Japan Probe » Odd / Strange

Hair spray for animals?

James — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:18:18 +0000

I don’t know what kind of creepy animal is sitting on Takuya Kimura’s lap, but it does seem that it enjoys using Gatsby hair spray:

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Shinjuku Cheerleader

James — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:33:40 +0000

Has anyone seen this woman dancing around outside Shinjuku station in Tokyo?

Her name is Aya Sato and she is 33-years-old. She says she once tried to work like a salaryman, but had to quit her job. Now she apparently spends most mornings dancing on the street cheering on salarymen as they walk to work.
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Aflac duck and cat at a Japanese wedding

James — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:18:01 +0000

The latest in Aflac’s series of Japanese commercials that have its famous duck dance with a cat:

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Domo-kun, Olympic host

James — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:36:14 +0000

Just in case you missed NHK’s winter Olympic coverage, here are some of the best moments:

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Fire Hose + Toilet = Super Washlet

James — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:32:19 +0000

A special episode of “Toribia no Izumi” aired on Japanese TV saturday night, performing several awesomely weird experiments.

A viewer submitted a letter wanting to know how much blasting power a toilet washlet spray would have if replaced by a fire hose. Thanks to the cooperation of the Nara city fire department (and Nara mascot Sento-kun) they were able to conduct the test:

The child-sized dummy was thrown 13.7 meters. Such power would probably clean one’s butt pretty well, but inside a bathroom it would probably throw a person into a wall and cause serious injury.

Those interested in how the experiment was set up can watch the making of clip here.

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Massage your face with a plastic bottle

James — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:59:33 +0000

The key to looking young, dear readers, is to take a plastic bottle and mash it against your face for several minutes each day. Just follow the simple steps in this clip from “Professor Ochanomizu”:

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See The Tokyo Marathon Live From a Foreigner’s Forehead

Claytonian — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:30:22 +0000

Last year, Joseph Tame made history by recording and broadcasting the 10k of the Tokyo Marathon live via his iphone. This Sunday, he’s looking to repeat the spectacle in a more spectacular fashion to get more spectators watching by running 42 kilometers while using more iphones, assistants, and a bunny outfit.

You can go to this site to watch.

Here’s the rundown in video form:

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Contributor Bio: Claytonian blogs and vlogs about Japan, language, and news at The Hopeless Romantic. He’s moving apartments on Sunday, and will be not broadcasting anything at all for a while.
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Rooftop urinals in Japan

James — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:04:10 +0000

A line of urinals on a rooftop in Musashino, Tokyo offer a rather nice view of Mount Fuji:

But don’t worry. Nobody is peeing on the roof. It’s actually part of a facility that trains building maintenance workers. Those urinals are just for repair practice.

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Sakamoto Ryoma made out of money

James — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:04:00 +0000

An image of Sakamoto Ryoma made out of shredded Japanese currency:

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Flying Sushi

James — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:48:12 +0000

On a back street just one minute away from JR Shimbashi station, you can find a place run by an 80-year-old man who likes to throw his sushi in the air:

A test at another location reveals that he has the ability to throw it nearly 4 meters into the air. It is also supposed to taste pretty good.

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Ice Cream Tower

James — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:22:20 +0000

A Japanese reporter eats a ridiculously large ice cream sundae:

It is called the “World Tower,” weighs in at 3 kilograms, is one meter tall, and costs 4935 yen.

If you are visitin Nagasaki and want to check it out, you can find details here (in Japanese). [Hat tip to B]

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Wacky foreigners in DMM commercial

James — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:12:54 +0000

Chiaki Kuriyama is joined by a trio of wacky foreigners in this commercial promoting DMM.com/DMM.tv’s content downloading service:

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Dog looks like Prime Minister

James — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:48:33 +0000

This puppy looks like Prime Minister Hatoyama. Also, Yasuo Tanaka looks like Marie Antoinette:

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Jelly Beans + Panties = Mobile Phone Commercial

James — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:32:49 +0000

It makes sense for the people who made this Softbank ad, so I guess it should make sense to us too:

[via JapanSoc- the social linking site for Japan bloggers]

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Man stole underwear from laundromat

James — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 02:47:34 +0000

Surveillance camera footage catches a Fukuoka prefecture man stealing women’s underwear from the machines at a laundromat:

The owners of the laundromat managed to write down his license place number, which led police to his home. There, they found some 450 articles of women’s undergarments. Apparently wanting to showcase the importance of this case, the police carefully put all the underwear on display for the media (a standard practice, apparently).

