Beer, Guns Combined to Predictably Awesome Effect at Tokyo's Hollow Point Bar

Tucked away in a basement in Roppongi (easily the sleaziest neighborhood I went to in Tokyo, as it's the one that caters to foreigners) lies Hollow Point, a bar with a twist. Sure, you can get drinks and bar food here, but down at the end of the narrow space is a shooting gallery. You can rent any number of realistic-looking air guns (ranging from pistols with laser sights, like the one I'm using, to big semi-automatic and automatic rifles), buy a clip or three, and go to town on either the bottles set up or a zombie-headed target. Who knew that drinking and shooting guns would be such a fun combo? More »

Initial D Takes Arcade Driving Sims to the Next Level

At the Sega Joypolis, a 3-story arcade and amusement park at Tokyo Decks Beach (the same place as Muscle Park), they have a gigantic setup of the Initial D racing game. What makes this arcade driving setup different and much, much better than any other? The fact that you ride in real cars while you play. Yes, you get fully strapped into a Subaru Impreza WRX, Mazda RX-7 or the Tofu car from the series, which then move around realistically while you drive. It'll set you back 600 yen a ride (about $5.25), or it's free if you have an unlimited day pass, which I did, allowing me to ride it over and over again. [Sega Joypolis]

Giz Writer Shown Who's Boss at Muscle Park in Tokyo

Located on the 5th floor of Decks Tokyo Beach in Odaiba, Muscle Park is a really strange place. It's kind of like a theme park, but all of the things you can do are physical challenges. There's a push up contest, some pitching games, soccer ball kicking accuracy games, and things of that nature. The attraction that looked most interesting to me was this: a recreation of an endurance course from SASUKE, a Japanese "American Gladiators" style show. They didn't hold back: this thing is very hard. I clearly will never be an American Gladiator. And before you make fun of me, think about whether or not you could do this, then think about whether or not you'd post a video of you failing to do it on the Internet. Be kind.

Glass-Bottomed Car in the World's Highest Ferris Wheel Creates Fears of Heights

The Odaiba Ferris Wheel in Tokyo is the tallest in the world, bringing riders up to a height of 377 feet at its zenith. We went on it and, stupidly, decided to ride in one of the 4 glass-bottomed cars on it. It was basically the scariest thing ever. We were level with the surrounding skyscrapers at the top of it, and if we looked down at our feet we could see right down to the ground. Just ignore the terror in our voices and check out those sweet views of Tokyo.

Giz Tokyo Meetup Puts Too Many Drunk Geeks in One Place

Last night was the Gizmodo Tokyo meetup, and it was a smashing success. Beers were drank, chicken was consumed, and gadgets were passed around. The turnout was awesome, with over a dozen local geeks and masters of industry showing up to talk shop and talk things that were not so shop. It was a total blast. We even had a Rolly on hand, streaming music via Bluetooth from an iPod Touch, which stole the show. Maybe this is what Rolly is for. Now I get it! Sort of. Thanks so much to Steve Nagata for setting everything up, and thanks to everyone else for coming and providing such great company!

Video Hands On of the Sony Rolly in 'Action'

Here's a video of the Rolly demo at the Sony Building in Ginza. As you can see, it appears to have confused this nice man as much as it confuses me. Oh Sony, you're so crazy!

Hands On the USB Microscope at Akihabara's Thanko Shop

I got a tour of Akihabara by the wonderful people who work at Gizmodo Japan yesterday, and it was awesome. One of the first places we went was the Thanko store. Yes, the Thanko, makers of USB gadgets as dumb as they are impractical. Above, you can see me putting their USB microscope to the test in disgusting fashion, and below is a gallery of the many wonders on display in this tiny, cramped little shop. More »

The KDDI Design Center's Futuristic Concept Phones and Less Impressive Regular Phones

In Harajuku, near the bridge that all the socially awkward cosplay teenagers hang out on on Sundays, is the KDDI Design Center, a temple dedicated to Japanese phones. Inside they've got all of this year's KDDI phone models, a display on futuristic phone concepts, and every phone offered by the Japanese carrier on display for potential customers to get their greasy fingerprints all over. More »

Ginza's Apple Store and the Buttonless Elevator

The Apple store in Ginza, an upscale shopping neighborhood in Tokyo, is the first Apple store to have opened outside of the US. While most Apple stores are pretty similar, with their long, blonde-wood tables filled with toys for people to play around with, some of the flagship stores have little things that make them unique, like the cube on 5th avenue in NYC. The Ginza store's no different: it has a set of glass elevators with no buttons. More »

Air Guitar Gadgets Aren't as Cool as Real Guitars, Somehow

In Den Den Town in Osaka, Bashcraft and I found a table with a bunch of air guitar gadgets at the front of an electronics store. What are air guitar gadgets, you ask? They're stupid little devices that make noise when you pretend to play guitar, making you look like a total jackass. Or me look like a total jackass, specifically. Ah well. I was never cut out for the music biz.

Japanese Toilet Outsmarts Gizmodo Writer

So I arrived in Tokyo last night after a delightful 13-hour flight, and because jet lag is totally awesome, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning after only 6.5 hours of sleep despite having been awake for nearly 30 hours the day before. What better time to make a video for you nice folks about the fancy toilet in my hotel room? Later this morning I catch the train to Osaka to check out Den Den Town (Osaka's Akihabara), the Umeda Sky Building, and hopefully meet up with Ashcraft from Kotaku to trash talk about our upcoming Halo match in person. Stay tuned.