only in Japan

Tokyo “couple-busting” company finds who your spouse is cheating with, becomes friends with them

What better way to convince your spouse to stop cheating than by hiring a “friend” to tell them to quit?

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Only in Japan: handwritten love letters from high school girls now available in crank machines

Creepy or cute? Read some of the letters yourself and find out.

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Japanese movie promos are the best! Twitter shows off the most enticing anime movie freebies

Japan gives moviegoers some pretty cool reasons to watch movies in the cinema.

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McDonald’s Japan releases hilarious Funassyi Happy Meal sets for limited time

With three unique box designs and eight toys to collect, this is one of the cutest character collaborations we’ve ever seen!

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Japanese pen contains miniature coffee siphon that works with the warmth of human touch

Watching the liquid move and bubble as it reacts to warmth makes it easy to forget that this is actually a pen!

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McDonald’s Japan offers customers chance to win gold fries

Who needs a gold medal when there’s a serving of gold fries up for grabs?

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Japanese stockings now come with ready-made nail polish

Now you can change your nail polish as often as you change your stockings

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You can buy batteries that have been specially charged for you by idols on a bike 【Video】

These batteries aren’t full of electricity — they’re full of love.

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Drink, cook, eat — New “Ika Glass” is a cup made entirely of squid【Pics】

For those who aren’t entirely satisfied unless they’re able to eat their drinking vessel too.

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Japanese chocolates come to life as ikemen “hot guy” anime characters

Say hello to six chocolates in handsome human form.

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Chocolate takoyaki?? We try the limited-edition sweet that looks just like fried octopus balls

Takoyaki, Japan’s ever-popular street food gets a sweet gourmet makeover in time for Valentine’s Day.

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Japan’s latest awkward invention: the chair-umbrella 【Pics & Video】

Japanese inventions have a reputation for being incredibly awesome, incredibly bizarre, and, um, even more incredibly bizarre. And this latest creation is no exception: say hello to the chair-umbrella.

Ever needed a seat but all you had was a stupid, useless umbrella? Well never again! Just turn this amazing invention upside-down, open it up, sit on down, and prepare to be stared at and asked if you need to be taken to a hospital.

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Only in Japan: Rent a hot guy to make you cry then wipe your tears away

Japan is already well-known for being the place where you can rent a human being for pretty much any occasion. There’s rentable boyfriends, girlfriends, and even middle-aged dudes to dispense relationship advice.

So the latest type of rentable person should come as no surprise: hot guys to cry with you and wipe away your tears. Ladies, are you ready for a stress-relieving cry and a good-looking dude with immaculate hands to dab your eyes with a cloth? Well then get ready for Ikemeso.

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Japan’s “Rent-a-Boyfriend”Dispatch Service: Because Japanese Women Get Lonely Too

Japan provides its lonely men with plenty of way to find sweet respite from the emptiness and isolation of everyday life—provided you have the cash. And we’re not just talking about prostitution: you can rent a girlfriend at Moé Date for day of “simulate romance” or find a cuddle partner at Soine-ya to help you rest easy at night.

But what about the ladies? Women get lonely too, so it seems unfair that such services would only be available to men.

Believe it or not, even before either of the above establishments were in business, there was Soine-ya Prime, a dispatch service where women can hire a handsome young man to lay with her in bed for a night.

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Man Offers to Cover His Body in Advertisements, Rides Japan’s Busiest Train All Day

Would you buy a product that was advertised on a man’s crotch?

A few companies in Japan think you would.  Currently on Yahoo Japan’s auction site, a man is offering to ride the Yamanote line, one of Japan’s busiest train routes, decked out in advertisements for an entire day.  His unique service has already received 20 bids.

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Is Incest Japan’s Latest Literary Craze? Popularity of “My Little Sister” Light Novels on the Rise

Japanese “light novels” are a type of short and often serialized young adult novel that are usually heavy on dialogue and light on narrative depth. The growing popularity of light novels has made them common choices for manga and anime adaptations, such as the Haruhi Suzumiya series.

One of the more popular light novel series in recent years is My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute, which tells the story of a normal high school student who finds out his prodigious younger sister is actually a closet otaku, obsessed with anime and incest-themed adult computer games…

It’s probably less unwholesome than it sounds (at least by Japanese standards), and the point is that the series has become so popular that it has spawned an anime and manga series as well as several video games.

It has also seemed to usher in a new craze of light novels about the relationship between normal older brothers and their not-so-normal little sisters.

That’s totally wholesome…right…?

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