TOKYOMANGO

Get your hand-printed limited edition TokyoMango t-shirt now (2 weeks only)

My friend Ben and I made a test run of TokyoMango t-shirts on Saturday. They're really nice, do you want one? If so, you can buy one here. Below are the details:

- All shirts are 100% cotton.
- Each t-shirt will be hand-silk screened by me and Ben on his Yudu machine. The shirt logo was custom-designed by Ben. Mango design courtesy of my web designer James.
- The Women's tees come in a t-shirt style (pistacio and white) and a spaghetti strap ribbed tank (yellow).
- The Men's tees come in orange and white. In the pic above, Ben is actually accidentally wearing a girl's tee, but you get the idea... the sleeves will be more manly on the one you get.
- You can choose a custom colored tee for $25. Just shoot me an email with your preference after you place the order.
- The sizes tend to run a little big (except for the tanktops). They might shrink in the wash.
- Some of you will receive a free surprise Japanese toy or gadget with your t-shirt! I'm just gonna randomly stick them into bags, so keep an eye out.
- We're taking orders over the next two weeks only, at least for this first printing. They'll ship at the end of those two weeks, when Ben & I will silkscreen them by hand.
- Last day to order is Monday, October 5th.

UPDATE: T-shirts are no longer for sale. Maybe we'll do another round sometime!

Cookie cutters in Kappabashi

My friend Garth went to Tokyo recently and took this photo at a baking supply store in Kappabashi. I have never seen so many cookie cutters!

My neighbor is a pastry chef and she fell in love with some pastry forms she saw in a Japanese book on the topic. I spent a lot of time trying to find something for her while I was there. I ended up meeting a woman at a store who, through half Japanese half English communication, helped me find a goldmine of baking supplies.

Link

Toyjector, a low-res, super cute toy projector

For $150, you can now get this cute, boxy toy projector called the Toyjector. It's two cubic inches and weighs just four ounces, so it's super portable, but it really is just a toy — it projects 300x224 images and only has an internal 1W mono speaker. But if you're looking for a cute-and-little gadget-y holiday gift for a non-gadgety person, this could be a good gift. It goes on sale in Japan at the end of November.

Press release (Japanese, via CrunchGear)

New toy plays back everything you record backwards

Takara Tomy has a new crazy toy called the Sakasa Master Japan. It's actually a recording device that plays back whatever you say backwards — useful for those who want to make up a secret code language or are linguistically curious. But mostly, just pure entertainment.

Buy it here.

Cat toy with spilled guts named after popular song

This toy (?) is called Neko Funjyatta (literally, I stepped on a cat, though it's commonly associated with a kids' song frequently played on the piano known elsewhere as the Flea Song) and features a plastic cat with its guts spilling out.

via Boing Boing

Golden poop inkan stamp for good luck

A lot of official documents in Japan still require an inkan, or a personalized red stamp. It's the equivalent of a signature in the US, except you have to carry it around with you — each is unique because of the name, obviously, and the font. This golden poop charm is actually a real functional inkan — it stamps good luck on whatever document you need to endorse, be it a marriage certificate or bank papers.

Product page (Japanese)

Super-light, super portable $10 cardboard chair

Forget those clunky collapsible lawn chairs that people lug around to parks and campsites. The new greatest portable chair is a $9, 0.8-lb honeycombed cardboard structure that supposedly can carry even the heaviest person and lasts forever. I might buy one, although I tend to prefer sitting on the ground over anything else when I'm outdoors.

Buy it here (via Spoon & Tamago)

Little blue guy brings good career luck to your home

This cute little blue guy is actually a modern-day house ornament that's supposedly good for feng shui. He brings you good luck in your career — you can put a little personal note in the slit in front for motivation; this guy will sit in the corner of your room, slowly bobbing his head from side to side, just chilling out and bringing you good vibes. You can also get a pink guy for romantic luck and a green one for health.

Product page (Japanese)

Bamboo dining set teaches kids table manners

I love this dining set for kids made by Funfam. Everything's made of bamboo and is reusable (huge amounts of wooden chopsticks are used and thrown away every day in Japan), but not only that, the embedded cutlery design automatically teaches your kids how to set a table! It's one less thing you have to teach them &mdash not to mention that it's just an extremely cute design. The only caveat: it costs $200.

