Miniature City 2 – featuring vividblaze “tight rope (floor mix)”

Play in HD for best viewing experience.

It’s raining cats and dogs

So what happens when your dog is desperate for a walk and it’s been raining heavily for the past few days? Dogs usually don’t like the rain and like its human owners, most dogs don’t like wearing raincoats either.

The solution could be in this umbrella for dogs — it faces downwards instead of up and has a leash attachment to it so that it automatically opens up over your dog as he walks. Interesting!

Not sure how it’ll work with your cat though. You can buy the product here.

Via Tokyomango.

Dekotora – When Art meets Trucks

Japan, it’s the one magical word that will conjure up endless images of beautiful natural sceneries, neons, advanced technologies, geishas, kimono, kabuki, sumo, anime, idols, sushi and much much more.

Now take that image, add gold and chrome (lots of it), awnings, baffles, pipes, yet more neons, wings … and blend all of it into a massive truck. Welcome to the world of Dekotora!

Dekotora or Decotora (デコトラ, dekotora) is the local abbreviation for “Decoration Truck”. They are sometimes known as the Art Trucks [(アートトラック), ātotorakku] too.  The truckers of Japan love to decorate their trucks with shiny stainless or golden exterior parts, beautifully painted landscapes, kabuki or manga characters,or pictures of celebrities. At night, their fluorescent handiwork come to life with colourful and bold neon and ultraviolet light displays. These decorations usually adorn the cab as well as the trailer, on the exterior as well as in the interior.

So let’s not waste time and explore the world of Dekotora!

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Let’s Chit Chat about Kit Kat

Our good friend, Lisa Katayama of Tokyomango (and Boing Boing) fame recently wrote about the wonderful world of Kit Kat in Japan (and beyond). Lisa mentioned that “Sampling different flavoured Kit Kats has become a side hobby for some Japanese, and in turn Nestle produces unusual flavours for consumption — mostly in Japan, but also in other countries, presumably for Japanese tourists to take home as gifts. Some of the more curious flavors include soy sauce, grilled potato, and sports drink.”

My personal favourite would be the Cherry Blossom / Sakura flavoured Kit Kat. Marketing gimmick aside (for the cynics), they do taste awesome. Certainly beats the old chocolate milk, white chocolate or dark chocolate variety here in the local supermarkets. Anyway, enjoy the Kit Kat collection (from Flickr) and have a great weekend!

The Art of Rice

A Sengoku warrior on horseback

The name Inakadate usually doesn’t conjure up any specific imagery of Japan in one’s head. It has a population of around 8700 people and it is situated about 965km (600 miles) away north of Tokyo. Mount Fuji, vending machines, futuristic miniature technologies, karaoke, boxy cars, pokemon, anime, maid cafes, cosplayers, mechas … have nothing to do with this village in the Aomori prefecture. So why does Inakadate make it to JHYPE?

Every year, hundreds of volunteers and villagers in this rural town create rice field art by planting four different varieties of rice in late May across huge swathes of paddy fields in special patterns. Let’s have a look at some of the truly AMAZING works of rice crop art in Inakadate (and beyond).

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Tokyo Glow, a stop motion short film

Tokyo/Glow from Nathan Johnston on Vimeo.

Miterudake For Lady

Ladies, are you overly shy? Can’t get up the nerve to talk to that cute guy in your building? Hurtin’ bad after a break-up? If so, order Miterudake For Lady a self-help DVD that helps shy women gain (or regain) their social savvy.

“Miterudake” means “only looking” in Japanese and that’s just what this curious and kinda creepy DVD is all about: 51 young men staring into the camera lens for about a minute each, ending with a quick smile and a reassuring phrase.

Who would watch such a thing, you might ask? According to Avex, the manufacturer, Miterudake For Lady is aimed at the woman whose “heart was almost broken at love and interpersonal relationships.” Obviously chocolate and ice-cream do not work in Japan.

More after the jump. Including Miterudake for Men! (you know you want it, boys).

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Bandai’s Infinite Chocolate

To help celebrate Meiji Chocolate’s 84th anniversary, Bandai had decided to make a special line-up of Meiji “Infinite” (Mugen) chocolate. The item allows one to enjoy the sublime thrill of breaking off a piece of chocolate from the bar, again and again, sugar & calorie free. Sweet! More info and pics after the jump.

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Why is Japan so …..

Google’s auto-complete feature attempts to find the question users want to ask about Japan. And you’ll find all the answers to the above on JHYPE … (^_^)

I, Robot

Sorry for the slow updates as of late. The team at JHYPE had been in great demand outside the internet world for a change (i.e. working hard to pay off our christmas indulgences). We will eventually return to normality with more wacky and wonderful Japan.

To make up for it, may I present you the wonderful robots at last year’s IREX (International Robot EXhibition) at Tokyo Big Sight. Here are a few photos from the event. Enjoy!

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