Japan’s Mitsubishi Uni-ball ONE series black gel pen has been recognized as the world’s blackest gel pen by Guinness World Records.

When it comes to the world’s blackest paint, there is no competing with Vanta Black, but pen gel is a whole other matter. Mitsubishi Pencil Co.Ltd. now holds the record for the blackest gel pen, thanks to an innovative type of pigment-containing particles that seal the paint inside. When writing on paper, it can reduce the penetration of the gel into paper fibers, making the color look more saturated than other gel pens.

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The ARCHAX is a real-life 4.5-meter-tall mecha robot created by Japanese company Tsubame Industry that can be yours for the low price of 400 million yen ($2.75 million).

If, like me, you grew up watching Gundam anime and playing video games like Armored Core or Titanfall, you probably imagined yourself piloting a giant mecha at least once in your life. Well, thanks to a company called Tsubame Industry, that dream is about to become reality. Well, if you can afford it, of course. The small Japanese startup recently showcased its newest product, dubbed ‘ARCHAX’, a pilotable robot inspired by Japanese mecha culture. Standing a whopping 4.5 meters tall and weighing around 3.5 tons, this real-life mecha is powered by a 300V battery and can switch from a standing mode to drivable mode, attaining a top speed of 10 kilometers per hour. However, in order to experience the thrill of piloting the ARCHAX, you’ll have to pay an estimated 400 million yen ($2.75 million) for one.

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The Giraffenap is a new style of sleeping pod that encourages power naps during the day as a way of improving concentration and work efficiency.

Japan is a notoriously hardworking country that emphasizes extreme dedication to one’s work even at the cost of that person’s health or general wellbeing. Working conditions can get so bad that the Japanese language actually has a term for ‘death by overwork’ (karoshi). In order to put up with this kind of grueling schedule and stress, some Japanese workers turn to short power naps. These are known to boost energy levels and concentration, as long as the person doesn’t go into deep sleep. In order to make it easier for people to get power naps pretty much anywhere, one company has begun installing vertical sleeping pods called ‘Gireaffenap’ in cafes all over the country.

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The Lemon Melon is a newly-developed type of melon that apparently combines the sweetness and aroma of the melon with a slight sourness reminiscent of a lemon.

Japanese horticulture company Suntory Flowers reportedly spent five years developing the lemon melon, breeding it from a type of melon originally imported from overseas. The process involved a lot of trial and error and took about five years. During the development period, horticulturists experimented extensively with a number of factors, including cultivation methods and harvest times. The final product, which is apparently blended with actual lemons, is juicy and sweet like a melon but slightly sour like a lemon, making the perfect fruit to enjoy on a hot summer day.

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Japanese metal processing company Yamaguchi Seisakusho has been getting a lot of attention for showcasing its capabilities by creating a very detailed wireframe car that looks almost rendered in augmented reality.

If you’ve ever played mobile video games like the widely popular Pokemon GO, you probably know a little about augmented reality or AR for short. It’s a technology that visually enhances the real world with computer-generated images, basically overlaying digital elements onto real-life environments. Looking at the photo of this white wireframe car, you’d be tempted to think that it was the product of augmented reality, but it was actually painstakingly created out of metal wire. Photos of it recently went viral on Japanese social media, because people just couldn’t believe it was real.

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Japanese company Suidobashi Heavy Industries recently unveiled a miniature version of the Phalanx CIWS automatic gun system which fires thousands of plastic BB pellets instead of metal bullets.

Featuring a radar-guided 20 mm Vulcan cannon mounted on a swiveling base, the Phalanx CIWS is one of the U.S. Navy’s most reliable weapon systems, finding itself in use on almost every class of surface combat ship. It’s also the inspiration for what many are calling the coolest BB gun ever made. Kogoro Kurata, the creative genius behind Suidobashi Heavy Industries, the Japanese company that brought us the awesome KURATAS mecha (boardable robot) over a decade ago, recently unveiled the Phalanx BB gun on his Twitter page.

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A Japanese YouTuber recently sparked controversy by posting a video of himself cooking and eating a broth made with dozens of man-o-war jellyfish for his over one million subscribers.

Popular Japanese YouTuber ‘homosapi’ (ホモサピ) has been criticized as irresponsible for trivializing the cooking and consumption of one of the most dangerous marine organisms in the world, the Portuguese man-o-war. Commonly referred to as a jellyfish, the man-o-war is actually a marine hydrozoan, an organism made up of smaller units called ‘zooids’ which are genetically identical but perform different functions. It has been known to deliver a painful sting powerful enough to kill many animals, and occasionally even humans. It’s one of the last things you’d want to come close to, let alone eat, but hey, anything for views, right?

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After wearing masks in public for three long years, many Japanese are signing up for smiling classes to learn how to smile again without looking awkward.

Smiling used to be a natural response, but apparently, three years of hiding behind a mask have left many Japanese unable to smile naturally. Some of them are now paying so-called smiling educators to teach them how to display their pearly whites again without looking awkward. They participate in specialized classes where they are taught how to stretch and flex various parts of their faces and even their neck muscles to smile properly and actually convey happiness without looking weird.

