NTV’s “Zoom In” morning show highlights some of the differences between Halloween in Japan and Halloween in the United States:

Some of the information mentioned include…

Packages of Halloween candy sold in the state are huge (this is at least partly because people need to buy a lot of candy to give out to trick or treaters, [...]

“Mezamashi TV” shows off some stylish new gadgets for this fall:

The new Sony Vaio X-series of notebook computers, which are really thin
A small humidifier shaped like a tree – good for Japan’s dry winters. The remote control is leaf-shaped.
A desk lamp that can be used to recharge USB gadgets
A cute new memory card reader [...]

I’m not sure what the heck this is, but it was featured on the front page of YouTube Japan:

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Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Several readers have sent in e-mails requesting information about Halloween events taking place around Tokyo this weekend. Here are a few links:

One of the biggest events tomorrow ill be the Kawasaki Halloween Parade:
This is the most amazing Halloween parade in Japan!!!
The powerful monster parade about 3,000 people dancing along with can be seen only [...]

The Japan Times reports that Halloween is growing in popularity among Japanese, with businesses seeing increasing sales of Halloween-related products:
“When the economy slumps, people stay home and celebrate anniversaries for their families. Halloween is about kids and parents spending money on them,” Kase said. “And after all, candy and costumes are cheap. Halloween is a [...]

It’s reading week in Japan! Here’s a few updates about e-book reading:

Don’t expect any e-books from Kodansha – Mainichi has an article up about the Kindle’s introduction to Japan. Whoever wrote the article made the mistake of stating that there is a “catalog of 1,500 titles available for purchase and download” for the [...]

A feature on some of the cool things for sale at the gift shop of the Japan Ground Self Defense Force PR Center in Asaka:

The most popular product appears to be cute anime SDF girl cookies. They come in three flavors: cheese for the GSDF, milk for the MSDF, and honey for the ASDF. [...]

A news report reveals that university museums in Japan are pretty interesting, and usually have no admission fee:

List of free university museums shown in this news report

Nippon Institute of Technology – a steam locomotive and old machinery
Tokyo University of Agriculture – sake, chicks, and food
Nihon University College of Bioresource Sciences – various animal skeletons
Musashino Academia [...]

Video of a new jumping robot developed by a venture company supported by Kyoto University:

The 38-centimeter-high and 1.6-kilogram robot, dubbed “Ropid,” was developed by the company’s president, 34-year-old Tomotaka Takahashi, over two and a half years. Boasting the highest jumping ability among humanoid robots, the Ropid can quickly bend its knees and ankles and jump [...]

A Japanese man and a Filipino woman have been arrested for attempting to trick the Japanese government into granting Japanese nationality to a baby whose parents were both citizens of the Philippines:
Michio Uchino, 55, and Marissa Floures Ito, 31, allegedly filed a false birth report with the Ushiku municipal government office in Ibaraki Prefecture in [...]

Nintendo announced today that it will release a new version of the DS about a month from now on the 21st of November. Features of the device will include:
A bigger touch screen
A bigger pen to match (the old one is still included)
New internal software, including a Japanese-only version of the Rakubiki
Dictionary (a useful title [...]

This week’s South Park episode, “Whale Whores,” is now viewable on SouthParkStudios.com.

Consider the comments section of this post a forum in which to discuss your thoughts of the episode.

Note: If you absolutely cannot stand the show, just skip the video to 20:55 for the last scene and listen to what Stan’s dad [...]