Japanese Pop-Up Restaurant Served the Last Meals of Infamous Death Row Inmates

Ningen, a pop-up restaurant in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, attracted a lot of media attention over the last two weeks for giving patrons the chance to order the last meals requested by infamous death row inmates before their execution.

The controversial eatery was opened by a Japanese art collective called Chim↑Pom and for two weeks served the last meals of infamous American criminals like armed robber and double-murderer Gary Mark Gilmore, Judy Buonoano, Florida’s “Black Widow”, or real-life killer clown John Wayne Gacy.

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Guy Mesmerizes Japanese Social Media with His Ability to Create Giant Clumps of Foam Out of Tiny Drops of Lather

A Japanese Twitter user has been getting a lot of attention online for his ability to create large, dense clumps of foam out of tiny drops of lather or soap, using only his hands.

Ever wish you could produce the same kind of frothy, dense foam as an expensive foam dispenser using only your hands? I know, me neither, but Japanese Twitter user ‘Karin’ (@na_mi_da) has taught himself to do just that, and his seemingly useless ability has mesmerized hundreds of thousands of his countrymen. A video he posted, in which he rubs and squeezes his hands to turn a bit of lather into a fluffy clump of dense foam that then sticks to his hands has been retweeted nearly 140,000 times and received over 450,000 likes. For some reason, people just can’t stop talking about cool this man’s talent is.

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Japanese Company Introduces “Sleep Remuneration System” to Increase Employee Productivity

Japan has some of the world’s longest working hours, but some companies are starting to realize that their workers also need to sleep in order to be productive. One such company is actually encouraging employees to sleep more by rewarding them with points that can be spent at cafes and cafeterias.

CRAZY, a Tokyo-based wedding planning company, recently announced the implementation of a “sleep remuneration system” to encourage its workforce to get more sleep. It has teamed up with Airweave, a startup specializing in sleep analysis technology and will be monitoring its employees sleep patterns. Workers who install the Sleep Analysis app on their smartphones and share their data with the company are eligible to receive points according to how many hours of sleep they get ever night. CRAZY hopes that the new reward system will improve the lifestyle habits and overall health of its employees, as well as boost their productivity.

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Japanese Man Politely Asks to Rob Convenience Store, Turns Himself In Shortly After

Japanese people are renowned for their manners and politeness, but this incident shows just how far that politeness can go. A man recently went into a convenience store, asked the manager if he could rob the place and upon being refused, he left and later turned himself in to police.

The bizarre robbery attempt took place on October 5, at a Lawson convenience store in Ogori City, Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture. According to police, the unnamed man allegedly entered the store at around 1:40 AM and told the manager “I’ve come with the intent to intimidate you and rob this store, may I ask you to please cooperate with me?” in the most unintimidating way possible. He didn’t get the answer he was hoping for so he turned around and walked out quietly without taking anything.

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Dolphin and Other Marine Life Abandoned in Japanese Aquarium That Closed Down Months Ago

International media outlets have been reporting the shocking case of a dolphin, dozens of penguins and other wildlife that have been abandoned in a derelict Japanese aquarium that closed down months ago.

The operator of the Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium in Choshi, a city in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture, closed down in January 2018, citing a steady decline in visitors following the strong earthquake and nuclear crisis of 2011. However, the marine life that used to entertain guests – including a bottlenose dolphin and dozens of humboldt penguins – has been locked inside the abandoned facility ever since and are living in improper conditions. Although someone has reportedly been feeding them regularly, animal activists claim that Honey the dolphin is showing signs of stress due to loneliness and suffered serious sunburns this summer, while the penguins are living in crumbling pens, among debris. Park representatives could not be contacted about the situation and local authorities claim that their hands are tied.

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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 and Yuichiro Okazaki last year. It operates ‘Exit’ a unique service that basically handles job resignations on behalf od clients, for a fee. Rather, than having to tell their bosses that they can’t or don’t want to work for them anymore, Exit clients prefer to pay between 40,000 yen ($350) and 50,000 yen ($450) to have someone else do it for them. Exit’s founders declared themselves surprised that so many people find quitting their jobs so stressful, but they have been more than happy to help hundreds of them get through this process.

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Meet Roland, Japan’s Most Successful Male Geisha

Hosts are considered the modern version of geishas in Japan. They are charming women who engage in a carefully choreographed performance designed to make clients feel like the most important person on Earth. But in certain clubs around Tokyo’s Kabuchiko district, the tables have turned; here it’s male hosts who cater to the needs of female clients, and there’s no one better at it than Roland, the so-called emperor of Japan’s male host industry.

Like their female counterparts, male hosts work in specialized host clubs in Tokyo’s red lights district and have a very specific goal – to entertain their clients and encourage them to spend as much as possible on drinks. That’s how they earn a living and it’s also how they are ranked. Some clubs actually have posters of their male hosts displayed outside based on how much they managed to convince clients to pay the previous month. This usually involves a lot of drinking on their part as well, but Roland, the 25-year-old head manager of the Platina club and the hottest male host in the business, is a rare exception. He gets clients to spend huge amount of money without having to get drunk himself.

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Japanese Company Launches Heavy “Muscle Trainer” Sneakers That Allegedly Help Users Burn Fat More Efficiently

The average energy consumption for 30 minutes of walking in regular sneakers is around 75 – 150 calories, depending on pace, but with the new Muscle Trainer sneakers you can apparently increase energy consumption to 300 calories in the same interval.

