Sunday, October 23, 2005

Halloween Japan - O-Bon

generally speaking Japan does not celebrate western Halloween. The closest equivalent is O-bon where the spirits of the dead are invited back home to spend time with their families. O-bon celebrations typically consists of the spirits of the dead being greeted with strange dances and rites.

Of course exptas can still visit Disney Tokyo and there are tales of drunk costumed westerners parading through the streets of Tokyo.

O-bon is typically celebrated from August 13-15.

Link

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Japander

Japander:n.,& v.t. 1. a western star who uses his or her fame to make large sums of money in a short time by advertising products in Japan that they would probably never use. ~er (see synecure, prostitute) 2. to make an ass of oneself in Japanese media.

Check out vid's of everyone from Brad Pitt, The Muppets to Stevie Wonder doing asinine things to sell products in Japan.

Link

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Chindogu strikes back..

The childern of Chindogu (the art of gee-whiz semi-useful quirky inventions) bring us this gem.

With easy to attach leg straps the Walk and Wash will clean small and medium sized clothing and help you save on your ever escalating power bill.

Think of all the calories you'll be burning and the positive environmental impact of your daily Walk and Wash.


Link

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Crazy Happy Lunch!

JustinSpace recently posted a collection of Japanese kids lunches accompanied with very amusing haiku.

Little bird made of rice.
Fresh eggs in her lettuce nest
infested with shrimp.

Justin does an excellent job and would surely have posted more than the dozen or so pages at the link had his luggage not been stolen!

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Link

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Honda Dog returns!

At the Tokyo Auto Show this week our palls over at Honda announced their expanded Honda Dog concept called WOW (Wonderful Open-Hearted Wagon). A new small sedan was demonstrated that includes a handy compartment for mans best fried as well as dog bone shaped door handles and more. While the particular pooch shown here doesn’t look all that excited I’m sure there are many a K9 who will enjoy their new dog-house-car. Let’s hope this makes it out of the prototype phase.

See our previous Honda Dog coverage here.

Link

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Doremon Returns

Hot on the heels of the recently released Doremon helicopter Bandi brings us the indispensable Doremon robot. With the ability to understand over 750 words, the ability to respond to pain ("hey, that hurts") and make random utterances ... "if you're going to stroke me I wouldn't mind a bean-jam pancake as well" this cute cat has a leg up on your average coworker.

Now available in a limited release of 5000 units for approximately $187 from Rakuten.

Not dead yet..

No not quite dead but I felt close for a while.

I apologize for being out of touch and not keeping JMAD updated recently. I moved to a new position at work last month and it's been sucking up most of my free time. I think I'm finally in the groove with the new job and should be posting a bit more regularly in the future.

Thanks for your support and continued patronage.

- Eric