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With just one week left to vote for the most evil employer of 2012, we’d like to shed some light on an overlooked “black corporation” – city governments.  Sure, government workers often get a bad rap as being slow and overpaid with ridiculous job security.  But in the words of Bob Dylan “the times they are a-changing.”

In Osaka, government workers will be forbidden to have any tattoos and a drinking ban is in talks for all the city workers of Fukuoka.  But to really see the slippery slope that these labor reforms can lead to, we should turn our attention to the People’s Republic of China.

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Man Creates Waste Basket That Targets Flying Garbage and Catches It by Itself

Have you ever seen a sci-fi movie about the future where robot garbage cans move by themselves to pick up our waywardly thrown garbage? You’d think humanity has reached the level of technology to make that happen, but no.

Evidently the people lazy enough to want an autonomously moving waste basket are also too lazy to create one.  That is until a mysterious mad scientist by the name of FRP created his own and recorded a video outlining the entire process.

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At “Robot Restaurant” You Can Accentuate Your Meal with Girls in Bikinis Riding a Neon Tank and Gigantic Fembots, We Investigate

A new restaurant modestly named “Robot Restaurant” has opened in Shinjuku on 18 July but already has generated a lot of buzz on the internet.  Its quick surge in popularity may have to do with the rumored post-apocalyptic giant robot show that goes on while you eat and is said to cost 10 billion yen (US$127M) to create.  We had to go and see if this is for real.

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Blistering 160km/h (99mph) Fastball Pitched by High School Student

The baseball world in Japan has been shaken to its core by a pitch so fast it stands among the fastest in the world – and it was done during a high school game.

The pitch, thrown during a televised semifinal match between Ichinoseki Gakuin and Hanamaki Higashi, has focused all the attention of professional baseball onto young Shohei Otani, the pitcher for Hanamaki Higashi High School.

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Child’s Birthday Coming Up? Why Not Get Them a Life-Sized Brachiosaurus?

It seems you can buy just about anything on the internet these days, and here’s another bit of proof to put on the pile.  What’s the one thing you could add to your home and garden that would make you stand out among your neighbors?

You got it; an 18 meter (59’) tall, 3 ton (2205 lbs) Brachiosaurus statue.

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Rejoice, Fashion-Challenged Men! Now You Can Have a Hottie Stylist Dress You

A new online service called Bemool has just been launched in Japan targeted at men who don’t know how to dress themselves. For a meager service fee of 5,000 yen (about $60 US), a stylish and pretty expert will go out and buy some outfits for you, something that is no doubt a god-send for shopping-averse–hell, going-out-in-public-averse–net denizens. Read More

Future and Past Collide as Long-Awaited “Evangelion and Japanese Sword Exhibit” Opens

You may have read our previous report about how Japan’s top sword makers had been called upon to bring your favorite weapons from the hit anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion off the screen and into reality.

Well, the day has finally arrived as the Bizen Japanese Sword Museum has at long last opened their “Evangelion & Japanese Sword Exhibit” utilizing traditional sword making techniques to create swords of the future Evangelion universe.

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Apoopalypse Now! We Use Twitter and Japanese Linguistics to Track the Toilet Habits of Japan

It seems the days of keeping novels or magazines on a stand by the toilet are slipping away from us as more and more people are taking their smartphones into the loo to pass the time.  On top of this, social media has paved the way for everyone to update the world on all their daily minutiae.

And what could be minuter than broadcasting our bowel evacuations to the world.  On an individual basis such information might be meaningless to others but when analyzed en masse we can learn something about the pooping habits of a nation.

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  • Jul 19, 2012

A Cool Sight for the Hot Summer! See Penguins Fly – at a Rooftop Aquarium in the Middle of Tokyo

Okay, is everyone ready for summer? You may already have vacation plans, but if you’re going to be in Tokyo this summer, you may want to consider visiting the Sunshine Aquarium in the Ikebukuro area. Why? Because you’ll be able to see “flying penguins” there this summer! Read More

See Tokyo on the Cheap, See It in Lego and More

Who doesn’t love Lego?  It’s a toy that has certainly stood the test of time and transcended all boundaries of gender, class and geography with its simple yet endless possibilities.

And who doesn’t love Tokyo? It’s a city that has certainly stood the test of time and grown into quite the cultural mecca of food, science, and art.  However, it’s a big city that requires time to explore fully.  So why not head down to Decks in Odaiba, Tokyo Beach to see the best of it in everyone’s favorite medium – Lego! But that’s not all Legoland Tokyo has to offer.

