TOKYOMANGO

Buy Urawaza on Amazon (It's my Book)

My friend Steven just IM-ed me to say that my book is available on Amazon. Official release date is April 2, so if you order it now, you can be one of the first people in the world to ever read it. Also, I'm looking for people who will make videos of them trying out tricks from the book—there are over a hundred to choose from, and if you send me the file or link, I'll upload it on YouTube and post it on my blog. And maybe someone famous will link to it, and you can become a web celeb. So buy the book, take out your camcorder, and start shooting!

Click here to see videos my friends and I made.

Wings of Defeat: A Documentary About Living Kamikaze Pilots

We've all heard of kamikaze pilots. They're the infamous troop of martyr pilots involved in a last-ditch effort by Japan's Imperial Army to save face in World War 2. About 5,000 Tokkotai—their official name—died, but what's less known is the fact that some survived. In an excellent new documentary by Risa Morimoto, whose uncle was trained as a kamikaze pilot but never dispatched, explores the experience and psyche of these brave and controversial soldiers of a badly defeated nation.

This documentary was really, really good. It showed many perspectives—those of the pilots themselves, those of American soldiers who survived kamikaze attacks, and expert opinions from people like John Dower—an MIT historian who wrote an amazingly interesting account of post-war Japan in his book Embracing Defeat. Morimoto herself went out and did all the interviews, and she's in a lot of the footage, sitting next to interviewees as they share experiences with her. She manages to extract conflicting emotions from all sides—the kamikaze pilots share their fear and doubt, while American soldiers tell her that they would have done the same thing had they been on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Trailer and screening info after the jump.

Cute Bug-Like Bot Works Remote Controls

This cute little bug-like robot is actually a universal remote control controller. In development by Toshiba, the 8-inch tall ApriPoco communicates with IR signals from your remote—and, of course, with you—to save you from fumbling with complicated buttons on the various control devices scattered around your living room. It's similar in tech to voice-activated gadgets like GPS, except you can give it your own commands without having to memorize the preset ones.

The cuteness is intentional, too. Researchers are hoping it will stave off frustration of people who are otherwise impatient with dumb machines. Think Furby with a function. It's like having a pet!
Link (Thanks, Sam!)

Robot Teaches Dentists How to Drill, Not Molest, Female Patients

Japanese dentists are infamous for being playboys and not necessarily very good at fixing teeth. So it's natural that roboticists would create something like Itagirl (literally means Pain Girl), a pretty(?) robot woman who is designed to simulate a typical dental patient. She has pain sensors that trigger over 30 responses, from verbal ones like "ouch" to a slight raise of the hand to indicate discomfort. Her skin is made of silicone, and she's pneumatically powered. She also has sensors in her chest so that the perv dentist can't rest his elbow on her boobies while he's sucking saliva out of her mouth.
via Pink Tentacle

What's Hot Now: Dog Rental by the Hour

When I was in Tokyo last month, my mom and I took our dogs to Odaiba, where we stumbled upon this strange store called Puppy the World.

Puppy the World is a dog rental store. You can choose small, medium, or large breeds and rent them for $19/hr, or $100 a night. They have everything from chihuahuas to labs to border collies to papillons—and you get a 5% discount at the cafe if you rent one! You can't lose.

By the time my mom and I got there, registration for rentals for the day were over. Besides, they said, you can't rent one if you already own a dog. I couldn't help but wonder how they treated the dogs in a place like this. So I asked. Here's what I found out:

Pencil Case Looks Like A Japanese Cell Phone

Check out these great little tin paraphernalia cases that look like Japanese cell phones. They're modeled after real existing handsets to scale, and when you open them up, there are two little compartments to put pencils, gum, coins, etc. in. The clamshell version even has a little compact mirror.

Tokyoflash Contest Winners & Discount Code

Last week, I announced a contest where you could win a Tokyoflash watch by imagining what one of their watches would do in an alternate universe. We got over 100 responses, and the guys at Tokyoflash have chosen their three faves--and given all you guys a 1,100 yen ($11) discount on anything! Read to end for more details...and here are our three winners:

Helen Chang: Tokyoflash Kyokusen: Stupidity Meter

When the wearer is thinking of or about to do something incredibly stupid the meter on the watch will light up and the user will experience a painful electric shock.

