Odd things I didn’t buy in Japan

I love Japan. I love it because it is so unlike anywhere else I have been. I love it because the people are courteous and the streets are clean but most of all I love its weirdness. I love the kooky oddball side of Japan… it appeals to the kooky oddball within me.

If you read my post about the gift shop in Las Vegas, then you’ll know I’m prone to holiday shopping insanity (or vacation shopping insanity, if you prefer). But this post is actually going to feature things that I didn’t buy, but felt compelled to take a picture of anyway!

Happy Face Trainers in Japan... say whaaaat?

So I spotted these bizarre little gadgets – ‘Wrinkle Smoother’ and ‘Happy Face Trainer’ (what I can only presume to be the cure for ‘Bitchy Resting Face’) at Tokyu Hands, Ikebukuro. I was going to say, I’m not sure why they used such an obviously young and cheerful looking person on the packaging but then I thought perhaps this lady is actually about 95 and these products actually work?!

If all that smiling has taken it out of you, then perhaps you could do with a little massage “To the place which got tired”. These strange plastic cat paws actually vibrate when pressed against your skin. I don’t really know what the health benefits are and I also don’t know why they were on sale in a toy shop along with…

Smorkin Labbit. Bondage Labbit and Sexy Time. Yes, they were with the collectable vinyl toys but also, they were for sale in a shop called Kiddyland (which is in Harajuku if you are interested!).

At home in the UK, most arcade machines contain things such as cuddly toys which you can win by inserting roughly half a weeks wage into one of these crappy grabber machines. In Japan, however, the prize is much cooler – umbrellas that look like samurai swords! I actually would have quite liked one of these, I could have gone all Uma Thurman in Kill Bill every time it rained, but I’d never have got it in my over-stuffed suitcase or on the plane back home.

Last of all, one of the funniest things I saw was this toy in a 100 yen store.

“Give someone a great surprise”. Interesting choice of words there… I wonder what the Japanese bits say?

I have much more Japan-related quirkiness to bestow upon this blog and more Japan full stop, it is such a fascinating country after all.

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3 Comments

  1. > I wonder what the Japanese bits say

    The name of it is “Surprise Knife”.
    At the bottom it says “Give (someone) a surprise when you stab (them)! The blade retracts!”

    (Please visit my blog: http://tokyo5.wordpress.com )

  2. […] similar notion to odd things I didn’t buy in Japan, I thought I would share a photo collection of random things I found in and around […]

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