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Archive for the ‘Something Interesting’ Category

Interesting gadgets and funny devices from Japan

author Posted by: kirin on date Jul 15th, 2010 | filed Filed under: Something Interesting, What's New?

I’d like to share the following videos that feature some well-received gadgets and devices nowadays in Japan.
The name of the products seem to be unfamiliar to most of you, because they are in Japanese, but don’t worry, you’ll see what they are! :D

Top10-5

No.10 Can Arc 3360yen…one-push can opener

No.9 Chin Shite Chips 1575yen…microwave chips maker
I guess I’ve seen it at Village Vanguard. It’s oil-free and healthy. Compared with normal fried ones, it can reduce 80% of calorie! Vege chips are even healthier. It’s got a sister product for 3150yen, with a cover added to have chips mixed with flavored powder, for example. This is cool, I think. We can always have home-made snack next to beer.

No.8 Cup Men 840yen…cupnoodle press
It even changes color due to the heat. (*”men” means noodle in Japanese. ;) ) I basically don’t eat cupnoodle, and a fork maybe OK for a press, but I like this kind of humor and such a thing can be more suitable as a small gift for a friend or something, rather than buying to oneself.

No.7 Pitatto Speaker 2980yen…anything can be speaker, anywhere!

No.6 Hot Eye Mask 500yen…disposable steam eye mask (10 minutes)
Many people say they like it, but somehow I didn’t like it so much when I tried it some time last year.

No.5 Choi Muki 4980yen…a big peeler
To me, NO. This needs too much space and I’m not bothered to peel skin of fruits with a fruit knif or even a handy peeler.

Top4-1

No.4 Norimaki Makki~ 2940yen…Makizushi (sushi) making toy
It looks like as if one inserted a paper to type on…no, it’s not a type writer! lol It’s an easy sushi maker!

No.3 Hipparinger 3980yen…amazing laundy pinches

No.2 Wine Wizard Wine Opener 4830…easy wine opener
I like this if only it were cheaper. lol I’d keep asking my hubby to pull out a cork from a wine bottle…hahaha.

No.1 Aritayaki Fushigina Osara 3675yen…magical dish
It enables foods cooked by microwave oven to taste as if they were grilled! The curry mayo rice looks so easy but looks good~. :p
I want this because I hate to wash the fish grill after we eat fish! That’s even one of the reasons I don’t like grilled fish! Yeah, I’m not sure if I don’t like it because of its taste or because of that work!

Unlike last popular kitchen tools, this time most of the products are named in Japanese as the way Japanese would love. (You understand what I mean if you are studying Japanese. ^ ^)


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Where to buy fun toys and books in Japan?

author Posted by: kirin on date Jul 2nd, 2010 | filed Filed under: Kawaii Shop, Something Interesting

★Funny goods/books store★
Village Vanguard (It has many branch stores in Japan.)

kao moji cup Where to buy fun toys and books in Japan?

boob ball Where to buy fun toys and books in Japan?

*Disclaimer: The boob ball picture is quoted from Village Vanguard online store (shipment limited inside Japan).

If you are to look for something fun for a gift or for yourself, Village Vanguard is definitely one of the right places to look around! Their collection is interesting and in a sense, I’d say you could reach something fun easier and quicker than you manage to do so from Tokyu Hands or LOFT.

gotouchi candy Where to buy fun toys and books in Japan?

funny kitchen tools 1 Where to buy fun toys and books in Japan?

funny kitchen tools 2 Where to buy fun toys and books in Japan?

They’ve got joyful snacks and kitchen tools…

Gachapin bath set front Where to buy fun toys and books in Japan?

totoro goods Where to buy fun toys and books in Japan?

They’ve got poplar character goods…

funny book collection Where to buy fun toys and books in Japan?

comics Where to buy fun toys and books in Japan?

They’ve gathered interesting books, magazines, comics and etc.

pig steamer zoom Where to buy fun toys and books in Japan?

This picture is from last winter or spring but I took it because I found it fun. :)

Next thing I want to try is to check out their burger restaurant.

***There are archives of kawaii shops listed under the page titled “Kawaii Shop” that is just located under the title banner of this blog.

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FlutterScape = cool stuff from Japan

author Posted by: kirin on date Jun 27th, 2010 | filed Filed under: Something Interesting, What's New?

