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Premium Cocorobo will clean your floor, wake you up, and probably creep out your friends

While a cranky Roomba can make a terrible mess, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we should never allow robots into our homes–only that we probably ought to be careful about how much we trust them. For example, letting them vacuum your floor seems reasonable, but relying on a vacuum bot to wake you up might not be such a great idea. And giving your vacuum bot a cute anime voice and something resembling a personality? That’s how humans end up extinct!

But apparently Sharp needs to watch more Terminator films, because that is exactly the kind of vacuuming robot they’ve created!

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Twitter user captures raccoon doing a funny “feed me!” dance at Nagasaki Zoo

One lucky visitor to a zoo in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan was treated to quite the show when she witnessed a raccoon standing on its hind legs and doing a little dance in anticipation of its next meal. Luckily for us, she was able to share pictures of the spectacle over a short series of tweets, one of which has been retweeted over 11,000 times in the last two days! Keep reading for your daily fix of cuteness.

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Let’s say you love looking at the moon. You’re enchanted by its beautifully full and round shape, and sometimes you find it so enticing you’d like to reach out and touch it (with its permission, of course).

But all that ardent admiration still doesn’t mean you actually know anything about the moon, does it?

That’s not too far from the relationship some men have with women’s breasts, according to this list of 11 things Japanese women wish more men understood about their chests.

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This rice omelet, grilled eel, oden, and fried pork are actually cakes! We try them all

We previously ran an article about Maplies, a bakery in Shinjuku that excels in the art of making cake look exactly like Chinese food, namely gyoza, ramen (salt or soy sauce), and tenshindon.

About a year has past since then and our reporter Mr. Sato had a sudden hankering for some cake that looked like egg, crab meat, and rice. He headed down to Maplies only to be shocked at what he found. The bakery had added a whole new assortment of cakes that look exactly like other foods!

Needless to say he bought one of each and brought them back to the office for a taste of pure confusion.

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Cat can haz 100 yen goodz? Purr-fect things for cats found for cheap!【Photos】

Cats rule the Internet. Anyone who spends any time there knows that. Whatever situation you come across online, you are sure to find an appropriate, or inappropriate, response in the form of a cat meme. All cat owners know that this behavior of claiming everything to be their own isn’t a new phenomenon. Cats think “what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is mine.” If there is anything inside their living space (anywhere the light touches), it’s theirs. Never one to stop and ask permission, a cat just does what it wants!

In Japan, cat owners have been noticing that their cats really seem to like items bought from a particular store. Fortunately for the owners, that store is a handy place where you can buy 10 things for around $10. That’s right, it’s the 100 Yen Store!

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Mr Sato invents ingenious “life hack” for sneaking alcohol at work

Picture the scene. It’s 5pm on a Friday evening and you really, REALLY need (and deserve) a cold beer to reward yourself after a hard week’s work. But what’s that? Oh no! The boss wants you to do overtime!? Argh!

If this scenario sounds like the ninth circle of hell to you, fret not! RocketNews24 is here to bring you a genius new “life hack” which will enable you to achieve a state of blissful inebriation right underneath the boss’s nose, without even having to leave your desk! (Disclaimer: RocketNews24 is not responsible for any loss of earnings or reputation that may result from practicing this “experiment”. This post is for entertainment purposes only. Ahem.) Okay, Mr Sato, let’s see how it’s done!

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NHK’s US election banner has netizens wondering if it’s the new Street Fighter

Last week’s US midterm elections drew the attention of the whole world, including Japan. NHK covered the whole spectacle in detail, but the usually serious broadcaster went with a bizarrely cartoonish, over-dramatic banner that showed America’s most senior politicians looking like characters in a beat-’em-up game a la Street Fighter.

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Artist dad doodles over snaps of baby boy with adorable results【Photos】

Meet Khoi, an adorable baby boy whose father, art director Quan Hoang, has a hobby of doodling over drawings of his son in a variety of whimsical styles. Under the skillful touch of daddy’s pen, little Khoi becomes anything you could imagine, from Indiana Jones to Hulk Hogan to Harry Potter, and more! Check out these super-cute pictures to see the many transformations of Khoi!

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Gunma-chan candy is adorable, probably as sweet as the mascot’s national championship

Gunma-chan, Gunma Prefecture’s regional mascot, or yuru-kyara, may not have the most creative name. The cap-wearing horse more than makes up for that shortcoming with cuteness, though, and was recently named the winner of the nationwide Yuru-Kyara Grand Prix popularity contest.

The championship is the culmination of a long campaign for Gunma-chan, who finished in 18th place in 2011, before spending two years stalled in the number three spot.

Having now reached the top of the yuru-kyara world, it’s time for Gunma-chan to savor the sweet taste of victory, and time for everyone else to savor the sweet taste of Gunma-chan candy.

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Wrap up your holiday gifts with Sailor Moon paper goods

Gift giving season is around the corner and what better way to wrap up the mounds of Moonie merchandise than with Sailor Moon cards, gift bags, decorative tape, and boxes? All the above andmore are available for order as part of Bandai’s fourth round of Sailor Moon paper goods. Let’s take a look.

