Pretty much everyone outside of Japan knows that Japan is a little weird, for better or worse. They’re pretty weird — or innovative, depending on how weirded out you are — when it comes to vending machines, offering a wide range of product through the automated box. Some vending machines over there work via an LCD screen rather than transparent glass, some serve up nothing but bananas, while others make hot ramen noodles and dump them in a bowl full of broth. Now, beverage company Asahi Soft Drinks will be unleashing a vending machine that provides free Wi-Fi to the Japanese masses.

This close to year-end, it’s always a good time to go back and look at the x-iest y’s of the year. In this case, it’s the most innovative countries and industries presented in an infographic by Visual News. As with most infographics, one or two things are pretty obvious, but the rest are unexpected. For instance, it’s no huge surprise that the U.S. and Japan top the countries list at 1 and 2, but the fact that France takes the bronze is a little more interesting. You might also be surprised how low the pharmaceuticals rank on the industry list. Check out the whole thing after the jump.

Japan is rebuilding a life-size RX-78-2 Gundam that stood in the artificial island of Odaiba back in 2009. Relocating the Gundam to Tokyo, the series of videos seen below the break cover the construction of the Gundam, in a convenient, time-lapse format. Luckily for the human population of the world, the Gundam doesn’t function as a real one, and is simply an intricate statue.

In July, Google said they were going to digitally archive the areas of Northeastern Japan that were hit by the March earthquake and tsunami. Yesterday, Google — as they put it themselves — made good on the promise, and have made the digital archive available to the public on Google Street View.

For years, bed sharing couples have done the delicate dance between annoyance and assault. One partner leads by snoring, irritating the other awake. The second partner rouses, and swats at the other until the snoring dies down, and the dance continues. But what about people who have no partner to be annoyed with their snoring? Don’t worry, Japan has a robotic solution in the form of Jusui-Kun, the snore-swatting robotic pillow.

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.

Japanese manufacturer NSK has been working on robot dogs for a while now. Why? Why not. The most recent addition to there newest model of the robo-pet is, you guessed it, a Kinect. By having the Kinect mounted on its head, the robo-dog improves on previous versions built in conjunction with the University of Electro-Communications and can recognize (and climb) things like stairs, no small feat for a robot.

There’s a really strong trend for modeling robots after insects (and mollusks!) for good reason. Those creepy-crawly guys have adaptable mobility down to a science. Thousands of years of evolution have resulted in mechanisms of locomotion that just make sense, so what better idea is there than to totally rip them off for robot designs? The Slug Crawler Vehicle from the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan sort of mimics the way a slug moves, and as a bonus, is completely covered in a waterproof, tread-skin to give it an extra edge.

Burger King does weird things every now and then. The recent, fairly popular ad campaign featuring the extremely creeping King mascot comes to mind, and how there were multiple $5 video games made for the Xbox and Xbox 360 featuring said mascot. Now, Burger King Japan is continuing the weirdness with a Whopper the size of a pizza.

The latest music video from former mixed martial artist Genki Sudo and his musical project WORLD ORDER is as visually surreal as it is catchy. In it, a troupe of seven well-dressed Japanese men dance their away across Mexico. Though, “dancing” really doesn’t give credit to the tightly choreographed moves and the physical endurance of the men involved. Together, the group creates a series of strange, wonderful images — without, it appears, the aid of CGI.

Watch it, you won’t regret it.