Archive for October, 2010

Japanese Comedians Interview Tom Cruise & Cameron Diaz

1. Find three Japanese comedians with poor English speaking skills.
2. Give them a 1-month cram course on how to interview a movie star, focusing entirely memorizing phrases and vocabulary from past interviews of Tom Cruise.
3. Send them out to interview Tom Cruise and hope he doesn’t use any unexpected English. (Also, pray that Cameron Diaz doesn’t try to get in a few words, since they have not prepared to speak to her.)

Here you are:

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

Rodeo Monkey Rides Again

Good news, everyone. Miwa, Fukuchiyama Zoo’s super famous baby monkey, has recovered from the wounds he received in a raccoon attack. Miwa’s boar-riding rodeo act is now back in business:

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

Vending Machine Sells Live Crabs

A Japanese reporter in Nanjing shows us a vending machine that sells live Shanghai Hairy Crabs:

The inside of the machine is kept at 5 degrees celsius, a temperature cold enough to make the crabs go into a state of hibernation. A sign states that all the crabs in the machine are fresh: if the crab is dead-on-arrival, they promise to give you three free crabs.

Converted into yen, the prices for the crabs range between 120 and 600 yen (depending on size). By cutting out the cost of store personnel, the seller can offer the crabs at 30% less than the usual price.

The Chinese man who came up with the idea for the vending machine enthusiastically declares that he is ready to consider offers if there is demand for his product in Japan.

The second half of the video focuses on Japanese vending machines. It shows us the banana vending machine inside Shibuya station, as well as a bar that is equipped with sake vending machines.

The bad economy has caused the overall number of vending machines in Japan to drop: perhaps newer and more awesome vending machines will save the industry?

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

Japanese Penguin Robot

On last week’s episode of “Shimura Zoo,” Masaki Aiba build a penguin robot and used it to lead a group of penguins to a swimming pool (you know that it is really “high quality” robot because he is smoking a pipe and they went through the trouble of writing it out in English):

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

Tom Cruise & Cameron Diaz vs. Japanese Boy Band

Tom Cruise & Cameron Diaz come to Japan to promote “Knight & Day,” appearing on a TV show and having a battle against boy band Arashi:

The game they play is rather simple: try to keep stacking chips. The team that accidentally knocks down the tower is the loser.

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

Crazy Catwalk of Doom

Comedy show “Haneru no Tobira” parodies the famous Tokyo Girls’ Collection fashion show by having guys put on expensive clothing and walk down a very unstable catwalk:

Falling off the catwalk puts them into a pool of muck. Hopefully those poorly-paid comedians didn’t actually have to buy all that clothing they are wrecking…

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