Peeking Into Pikachu's Privates

Ever wonder what a Pokemon looks like inside? Crawl in and take a peek!

Link

Japanese Gravestones to Store Dead People Data in Bar Codes

 

A Japanese gravestone manufacturer is going to sell stones with QR codes on them. QR codes are able to store all kinds of info about the deceased—this is a great way to memorialize them at length without taking up too much space on the stone or making it look too wordy. The Underwire reports:

In the future, Ishi no Koe hopes to use this technology to develop a new way to pay respect to the dead that wouldn't require you to actually be at the cemetery in person. The company sees this as an alternative especially fitting for today’s younger generation.

Link

Pen-Twirling Champ Creates Ultimate Twirlable Pen

This unique pen with LED lights in it is custom-designed by Hideki, the God of pen-twirling, for optimal finger-spinning performance. There are six different colors and styles—cyber, sonic, metal, science, beat, and sport, depending on what kind of pen-twirler you are.

Product page with video (Japanese)

Toilet Paper Used for Advertising

Public bathrooms are disgusting, especially when people sprinkle on the seat or smear on the bowl. That's why hot spring resorts in Ikaho, Gunma Prefecture are advertising the benefits of clean toilets on toilet paper. Here's what the Japan Toilet Association has to say about it:

We want people to keep toilets clean, as well as their bottoms.

The revenues from the toilet paper ads will help pay for the upkeep of public bathrooms.

Printed toilet paper has been around in Japan for at least 20 years. We used to have educational ones as a kid. My friend Kayoko had one that would change color and tell you how healthy your urine was. I used to get a kick out of one that had pictures and kanji on it to teach you new words—one of the words was "yushi"—warrior—which also happens to be my brother's first name. It was funny to see his name on toilet paper.

Click here for more examples of printed toilet paper.

Link (Thanks, Rog!)

DIY Kit Teaches You How to Become a Speed Cuber

Did you know that the fastest time anyone has ever solved a Rubik's cube in is 9.18 seconds? Speed cubing is a serious serious sport, and there are certain tricks of the trade that help you with it--you can loosen the screws holding the cubes together, or dissect and lubricate the moving parts. This  Speed Cubing Kit by MegaHouse comes with screwdrivers, lube, and a little manual (in Japanese) on how to become a professional cuber.

Product page (Japanese)

Diamond-Studded Toshiba Phone Costs $4K

This is Toshiba's new super fancy diamond-studded cell phone, called the Cosmic Shiner. It's $4000. There are only 1000 left, limited edition, and for some reason, purchase is by invitation only. It comes in a personalized, handmade lacquer box.

Link

On io9: Will Brain Age Help Me Reverse My Aging Process?

This week, I wrote about how I'm playing Brain Age 2 to stay young:

I've been trying to figure out ways that I can defy age. I'm turning 30 this year, which means I will have a harder time remembering things, filtering information, and staying in shape. Since I'm not Ray Kurzweil and I can't afford plastic surgery, I'm banking on Brain Age 2, Nintendo's cognitive training software, to keep me away from wrinkles and Alzheimer's.

Keep reading...

Pyromaniac Pianist Plays a Burning Instrument on the Beach

Yosuke Yamashita likes pianos and fires. He's a pianist by trade, pyromaniac by hobby. So it's fitting for him to play a flaming piano on the beach in a shiny silver fireproof suit while a crowd watches in awe.

Apparently, Yamashita did this back in 1973, too. That performance was made into a short film by director Kiyoshi Awazu.

via Pink Tentacle

Annual Festival Honors Penises and Fertility

The annual Honen festival was held on Saturday in Komaki, near Nagoya, where people celebrate fertility and good harvest by carrying around a giant penis. Shinto priests played music while the crowd got drunk on all-you-can-drink sake and ate penis-shaped foods, like hot dogs.

Link (Thanks, Jason!)

Real Tetris L-Block-Shaped Chairs

The TT Chair is the ultimate accessory for the Tetris geek: it's a comfy lounge chair that looks like the L block. These lightweight, durable, multi-colored chaises can be used indoors and outdoors, and you can put them down at different angles or shift them around the room or stack them depending on your mood. Seriously awesome. They're about $220 and you can get them on Rakuten.

Contest: Win a Watch From the Future by Answering One Question...

