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kuboBLURBs - Articles on Cool Japanese Stuff

Below are all of our kuboBLURBs. You can also filter all our BLURBs by category.

Anime & Manga Antiques & Artwork Books, Movies & Music Electronics Miscellaneous Video Games  

Denon AH-D7000 Headphones

Are you ready to have your ears melted? It's really not as painful as it sounds. In fact, a recent poll suggests that ear melting is perceived as a generally positive experience.

But where can one go to have one's ears melted? As ear-melting parlors seem to have gone out of fashion in recent days, the most reliable way to have an ear-melting session is to do it in the safety of your own home. This has the added benefit of keeping your audio "o" face private as you reach your auditory climax.

For your very own ear-melting experience in the privacy of your own home, kuboTEN is bringing you the new Denon AH-D7000 headphones! The D7000's promise to better the already fantastic D5000's, and the initial impressions from Japanese headphone blogs is that the D7000's have an incredibly romantic and lush midrange while being more resolving than the D5000's. The D7000's have also been said to have incredibly fast, high-impact bass which remains beautifully articulated.

In addition to the impressive sonic upgrades, the D7000's mahogany wood cups now have a fine glossy finish. These new Denons might finally give some competition to the hand-lacquered Audio Technica woody line as the most dazzling headphones ever made. What they won't do, however, is melt your eyes... which we hear is actually a horrifyingly painful experience. So feel free to put an order in with kuboTEN for the AH-D7000 and we promise your eyes will stay safe!

Category: Electronics | Comments (1)
Posted on: 08.31.2008

Vocaloid

One part anime queen, one part J-Pop starlet, and one part otaku imagination, the Vocaloid synthetic voice generator has given millions of wannabe songwriters a face to go along with their music. Using Yamaha's Vocaloid computer music sequencing software, anyone could create lyrics and music that sound remarkably realistic and professional.

Enter Miku Hatsune.

With samples from anime voice actress Saki Fujita (of Bleach fame), Yamaha introduced one of the finest and most realistic voice synthesizers to date. The extremely moe-like characteristics of Ms. Fujita's voice make songs recorded with the Miku Hatsune Vocaloid2 package sound like they could have been taken straight from the soundtrack of the latest anime series.

But what's a cute voice without a cute face to match? Miku Hatsune's character design in conjunction with her sweet and innocent voice has created a pop force to be reckoned with. She is now featured in copious amounts of fan-based internet videos, drawings, and songs, and is fast becoming a cosplay favorite along with keychains, figures, and other goods. Miku has also crossed into the video gaming world, as she was recently featured as a character in the Nintendo DS game 13 sai no Hello Work.

There may be no limit to how far she can climb the J-Pop charts. Will this usher in a new era of synthetic pop darlings?

Category: Books, Movies, Music | Comments (1)
Posted on: 07.25.2008

Gloomy Bear

kuboRECIPE
Make Your Own Gloomy Bear!
Serves 1

Ingredients:
1 Carebear
6 6-inch long claws
1 Tablespoon rubber cement
1/2 Cup human blood
A dash of psychotic drugs

Directions:
1. Attach claws to carebear's hands using rubber cement.
2. Splash human blood liberally around carebear's mouth and newly attached claws.
3. Use psychotic drugs and envision your newly made carebear-turned -gloomybear chasing your friends around.

We at kuboTEN like things on the cheap. So when the Gloomy Bear craze hit Japan, we decided to try our hand at DIY and came up with the above recipe. Having trouble procuring 1/2 cup of human blood? kuboTEN heartily recommends this handy tool.

If you're still having trouble finding that human blood, we guess we can forgive you for having a peek at the current auction listings for a pre-fab Gloomy.

Category: Miscellaneous | Comments (2)
Posted on: 07.05.2008

Menko Trading Cards

Sadaharu Oh's rookie card. Godzilla getting beat down by Mothra. Mario eating 'shrooms. What do all these have in common? Aside from being Japanese and being awesome in their own right, they are also all featured on highly collectible menko trading cards.

Back in the day, kids played a game with menko cards in which the object was to flip over your opponents cards using only the force from the wind generated by you throwing down your own menko card. Flip your opponent's card over, and it was yours. Many lost friendships and throwing stars to the eye resulted.

In the 21st century, a new dawn of enlightened thinking is upon us. No longer are there scuffles between BFFs owing to the gust of wind that flipped over little Akira's favorite Pokemon card. Instead, the monetary battle for collectibles has begun in a virtual world. And we, being the blood-thirsty wretches that we are, would like to facilitate this battle by bringing you menko cards straight from Japan. With production spanning from the late Edo Period all the way through to the early 1990's, we're almost certain you'll be able to find nostalgic menko in your particular area of interest.

Category: Sports & Memorabillia | Comments (1)
Posted on: 06.26.2008

YMCK 8-bit Music

Let's play a game together. This game is called, "Oh! That Video Game Tune". Here are the rules:

* No Googling to find the answer. Cheaters suck.
* You get 1 HP for every tune you know.
* You get -1 HP for every tune you don't know.

1. Whistle the Super Mario Bros. Theme Song.
2. Hum one of the Tetris songs on the original gameboy.
3. Clap the rhythm to the Street Fighter II intro music.

 How'd you do? If you ended up with positive HP, good for you! You will most definitely enjoy the chiptunes J-indie group YMCK. They are a super fun, high energy, kawaii trio that sample exclusively from 8-bit sources and layer gleeful lyrics on top of their catchy melodies. Give them a listen, watch them on YouTube, and we promise that you too will be instantly hooked on YMCK!

And if you ended our little game with a negative HP total... you may not be down with the hardcore gaming crowd but you might still enjoy YMCK!

Category: Books, Movies, Music | Comments (1)
Posted on: 06.18.2008

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