You don’t have to stay up all night and / or go deep in the forest to spot owls anymore, simply head on over to an Owl Cafe in Japan. Kotaku says that there are currently there are many scattered around the city, “like Fukurou Sabou (“Owl Teahouse”) in Tokyo, Owl Family in Osaka, and Crew, another owl cafe in Osaka, among others.” Activities include munching on owl-themed snacks to actually holding the animals while enjoying a cup of coffee. Continue reading for two videos and more pictures.
Power Japan Plus recently unveiled “Ryden,” a dual carbon battery that can be charged 20-times quicker than a standard lithium-ion cell. In addition to being cheap to manufacture, safe, and environmentally friendly, they could be ideal for improving the range and charging times of electric cars. A Nissan Leaf can be charged in a mere 12-minutes instead of 4-hours, and a zippy 42-minutes for a top of the line Tesla Model S with the 85 kWh battery. Continue reading for a video and more information.
Photo credit: Bored Panda
Sleeping in all day, everyday, won’t win you any awards in the real world, but if you’re Shironeko the cat, it’s an entirely different story. Shironeko (means “white cat” in Japanese) is known as the ‘zen master cat’ for his ability to be absolutely content with any location for sleeping 24/7. His owner constantly balances things on his head or gives him weird hats to wear just to prove it’s not a fluke. Click here to view the first image in today’s viral picture gallery. Continue reading for a viral video showing what Disney’s Frozen would be like as a horror movie.
As bizarre as that may sound, it’s exactly what one teenager from Japan did to gain internet stardom, though probably not in a good way. In the first video, you’ll see YouTube user tokiofn tries out a G18 toothbrush gun prototype and is thoroughly pleased with his invention but struggles to get a good-quality clean. Not satisfied with the experience, tokiofun upgrades to the bigger SCAR-L toothbrush gun in the second video. Continue reading to watch both.
Photographer Reginald Van de Velde didn’t go to Japan for the normal tourist attractions, but rather for the sole purpose of exploring its abandoned theme parks. According to Velde, “The Land of the Rising Sun is cramped with derelict goodies, and they’re on a scale you’ve never seen before.” Above, we have a picture of a roller coaster from the Disneyland-inspired Nara Dreamland. Continue reading for more.
The toy you see above is actually a finger-controlled game Tuttuki created by Bandai in 2008. The game comprises five mini-games (called “Stages”), and a resettable alarm clock. While the minigames are rather simplistic, Tuttuki Bako has received international acclaim for its unique means of control and the game has been put forward as an archetypal example of Akiba-kei and Japanese gadgetry in general. Continue reading for more.
Want some rusted batteries? If so, this National vending machine in Japan has you covered. However, this may be due to the fact that it’s just an old (probably abandoned) specimen that’s slowly rotting away. We’ve rounded up ten more cool and strange vending machines that you’ll find in Japan for your viewing enjoyment. Continue reading to see them all.
Researchers from Osaka University have created an interactive fog display with multi-viewpoint observation. This system utilizes the fact that dispersion of light by fog has directionality. It projects different pictures, from different angles, onto a cylindrical fog screen. Thus the 3D objects can be recognized from the motion parallax, which is how the view of objects changes depending on the viewpoint. Continue reading for two videos and more information.
Marutaro just might give Sonic the Hedgehog a run for his money, as this pigmy hedgehog, who lives in Japan with his hedgehog wife, Okomesan, and daughter, Kinoko, has 41,800+ followers on Twitter and plenty more fans around the world. Sure, Marutaro may have received some help from his owner, but this animal of many faces has the charisma to sell itself. Continue reading for more pictures.
Sweden-based IKEA transformed an entire monorail into a pop-up showroom in Japan in celebration of the grand opening of their Tachikawa station store. They outfitted the train with a variety of furniture products and accessories. That’s not all, even the train benches were upholstered in IKEA fabric, complete with matching throw pillows and floors. Continue reading for a video tour of the new store and more information.