I have been tempted lately to learn crochet or knitting for one simple reason. Amigurumi Look at that critter, it's cute! Oh look, another cute fox! Cute sleepy fox! Or a fox guarding cookies

Yeah, I like cute critters. Yeah, I'm a guy. Your point?

Cute burns away the cynicism. Enough said.

spastichick's recent post reminded me why I like checking the Mainichi Daily News. In US police officer takes aim to save skunk with head in jar we learn about how an officer in Michigan cautiously set out to free a skunk from the tyranny of salad dressing jars.

US man ... swigs beer, gives police middle finger lets us know that beer and obscene gestures will not save you from arrest. "Galloway told deputies he would have fought them all if he had not been jolted with the Taser". Poor guy, all he wanted to do was drive drunk on a suspended license.

Man douses women with bleach to whitewash memories of awful marriage Um... Right... Remember everyone, stupidity knows no national boundaries.

And on a happier note, Princess Aiko attends kindergarten sports festival. Wait. Royals acting in a non-brain-damaged manner? Smiles that look real rather than painted on? You know, I bet if the British asked very nicely some of the other nations in the world might be willing to help out with a Royalty transplant. Meanwhile I just have to say, boy the Japanese have a cute princess. Here's hoping she'll be allowed to keep that smile as she grows up.

In the US we get the iPhone. The Japanese on the other hand get a phone that can give you a fitness check. This new phone from NTT DoCoMo monitors body movement and calculates caleries burned, can measure your pulse, and estimate body fat if you hold it in your outstretched arms. Of course when it was mentioned on the local news the only part they mentioned was the bad breath sensor, so they could make fun of it of course.

This one's fun, it's Machinegun v.s. Katana. Pay close attention during the high speed camera slow-motion replay. Looks like it was filmed in the US, subtitled for Japan, and resubtitled for Korea.

And pay attention to the wall behind the sword too. Looking at those cinder blocks I would say that even if you could hit those bullets with your sword, it still wouldn't do you much good if you were behind the sword.

Snerk. Giggle. Oh my, hilarious! Two versions of an ad for a Japanese pet magazine.

Ad for PAFE

Ad for PAFE without subtitles

And a lady in a bird costume sells a tea drink.


And a cat puts up with dogs after being taken to a dog cafe where the dogs like cats.

I have no clue how to describe this other than weird.

Weird cosplay gameshow I think...

Found via tvinjapan.com

Nifty. While I may only be posting now, I ran across Manglish, manga in English before the Slashdot posting. (I was trying to look up info about the thankfully false Miyazaki rumor)

There is currently only a cover and a first page, but Mainichi is posting original manga pages, which reveal English translations of the dialog and sound effects when you mouse over the Japanese. The current title is "A Six Feet Girl" about 16 year old and 180cm tall Noboko as she enters high school.

Found via BoingBoing, a clip from a Japanese program that covers what would happen if the Earth were struck by a really big rock. How big? Bigger than Japan big. Make the atmosphere splash like it was water big. Really, really big.

And today on Youtube I run across strange television ads from Japan. Sorry, no links to NSFW clips here.

First up we find an ad involving Cute bats giving a vollyball safety demo. Or maybe a paper. Either way the bats are cute.

Second we find the governator in one of his many ad spots. Can you guess what the ad is for before it is revealed?

Third we see just how far shoppers will go for a Final Fantasy XII potion.

Fourth, a public service announcement about childrens' imagination.

Fifth a Father and son worms struggle for food.

This post brought to you by the number 3, and the letter, "Ow! Bad leg! Stop being sore!" Er. The letter J.

Thanks to an RPG.net photoshop thread (make covers of games that should not be!) I discovered something new. Apparently there is a series of capsule toys called Mecha Musume that has figurines of girls cosplaying as WWII mecha. Better still, many of them cosplaying as catgirls cosplaying as WWII mecha.

Here's the Konami Mecha Musume page. Just one question, what do I have to do to get a British Valentine tank catgirl?

What, like you didn't already know I was weird. :}