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A Stormtrooper. In Japan. Dancing.

I read an article in the Japan Times about the best Japan-related internet stories of 2007. The advertising campaigns caught my attention.

Unsurprisingly most of them completely passed me by including Uniqlock the quirky flash based clock you can have as a blog widget for Japanese clothes outlet Uniqlo that’s playing above.

Also is the Pepsi Nex Dance which if you can decipher a few kanji lets you create a character that dances to the music on the site. (Click start, then the green button in the bottom left of the screen. Then scroll down the menu and click on the left button which lights up to get into the designing section.)

Nike Cosplay involved a salaryman being chased around Akihibara by ninjas.

Via jwz

Anpanman, the superhero made out of pastry has fallen on hard times.

With blockbuster heroes such as the Hulk and Spiderman in his place, the out-of-work has-been has nothing to do but sit outside amusement arcades with his pet Lilo watching the world go by.

A sorry sight indeed.

The butt-biting insect. Perhaps the most bizarre thing I have seen in the 3 years I’ve been on this island.

Isabelle loves it.

The latest edition of Kansai Time Out has a funny article about the Kanji Typo Contest

This is a contest where members of the public send in examples of kanji typos which happen when someone enters a word in hiragana, presses the space bar to change it into kanji yet chooses the wrong word or phrase.

The article gives a few examples such as 今年から海外に住み始めました。（Kotoshi kara kaigai ni sumihajimemashita, This year I began living abroad”) accidentally written as 今年から貝が胃に住み始めました (This year shellfish have taken up residence in my stomach)

今日は見に来てくれてありがとう　(Kyo wa mi ni kite kurete arigato, Thank you for coming to see us today)
今日はミニ着てくれてありがとう　(Kyo wa mini kite kurete arigato, Thank you for wearing a miniskirt today)

うちの子は耳下腺炎でした (Uchi no ko wa jikasenen deshita, Our child had parotiditus [inflammation of the ear])
うちの子は時価千円でした (Uchi no ko wa jika senen deshita, The going price for our child was 1,000 yen)

You can see more at (the all Japanese) Kanji Typo Contest

Got sent an email just now about these outstanding rice fields.

Each year, farmers in the town of Inakadate in Aomori prefecture create works of crop art by growing a little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed tsugaru-roman variety. This year’s creation — a pair of grassy reproductions of famous woodblock prints from Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mount Fuji — has begun to appear (above). It will be visible until the rice is harvested in September.

I thought they were edited on computer until I saw these pictures

Via Pink Tentacle

Yoda Origami via Japundit via Neo Samurai

Here’s how to make it

Is there any way this boy can be any ruder? This photo was taken on a 7:00 am rush hour train. He`s taking up 4 seats!

4 SEATS!

You bow at the end of a phone call with your Japanese staff.