In Japan, Christmas Eve is considered the more romantic than Valentines Day and day most likely for couplings. Of course for Japanese otaku /geeks this means a romantic night with their computers and favorite Dakimakura/ hugging pillow.
I used to loooove that every year at Christmas, my company would put out two of these “Christmas” trees flanking the main entrance just for me since ostensibly I was the only Christian in the office.
Actually theseKadomatsu are not for Christmas, but for the Japanese holy season, Oshogatsu–[正月]New Years. However, my Japanese coworkers were always greatly amused by my irreverently calling them Christmas trees. As I have mentioned before, it’s nearly impossible to be sacrilegious in Japan, as evidenced by this New Year’s Kadomatsu Pine Traffic Cone, which is considered temporary housing for kami, the Japanese gods.
To learn more, refer to Wikipedia’s entry on Kadomatsu [門松]. KADOMATSU ~ New Year’s Decoration available from J-List.com, “you’ve got a friend in Japan.”
Just like the Puni Puni Pencil Top Mascot, “Unchi-kun” (うんち君 —Mr. Poop) character from the Dr. Slump anime series, the Japanese will try using anything as a good luck omomori/charm….even elephant poop… to pass exams.
Utsunomiya Zoo makes elephant dung charms for students sitting exams Utsunomiya Zoo makes elephant dung charms for students sitting exams - Mainichi Daily News, December 9, 2007 UTSUNOMIYA — A zoo here has started making lucky charms for students out of elephant dung….created the charms by extracting fiber from the dung of a 36-year-old Asian elephant, then sterilizing it and processing it into paper. The charms contain the word “pass” in red characters…more…
Cash-strapped city sells solid gold and silver dildo[dolls] for 200 million yen MDN-Mainichi , December 2, 2007, KUROISHI, Aomori — Two solid gold and silver kokeshi*… have been auctioned off by the cash-strapped Kuroishi Municipal Government, despite reluctance from local residents, with the successful bidder forking out about 200 million yen….more....
There’s two funny things about this story. First,
Kokeshi [こけし] is Japanese slang for dildo That is, the traditional kokeshi doll has a narrow cylindrical body and bulbous head that resembles the shape a penis—and the city managers thought this would be a fun way to spend a windfall with from the central government.
One of the weird legacies of the “Bubble Economy” of the late 1980s was that the central government gave 100 million yen tax grants–no-strings-attached–to small rural cities but those cities had no mechanism to spend such money so many, many local governments bought blocks of gold made them into statues and displayed them in their town hall or city museum. Notice that I said 100 million yen (a little less than 1 million US dollars) and these golden dildos sold for 200 million yen—that’s a tidy profit in Japan were bank savings accounts only yield 0.025%.
For more on the real kokeshi dolls, see Wikipedia and visit our sponsor J-List.
The Japanese sure ain’t shy about their shit as evidenced by how much they love joke about it on TV here. So this official survey of poop “health and constipation” makes perfect poopy Japanese-sense.
whatjapanthinks.com….2007/11/28/:…the three big everyday lifestyle ailments many Japanese, especially women, seem to suffer from are stiff shoulders, cold hands and feet, and constipation. I have been trying to get to the bottom of the third topic for a while…
Q1: On average, how frequently do you have bowel movements? (Sample size=19,667)
Twice a day or more 16.7%
Once a day 52.7%
Once every two days 15.6% …read more…
Talking shit about Japan has been covered here on the 3Yen many times including:
Metropolismania 2 game play??
3Yen’s crack reporter, “Kuang_Grade,” recently came across a strange video game in bargain assortment of games called Metropolismania 2.
As sort of sim city copy, Metropolismania 2 shows the real Tokyo, the land-o-concrete as a PS2 game. It was released two months ago and now it is being released straight to the bargain bin. Kuang_Grade did some research and came across this review on IGN that made him of basking in the gray glow of real Japan–concrete. The IGN reviewer clearly has a hard time wrapping his head around the demands being placed on the player—That’s just like a Japan, the goal is pave over the entire landscape in concrete and roads that the game characters then complain about not wanting, ha, ha. See “Metropolismania 2 Review” –IGN and watch the game’s gray concrete fun in the video below.
This game is so bad it’s good, which makes me wonder what the rest of the games from Nasume, a quirky company that has put out a fair number of Japanese games in the US, such as chulip, a kissing based game for the PS2 (Watch the YouTube of chulip).
Japan publisher challenges genitals picture ban TOKYO (Reuters) Nov. 15, 2007 — A publisher has taken to Japan’s top court his eight-year fight over the banning of imported images of male genitals in a book of pictures by the late American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe…..
