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Interactive ‘posters’ from Japan will react to being kissed: In yet another attempt to capture the extremely lucrative “‘forever alone’ Japanese bachelor” market, a research group is working on electronic posters that feature women who react when “kissed.” Aside from the obvious, sad, social implications of this, posters like these seem like they would be a bit of a public health risk. And besides kissing, I worry about what um, other things people might do to these posters. [via The Verge][/threecol_two] [threecol_one_last]
US Coast Guard Blasts Japanese Ghost Ship to Sink It: After floating unmanned and aimless towards Alaska for over a year, an abandoned Japanese fishing ship was sunk by the US Coast Guard earlier this week. I don’t know about you guys, but it seemed like a pretty one-sided battle to me. [via ABC News]
Tokyo chefs swell with anger over new blowfish laws: For years, only licensed chefs have been able to prepare and serve blowfish (or fugu) in Japanese restaurants. But a new law opening the door for chefs to serve fugu without a license has licensed chefs furious. Say fellas, let’s just split the difference and stop serving fugu altogether, okay? Guys? [via Reuters][/threecol_one_last]
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[threecol_one]97-year-old man held over sword attack: While this story of an old man attacking somebody with a sword is obviously tragic, it’s also a bit impressive. I hope I’m not as crazily vengeful as this guy when I’m old, but I definitely hope that I’ll have the kind of energy he does. [via News On Japan]
Tongue-controlled Kinect interface under development in Japan: As if kissing posters weren’t enough, another research group in Japan is developing the technology to use your tongue with the Xbox Kinect. Why you would want to control a video game with your tongue, I don’t know. Well, that’s not entirely true; I have a pretty good idea, but I really don’t want to think about it. [via The Verge]
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In Japan, Pizza Is Recast as a Meal for Special Occasions: Foreign foods sometimes get weird roles in Japan. KFC is associated with Christmas, and now Domino’s is trying to get in on some of the action, aiming to lure customers into buying pizza on Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Mother’s Day. But then again, Domino’s Japan has always been an ambitious company – its pizza is much more gourmet than its US equivalent, featuring toppings like foie gras and snow crab; and Domino’s Japan has even designed a Domino’s location for the moon. Suck it, DiGiorno. [via Reddit][/threecol_two_last][hr]
Every Sunday we gather the week’s weird Japanese news and present it to you in our Sunday News column. It might not be the hardest hitting news out there, but we hope that it still informs and entertains you. Enjoy!