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A Valentine for Sento-kun

James — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:20:19 +0000

Sento-kun, the creepy mascot of the 1300th Anniversary of Nara Heijo-kyo Capital, gets a Valentine’s Day cake from a female mascot character:

The cake had “daisuki” (“I love you”) written on it. He was very happy.

His rival, Manto-kun, also got a Valentine cake. Unfortunately, it had “friend” written on its heart. Ouch.

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Photos of heart-shaped things

James — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:41:42 +0000

“Zoom In TV” shows off some photos of heart-shaped stuff that its viewers submitted for a Valentine’s Day contest:

Heart-shaped teeth, nostrils, yogurt marks, puddles, lakes, Tabasco sauce, and even air pollution!

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Airplanes collide to celebrate Valentine’s Day

James — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:36:12 +0000

Am I the only one out there who is mildly confused by Aflac’s use of a mid-air collision between two propeller planes in its “Happy Valentine” commercial?

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Strange choco-foods for Valentine’s Day

James — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:11:58 +0000

A Japanese news reporter visits two restaurants in Tokyo to experience chocolate hamburg and chocolate ramen, limited time special dishes being offered in honor of Valentine’s Day:

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Japanese TV program introduces “pot dealer” Kiwi husbands

James — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:12:19 +0000

On Saturday night’s episode of “Sekai Fushigi Hakken,” TBS sent a reporter to New Zealand to tour beautiful areas of the country and find out what’s so great about Kiwi husbands. At one point in the program, she interviewed a group of New Zealanders who were wearing “Pot Dealer” t-shirts:

Apparently they were not actual marijuana dealers, but had named their touch rugby team the “pot dealers.” They tell the reporter that kiwi husbands help out around the house by cooking and cleaning.

She visits the home of one “pot dealer,” a former professional rugby player who has a Japanese wife. He is shown teaching his son, a future Kiwi husband, how to clean dishes. His wife says he helps out a lot, while he says she also does a lot for him.

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Japanese commercial: get relief from seasonal allergies

James — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:57:36 +0000

A commercial for a product that claims it can block allergens from entering your nose:

Japanese people may not watch much American football, but they can still appreciate the sight of somebody getting owned.

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Inject drugs into your baby doll

James — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:46:47 +0000

A baby doll for little Japanese kids who want to play doctor:

But it now, and you get a free cute surgical mask!
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Japanese addresses: Weird, or just different?

James — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 07:11:17 +0000

Derek Silvers gives a TED talk about how there’s a flip side to everything:

[hat tip to Bradleyjx]

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Akebono: “Don’t stop believing”

James — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:30:55 +0000

Retired sumo grand champion Akebono Taro has been starring in some fun musical promos for the Japan release of the Fox TV series “Glee“:

[hat tip to Mark B]

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A cat on a cat’s back

James — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:10:49 +0000

A cat in Japan with a cat-shaped spot on her back:

More photos can be found at this Japanese blog.

[link submitted by Japanjin via Twitter]

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Daiwaman X

James — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:01:45 +0000

Oh crap. Daiwa House has got some new Xevo houses, and the crazy director from their previous commercials thinks that Koji Yakusho should be playing the role of a new superhero, Daiwaman X:

Yakusho does not want to put on a ridiculous super hero costume. He suggests to the director that a younger actor, such as Toshiaki Karasawa, would probably be more appropriate for such a role.

To his surprise, Karasawa suddenly appears and happily volunteers to become Daiwaman X. The director thinks he’s perfect, and Yakusho is shocked and possibly even jealous.

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Who is wearing a wig?

James — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:55:29 +0000

A somewhat clever ad campaign that asked viewers which of male celebrities was wearing a wig has finally revealed the answer:

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Japanese announcer aging before our eyes

James — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:54:42 +0000

An announcer for NTV’s “Zoom In” morning show visits a software company and experiences the effects of the “Hourface” iPhone app:

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Dead whale in Japan

James — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:58:13 +0000

A dead humpback whale washed ashore in Chiba prefecture, so news cameras were there to have a look:

An aerial view, from the Asahi Shimbun:

Some people brought their kids, and one guy even carried his dog over to get a closer look at the whale, creating a rather odd background for the shot of the reporter in the first clip:

Note: Humpback whales are not among the species of whale currently hunted by Japanese whalers. Humpbacks, which are not an endangered species, were almost added to the Japanese whaling quota last year, but the plan has been postponed. The news reports say that this whale carcass will be buried – not eaten.

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Robot seal will be your butler, nurse, and friend

James — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:59:55 +0000

Forget about that lame stuffed animal. It can’t even surf!

This commercial for Teijin shows us the real future of robot seals:

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The narrowest train platform in Japan

James — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:59:14 +0000

A couple videos of the old center platform at Kasuganomichi Station, which was once the the narrowest train platform in Japan [a mere 2.6 meters wide]:

A photo on Wikipedia shows that two side platforms have since been constructed, and the super narrow middle platform has been abandoned as of 2004.

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Commercial: kissed by many girls

James — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:52:48 +0000

This company’s skin care products are so good, they make girls of many different ages and nationalities want to kiss your cheeks:

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Cycling over water: 2010

James — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:50:01 +0000

Japanese celebrities attempt to cycle across a flimsy 300-meter floating bridge:

[note: This was actually from a 2009 show re-broadcasted in 2010.]

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When you need to hire a Santa Claus

James — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:45:35 +0000

Live in Japan and need to hire a Santa to visit your house and give presents to your kids? Luckily, handyman businesses like Benry Total Convenience Service have people available who can be summoned to your house to perform almost any job.

Here’s a short clip in which one of their handymen does some Santa duty:

Things don’t go as well as the handyman expected. The kids are nervous around Santa. When he tries to be friendly to a baby, he makes the kid cry. Other children don’t want to sit next to him or make eye contact.

In response to their questions, he says he came from a “secret location” and he left his reindeer at another house.

The total bill for the Santa visit was 6,300 yen ($69) – not bad when split six ways between the mothers who organized the little Christmas party. They were pleased with the handyman’s performance and plan to hire him again for next Christmas.

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Angry passenger tries to kick taxi driver

James — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:04:31 +0000

A drunk guy gets into a taxi, becomes enraged when he mistakenly believes the taxi driver was rude to him, and proceeds to deliver mighty kicks in the direction of the driver:

The best part? Despite the fact that he was angrily demanding compensation from the driver, when the ride was over, the passenger paid the fare.

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Japanese Usain Bolt

James — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:47:02 +0000

A reenactment of Usain Bolt’s memorable record-breaking win at last year’s Beijing Olympics (achieved through the use of brown paint and what appears to be a Michael Jackson mask):

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Oshiroi festival

James — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:34:21 +0000

A festival in Japan that involves smearing sticky white stuff on the faces of people (-the jokes some people will make about this one are obvious-):

Oshiroi festival is a curious festival whose origins date back to more than 400 years ago. The powder of newly harvested rice is dissolved in water and then painted on the faces of celebrants, Oshiroi is a festival of thanksgiving for abundant crops. It is sand that by examining how well the powder sticks to the celebrants’ faces, one can forecast the coming year’s harvest. It is comical to see the celebrants weaving their way home after the ritual, since you cannot tell who’s who at a glance.

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The Legend of Koizumi

James — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:27:09 +0000

You’ve read about the best friggin’ manga ever on Mutantfrog and Wikipedia. Now watch it in Anime form:

[via Our Man in Abiko]

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Festival of Abusive Language

James — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:10:08 +0000

Three hundred people gathered a temple in Tochigi prefecture on the night of the 31st so they could let out some stress by screaming bad words at Saishoji temple’s “Festival of Abusive Language.” Here’s a news clip that includes a couple foreigners joining in the fun:

And here’s an excerpt from a 1993 New York Times article about the festival:

In this city about 50 miles north of Tokyo, people take this one occasion to let it all hang out and say what they really think about the year gone by. In one of the strangest festivals in a country full of festivals, they walk up a dark mountain road to a temple screaming curses into the starry night sky that they would never say directly to their fellow man.