Product page via Designboom

Ashtray made out of coffee grinds

What a great idea &mdash an ashtray made out of coffee grinds, created by Ryohei Yoshiyuki. So you don't have to have that stinky stale smell sitting in your living room all day.

via Moco Loco

Penguin piggy bank eats money and wags the butt

The Penguin Piggy Bank eats your money when you tap its break, and then wags its butt afterward. Simple and cute.

Get it here.

Smart design-y spill-proof tray carries eight wine glasses

The stem glass tray is a smart product from a small restaurant in Oita Prefecture specifically designed for carrying multiple wine glasses at once. It's a tray with little holes in it that you can hook up to eight wine glasses in, and a 9th hole for the thumb.

Product page (Japanese)

Light saber chopsticks

Starting in November, you'll be able to buy these Star Wars light saber chopsticks in Darth Vader Red, Luke Skywalker Blue, or Yoda Green for 1050 yen ($10) each from Kotobukiya. Fun at the dinner table for the whole family!

Link (Thanks, Joel!)

Story about AR Figure Aris on BBG

At Boing Boing Gadgets today, I wrote a feature about my visit to Geisha Tokyo Entertainment, the quirky start-up that created Augmented Reality Figure Aris:

Aris folds her tiny hands across her aproned lap and smiles. "If you need me, please poke me to get my attention!" she says in a peppy, high-pitched voice. "Just don't poke me in a weird place! "

As if to deliberately defy her request, Taisei Tanaka, who is sitting next to me in a soccer jersey and jeans, lifts up Aris' poofy skirt with a stick, revealing the ends of her black thigh-high socks and a glimpse of her blue panties. Aris screams at the top of her lungs. "Please stop! This kind of thing is not good!"

Tanaka has every right to lift up Aris' skirt. He is her creator, after all. Besides, Aris is not a real person; she doesn't even really exist. She is an optical illusion, a three-dimensional projection of a brown-haired girl in a maid outfit who lives inside of a cube that looks like an oversized die. The cube has QR codes pasted on each of its sides that uses image recognition, motion-tracking, and other computer-generated data to project images into space when recorded with a webcam.

Read it here.

New MUJI excavation kit lets you dig out dinosaur bones

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!)

Thriller figurines made in honor of MJ's life

This wonderful duo of Michael Jackson figurines a la Thriller were found by @Densho at WonderCon. (At least I think that's what the Spanish says...) The text on the poster reads "King of Pop Forever, 1958-2009." I am not a figurine collector, but if I was, I would totally get these.

When I was in Japan in February doing research for the 2D love story, I talked to several figurine makers and collectors. It's amazing how much detail goes into making them look perfect.

via Paiki.com

Piggy bank features dog that happily laps up your money

At the Tokyo Toy Show this past weekend, Japanese company Happinet introduced this funny little piggy bank featuring a happy dog standing in front of a bowl. When you put a 500 yen coin in the bowl, the dog starts lapping at it furiously, tapping the bowl progressively until the coin drops into the base. Super entertaining, which makes it a good way to save money since you have to pay up to watch him in action.

via Impress Watch (Japanese)

Foot pee! pack smoothes out callouses

This is not the first time I've seen urine-based beauty products in Japan, but calling something a Foot Pee! Pack takes it to a whole new level.

via Tokyo Times

New notebook makes will-writing a breeze with manga

Stationary brand Kokuyo released an interesting new product today &mdash it's a "Will and Testament" kit that guides you through the writing of your will in a cute notebook with manga characters on it. For just under $25, you get a B5 notebook with detailed instructions on how to write a will, four pages of copy-proof A4 paper for the actual will, a non-resealable securit envelope, draft paper, and a storage sheet. Kokuyo collaborated with bengoshi.com (an online lawyer site) to create manga illustrations that explain the legal jargon of will-writing in simple Japanese. Technically, anyone older than 15 can create a will &mdash It's never too early to start thinking about what you would leave to whom. It's like how some high schools have senior wills (I can't remember if I did it, but my mom dug hers up from decades ago once), but a bit more official.

Link (Japanese) Thanks, @matsuu!)

