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Cool! I didn't know MUJI makes toys. This excavation kit was just released by the no-frills clothing company &mdash it's basically a block of sand and stone that has a fake dinosaur bone inside that you have to try to dig out. This is not just a kids' toy, either &mdash the adult who blogged about it on MUJI's web site claims it took about two hours to excavate the remains. Sounds fun!
Excavation kit on muji.net (Thanks, Tamura-san!)
From my BBG post:
The face displayed on the 3GS screen is actually that of Hatsune Miku, the anime girl depiction of a vocaloid software created by Yamaha that continues to be a huge hit among Japanese web geeks. The music she's singing is Levan Polkka, a Finnish folk song. Videos of Hatsune Miku singing Levan Polkka became a huge meme on the web video site Nico Nico Douga, which I wrote an article about in Wired Magazine last year. The scallion-twirling, someone explained to me, is a symbol of dumbness — only a really brainless person would stand there and twirl scallions all day.
The Cove, a new documentary on dolphin killings in the Japanese town of Taiji, comes out at the end of August. I personally love dolphins, and I used to enjoy watching them swim at hotels and aquariums in Hawaii when I was a kid. Then again, if I knew the story behind their capture back then, maybe I would have become a dolphin activist too. Some people are opposed to the eating of dolphins. I would never eat a dolphin, but I eat other meat and think that's fine, so I'm not conceptually opposed to people eating stuff they want to eat. I'm not sure how I'll feel after seeing this documentary, but I'll let you guys know.
Interestingly, dolphins were not considered worthy of captivity by humans until the 1960s &mdash that's when the American TV show Flipper came out.
Related story:
Dolphin slaughter: horrible injustice, or just another meal?
(Thanks, Ken!)
Over at BBG, I wrote about these new glasses that force you to blink every five seconds by clouding over if you don't. They're supposed to help people who forget to moisten their eyes when staring at computer screens.
This blue beer from Hokkaido is a real product. It contains 5% alcohol and spirulina.
Product page via NotCot
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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