Tokyomango

Yo! Tokyomango's moving, update your links.

2007-03-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

Tokyomango is graduating from Blogspot. Please update your RSS Feeds and Bookmarks with this new URL:

WWW.TOKYOMANGO.COM

More Japanese awesomeness awaits...don't miss it...

The small print: 1. tokyomango.blogspot.com will keep all its content, so if you've linked here before that will not be affected. 2. I'm working on putting the images back into the archived posts on the new site. Please refer back to tokyomango.blogspot.com for full illustrated posts from September and October.

Freak-out Kitty Teaches Kids Piano

2006-12-05T17:55:00.000-08:00

Does your kid refuse to go to his piano lessons? Maybe you should get the little brat a Doki Doki Nyago. This new learning tool from toymaker MegaHouse is literally called the "Oh-my-god-I'm-so-nervous-Kitty!" and uses feline scare tactics to make your kid excel. Like many other piano toys made for learning, the goal is to press down on the keys as they light up in sequence to form a tune--if you screw up, the lesson continues without much consequence. Not Doki Doki Nyago! Make one mistake, and the robotic cat will leap off its pedestal and hiss and scratch at you.

Japanese Entertainers Against YouTube

2006-12-05T13:43:00.000-08:00

Have you been searching for those funny Japanese YouTube videos people were talking about, only to find that they're "no longer available"? On Monday, YouTube co-founders Steve Chen and Chad Hurley got an express mail letter from a Japanese entertainment group. The letter made a simple request: create a system on YouTube that would prevent users from uploading copyrighted videos. The letter follows the removal of 30,000 Japanese videos in November after the group complained of copyright infringement and was signed by 23 TV major stations and entertainment groups. We'll see how Googly YouTube tackles this problem, but in the meantime, if you want to watch Japanese people flying off toilets and eating until they gain 5kg in an hour, you'll have to go to a video rental shop.

Juice Blender with Pulp or No Pulp Option Filters

2006-12-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

My parents make fresh fruit juice every morning to go with breakfast. Keeps them healthy. This new blender from National lets you pick whether you want Lots of Pulp or No Pulp in your homemade OJ. All you do is replace one preset filter with another to switch between the two modes. Comes out February 07. Product page (Japanese)

The post-it pad that looks like an Onion.

2006-12-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

The Kokuyo Design award winners were announced a week ago, and this awesome post-it pad won the grand prix. The theme was "leaves." Each layer looks slightly different from the one before it, and the translucency and texture make it really feel like you are peeling off thinly cut layers of the onion.

Brad Pitt's Softbank Commercial

2006-12-04T16:13:00.000-08:00

First it was Cameron Diaz causing Japanese boys to go gaga over Softbank's new phones and calling plans. Now it's Brad Pitt, campaigning to get screechy-voiced school girls to switch carriers. Cameron Diaz, along with the new "call-for-free" concept that her commercials promoted, caused Softbank's system to crash overnight when phone numbers became portable in late October. Maybe Brad Pitt will cause its handsets to spontaneously combust.

FujiFilm disposable camera takes perfect pictures in the dark.

2006-12-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

A popular new disposable camera from Fujifilm's Utsurundesu series takes perfect pictures on a dark night or in a badly lit room. The cameras are called "Night and Day Super" and "Room and Day Super," respectively. Each uses a special lens filter, and with the flick of a switch can change shutter speeds to adjust to substandard lighting as though it was equipped with a fancy lens. You can see how much better the night and day super photos come out compared to the regular disposable with flash pictured at bottom. Room and day just went on sale a couple of weeks ago, so if you're going to a wedding or a strip club on your next trip to Tokyo, I would recommend picking one up so you can get good pics of the bride, or the boobies.

Cyber Cycle Hunters.

2006-12-03T18:46:00.000-08:00

Every year, hundreds of thousands of motorcycles are stolen from the streets of Japan and smuggled out to Taiwan and Thailand for black market resale. But thanks to a new Web site set up by comedian Supataro Kondo, Japanese bikers can rely on more than just their U-locks for the safety of their beloved Harley. Currently, over 4,000 lost bikes are listed on the site, and 25 have been found abroad thanks to the tips and pics posted on the site. Full story here.

