On and around 19 January, trucks will be hitting the streets to raise awareness of the health benefits of enemas. You’ll be able to recognize them by the cute female drivers who appear to be constantly pooping…
health (Page 16)
How else are you supposed to sell prophylactics?
Warning! Hot dino-on-dino action coming up, so check whether your workplace Internet policy allows such things before reading on.
Because if someone’s going to stick you with a handful of needles, you might as well have some anime girls watching.
A young man recently had a brush with death after his epic snacking caused his stomach to fill with so much gas that it nearly exploded.
What do you like to get from your coffee, relaxation or focus? Apparently, the type of beans can change the affect on your brain, but which does what?
Our reporter recently got his uvula lasered off to attempt to cure his chronic snoring. Did it work?
With the world’s knowledge quite literally at our fingertips, the sheer amount of information available to us can be overwhelming. With the ability to look up anything from recipes to diagnostics and treatments for diseases at the touch of a button, how are we to know what to believe?
A doctor’s office in Japan has posted a list of 10 tips to help patients weed through all the falsities in order to make the best decisions about their medical care.
In any park in China you’re bound to see people exercising, whether it’s by jogging, dancing, tai chi, or downing unmanned aircraft. But just when you think you’ve seen it all, a whole new way of working out gets born. The basic philosophy is “Why walk on only two legs, when you have two perfectly good arms as well?”
And so, recreational crawling was born. At the moment it seems to be practiced mainly by a small band of people in Henan Province, but numbers are growing. It’s also said to have health benefits beyond that of regular bipedal walking.
It seems like we’re constantly being bombarded with tips and tricks about how to make our lives better or how to improve our quality of life. We’re always being told to change the way we eat, the way we sleep, include some daily physical activity, and re-organize our lives. Everyone has something different to say, but one thing they seem to have in common is the positive spin they put on their life improvements.
That’s not strictly true for Japanese television though. One recent program seemed to be taking a cue from the fear-based strategies of American TV, and spent an entire segment talking about habits in your household that are likely to decrease your lifespan.
Find out the five habits you should be wary of, apparently, after the jump.
Thanks to the world of smartphones, we’re now able to connect to ourselves on a physical level in a way we never could before. Fitness apps and wearable devices like the Fitbit wristband allow us to monitor everything from the number of steps we take to our walking speed and heart rate.
While activity trackers usually take physical data from our wrists, Japanese eyewear brand JINS is taking a very different approach by monitoring not only our physical but also our mental state, with the new JINS MEME glasses. Using a number of built-in sensors to gather data from the eyes and body, now you can monitor everything from posture to alertness levels and find out how your body and mind “age” alters throughout the day.
Being overweight can negatively impact your life in a number of ways, but many of them don’t become apparent until after years of a hyper-calorific lifestyle. As such, vague warnings about lowered energy levels and increased medical costs at some indeterminable point in the future, or even a potentially early death, don’t always have enough of a feeling of immediacy to be compelling arguments to eat healthy and exercise.
On the other hand, a better chance at winning the approval of women is almost always a compelling argument, which is why a new motivational CD is being released in Japan with a number of anime and video game voice actresses alternatively offering encouragement to dieters and spitting contempt at the “pigs.”
In a lot of ways, Japan’s equivalent to the hamburger is the beef bowl, or “gyudon” as the locals call it. Tasty, fortifying, and cheap, beef bowls are so prevalent and popular in Japan that they essentially have their own strata in the personal food pyramids of many college students and bachelors.
Realizing that much of its customers’ bodies are literally made out of beef bowls, Japan’s largest gyudon chain is now embarking on a research project to investigate what happens after three months of eating the dish.
Want to go from flabby to body builder in five months? Yeah, who doesn’t, right? It may seem to be an impossible feat, but one couple in Korea did it and they are loving life. The couple’s transformation from on-the-chubby-side to bodybuilding not only changed their appearance, but also made them famous. Think it’s too impressive to be real? Check out the photos below!
Japan has had a pretty good track record with the annual Ig Nobel Prize. Scientists from all over the country have been awarded for nine years straight for their contributions to wacky and humorous research. Last year, Professor Kiyoshi Mabuchi recieved the Ig Nobel Prize in Physics for determining exactly how slippery a banana peel on the floor is.
Now, Dr. Hajime Kimata of the Osaka Prefecture Neyagawa Allergy Clinic has been given the Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine. However, rather than investigating a silly topic, Dr. Kimata’s findings were actually rather sweet: Kissing can reduce a person’s allergic reactions.
Fad diets are a dime a dozen, and some people will go to extreme lengths to lose weight, but would you ever consider turning to the sun for help losing weight?
Apparently, some women in Hong Kong have recently taken to standing and staring at the sun for about half an hour a day in an effort to shed the pounds. We have to admit, as far as weight-loss methods go, it’s definitely a cheaper option. But are followers of this latest diet trend working their way towards blindness rather than thinness?
The world is a wide and wonderful place, but its also full of hidden dangers and maladies that’d you’d never even expect. I try to watch my blood pressure and limit my starch intake, not for any particular reason. I mean, why wait for starch to be a problem?
