with snack wrappers and empty soda bottles, Mr. Yang asked Yang Yang how long he's been playing. He flippantly replied "not long."

Angered by his response, Mr. Yang seized Yang Yang's keyboard and smashed it to the ground. Shocked and angry, Yang Yang gave his father a death stare only to be told by his father "The heck are you looking at? Time for Dinner."

As soon as Mr. Yang left Yang Yang's room, he locked the door.

Yang Yang, a man in his twenties, locked himself in his room, inside his parents house, for a whole night, refusing to eat or drink anything. He exited his room the following day but, according to his mother, he still wouldn't consume anything, causing his mother to worry.

Yang Yang started playing online shooters at home. Once his home setup became outdated, he started spending a lot of time at internet cafes, which worried his parents. Mr. Yang purchased a new PC for Yang Yang, hoping his son would spend more time at home. Unfortunately for Mr. Yang, Yang Yang just took his gaming habit to the next level, playing day and night.

Concerned about their son, Mr. and Mrs. Yang attempted to try to convince Yang Yang to eat. Yang Yang replied "I refuse, I'll eat when you return my game."

Living on the 8th floor, and seeing how unreasonable their son was being, the Yangs feared that Yang Yang would do something stupid, so they called the emergency services. When the authorities finally showed up, they were able to convince Yang Yang to eat something. Despite finally eating, Yang Yang still harbored a resentment towards his parents.

Hoping to reconnect with his son, Mr. Yang has purchased a new keyboard for his son.

Personally, I'd think Mr. Yang should just confiscate the computer, bolt down the windows to Yang Yang's room, hide all the sharp objects and cook delicious smelling foods outside of his door. Eventually Yang Yang would crack.

成年男子与父亲斗气：要我吃饭可以 先还游戏机 [Chongqing Times via Tencent]

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Tokyo's Akihabara is Japanese nerd heaven. If you are a geek in Tokyo, then you'll want to spend some time in Akihabara. Maybe you'll want to live there.

Then maybe you can live here? You get one room, a bunk bed, a space under your bunk bed, a TV, an air conditioner and a shower you must share with others. Did I say room? Sorry, I meant box.

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The monthly rent for this guest house is ¥37,000, plus a ¥5,000—that's USD$466! That's... a lot, even for this part of town, even with its location. The apartment, which was built in 1973, is very old by Japanese standards, and it looks like it is a regular apartment that has been divided up into several rooms.

Online in Japan, people are saying it would be better to live in a net cafe or a capsule hotel instead of this place. Some are even pointing out how they pay this much in rent and have their own place. Others are saying this guest house is probably packed with foreigners—an unintentionally telling insight regarding how difficult it can be for some foreigners to find housing in Japan. Sometimes, building owners do not want to rent to foreigners because they are worried about language problems—or even about foreigner skipping out on rent by skipping the country. Then, there are foreigners who do not want to pay the costly upfront fees to rent apartments.

Apartments in big Japanese cities do run small, especially one room apartments—hence why using Kinect in Japan was a concern. But even by Japanese standards, even by room sharing standards, this is teeny.

So, if you do live in Akihabara and are on a budget, you can do better than this. Do look around.

秋葉原駅 の賃貸 [Suumo via オレ的]

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Yoshitaka Amano has an impressive resume that's a lot more than just Final Fantasy. Before joining Square Enix, he designed characters for a slew of classic anime, such as Gatchaman. And since stepping down as lead character creator after Final Fantasy VI, Amano has teamed up with a variety of folks, including Neil Gaiman.

But that's not what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about vegetables. Vegetable fairies, to be exact.

My four year-old son has recently discovered a series Yoshitaka Amano created for NHK called Yasai no Yousei: N.Y. Salad (やさいのようせい N.Y. Salad) or "Vegetable Fairies: New York". The series debuted way back in 2007, before he was born. For some reason, it completely slipped under my radar, popping back on it when the Japanese site Naver recently featured the cartoon.

Each episode was only five minutes long, and it was broadcasted during the kiddy programming NHK runs each morning. Yasai no Yousei was set in a New York City kitchen, and followed a handful of vegetable fairies, like Brussel Sprouts, Garlic, Lettuce, etc.

The show has a wonderful fairy tale-like atmosphere, and Amano is in top form. He truly is one of the giants of Japanese art. Often, fine art is separated from video game or manga art and is given more credence in some circles—a huge oversight, I think. Amano is a giant, and discovering Yasai no Yousei helped me rediscover how much I enjoy Amano's art.

Yasai no Yousei has been in rebroadcast on Kids Station. Besides a handful of children's books, there are several Japanese language DVDs of the show as well as a movie.

Delightful stuff that belongs up there with some of Amano's most famous work.

Be sure to check out Kotaku's interview with the artist from last fall.

FFのキャラデザイナーが描く【やさいのようせい】が可愛いすぎる！ [Naver]

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The new Pokémon games are titled Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. Have you ever searched either of those games on Google? If you are stumbling upon pornography, it might not be Pokémon, it could be you.

Kotaku has been getting tips that point out entering "Pokemon X Videos" on Google turns up X-rated porn. Forums, such as GameFAQs, point to this newly minted meme:

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The correct way to search for Pokémon X is "'Pokemon X' videos". Sure, small kids might know that, but they also shouldn't be searching around the internet without parental control. (They also shouldn't be playing Pokémon. They should be working in factories, or whatever kids do these days.)

Kids accidentally finding these dirty links is the point of this tongue-in-cheek meme, you say. That's correct, I say!

Google.com fiddled with the SafeSearch Off settings, and thus, it *might* make it harder for Google to barf up these porny results. But if you are using, say, Google.co.uk, then you'll have better control of the SafeSearch Off getting results that match up with the meme image. You also might live in the UK, which is pretty cool.

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Even with a moderate setting, results include things like, oh dear, yeah, um, just no.

Those search results, however, are muted, when setting the search results to "strict"—which is, of course, where your search results should be! What is triggering these porn results? The inclusion of the x videos, which takes you to a porn site called XVideos.com.

If you search innocuous words like "Rainbows X Videos", "Cricket X Videos", and, even, "Pizza X Videos", you turn up all sorts of non-innocuous results. Yes, XVideos.com even fucked up pizza. You know how you fuck up pizza? Literally, that's how.

However, searching "Sonic X Videos" turns up videos of Sonic X, instead of dirty links.

You know, this probably says more about Sonic than Pokémon. Personally, I just feel sorry for the poor folks searching for Poképorn suddenly having to deal with skipping game footage.

Best argument against this game's name yet. [GameFAQs]

It's been a long time coming. A long, long time, and still no release date in sight. But indie adventure/platformer Owlboy looks worth the wait.

This video, released over the weekend, showcases both the music of composer Jonathan Geer and the game's charming art style, which for want of something more descriptive reminds me of a Genesis version of Wind Waker.

Owlboy [Official Site]

Canadian street artist (and animator, and character designer) Aiden Glynn likes to take everyday objects on the street and bring a little life to them, turning them into characters from video games and cartoons.

So a power box becomes Diglett, and an old barrel out the front of a restaurant becomes a prop from Donkey Kong (which the place left up for two weeks!).

Glynn is promising to post more game-related art this week, so check back below for more over the next few days.

UPDATE - Scratch the whole "electrifying" thing. Looks like it's got to do with phones, not power. Canada!

Pizza and Pixels [Site]