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We try some Turkish ice cream from Family Mart before it’s completely sold out

Turkish restaurants can be found here and there around Japan and if you’re lucky you might come across one that sells dondurma. This Turkish take on ice cream is usually offered out of the store front and not only provides a delicious treat but an entertaining spectacle as well.

Vendors can be seen stretching their ice cream to lengths of around a meter before serving and will often perform a little psych-out by pulling it back out of your hands with their big stick before finally handing it over.

Aside from the fun, dondurma is deadly delicious as well. Of course there’s the taste which puts it in league with other ice creams, but it has a unique texture that elevates it among the best. So, when Japanese convenience store chain Family Mart released a limited edition Turkish Style Ice Cream on 4 November we wanted in on the action. Apparently so did everyone else though, as supplies were nearly out only a few days after release.

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Once a year, lingerie manufacturer Triumph designs a special bra that highlights social trends in Japan. The company shows off each year’s version at a press event, which always has two models, despite the fact that the bras they’re wearing have always been identical.

This year, though, the two-model system is more than just a way of upping the glamorous eye-candy quotient, since the patterns and color on the 2014 bras miraculously change when they’re close to each other.

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Check out this absolutely stunning drone video of Nagasaki’s Battleship Island in Ultra HD

Nagasaki is known for having a lot of history, being the only port open to foreign trade during Japan’s long isolation in the Edo Period. But one of Nagasaki’s most captivating tourist attractions really isn’t that old – Hashima Island, better known as Gunkanjima, or Battleship Island. It’s eerie existence brings haikyo (urban ruins) fans from all over the world. If you can’t make it to the island yourself, or are unsatisfied with the limited visibility from the tour, wait no longer. Thanks to “Gunkanjima Archives,” an organization run by Nishi Nihon Newspaper, which is dedicated to bringing you photos and videos of the desolate island, you can now take an Ultra HD drone tour of the island in a spellbinding video.

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Who does a 15-meter naked giant make marketing deals with? Anyone he wants, apparently.

Just days ago, we heard about the upcoming crossover between hit anime and manga Attack on Titan and Marvel Comics, which as of 2009 has been a subsidiary of Disney. Still, that isn’t stopping the Titans from playing both sides of the fence, as Tokyo Disneyland’s major theme park rival has just announced that two life-size Titan statues are coming to Universal Studios Japan.

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Hayao Miyazaki working on new project, says “I’m going to continue making anime until I die”

Legendary anime director Hayao Miyazaki is in Los Angeles right now, as he’s making a rare trip to the U.S. to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. While we’re sure plenty of fans are excited to see Japanese animation’s most respected figure receive such a prestigious honor, there’s something else for them to be happier about: Miyazaki’s statement that he’s not even close to done making anime.

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“Stock we should never have ordered”: This Japanese store’s pricing posters are way too honest

Employees at the campus co-op store at Nihon Joshi Daigaku may work at Japan’s oldest private women’s university, but when it comes to making their special offer displays, their attitude is anything but old-fashioned. Their witty, super-honest pricing displays regularly have the Japanese Twitterverse in stitches.

Join us after the jump for six of the best!

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Japan gets a taste of Coca Cola Orange

Why should Pepsi Japan and their wacky flavors like Pink Strawberry Milk and Salty Watermelon have all the fun? Coca Cola Japan decided to shake things up in the flavor department and released Coca Cola Orange. Sure, it’s not as exciting as the crazy concoctions thought up by Coke’s competitors, but Japanese consumers sure seem to love it.

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One of the biggest smartphone makers in China just released this blatant iPhone 6 clone

Lenovo, which happens to be the fourth-largest smartphone vendor in China, just released a new phone that looks almost identical to Apple’s iPhone 6.

The Lenovo S90 Sisley features the same metal unibody design and curved edges as the iPhone 6. The speaker placement is even exactly the same, as shown in photos obtained by tech blog Gizmobic (via Android Authority).

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Lonely diners discover an easy way to get handwritten confessions of love from Yoshinoya staff

Anyone who has watched even a handful of episodes of Japanese anime will have heard the words “suki” or “daisuki” at some point. Literally meaning “like” and “like very much” (daisuki is, after all, written with the characters 大 “big” and 好き “like”), these two words are used not just when describing one’s preference for a particular pokémon or pizza topping, but when declaring deep, “more-than-friends” feelings for someone.

It would seem, however, that staff at Japanese fast food chain Yoshinoya have recently been unwittingly handing declarations of love to especially peckish patrons following the arrival of a popular seasonal dish, with these handwritten love letters becoming the subject of great amusement online.

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Slow News Day Special 2: Use obvious clues in this photo to find out what this “bird” really is

Sometimes, you’re surfing around on the Internet to find weird Japan news to write about and can’t seem to find anything except one of those old “I thought this thing was that thing, but it was another thing,” Twitter comparison pictures and you kind of just have to run with it. I know, oddly specific scenario, but we’ve all been there, right?

Like, check out this thing that looks like a bird. We already know it’s not a bird, but can you use some of the clues in the photo to figure out what it really is?

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