Pop Culture 2001-2002 | Archives | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
Trends in Japan Archives 30 Years of Friendship A Hero for All Ages Licensed to Entertain Making Their Mark Local Movies Make National Impact Manga Guru's Creations Go Live An Island Song Goes Border

Business 2005-2006 | Archives | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
Trends in Japan Archives Reading On The Move Barcode Art Harnessing the Rising Sun Next-Generation Bathrooms Coinless Lockers Listen and Learn Brewing up Business Books as Billboards Wind Power Takes

Business 2007-2008 | Archives | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
Trends in Japan Archives Egg-Vertising Masked Beauty Paying Premium Waste Not, Want Not An Authentic Taste Of Japan Free Photocopying Service Takes Off Try Before You Buy This site uses JavaScript.

Sci-tech | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
Trends in Japan | Web Japan Leave Your Chores to a Robot Turning Thoughts into Pictures Fibers of the Future Digital Camera Goes 3-D Self-cleaning Walls and Windows Biofuels from Nonfood Sources Maki

Exercise - Lesson 4 - Language - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Kids Web Japan Kids Web Japan Language Lesson 4: Where Did You Come from? Exercise Exercise search Web Japan > Kids Web Japan > Language > Lesson 4 > Exercise Language Exercise Try asking your

Dialogue, Say It Out Loud - Lesson 4 - Language - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Kids Web Japan Kids Web Japan Language Lesson 4: Where Did You Come from? Dialogue, Say It Out Loud Dialogue Say It Out Loud search Web Japan > Kids Web Japan > Language > Lesson 4 > Dialogue,

Vocabulary - Lesson 4 - Language - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Kids Web Japan Kids Web Japan Language Lesson 4: Where Did You Come from? Vocabulary Vocabulary search Web Japan > Kids Web Japan > Language > Lesson 4 > Vocabulary Language Vocabulary tabemas

Playstation 2 - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Just as Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) had announced six months ago, the home video-game machine PlayStation 2 went on sale on March 4, 2000. Already more than a million people across Japan, both young and old, enjoy the beautiful graphics of PS2 every day.

Birthday Teddy - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Like girls anywhere in the world, Japanese girls love chocolate. If a free prize is attached to the chocolate that captures their hearts, it's only natural that its popularity would go through the roof.

Beyblades - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
"Three, two, one, go shoot!" Since the beginning of this year, there has been a sharp increase in the number of elementary school students who can be seen standing in circles in toy stores or on street corners calling out these words as they battle with tops. These kids are called "bladers," and they spin plastic tops in a dish-shaped "stadium" about 40 centimeters (16 inches) in diameter. Two players spin their tops at the same time, and the battle between the tops is so intense that sometimes even sparks can be seen. The match is won when one top pushes the other out of the stadium or spins longer than the other.

Mobile Suit Gundam - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
One of the most popular games in Japan right now is Gundam Federation VS Zeon (site is Japanese only). There are countless varieties of Gundam games, ranging from those played on consoles and cellular phones to Internet versions, and Gundam Federation VS Zeon is the newest of these. It is a PlayStation 2 game (a Dreamcast version will also come out in April 2002) and can be played over a network. In just three days following its release in December 2001, 650,000 units of the game were shipped, immediately making it the number-one bestseller.

Hikaru Utada - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
When Hikaru Utada debuted in December 1998 with the single "Automatic/Time Will Tell", the Japanese media hailed her as a singer of tremendous promise who had emerged like a meteor. And no wonder, because a 16-year-old singer born in New York City had appeared out of nowhere with superb singing skills and songs that she had written herself in the R&B (rhythm and blues) style.

Layered Fashion - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Recently in Japan, many girls are wearing skirts and one-piece dresses over their jeans. During the summer they were wearing sleeveless shirts over their T-shirts, but now that it's fall, they're wearing their short-sleeve T-shirts on top, with long sleeves underneath.

Hirakawachi Itchome - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Two brothers who attend middle school in Sado, an 855-square-kilometer island in the Sea of Japan belonging to Niigata Prefecture, have won the hearts of young people across Japan. Hayashi Ryunosuke, 15, and Naojiro, 13, together form a folk duo called Hirakawachi Itchome. Ryunosuke writes the songs and Naojiro sings them. They only made their professional debut in November 2003, but their first CD single, "Tokyo," has already sold more than 50,000 copies.

Snowball Fights - What's Cool - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Kids who live in cold places have always enjoyed making snowballs and having snowball fights (yuki-gassen in Japanese). Recently, rules for snowball fighting have been drawn up, and people are having snowball fights as a kind of team sport. In this sport, players throw snowballs at their opponents and try to capture their flag.

Arashi no Yoru ni - What's Cool - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
The animated movie Arashi no Yoru ni (Stormy Night), released at the start of 2006, portrays the budding friendship between May the wolf and Gav the goat. Many of the estimated 1.5 million people who have seen the move in Japan are children. A lot of these kids read the illustrated book on which the film is based before going to see the movie.

Football - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Which sport do you think is the most popular among Japanese kids? Sumo? Baseball? Basketball? All of these sports are popular, but the number-one favorite among kids from elementary through high school is football.

Advanced Robots - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Robots fall into two broad categories. The first type is industrial robots, which are equipped with great strength and special skills. These robots build things and perform tasks that help factories run smoothly. Robots that build cars in automobile factories are a well-known example. The second type of robots help us in our everyday lives. Robots of this type are being used widely in Japan these days, helping people out in many areas--in hospitals and clinics, at home, and in schools.

Camera Fever - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Nowadays, many Japanese high-school girls carry cameras in their bags. Rather than ordinary cameras, which are big and heavy, they usually carry disposable cameras, also known in Japan as "film-with-lens" cameras. So what do the girls take pictures of? Not necessarily anything special, just scenes from everyday life--for example, inside their classrooms.

Godzilla - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Far away, in the South Pacific islands of French Polynesia, atomic testing brings a huge monster to life. The monster makes its way to Tahiti, then to Jamaica, and finally to New York, where it goes on a 300-mile-an-hour rampage, destroying skyscrapers, Wall Street, Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, and everything else in its path. This is the plot of the new Hollywood movie, Godzilla. Released in Canada and the United States in May of this year, the movie (rated PG-13) has become a smash hit.