If you know anything about cool Japanese watches, then you've probably visited Tokyoflash.com, home of futuristic wrist accessories that look like they could do a gazillion things that watches aren't really supposed to do. So here's my proposal:

You tell me what you think any one of the Tokyoflash watches would be able to do in an alternate universe, and the people with the three best answers will get a free Tokyoflash watch!

For example, I'm pretty sure the Shinshoku (shown above) can double as a Chinese Checkers board. And one of those has to be an alien ship. Winners will be picked by a contest crew in Tokyo a week from now. You can submit your responses to mango@tokyoflash.com.

Cop Confiscates Porn, Makes Copies for Himself

A police superintendant in Chiba seized several tapes of uncensored porn from a retailer in Funabashi and ordered a subordinate to make copies so he could watch them at home. In Japan, porn has to be censored with digital mosaics covering genitals.

Apparently, the video copies were made at the police station in 2006. At the time, nobody said a word.

Link

Cushions Made Out of Subway Seats

Do you love your morning commute so much that you miss sitting on the dirty furry subway seats when you get home? The city of Sendai is now selling these orange cushions made out of old subway seats after they recently changed the seat colors on all its trains. The city teamed up with a local handicapped center to have 150 of these made by hand--they're on sale for 2000 yen each at Sendai Station, on the Nanboku Line.

Personally, I don't want something that millions of people have sat on in my house.

Link

Anti-Sex: A Fabulous Short Film About a Girl Who Runs a Love Hotel

One of my favorite short films ever is a 2006 30-minute flick called Anti-Sex, directed by Ryotaro Muramatsu. It's about a high school girl named Ai whose father's death left her in charge of a love hotel. It's always been a family business, and because she's been so over-exposed to sex since childhood, she's totally not interested in it. At all. This is a really cute, hip, fun comedy about love and sex and Japan.

It's playing tomorrow as part of a shorts series at the SF Int'l Asian American Film Festival.

Urawaza: How to Get Rid of Excess Beer Foam

In this video, Melissa shows us how to get rid of excess beer foam using olive oil. This is one of the tricks from my book, Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan, which comes out next month.

You guys are welcome to submit videos of you and your friends trying out tricks from the book--or even ones that you know yourselves! Just email them to me and I'll put them up on this blog.

Tokyo Fashion Week Features Bunnies and Furries

It's Tokyo Fashion Week, and this year's recurring theme seems to be furries and bunnies! Love the full-body hoodie with the cats and men with tophats on it. Looks great for skiing.

Oral Grip Machine Will Make You Smile Better

I know this looks like grandma's dentures, but it's actually a grip machine for your mouth. The makers of this product claim that, by exercising your mouth muscles with this thing 4 times a day for 3 minutes at a time, you can work your way towards a more beautiful smile. It comes in three colors and resistances: normal (for men), soft (for women), and rehabilitation (for seniors and children). It's called Yumi, and it costs $50. Can also be used in conjunction with the rubber smile gadget.

Product page via Impress Watch (Japanese)

Cop Got Free Sexy Massages while on Duty

Kazuzo Watanabe, a 57-year old Tokyo cop, was arrested for abusing his power by exchanging immunity from the law for free sexual services while on duty in Taito Ward. He was the guy in charge of monitoring the sex industry in the area.

In early October last year, Watanabe asked the woman, in her 30s and a massage shop operator, to come to the police station where he obtained her cellphone number on the pretext of examining her business activities, according to investigators.

He then allegedly visited the shop on the next day and forced her to give him a body massage without charge, threatening to otherwise take action against it.

Watanabe was busted because  a friend of the massage shop operator ratted him out to another police station. What a douche bag.

Link

Elementary School Breaks Guinness Record with a 118-Person Walk

An elementary school in Shinjuku ward hosted a Guinness World Record-breaking 118-legged walk today. Here's a picture of 117 people tied together by the ankles, about to start the "race." They comprised of students, teachers, and parents celebrating the centennial of Ushigome-Nakano Elementary School. The previous record was set by a bunch of consultants in the UK last September, and that was with 77 people.

Pretty awesome teamwork, I'd say.

Link

Urawaza: Topless Korean Boy Shows Us How to Prevent Body Odor

James shows us how to prevent body odor using baking soda and lemon...and he takes off his shirt! This is one of the tricks in my book, Urawaza, which comes out soon.

