“Just so you know… I haven’t used my toilet in weeks.”

“If you’ve been to the RoboGames, you’ve seen everything from flame-throwing battlebots to androids that play soccer. But robo-athletes are more than just performers. They’re a path to the future. Researchers at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology have built a small humanoid robot that plays baseball — or something like it. The bot can hold a fan-like bat and take swings at flying plastic balls, and though it may miss at first, it can learn with each new pitch and adjust its swing accordingly. Eventually, it will make contact.” w/ photos

“Shibaful, designed by Ag Ltd., is an iPhone case that reproduces the look and texture of lawn. The grass is based on Yoyogi Park in Tokyo, with two other international versions, New York’s Central Park and London’s Hyde Park, in the pipeline. The initial run is limited to 100 handmade cases and they will go on sale in Japan from the end of April for 3,980 yen.” — diginfonews

“Taken at Tokyo Dome during a concert by hot Korean boy band ’2PM’, it shows an enormous audience packed with enthusiastic K-pop fans on their feet, hands in the air, giving it up for the handsome lads. But looking closely, it’s obvious that some of these fans aren’t genuine. In fact, they’re crudely implemented digital reproductions. So how and why did this happen?” w/ photos

“This is not English class… this is Engrish.” — pingky gunawan

“Without identification tags or a microchip, it is often difficult to recover a lost cat or dog much to the distress of their loving families. Luckily for one parakeet owner in Japan, her pet parakeet cannot only speak, but he knows his own address! The parakeet, named Piko-chan, escaped from his home in the city of Sagamihara early Sunday morning. He flew into the busy city center where he roamed free before perching himself on the shoulder of a guest at a hotel close by where he was then apprehended by the police.” w/ photos

“Finally, a vehicle that comes with a Gatling gun as standard.”

“It could be the tipple of choice for those who love getting completely trunk – a beer made from elephant dung. A brewery has created the beverage using coffee beans that have passed through an elephant’s digestive system – and the first batch has sold out within minutes. Japanese maker Sankt Gallen has called it Un, Kono Kuro – a play on the Japanese word for ‘crap’. A contributor who tasted the beer for website RocketNews24.com said: ‘Usually people talk about aftertaste when drinking beer but with Un, Kono Kuro the word afterglow is much more appropriate. ‘After downing the last drop, slowly rising from my throat and mouth was that afterglow. The combination of bitter and sweet stayed fresh and lingered in my head. It was a familiar aroma that accompanied me through the entire beer.” w/ photos

“Fuwatoro Eggs are created by mixing the contents of the egg at high speed while it’s still inside it’s shell and then cooking them at a controlled temperature. As the yolk and egg white mixture isn’t exposed to the outside air at any stage during the preparation process, the resulting cooked egg is soft and moist, with a pudding-like consistency.”

“A record of 37.59 seconds was set for the fastest time for a dog to cycle 20 meters on a tricycle on the Japanese Guinness World Records TV show, in 2002.”