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I want more cans!

The canned food fad in Japan is unstoppable. The most original and interesting products are found in Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood. Why is that?

A hungry Japanese man
A hungry Japanese man
  That’s just the way it is. If you want to find the most sophisticated canned food in Japan – and in the world- you’ll have to visit Akihabara, a Mecca for Otakus. In Japan there are vending machines everywhere, but in this neighborhood you’ll find something special: the freakiest, most interesting and surprising canned goods.

In addition to those with manga comics on their labels, you can buy cans with pictures of girls from theMaid Café’s, cans of noodles with a picture of Hello Kitty dressed as a waitress, ¨Oden¨ packages with a portrait of Bill Gates that were launched to celebrate when Windows Vista came out.

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 on 20 Nov 2008 by Ayumi Nakai in Japanese Culture

Giant Kuuki-hou

Air Canon Built Out of 10-Meter Tall Cardboard Box in Japan

The “he” button
The “he” button
  A program called “Trivia no izumi” (“Hey! Spring of Trivia” in English) used to air on Japanese TV up until a few years ago. The show would present a series of useless, miscellaneous, and unnecessary factsfrom around the world. Unnecessary and absurd… maybe. But they were also fun, anecdotal facts you’d want to tell all your friends about.

Viewers took part in the show by sending in topics, while the program investigated whether they were true or not.

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 on 19 Nov 2008 by Ayumi Nakai in Japanese videos

Icoon, Communicates through Images

Icoon is a passport-sized illustrated dictionary that contains photos and drawings to help travelers communicate without any problems.

How do you say coconut in Russian? Just point.
How do you say coconut in Russian? Just point.
  This 78 page pink book is the invention that travelers who don’t speak languages have been awaiting for years. It’s a dictionary that uses the most universal of languages: images. Its pages are filled with drawings, illustrations and photographs so that travelers can point to them. This way, they won’t go crazy trying to ask for a room with a shower in India, an electrical converter in Japan or a fruit salad in Madagascar.

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 on 17 Nov 2008 by Marta Reig in Unusual gifts

Black Drawings

Don’t limit children’s imagination.


  This video is a television advertisement made by the Japan Advertising Council (AC), a non-profit organization founded by various private companies in Japan.

This foundation is dedicated to creating ads with a message that make people think and address issues such as the environment, drugs, problems within the family, etc.

In this ad a teacher tells students to draw anything that comes to mind.

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 on 14 Nov 2008 by Ayumi Nakai in Japanese videos

Alarm Clocks that’ll Get You Out of Bed

With these alarm clocks, you’ll wake up with a smile. They’re perfect for people who hate getting up early.

USB Blender alarm clock
USB Blender alarm clock
  Gun O’Clock, shoot it to shut it off
You’ll look forward to having it go off every morning so you can shoot at it from your bed and stop its infernal noise. When the alarm goes off, a tiny shooting target unfolds that you’ll have to hit from your bed with a pistol so the alarm will stop ringing. Repeat this several times, until you finally decide to get up and turn it off.

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 on 14 Nov 2008 by Marta Reig in Unusual gifts

I Can’t Find the Bananas Anywhere!

In Japanese supermarkets, products that are part of health food fads are quickly sold out. This year it’s the banana.

Cover of the famous book
Cover of the famous book
  Why aren’t there any bananas at the supermarket?

Something interesting happened at Japanese supermarkets and food shops towards the end of September 2008: bananas started selling out rapidly. Orders would arrive and hours later not a single banana would be left on the shelves. Bananas had suddenly become trendy all over the country. Why did this happen?

There’s an explanation, and it requires traveling back to October 2006, when Mr.

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 on 12 Nov 2008 by Ayumi Nakai in Japanese Culture

Domokun, The Little Japanese Monster that Eats Cats

This square shaped, mean-looking meatball is a friendly monster that’s become famous thanks to the Internet

He’s so cute
He’s so cute
  Where have I seen this doll? If you spend whole days sitting in front of the computer, you may be asking yourself this question, because this chicken McNugget shaped monster has become famous the world over thanks to the Internet. Many people have used its image to attract traffic and comments to their blogs: “I’ll eat a kitten for each comment you make” or “If you read without commenting, I’ll eat a kitten”.

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 on 11 Nov 2008 by Marta Reig in Japanese Culture

The eternal lack of a good night’s sleep

It’s up to you to make sure you get a few extra minutes of sleep

Don’t fall asleep!
Don’t fall asleep!
  Workdays in the 21st Century would no doubt have made a 19th Century English miner want to strike.

This work-centered lifestyle has reached its utmost expression in Japan, where, aside from inventing gadgets to get a few minute’s of sleep on every imaginable occasion, they’ve also coined the phrase death by overwork: karōshi. We don’t just work too many hours, we also refuse to give up staying out late on weekdays, and the result is that we end up sleeping fewer and fewer hours and sleep deprivation haunts us like our worst nightmare.

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 on 10 Nov 2008 by Natalia Latina in Gadgets, inventions and prototypes

Optimization is the key

Becoming a multitasker is easy

Office workers fighting flab
Office workers fighting flab
  Multitaskers are those fortunate beings that have learned that: carrying out two or three different tasks simultaneously affords them that marvelous luxury called free time. For those of us who know that talking on the phone with that supplier who never sends an invoice is the perfect moment to give yourself a pedicure, or for athletes who ride their bikes to the office, there are some inventions that will make you cry in gratitude.

If when you open Elle you’re horrified to find a legion of perfect bodies, while you yourself are condemned to grow fat sitting 12 hours a day in that damned swivel chair; your prayers have just been answered.

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 on 10 Nov 2008 by Natalia Latina in Gadgets, inventions and prototypes

People who don’t live alone

Stop your shared flat from becoming a snake pit

Nordic design will stop you from bickering
Nordic design will stop you from bickering
  Working like a beast is no guarantee that you’ll have a good salary. “Entry-level” wages are the scourge of our days, and a legion of people in their thirties have no choice but to live in shared flats long after their bachelor ways have been set in stone. Those who share housing are well aware of the fact that these spaces don’t exactly stand out for being harmonious communities.

The Flatshare refrigerator, with four independent and stackable modules, is the perfect solution to stop the common areas in a shared flat from becoming a battleground.

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 on 10 Nov 2008 by Natalia Latina in Gadgets, inventions and prototypes
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Latest comments
Me gusta pero no sé el precio

- Lola,
16 May 2017
saddening story of doraemon..

- prativa,
24 Jan 2017
Genial

- Luis,
21 Jan 2017
Link de vaho: www.vaho.es

- Jose Luis,
11 Jan 2017
quiero una pulsera

- madeline,
6 Dec 2016
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