Japanese Company Launches Heavy “Muscle Trainer” Sneakers That Allegedly Help Users Burn Fat More Efficiently

The average energy consumption for 30 minutes of walking in regular sneakers is around 75 – 150 calories, depending on pace, but with the new Muscle Trainer sneakers you can apparently increase energy consumption to 300 calories in the same interval.

So what makes Muscle Trainer sneakers so special? Well, it’s the increased weight. The average sneaker weighs between 200 and 400 grams, but Muscle Trainer sneakers will add between 1,200 grams (for women) and 1,400 grams (for men) of extra weight to each foot. All the extra weight is concentrated in the internationally-patented sole, which contains hundreds of small iron balls. However, thanks to their high-cut design that protects the ankles, and high-quality materials, the sneakers are very comfortable while at the same time working your leg muscles.

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This Is Not a Real Japanese City, But a Fictional One Built in Minecraft

A group of Japanese Minecraft enthusiasts have spent the last three years creating an insanely realistic city in the popular block-building video game, and the results of their work have been leaving people with their mouths open.

Sayama City was originally unveiled in 2016, on creative Minecraft community website Planet Minecraft, and got a lot of attention from fans of the game. The level of detail for every building shown in the feature video and in the uploaded photos was indeed quite impressive, with many people commenting that this was the most amazing Minecraft city they had ever seen. Well, the team behind Sayama City has been busy over these last few years and the latest photos of the fictional metropolis look so insanely detail that you could swear this was a real city.

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Hate Doing the Dishes? Maybe You Need This Weird Handheld Contraption

Japanese company Thanko recently launched a handheld, battery-powered device that allows you to wash the dishes without getting your hands dirty.

Let’s face it, most people hate washing the dishes. And it’s not just the chore itself that’s putting them off, but the fact that they have to touch those disgusting food scraps while they’re doing it. Well, if you’ve been hoping for a solution to this problem, your prayers have been answered. Introducing “Kurasa Wash” a quirky handheld device that does all the dirty work for you. Just take any dirty dish or bowl, grip it with the two crab-like arms of the device and then just push a button. Kurasa Wash will add detergent and start spinning the dish while scrubbing it with brushes and sponges. All you have to do is hold the dish under running water for rinsing and you’re done.

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Japan’s Unusual Obsession with Moss

As a very insular society, Japan has developed a culture that can be very interesting and sometimes bizarre to the outside observer. For example, in recent years, many Japanese have become infatuated with moss. Nature excursions centered around observing the thousands of species of Japanese moss have exploded in popularity to the point that the demand for a place on these trips far exceeds availability.

Selling moss-related products like moss-containing jewelry has also become a lucrative market. You can buy rings that have tiny containers holding moss instead of stones. For many young women in Japan, love of these plants has become a part of their identity. These young enthusiasts call themselves “moss girls” and organize moss-themed events such as viewing parties, where they make drinks inspired from the plants.

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High-School Student Creates Monstrous Action Figures Out of Cicada Shells

A Japanese high-school student recently got his five minutes of fame on Twitter after posting photos of an incredibly detailed action figure he made out of around 300 discarded cicada shells.

Twitter-user @ride_hero came up with the idea of using discarded cicada shells for artistic purposes after accidentally stepping on one at school. Looking at the shattered shell, he thought to himself “what a waste” and challenged himself to come up with a way of reusing all the discarded cicada shells at his high-school. Evening Cicadas, or Higurashi, are very common in Japan during the summertime, and they tend to shed their shells almost everywhere, so it wasn’t hard for @ride_hero to collect hundreds of them in his high-school yard alone. After finishing his AO exams, the high-school senior needed to kill some time over the summer vacation, so he started experimenting with the collected cicada shells.

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Japanese Company Wants to Lease Young Women’s Armpits as Advertising Space

Of all the places to advertise on a living human being, the armpits are probably at the bottom of the list for most people, but one Japanese company believes they are prime real-estate and is currently recruiting young female models willing to walk around with ads on their armpits.

Living, breathing advertising billboards are not exactly a novel concept. Brandon Chicotsky has been leasing his bald head as ad space for companies willing to pay him hundreds of dollars per day for years, and he’s just one example. There’s also the case of Hostgator M. Dotcom, who once tattooed company logos on his face for profit, or that of Jason George, a self-described “human billboard” who tattooed hundreds of company logos that had affected his life in some way, all over his body. But while most of these people offered up the most visible parts of their bodies, like the head or face, but the Wakino Ad Company is betting it all on the armpits.

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This Japanese Gadget Tells You How Bad You Stink

Body odor is a very serious issue, so serious in fact that there is actually a market for high-tech devices that alert users if they start to stink.

The problem with body odor is that you can’t really smell is on yourself, and in an exceptionally polite society like Japan’s that can put people in uncomfortable situations. Carrying a bottle of deodorant on you at all times during the summer is quite common in Japan, but putting on too much of that stuff too often can irritate the skin or stain clothing, so it’s not exactly a fool-proof solution. If only we had a way of knowing when we smell, and how bad… Thankfully, Japanese wellness device maker Tanita just unveiled its newest creation, a handheld smell checker that analyzes body odor and ranks its intensity on a scale of 1 to 10.

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Japanese Shop Sells Shaved Ice So Tall You Can’t Eat It Sitting Down

Shaved Ice is a really popular dessert in Japan, so you can find it pretty much everywhere, but if you’re looking for the craziest, most outrageous shaved ice treat in the country, you have to go to Hyakusho Udon, in Miyazaki Prefecture. The only catch is that you’ll probably have to eat it standing up.