Have you checked out FlutterScape before?
I’ve read about it here and there and I finally joined them as a seller the other day!!
I’d quote a post from Tofugu that explains things better than I will do so from scratch. :p

So basically it’s a marketplace where sellers who live in Japan and buyers overseas meet. I wanted to have a chance to sell kawaii stuff from Japan but eBay was not my thing. I opened my account but somehow I didn’t feel like joining them. It’s just too huge and too complicated for a person like me who is not familiar with online auctions. Then what about FlutterScape? To me, it seemed to be less complicated, family atmosphere that sellers and buyers exchange comments so casually each other just like on blogs, and more over it was run by a Japanese guy and their office is in Shibuya where I can easily visit if I needed to do something off-line.

I also once thought of making an opportunity for you to be able to purchase Decotti from me when I made my first Decotti making video but my problem was how buyers can feel comfortable about paying everything in advance when they don’t know me very well. It’s good to have a corporate agent inbetween the sellers and buyers who don’t know each other.

That’s the background I decided to join them as a seller at FlutterScape.
As always, I can be easily confused with new online systems and services, at FlutterScape, even though it’s rather simple, my confusion occurred almost exclusively. I had to keep asking questions to the staff, and meanwhile I made a first sale the other day! I was allowed to drop off the parcel at their office in Shibuya. I needed to go to Shibuya anyhow to buy some cosmetics that day, it was nice I could do both at a time. Moreover, Mr. Kakiyama, the CEO of FlutterScape was so nice he invited me to join his dinner with his colleagues and his loyal customer from the UK who’s visiting Tokyo on vacation. It was fun to see them in person off-line!

flutterscape1 FlutterScape = cool stuff from Japan

I’ll keep uploading cool stuff and kawaii stuff from Japan on my account at FlutterScape, but you can also request specific items from Japan. All the other sellers have very interesting and cool stuff that you can enjoy shopping or even only browsing. BTW, if you want to deal with me directly because you trust me and you like me so much (lol) just contact me. I am available for you at several ways from here, Tokyo. ;)

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Best-selling Japanese cooking tools today

author Posted by: kirin on date Jun 18th, 2010 | filed Filed under: Something Interesting

I’d like to share the following videos that feature 10 best selling kitchen tools and machines (somehow food is included though) nowadays in Japan.

Top 10-5

No.10 Cookingoo 2980 yen

No.9 Magic Cold Plate 3675 yen

No.8 Shuttle Cheff 21000 yen

No.7 Chili oil 400 yen

No.6 Liquid miso 368 yen

No.5 Cotton Candy Maker 15750 yen

Top 4-1

No.4 Crepe Maker 6720 yen

No.3 Tajine Nabe 5250 yen (*It’s from Morocco. Their healthy pot best matches with our food culture.)

No.2 Acrylic Nukazuke Meijin 6900 yen

No.1 Lukue Steam Case 5250 yen

Did you find anything interesting? I have a similar type of silicon-made case as No.1′s. But it was cheaper and not that famous as Lukue. As a result, I saved some money then but I cannot find as many recipes as Lukue now. :( In the future I may want to buy No.2′s Japanese pickles maker. It looks quite hassle-free. I like Japanese pickles but I didn’t want to make them by myself because it really smells bad and I have to stir the rice-bran paste in the pod everyday. I was seriously thinking that I’d rather give up eating the pickles if I have to put up with the smell and labor. No.3′s Tajine Nabe was already very popular in the winter, but I don’t have it yet.

Even if how good tools and machines are available in the market, my biggest problem is that my kitchen is very small. I have no room to store these. I even give up a bread-baking machine only because I have nowhere to keep it in my kitchen! (T_T)

The chili oil at No. 7 is so popular it’s always out of stock.

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Japan Hobby Show 2010

author Posted by: kirin on date May 8th, 2010 | filed Filed under: Something Interesting

Tokyo Big Site was a place to look for new brands or materials when was working as a house renovation planner several years ago. I used to make a speech to the public who came to listen to our seminar. It has been a place that makes me a bit nervous. Thus it had never been such a fun place to me before until I went to Japan Hobby Show for the first time the other day as I happened to find it reported on TV. It was a big point that the TV reporter stressed this hobby show put an emphasis on deco and they have workshops so the visitors can join on site. I was not into deco before but I started to like it through my casual Decotti experiences.

Japan Hobby Show Japan Hobby Show 2010

There’d be more people if it were interior material or furniture show.

deco T shirt Japan Hobby Show 2010

Bunch of deco goods and workshops under “Decor Wonderland“. Actually deco seems to be a main theme of the show this year.
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