Japanese inventions are known all over the world for their ingenuity, inventiveness, and downright insanity. Just look at Dr. Nakamats (if you’re into the awesome insanity part). Chindogu inventions, however, personify most of the strange aspects of Japanese inventiveness and less so their aspects of practicality. For those of you familiar with Rube Goldbergism, Chindogu [...]
Known colloquially as “kafunsho” (花粉症), allergic rhinitis is one of the most common allergic diseases in Japan. Known to us westerners as hay fever, this epidemic is responsible for sneezes, runny noses, plugged ears, and itchy eyes all over Japan. And with mid-February fast approaching, the time for hay fever hell is nigh. So what’s [...]
Japanese robots have come a long way since the 17th century and I’m sure some of you remember the Geminoid robot, created by Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro, who was featured in our 12 Secretly Evil Japanese Robots Programmed To Haunt Your Nightmares post. Well, Dr. Ishiguro is at it again and this time he and his [...]
Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I have a thing for watches. I have frittered away many hours on watch forums, Amazon, YouTube, and eBay looking at watches, deciding what watch brands are worth the money and which ones are pure crap. As I am not yet a rich man I cannot at [...]
![Fish Action Gets Your Body Movin’ [Saturday Timewaster]](http://www.tofugu.com/wp-content/themes/whitelight/functions/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2012/01/header.jpg&w=960&h=200&zc=1&q=90)
Sakanaction (サカナクション) is a Japanese rock band hailing from Sapporo, Japan. Formed in 2005, their music is a mix of alt rock, electro pop, and sometimes – a little bit of everything. I actually just discovered these guys recently, and instantly fell in love. Their music is pretty unique and some of their music videos [...]
No, no – we’re not talking about aliens this time (sorry to let you down). The kind of UFO I’m referring to here is the classic Japanese arcade game: The Almighty UFO Catcher (or claw crane game for all you western-thinking peoples). But why is this particular UFO catcher such a big deal? Well for [...]
![Think You’re Good at Mario? Think Again. [Saturday Timewaster]](http://www.tofugu.com/wp-content/themes/whitelight/functions/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2012/01/CatMario-Banner.jpg&w=960&h=200&zc=1&q=90)
Syobon Action しょぼんのアクション (also known as Cat Mario, dongs.exe, and Neko Mario) is a free Japanese flash game notorious for its punishing and unfair gameplay. While it may resemble the NES game we all know and love, classic Mario this is not. Who would make such an awful awful thing!? Syobon Action hates you. You’ll [...]
For the previous anime season (Fall 2011) I put out a post entitled Fall 2011 Anime Season Roundup. Since that went over so well with you guys we’ve decided to make it a regular thing. There are a lot of new shows this season and I’ve checked out the majority of them so you guys [...]
![What Do Japanese Telephones Have to Do With Disco? [Saturday Timewaster]](http://www.tofugu.com/wp-content/themes/whitelight/functions/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2012/01/telephone-header.jpg&w=960&h=200&zc=1&q=90)
Well, The Telephones are a band, and many of their song titles have something to do with disco, so there’s the answer to your question. But don’t leave yet! There’s so much more entertainment ahead, I promise! Formed in 2005, the members of The Telephones include: Akira Ishige (石毛輝) on vocals, guitar, and keyboard, Ryohei [...]
A while back I wrote a post detailing the Top 10 Strange Japanese Films You Need to Watch and one movie that came up in the comments a lot was Big Man Japan. Unfortunately at the time of writing that post I had not seen the film even though I was very interested in it [...]
