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Worried about your weight and obsessed with Hello Kitty at the same time? In September, Toshiba will release this Hello Kitty-themed scale. It's bright red, and it comes with a cute little handheld panel that stores data over time and tells you how fat you are. You can connect to the computer via USB and it'll display all your results in a nice little chart with Hello Kitty as your guide.
The Mainichi has a cool photo gallery of weird flavored ice creams in Japan. Pictured here is caviar ice cream, but that's not the most provocative—how about beef tongue ice cream or viper ice cream? Other flavors include beer, natto, and octopus. Yummmy.
These ice creams are available for viewing and tasting at an ice cream expo in Yokohama.
I was on TV today, on a local ABC show called View from the Bay to promote my book, Urawaza. Lisa Quinn's the host—she's like a bad-ass Martha Stewart. I thought I'd feel like a monkey doing tricks in front of the camera, but it actually wasn't that bad.
You can watch the clip by clicking on the image above or by following this link.
Cold beer on a hot day is so last century. Japanese people are drinking Eel Juice to survive the drenching summer heat of Tokyo. Unagi Nobori is a fizzy yellow drink distributed by Japan Tobacco, but it's actually healthy for you—it has vitamins A, B, D, and E, plus eel head and bone extract.
I know it sounds a little weird, but it is totally normal to put fish products in other foods in Japan. Shrimp crackers! Eel biscuits!
Also, if you've never had a real authentic eel bowl at an eel bowl restaurant in Japan, you are seriously missing out.
I have no idea why this company decided to use Scary Android Woman for their commercial. It makes me want to run away from the TV screen, but not to go buy bug spray that keeps a robot's skin soft and smooth.
via Boing Boing
In 2008, Chronicle published my book: Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan.
I am also the founder of The Tofu Project, a boutique program that helps Japanese entrepreneurs and creators think deeper, tell better stories, and go out into the world in a much bigger way. We work with companies like Mixi, Japan Airlines, and Salesforce.com.
Sometimes I try to explain Japanese culture on CNN, BBC, CBC, WSJ, ABC (so many acronyms!) or in person at places like the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, ETech, and Ignite!
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Read some of my published magazine stories
Send tips to mango [at] tokyomango [dot] com
