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.

Unicycles - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Since around 10 years ago, more and more Japanese kids have been riding unicycles. At elementary schools and middle schools, you can see kids riding them around during recess or as a club activity. Some kids are really devoted; in 1992, a Kobe middle schooler named Akira Matsushima, who was 15 years old at the time, rode across North America on an oversized unicycle called the Big Wheel, covering a distance of about 5,400 kilometers, or 3,355 miles.

Actor's School - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Many popular female Japanese singing acts have come out of the Okinawa Actors' School, an entertainment academy established in 1983 in the city of Naha in Okinawa, Japan's southernmost prefecture. The school has already produced more than 30 popular professional singers, and is causing a sensation in Japan's world of entertainment.

Dreamcast - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
On November 27, 1998, Sega, the home-computer-game giant, released its latest video-game hardware: Dreamcast. The first shipment of about 150,000 units sold out in a single day, and the game continues to fly off store shelves. Shoppers are still having a hard time getting their hands on a Dreamcast set.

Beetles - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Japan's warm, humid summer nurtures a diverse cast of insects, including cicadas, dragonflies, butterflies, ladybugs, long-horned beetles, and the Japanese gold beetle. And many elementary and middle school students--mostly boys--devote a good part of their summer vacation to collecting these creatures. The bugs are popular subjects for summer homework and individual research projects. The two biggest favorites are the Japanese rhinoceros beetle and the stag beetle.

Drawing the Ideal School - Kids in Action - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
How do children in Africa live, and what kind of schools do they wish for? "The Ideal School As Drawn by African and Japanese Children" is an art exhibition that provides rare insight into the thoughts of children from African countries.

Thirty-one-legged Race - Kids in Action - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
An event known as the 31-legged race is popular right now among Japanese elementary school students. In this event, 30 classmates line up in a single row with their legs tied together at the ankles. There is even a 31-legged race national championship for elementary school students, which is broadcast on national TV.

School - Kojimachi Middle School - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Web Japan > Kids Web Japan > Archives > Life School: Kojimachi > School About the School Kojimachi Middle School is a public school located in Chiyoda Ward, a district in central Tokyo. This school

Seaside - Kojimachi Middle School - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Web Japan > Kids Web Japan > Archives > Life School: Kojimachi > Seaside Hota Seaside School Kojimachi Middle School operates the Hota Seaside School for seventh-grade students at the end of July ea

Outdoors - Kojimachi Middle School - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Web Japan > Kids Web Japan > Archives > Life School: Kojimachi > Outdoors Experiencing the great outdoors Karuizawa, a resort town located about 150 kilometers northwest of Tokyo in mountainous Naga

Hiroaki Kenmoku - Meikei High School - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Web Japan > Kids Web Japan > Archives > Life School: Meikei > Features Hiroaki All eleventh graders undertake an individual research project. Each student chooses an area of interest, takes a year t