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It seems that some of life’s simplest yet most widespread problems never have solutions.  Millions of men worldwide have to watch their hair fade away with no reliable cure.  Or how about that man or woman who somehow manages to sit next you on the subway or bus making your eyes water with their biological curse of body odor, better known by bacteriologists by its scientific name: “pit stank.”

Pit stank doesn’t discriminate.  The victims are our fathers, sisters, children, and spouses. However, thanks to the pioneering efforts of a legal rep for an NPO in Sendai working with Tohoku University’s New Industry Creation Center the world is one step closer to a cure for this socially scorned affliction.

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With the start of the Olympics just around the corner, we bring you a collection of quotes from people of varying degrees of fame and glory, some sure to make you think.

Prayer alone doesn’t give you courage. You need to make the effort and pray.

– Evander Holyfield, boxer who, among other achievements, unwillingly fed Mike Tyson his ear.

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A recent first round qualifying game for the high school league national championship between rivals Nichidai Fujisawa (Japan University’s High School) and Buso ended in controversy after a botched infield fly ball was mishandled causing a Nichidai runner to steal home and earn a walk-off victory for their team.

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According to South Korea’s Far East Daily newspaper, China’s public radio broadcast an interview with a currently active Major General who spoke like many Generals do, with much aplomb and sabre rattling to be heard. Let’s see what he has to say.

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Online Customer Review of a Can of Cat Food Horrifies Thousands

On first hearing about this story, it’s easy to be skeptical that a review for a can of cat food could possibly be as unnerving as one buyer’s comment on Rakuten (Japan’s answer to Amazon) was purported to be.

Most of us have spent enough time on the internet and saw our share of Goatses and blue waffles.  So how could an online review for a tin of Mon Petit Whitefish & Tuna For Kittens possibly turn our web-hardened stomachs?

It did.

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Man Robs Girlfriend So He Can Buy Her Presents, Gives Love a Bad Name

Dating can be difficult and costly no matter what country you live in, but because of the economic inequality and old-fashioned customs of China it can be a down-right nightmare.

Take one Mr. Hu of Hubei Province whose girlfriend, ironically named Ms. Yuan, he had been dating for a couple months. However, because of money troubles he was unable to buy her presents and had to turn to a life of crime.

However, what could have been a romantic “man in love against the world” kind of rebel story turned out incredibly lame when the target of Hu’s criminal behavior turned out to be none other than Ms. Yuan herself.

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  • Jul 14, 2012

How Would You Like to Draw a Picture of Gundam – Using Excel?

All right, this video should delight and impress all of you Gundam fans out there. And even if you’re not a Gundam fan, I think you’ll still find the video pretty amazing! You have to admit that it takes a huge amount of dedication, perseverance and love for the anime, not to mention time, to actually do what was done in this video. The end result is a full-color drawing of the Gundam mobile suit machine from the well-known anime series, and while the picture itself is an excellent effort, what is truly impressive about it is the unconventional way it was drawn. Read More

This is What a Whopper With 1000 Slices of Cheese Looks Like

A few months have passed since our resident reporter Mr. Sato consumed a Whopper loaded with 1050 strips of bacon. Now the smell of bacon grease has finally faded from the office and Mr. Sato seems to have learned his lesson after spending countless hours curled up in the fetal position, praying his arteries would hold out another day.

At least, that’s what we thought until he walked into the office the other day carrying a Whopper with 1000 slices of cheese in his hands.

Cheesus Christ.

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Osaka Temple Offers Visitors Visions of Hell, Tasty Sweets

At the moment there’s a picture book that’s very popular in Japan called “A Picture Book of Hell.” It’s intended to teach kids good manners, and it’s become something of a hot topic, if you’ll excuse the pun. Popular illustrator Akiko Higashimura even mentioned it in her manga series “Mama wa Tenparisto”, loosely translated as “Momma With a Short Fuse”. As you can imagine, there’s been a lot of interest among mothers and educational professionals.

I suppose terrorizing your kids with two-dimensional representations of hell is OK, but did you know there’s a place you can take them to experience it in real life? Read More

Awesome Course Schedule, an app released last year by Japanese content provider Labit, has been rapidly gaining traction with students at Japanese universities, because it allows them to rate and review their courses. Read More

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