…Japan’s domestic obscenity laws were relaxed in the 1990s to allow pictures of pubic hair, but imported publications are handled by customs and it still bans images of genitals…In 1992, four of the raunchiest photos in Madonna’s book “Sex” were scratched out by Japanese censors. But a Japanese language edition was published untouched a few months later…more..
Japanese ideas of what is “pornography” are unique. Japanese censorship laws prohibit genitals from being seen but otherwise they are able to express anything… rape and slashing of pregnant teen nuns is OK—Mapplethorpe’s artsy-fartsy, black and white, gay photos like my parody below is not. Sheesh.
Exploding piggy-bank aims to scare Japanese into saving AFP, Nov 8 11:19 AM US/Eastern…The “Savings Bomb,” which goes on sale in Japan next week, “explodes” and scatters coins if users fail to save for a long time, toy manufacturer TOMY Co Ltd … designed as a cartoon-style, ball-shaped black bomb with a skull and crossbones logo — lights up, makes a noise, shakes violently and scatters coins if it is not topped up for a long time.
“Users must pick up and collect the scattered coins and reflect on their laziness,” the Japanese company said….
A piggy bank that explodes—Now this is what you can call “negative reinforcement” to the extreme. I reported back in December of 2006 another TOMY piggy bank for the same purpose—so much so AFP is using the same damn piggy bank photo in their report today. Tomy Savings BombTM goes on sale in Japan for 2,922 ¥en ($22 USD).
Past 3Yen report from December 30, 2006 Piggy Bank for the upcoming Year [2007]of the Pig
In The Zone | Japan’s New Way of Saving: The Bank of Life
….[your electronic piggy bank character] starts off living in a very shabby apartment. And as soon as you put money inside the Life Bank, he will slowly earn virtual money in the process. Soon enough, he will move to a bigger apartment, start drinking wine, have a pet, and will even get married in the process…
Throughout asia, the year 2007 is the Year of the Boar (aka pig) so here’s a piggy “Bank of Life” by Tomy –in Japanese called Jinsei Ginko[人生銀行]. The Bank of Life is a game style saving system the works much like the Tamagocchi game also by Takara-Tomy Corporation. The Jinsei Ginko costs 4,980 yen ($42 USD). If that’s not good enough for you, try the
I-PIGGY in which you cab set a target amount. When you hit your daily/weekly target , a loud fanfare sounds and to keep you earning money it has the regular functions of an alarm clock four different wake-up tunes.
Here are some screen shots of the “The Bank of Life” and the road to success.
…Contest winner Kaho Watanabe poses for photographers at lingerie maker Triumph International Japan’s “best hips” competition in Tokyo…more…
This PR event was called “Show Me Your Sloggi” — contest for a “hip beauty” sponsored by lingerie maker Triumph International Japan in Tokyo. The winner, Kaho Watanabe, now will advance to the world contest that will be in Germany at the end of this month where two worldwide winners will each get 10,000 Euros ($14,000 USD).
Now the real question is how did Yahoo! News (Reuters) follow the odd Japanese-engrish translation of calling this the “best hips” competition. when it’s officially called “World’s Most Beautiful Bottom“?
Japanese always incorrectly translate oshiri (butt) as a “hip” in English, even though Japanese has perfectly regular word, Oshiri, for butt. Japanese are not the least shy to talk about their body parts, clothed or not, so this is not a euphemism.
Anyway for comparison, below is a photo and YouTube video of Kaho Watanabe’s competition for who has the world’s most delicious derrière.
Refer to the official Sloggi website for more information.
UPDATE:
Burnt backside no bummer for beautiful-bottom babe MDN-Mainichi, 19 Oct
An 18-year-old girl was surprisingly crowned “Japan’s best bottom” babe at Triumph International’s “Show Me Your Sloggi” Japan contest held on Tuesday in Tokyo after a freak accident …”I always take care of my bottom, but I’m embarrassed to show it today…
Remember sitting around popping bubble wrap all day as a kid?
Well, the Japanese love it just as much…So much so that that invented a virtual bubble wrap keychain
Our sponsor JList.com is offering a great upcoming product will let you recapture that fun with the “Mugen Puchi Puchi” — “The Endless Pop Pop” Machine –an virtual Bubble Wrap Machine
If you just love popping bubble wrap packing, or enjoy tormenting someone who can’t stand the constant popping — this is your dream come true! Someone has finally stepped up and created an endless bubble packing popper and made it into a keychain, so wherever you go, there you pop.
Mugen Puchi Puchi — Endless Pop Pop - *Preorder*. Pop! Pop! Pop pop! Pop pop pop! Pop pop pop pop! It’ll be coming in next month, preorder it now.
–Click to view the entire photo collection of otaku Christmas dates.
Order your New Years date now!
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If that’s not good enough for you, try the 
