Here’s the First Corollary to Cosplay Sells: When humans cosplaying as animals doesn’t work, have an animal cosplay a human. Like this ad for a hotel booking service in Japan with a cat cosplaying as a salary man. Damn it, Japan! You’ve got this down to a science, now I want to book a room I’ll never use. This gives me a great idea though… be right back, trying to put a tie on my cat. This cant go wrong, can it?

Hat tip to Ben!

[Japan Probe]

It was two years ago when we found out about Miteru Dake, a series of videos of women simply staring at a camera aimed at helping Japanese men overcome shyness. But really we all know it’s for guys who get their kicks out of having women stare them down.

Well Japan might not be know for it’s gender equality, but weird fetishes are the great equalizer and so now there’s Miteru Dake For Lady a DVD filled with videos of men staring at the camera. Ladies, do you enjoy this, or is it as stupid as the other version?

Also, would the universe collapse were I to place 2 screens facing each other playing both versions of these?

[Boing Boing]

Boy, Augmented Reality just keeps getting better and better! And it’s even cooler that some of the most amusing applications have come straight from users and tinkerers, not business outfit. That’s the mark of a field about to explode.

Like this video here where they test an application built using ARToolKit to create a working distance measuring gun of sorts. Imagine never having to measure the distance to the nearest toilet ever again! We truly live in the future! Oh.. and I guess the Mecha shooting a couple of giant beam lasers was neat too.

[Game Set Watch]

It’s amazing! The Japanese have made a giant breakthrough in both genetic engineering and theoretical physics, resulting in the most amazing creature mankind has ever seen: a time-shifting bird! You heard that right, a bird with the preternatural power to move time to it’s whim. Watch this next TV clip for details.

The Japanese are easily amused, huh? And I guess so  are we.

[Japan Probe]

Remember the huge Gigantor (Tetsuyin 28) statue that went on display in Kobe, Japan a few months ago? Well it might not have been as big or imposing as the huge Gundam statue but it’s apparently been a huge boon to the local economy. Over a million people have gone to visit it since it opened!

With such a stream of people coming in to the exhibit local businesses have gone all out in taking advantage of the situation. How much so? In the clip above you can see Gigantor street lamps, Gigantor taxi cabs with manga collections inside, tishirts, vending machines, figurines and the number 28 written on pretty much everything! It’s kinda like Elvis’ Graceland only there’s no fat guys cosplaying as the giant robot… just yet.

[Japan Probe]

Once again, marketers take advantage of the only surefire way to sell stuff in Japan: cosplay. This time we learn a bit about the etiquette of car damages for giant monsters. Bonus points if you can correctly tell if the person in the monster suit is a man or a woman.

[Japan Probe]

In Mexico they’re called Quinceañeras, for the Jews there’s the Bar Mitzvahs, and for Americans there is the general plague that seems to spread around your face, for guys: the sudden appearance of “hair down there”, and the awkwardly, embarrassing voice cracks at the most inopportune times. And since I can’t leave out my ladies I’ll throw in if your coming of age is anything like the “My Super Sweet 16” god help us all. This may be TMI, but as a discombobulated teen, my parents would always tell me they’d throw me a party when my balls dropped. Awesome hu?

I can’t say I ever got the party, but if you’re Japanese, the national holiday of coming of age is celebrated with the Disney crew wishing you well on your journey into adulthood. What is surprising is the age (20) where the journey begins. I shared my pubescent horror story, what are some of yours?

[Japundit]

In an effort to find a more humane alternative to dissection, Japanese scientists have produced transparent Goldfish. With a possibility of growing up to 10 inches and weighing in at 5 lbs, it’s only a matter of time until we see transparent edibles such as these appear on Iron Chef. Imagine the not too distant future of sitting down at your favorite sushi house, only to marvel at a supposed empty plate.

[F*ckedGaijin]

Michael Moore and controversy go hand in hand but now he has done something so unbelievable, so mind-bending that I cant help but think he’s crazy. He runs away from maids in Akihabara.

While being toured around Tokyo by a TV crew, Michael was invited into the @home Maid Cafe where he then attempts to instill a communist agenda in the cafe by telling the maids they should not call him master that they “are equal”. Blasphemy!

Later on while saying his goodbye a Maid appears on the street and Mr. Moore starts fleeing, for fear that the Japanese version of ‘To Catch A Predator’ might be after him.

[Japan Probe]

The Japanese are a frugal people, which can be evidenced by the wide variety of novelty piggy banks they come up with, including exploding ones and even ones with RPGs in them. This one, however, has to take the crown for cutest coin bank ever. You place a little coin in a fish plate and a cat comes out and takes it inside the box. This will be the cutest, most heartwarming thing ever!… for the first 5 coins. Come on you have like 25 coins in your pocket, putting them in one by one is going to take forever! Hurry up you damn cat!

[Strapya]