Toilet paper has horror story by the author of Ring printed on it

Are you the type of person who likes to read while pooping? A new type of Japanese toilet paper has horror stories printed on it, a 9-chapter novella by Koji Suzuki, the author of Ring. The story printed on paper is aptly called Drop, and costs just $2 a roll. Hey, that's cheaper than buying a paperback! In Japan (and in Harry Potter), we believe that ghosts hide in toilets. So this is super scary, especially because the guy who wrote the Ring is like the country's horror master. Printed toilet paper, however, is nothing new &mdash we used to have it when we were kids. That's how I learned kanji.

Link

Maid-themed lap pillow for pervs who like frilly skirts

In Akihabara, they have these establishments where men can walk in and get their ears cleaned and scratched by girls dressed in maid outfits. Otaku love it because they get to put their head on the maids' laps. So it naturally follows that a product like this maid lap pillow exists. The lap pillow has been around for awhile, but this is the first time I've ever seen the maid-themed one.

Product page via Japanator

Akihabara station sign for your desktop

Wish you lived in Akihabara instead of your mom's basement in bumblefuck nowhere? Now you can have your very own desktop-sized, backlit Akiba station sign in your room. It's for sale for about $10 at major electronics stores in Tokyo.

via Impress (Japanese)

Keychain features naughty gorilla toy (NSFW)

My friend A.J. found a toy called the Interesting Gorilla Keychain on display at Donki. Five bucks for a wind-up masturbating gorilla toy! Not bad, right?

Video: The bra that counts down to marriage

I just wrote about a new concept bra from Triumph on BBG that counts down to marriage—here's a video showing how it would work. Scary.

Seasonal designer toilet bowls from Toto

Toilet company Toto came out with this beautiful new toilet bowl collection that they call Waza Miyabi. There are foliage designs for every season. Pretty, although I personally would prefer to pee and poo in a normal white toilet bowl.

via Born Rich

Toilet knee pads to prevent pee from splashing

This could be the greatest Japanese invention yet. It's a knee pillow for guys who like to pee standing up—now they can do it kneeling down so that their pee doesn't splash all over the place. What a great invention!

Product page (via Gizmodo)

Doggie chew toys that look like giant mouths

These doggie chew toys, available on Rakuten, are amazing. I think I will ask my mother to send me some.

via W00kie's ramblings via Japan Probe

Five-fingered sauce bottle for food decoration

Magic Five is a sauce bottle that squirts out whatever you put in it in five thin lines instead of one big blob. Pretty awesome. Read Steven's review and how he and I both ended up with one each on BBG.

New Bandai somen toy is a giant slide for noodles

Bandai's new somen-making toy looks like so much fun. It's basically a slide for "nagashi somen," thin somen noodles that are served in a stream of water. The noodles come out of a little house at the top of the slide and end up in a strainer at the bottom. To be released tomorrow, 4/18, in Japan. What's better than a toy you can eat off of?

Press release via Impress Watch (Japanese)

Cell phone strap replicates sensation of opening a can of beer

The latest in Bandai Gadget's "do it forever" series is the top of a coke or beer can. Basically, researchers spent hours and hours perfecting the sensation of cracking open a can, and then made it into a cell phone strap. It goes on sale in June for about $8.

Pop-the-edamame cell phone strap
Bubble wrap mania

Shower cap for men makes hair grow back

This funny-looking shower cap is actually a new hair regrowth tool. It's made of soft composite rubber, and has a giant hole at the top. When you shower, you're supposed to put the cap on and pour warm water into that hole--it's designed to capture the steam in such a way that it opens and cleans out scapt pores and allows repressed hair to come out again. It costs about $90.

Product page via Impress Watch (Japanese)

Hiroyuki Takahashi's awesome lavender cream designs

There's this great temporary store at Meguro Station called Steam Cream. It's sold in the UK and Japan in these pretty tin cans, and right now, they're having this special collaboration with artist Hiroyuki Takahashi. I bought one for 1500 yen ($16) with a nerdy geisha girl (kimono, red-rimmed glasses) on it. I couldn't resist—the design was great, and the cream inside smelled like a fresh burst of lavender and chamomile, and made my skin feel like velvet. Another reason I couldn't resist: I have had this strange urge all week to buy stuff in between interviews. I think I'm working my ass off and I deserve little rewards here and there.

