You see it on Japanese forums. Strings of "w's". I often quote individuals as writing "lol", "LOL", or even, "lulz". But let's get something straight. People in Japan do not laugh out loud. Oh, no. They wwww.

Using "w" is not new. Online in Japan, people have been using them for over a decade, which in internet time is since the Stone Age.

The base for "w" is from "warau" (笑う) or "warai" (笑い), the Japanese word for laugh or smile.

The use of "w" has become prevalent online. On Japanese keyboards, it's easy to knock out the letter "w" and you can show the degree of your amusement in online games or on internet forums by writing, for example, "wwwwwwww" or a more enthusiastic "wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww." What also makes the "w" appealing is also how the letter looks somewhat like an upturned face—a motif echoed in the country's internet meme characters, like "Yaruo" (やる夫, above).

Earlier this month, a columnist in Japan remarked how using "(笑)" instead of "w" might make others happier. The point of the piece was that you can soften jokes in your online communication by using that kanji character.

It was a rather odd thing to write, seeing how more recently, (笑) is used to sneer at those who aren't funny or amusing—an internet slow clap. In a way, it can be similar to the schadenfreude that "lulz" expresses for English speaking net users. Though, "lulz" isn't always ironic.

Japan isn't the only country to have its own version of "lol." Korea has kkk, China 233, and
Thailand has 555—among others (feel free to add in the comments section). See, everybody's laughing, just not LOL-ing.

---

In May 2012, a Japanese illustrator named Mao Sugiyama oversaw an event during which his post-op genitals were served up for dinner. Five people paid money to eat them! And that they did.

The event gained international attention. Japanese police began investigating the event, hoping to pin Sugiyama and the event's organizers for breaking food hygiene laws—that, or obscenity laws. Cannibalism, it seems, is not illegal in Japan.

This week, News24 reports that the case against the four individuals accused of wrongdoing was not strong enough, and it was subsequently dropped.

Ryou Tanaka, the politician overseeing the area in Tokyo were the event was held, was obviously not pleased and said that Japan needs to change the laws so nothing this bizarre ever happens again.

By bizarre, I'm assuming he means people eating penis for dinner.

性器食べるイベント主催、男性ら４人不起訴 [News 24 via Sankaku Complex NSFW]

---

Monster Hunter: it has sold millions of copies in Japan. I have personally seen it played in parks, on trains, and in countless fast food restaurants in the Tokyo area by everyone from kids to adults. Simply put, it is one of the most prevalent and popular gaming franchises in Japan. The same cannot be said for its popularity in the West, however.

Back when Monster Hunter was just hitting its stride, I picked up Monster Hunter Freedom 2 on the PlayStation Portable to see what all the fuss was about. To put it mildly, I was not impressed. And so, after about ten hours of play, I gave up on it (and the series as a whole), deciding it just wasn't for me.

Among the several issues I had with Freedom 2, the most egregious was the game's camera controls. Because the PSP has no second thumbstick for camera control, the camera is instead linked to the d-pad, with movement relegated to the thumbstick. This means that to both move and control your camera at the same time, you have to force your left hand into what I lovingly call, "an unnatural withered claw"—i.e., with your thumb in charge of movement, your index finger on the camera, and your middle finger on the left trigger. It is a control setup unlike any game I have played before or since. Worse yet, it is far from comfortable or easy to get used to. And with no auto-lock to help me out, I found myself more often fighting the game's controls than the monsters inside the game.

My second major issue with Freedom 2 was the lack of story. Obviously this is based upon personal preference, but good, interactive stories are the main reason I play games in the first place. The simple, open-ended plot of hunting-monsters-for-fun-and-profit was nowhere near what I require to become invested in a world and its characters. So without a story, Freedom 2 felt to me like a grind for the sake of grinding—something I have zero interest in.

