Lucy makes some random phone calls to Japan!

Lucy, a member of Ani-Pock, used Skype to make some random phone calls to Japan! Her Japanese is pretty good, so she called some random people and asked them about their cats! Lucy says:

I asked em "Your cat is happy?
The first one she just answerd hai the second one she put the phone down
They probably couldn't understand me XDD

And now listen to them! Call 1 & Call 2 (Right click these links and choose "Save as...")

National Disaster Prevention Day in Japan

"September 1st is national Disaster Prevention Day in Japan....As normal, stores sell kits to people providing everything they would need to survive if cut off from the outside world for a few days. “But what about my tiddles?!” I hear you ask. Well, assuming ‘tiddles’ is a cat or a dog then the Shinjuku branch of pet loving store Mitsukoshi have just the thing - pet evacuation sets!" And they go for about $125 US a piece! =o (via PlasticBamboo)

Ninja Consultant Radio Show Ep 28 Posted

Ninja Consultant episode #28 is now online. Just click on the pink play button right above the Gabbly chat. You'll hear the latest episode of Ninja Consultant- a podcast about anime, manga and ninjas. It'll stream right in the window, so you can chat and enjoy the show.

In this episode: "That's Japan! Episode One: The Kancho!", Noah and Erin's Favorite Videogames, Swan the manga, The Eurovision song contest and lots more!

Tokyo Timelapse Video: "Tokyo : Hectic"

Here is a great Tokyo Timelapse video! In the the first bit, you'll see a large intersection, with tons of people crossing it. When I was in Japan, I also saw how all the buisness men dress the same- white shirt, black pants pants.

Click the thumbnail to view! (via BoingBoing)

Japanese vending machines accepting Donations

"Tohoku Fukushi University campus in the Miyagi Prefecture is currently installing vending machines that allow the user to donate their change to charity. The drinks machine has two buttons; one for a 10 yen donation and another for 100 yen. These buttons can either be pushed after you make a purchase, taking the donation out of your change, or without buying anything at all if you’re feeling particularly generous." This is a great idea!! (via Plastic Bamboo). link

Ani-Pock Members World Map Update

I was just checking out the Ani-Pock World Map, which shows where recent visits are from. You can finally see our members from Hawaii, Japan, Australia and even Alaska! now. Mouse over the yellow dots to see exactly which cities! Check if you are on the map! It seems the majority of our users are from the East coast of the US. Click thumbnail to open.

Super awesome Pocky Wallpaper found!

Teenlink found this super awesome wall-paperable deviantART pic. It's called "Pocky Senshi", and the artist explains: "What is the Pocky Senshi? They are a team of fighters who wield oversized pocky in battle. I'm not sure who or what they fight, though. When I first made them back in highschool, they fought vegetables" _ _;;; Anywho click the thumbnail for bigger! (Thanks Teenlink)

Black Cat Manga Volume 2 Now Online

Sorry for the late post! I had meant to upload Volume 2 while I was on my trip. Volume 2 has now been uploaded, and my Palm Pilot will remind me to upload Volume 3 on September 2nd.

The link for Ani-Pock's Manga section can be found in the Ani-Pock Network browser at the top of your screen (see pic).

Japanese Talent Show : Baseball World Record

Another freshly captured clip just for Ani-Pock viewers! From NTV's "Kasou Taishou" show, a group of ameature performers recreate a Japaense baseball scene with two view (top and side) with slow motion all in the same manner the commonly known "Ping Pong Matrix" clip was concieved: people dressed in solid colors camaflouge themselves against a background while transforming part of themselves into objects. In this case, multiple people are used to create the slow motion effects, signs are carried by people dressed in black, and even the ball! link

Japanese TV Air Conditioning Commericial

Another freshly captured clip for you all! Perhaps the little sumo guy is the pillsbury doughboy of Japan? I like how the guy gives the thumbs up too ^^

Watch it now link

Japanese Talent Show : Scuba Diving

Just captured this on TV for you all! From NTV's "Kasou Taishou" show, a group of amateur performers create a scuba diving scene from the perspective of the divers goggles in the same manner the commonly known "Ping Pong Matrix" clip was concieved: people dressed in solid colors camaflouge themselves against a background while transforming part of themselves into objects. In this case, it translates to fishes, sea creatures, rocks, divers and more. link

Beautiful manhole covers of Japan

I saw these when I was in Japan too. But not any that were colored like these! There are about five pages (215 images) of Japanese manhole covers on this site. Sure beats those steamy ones in New York.

