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Osaka man arrested for throwing dozens of cockroaches around at anime music event

Suspect of the “cockroach incident” fully admits to the charges.

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Japanese company will turn a photo of a deceased relative into a 3D rendering that’s also an urn

Now grandpa can silently judge you from the mantle — in 3D!

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Old man chases dentist with metal rod, threatens to make him “taste the same pain”

Like something in a badly written comedy sketch, the elderly man allegedly began chasing his dentist around the room, shouting: “I’ll make you taste the same pain!”

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Kobe City firefighters ask you to stop calling emergency numbers for trivial stuff like sunburns

We’ve all heard stories about absurd calls to emergency lines, from people calling about a bat in the house to a missing newspaper delivery. We like to think that these people aren’t stupid so much as too frustrated to think clearly…though we may be wrong.

Of course, Japan isn’t free of these kinds of silly emergency calls, either. In fact, a recent article received a lot of attention online when it listed some of the simply absurd emergency calls that have been made in Kobe City. Check them out below…

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“Hate summer homework, kids? We’ll do it for you!” A disturbingly booming business in Japan

The following is a typical scene that many families in Japan will have recently experienced, and probably not for the first time: It’s August 31, the last day of summer vacation and the fall semester is starting in less than 24 hours. The kids who played all month suddenly realize that they have to do 40 pages of kanji and math drills, write a book report for a book they haven’t read, and fill in 30 days’ worth of journal entries–an assignment that they dutifully kept up with for all of the first week of summer break. They clamor for help, and despite the scoldings and I-told-you-so’s, “nice” parents and the more responsible siblings reluctantly pitch in.

Sure, the above isn’t an exemplary approach to avoiding bad grades, but recently an even more dubious method has been getting a lot of attention: online businesses have been offering to do your child’s homework and school projects for a fee! While the homework-by-proxy racket is nothing new, recent media coverage of the growing enterprise has brought to light this questionable practice and its appalling popularity among elementary and junior high school students.

What does this teach, and not teach, future adults? Why are parents taking advantage of these services for their young children? One twisted reason will probably surprise you.

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Food Rage: Korean Deported Over In-Flight Ramen Brawl

Over the weekend, a Korean businessman got into hot water when he complained about his in-flight meal on a trip to the United States. Apparently, he wasn’t satisfied with the taste of his ramen or with the service, and expressed his displeasure by assaulting one of the cabin crew. As a result, he was turned over to the FBI and prevented from entering the country.

Here’s what we know about this bizarre incident. Read More

The picture above shows the kind of sound-deadening walls installed along the Tomei Expressway in Kanagawa Prefecture. Yesterday, a construction worker performing repairs removed one of the panels and got a grisly surprise: a headless human skeleton. Read More