In lieu of a story, however, Freedom 2 is built around making an immersive co-op experience. Now, don't get me wrong, I love co-op games. And sometimes, the co-op nature of a game can replace my need for a plot (though having both is ideal). But sadly, practical real-world limitations kept me from getting the most out of the co-op mode. I only had one other friend willing to buy the game and play with me. Unfortunately, two people just isn't enough—you really need four people playing together to best experience the game. And as this was nearly a year before the release of Ad-Hoc Party, we were SOL in the online co-op department.

Moreover, I found the game slow and boring when playing alone. He found it less so, and in between our first co-op session and second, his character entered a-whole-nother weight class full of monsters I couldn't even touch. And, try as I might to catch up, I was never able to.

So, after all that, what could make me give Monster Hunter a second chance? Nothing much. Just a new Monster Hunter game that looked to fix the vast majority of the problems I had with the game. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the Wii U reads like a checklist called: "How to Make a Monster Hunter Game for Richard Eisenbeis."

To start, camera control has been radically improved. Not only can you control it via the Wii U's second thumbstick—leaving the "claw" totally optional—but also there is a lock-on feature that allows you to re-center your camera on the boss monsters at any time. While not quite the permanent lock-on I had hoped for, it's undoubtedly a great start.

And although Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate still lacks anything but the most barebones excuse for a story, the co-op is so engrossing I hardly noticed. Almost immediately I was able to head online, find a group at my level, and get to boss hunting. There was no need to have three friends at my beck and call to get the best experience; I just logged on and played.

Rather than boring, as I found Freedom 2, 3 Ultimate was exciting and more than a little addictive. I spent hours doing boss fight after boss fight and never really grew tired of it. So if you were turned off to Monster Hunter for the same reasons I was, I encourage you to give it another shot with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the Wii U. It may well change your mind.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate was released on December 10, 2012, in Japan for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS and is region locked. It will be released on both systems in the United States on March 19, 2013.

Every spring in Japan, families with sons display miniature samurai armor. The armor, called yoroi (鎧), or samurai helmet, called "kabuto" (兜), are for Children's Day. Families want their sons to grow up strong and healthy. It's a Japanese tradition.

Starting March 1, Disney, never one to shy from merchandising, is offering a "Disney Pure Silver Kabuto" for a mere ¥250,000 (US$2,680), putting it on the pricey end of the miniature samurai armor scale.

As Japanese site IT Media notes, Mickey Mouse's silhoutte appears throughout the helmet's design.

Nothing says Japanese tradition quite like Mickey Mouse.

隠れミッキーがワイルド＆キュート　端午の節句は「ディズニー 純銀兜」でキメろ [IT Media]

---

Last night at their press event in San Francisco, NIS America announced they would be releasing three new Japanese titles this year.

The first of these, Disgaea Dimension 2: A Brighter Darkness, is the newest PS3 title in the long-running strategy RPG series, Disgaea. It is a direct sequel to the first game in the series, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and picks up the story ten years later. It is set to release in the fall of this year.

The second game is The Guided Fate Paradox, a plot-driven dungeon crawler about a normal boy who has recently become a god. It will be coming out sometime this fall on the PS3 as well.

The final title NIS America will be bringing over is Time and Eternity (also known by its Japanese title, Tokitowa). We've talked about this time-travel, multiple personality "HD animation RPG" quite a bit here at Kotaku East. And with its unique battle system, I personally found it a joy to play. It will be released on the PS3 sometime this summer.

Check out the trailers below to see these games in action.

The Pocket Monsters anime originally used Japanese writing for on-screen text and signs. A pain in the ass if you need to localize the cartoon into other languages. So the Pokémon folks came up with a solution: a made-up language. A Pokélingo, if you will.

Starting with anime series Pocket Monster Best Wishes!, the anime series began using a made up language that actually means something. So this sign from Best Wishes! episode #49:

---

Actually isn't just gibberish! It reads "Pokémon". Can't you see it? This is the language used in the Pokémon region of Unova, making it Unovan. Website PocketMonsters.net has an extremely helpful dictionary for deciphering the symbols, which directly correlate to English letters:

This is the main language used in the Pokémon anime; however, there's also a second and a third language. You can see their deciphered symbols on PocketMonsters.net.

