1

One of the most talkative and hardworking members of the RocketNews24 Japanese editorial team in Tokyo is none other than a Sharp air purifier.  

Not to be outdone by their mechanical coworker, our fellow (human) staff members recently decided to test out whether she was really pulling her weight in work or if she was just slacking off (we say ‘she’ because the machine is capable of speaking in a female voice). But to test an air purifier, you need dirty air…and what better way to make some quick, homegrown dirty air than to produce it in-house through farting! Will the air purifier actually respond to our team’s zany idea??

In other news, a few of our coworkers were recently questioned as to whether they actually graduated from elementary school or not. Diplomas pending…

The above-mentioned air purifier, which also has a dual humidifier function, became a permanent fixture in the RocketNews24 Tokyo office last winter when the air was extremely dry. She was placed smack in the center of the room, where anyone could observe her and make sure that she wasn’t slacking off. Despite being the newest member of the team, from the start she proved to be unabashedly chatty, and instead no one else was able to get any work done.

As you can see in the below video, she greets you by saying, “Darararararan♪ I’ll work hard!” when you push the ‘on’ button. If she detects any dirty air, she announces, “I’ve found an impurity in the air. I’ll hurry to make it clean♪.“ When’s she done cleaning, she even lets you know with the message “The air is now clean♪.“

A few months later when everyone had gotten thoroughly used to their chatty new coworker, someone posed the question, “Is she actually doing her job?” Our own undaunted reporter Yoshio (who is no stranger to these kinds of bizarre challenges) quickly came up with the idea to test her air-purifying skills. In true research fashion, five members of the illustrious editorial staff would eat sweet potatoes and drink milk, all in the hopes that at least one of them would be able to produce a stinky fart in front of the machine.

The story gets even better, dear friends, since the team filmed their entire attempt. Watch the full video to learn the end result of their labors for yourself, or scroll down to read about it instead.

▼This may have ruined sweet potatoes for me forever.

2

▼Cheers! Good luck cutting the cheese, guys.

3

▼A typical day in the office…

4

Mr. Wasai was the first of the five to feel the stirrings of gas in his digestive tract. But after valiantly readying himself into position, he suddenly felt the urge to go to the bathroom instead, abandoning the mission at hand. The others looked on in worry–would anyone be able to carry out the task??

The next challenger up was able to produce a symphony of fairly quiet puppupus, which was followed by an anxious moment of silence as everyone waited with bated breath. Then all of a sudden, the machine began to speak: “I’ve found an impurity in the air. I’ll hurry to make it clean♪.” SUCCESS!  

Even though one person had successfully cleared the mission, everyone thought it would be wise to confirm the result with a second round of flatulence. Poor Mr. Wasai came back to take a stab at the challenge again. Although he did manage to let out an audible fart, there was no reaction from the machine. Determined, he tried for a third time…to finally be met with success. For the record, the remaining three staff members weren’t able to let one rip at all.

If there was one thing that the team learned from this little challenge, it was that they were wrong to doubt the air purifier’s abilities…yup, only the one thing.

Original article by Yoshio
Images: RocketNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]