Frighteningly historically low birthrates among the Japanese have caused local governments to offer greater incentives for child-rearing. Anxiety over economic security, lack of nursing facilities, and enjoyment of urban life are commonly cited reasons for this decline.  However, this doesn’t stop the Japanese from practicing safe sex.  Although seen as a marketing gimmick, many Japanese condom manufactures hope their innovative ideas will revitalize the image of condoms.

Continuing last month’s trend of suggestively themed posts; today we focus on prophylactics. Whether it be your code of ethics, lack of options, or religious values holding you back; when the time comes make sure you have one of these in your hand. Not will you be protecting yourself, you’ll be showing personal style like with anime inspired designs by manga artist Junko Mizuno.

Stay Real…Respect!

[InventorSpot via WeirdAsianNews]

Paired with a catchy tune, Japanese dance moves and a $10,000 prize, Lotte’s new campaign to promote Fit’s Gum is sure to generate a lot of attention. Teaming up with YouTube, Lotte is seeking contestants to submit their own Fit’s dance. The best entries are posted on Lotte’s YouTube channel where you can also view their current marketing campaign videos. Listen to the dance track below as well as very detailed instructions on how to chew gum (because its really hard).

Fit’s Gum Jingle

Sadly, unless you live in Japan, you can’t win the grand prize. However, this shouldn’t stop you from downloading the music and practicing your moves if this comes stateside. Hit the jump for a nice little widget that teaches you the dance moves.

Read more!

As if Namco Bandai’s Klonoa remake isn’t incentive enough for you to get your Nintendo Wii modded, now there’s even more reason to do so. Vanillaware, the development house behind Princess Crown, Odin Sphere and GrimGrimMoire, have set April 9th as the Japanese release date for their Wii exclusive action RPG, Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

A US release date has yet to be set, but you can bet that it will be later this year.

[Siliconera]

Are you one of those who cringe when you see -sama or -chan in anime subtitles? Should anime subtitles be more literal and ignore honorifics and other personal pronouns? Well someone at AnimeNation’s Ask John column has posed the question. Ive seen the argument that such pronouns can be fully translated or ‘worked around’ from both anime neophytes, confused by their first encounter with Japanese, and from Japanese scholars who feel that somehow insulted by this halfway Translation.

Well John does a great job replying to this question and frankly I agree with him.

I believe that Japanese honorifics and personal pronouns often imply meanings and social relationships that cannot be accurately translated or replicated in English. An excellent example is when classmates stop addressing each other with honorifics. There is no English language equivalent for that situation. Having equal classmates refer to each other as “Mister” or “Miss” is unnatural in English. Having characters of similar age and status refer to each other by last name, then switch to first name doesn’t make sense in English either. Having characters of similar age and status refer to each other by full given name then switch to nicknames is not an accurate translation and may betray an accurate reflection of the speaking character’s personality. Simply dropping honorifics entirely fails to acknowledge this significant change in social relationship.

He goes on providing even better arguments and insight into the issue, the column is well worth a read.

[Should Honorifics Appear in Commercial Subtitles?]