Tokyu Hands oddities

In the vast DIY/art supply/hardware store, Tokyu Hands, among the meaningless, obscenely-priced novelties like foam dog turd hats and nose/face stretchers, they are offering a “Perfect for Father’s Day” gift: the “HANZUNETTO” Shouting Vase
The following is my rough translation about the shouting jar…

Clamor to whisper! Feel frustrated, confused….
Try “The Scream Bottle.”
4,980 yen [$50 USD approx.]
Feel frustrated, confused…deliver your secrets to “The Scream Bottle.” Shout and scream all you want and it turns your voice into a small whisper! Your screams will be GULPED down by this mysterious bottle.
Features:
—Have an evening kick-the-cat and fill this bottle with your stress.
—Don’t let out any secrets to anyone. Sing karaoke in your room whenever you want.
How to use:
–The opening of the bottle near the bottom acts like a silencer.
–The special internal structure turns any scream into just a whisper.
Shouting pot specifications:
Size (approximately): 12.5 diameter of 18.5 cm high
Weight (approx.): 210 g
Material: ABS resin; country of origin: Japan

Perfect for “Father’s Day”

Tokyu Hands photo via louisemakesstuff’s flickr

This package of Japanese fasteners is labeled….
SCREW KEWPIE

This screw-Kewpie is a parody of Japan’s Kewpie brand “Tarako” (creepfest of cod roe mayonnaise) that I reported on previously.

UPDATE: My buddy, the mysterious Mr. M, just wrote that the, “company Sanwa Screw have once again produced a limited number of ‘costume kewpies’.”
For more infomation, refer to the official website of Sanwa Screw (funky engrish machine translation of the Japanese).

Also read the rest-of-story about the mutant Kewpies in the comments.

In the fashionable shops of bustling JR Tenma station in Kansai Japan all sorts of amusements like this cake catching, crane arcade game.

The Sweets & Sweets shop uses what SEGA calls in Japanese a “UFO Catcher” to let girls claw at catching sweets from the cake shop.

Read the funky machine-translated Japanese report all about the Sweets & Sweets shop and watch their video of the cake-snatching UFO Catcher below.

As you might remember, the 3Yen has had many reports on Japanese a “UFO Catchers” such as ….
—Japanese booby prize
—Robot dog catcher debuts in Japan

You can also see the report with video and pictures of the “Baby Catcher” at NBC News. Read more about the cruel “Lobster Catcher” at bigonjapan.com., Adult UFO Catcher for condoms and vibratorsvia LonelyBob’s flickr photostream, the Maid and Nurse UFO Catcher via Seiya235’s photostream, or, hell, just watch the entire UPO Catcher slideshow on flickr.

Peter Payne’s blog mentioned that for the, “40th anniversary of Shonen Jump, the popular manga weekly, and Japanese canned coffee maker Roots is putting on a major advertising campaign for its new coffee called Innocent Blend.”

Actually, it’s called ‘Innocent Brew’ and to promote the brand, JT who sells the coffee brand Roots, is issuing many of Japan’s Jump comics from Dragonball Z to Death Note. See the JT Roots COFFEE [ルーツコーヒー] website for more fun from Jump magazine as below.

Also check out the official JUMP website for the 40th anniversary www,jump40th.com as well this mega-kool flickr photo slide show of Japanese Canned Coffee.

Think of it as LOLcatSPACE.

Meow, bow-wow: Japanese website reunites pet families
Mon May 26, 2008 - TOKYO (Reuters Life!) …new Facebook-style website in Japan can help your pet find their real family, as well as friends… Pedi.jp, which went online last month, allows owners to create profiles for their pets that include their favorite foods and tricks, post photos and blogs, and exchange messages with other members. Founder Keishin Tanaka said …”More customers have been asking about finding their pet’s long-lost parents and siblings… So I decided to address their demands” …more…

flickr photo thanks to limbo

Watch the Japanese chocolate mushrooms, Kinoko No Yama phallically terrorize the 7-11 store in this TV commercial by Meiji.

Click to view.
“Kinoko no yama”[きのこの山/] (mushroom mountain) are phallic, mushroom-shaped chocolate snacks with biscuit stems. Fun hey?

I was ordering some books on Amazon today and I thought I would dump the links to them here…

And for real fun try out…
WFMU’s Beware of the Blog: WFMU Heavy Airplay List
WFMU Heavy Airplay List

WFMU Top 30 compiled by Music and Program Director Brian Turner
(click on artist name or compilation title to hear a sample tune in Real Audio)

Separated at Birth
Golgo 13 vs Spock of the Starship Enterprise

Thanks to the quip by our sharp-eye reader, Gearheadsan, that: “Golgo 13 looks sorta like a younger, more virile Spock.”

Of course you might ask, “What the hell is Japanese ‘can coffee’?”
Crack-in-a-Can, Japanese ‘can coffee’ is the secret of Japan’s success and without it this highly caffeinated country would never function before noon. Ubiquitous in Japan, a large number of companies offer a huge variety types of cans being sold in vending machines both as heated cans in the autumn and winter, and cold cans in the warm months. See Wikipedia for more information.

According to the Mainichi News, Nestle Japan is putting out a new killer can coffee, Golgo 13. The can coffee will be for sale starting May 15 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Golgo 13, Japan’s longest-running manga.
Wiki

Golgo 13 is sort of the James Bond of Japan—a professional assassin in the beloved manga as well as two live-action feature films, two animated films and a television series. Learn more about Golgo 13 [ゴルゴ13] in Wikipedia and you can view the video of the open sequence below.

Calling itself a “new documentary exploring contemporary Japanese pop-culture,” here’s TOKYO-LOGY– a bit of fluff about the obvious Tokyo from BoingBoing. Remember, the Japanese-engrish words, “trendy”, “dandy”, “costume/sex/maid-play”, etc. are considered complimentary—to worn like this week’s novelty T-shirt, not a lifestyle.

Click to view video.

Rather than ersatz “TOKYO-LOGY,” our 3Yen correspondent, “Den4,” sagely recommends: “Then again, you can always go for overkill with the hell-o kitty laptop.”