Traditional Japanese Wash Cloths with Star Wars Designs

Tenugui are thin Japanese cotton towels used most often for bathing, cleaning, or as a headwrap if you're a construction worker. Strap-ya is selling these new Star Wars branded tenugui in 10 different patterns—pretty cool! I love the one on the top left that looks like a woodblock print with R2D2 flying over Mt. Fuji. Classic.

Yasukuni: A Documentary Explores the Ethics of War Memory

War memory is a super touchy subject. When a country fights a war, and does things that are not very cool at all in the process, and then that country loses the war, do its people still have the right to worship the dead? A new documentary called Yasukuni explores this topic by documenting the extreme emotions that surround the controversial shrine in which ashes of Japan's war dead are kept. Some think it's okay to honor those who fought and died for the country; others think it's not cool at all to pay homage to those who caused suffering, shame, and death to countless civilians abroad.

The war in question is WW2. The ashes causing the controversy are those belonging to the higher-ups in the Imperial Army, including a couple who famously commanded the Nanking Massacre. The worshiper that brought the name Yasukuni to international fame was former prime minister Koizumi, who chose to make his annual visit to honor the dead despite cries of protest from pretty much everywhere in 2005.

Video: Little Red Riding Hood Booby Ad

Crazy Japan Ad - Little Red Riding Hood - Funny bloopers R us This strange ad features a parodied Little Red Riding Hood and four furries who start off telling a fairytale and end with an interesting little dance that you just have to see for yourself. I'd translate, but it's pretty funny even if you don't know what they're saying.

New Mascot for Nara Heijo-kyo Anniversary

The city of Nara is preparing for the 1300th anniversary of the establishment of Heijo-kyo, the capital of Japan during much of the Nara period (710-794). To commemorate, they accepted numerous proposals for an official mascot and chose this fantastically preposterous illustration of a young monk with antlers. (Deer have become a symbol for the city.) Blogs and forums like 2ch are abuzz with incredulous reactions to this mascot, which is creeping out most and even offending some, who have started a petition to annul this abomination.

Some are having fun with it, like with this playful parody, but others are being used to scare babies in shopping malls. Picture after the jump...

Softbank's New Cell Phones Double as Robot Friends

Softbank's coming out with a new line of handsets in April that will double as robot friends. These handsets have arms and legs that fold out, and screens that will make faces according to their moods.

The robot phone doesn't actually talk or move, but it'll tell you what it's thinking via text message. (He'll call you out if you're phone stalking somebody, for example.)

Link

Takarazuka Features Ms. Douglas MacArthur Musical

Takarazuka is a famous all-women's theatrical troupe that's been putting on lavish Broadway-like productions since 1913. Most of their productions are adaptations of Western classics—in the past, they've done everything from West Side Story to The Great Gatsby to The Sound of Music. The current feature, though, is something a little bit different—it's a romantic musical about Douglas MacArthur.

I'm really curious how they portrayed him—the "Supreme Commander"—best known for leading the US occupation in Japan after WW2—is known by some as the great leader who reconstructed Japan, and by others as the guy who exonerated the emperor from guilt and instead turned Japan into the US' puppy dog.

via J-List (Thanks, Baker!)

 

New Fetish Cafe Caters to Train Maniacs

A new fetish cafe in Akihabara called Little TGV features waitresses dressed like train conductors and cocktails named after the Yamanote Line. It's based on the story of a fake rail company called the New Akiba Electric Railroad, and instead of the usual "Welcome home, master" greeting familiar to maid cafe enthusiasts, these women greet you with "Thank you for boarding our train."

Train geekdom is actually a well-established obsession in Japan. So this cafe, though seemingly random, meets a very specific demand.

via Mainichi

Urawaza: How To Clean Up Spilled Candlewax

Here's another trick from my Urawaza book.

New Documentary Explores the Origin of the Fortune Cookie

Did you know that the fortune cookie might actually be Japanese? A new documentary, directed and produced by Derek Shimoda, explores the origins of this staple dessert at Chinese restaurants across the world, and finds that there's a high possibility that Japanese immigrants closely tied to a rice cracker shop may have first made and distributed these cookies in San Francisco. (Incidentally, most people in China have no clue what a fortune cookies is.)

It's a fun documentary—really well put together, with some classic characters and some really interesting scenes from 20th century Asian American history—that premieres March 15th in San Francisco at the SF Int'l Asian American Film Festival.