Game Lets You Play Table Tennis without a Table, Ball or Opponent
“Go with the rhythm! Hyper Ping Pong” is a quirky Japanese video game that allows you to play table tennis without a table, a ball or an opponent. Following in the footsteps of Nintendo – inventors of the popular Wii console – Japanese game developer, Happinet, has decided to take things one step further and take […]
Researcher Creates Artificial Meat Based on Human Excrement
The global food crisis is a very serious issue, but professor Ikeda thinks his latest invention, an artificial meat based on protein from human excrement, could be of great help. The Japanese researcher from the Okayama laboratory says its country has more sewage mud than they can handle, so Tokyo Sewarage asked him to explore […]
Japan’s Mouth-Watering Plastic Food Displays
Fancy menus may be enough for most restaurant diners around the world, but not in Japan. Here, image is everything and before going in for a bite, people want to see exactly what the food they want to order looks like. That’s where Japan’s realistic plastic food displays come into play… Japanese fake food models […]
Kiss Transmission Device Lets You Kiss over Long Distances
This revolutionary kiss transmission device is still under development at the Kajimoto Laboratory, at the University of Electro-Communications, and its creators hope it will soon be able to effectively transmit the feeling of a kiss over long distances. A kiss is really a complex thing, if you think about it, and there are a lot […]
Japan’s Cat Island Safe after Quake and Tsunami
Tashirojima, also known as “Cat Island” was believed to have been devastated by the recent 9.0 earthquake and following tsunami, but a recent report shows both the human and feline population are safe. I’m sure you’re as happy as I am to finally hear some good news after the disaster that recently struck Japan, but […]
Japanese Scientists Create Creepiest Mobile Phone Ever
A group of Japanese scientists have created a doll-like mobile phone they say is designed to make you feel closer to the person you’re talking to. No, this is not a joke… Japan has been at the forefront of technological research and development for a long time, but some of the things they’ve come up […]
Japan Holds National Hole Digging Competition
Japanese are known across the globe for their quirky contests, and the All-National Hole-Digging Contest is right up there with the wackiest. This yearly event takes place at the beginning of February, at the Narita Dream Dairy Farm, just east of Tokyo. This year, over a thousand people from all over Japan showed up for […]
Aokigahara Forest – The Suicide Woods of Mount Fuji
Referred to as “the perfect place to die” in Wataru Tsurumui’s bestselling book – The Complete Manual of Suicide – Aokigahara is a thick, dark forest located at the base of Mount Fuji, famous as a popular suicide spot. No one knows exactly how many bodies go undiscovered among the trees of Aokigahara forest, but […]
The Wonderful World of Japanese Manhole Cover Art
Found across nearly 95% of Japan’s 1,780 municipalities, custom manhole covers have become an important part of national culture. The history of manhole cover art can be traced back to the 1980s, when cities began making custom covers with designs inspired by the region’s cultural identity (mythology, history, culture, etc.). Every one of the over […]
LED Smiles – The Latest in Japanese Fashion
They make people look like they’ve been chewing on glow sticks, but the LED smiles created by designers Motoi Ishibashi and Daito Manabe are the new rage in Japan. Originally created as an experiment, the LED smile is currently used in a commercial for the winter sale of a popular Japanese clothing store, and are […]
Tottori Sand Dunes – Japan’s Unique Desert Formation
Many people will tell you there are no deserts in Japan, but while the Tottori Sand Dunes may not be the size of the Sahara, they sure look a lot like a desert to me. The reason most people don’t refer to the Tottori Sand Dunes as a desert has to do with the amount […]
New Sega Toylet Lets You Play with Your Pee
The SEGA Corporation has released a wacky toilet prototype, called SEGA Toylet, that lets you play video games with your urine stream. Just when you thought Japanese toilets couldn’t get any weirder, right? Since the conventional gaming industry is getting pretty crowded these days, Japanese video gaming giant decided to try its luck in a […]
Kobe Luminarie – Japan’s Festival of Light
Kobe Luminarie is an extraordinary light festival that takes place every December, in commemoration of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. The first edition Kobe Luminarie took place in December of 1995, as a memorial to the lives lost in the terrible earthquake of January 17. It was entitled “Dreams and Light” and was a […]
Only in Japan – Love Doll Brothels Are Bustling
Some people tend to compare Japanese Love Dolls with regular western sex dolls, but in reality, they are on a whole other level. Believe it or not, people actually pay big money to sleep with a doll, at the bustling love doll brothels across Japan. The first Japanese love dolls were created 30 years ago, […]
The Snow Monkeys of Jigokudani Yaen-koen Park
Even though the name of this park might not sound very familiar you’ve probably heard about the Snow Monkeys of Japan. The Jigokudani Yaen-koen (Hell Valley Wild Monkey Park) is located in the Nagano mountains and since it was opened, in 1964, this park has been the attraction of tourists from all over the world, […]