JEdutainment.com

People always ask me where they can buy the quirky Japanese gadgetry that I feature on my blog. Like, the alarm clock that you have to shoot with a gun. Or the hungry piggy bank that eats your coins. Well, guess what guys. You can buy these and a whole bunch of other fun TokyoMango-esque toys at Gizmine, a new online shopping site reminiscent of the Rakuten back catalog, except it’s in English and you can pay in dollars and they’ll ship to the US, no hassle. Great place to buy yourself a belated Christmas present.

via http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2008/12/gizmine-a-web-site-for-buying-quirky-japanese-gadgets.html

I came across this awesome video blog/podcast while surfing the interweb recently. Right now this is by far my favorite weblog.

It’s basically this quirky Japanese guy who’s really into buying musical gadgets and random other things. He then records quite a comical product review. 2 thumbs up!

http://www.shobizuba.com

インターネットでうろうろしていた時こちらのビデオブログを見つけました。面白い日本人が色々な商品（電楽器など）を紹介してくれます。これほど面白いブログを見たことがないので、皆さんは是非ご覧になって欲しいです。

Just stumbled across this gem of Japanese goodness.

Japanese Classical Literature at Bedtime

It’s a great audio blog where the author posts Japanese readings of classical Japanese literature.

Since most of the content is “classic” and therefor older-style Japanese, so it’s a bit advanced. But it’s definitely wroth checking out. Very interesting, and good practice.

今日このブログをたまたまに見つけました。日本の古典的な文学を読んでいる声を録音しました。古い日本語はちょっと分かりにくいですけれども、素晴らしいアイデアですね。

If you're looking for a little fun in the shower, Bandai's new Beer Shampoo may be just the thing. The bottle is designed so that the citrus-scented soap inside sprays out as foam. It's part of a series of products titled "I've always wanted to try this." As in, you always wanted to spray yourself all over with beer, but you never did it because you didn't want to get your clothes dirty. Other novelty products in this series include the 10,000 yen bill bath salts and the 10,000 yen bill oil blotting paper.

Press release via Impress Watch (Japanese)

via http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2008/11/body-shampoo-si.html

Taking the train everywhere in Tokyo can be pretty tasking if you're not used to being in a commuter mosh pit, but the Yamanote Line's soothing platform music definitely takes the edge off. Each stop has its own signature tune so you know what station you're at even if you're blind, lost, or just confused. This Yamanote Line piggy bank that I found at Tokyu Hands plays a medley of platform music—each time you drop in a coin, the headlights go on, the music starts playing and all of a sudden you feel like you're on your way somewhere in Tokyo. And once the piggy bank is full, maybe you'll have enough cash saved up to take a real vacation.

Now, whenever I get nostalgic for the Yamanote Line, I can just play this YouTube video.

via http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2008/11/piggy-bank-play.html

Saw this on another blog and just had to post it. Wow.

Sumo Baby | Neil Duckett

I'm not a super train geek or anything, but I do know the Yamanote line pretty well. It's the green-and-silver train that does a big loop around central Tokyo, that takes you from Meguro to Tokyo Station in 19 minutes and from Shinjuku to Shibuya in precisely 7. I used to take it everyday to school and now I ride it all the time to get places. Now, with this strange-but-kinda-cool digital watch that looksl ike the train station sign announcing the arrival of the next train, you can wear the Yamanote line on your wrist.

Link

Related stories:

Yamanote Line tape measure
Yamanote Line cell phone straps

via http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2008/09/yamanote-line-d.html

Anyone learning Japanese who also happens to spent a lot of time wasting away in front of a computer will definitely get a kick out of a bunch of new Nihongo courses on iKnow from Cerego Japan.

The Japanese Core 2000 module, for example, splits a large vocabulary list up into ten bite-size chunks complete with examples, pronunciation guides and more.

I won’t go into detail here, but the site is so Web 2.0 it almost hurts – that can be a bad thing when overused, but Cerego has done a great job of making the learning experience as clean and uncluttered as possible.

So far, the vocab stretches only to roughly a lower-intermediate level of Japanese, but plenty more is promised to arrive soon.

(Via iKnow)

via http://www.digitalworldtokyo.com/index.php/digital_tokyo/japanese_language_20_with_iknow/#When:07:44:32Z

Great news for all you lovers of wacky Japanese products out there with the announcement that Thanko has added an English portal to their Rare Mono Shop.

Via Akiba Today

Share This

via http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Japundit/~3/394790478/

via http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Japundit/~3/359022179/