Blue robotic panda cell phone strap

2006-12-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

Growing up in Tokyo, the most exciting thing about going to a department store was the immaculate rooftop playground. The rooftop playground was a miniature amusement park with a video game arcade, a little train that went around the roof, go-karts, and robotic pandas that you could ride around a little enclave. Kids love going to Takashimaya on a Saturday afternoon to buy new clothes for mom and new golf clubs for dad, because that means they get to play Galaga and Tetris and ride robotic blue pandas all day. (I don't know why Macy's and Bloomingdale's haven't adopted the same model. It's ingenious.) Sadly, the days of the department store playground are long over. But for those who are nostalgic, there's the cell phone strap mini version of that exact same robotic panda that you so joyfully mounted as a child. Remote-controlled via the little "Let's Go Panda" wheel, Panda can speed forwards, backwards, or come to a screeching halt. And even if you didn't grow up in Japan with fond memories of panda-mounting, this is still an awesome little toy for your RC strap collection, along with the dinosaurs and the race cars. Get yours here.

New mobile fire alert system for hotels.

2006-12-03T16:54:00.000-08:00

Fire safety is one of Japan's greatest national obsessions. The phrase "hi no youjin" (火の用心, meaning beware of fire) has been preached for decades, maybe even centuries, and the national Fire and Disaster Management Agency is always in the midst of some kind of campaign to prevent house fires, which are pretty common in the dry season. The Agency's newest initiative has been to offer hotels and inns with a free downloadable software that would send e-mails to guests' cell phones in case of a fire. The program will automatically keep a list of all current guests and sends an auto-alert when the fire starts. This way, we can avoid tragedies like the Hotel New Japan fire of 1982 that killed over 30 people. At left: regional fire warning signs that are as cute as a button. Story here.

Capitol Tokyu Hotel closes.

2006-12-02T09:42:00.000-08:00

My favorite Chinese restaurant in Japan was called Star Hill. It was in the Capitol Tokyu Hotel, and my grandma used to take us there religiously so we could get our fix of sharks fin soup and Peking duck. Now, my grandma's passed away, and the hotel closed its doors on Thursday to make way a yet-to-be-announced building project. The hotel was originally opened by the Hilton clan in the early 1960s. Rockstar singers like MJ, Pavarotti, and Eric Clapton have stayed there, and our last two lovely prime ministers--Koizumi and Abe--used to get their haircuts at its salon. Bye, bye, piece of my childhood. Oh well. It's not as bad as the time they bulldozed the neighborhood I grew up in to build Roppongi Hills. Full story here.

Lisa's Japanese below-the-belt prank tutorial.

2006-12-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

A critical element of interpersonal relationships in Japan is the below-the-belt PRANK. (No, not pantsing. That's way too simple and benign.) Today, let me introduce you to two of the most popular variations, one of which is displayed in the Doritos bag on your right. 1. The Kancho. Nobody survives elementary school in Japan (even if you're white) without receiving a few kanchos on the way. To kancho, simply put both hands together as if in prayer, and fold over all fingers except your two index fingers. Keep the index fingers straight and solid, for these are your kancho weapons. Next, find a target. Any butthole will do, but I suggest going for those that are clothed yet easy to find. Approach the butthole slowly. Then, when the owner has his head turned, swiftly jab your adjoined index fingers up the butthole and say "kancho!" (We did this regularly to people going up the train station steps on the way home from school.) 2. The Denki Amma. A commonly used wrestling move among Japanese schoolboys, the denki amma gives your opponent an ambiguous blend of pleasure and pain. One boy grabs the legs of the other, lifts his right foot, strategically places it on the other dude's shaft, and then launches a series of rapid foot taps. Slightly painful, enormously submissive, and awkwardly erotic, the denki amma symbolizes the kind of male bonding that women and foreigners most likely will never fully understand. (excerpted from my ToM post)

Refreshing Japanese beer cell phone strap.

2006-12-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

Japanese beer goes with sushi, octopus balls, pizza, dried squid, mayonnaise, chocolate, hot girls in bikinis, and a relaxing hot spring bath. Much more versatile than a Coors Light, which only goes with drunk frat boys and hot girls in bikinis. Now they've made mock-ups of your favorite brew into cell phone straps. Instead of Asahi, Sapporo, and Kirin, you get to choose from Asari (that means "clam"), Sappari ("refreshing!"), and Kibin (I don't know what the fuck this means). Get yours here.

Schwarzenegger's Hilarious Energy Drink Video.

