TOKYOMANGO

Ballpoint Pen Looks Like a Syringe

This silly pen looks more like a syringe than a pen. It even has red liquid that resembles blood that swooshes around inside as you write.

Product page (Japanese)

Chair-Desk for Economizing Office Space

Why get a desk and a chair when you can just get a chair-desk? This silly thing is basically just an office chair with an attachable, adjustable platform for your laptop. It's a pretty smart idea, considering the lack of space in many Japanese homes, the high prices of desks these days, and the horrible posture problems you can accumulate from slouching and staring at your laptop screen.

Product page (Japanese)

Semi-Erotic Gas Tank Fuel Manga Girls

Comiket, the  biannual dojinshi convention, is like the ultimate geek mecca. The last one was held in mid-August. You can tell just by looking at the cars that roll up in the parking lot that these people are seriously serious about their love for manga. Senaka Blog has a couple of great photo galleries of them; I like this one, where the girl on the fuel door is saying "Please be gentle." As in, please be gentle when inserting your gas pump snake in my fuel tank hole. There are many more funny fuel doors translated into English here.

Senaka Blog (via Pink Tentacle)

Train Conductor Poos All Over Train, Causes Delays

Early this morning in Amagasaki, the trains were delayed. No reason was given as to why, but those sitting in the first car may have smelled the lingering aroma of diarrhetic poo wafting in from the conductor's box. We later learned that that particular train was taken out of service because the conductor had had a "violent bout of diarrhea in the driver's cabin." His replacement walked in at 6:15am to find poopoo all over the floor.

I wonder what will become of Mr. Poopoohead Train Conductor Man? Will he be fired? You can't get fired for getting sick on the job, can you? But for pooping all over the place? Hmmm....

Link (Thanks, Rog!)

Bandai's New Cockroach Robot Toy

Bandai's newest high-tech toy? A translucent robot modeled after real cockroaches. This little thing has six legs, a touch sensor that tells it to change directions when it hits a wall, a micro monitor that makes it vibrate like a cell phone, and a mic sensor that lets it scuttle away when you make loud noises.

After experimenting with several different bugs, the creators decided that the cockroach's movements and speed were the most compatible with battery efficiency and design. You can also get models with bodies resembling ladybugs, but they're still going to move like roaches.

The Hex Bug comes out in mid-September and will retail for about $15/each.

Press release (in Japanese, via ImpressWatch)