Cutting Cucumber Quickly

I think I may hold the world record for fewest slices of cucumbers cut in twenty seconds. This guy challenges the previous world record holder. It looks like the video is on 4x speed when he cuts, or something.

272 Person Theremin Concert

I had to look up what a theremin is. Also known as an etherphone, it’s an early electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the theremist. Whatever it is, 272 people got together to play the Theremin in Japan. I’m guessing all 272 theremists in the world had to get together to make this happen.

Flash Arithmetic

So Japanese. Flash a bunch of numbers on the screen and make people do math. Even if these numbers were on a static piece of paper in front of me I’d still have trouble adding them together. Then you see what these people can do and it makes you realize how sad you really are at arithmetic.

48 Leepfrogs In 1 Minute

While he doesn’t have an official Guinness representative in his videos, Megwin is always good for a world record breaking attempt, as you’ll soon see. In this one, he tries to do 48 leapfrogs in 1 minute. Definitely harder than it sounds, I think.

Cutting Apples In Midair

Not only does somebody try to break the world record for cutting apples in midair, but he also dresses up like a ninja to do it. His ninja ancestors would be proud mortified.

Ice Cold Endurance

An utter failure, but who doesn’t want to see Megwin suffering in a bathtub of ice? Seems like every child’s dream, to me.

Highest High Vaulting

Remember the little horse things you had to vault over in PE class? Remember how they were a couple feet tall? This guy’s jumping over something insanely tall. He also takes his shirt off for you.

Longest Distance In A Cave With Only One Breath

Not sure why you would want to see how far you can go into an underwater cave with only one breath, and I’m not sure why anyone would want to encourage this, but Ai Futaki does it anyways. Is there a world record for the most insane person in the world, too?

Ukulele Picnic

One step up from theremin concert, a bunch of people get together to play the ukulele. I have a feeling some of these people didn’t know how to play the ukulele for real. Someone put an asterisk next to this record.

Speed Duct Taping Yourself To A Wall

Duct taping someone else to a wall is difficult, but duct taping yourself? There’s a world record for that. It also is just about as hard as it sounds.

Jump Roaping

Okay, so this video isn’t really a world record, but it does show you the world record holder for jump roping doing her thing. Gives you the idea of the kind of jump roping skills you need to break jump roping records.

Longest Stick Bomb

I’d never heard of “stick bombs” before. Whatever it is, it looks as though it’s not following the laws of physics to me. In this video, you see 10,000 sticks stick bombing. Blows my mind.

Drifting

It wouldn’t be Japanese racing without drifting. Drifting around a track thirty something times is no easy feat. I’d be afraid to play Mario Kart with this guy.

Catching Popcorn Challenge

If Megwin can catch 26 pieces of popcorn as they fly off the frying pan in one minute, he can have the world record! Even by cheating and putting glue on his hands he fails miserably. But that’s more fun anyways, isn’t it?

Putting Pairs Of Socks In A Box Only Using Your Feet

This is where you have to start asking “why?” Do we really need another world record? Do we really need to know how fast someone can put pairs of socks into a box only using their feet? The answer is “no,” in case you were wondering.

323 Girls Wearing Bikinis In A Parade

If you’re going to break a world record, at least advertise your product in the process. That’s what happened in this world record.

The Longest Pasta

Lawson Convenience Store decided make the least convenient pasta possible and attempted making the longest strand of pasta in the world. Luckily it looks like they cut it up and served it later on, though.

Most People Wearing Yukata

How many people in yukata can you get together in one space? In this case, it seems like the answer is 1122 people. How embarrassing would it be if you showed up in your jeans and tshirt on this day, by accident?

Balancing 18 Spoons On Your Face

I’m impressed that he could put spoons on his face in that way. By the end, I was surprisingly on the edge of my seat. Spoons be intense, bro.

Most Connected Rafts

“Let’s see how many rafts we can connect and then ride downstream!” somebody said, for some reason. “Okay, let’s make it happen!” someone else said. Some people have a lot of time and resources on their hands.

There Will Be More

With the likes of Megwin (not to mention every Japanese variety show ever) world records will continue to be made up and broken. When future aliens come visit the smoking hull that was once called “Earth” and come across the Guinness Book Of World Records, they will surely nod knowledgeably at each other, knowing that we probably all deserved our tragic fate.

That being said, they will probably worship the cucumber cutter, because seriously, how does he not cut his fingers?

Let me know your favorite world record. Then, if you’re feeling brave, try to challenge said record and then share it in the comments below…

[hr]

Bonus Wallpapers!

[2560x1600] • [1280x800] • [1280x800 Animated] • [700x438 Animated]

Kawaii Overloooooad

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP469wlVuZU']

Over the weekend, 141 brave souls dressed up as mascots from 25 prefectures across Japan and made history. They gathered in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, to break all the records and become the largest group of mascots to do the same dance together. Truly, so impressive a feat will not again be seen in our lifetime.

The song they’re dancing to in the video above is called “The Beard Dance”. A Japanese comedy band known as The Drifters is responsible for this monstrosity. Unfortunately for the mascots and everyone involved, the song is incredibly repetitive and annoying. Be prepared to go insane if you listen to it for the full 5 minutes.

To break the record, the mascots couldn’t just flop around as they pleased for 5 minutes. They had to be in the zone, man – in the zone! They had to like, dance in synchronized unison and stuff. If more than 5% of the mascots screwed up, they’d be denied the world record and bring endless amounts of shame upon themselves and their mascot families.

Fortunately they were allowed multiple tries because they failed twice before finally getting it right. After they nailed it on the third try, “We Are the Champions” started blaring and all the mascots went berserk. They were more excited than any mascot had ever been before. If only their faces could convey emotion.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk-Ey9LBDto']

And for those of you who want to view one of their mind numbingly repetitive performances in its entirety, check the video above. I dunno about you, but that one girl mascot at the end dancing all by herself with no music really creeps me out. She gives me the willies.

Also, I realize that the people are in big, cumbersome mascot suits, but I was really hoping to see a bit more action out of this synchronized “dance”. Sure, they may have cinched the record in the end, but they certainly did not do it with enough pizzazz and style to impress me! Maybe next time they can include some cartwheels and back flips.

Mascots, Mascots Everywhere

As many of you probably know by now, it’s not surprising that there are enough mascots in Japan to put together a feat like this. Everything from recycling promotions to city governments has mascots. They’re responsible for just about everything. Promoting tourism, teaching kids to recycle, discovering cures for cancer, you name it – there’s a Japanese mascot on the case.

To learn more about these lovable mascots, or yuru kyara (gentle characters) as they’re known, you can check out Hashi’s full write up on them and a handful of the wackiest town mascots Japan has to offer in his post about them here.

And since Hashi loves Japanese mascots more than the rest of the Tofugu team combined (that’s a lot!), he also wrote a post about Kumamon, the cuddly black bear that sings him lullabies each night and makes him waffles every morning. Okay, so maybe Kumamon doesn’t actually do that. Hashi just wishes he did. One day, my friend – one day.

So tell me, what do you think about this record breaking event? Which one of the 141 mascots busting a move was your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

Sources:
RocketNews24