Obama action figure lounging in a kotatsu

I love this Barack Obama action figure—not just because I love the new president, which I do, but because here he is lounging Japanese winter-style in a kotatsu. A kotatsu, in case you have the misfortune of never having sat in one, is an amazing table-heated blanket hybrid piece of furniture that, until recently, was the centerpiece of almost every Japanese living room. We used to have one when I was a kid. Sometimes there's even a hole in the floor that you can dangle your legs in. Here, Obama is hanging out with his legs in the kotatsu, and he's about to eat a mikan (tangerine) and play Super Famicom.

Link (Thanks, David!)

Handmade Obama masks celebrate inauguration

Pop quiz: what do the Japanese do when they're super excited about something? They make toys! Ogawa Studios, a toymaker in Saitama Prefecture, is making Obama face masks for avid fans of the president-to-be-circa-tomorrow. They've already sold over 2,500 masks, and are making about 300 a day to meet the demand. Each is meticulously handmade using plaster mold and paint. Before Obamamania, the company was making prime ministerial masks. Koizumi was a big hit; Aso, not so much.

Link

Foot warmer looks like a face, uses no power

My toes are always cold. Especially when I'm skiing, but even when I'm just sitting at my desk or sleeping. This unique foot-warmer not only looks like a face with a giant gaping mouth, but it keeps your piggies warm without using any electricity or gas. Instead, it has these tiny beads that rub up against each other constantly and generate tiny amounts of heat that wrap your feet and keep them cozy. Get them for $60 at Tokyu Hands.

New toy lets you make giant edible purin

If you are a Japanese flan—or purin fanatic, Giga Purin will be a great investment for you. It's basically a giant bucket-shaped mold that lets you create abnormally enormous Japanese purin. Check out their not very appetizing commercial above. The people in the commercial dig into the gigantic pudding with such happy gusto, I kind of feel like trying it. The moral of the video is: you can be one of those smiley people in the commercial if you eat puke-able amounts of purin. (by Emily Co)

Gizmine, a web site for buying quirky Japanese gadgets

People always ask me where they can buy the quirky Japanese gadgetry that I feature on my blog. Like, the alarm clock that you have to shoot with a gun. Or the hungry piggy bank that eats your coins. Well, guess what guys. You can buy these and a whole bunch of other fun TokyoMango-esque toys at Gizmine, a new online shopping site reminiscent of the Rakuten back catalog, except it's in English and you can pay in dollars and they'll ship to the US, no hassle. Great place to buy yourself a belated Christmas present.

DIY lifesaver vests made of drink bottles

The Coast Guard office in Takamatsu, in Kagawa Prefecture is deploying these DIY lifesavers made from used plastic bottles. It's a cost-saving scheme: while new lifesavers cost up to $200 if purchased, these only cost $2 to make. The flotation device apparently works just as well. The idea came after a bunch of middle school kids on a field trip saved somebody's life by throwing him a raft made of 16 plastic bottles.

Link

Dog's squeaky toy looks like lingerie

Does your furry friend like to steal your bra and panties from your hamper and chew on them in front of guests? I spotted this toy bra and underwear set in a LaLaport pet store. It looks exactly like a real lingerie set, but it squeaks. My dog Peanut is having a ball trying to rip out the lace and ribbons. (by Emily Co)

Body shampoo simulates celebratory beer bath

If you're looking for a little fun in the shower, Bandai's new Beer Shampoo may be just the thing. The bottle is designed so that the citrus-scented soap inside sprays out as foam. It's part of a series of products titled "I've always wanted to try this." As in, you always wanted to spray yourself all over with beer, but you never did it because you didn't want to get your clothes dirty. Other novelty products in this series include the 10,000 yen bill bath salts and the 10,000 yen bill oil blotting paper.

Press release via Impress Watch (Japanese)

Maywa Denki's "nonsense toy" workshop this weekend in Tokyo

Last month in Tokyo, I hung out with Novmichi Tosa, the quirky, highly talented man behind Maywa Denki. We did a quick interview for an upcoming issue of Make, and he even gave me a private demo of his many awesome musical gadgets. He has things like an accordion that simulates a human tongue, and flower-shaped xylophones that open and close and play awesome beats on their own.

