Japanese Food Stall Staffed by an Adorable Shiba-Inu Dog
Food stalls in Japan have apparently gone to the dogs. The aptly-named “Dog’s Sweet Potato Shop”, a small kiosk selling roasted sweet potatoes, in Sapporo, Japan is manned (dogged?) by a three-year-old Shiba-Inu dog. Japanese Twitter user @hina_shii_ver2 first learned about the unique “Dog’s Sweet Potato Shop” in her home city of Sapporo earlier this […]
Teen Pays Her Way Through College by Helping Chinese Parents Name Their Babies
Beau Jessup, a 19-year-old entrepreneur, has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars through her ingenious online service, Special Name, which helps Chinese parents choose an appropriate English name for their babies. Finding a suitable name for a baby is a big deal in China. When picking out their child’s Chinese name, parents usually select two […]
You Can Now Pay to Attend Strangers’ Weddings in India
Weddings are generally considered personal events reserved for family and friends, but some couples in India are more than happy to have total strangers from all over the world attend their traditional weddings, for a fee. Paying hundreds of dollars to attend the wedding of two total strangers in a foreign country may seem strange […]
How One Woman’s Constipation Made Her Whole Family Millionaires
You’ll have a tough time finding someone who talks positively about their constipation problems, but one Utah woman is one of those rare exceptions, and for good reason. It was her constipation that inspired her to create a simple stool that now helps millions of people improve their bowel movements. Judy Edwards has been struggling […]
This Japanese Startup Will Quit Your Job for You
For some reason, many Japanese people find it incredibly difficult to quit their job and prefer paying a third party hundreds of dollars to quit on their behalf rather than have to face their boss and co-workers and handing in their resignation personally. Senshi S LLC is a Tokyo-based startup founded by childhood friends Toshiyuki Niino […]
Parents in South Korea Are Hiring Intimidating “Uncles” to Protect Their Kids from School Bullies
South Korean parents are increasingly turning to “uncle service” providers to make sure their children don’t have to put up with bullying in schools. Such services are apparently a pricey but efficient alternative to having schools handle the matter. Earlier this month, Korean media reported on the growing business of leasing intimidating uncles to either […]
The Surprisingly Successful Business of Luxury Chicken Diapers
In urban areas like New York, Denver, and Los Angeles, it’s become a trend for the elite to shy away from traditional pets such as dogs and cats, and to raise chickens instead. Although raising chickens used to be predominantly for rural farmers, it’s now not only chic to own these birds , but a […]
Chinese Restaurant Forced to Close Down After Failed All-You-Can-Eat Promotion
The owners of a struggling hotpot restaurant in Chengdu, China, hoped that a month-long all-you-can-eat promotion would bring in new customers, but it actually put the place out of business in under two weeks. On June 1st, Jiamener, a relatively new hotpot restaurant in Chengdu, China’s Sichuan province, kickstarted its cheap all-you-can-eat buffet in the […]
The Man Who Became a Millionaire by Selling Fake Dog Balls
Gregg Miller is living proof that a crazy idea can sometimes turn out to be pure genius. He is the inventor of Neuticles, silicone implants for male dogs to replace testicles after neutering so they don’t lose their manly look, and he is a millionaire. Miller came up with the idea for a purely cosmetic replacement […]
Thai Company Rents Out Impressive Dowry to Poor Couples Who Don’t Want to Lose Face at Wedding
Looking for an original business idea? How about renting out expensive things to poor couples to show off as dowry during their wedding? A Thai company has been doing just that for the past three months, and business has been booming. Chiang Mai-based special event company Romantiese has been making news headlines in Thailand for their […]
Russian Company Offers Parents Gold Plated 3D-Printed Models of Their Unborn Children
Mothers who can’t wait to hold their babies until they are actually born can now fulfill their greatest dream with the help of 3D-printed, life-size models of their unborn children based on ultrasound imagery. Embryo 3D is not the world’s first company to offer parents 3D-printed plastic models of their soon-to-be-born children, but it claims […]
Vietnam’s Fake Wedding Industry Is Booming Thanks to Social Stigma
Vietnamese women looking to avoid the social stigma of having a child out of wedlock are increasingly turning to grooms-for-hire businesses that specialize in throwing fake weddings complete with fake grooms and guests for a hefty fee. Becoming pregnant before marriage is usually frowned upon in Vietnam, particularly in the northern parts of the country, where traditional […]
Female Tech Entrepreneurs Invent Male Co-Founder to Beat Industry Sexism
After noticing that many of the male developers and graphic designers they approached were either condescending or vaguely disrespectful, two female tech entrepreneurs decided to invent a male partner to handle communications. They claim that the difference was “like night and day”. A year ago, Penelope Gazin and Kate Dwyer decided to create an online marketplace for bizarre and […]
Umbrella Sharing Company Loses Most of Its 300,000 Umbrellas in a Couple of Months
Sharing E Umbrella, a new umbrella sharing company based in Shenzen, China, recently announced that it had lost most of the 300,000 umbrellas it made available since it launched, in April. China’s sharing economy has been booming, with companies offering anything from bicycles and basketballs to smartphone battery banks on a rental basis. Customers make a […]
Color-Blind Highschooler Makes Millions Selling Custom Socks Online
17-year-old Brennan Agranoff started his custom sock business in middle school, with a small loan he got from his parents. He has so far sold over $1 million worth of socks online in the last four years and is now planning to get his wacky socks into retail stores as well. Brennan came up with […]