No, Hyakusho Udon doesn’t have a standing up policy, it’s just that their famous shaved ice desserts are so incredibly tall that it’s almost impossible to eat them with a spoon while sitting down. Just reaching the top of the colorful, syrup-soaked dessert with the spoon is a huge challenge for most people, and then there’s the risk of causing the tower of refreshing goodness to come tumbling down by mistake. Standing up is definitely the safe way to go, and considering you’re getting a lot more than your money’s worth, it’s a decent compromise.

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Japanese Artist Creates Incredibly Realistic Wool Felt Animals

Miru, a Tokushima-based wool felt artist, has been getting a lot of attention on Japanese social media for his incredibly realistic wool-felt animals. Looking at some of his works, it’s not hard to see why everyone is so impressed.

Miru discovered wool felt art in 2010, when he saw a master of the craft work his magic during a TV show. He was captivated by this art form soon started experimenting with the material. However, at one point he realized that he needed a bit of guidance to unleash his full artistic potential, so he bought a book on wool felt art that he claims opened his eyes to the possibilities of the material. Over the last 8 years he has honed his skills to the point where it is sometimes nearly impossible to tell some of his wool felt animals apart from live ones.

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Japanese Channel Their Anger at Annual Tea Table Flipping Contest

The Japanese are no strangers to unusual competitions, so I guess it makes sense that they’ve found a way to turn a rage-induced reaction like flipping a table into an annual contest.

On June 16, a shopping mall in Japan’s Iwata Prefecture hosted the 12th annual World Chabudai-Gaeshi Tournament, an offbeat competition where participants try to flip a small tea table as far as possible. The premise is pretty simple: anyone can sign up for the competition, from young children to the elderly, and the goal is to flip the small wooden tea table as hard as possible to send the fake food on top of it flying as far as possible. In fact, the winner is judged not by how far they flip the table, but how far a plastic fish set on top of it travels.

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Japanese Public Service Issues Public Apology for Employee Starting Lunch Break Three Minutes Early

A 64-year-old employee of the waterworks bureau in the Japanese city of Kobe was recently fined and reprimanded by his superiors for going on his lunch break three minutes early, on more than one occasion.

The lunch break at the Kobe waterworks bureau starts at 12 pm sharp and lasts until 1 pm. However, an employee looking for “a change of pace” decided to leave his desk a few minutes early to go get himself a bento box from a nearby restaurant. Unfortunately for him, a senior colleague looking out the window from his office, saw the unnamed offender heading to the restaurant on one of his unsanctioned escapades, and reported him to management. An investigation revealed that the man had started his lunch break three minutes early a total of 26 times in the last 7 months, which they apparently decided was a huge deal.

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Japan’s Stylish-Looking Trash-Collecting Samurai

The Gomi Hiroi Samurai – “trash collecting samurai” – are members of a street performance group who walk the streets of Japan collecting trash with their katanas and trusty garbage grabbers.

These modern-day samurai are part of “Issei Ichidai Jidaigumi”, a performance group that originated in Kyoto but has since opened branches in other Japanese cities as well. They sport a very similar look to the samurai of old, but often spice up their appearance with stylish hats, and modern footwear. They are known for performing samurai-inspired songs, dances, and sword shows at various public events, but in the last few years, the Tokyo branch of the Jidaigumi has been making national news headlines for their theatrical trash-cleaning endeavours. They basically turn collecting street garbage into a performance worth buying tickets to.

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Japanese “UFO Boy” Can Allegedly Contact UFOs Telepathically

Japanese social media was abuzz this weekend with news of a 13-year-old boy who can allegedly contact UFOs telepathically. The photos of unidentified flying objects that he took last year have attracted a lot of attention from other UFO enthusiasts.

13-year-old Haruya Ido is being referred to as “UFO BOy” by Japanese media, for his alleged ability to attract unidentified flying objects. Toshitaro Yamaguchi, a known paranormal researcher and the man who first shared Haruya’s photos with the world, has described the boy as a classic UFO contactee with the ability to contact UFOs via telepathy.

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Okiku – The Creepy Doll That Allegedly Grows Human Hair

Okiku, aka “The Haunted Doll of Hokkaido” is a creepy old Japanese doll residing at a temple in Iwamizawa Temple that allegedly grows human hair. Obviously, it’s also said to be haunted by the spirit of a little girl.

There are various legends regarding Okiku, but the most popular one speaks of a traditional Japanese doll bought by Eikichi Suzuki, a seventeen-year-old boy from Hokkaido, who bought it for his little sister, in 1918. It is said that the tree-year-old girl, called Kikuko, loved the doll very much, took it everywhere with her, and slept with it every night. But, as is often the case in these creepy legends, young Kikuko died one day after catching a cold, and that’s when things started getting strange.

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Japanese Hospital Food Will Make You Never Want to Get Discharged

A woman  who recently gave birth at a clinic in Miso, Japan, recently posted a series of photos of the food she was served there, and they make it look like she had her baby in a Michelin star restaurant.

When talking about hospital food, most people use phrases like “barely edible” or “tasteless” or “hard to stomach”, but Japan is proof that hospital food doesn’t have to be disgusting. Imgur user jenkinsinjapan, who  was recently checked into a small OB-GYN clinic in Miso for childbirth, shared some photos of the various dishes she had to put up with there and they look mouthwatering.

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