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.

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.

Bike Trek - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Two Japanese schoolboys, accompanied by their parents, are in the middle of a trans-America trek on mountain bikes from New York to San Francisco, an adventure covering a distance of some 5,000 kilometers in two-and-a-half months.

Smileys - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
People always keep in touch. But while many people who were reluctant to write letters now send large volume of electronic correspondence, it is said people have grown away from the warmth of handwritten messages. Perhaps to make up for some of the facelessness, emoticons (emotive icons) created with symbols and the letters of the alphabet are often used to convey a range of emotions. Writers can show everything from pleasure and sadness to anger and embarrassment. When accompanying a text message, these "smileys" can fill in the emotional gaps in electronically transmitted text.

Kenya - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
On April 2 Yoshitake Sakurada, then parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, visited the Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwestern Kenya to fulfill then Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's promise of giving a pencil to every child there. He handed over about 110,000 pencils, notebooks, and other stationeries to children after inspecting a hospital and elementary school in the camp. The following morning, he attended a ceremony presenting an ambulance to the hospital and writing materials to schoolchildren in the refugee camp.

Mascot - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
The names of the mascots for the 2002 FIFA World Cup were announced in Japan and Korea on April 26, 2001, which marked exactly 400 days before the start of the soccer tournament on May 31, 2002. The names were chosen through a vote by soccer fans in Japan, Korea, and other nations all over the world. Nearly one million people participated in the vote. The three mascots, symbolizing energy particles in the atmosphere, were named as Ato, the team coach wearing yellow, Nik, a player wearing a blue uniform, and Kaz, a player in a purple uniform.

Jobs - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
When Japanese kids from kindergarten to sixth-grade were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, baseball player came out as the boys' top choice, while cook or restaurant owner was ranked top among girls for the fourth straight year, according to a nationwide survey by Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co. Soccer player was the boys' second choice.

Excursions - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Without question, the most anticipated school event in the lives of Japanese students is the class trip. When Japanese elementary and middle school students reach their final school year, they get to take a trip lasting around three days and two nights. These exciting excursions usually take place in late spring, early summer, or autumn. Among the many different destinations, the most popular are Kyoto and Nara, which are known for their many old shrines and temples. Recently, some schools have begun venturing abroad to such places as South Korea, China, and Southeast Asia.

MONTHLY NEWS - July 2001: Japanese Fathers Get a New Image
Kind MONTHLY NEWS July 2001 Japanese Fathers Get a New Image Reference Noboru Shimomura, Noriko Matsui (illus.), Kanji no hon (Book of Kanji) vols. 1-6 (Tokyo: Kaisei-sha Publishing Co., 1994).