As Halloween draws near, it’s time to start thinking about macabre ways to prank your friends. The ol’ “fake knife with a notch” is a classic way to make it look like you’ve almost sliced off a finger, but in Japan, one such novelty prop kit was reportedly packaged with real, razor-sharp hobby knives instead of the fake ones.
Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reports that Daiso, the Japanese equivalent of one of our dollar stores, has been selling prank “Dokkiri Cutters” featuring a finger-sized notch and a retractable blade that’s actually made from metal, but left dull for added safety. It’s useless for cutting paper, but a great way to terrify a five-year-old who’s never seen this gag before.
It seems, however, that whatever factory is responsible for making the prank versions of these knives also makes the real thing, and somewhere along the way the fake ones were reportedly “mixed with ordinary cutters.” It wasn’t a one-time mistake, either: responding to complaints, one Daiso store discovered several other prank packages containing real hobby knives, according to Asahi Shimbun.
Thankfully, it seems no one has tried to prank their friends using the real knives yet, as no injuries have been reported. Since the discovery, Daiso has reportedly suspended sales of the remaining Dokkiri Cutters in thousands of stores across Japan and is preparing a voluntary recall.
[Asahi Shimbun via SoraNews24]