Japan

The 15 Most Powerful People in Sailor Suits

Ah, the sailor suit. While the navies that originated it have toned them down considerably, it’s still the preferred uniform for many a hardcore asskicker. Here are 15 folks who prove that just because you’re wearing a gigantic collar, a neckerchief and/or a skirt, it doesn’t mean you can’t be a badass. 1) Izumi Hoshi,…

Japan Turned the One Surviving Tsunami Tree Into a Gigantic Sculpture

Two years ago today, Japan was ravaged by a horrible tsunami. And now, right on the anniversary of the disaster, there’s a new memorial to the people and things who lived through it: the “miracle tree” that survived the surge has now been converted in a sculpture. When the surge hit the coast in Rikuzentakata,…

A Crazy Garden Bathroom Classes Up Your Drunken Relief

This bucolic Japanese bathroom is a temporary installation at Tokyo’s House Vision Expo. There should be no question as to whether you’d pee in it. As long as you don’t defile the bushes, that would be the best bathroom experience of your life. Designed by landscape artist Makoto Azuma and Naruse-Inokuma Architects, the room has…

The Ultimate Team-Up: DBZ‘s Goku and KFC’s Col. Sanders

Batman and Superman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto. Starsky and Hutch. Now we must add a new partnership to the greatest team-ups of all time — Dragonball Z’s Goku and Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Colonel Sanders. The two are currently working together in Japan, as KFC promotes the first new DBZ movie in 17 years, Battle…

This Emergency Bear Will Provide More Than Comfort in a Natural Disaster

The second anniversary of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami is quickly approaching, and the country—public and private sectors alike—is doing everything it can to be prepared for the next disaster. Simply being prepared for the worst is vitally important, and, while stuffed animals are often handed out as a way to comfort children, this particular…

You Can Make Gummy Bear Versions of Yourself

Somewhere in between the honor of getting a bronze statue of yourself and the shame of re-creating your sexual organs in plastic is this awesome gummy bear yourself service. You can basically create a gummy replica of yourself to eat. It looks absolutely delicious. FabCafe in Japan is offering the service for approximately $65 (6,000…

Meet the Justice League of Edo Japan

Artist Chet Phillips places Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman in a distant era in this Japanese woodblock-inspired illustration. But these three haven’t met an anachronism they didn’t like—especially when it comes to their probable foe, a certain radioactive monster stomping through the background. This print, titled “Sanctuary,” is available at Phillips’ Etsy store, where he…

Japanese finance minster wants old people to “hurry up and die”

Japan’s new right-wing government hasn’t wasted time in alienating tens of millions of its voters. According to finance minister Taro Aso, elderly people should “hurry up and die” so that pressure can be relieved on the state to pay for their skyrocketing medical bills. Indeed, nearly a quarter of Japan’s population is over 60, so…

This Is How Hiroshima Looked From the Ground

This picture, found in a Japanese Elementary School, depicts the mushroom cloud which formed when the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It was taken just minutes after the bomb fell, from the location where modern-day Kaita is situated, six miles east of Hiroshima’s center. On the back of the photo (click above to…

6,000 Soundproof Bricks Create a Rooftop Zen Garden in Downtown Hiroshima

With its limited land mass, real estate in Japan is a premium commodity. As such, there isn’t a lot of extra urban space for private gardens—unless you build it on your roof, that is. Dubbed the Optical Glass House, this 330 square-meter building was designed by famed Japanese architect, Hiroshi Nakamura, and resides on a…

How to Put a Tiny Tree in a Fish Tank and Call It Art

The Japanese art of Bonsai propagation has endured for more than a thousand years, though never quite like this. Botanical artist Makoto Azuma has combined modern technology with an ancient practice to create this impressive submerged specimen. Azuma first adorned a dead Juniper branch with live java moss to simulate leaves, then sunk the “tree”…

Oh God, Here Come the Private Security Drones

It was inevitable. Drones are in ever-wider use by the military, and some day they might deliver you food, but it looks like they’ll also be the private, flying-camera spies for private companies too. That’s what Japanese security company Secom is banking on with its new private security quadrotor. https://gizmodo.com/the-tacocopters-are-coming-for-real-5939895 Billed as the first security…

It’s the end of an era: Sony’s stopping shipping the PS2, the wolrd’s best selling console, in Japan. Sainara! [Famistu]

All Presents Should Turn Into Robot Santas

In the U.S., we get boring elevator music piano players in mall atriums. In Japan, they get an awesome robotic Santa. Someone is getting the short end of the stick here, and her name is America. Too bad your own presents won’t come alive as sinister Santas tomorrow morning. Or will they?

Pulp Scifi Under Japanese Totalitarianism

This is the third part of a four-part series on the pulps under totalitarianism. Read more: Pulp Scifi Under German Totalitarianism | Pulp Scifi Under Russian and Soviet Totalitarianism Japan, like Germany and Russia, has a long tradition of science fiction literature. And as in Germany and Russia, pulp science fiction flourished under Japan’s totalitarian…

Catch Gatchamania with the first live-action Gatchaman movie footage!

Everybody has their first exposure to anime, and for many kids in the ’70s, it was Battle of the Planets, an awkwardly edited cartoon was based on the super-popular anime Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, about a group of five teens who dress like birds to thwart alien terrorists. The first footage of Japan’s live-action Gatchman…

Japan is finally building the ultimate anime theme park

What do Dragonball Z’s Goku, One Piece’s Monkey D, Luffy and Naruto from Naruto have in common? They’re all some of the most popular anime characters in the world, they all star in the Shonen Jump weekly manga anthology, and they’re going get their own theme park in Japan later this summer. Namco Bandai announced…

A Tiny Tulip Shaped Humidifier Is the Cutest Humidifier

This is the most adorable little humidifier I’ve ever seen. The Tulip Stick Ultrasonic Humidifier is shaped like a sweet flower stalk and plugs right into your USB port. Who knew a humidifier could be this small and pleasant? This $92 product comes in four different colors—pink, yellow, green, and ivory, and it weighs just…

Japan’s Eco Cycle Stows Bikes in a Quake-Proof Underground Storage Cylinder

Roughly 90 percent of Tokyo’s 13.1 million residents commute to work each day by rail, with a third of those riding their bikes on the “last mile” to and from the train station. The result: as many as 3.5 million bikes left illegally parked on city streets every day, crowding already packed sidewalks and exposing…

The World’s Fastest Train Will Float on a Cushion of Electromagnetism

The fastest train in America, the Amtrak Acela line running from Boston and DC tops out at 110MPH. Sure, that’s way faster than taking a Greyhound, but pathetically pokey compared to the 311MPH bullet of the Mag-Lev train currently being developed by Japan’s JR Tokai. Dubbed the Series L0, this prototype commuter train will reportedly…