It was only a matter of time, really. Japan seems to have discovered — and embraced — Minecraft in a very Japan sort of way: By giving it what appears to be a theme song that may as well be the title sequence for some kind of Minecraft anime. It’s hard to adequately describe, so you should probably just watch it yourself. And Notch, please start licensing this IP immediately. PLEASE. What could possibly go wrong?

Japan is the world’s premiere source of both off-the-wall ideas and weirdly catchy dance tunes. That being the case, it comes as no surprise that Japan is the source of an upbeat disco tune extoling the virtues of Calorie Shaper, a $32 pair of undergarments that claim to increase the calories burned by walking. Apparently, they achieve this effect by having a resin coating that makes them stiff, and the resulting resistance adds up; a 140 pound man walking 90 minutes a day can burn calories equivalent to about half a liter of beer every week. Of course, that assumes he has a week’s worth of this rather expensive underwear, or poor hygiene. Either one, I guess.

Crazy-awesome disco commercial that will totally get stuck in your head after the jump.

The Dole Banana Man is seemingly set up to be a superhero, but if his power, which allows him to spawn bananas, is the antithesis of someone, a certain blogger who is allergic to bananas, wouldn’t that classify him more as a supervillain than a superhero by which marketing can be created? Whatever side of the alignment chart on which Dole Banana Man falls, we know one thing: Even Dole bananas get turned into anime over in Japan, even if this ad happens to be live action anime.

(via WTF Japan Seriously)

At first, synchronized walking seems like a sport for people who can’t swim or participate in dressage, but as the video moves further along, the patterns and poses the walking team takes actually end up being very neat, bordering on mesmerizing. The video is worth a watch, but maybe with the volume low, as the announcer seems to be shouting the patterns and positions to the walking team as if he were impersonating a drill sergeant in movies before Hollywood learned of what little tact in employs now.

(via WTF Japan Seriously)

Generally, when I run out of milk, I let my cereal go dry and stale for a week or two until I can muster up the muster to mosey the eight blocks to the grocery store and buy some milk to moisten my stale cereal, which I then throw away because it is too stale. This, in turn, causes my milk to go bad because I didn’t have any cereal in which to put it, and, oh, that grocery store. That grocery store is so far away. It’s a vicious cycle of waste, shame, milk anxiety, and regret. It seems when you run out of milk in Japan, the Milkless go through another kind of vicious cycle — a kind that must be seen to be believed.

Beware the cows, my Japanese friends. Not all milk is enriched.

(via WTF Japan Seriously!?)

Though this video a couple of years old, Viral Viral Videos claims it has only recently become popular. The above segment is from a video series where songs and dances are used to teach Japanese people how to speak English. Not only does the video repeat “I have a bad case of diarrhea” in the most serious tone imaginable, but three women in aerobic outfits dance to and sing the “I have a bad case of diarrhea” song. You know, so people can learn to speak English.

(via Viral Viral Videos)

Sometimes (read: most of the time), Japan is weird. This time, Japan is weird because they now have a product that aims to mimic a severed child’s hand strapped to an iPhone 4, for only $64! At least it’ll go well with the umbilical cord phone charger, right? As Nerd Approved points out, even the very product page for the Dokkiri Hand Case finds the product weird, putting the case’s description under the subheading of “Why??”

Why would you want a hand on your iPhone 4, right? Well, believe it or not, this Hand iPhone 4 case could actually come in “handy”. As shown on the picture on the right, you could hold hands with your iPhone to make sure you don’t drop it. Or if you are feeling really lonely, this case may reach out to you and give you company. Okay, I am done. This case is crazy. This case is creepy.

They also make a Lady’s Hand Case, because why not, I guess. Head on past the break to check out the lady hand.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. By which I mean that if you really want to monetize going to the bathroom in a plastic bag, you can do it, apparently. Leave it to Japan to create a toilet that is not only portable, but is also a glorified garbage bag, a piece of cardboard and some dubious looking chemical tablets. The video is entirely in Japanese, so it’s hard to draw any conclusions as to how the chemical elements actually work, but you can figure out the basics. Is it environmentally friendly? Does it still smell bad? How, um, versatile is it when it comes to, uh, lets say “the full spectrum of waste products?” Who knows. Will we ever find out? I think I’d rather not.

(via WTF Japan Seriously)

Being afraid of the dentist is a common fear, and even if the site of a dental drill doesn’t send shivers down your spine, it’s safe to say it’s never really an enjoyable experience. The way patients react to dental procedures has a real impact on treatment, so dentists in training need to be prepared for wincing, flinching, and the patients who clamp their jaws shut.

Since all things are better when done with robots (right?), researchers in Japan have developed a dental training robot that can sneeze, shake its head, cough, gag, and even close its mouth when feeling a jaw ache. The robot was created by researchers at Japan’s Showa University, with help from the country’s top sex doll manufacturer Orient Industry. Why sex dolls? To get that lifelike skin, tongue and mouth, of course.

Created by a student at the University of Electro-Communications in — where else — Japan, the Sense-Roid is basically a mannequin wearing a special vest that, when coupled with a person who wears another special vest and hugs said mannequin, will stimulate the hugger’s vest and makes the hugger feel like it got hugged back: When the two vests connect, they begin to inflate with air and vibrate in such a way that supposedly feels like a hug.

The Sense-Roid measures the pressure from the initial hug, then mimics said pressure when “returning” the hug, so not only is the Sense-Roid a machine designed to hug people that can’t obtain a hug from another real person, but it hugs people in such a way that simulates people hugging themselves. The Sense-Roid is a prototype, and there are currently no plans to take the machine out of that stage, so fortunately (unfortunately?), people will have to go out and obtain real hugs to curb their loneliness. Head on past the break to check out a weird video of the Sense-Roid.