“Once a year, we can get rid of our pent-up frustrations,” said Ryoken Numajiri, the head priest of the Saishoji Temple. The temple is the headquarters for the Akutare Matsuri, which might best be translated as the “naughty festival” or perhaps the “festival of abusive language.”

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Newspaper deliveryman puts in ads at hyper speed

James — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:53:52 +0000

A Japanese newspaper deliveryman puts advertisement fliers into 150 newspapers in less than 3 minutes (I guess they don’t have a machine that does that for them):

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Wild drunks in Shibuya on New Year’s Eve

James — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:01:55 +0000

Both Asahi TV and Fuji TV aired news reports this week about the drunken chaos that took place at Shibuya Crossing on New Year’s Eve. Despite the fact that there is no countdown event, young people nonetheless gathered in the area around midnight, drinking alcohol and making noise. Dozens of police officers were required to keep people from obstructing traffic.

First, let’s look at Asahi TV’s report:

The young people are shown engaging in some wild behavior. The police seem to stay calm and keep things somewhat under control. One person did seem to be injured and received first aid at a police box. Hours later, we see that some drunk people are passed out on the street.

Fuji TV’s report was a bit more sensational:

It starts with some footage of the wacky people who have turned out to celebrate the new year: break dancing weirdos, a group wearing tiger masks, and a man “rapping” about the soba at his restaurant.

As midnight approaches, the pleasant mood changes to one of tension. Police prepare barricades and the big screen on a building overlooking Shibuya crossing is turned off early to discourage people from thinking there will be a countdown event. When clocks hit 0:00 and people begin celebrating, the wildness begins.

The a great “panic” fills the area around the station as it becomes too crowded for people to move. Police officers try to push people so they stay within the barriers. One cop is knocked over by the crowd. Broken glass bottles litter the street. There are also several people who have passed out from drinking too much. There was also some fighting.

It is noted that this event seems to be popular among foreigners. A few are more than happy to drink and dance in front of the news cameras. For some reason, one group of Japanese and foreigners was singing the “Ponyo” theme song. At least one foreigner joined a group of young Japanese who were climbing street poles.

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Stunt pilots of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force

James — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:39:57 +0000

The pilots of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s elite Red Club put on a stunt show for visitors:

This radar base in Shimane prefecture lacks an airfield, so the main event of its annual festival is not an air show – it’s a bicycle show. The Red Club built their bicycle planes from scratch using materials such as cardboard and styrofoam.

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Pre-fabricated basement

James — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:35:20 +0000

It seems that houses in Japan just don’t have basements.* Luckily, there is a company out there that is selling pre-fabricated mini basements. All you need to do is bury it under your house (or in your yard, if you have one):

A company has taken techniques originally used to make underground storage tanks at gas stations and used it to create “Depot Angel” underground storage rooms. They offer a variety of pre-fabricated tank rooms for between about 200,000 yen ($21,000) and 10 million yen ($107,000).

We can see two examples near the end of the clip: one that is being used for rice/vegetable storage and another that has been turned into a wine cellar.

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*Note: Alex Kerr’s Dogs and Demons briefly mentions that there is some sort of regulation that prohibits the construction of basements for houses in Japan.

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Yakuza Party

James — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 01:07:45 +0000

Remember that photo-less post about the Yamaguchi-gumi Yakuza gang handing out presents to children at a New Year’s Event? Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, has been kind enough to send us a photo of a previous year’s event:

Apologize for the crappy quality of the photo. Mr. T is a reference to Takayama–who was rumored to have died at the end of last year (last year referring to the end of 2008/start of 2009).
I put a comic book filter on it to obscure the source of the photo. Well, you do have the white sweatsuits, which is charming.

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Rock climbing inside your own house

James — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 09:59:28 +0000

The owner of this not-very-big house in Japan have turned one of their walls into a rock climbing course:

The guy’s wife is not very pleased with the existence of the climbing course, especially since one cannot even take a bath outside of the view of whoever is climbing on it…

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Roof orbs provide free lighting

James — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:15:16 +0000

A house in Tokyo that saves electricity by having bizarre-looking lens orbs on its roof redirect sunlight (during daylight hours only):

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Yakuza give gifts to local children

James — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:05:36 +0000

The friendly members of Japan’s biggest yakuza gang held an event the other day in which they handed out gifts to children:

Investigation sources revealed to the Mainichi on Tuesday that gifts of up to 30,000 yen were given to children during an annual mochi (rice cake) making event at the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters in Kobe’s Nada Ward the day before.

