Salarymen and Japanese Obama eat bento lunch
Nocchi, Japan’s most famous Barack Obama look-a-like, visits the offices of Book-Off to see how many of its salarymen bring boxed lunches made by their wives:
At the end of the clip, we get to see the Obama face bento that Nocchi’s wife made for him.
Relevant news link: Bloomberg reports on the growing popularity of bento lunches. (It has something to do with the recession.)
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Japanese Food
Toilet fire in Nagoya
A toilet seat caught fire at a junior high school in Nagoya the other day:
The fire caused the noxious smell of burning plastic to fill much of the school building, and 28 students were taken to the hospital after falling ill due to the fumes.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Odd / Strange
Mitsubishi i-MiEV
Reuters reports about the i-MiEV, a new plug-in electric car being sold by Mitsubishi:
The all-electric vehicle will have 100 mile range using lithium ion batteries. The i-MiEV will have an onboard charger so that it can charge into standard outlets in Japan (100 or 200 volt). Charge times to replenish the 16 kWh battery pack will be 7-14 hours, although Mitsubishi is developing fast charging stations that will take just half an hour.
To increase its green credibility beyond being a zero-emissions vehicle, Mitsubishi is using bamboo fibers in the plastic of the interior tail light trim, which the company says cuts the CO2 footprint by 10 percent when compared to standard polypropylene.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Technology
Osaka’s overweight monkeys are losing weight
It’s been about a year since the disgustingly overweight monkeys at Ohama park in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture started a special diet. FTV has an update on how they’re doing:
The park will soon open a new monkey enclosure. The enclosure will have much more space in which the monkeys can exercise.
Park staff checked the weight of the monkeys and discovered that the diet has been having a positive effect. The fattest monkey, who weighted 29.2 kilograms two years ago now weights a mere 17.5 kilograms!
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Animal Videos
Keio University leading us into a second life in Second Life?
Japan is always on the cutting edge of new technologies. But where is it all headed?
Contributor Bio: JJ, shockingly, teaches English, but would prefer to do other things (shockingly). So he writes songs or comedy or the occasional theological treatise. Sometimes he tries to combine all of them. This is most easily observed at www.youtube.com/fatblueman.
.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Technology
Koala screams in Japanese
A TV program concludes that the screaming sounds a female koala makes when trying to avoid the unwanted advances of a male koala sound exactly like, “Nooo!! Don’t come near me!” in Japanese:
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
Categories: Animal Videos