PocketMonsters.net updated its dictionary early last January. Deciphering work began in 2011, with those involved on the project posting on the Serebii forums.

This week, another group—students from University of Kyoto's "Pokémon Club"—are saying how they've independently cracked the anime lingo, posting examples of how they've translated the Pokéspeak.

While this notebook is written in Unovan, the sentences are in English. The University of Kyoto students note that there are some mistakes. In one instance, "you" is written as "u", and "wha" is written instead of "what".

What's interesting about the deciphering done by the University of Kyoto students is how sometimes Unovan can be deciphered to reveal not just English words. For example, in this image, each Pocket Monster has its original Japanese name listed, with short descriptions in rough Latin script, like what's used to write Japanese (romaji).

So next to Deino (née Monozu in Japanese), it reads, "Mitame ha tyotto kimoi ne", which would be 見た目はちょっとキモいね in Japanese and means "Its appearance is somewhat creepy".

Pokémon people have created a language that people can decipher and read. Since the anime is then dubbed for different regions, that would mean Unovan isn't necessarily English, and it's not necessarily Japanese—which is proved by the written language having both in it. This means that spoken Unovan could then have its own pronunciation. So somebody create a pronunciation guide so people can congregate in public and speak Pokélingo. Cuter than speaking Klingon!

イッシュ文字がほぼ解読された件 [京都大学ポケモンサークル]
Anime Language [PocketMonsters.net]

---

To start with, a fair bit of warning: I am not what you would call a Monster Hunter fan. The first (and last) game of the series I played was Monster Hunter Freedom 2 and that experience left me feeling that Monster Hunter just wasn't the series for me. But then I saw Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the Wii U which appeared to have addressed the problems that I had with the series. So I decided to give the series a second shot. I am glad I did.

Good — Epic Battles

I'll say this for Monster Hunter: It certainly lives up to its title. The boss monsters are huge, imposing, and radiate danger. Dragons, t-rexes, and sea serpents are little more than the opening volley of this game—with the creatures getting bigger and scarier as you progress. And just when you think you've got a handle on one type of boss monster, they throw two at you at once, raising the stakes yet again.

Moreover, each battle is far from a brief encounter. In my time with the game, I didn't encounter a single boss fight that was under seven minutes long and many broke the fifteen minute mark—and this is with four players constantly attacking the boss.

Good — The Wii U Gamepad

The Wii U's controller is a god-send in 3 Ultimate. It basically serves as your go-to place for the majority of the game's menus; and, if you so choose, you can completely remove the interface from your TV screen and put everything from life bar to item selection on the controller's screen.

But by far my favorite thing about playing it with the Wii U controller was being able to quickly type out text chat using the gamepad's touch screen. In a game where communication is important, it was great to not be forced to select letters one by one with crawling slowness.

[*Note: During the time I was playing Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, voice chat and USB keyboard support had yet to be implemented. They were patched into the game this past Tuesday and will be included in the Western release.]

Mixed — The Controls Are Getting Better But Aren't Quite There Yet

3 Ultimate makes some great strides in making the game easier to play. The most profound tweak is the ability to lock on to the biggest monster in the area. Once locked on, the camera still does not center on your target automatically; rather you have the ability to re-center the camera on the monster whenever you'd like. As I tend to play the thrusting classes when using melee, I can tell you, it made the whole game much easier to get the hang of.

The ranged classes, which I was far more comfortable with from my time with third-person shooters, still need a bit of streamlining, however, as the controls come off as a bit archaic. To aim and fire an arrow from the bow, for example, I had to press and hold one button to draw, press and hold another to enter aiming mode, and switch over my left thumb to the very sensitive d-pad to line up my shot—since the left thumbstick continued to control movement even in aiming mode. While not impossible to use by any means—after you spend some time getting used to it, anyway—I couldn't help but notice that I was using a controller that has two thumbsticks and four shoulder buttons. In other words, there is no need to stick with the limitations of a PSP-designed control scheme (at least in the Wii U version of the game) when a more common and user-friendly control setup could be used instead.