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A popular Japanese hotel has been forced to issue a public apology after it was reported that employees at its cafe fermented a citrus drink by using the bacteria on their own hands.

The AWA Nishiizu Hotel in Numazu, Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture, has come under fire for putting its clients’ health at risk by breaking basic hygiene rules. On April 23rd, the popular TV show ‘Beat Takeshi’s TV Tackle‘ showcased how much Japan’s travel trends have changed in Japan by featuring a ‘health’ drink sold by a hotel cafe in Shizuoka. The orange concoction kept in large plastic jars was apparently a syrup made with squeezed summer mandarins and sugar, but the secret ingredient that set it apart from similar drinks was the fermentation process. According to an interviewed employee, the syrup was fermented with the help of bacteria indigenous to the human hand, so they would just stick their hands in the jar and stir it…

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The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper recently sparked controversy in Japan with an article on consuming raw crow meat, a practice that experts say could cause serious health problems, even death.

Last month, the Tokyo Shimbun, one of the most-read newspapers in Japan, published an article on the consumption of so-called ‘crow sashimi’ (raw crow meat marinated in various sauces). The journalist basically described their experience eating crow meat both cooked and raw at a gathering of crow meat lovers in Ibaraki Prefecture, claiming that the crow sashimi was both refreshing and easy to chew, compared to the grilled meat which was extremely tough and dry. The article caused a lot of confusion online, and the Japanese Health Ministry ultimately posted a message on its official Twitter account warning people not to indulge in raw crow meat, as it could cost them their lives.

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A young Japanese waitress has been accused of ‘borderline terrorism’ by her employers after it was discovered that she mixed her own blood into a patron’s cocktail.

The Mondaiji Con Cafe Daku (Problem Child Dark Cafe) in Sapporo, Japan opened its doors for the first time on March 3rd. It hoped to attract patrons willing to pay 2,500 yen (S$25) an hour to drink all they wanted by hiring ‘mentally unstable’ and ‘problematic’ girls dressed in dark, goth-style attires as waitresses. That idea backfired when one of the waitresses took her role a little too far by adding her blood into a cocktail, reportedly at the request of a customer. The cafe fired the young woman as soon as its management learned about the incident, and apologized to its clientele, describing the dangerous actions of the former employee as ‘borderline terrorism’.

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Raccoons are not native to Japan, yet in the last few decades, the furry critters have become naturalized in 44 of the country’s 47 prefectures, causing all sorts of problems for humans and other animal species. And to think it all started with a cute anime series…

In 1963, American writer Sterling North launched his most popular book, Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era. It told the story of a young boy called Sterling who went on adventures with his raccoon sidekick Rascal, and it became such a huge hit that Disney decided to turn it into a live-action movie. In Japan, Rascal’s adventures inspired a 52-episode anime series called Rascal the Raccoon (Araiguma Rasakaru), which ran for a year in 1977 and made raccoons the most sought-after pets in the country. There was just one problem – there were no raccoons in Japan, so people started importing them from the United States at a rate of about 1,500 raccoons per month.

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Japanese power tool manufacturer Makita recently unveiled a first-of-its-kind portable microwave oven powered by two large batteries that can be recharged and replaced on the go.

Mockups of a cordless microwave have been doing the rounds online as April’s fools for years, but this year Japanese power tool giant Makita decided to surprise everyone with a market-ready, battery-powered oven that can reheat dozens of foods and drinks on the go. The new Makita MW001G microwave oven is able to deliver 500W of power for up to eight minutes, after which it automatically switches to a lower power 350W mode to conserve battery life. It weighs just 19.4 lbs (8.8 kg) and can reheat about 11 refrigerated lunches or 20 drinks on two fully charged XGT 40V Max 8Ah batteries.

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A Japanese civil servant in Osaka was recently forced to return 1.44 million yen ($11,000) of his salary after being found guilty of smoking during work hours more than 4,500 times in 14 years.

When people say smoking is an expensive vice, they are generally referring to the cost of cigarretes, but in cities like Osaka, smokers risk having important sums of money deducted from their salaries if caught smoking on the job. A director-level civil servant recently found this out the hard way after being hit with a fine of approximately $11,000 for thousands of cigarettes smoked during work hours for 14 years. The 61-year-old employee who was found to have smoked a total of 4,512 times in the past 14 and a half years while he was at work, the equivalent of 355 hours and 19 minutes spent not doing his job.

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For decades, the mummified remains of a creature resembling a small mermaid have been worshipped at a temple in Asakuchi, Japan, but scientists have long suspected that the mermaid mummy was actually man-made.

Allegedly caught in the Pacific Ocean, off the island of Shikoku, between 1736 and 1741, the famous mermaid mummy has been kept on display at the Enjuin temple in Asakuchi for over 40 years, attracting visitors convinced that the remains would bring them good luck. It is said that these tiny supernatural creatures were immortal and that whoever consumed their flesh would also enjoy eternal life. Somehow, no one actually tried, but a team of scientists did request a more thorough examination in order to confirm the many legends around the artifact.

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