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YELLOW SNOW donuts, only in Japan

There’s a tremendous tittering on twitter about new “Yellow Snow” donuts Christmas promotion from Mr. Donut Japan.

Delicious “Yellow Snow” donuts from Mr. Donut! (Not making that name up.) pic.twitter.com/AuBDSlLs7c

— Being Kansai (@BeingKansai) November 12, 2018

Translating Mr. Donut Japan:
yellow-snow-xmas-donuts
←Available from November 9~ Xmas donuts

←リース/Risu fashion
Yellow Snow
¥151
↑Banana-flavored chocolate coated with Old Fashioned donut, topped with a golden shower/spray & sparkling sugar —misterdonut.jp/m_menu/new…

This Mr. Donut+Pokemon promo is limited to Christmas. Also note that リース/Risu means ‘squirrel’ but in this context it’s referring to a Pokémon incarnation or a “wreath” (which is the same word in Japanese).

Speaking of yellow snow, gold-colored donuts, be sure not to miss our previous post: Eat me! Japanese Ice Queen Arakawa’s golden doughnuts (3Yen / 2006-02-26)
donut-spin

roller…

One of the amusing things about living in Japan, is seeing the endless variety of totally bogus health items being promoted. From fraudulent nose-altering clips (3Yen / 2010-08-03) to goofy “O” leg (3Yen / 2006-02-06) and
hinky Japanese school nurses offering ‘Ball Relief’ (3Yen / 2010-09-15), Japan is awash with medical quackery. So you can imagine my surprise with the release of the following research study supporting the claims of Japan’s super-silly facial rollers.

Ready for a close-up:
The science behind face massage rollers
Tokyo Institute Of Technology | 9-Nov-2018
Facial massaging using a roller can increase skin blood flow for more than ten minutes after the massage. It can also improve vasodilation — the widening of blood vessels…
…One surprising outcome was the duration of the effect immediately after the five-minute massage. “The increase in skin blood flow after applying the massage roller persisted much longer than we had expected,” the researchers say in their study published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine. “Short-term mechanical stimulation by a facial massage roller increased skin blood flow for more than ten minutes solely in the massaged cheek.”
In the long-term experiment, the researchers examined the effects of daily massage on the right cheek over a five-week period. They also examined the reactivity of facial blood vessels to a heat stimulus, involving application of a heating probe set at 40°C, in order to test whether there were any changes in vascular dilation response.
More…

The problem is that this research study found a temporary “increase in skin blood flow” but that does not equate to better looking skin any most than gettin slapped in the face. This typically vague Japanese “scientific” research does not really make/support/claim any benefit.

Squid drought of Japan

Japanese towns that thrive on once-abundant squid suffer as numbers decline at alarming rate
The Japan Times | Nov 1, 2018
…fluctuations in ocean temperatures, years of overfishing and lax regulatory oversight have drastically depleted populations of the translucent squid in waters around Japan…
… [it’s] the lowest harvest since the national fisheries cooperative started keeping records more than 30 years ago.
More…

Well, spank my daddy…

Squiddy-diddly from Snagglepus comics

A few of our many other squiddly reports include:

Sushi for sharks — seagrass squid maki? (3Yen / 2018-09-08)
HAPPY Squid … named (3Yen / 2018-05-15)
eatin’ l’il Cthulhu — squid (3Yen / 2013-03-14)

My favorite Japanese day

November 10 is my favorite Japanese day:

Good Toilet Day / ii to(ire) no hi / いいトイレの日!!~

“It me” (@ozAntinnippon)

The Japan Toilet Association celebrates Toilet Day on November 10, because in Japanese the numbers 11/10 (for the month and the day) can be read as ii-to(ire) meaning “Good Toilet.”

Of course Japan’s “Toilet Day” should not be confused with World Toilet Day on November 19. World Toilet Day has an amazing Japanesque mascot Mr. Poo—who can poop with his trousers on!

LINE UP: Tokyo’s favorite

No matter where you go in Tokyo—the trains, the bank, the toilet— you can enjoy queuing in the company of others in the line up fun.

metrocf.or.jp/manners/poster.html

UPDATE: Oops, I forgot about the “Prior Art” that I posted way back in 2010 about the lining up for the Tokyo Metro Human Centipede.

Tokyonama, importer/distributer of original products from Japan–Geneva/Tokyo

Godzilla’s 64th birthday!

Godzilla doesn’t have a real birthday, but the original film was released on November 3, 1954, so fans like to think of November 3 as his birthday.

Also check out our previous Godzilla posts:

Kaiju/monster motorin’ — Godzilla’s Big Wheel (3Yen / 2014-02-18)
Godzilla from the future! (3Yen / 2013-07-18)
Godzilla travel planning (3Yen / 2012-05-28/)

Tokyo Halloween manners

The Tokyo Metro has put up “manners” posters warning everyone not to have Halloween fun (3Yen / 2015-10-01/)…

2018-oct-METRO-manners-poster-compressed

metrocf.or.jp/img/manners/poster…

The rest-of-the-story…
For the past 30 years it has been a Halloween tradition among us gaijin/foreigners to take over one rail car of Tokyo’s main loop, the Yamamote Line, for a party…much to the annoyance of the sad-sack salarymen who hate their gloomy decorum being disrupted.

All I can say about that is…

Silently judgmental

As the Japanese blithefully went about their business, the trash cans silently questioned a foreigner’s decision for living in Japan.

A message from a dust bin in a hospital. pic.twitter.com/jo7ydIplD5

— コトラ小虎 (@HotondoGaijin) October 30, 2018

Would you like
to review
what your life
should be…?

Separated-at-birth?

Namakoro, the new mascot for Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force seems to be too real/separated-at-birth from actual pink sea cucumbers (and other things) that can be pinkish in nature.

Namakoro, a pink sea cucumber in a sailor suit, is the new mascot for Japan’s Maritime Self Defence Force in the Sasebo region. pic.twitter.com/ItRZ2maO5b

— Mondo Mascots (@mondomascots) October 25, 2018

Other examples of the Japanese separated-at-birth concept reported here include:

Parallel Culture Development? (3Yen / 2018-08-25)
Separated-at-birth: Japan Tobacco‘s MILD IMPACT™ (3Yen / 2012-04-15)
Golgo 13 / Spock — Japanese ‘can coffee’ (3Yen / 2008-05-04)

Daleks demonstrate Diarrhea Death Ray in Japan!

Japan’s Daleks demonstrate their Diarrhea Death Ray dominance in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics!

Robot security guard to be tested at Tokyo station in bid to boost security ahead of 2020 Games
The Japan Times | Oct. 25, 2018
…A robot developed to serve as a security guard at train stations was shown to the press Thursday amid a growing need to boost safety in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics…[as shown on the right photo] the robot is equipped with an AI-powered security camera, reports on a sick person in a demonstration in Tokyo on Thursday…more…

exterminate-bot

Our previous reports of the Daleks in Japan include:

Japan’s Flying Daleks deployed as snoop-bots! (3Yen / 2010-11-12)
The mighty Japanese Navy robot protects what? (3Yen / 2014-04-20)
Dalek-like trashcan robot protects the Pleasure Zone of Fukuoka Japan (3Yen / 2009-07-12)