Entries Tagged 'Japan' ↓

This amazing little girl roller skates under 40 parked cars. The girl is from India, and I don’t know any of the details beyond what the video shows, but it looks like a competition of some kind. Pretty amazing.

Via JapanProbe: 5-Year-Old Girl Skates Under 40 Cars

Do you have a strange or weird smile? If you do, then this is probably the product you need. From the land that brought you square watermelons and personal mech suits, comes the smile trainer. Just put this little strip of rubber in your mouth, and it will help train your facial muscles to have the perfect smile. This is one of those products, that could only come from Japan. I just can’t see any American company selling this. LOL

Via TokyoMango: Rubber Gadget Teaches You How to Smile

JapanProbe has a story about a Japanese supercar made entirely out of wood. Apparently it is a promotional vehicle made by a furniture company in Japan. The car has a max speed of 80km/h. It’s pretty cool looking.

The video below is in Japanese, but it does show the car in action.

Via JapanProbe: Japanese Wooden Supercar

Farmers in the town of Inakadate grow rice that has different colored leaves to make intricate pictures and paintings in their rice paddies. Some of the pictures are absolutely amazing. Inakadate is a small town in Japan that draws thousands of tourists each year with its intricate rice art.

For more pics go here

It seems that the square watermelons I posted about before, are not the only shapes you can get watermelons in. The above watermelon sells for about $650. How it is made is considered a trade secret.
It seems that you can get cucumbers in different shapes as well. Below is a picture of star and heart shaped cucumbers that you can buy to decorate your salad.

Via PingMag: Funny Shaped Japanese Watermelons

An island off the coast of Hiroshima is being eaten away by crustaceans. The photo on the left is what the island looked like back in 1955. As you can see, the island had two peaks. One with a few trees growing on it. The photo on the right, shows the island as it is now.
It seems that the crustaceans burrow into the rock that makes up the island to lay their eggs. The small holes that they burrow then cause the island to be much more susceptible to natural tidal erosion and typhoons.

Via MSN-Mainichi Daily News: Crustaceans eating away island off Hiroshima

Via JapanProbe: Square Watermelons Go On Sale!

What? You say poodles and sheep aren’t the same thing?
This has got to be one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard of. Thousands of people in Japan were sold sheep that they thought were miniature poodles. The “miniature poodles” were sold for $1600, which in Japan is a good deal for a poodle. What is amazing, is that no one noticed until an actress went on a talk show and complained. She mentioned that her new “poodle” wouldn’t bark or eat dog food. After the talk show she was informed that her “poodle” was actually a sheep. After that, thousands of other people started coming forward with their “poodles” saying that they were also acting strange. It turns out that the sheep were lambs imported from the UK and Australia and given special haircuts.
I’m really not sure how you could get taken in by this. Maybe if you had never seen a sheep before you might get confused. But it should be obvious that it wasn’t a dog. It’s not like sheep look all that much like dogs.
I especially like the quote from the police officer, “Sadly, we think there is more than one company operating in this way.” So that means there is a whole crime wave of fake poodle sheep importers. LOL

Check the story out: Dog owners ‘fleeced’ in poodle scam

Update: Despite being picked up by a lot of newspapers, Snopes is claiming that this story is a fake. If so, then this is even funnier, simply because so many news outlets fell for it. Snopes: Sheepish discovery

It seems that the HAL-5 exoskeleton will be available for rent next year in Japan. It will only set you back around $580 a month. So if you have some heavy moving to do, and don’t want to over strain your back. You can rent one of these things.

This has got to be one of the coolest gadgets ever. Japan always seems to get the best stuff long before we get it over here in the US. The HAL-5 was designed by Cyberdyne Inc as a system to assist partially paralyzed or severely injured people walk. With the addition of arm supports, it can now assist with carrying as well. Since it isn’t limited to use by disabled people, it has some obvious uses in other areas where strength is a factor.

Via Gizmodo: Feeling Weak? Rent an Exoskeleton.

BusinessWeek has an interesting article on a Japanese business. The business was named Kongo Gumi. Up until last year It was the oldest continuously operating family business in the world. The business was a construction business that specialized in building temples in Japan. It was founded in 578 AD and finally went under due to excessive debt and a changing society in 2006. It was a diversified business that had a lot of other construction types, but the specialization in temples was its mainstay. Recent cultural changes in Japan have led to a decline in temple donations and building projects. Revenues shrank and debt climbed as Japan became more secular. Eventually leading to the dissolution of the company in 2006.

I really think it is incredible that a business that was founded so long ago, could have survived. Furthermore, it’s amazing that the business remained under the control of the same family for so long.

The picture above, is of the Shitennoji temple that was built by the company.

Via JapanProbe: 1,400-year-old Japanese Business Kaput and BusinessWeek: The End of a 1,400-Year-Old Business