The cash was handed out in two types of small envelopes in the names of “Tsukasa” or “Takayama,” apparently representing gang boss Kenichi Shinoda (also known as Shinobu Tsukasa) and junior leader Kiyoshi Takayama, respectively. It is not known how many children received the cash handouts, accompanied by snacks and toys.

Hyogo Prefectural Police suspect that the move was aimed at publicizing the gang’s current leadership system and appeasing local residents ahead of the release of Shinoda, who is currently serving a prison term for weapons violations.

I could not find any pictures and videos of the event, so I’ll just post this classic Benjamin Fulford clip instead, in which the wacky conspiracy theorist tells us about how the Yamaguchi-gumi is trying to kill him:

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Japanese nail art

James — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:47:45 +0000

A look at some pretty crazy Japanese nail art:

Included in the clip is Yoko Matsuda, a specialist in creating 3D nail art (which is apparently all the rage among a certain subset of gyaru). One of her nails has a Hello Kitty “snow dome” on it. As a demonstration of how difficult it is to create this kind of stuff, Shinichi Karube miserably fails to paint a heart onto someone’s nails.

Karube also encounters some men who like to have their nails done. If one is in a line of work in which customers see your hands, having nice-looking nails can be important. Women supposedly check men’s nails, and even men look at fingers when business cards are exchanged.

The last part of the clip shows the winners of a nail art contest.

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Watermelon Half-pipe

James — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:03:32 +0000

A truly glorious work of performance art:

As we can see from the second half of the clip, this feat is not easy!

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Riding a miniature train

James — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:47:12 +0000

A “Nanikore” worthy miniature steam locomotive:

It took the father-son duo 10 years to complete the mini railway, which has about 150 meters of track. The whole thing was built from scratch. It actually contains a steam engine, which they feed with coal using a mini shovel (they buy the coal by the ton).

The owner modeled the train after a locomotive he loved as a kid. He started building miniature trains after his son, Takahiro was born. Takahiro became a model railway nut like his father, and they now work on building and maintaining their mini rail line. They allow fellow hobbyists to bring over model trains and drive them on the track, and also occasionally invite the local kindergarten to come over on field trips.

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Japanese rocket salaryman

James — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:52:42 +0000

A classic Kasou Taishou performance:

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Golden muscle men perform amazing feats

James — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:23:39 +0000

Two muscle-bound brothers take a break from circus performances in Europe to put on an equilibristic show on Japanese TV (in the second round, they are joined by Japanese comedian Yoshio Kojima!):

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Affordable housing in Tokyo

James — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:40:47 +0000

Want to live in Tokyo but don’t have much money? You might want to consider renting a closet in this building:

Rent for a closet room is a mere 18,000 yen ($197) a month!

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Scooter helps you lift girls’ skirts

James — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:58:52 +0000

A Japanese commercial for JD Razor scooters reveals some of the cool stuff you can do when speeding along on one of these vehicles:

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Obama KFC bucket sold in Japan

James — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:56:51 +0000

Spotted a earlier this month on display at a major chain of Japanese novelty stores (Exiciting Bookstore Village Vanguard):

It is a tissue holder shapped like a bucket of fried chicken. Colonel Sanders’ face has been replaced by a similarly-styled Barack Obama face.

According to Gizmoto, who considers the product to be racist, it is made by a company based in Hong Kong:

I’m really, REALLY not understanding why Brando, purveyor of all things strange and gadgety, is selling a tissue holder looking like a certain fried chicken bucket– WITH OBAMA’S FACE on it. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

To top it off, the slightly stereotypical product has Obama dressed up like Colonel Sanders, and also features a coin bank for change. Sigh. Get it? One has to wonder whether or not they merely thought it was funny, or if they really just hate Black America. And for the record, a Popeye’s bucket (despite them frying up superior chicken) WOULD NOT have made it any better. Regardless, though…WTF!

Gizmoto’s link to the product page on Brando’s website no longer works, so I’m guessing they pulled it after somebody at the company realized it might offend some people.

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