Giant Robot Store and GR2 News

    Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island, elevates the term ‘Winter Wonder Land’ to an all new standard. Tourists are already familiar with the Sapporo Snow Festival and may have even heard of the Asahikawa Winter Festival. Just a two hour bus ride away from Asahikawa, Sounkyo is renowned for its waterfalls and natural hot springs. Once winter sets in, a crew sets to work and constructs an ice castle like something fashioned from a Japanese RPG. (You can see a video showing how its built here). This, coupled alongside the ethereal lights illuminating its frosty walls, creates a feast for the senses. It’s one additional reason why Hokkaido is an ideal destination for the season.   We had a chance to visit and take photographs of the area shortly after night fall. Be aware though, the last bus returning to Asahikawa departs shortly after dusk. Unless you’ve booked a hotel nearby then you won’t have the opportunity to see the firework show that goes off on most weekends until the festival’s closing ceremony.  
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The hot commodity of Japan. It’s water. Hokkaido, the Northern most island featuring tons of green forest and underground water! Japan is in the top ten in the world for water and some folks are buying in. The land is cheap. One water plant near Mt Fuji is exporting most of it’s water to China. “Near Mount Fuji, Osaka-based Seven Yellow pumps 500,000 liters of water a month from a well and exports as much as 80 percent of it to China, where it sells for 150 yen ($1.89) or more a bottle.” (Businessweek – Japan Water)
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It’s been well over a year since the infamous Human Centipede film made its theatrical release in America and it looks like it finally hit the Japanese market. According to IMDB, the film gained distribution in Tokyo on July 2, 2011. For those that don’t know, Human Centipede is a horror movie about a mad scientist who surgically grafts three people together…from anus to mouth. As a result, they each share the same digestive tract in the worst way imaginable. Fans and critics have both described it as the “2 Girls, 1 Cup” of horror. Japan’s pop culture is reputably the land of “WTF.” I bet the movie’s marketers thought long and hard to think of ways to out-weird the movie’s original premise. This advertisement is the end result.  
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