Have a gander! link

The Loituma Song

xDDD I can't stop watching this flash! The ending is the best. You'll see ^_^
Ps, is this the girl from Bleach? I've forgotten her name ;_; link

Funny Japanese Game Show Clip: Door Runner (fixed2)

I still have acces to Japanese TV in Taiwan, so I've captured this clip for you all. Pretty self explanitory, but in brief: contestants must run at full speed through a series of doors. Some of the doors are made of paper, while some are made of wood. ^_^ Sorry in advance for the quality (my PDA). I will start recording with a real camera soon. link (fixed)

Virtual Boyfriend or Girlfriend Gigapet

For less than the price of dinner and a movie you can now buy yourself a boyfriend or girlfriend! Each one has eight different mates for each gender. Each character has its own personality, so you can go through several relationships with eight different boyfriends! (via tEcHie cHic) link

New Hello Kitty Visa Card

Sanrio have released a Hello Kitty Platinum Visa card. Now you can shop in style, your fellow shoppers will surely be impressed when you swipe! ^_^ And since it is Sanrio doing it, they do nice things like this!: For every new card that is activated, Sanrio will donate $5 to the UNICEF to support children's education throughout the world. link

Ninja Consultant Radio Show Ep 27 Posted

Ninja Consultant episode #27 is now online. Just click on the pink play button right above the Gabbly chat on the main page (here). You'll hear the latest episode of Ninja Consultant- a podcast about anime, manga and ninjas. It'll stream right in the window, so you can chat and enjoy the show.

In this episode: "Live from Otakon 2006"

Ani-Pock Forums Registration Open Again

In an effort to bring new members to the Ani-Pock forums, registration has now been enabled for all public users. If you enjoy the Ani-Pock community, but find the Gabbly chat too fast, consider the forums! You'll be able to browse all messages at your own pace, and post quality messages with similar Ani-Pock users! Registration is free and easy, so check out the forums now! Open forum.

Oh and just to give you an idea of the community you'd be joining: We have 170 registered users who have posted a total of 8103 articles.

Pocky's Japan Trip Part 1

Hello again! Just finished typing up the comments for part 1 (of 4) report. Just as last time, if you click on the link "shortcuts off" in the report, you can just use your keyboard to change pages.

My comments are below the pictures.

Previous report: Taiwan Part 1.

Open Japan Part 1 report.

Pocky Report: Taiwan Part 1

Hello! Here is Part 1 of the Taiwan report. (Japan parts 1-4 come after this). Note on viewing the report: once you open the report, you can either click on the Next or Back buttons to navigate OR you can click "Shortcutts Off" to enable the keyboard. Then you can just push the N key for the next image or the B key for the previous image. Enjoy and coments welcome (post to main page instead please). Open Report

PS I posted a site update earlier. Scroll down to read.

Pocky back from Japan!

Hello Pockers! Hope you are all doing well! Yesterday I came back from Japan. I am still in Taiwan (island country south of Japan). I will be here for another week before heading home to the USA. I'll start posting reports tomorrow, starting with Taiwan Part 1, then Japan day 1,2,3,4 and finally followed by Taiwan Part 2 (hapening now). For the Japan trip I recorded videos, pictures, and audio bytes to try to give you a feel for what it is like in the capital of Japan.

Now a bit of site news: Over the long flights, I came up with many ideas on how to grow Ani-Pock yet keep the community small and fun. Namely, we will be neededing voluteers to run certain parts of the site. For example, there might be a mock mini newspaper section (Ani-Pock Times?), where one or two people would update it throughout the week writting mini articles such as "Teenlink fell down the endless hole (again)" ^_^. Other sections might be like : "Ani-Pock Romance" where again 1 or two people would contribute articles such as "Phil now in love with every girl on Ani-Pock". xD

The voluteneers would have special access to the site, so the instant they hit publish, the articles will go up live on the site- No waiting for Pocky to post them!

So stay tuned for the reports! -Pocky @ Friday 11:24 AM

Pocky leaving for Taiwan/Japan Trip!

Hello Pockers! I am leaving to my Taiwan and Japan trip this afternoon! I'll be gone for about three weeks. And yes, I will have reports up as soon as I can! I won't be into Japan until about Friday I think, so if you think of something uber cool I should see/get/do/want in Japan, leave me a comment in this post!

You track my flight by clicking here. Just enter the Airline code "BR" (EVA Air) and enter the flight number 11 for Aug 1. It'll even show a realtime view of where the plane is in he world! Pretty cool eh?

I'm not taking off till 5ish so the map probably won't show up until then. I should be back in contact with you all pending an internet connection over there, but in the mean time please be good!! Pocky over and out!

**Note please leave any comments on the main Ani-Pock page**