I’d like to think I have all my cards in order, but then Liang Xiuzhen of Sichuan, China comes along to rock my world. She has taught me a valuable lesson that no matter how well you prepare for the future, you might still end up with an actual 13-centimeter (5-inch) by 6-centimeter (2-inch) horn growing out of your head.
Though summer vacation is a lot shorter in Japan than it is in the U.S., most tudents here aren’t exactly itching to go back to school once it’s done. Even worse, since it falls in the middle of the Japanese school year, the end of summer break is also the start of the second, and more demanding, semester.
Needless to say, a lot of kids would rather blow off school and kick back with a good manga, which is exactly what one library in Japan is encouraging them to do. The reason, however, is far more important than just finding out what happens to their favorite fictional characters .
They say being prepared is half the battle, so it’s always a good idea to keep a first aid kit stocked up with adhesives or carry around a few bandages in your purse (or manbag for our fashionable male readers) in case of unexpected accidents. After all, even though that one lifehack said it was okay to use the inside membrane of a boiled egg when you’re in a pinch, we can’t say the idea is very appealing.
Luckily we’ve found the perfect set of bandages to do the trick, and we’re certain you’ll be stuck on them just as much as we are. With gorgeous images of sushi, ninjas, and other traditional Japanese designs, they’ll turn minor injuries turn into badges of original style.



















Studio Ghibli releases new Kiki’s Delivery Service Jiji music box for anime fans
Japan’s new beer glass is designed to force you to drink…water [Video]
This beautiful rural Japan river is a great alternative to touristy summer retreats [Photos]
Are Japan’s room-temperature curry packets the boxed lunch heroes we’ve been looking for? [Taste test]
Studio Ghibli theme park announces new expansion saluting a previously off-limits anime
New Japanese vending machine at Shinkansen station sells cups of ice on platform
Police ask Kumamoto residents to not get blackout drunk as much during earthquake relief efforts
Japanese convenience store food gets turned into hyper-realistic stationery you can peel open
Kumamoto earthquake may have created Japan’s newest hot spring inside flooded restaurant [Video]
Tokyo is getting a branch of famous Los Angeles hot dog chain Pink’s with Japan-exclusive items
Pokémon Center Online designates first Pokémon items that will require Japanese ID card to buy
Japanese toilet aims to attract foreign tourists but not everybody is happy about it
Anime fan in Japan arrested for ordering and cancelling over 4.3 billion yen in anime merch
Starbucks Japan teams up with Traveler’s Company for new stationery and goods collection
Japanese vending machine sells freshly squeezed lemon juice with a futuristic light show
Beautiful Totoro bonsai figure needs no watering, makes soothing rain showers whenever you want
End of a manga era as Weekly Shonen Jump’s circulation drops under one million
Kochia calling: Right now is a great off-season season to visit this beautiful Japanese park
Tokyo subway installing new ticket gates that don’t accept payment through Suica or other IC cards
Japan now has human refrigerators inspired by Japanese vending machines
Hatsune Miku collaborates with Hokusai’s art in new Vocaloid ukiyo-e illustration series [Pics]
New Shinkansen luggage drop-off system begins in Japan, making train travel even easier
Studio Ghibli releases anime T-shirts that pay homage to one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most personal films
Air-conditioned dress shirts arrive in Japan to save working professionals from sweltering heat
Japanese Shinkansen becomes an overnight hotel for three nights this summer
Cup Noodle unveils first-ever cold-water instant ramen in Japan
99-year-old woman rescued while attempting to climb Mt. Fuji
Japan announces sudden 400-percent increase in visa fees for foreigners entering the country
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Studio Ghibli has a new anime out, and there’s only one place in the world where you can see it
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Japanese ninja certification exam attracts 131 candidates from Japan and abroad
Salomon releases Japan-exclusive Mt. Fuji hiking gear that doubles as an amazing souvenir
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
New Japanese vending machine at Shinkansen station sells cups of ice on platform
Police ask Kumamoto residents to not get blackout drunk as much during earthquake relief efforts
Japanese convenience store food gets turned into hyper-realistic stationery you can peel open
Kumamoto earthquake may have created Japan’s newest hot spring inside flooded restaurant [Video]
Tokyo is getting a branch of famous Los Angeles hot dog chain Pink’s with Japan-exclusive items
One Piece Day returns to Tokyo Big Sight and worldwide on Youtube 22 and 23 August
This Japanese chopping board sanitising bag might be the handy kitchen gadget we never knew we needed
Tired of city life? Try out Japanese rural life for a few days on an active volcano in Kagoshima
End of a manga era as Weekly Shonen Jump’s circulation drops under one million
This awesome Japanese arcade chain has crane game coaches to help you win prizes
Japanese toilet aims to attract foreign tourists but not everybody is happy about it
Anime fan in Japan arrested for ordering and cancelling over 4.3 billion yen in anime merch
Pokémon Center Online designates first Pokémon items that will require Japanese ID card to buy
Nendroid Face Maker lets you custom design faces for Japan’s most popular anime figure line