to move up and down
Lifesize Lego friends — A visitor (C) sits among life size female figures made from Lego blocks at the annual International Tokyo Toy Show in Tokyo on June 13, 2013. Some 150 Japanese and foreign toy makers are exhibiting their latest products at the four day trade show. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images)
31 crazy fast food menu items you can only get in Japan
McDonald’s recently made headlines for the Japanese Mega-Potato. The Mega-Potato (say that out loud, it sounds awesome, “MEGA-POTATO!”) is a huge container of fries that also holds the distinction as the highest-calorie McDonald’s menu item ever.
McDonald’s isn’t the only chain working to make more interesting fast food — at least to Western taste buds— in Japan.
We tracked down some of the most bizarre menu items Japanese fast food chains have on offer.
Japan’s new super-fast L0 train floats above the ground and can go 500 km/h
This week, the first test runs for Japan’s new 500 kilometre-per-hour magnetic floating supertrain was a success.
The new generation of “L0 Trains” — set to be deployed in 2027 on the Tokyo-Nagoya line — are not the first “Mag Lev” (Magnetic Levitation) trains, but they are the first to regularly break 500 km/h.
The superfast trains use magnetic levitation instead of wheels to reduce friction and to allow the train to run better in all weather. The magnetic trains can also speed up and slow down more quickly than a traditional wheeled train. (JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images)
Sumo wrestlers make babies cry — Held by college students sumo wrestlers, a couple of babies cry in their competition during Naki Sumo, or Crying Baby Contest, at Sensoji temple in Tokyo, Monday, April 29, 2013. The babies born in 2012 participated in the annual traditional ritual performed as a prayer for healthy growth of them. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Japanese pop star Minami Minegishi shaves head after spending the night with her boyfriend
Minami Minegishi,a 20-year-old member of Japanese pop group AKB48, has shaved her head as an act of contrition after she was photographed leaving her boyfriend’s home last month.
Minegishi also appeared in a tearful YouTube video in which she apologized for breaking her band’s strict rules on dating.
“If it is possible, I wish from the bottom of my heart to stay in the band,” she says in the clip, according to a translation in the Guardian. “Everything I did is entirely fault. I am so so sorry.”
‘It shook for such a long time’: Minor tsunamis after powerful 7.3 earthquake strikes Japan’s devastated coast
A strong earthquake Friday struck the same Japanese coast devastated by last year’s massive quake and tsunami, generating small waves but no immediate reports of heavy damage. Several people along the northeastern coast were reportedly injured and buildings in Tokyo and elsewhere swayed for several minutes.
The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 and struck in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Miyagi prefecture at 5:18 p.m. (0818 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The epicentre was 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) beneath the seabed and 240 kilometres (150 miles) offshore. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
Kuratas robot operated via smartphone packs impressive non-lethal fire-power
It’s Transformers come to life — sort of. Japanese engineer Kogoro Kurata created a 4-meter-tall robot which can be operated by a pilot sitting in its cockpit, or via smartphone.
The robot packs an arsenal of customizable non-lethal weapons, and can match any interior, or exterior surrounding, as it comes in 16 colors. Some of the defense-system features of this four-tonne behemoth are a “smile shot” — a cannon which fires up to 6,000 BB bullets per minute and is activated by a pilot’s grin; a rocket launcher with missiles filled with compressed water and iron claws. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon)
East China Sea row becomes water fight – literally http://natpo.st/QSdp6Z
Japanese Coast Guard vessels fired water cannon to turn away about 40 Taiwan fishing boats and eight Taiwan Coast Guard vessels from waters Japan considers its own on Tuesday in the latest twist to a row between Tokyo and Beijing.
Japan protested to Taiwan, a day after it lodged a complaint with China over what it said was a similar intrusion by Chinese boats.
Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated sharply this month after Japan bought disputed East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from their private owner, sparking anti-Japan protests across China.
(Photos: AFP/GettyImages; Reuters)
‘Toilet Bike Neo’ goes where no john has gone before
Japanese toilet maker TOTO rolled out a “Toilet Bike Neo” to raise awareness about bathroom emissions and water savings. The eco-friendly three-wheel 250cc motorcycle with a specially customized toilet-shaped seat runs on bio-fuel from the discharge of livestock or waste water. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Sandwiched: Japanese patrol boats capture Chinese activists as island standoff grows
Japan is considering deporting 14 Chinese activists arrested for landing without authorization on disputed islands in the East China Sea, as harsh criticisms and repeated demands for their release erupted Thursday in China.
The protesters had travelled by boat from Hong Kong to the uninhabited islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.
They were arrested Wednesday after five of them landed on one of the five-island group, known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. (Photo: AP Photo/Yomiuri Shimbun, Masataka Morita)
Huge Japanese dock washes up in Oregon 15 months after tsunami
A huge floating dock cast adrift by Japan’s killer tsunami has washed up on an Oregon beach, believed to be the biggest pieces of flotsam to make landfall on the U.S. West Coast so far.
The 66-foot (20-metre) long rectangular structure, made of concrete and metal, was spotted floating off the coast on Monday, and then washed in with the high tide on Agate beach, 100 miles (160 kilometres) southwest of Portland. (Photos: AFP/Getty Images; Reuters)
Bra with built-in ice packs, a wind chime and a sprig of mint aims to keep women cool
These cups are filled with a gel that remains soft and supple even when frozen, giving the wearer “a cool sensation against her skin,” the company said in a statement.
A traditional Japanese wind chime — and a mint leaf — dangle between the cups giving an impression of cooling “by way of its refreshing fragrance and sound.” (Photo: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)
Japanese man’s Harley-Davidson turns up in B.C. after being swept away by tsunami
The owner of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that washed up on B.C.’s Haida Gwaii — a rusty remnant of the devastating tsunami that struck Japan a year ago — has been identified.
Japanese media has identified the owner of the bike as 29-year-old Ikuo Yokoyama.
“I’m very thankful that it came back,” he told local broadcaster NHK in Japanese. “I would like to thank the man who found my bike in person, but because it’s hard to do that, I’d like to thank him here right now.” (Photo: Screengrab from NHK World News)
Japanese teen’s soccer ball found in Alaska after tsunami swept it out to sea
Retrieving a lost soccer ball is standard fare for many teenagers, but one Japanese schoolboy is getting his ball back all the way from Alaska, where it drifted following last year’s tsunami.
Misaki Murakami, 16, lost his house and all its contents when the massive waves of last March crushed his hometown of Rikuzentakata in Japan’s northeast.
But now, thanks to an observant beachcomber in the Gulf of Alaska, he is set to have his soccer ball returned to him, identified by the “good luck” messages scrawled on it by former schoolmates. (Photo: REUTERS/NOAA/David Baxter)
