TOKYOMANGO

Ichiro-Isms Rock the Media

Ichiro's been in the news a lot lately, but not just because he's awesome at baseball. Apparently, he's been saying some silly, overly emotional things to the media.

My coworker at Wired, Erik—whose brain is arguably the most thorough sports almanac in the world—recently started a fun blog in which he featured some of the silliest Ichiro-isms. I told you guys about how the all star player thanked his dog for the $90 mill Mariners contract he signed last month. Now he's talking about the dormant fire in the "innermost recesses of his soul."

I think there's a lot that has been lost in translation here. The Japanese speak in metaphors a lot, so it's really hard for interpreters to relay messages like Ichiro's into English without making him sound either overly dramatic (via a literal translation of the metaphor) or completely dry (by extracting the non-metaphorical meaning of the words). There is a happy medium, but it's not something that can be easily deciphered in the brief moment that interpreters have to get the word out.

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Tea Makes Your Boobs Grow Bigger

It's true! Drinking F-Cup Tea will make your boobs bigger, just like those F-Cup cookies turned your plains into voluptuous mountains. The magic's in the sunflower extract (20mg) and pueraria mirifica (50mg). Don't ask. Just try. 

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Cute Color-Coded Trash Bags Make Good Wall Art

Smart idea! Since garbage bags sitting outside on the street look ugly if they're just black or white, why not put little blue fishies and pink flowers and green Christmas trees on them? That's the thinking behind design agency MAQ's garbage art project, which not only makes your leftover pasta and old bills part of 3D wall art, but are also color-coded per the requirements for burnable, non-burnable, and recyclable trash.

(via Pink Tentacle)

JAXA's Recyclable Unmanned Spacecraft

JAXA, Japan's space exploration agency, is preparing to launch the first test of its reusable unmanned spacecraft in November. Pictured here is the prototype, which is 1/5 of the actual size. It's designed to be lightweight and self-lifting, and comes to fruition after two years of research.

Link (Japanese)

Win an Instant Ramen Emergency Kit

You never know when you're gonna have to flee your home, and that's why The Institute for Fire Safety and Disaster Preparedness recommends that everyone have an emergency kit. For a limited time, you can win this awesome instant ramen emergency kit—so much better than Clif Bars!

Here's some more info:

The package contains:

-- Five servings of instant ramen noodles
-- Three 500-milliliter bottles of mineral water
-- A stainless cup
-- Solid fuel
-- A barbeque lighter
-- A pair of chopsticks
-- A wet towel

To apply for the giveaway, send a postcard with your address, name, age, sex, occupation and phone number to:

"Instant Ramen Bosaishoku Kit" Present (Mainichi Daily News) Gakari
DPR 2-16-7 Ginza Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-8210

You do have to live in Japan, unfortunately, to enter the contest. I am going to enter anyway, even though I don't live there, by using my parents' and all my high school friends' addresses. Tee hee.

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