Anyhow, Novmichi is having a "nonsense toy" workshop this weekend at his studio in Tokyo. It's free, and open to the public, and promises to be highly entertaining. I would totally go, but I just left Tokyo to come back to SF on Sunday.

For those of you who are in Tokyo this weekend and are interested in making quirky, creative Japanese toys under the tutelage of one of the most talented product makers in the country, it's Nov 21 and 22 from 10am-5pm at the Maywa Denki studio in Shinagawa ward. There's more info here (in Japanese),or for a quick English briefing you can email them.

Hand lotion so cute it makes you want to become friends

Japanese drug stores have more beauty products than any Walgreens, Longs, or CVS, but one thing that always baffles me is the complete absence of locally made body lotion. Yes, there are a gazillion types of face cream and hand cream. But body lotion is always imported—it's so strange! I had to special order my favorite Japanese one, which is made out of rice. Speaking of lotion, I found these super cute "We are friends" Hand Cream. The idea behind it is that the containers are so frigging cute that you can't help but become friends with the creepy guy in the cube next to yours if he has one too.

Masks that make your face smaller

These bank robber masks are actually made to have special sauna-like effects that tighten pores and make your face appear smaller. The pink one is made especially for women, the gray one for men. I might try this on super blizzard-y days during ski season this year to see if it makes a difference.

Piggy bank plays Yamanote train platform music

Taking the train everywhere in Tokyo can be pretty tasking if you're not used to being in a commuter mosh pit, but the Yamanote Line's soothing platform music definitely takes the edge off. Each stop has its own signature tune so you know what station you're at even if you're blind, lost, or just confused. This Yamanote Line piggy bank that I found at Tokyu Hands plays a medley of platform music—each time you drop in a coin, the headlights go on, the music starts playing and all of a sudden you feel like you're on your way somewhere in Tokyo. And once the piggy bank is full, maybe you'll have enough cash saved up to take a real vacation.

Now, whenever I get nostalgic for the Yamanote Line, I can just play this YouTube video.

Found in Shibuya: USB Whac-a-Mole

Need a little more desktop entertainment than stupid solitaire? For less than $20, you can get USB Whack It, a miniature version of Whac-a-Mole powered by USB. I'd get it, except I have this highly addictive bubble wrap-popping game on my iPod Touch that satisfies all my arbitrary poking urges.

Plier store display in Akihabara

I took this picture at a covered tool market in Akihabara. This store specializes in pliers.

Novelty condoms look like food and have three different scents

I found some funny condoms at the checkout counter at Donki. One looks just like a bag of Ochazuke (rice with hot tea and toppings), and the other features a guy with dreads with a joint and a shaking butt and a condom hat in a bathtub with a blond. The latter is called One Love Condoms and has three different scents.

Keychain looks like roach killer home

Gokiburi Hoi Hoi is Japan's most popular roach killer. It's a cute little red-roofed house made of cardboard and lures roachies inside with tantalizing odors. I think it's like catnip for cockroaches. Once inside, though, the roaches can never get out because the floor of the house is super sticky and they just die there, with their feet stuck on the ground forever. It's hugely popular in part because it uses no airborne chemicals.

Anyway, I found this funny keychain that looks just like a Gokiburi Hoi Hoi. So random.

Product page

Flowers transform drink bottles into watering cans

These pretty plastic flowers are actually attachments that snap onto the top of a pet bottle to turn it into a watering can. Smart. I found them at the Tokyo Int'l Gift Show earlier this year.

Toy sushi maker for creative sushi parties

Planning a sushi party? This awesome little boy from Bandai makes sushi rolls shaped like hearts, teddy bears, flowers, and rabbits.

Product page (Japanese, via Impress Watch)

Tetris-tiled bathrooms

If I ever make enough money to buy my own house and redecorate my own bathroom, I will get Tetris-tiled walls next to my bathtub. Can you imagine how fun that would be? Tetris Tiles were created by a London company that believed tiled walls should be more interesting than just stupid little cubes. I couldn't agree more. 

Product page (Thanks, Adora!)

Related story:
I was programmed by Tetris to be a better person