TOKYOMANGO

A plastic banana case for your real banana

You know, in case you're carrying a banana in your bag and you don't want it to get smashed. Found at Daiso, the new $1.50 Japanese superstore in SF Japantown, by Tomo.

Gokiburi hoi hoi, a wonderful home for annoying cockroaches

I was on a work call with an editor in the UK today and he said one of two words he knew in Japanese was ゴキブリホイホイ　(gokirubi hoi hoi). In case you don't know what this very important word means, it's actually the name of a popular cockroach-catching contraption that is shaped like a little house. The house has mysterious substances in it that lures cockroaches in through its doors; but once they enter, they get stuck on the sticky floor and can never get out and eventually die. We used to have one in our old house but I don't remember seeing any immobilized cockroaches living in it.

You may not need a real gokiburi hoi hoi if you don't have a roach problem, but you can get this lovely little keychain that looks like one -- it even comes with a resident cockroach! -- for just 600 yen here.

Researchers win Ig Nobel Prize for wasabi-scented smoke alarm

This team of Japanese researchers proudly accepted the Ig Nobel Prize for Improbable Research yesterday, for its invention of a wasabi-scented smoke alarm that could alert deaf people who can't hear audible warnings of fire emergencies. The Wasabi Smoke Alarm emits a dense wasabi oil mist when triggered.

From InventorSpot:

Japan is a true powerhouse when it comes to winning Ig Nobel Prizes, as Japanese recipients have now won awards for the fifth straight year. Previous Ig Nobel Prize winners from Japan have been recognized for using slime molds to design rail networks (2010), proving panda poop can dissolve kitchen refuse (2009), teaching amoebas how to navigate mazes (2008), and for developing a method of extracting vanillin (vanilla fragrance and flavoring) from cow dung (2007).

And, of course, let's not forget Dr. NakaMats!

(Thanks, Jason!)

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Spatula that looks like a smiling fish

How cute is this spatula that looks like a smiling fish?

via Spoon and Tamago

Memo pads that look like sushi

Look at these super cute memo pads (like Post-Its) that look like sushi. This one is salmon; there's also egg, tuna, and hamachi. The only problem is that once you use up the fish-colored part, you just have boring blank white note paper.

Link (Thanks, Joel!)