The ministry of tourism in Japan hopes that due to the popularity of this too-cute feline, tourists from neighboring countries will flock to Japan and spent some cash. As well informed readers of Japanite! already know the country offer tourist attractions like maid cafes and robot wars.

The mega cat is apparently 34 years old, and was invented by Sanrio, a toy company. since then, the kitty has appeared on 50,000 products in 60 countries.

This isn’t the first time that Japanese expect their drawn figures to bring them tourists. Just a month ago the Japanese foreign minister appointed Doraemon, the anime cat, as an “anime ambassador”.

We wish good luck to the cute cat, but still thinks that Nahoko Shimada, the McDonalds porn start might have been a better in attracting the sophisticated tourists.

More: [DailyNews]

2.5% of fifth graders in Japan play console games that include sexual and erotic themes. That’s according to a survey done by the National Congress Parents and Teachers Associations of Japan. What’s more amazing is that 34.9% of the children reported that they have email friends that their parents don’t know about. Not surprisingly they send 51 emails every day to each other.

In a recent survey in Japan about video games, it was discovered that the children doesn’t go to arcade halls, and just stay at home to play their consoles. The children were very convincing for why they prefer the home consoles.

Arcades are expensive, noisy and filled with cigarette smoke,” said 15-year-old Gene Sato, adding that he would rather save his money to go to a theme park. “Besides, I can stay home and play NBA Live on PlayStation 3.”

Or maybe it’s just because they can’t watch their favorite erotic games in the arcade?

Source: [Mainichi] Game: [J-List]

If you’ll ever visit Tokyo you will find some weird and strange recreation places. Some will find the Mom Cafés very unique place, others will rather drop for an IV drip to help fight the jetlag, and others may just want to pass the time by eating at McDonalds.

But the latest trend in Japan nowadays is virtual golf. More than 50 golf simulators allow people to get into the action without getting on the grass. The virtual golf players are coming not just for the sports, but also the company.

The company that develops these virtual golf simulators already sold 30 systems with a price tag of $57,000 (6 million yen). One of these virtual golf courses managers tells that most days the bar draws about 30 golfers. On a busy evening more than 60 golfers will come to play. Most of them have played golf before.

It seems that Japanese people love to play virtual golf together. An analyst explains that Japanese people don’t have a strong individualist streak, and many games are best enjoyed when played with friends.

Technology and golf goes great in Japan, so it seems. Several months ago Sony launched a virtual golf caddy that uses the PSP (Playstation portable) GPS unit in order to keep track of your game.

By the way, if you are interested have a golf simulator at home – you can. Full Swing Golf offers complete systems to home customers for a bargain price of $55,000. You can join customers like Donald Trump, Michael Jordan, Kevin Dillon, Richard Marriott (the hotel chain owner). The Swing Golf System even allows you to play online against other rich friends of yours.

Source: [Guardian]

The 57 years old man has been accused of accessing adult sex websites for 780,000 (that’s no mistakes) times starting June last year to February 2008. The employee works for the local council of Kinokawa in southern Japan.

The nasty habit reached its peak last July when he viewed 177,000 websites pages in one month. That’s about 10,000(!) pages per day. The man could continue doing his great work, unless its computer caught a virus.

The technical team that repaired the computer noticed the “little” sex addiction that this poor man had. What’s seems weird is how no one noticed the obsessed employee? Even if the numbers are in accurate, it’s still account for a lot of adult websites surfing during office hours. “Each desk is set apart from each other,” city official Tomiko Waki told AP news.

Amazingly he wasn’t fired, but was only given a suspension for three months and a $200 salary cut. Well, it is no surprise in a country well you can find sex even at McDonalds.

Source: [USA Today]

(Image courtesy of Xenia)