Choujun! Choujou-senpai: release date, trailer, and everything we know
A new anime is coming: Choujun! Choujou-senpai. Release date, trailer, concept - furansujapon covers the announcement. Here's what you need to know.
3 h ago 16 4
My Hero Academia: United Survival - Confirmed Release Date for Mobile and PC
My Hero Academia: UA Battle Survival, the multiplayer survival game based on the My Hero Academia universe, has just received an official release date for mobile and PC. A Battle Royale filled with Quirks.
3 h ago 7 2
Square Enix denies AI use for Kingdom Hearts—but suspicion lingers
A Kingdom Hearts illustration sparked controversy: generative AI use? Square Enix denies it, but the damage is done. Another chapter in the conflict between studios and creative communities.
3 h ago 8 2
"Rōrō-kaigo" (elderly caring for the elderly): when Japan cares for its elderly with its elderly - the word to know to understand Japanese demographics
Nippon.com reminds us with the latest official figures a fact that has become structural: the majority of family caregivers in Japan are also 65 years old or older. A phenomenon that has a name, and which is disrupting everything, from long-term care insurance to assistive robotics.
yesterday 14 3
Palworld 1.0: 30 million sales, ~$700M revenue and one million concurrent players - the Japanese survival game finally enters the big leagues
The 1.0 release of Palworld propels Pocketpair's game to nearly a million concurrent Steam players and surpasses 30 million cumulative sales. A textbook case for a 60-person Japanese indie studio that shook up Nintendo.
Jul 27, 2026 6 2
Facial recognition at Pokémon card shop entrances: Japan takes a step against scalpers
Some Japanese Pokémon card shops now require a biometric scan upon entry. A response to the ongoing crisis of wild resales - but which raises questions about privacy in Japanese retail.
Jul 27, 2026 8 2
Famima Park Azabudai: the Tokyo flagship of Family Mart hides a drink that you can't find anywhere else
Opened in early July 2026 near Azabudai Hills, the very first "flagship" Famima already attracts locals and travelers - but the main event takes place in a corner that most visitors miss.
Jul 26, 2026 7 2
"Clockwork Girl": the episode signed Yasuomi Umetsu for Virgin Punk (Shaft) arrives in digital purchase in September
The episode "Clockwork Girl," part of the original anime Virgin Punk produced by Shaft and entrusted to veteran Yasuomi Umetsu (Kite, Mezzo Forte), finally goes on digital sale in September 2026, one year after its Japanese and American screenings. Good news for fans of authors difficult to see outside of festivals.
Jul 24, 2026 4 1
Why Sony Can't Bring Back the Classic Walkman - The Story of an Industry That Fell Apart
The idea comes up every year on the anniversary: "Sony should relaunch a real Walkman." The Obsolete Sony blog explains, with figures and parts as evidence, why it would be almost impossible today for the Japanese giant. A lesson on the silent disappearance of industrial know-how.</accroche> <parameter name="contenu">We have been following for a long time the small community that, on Substack, restores Walkman TPS-L2, WM-DD, or WM-EX models. This week, one of them - the blog **Obsolete Sony** - publishes an analysis that reached the front page of Hacker News (58 points, 50 comments) and answers a question that nostalgics regularly ask themselves: why doesn't Sony simply relaunch a "classic" cassette Walkman for the retro market? ## The fantasy of a modern Walkman The context is real: the audio cassette has made a statistically measurable comeback in recent years, driven by the indie scene and a nostalgia effect. Persistance Ltd, We Are Rewind, or even FiiO have launched new cassette players. Sony, owner of the **Walkman** brand since 1979, did release in 2019 the NW-A100TPS celebrating the 40th anniversary of the product - but it was a digital audio player disguised as a retro Walkman with a screen, not a real cassette mechanism. ## What has physically disappeared The Obsolete Sony post methodically outlines the problem. A classic Walkman is not a software that you recompile: it's a miniaturized mechanism assembled from dozens of specific parts. - The **flat DC motors** that drove the capstans, with the speed precision necessary to avoid wow, were manufactured by workshops that, for the most part, have either closed or converted their lines to other uses since the 2000s. - The **hi-fi heads** (permalloy, then sendust) were produced in-house in a dedicated line. The skills still exist with a few individuals, but the industrial tooling has been dismantled. - The **plastics and gaskets** themselves, molded in specific materials to maintain mechanical precision over the years, depended on tier 3 suppliers now absent from the address book. In short, Sony no longer has **the complete supply chain** nor the associated mechanical engineering teams. Rebuilding this chain for a niche product with small volumes makes no economic sense: it would mean recreating an industry to sell, at best, a few tens of thousands of units per year. ## The alternative: third-party manufacturers This is why the new cassette player market has been rebuilt **outside** of Sony. Persistance Ltd (in the UK), We Are Rewind (with its AF1 Cassette Player launched in 2023), or FiiO manufacture new units that capture the spirit of the Walkman, without ever reaching the mechanical precision of the originals - because the original components simply can't be found anymore. ## Why it's a case study What Obsolete Sony tells goes beyond the Walkman. It's the story of a Japanese industrial know-how from the 1980s, that of high-precision mechanical miniaturization, which was not passed on because there was no longer an economic reason to do so. The digital player, then the smartphone, made the chain unnecessary - and an unnecessary industrial supply chain disappears in a decade. This is not a trial of Sony: it's what happens to any mature technology once the market abandons it. Current owners of working TPS-L2 Walkmans possess, without necessarily knowing it, **strictly irreplaceable objects**. The restorers of the scene - including Obsolete Sony - play, on their scale, the role of maintainers of a material heritage. For us who follow the Japanese underground and its relationship with technology, it's a reminder: nostalgia is not enough to revive an industry. On-site, there must be workshops, trained engineers, and supplier lines three or four levels deep. Sony has lost all of this for the cassette - and it's irreversible.</parameter>
Jul 24, 2026 3 1
Beast of Reincarnation: Game Freak releases its action-RPG on August 4
Game Freak, the historic studio behind Pokémon, is releasing its action-RPG *Beast of Reincarnation* on August 4 - another step away from the world of Pikachu.
Jul 23, 2026 12 3
The Zilog Z80 celebrates its 50th anniversary: a chronicle of the chip that populated our teenage bedrooms
The Zilog Z80, released in July 1976, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. Much more than an 8-bit CPU: the matrix of our first machines, from the ZX Spectrum to the Japanese MSX, via the Game Boy and its direct descendants.
Jul 21, 2026 13 3
Cold Noodle Cup: Nissin Launches the First-Ever "Cold Water" Cup Noodle for Its 55th Anniversary
Nissin (Nissin Food Products) is celebrating the 55th anniversary of Cup Noodle with a world first: a hiyashi (cold) version that can be prepared with cold water only - an unprecedented technical feat in the range, designed for the extreme summers of the archipelago.
Jul 21, 2026 11 3