Bad — Die and Die Again

Monster Hunter is a game all about the grind. You kill monsters, find new materials, make money, and create new armor all so you can restart the cycle with stronger monsters. It is the nature of the game. That, however, doesn't make it any less frustrating when you are one-hit killed by monster after monster as you try to gather what is necessary to make the gear you need.

The most frustrating deaths came after the monster ran away into an adjacent area. Then immediately after I loaded into the new area, I found myself dead from the monster camping the spawn waiting for me. On second thought, "frustrating" doesn't really begin to cover it.

But even worse than that comes from when other people die. For each death in your party, everyone loses a chunk of the monetary reward you would get for completing the hunt. When your monetary reward hits zero—i.e., after three deaths total spread between you and your allies—you fail the hunt, lose the contract fee you paid to start the hunt, and have to try again. And as each battle takes ten to fifteen minutes, you gain nothing and are left feeling like you wasted your time… which, let's be frank, you did. And in my opinion, there is no greater sin a game can commit than to make you feel like you are wasting your time.

Final Thoughts

Despite the game being more than a little frustrating at points, I generally enjoyed my time with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. It was easy to hop online, find a group, pop in, and get to Monster Hunting. The battles were tense, exciting, and highly addictive. Moreover, they never felt like a slog—well, unless you and your party failed right near the end of the fight anyway. And thanks to the Wii U's game pad, I feel I got a far better online experience out of the game than I would on any other system. If you're a fan of the series, you will no doubt be happy with this game. And if you have a Wii U and have given up on or ignored Monster Hunter in the past, this version of the game may well change your mind. I know it did for me.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate was released on December 10, 2012, in Japan for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS and is region locked. It will be released on both systems in the United States on March 19, 2013.

Naruto might be the namesake of manga and anime juggernaut Naruto, but the star of this mesmerizing animated GIF is a dancing Itachi Uchiha and his co-star Kisame Hoshigaki.

This image originally appeared on a Japanese internet thread called "I also made my own animated GIF lol."

Look at how he snaps off that shirt and coat! Of course, the GIF was soon edited for further internet hijinks. If you watch these two GIFs together long enough, you'll see them both making out at the same time.

---

Kisame? More like kiss me. AMIRITE?

俺もgifアニメつくったったｗｗｗｗｗ [いたしん！]

---

So you have a Vita and love Japanese games. We've already shown you how to make a Japanese PSN account and how to reset your Vita region to access the Japanese PSN on a non-Japanese Vita, but why go through all the hassle? Well, maybe you'd rather download the games you want to play instantly rather than wait for a physical copy to arrive; maybe you've bought some Japanese games already and want their DLC; or maybe you are just curious and want to try some demos.

No matter the reason, here's a helping hand from Kotaku East for downloading games, demos, and DLC from the Japanese PSN on the Vita.

[*Note: This guide is written assuming you have already made a Japanese PlayStation Network account (as detailed here) and have already reset your Vita to the Japanese region (as detailed here).]

Part 1 — Downloading Demos

Step 1: Even if your system language is set to English, the PSN Store will still be in Japanese. To download demos, first touch the store icon on your home screen.

Step 2: Then hit "Start."

Step 3: Sign in to your Japanese PSN account if prompted and hit "OK."

Step 4: Touch the top folder, PS Vita コンテンツ (content).

Step 5: To find a demo to download, click the third option on the list, 体験版 (demos).

Step 6: Scroll through the list of demos and touch the one you want to download.

Step 7: Touch the big orange button marked ダウンロード (download) to begin your download. [*Note: Just touch "OK" if you get a pop-up telling you your active downloads can be seen by tapping the top right corner of the Vita's home screen.]

Part 2 — Buying Vita Games

Step 1: As mentioned above, the PSN Store will still be in Japanese regardless of your system's language. To buy games, first touch the store icon on your home screen.

