This week’s Omoshiro Zakka (Interesting Items) are quirky ice cubes. If you’ve ever wanted to liven up a boring glass of coke or impress your cocktail party guests, these are for you. There’s even the potential for murder mystery games if you let your imagination loose!

How has social media and blogging affected the way companies market in Japan? In this article, I take a look at Consumer Generated Media (CGM) and the way blogs have been utilised by several companies to improve their public relations and then go on relate it to the wider context of marketing in Japan.

This week’s Omoshiro Zakka (Interesting Item) is the sea anemone named ‘Harry’ (seemingly named after its designer). A fun-filled desk item that allows you to stick just about *anything* into its tentacles. I recommend accessories, though…

Free Japanese resources are plentiful on the internet, but have you ever wondered if you are getting the most out of them? While studying Japanese and working as a translator I’ve found a lot of great tools. So here’s Gakuranman’s top 5 picks for the best online dictionaries for Japanese-English translation!

On 3rd December I shot up to the COSPA offices in Tokyo on the Hikari Shinkansen to attend the 6th CGM Night – Otaku Version, organised by Danny Choo. Among all the self-acclaimed otaku were many fellow Japan bloggers, and the small venue meant conversations positively bloomed with success.

Omoshiro Zakka (オモシロ雑貨) means something like ‘Interesting Miscellaneous Goods’ in Japanese and is the title of this new section on Gakuranman.com. This week’s weird and wonderful invention is the humble soy sauce dispenser, with a Star Wars twist! R2D2 comes to the rescue for all your flavouring needs.

Alrighty. Here’s the second part of the huge volcano museum explore here in Japan. This time I’m focussing on the upper levels and the crumbling observation deck. Also included is a video compilation of the footage I took while visiting. Enjoy!

A decaying observation tower and a haikyo museum blanketed in shadows rest at the foot of one active Japanese volcano. Patches of snow cover the surrounding countryside and the ominous gong of a pinprick temple in the distance drifts into my ears on an early winter wind. Here’s my recent visit to these ruins.

I’ve been pretty busy during the last few weeks, hoping back and forth between Tokyo and Nagoya, stopping off at Hakone and infiltrating numerous haikyo. And in the crevices between all that? Networking with some of Japan’s finest j-bloggers, adventurers and musicians. And hey, Autumn isn’t even over yet!

I came across an inspired Japanese horror video recently which included a rather unsettling interpretation of the Ghibli classic film ‘My Neighbour Totoro’. Going in search of the image lead me to the talented author on Deviantart. So today, a bit of dark-hearted nastiness sprinkled with macabre. Enjoy.

Alrighty folks and folkesses! You might have been wondering what all this fuss is about with the launch of Twitter lists. What? You haven’t?? Why then you m’boy have been sleeping under a rock! Here’s the top Japan and Japanese-related people to follow on Twitter in a one handy list!

Okay, video time! The new flavour of Pepsi was launched in Japan yesterday. An ambitious Azuki (red-bean) flavour! I called into my local 100 yen Lawsons to pick one up and give it a whirl. My thoughts below ^^.