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J A P A N O R A M A

Ahh, Japan... land of the rising sun, rising sin, and rice with nearly every meal. In Japan everything is possible and possibly everything is available - often with a unique and unexpected twist. Vending machines dispensing whisky, frozen meat, live rhinoceros beetles or schoolgirl panties? Where else but in Japan, where urban legends live and die on streets that have no names.

As the Japanese Innovations Writer for InventorSpot.com and an unabashed Japanophile, I take great joy in channeling the relentless tsunami of on-the-edge Japanese ideas and products, each wondrous one revisiting and reinventing 1950s Japanese Transistor Radio Syndrome for the post-atomic age!

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Sony Playstation PS3 Coffee Table Is A Winning Design


Sony Playstation PS3 Coffee Table Is A Winning Design
French designer Stephane Perruchon was very impressed by his new Sony Playstation PS3 and, especially, its ergonomic controllers. Following what must have been a a caffeine-fueled all-nighter, he decided to create this eye-catching PS3 coffee table.

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Bufferin Plus S Cures Headaches Fast - For A Price


Bufferin Plus S Cures Headaches Fast - For A Price
When you've got the mother of all headaches, you want relief and you want it NOW. Bufferin Plus S has been specially formulated to dissolve twice as fast as ordinary pills, thus delivering its four active ingredients to the bloodstream quicker than you can say "not tonight, honey".

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Laundry-Folding Robot Learns On The Job


Laundry-Folding Robot Learns On The Job
Meet 'Foldy', a laundry-folding robot designed by a team at Japan's Keio University. The small, inexpensive robot doesn't just learn how to fold laundry, it remembers its lessons in time for the next load.

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Nintendo DSi LL Supersizes Your Screen, Picks Your Pocket


Nintendo DSi LL Supersizes Your Screen, Picks Your Pocket
Nintendo just can't enough of a good thing and either can buyers of its popular DS-series portable gaming consoles. The answer, in the form of the big-screen DSi LL, arrives in Japan this November 21 but Americans will have to wait until 2010.

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Eco-Friendly 'Breathing Chair' Puts Your Butt On The Block


Eco-Friendly 'Breathing Chair' Puts Your Butt On The Block
When is a chair not a chair? When you're not sitting in it, it seems. That's the case with the Breathing Chair, an solid effort from Taiwan's Yu-Ying Wu who seems to have been inspired by a block of springy tofu.

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Pentax K-x DSLR Camera Shows Off Robotic Colors


Pentax K-x DSLR Camera Shows Off Robotic Colors
Your photos are in color, so why not your camera? That's the question Pentax is about to answer with their new K-x DSLR cameras, available in a rainbow of shades including a limited edition version sporting Robotic Colors.

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Pig Lid Pot Cover Gives Home Cooked Meals Great Taste, Good Humor


Pig Lid Pot Cover Gives Home Cooked Meals Great Taste, Good Humor
The Pig Lid pot cover is a steamer's dream, as everybody "nose". Horrible puns aside, this ingenious Otoshibuta is at once a play on words and a handy way to steam food in an oven-top pan.

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Animal Character Round Mug & Spoon Sets Add Cuteness To Any Kitchen


Animal Character Round Mug & Spoon Sets Add Cuteness To Any Kitchen
Like cute things but demand convenience and quality? Japan has much more to offer than Hello Kitty, as these Animal Character Round Mug & Spoon Sets by Decole show so well.

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Glorified Bong Cleans Your Car's Air, Won't Get You A Ticket


Glorified Bong Cleans Your Car's Air, Won't Get You A Ticket
The "watercourse cyclone air cleaner" from Seiwa circulates your car's smelly interior air through water to wash out unwanted impurities. It may not get you high but it WILL leave your ride as fresh as mountain air after a thunderstorm.

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Bizarre USB Bust Beauty Pads Keep Snow Off Your Mountains


Bizarre USB Bust Beauty Pads Keep Snow Off Your Mountains
Winter's chill frosting your ornaments? Slip a pair of Thanko's USB bust beauty pads under the boys and turn cold & icy to warm & nicey!

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June 2009

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