2006-12-01T01:45:00.000-08:00

Back in the 90's, during the lull between filming The Terminator and running for Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger did a series of commercials for a popular Japanese energy drink called Arinamin V. Here's an explanation (in case the clip alone's not entertaining enough for ya): Schwarzenegger wins a bunch of money at a strictly business mahjongg game that he and his business partners are hosting. (He was supposed to let the client win.) His partner, the guy on the right, freaks out, saying "No no no, you're not supposed to win!" As expected, the defeated (and humiliated) client says: "Mr. Inoue, I'm sorry, but we'll have to retract from the previous agreement." Arnold hides behind the wall, and emerges saying "Daijou-V!" And the chorus starts chanting the same thing. (Daijobu means "it's all good" in Japanese.) All of a sudden, everything is all good. The businessmen shred the papers, forget the formalities, and have a blast. Arnold has saved the day without using superpowers or politics.

Foreign minister shows off non-existent nuclear power.

2006-11-30T09:39:00.000-08:00

Like most alpha males, Taro Aso feels the need to show off his power--especially after his sweeping defeat in the prime ministerial elections in September. So now the foreign minister is strutting around in parliamentary committee meetings, telling people that Japan has the capability to produce nuclear weapons. "But we are not saying we have plans to possess (them)," he adds. It's kind of like when boys on the playground say, "I can kick your ass in hopscotch...but I won't because I'm nice!" or when the editors at work say, "I can kick your ass in Fight Night....but I have better things to do, like copyfit a feature." Boys will always be boys. Full story here.

Vagina book is the new Akiba bestseller.

2006-11-30T09:28:00.000-08:00

You just never know what Akiba geeks will get obsessed with next. First it's robots. Then it's Gundam. Then it's PDAs. Now it's medical books about female genitalia. That's right, the newest craze is over a book called "A Guide to Pain and the Female Reproductive System," which, on the streets, is simply referred to as "the vagina book." Why a bunch of nerdy guys who have probably never touched a woman--never mind experienced reproductive pain--would be placing orders at geeky Akiba bookstores for the already-sold-out, 12-page, 1,900 yen medical guide book is totally beyond me. "We started selling it in September and news spread over the web, which sent sales skyrocketing. Salarymen in their 20s and 30s are buying most of the copies. But I still have absolutely no idea why it's selling so well," says a bookstore keeper. One brave 30-something year old salarman shared his thoughts with us. He says:

I thought I'd buy it to give me some help seducing any women I could bring back to my home.

IF you ever bring a woman home, that is. Good luck to you Mr. Salaryman. Full story here.

Abe meets Bono and tries on his shades.

2006-11-30T09:09:00.000-08:00

Nah...they look better on Bono. But at least the attempt impressed the singer, who said:

George Bush never put them on. The last Pope, John Paul, he put them on, and Prime Minister Abe. Very cool.

Bono and Japan's new prime minister met to discuss the alleviation of poverty this week in Tokyo while U2 was on tour there. Story here.

Little Black Sambo cell phone strap

2006-11-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

The Story of Little Black Sambo was every Japanese kid's favorite bedtime story until it was removed from the shelves in the late 80s, presumably because it was racist. The book was written by a Scotswoman living in colonial India in 1899 and illustrated by an Austrian years later. Little Black Sambo was about a little African boy who chased a tiger around a tree until the tiger was running so fast he melted into butter. Then the boy used the butter to put on his favorite food--pancakes! I don't remember the book word for word, so I can't tell you whether I believe the book was really racist or not. The main character is a black African boy with bright red puckered lips. But for Japanese kids to love the book, I don't think it really mattered what color the kid's skin was. On the other hand, while there aren't that many black kids living in Japan, I'm sure the few who did were frequently taunted for resembling the famous character and for turning tigers into butter. You can now buy replicas of this controversial children's book character as a cell phone strap here.

Girl with very hairy fake eyelashes.

2006-11-29T18:25:00.000-08:00

This is not a cut from an audition tape for The Ring. Blogger Geisha Asobi was just fucking around after a haircut, and decided to make several strands into fake eyelashes. They fall off a few seconds later, but homegirl didn't grow 5 years worth of hair only to have it cut off and discarded like a heap of trash. Here are some more pics of her having fun with it. [via Boing Boing]

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire host wins Guinness Record

2006-11-29T00:02:00.000-08:00

Mino Monta spends an average of 21 hours and 42 minutes on live television every week. That's more than anyone else in the entire world, so the man was awarded by the Guinness Book people in Tokyo yesterday. Mino Monta hosts the Japanese version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." The show is crafted to be almost exactly like its American counterpart--the host even looks kinda like Regis. Anyway, homeboy's ecstatic to have won the award. "I'm touched. I want to die talking," he told the COO of Guinness. I guess he'll be pop quizzing the nurses at his deathbed--or he'll jump off a cliff asking himself if that's his final answer. Full story here.