Step 2: Then hit "Start."

Step 3: Sign in to your Japanese PSN account if prompted and hit "OK."

Step 4: Touch the top folder, PS Vita コンテンツ (content).

Step 5: Touch the top folder, ゲーム (games).

Step 6: The following folders contain all the Japanese Vita games available for download. However, the games are listed in Japanese alphabetical order.

Step 7: If you can't read Japanese, you'll have to do some leg work. Look through them one by one until you find the game you want. Then touch that game.

Step 8: On the game information page, click the big orange button that says 今すぐ購入 (purchase now).

Step 9: Touch the ￥0 button in the top right corner of the screen to start the process to add funds to your Japanese PSN account.
[*Note: The easiest way to add money to your account is to buy a Japanese PlayStation Network card. You can get these from sites like PlayAsia. Most will email you the code directly so you won't even need to wait for the card to arrive.]

Step 10: Enter your Japanese PSN account password.

Step 11: Select the bottom option to add funds to your wallet using a Japanese PSN card. (The top option is to add funds using a Japanese credit card.) [*Note: You can't add funds with a non-Japanese credit card.]

Step 12: Enter the code of your PSN card four digits at a time. Hit the green "enter button" when you are done (the bottom right button). When it asks for conformation on the next screen, hit the bottom right button again. Congratulations, you now have money in your Japanese PSN account.

Step 13: Return to the buy screen from before, and click the bright orange button in the bottom left with 購入する (purchase) on it to complete your purchase of your game. Now all you need to do is wait for it to download. Enjoy!

Part 3 — Downloading DLC

Step 1: First touch the store icon on your home screen.

Step 2: Then hit "Start."

Step 3: Sign in to your Japanese PSN account if prompted and hit "OK."

Step 4: Touch the top folder, PS Vita コンテンツ (content).

Step 5: Tap the second folder down: 追加アイテム (supplementary items).

Step 6: This is a list of all the games with DLC. Scroll through until you find the game that you are looking for and then touch it.

Step 7: Now you are looking at all the DLC for the game you chose. Tap the DLC you wish to buy.

Step 8: On the DLC information page, click the big orange button that says 今すぐ購入 (purchase now).

Step 9: Click the bright orange button in the bottom left with 購入する (purchase) on it to complete your purchase of your DLC. Now all you need to do is wait for it to download. Enjoy!
[*Note: If you don't have any money in your Japanese PlayStation Network wallet, follow the steps in Part 2: Step 9-12 to add some.]

---

And that's all there is to it! Enjoy your games, demos, and DLC from the Vita version of the Japanese PlayStation Store.

Thought it was odd that Sony didn't show off the PS4 at... a PS4 reveal? Well, you're not alone! It was odd. But it was also understandable, seeing as how, you know, Sony doesn't know what the final retail machine will look like, either.

In an interview after this week's unveiling, Hiroshi Kawano, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, was asked by 4Gamer about the PS4's design. "If I'm being honest, I also haven't seen its final design. Even the controller we showed today, I saw the final design around yesterday or so."

That doesn't mean Kawano and other Sony brass have no clue what the PS4 will look like. Certainly, they've seen prototypes and mock-ups—just as they have for the hardware they revealed at this week's event.

About the PS4 controller, which was shown at the PS4 announcement, Kawano explains, "I've seen numerous prototypes from when it was still codenamed 'Jedai', and I heard that an onboard touch pad was in the final specs."

Add Kawano's comments to Sony Computer of America boss Jack Tretton's remarks that the "mass-production box" was "still in development in terms of final specs and design", and, yes, you can see why Sony didn't wheel out the PS4.

It wasn't just because, as PlayStation's Shuhei Yoshida told Kotaku, Sony wants there to be something for you to look forward to. It's because Sony still doesn't know what the final machine will look like.

PS4は「つながり」の中心に。SCEJプレジデント 河野 弘氏インタビュー [4Gamer]

---