So what makes Muscle Trainer sneakers so special? Well, it’s the increased weight. The average sneaker weighs between 200 and 400 grams, but Muscle Trainer sneakers will add between 1,200 grams (for women) and 1,400 grams (for men) of extra weight to each foot. All the extra weight is concentrated in the internationally-patented sole, which contains hundreds of small iron balls. However, thanks to their high-cut design that protects the ankles, and high-quality materials, the sneakers are very comfortable while at the same time working your leg muscles.

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This Is Not a Real Japanese City, But a Fictional One Built in Minecraft

A group of Japanese Minecraft enthusiasts have spent the last three years creating an insanely realistic city in the popular block-building video game, and the results of their work have been leaving people with their mouths open.

Sayama City was originally unveiled in 2016, on creative Minecraft community website Planet Minecraft, and got a lot of attention from fans of the game. The level of detail for every building shown in the feature video and in the uploaded photos was indeed quite impressive, with many people commenting that this was the most amazing Minecraft city they had ever seen. Well, the team behind Sayama City has been busy over these last few years and the latest photos of the fictional metropolis look so insanely detail that you could swear this was a real city.

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Hate Doing the Dishes? Maybe You Need This Weird Handheld Contraption

Japanese company Thanko recently launched a handheld, battery-powered device that allows you to wash the dishes without getting your hands dirty.

Let’s face it, most people hate washing the dishes. And it’s not just the chore itself that’s putting them off, but the fact that they have to touch those disgusting food scraps while they’re doing it. Well, if you’ve been hoping for a solution to this problem, your prayers have been answered. Introducing “Kurasa Wash” a quirky handheld device that does all the dirty work for you. Just take any dirty dish or bowl, grip it with the two crab-like arms of the device and then just push a button. Kurasa Wash will add detergent and start spinning the dish while scrubbing it with brushes and sponges. All you have to do is hold the dish under running water for rinsing and you’re done.

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Japan’s Unusual Obsession with Moss

As a very insular society, Japan has developed a culture that can be very interesting and sometimes bizarre to the outside observer. For example, in recent years, many Japanese have become infatuated with moss. Nature excursions centered around observing the thousands of species of Japanese moss have exploded in popularity to the point that the demand for a place on these trips far exceeds availability.

Selling moss-related products like moss-containing jewelry has also become a lucrative market. You can buy rings that have tiny containers holding moss instead of stones. For many young women in Japan, love of these plants has become a part of their identity. These young enthusiasts call themselves “moss girls” and organize moss-themed events such as viewing parties, where they make drinks inspired from the plants.

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High-School Student Creates Monstrous Action Figures Out of Cicada Shells

A Japanese high-school student recently got his five minutes of fame on Twitter after posting photos of an incredibly detailed action figure he made out of around 300 discarded cicada shells.

Twitter-user @ride_hero came up with the idea of using discarded cicada shells for artistic purposes after accidentally stepping on one at school. Looking at the shattered shell, he thought to himself “what a waste” and challenged himself to come up with a way of reusing all the discarded cicada shells at his high-school. Evening Cicadas, or Higurashi, are very common in Japan during the summertime, and they tend to shed their shells almost everywhere, so it wasn’t hard for @ride_hero to collect hundreds of them in his high-school yard alone. After finishing his AO exams, the high-school senior needed to kill some time over the summer vacation, so he started experimenting with the collected cicada shells.

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Japanese Company Wants to Lease Young Women’s Armpits as Advertising Space

Of all the places to advertise on a living human being, the armpits are probably at the bottom of the list for most people, but one Japanese company believes they are prime real-estate and is currently recruiting young female models willing to walk around with ads on their armpits.

Living, breathing advertising billboards are not exactly a novel concept. Brandon Chicotsky has been leasing his bald head as ad space for companies willing to pay him hundreds of dollars per day for years, and he’s just one example. There’s also the case of Hostgator M. Dotcom, who once tattooed company logos on his face for profit, or that of Jason George, a self-described “human billboard” who tattooed hundreds of company logos that had affected his life in some way, all over his body. But while most of these people offered up the most visible parts of their bodies, like the head or face, but the Wakino Ad Company is betting it all on the armpits.

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This Japanese Gadget Tells You How Bad You Stink

Body odor is a very serious issue, so serious in fact that there is actually a market for high-tech devices that alert users if they start to stink.

The problem with body odor is that you can’t really smell is on yourself, and in an exceptionally polite society like Japan’s that can put people in uncomfortable situations. Carrying a bottle of deodorant on you at all times during the summer is quite common in Japan, but putting on too much of that stuff too often can irritate the skin or stain clothing, so it’s not exactly a fool-proof solution. If only we had a way of knowing when we smell, and how bad… Thankfully, Japanese wellness device maker Tanita just unveiled its newest creation, a handheld smell checker that analyzes body odor and ranks its intensity on a scale of 1 to 10.

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Japanese Shop Sells Shaved Ice So Tall You Can’t Eat It Sitting Down

Shaved Ice is a really popular dessert in Japan, so you can find it pretty much everywhere, but if you’re looking for the craziest, most outrageous shaved ice treat in the country, you have to go to Hyakusho Udon, in Miyazaki Prefecture. The only catch is that you’ll probably have to eat it standing up.

No, Hyakusho Udon doesn’t have a standing up policy, it’s just that their famous shaved ice desserts are so incredibly tall that it’s almost impossible to eat them with a spoon while sitting down. Just reaching the top of the colorful, syrup-soaked dessert with the spoon is a huge challenge for most people, and then there’s the risk of causing the tower of refreshing goodness to come tumbling down by mistake. Standing up is definitely the safe way to go, and considering you’re getting a lot more than your money’s worth, it’s a decent compromise.

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