Device allows paralyzed people to "talk" with their brains.

2006-11-28T17:12:00.000-08:00

A new device from Hitachi allows severely paralyzed people to "talk" via measurements of changes in their cerebral blood flow. The device, called "Kokoro Gatari" (Mind Talk), aims to help those with Lou Gehrig's disease communicate, and will be presented at a symposium on Sunday. Cerebral blood flow increases when people intentionally think about something. The doctor who invented this device instructs patients to do math calculations in their head when they want to say "yes" and to relax their thoughts when they want to say "no." Full story here.

Announcing the Kami-Robo contest winner!

2006-11-28T13:33:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you who entered my Win a Kami-Robo Crafting Kit contest! While I'm sure each and every one of your imagined paper robot fighters would kick ass in a hot-and-heavy paperfight, my judging team and I have decided to award Unagi Fury for his a hot-headed nature, slippery tendencies, a phallic shape, and a big mouth. Hey Unagi, I wish I could see you and your tag team partner Pumice in action. Must be hot and heavy like your temper. Congratulations, you've got a paper robot crafting kit coming your way.

Top 5 Coolest Japanese Products 2006

2006-11-28T13:09:00.000-08:00

Nikkei Trendy's December issue includes its annual countdown of products that made it big in Japan. The editors of this comprehensive tech/trend-tracking magazine made their picks from various genres of consumer products--electronics, books, food, Web sites, McDonalds seasonal menu items--that went on sale between October 2005 and September 2006. Here are the Top 5: 1. Nintendo DS Lite and Brain Games Brain Age and other "brain training games" opened up the world of handheld game consoles to a whole new demographic--old people trying to prevent the early onset of boke, or the slowing of cerebral functions. 2. Minicars, like the Honda Zest With new parking rules and the ever-increasing number of new car buyers, the compact, lightweight, inexpensive minicars are dominating the auto market in Japan. This year, 1 in 3 new cars purchases were minicars. 3. Shiseido's Tsubaki hair care series A massive 50-billion yen ad campaign featuring 12 super-hot Japanese celebrities took Shiseido's new shampoo and conditioner to unprecedented heights. With the tag line "Japanese women are beautiful," Tsubaki quickly brought Shiseido to the #1 spot on the shampoo market after 2 years of not being able to top fourth. 4. Social networking sites, like Mixi It was a big year for social networking sites in Japan. Mixi reached close to 6 million users, and international favorites like MySpace and Cyworld also launched their Japan sites. For more on my take on the SNS trend, read <this. 5. Sharp's W-Zero3 This slider-type PDA's has a touchscreen LCD and runs Windows Mobile, and it has continued to capture the hearts of many Japanese businessmen since its release in December 2005.

Mother mutilates baby, gets 5 years in prison

2006-11-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

A mother who cut off part of her 4-month-old's genitals two years ago was sentenced to five years in prison today. Sick bitch! 27-year old Shizue Tamura slashed her baby boy's wee wee off with a razor. Her defense? She wanted revenge on Baby Daddy, who beat her and didn't pay child support. The presiding judge said:

It is an outrageous, grotesque crime targeting an innocent infant. The sorrow and pain the child may suffer when he grows up and comes to know what happened is beyond imagination.

I just hope they take the kid away and hide him somewhere far, far away from Mama and her Razor. Full story here.

Kewpie dressed like Bruce Lee.

2006-11-27T07:30:00.000-08:00

It's Kewpie dressed like Bruce Lee! Bruce Lee's starring in a new movie in 2008. Director Rob Cohen, who made Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is planning a digital resurrection of the kung fu superstar. FYI: For those of you who voted Jackie Chan into the Famous Japanese People List...Bruce Lee is also Chinese...NOT Japanese. I know some of you think we all look the same. As a half-breed between the two races, I have to disagree. Kewpie is a Japanese mayonnaise mascot dressed like a Chinese actor. Get this cell phone strap for 500 yen here.