Gearfuse

I’m always sort of embarrassed asking for chopsticks when I’m at a Japanese restaurant. I can almost hear the server’s thoughts: “Stupid fucking Americans, shitting all over our customs.” Though I’d hear something more like “Ayaaaa ching chong hiiiih arigato Mr. Roboto.”

And in a way, we really are shitting all over their customs. And this Chopsticks Plus One and Two concept doesn’t do much to clean our image. Combining chopsticks, a spoon, a sauce bowl and toothpicks (the essential makings of any American dining experience) these chopsticks make eating Japanese food less traditional, but a hell of a lot easier.

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I’ve kinda always wondered about this. Do monsters have the same basic anatomic features as us humans? I mean think about it. When you think of monsters, they could really be made of anything, sort of like aliens. Well, now we know.

These anatomical charts come complete with spiked vertebrates and massive human filled colons. Hit the jump for Godzilla and friends.

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What’s more important to you? Looking cool or eating sushi that is actually technically sushi? These Lightsaber Chopsticks might cook your sushi, so it might be more of a seared salmon and rice type dish.

These ChopSaver chopsticks are available in red, blue and green colors and are likely to break a few plates over the years. Our advice? Don’t use your finest china unless the force is strong in you or you’re a trained Jedi.

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If you’re a true geek you’ve likely either dated a Japanese girlfriend or fantasized about having one. If by any chance you actually have one, they would surely go totally nuts over these Panda Ear buds. You know how girls, in general, not even specifically Japanese, are into this cutesy shit.

Even if you’re a hipster dude, you might dig wearing these buds. One thing’s for sure. Even though you might look a little desperate, the ear pandas are sure to get you some feminine attention. Check them out for $15 from FredFlare.

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Care to grab a bite to eat? Make sure it’s the real thing. This Japanese papercraft features what appears to be a tasty burger, some weird fish sandwich, “Fried Potato” and a soft drink. Unfortunately, just like the real thing, this papercraft isn’t free. It’ll cost you $6 but won’t leave you feeling fat and unsatisfied.

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Yesterday, around 9:50am, I received a text message on my iPhone 3G. I opened it up and lo and behold, what do I see?

A fish, a soccer ball and a traffic light.

What the fuck could this be? After asking my friend how he sent images like that via SMS, he soon explained to me that these were Emoji, Japanese emoticons that are a huge overseas. Apple included support for these with the iPhone 2.2 update. The problem is, you can’t use them outside of Japan. Until now.

All you need is a buck. Head over to the App Store and purchase a Japanese RSS app called “Frostyplace.” Like I said, it’s a buck and once you buy it, open it up and click around for about three minutes. After that, exit out and repeat. After you’ve played with it for awhile, open up your keyboard preferences on the iPhone and you’ll find an Emoji option under Japanese options. Turn the Emoji on and you can now send these to anyone with an iPhone and they’ll be able to receive them. Quite good fun, considering you can send someone a pile of poop with eyes on it.

If you need more detailed instructions on how to do this, I highly recommend Justine’s blog. She seems to be the one who discovered this neat little hack.

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Dentsu Inc, Japan’s largest advertising agency, is aiding Nintendo in launching a video distribution service on Nintendo’s home console, the Wii. The two companies plan to offer programs exclusive to the service, allowing old people and little kids to get down with some cartoons and other entertainment content.

However, nothing in this world is free (except Wii Sports) and viewers will need to pay to see some of the content the video service provides, while others will be offered free of charge so long as they can put up with some unsightly ads. Dentsu and Nintendo will start offering this new video service early next year, while American Wii owners are left in the dark.

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I love sushi. Whether I’m eating it or sleeping on it, it’s all good. These ThinkGeek pillows modeled after popular Japanese cuisine run anywhere from $45 to $60 dollars and come in a variety of different styles/flavors. Tuna, salmon, shrimp, salmon roe and even edamame have all been turned into stylish plush pillows. I’ve gotten a hold of the salmon roll pillow because what kind of a Jew would I be on Hanukkah if I wasn’t sleeping on top of a large piece of salmon? Exactly.

Currently all models are out of stock, but if you’re interested in obtaining one keep checking back. They’re bound to get more in eventually. Until then, use your R2D2 soy sauce bottle on some real sushi to hold yourself over.

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Retro computer enthusiast Bill Kotaska has successfully built a replica of Busicom’s historic 141-PF printing calculator using vintage Intel chips. It’s the 37th anniversary of the world’s first single chip, customer-programmable microprocessor, the tiny Intel 4004. It was the Japanese calculator maker known as Busicom which later introduced the first product ever built around an Intel microprocessor.

So, in light of this historic event, Bill Kotaska decided to craft this re-creation of the historical machine which is capable of running the software from the original Busicom ROMs. Fancy yourself a computer historian? Bill’s got you covered as he provides schematics and photos of his re-creation at the unofficial 4004 web site, provided below.

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Fallout 3 is about to hit Japan’s store shelves and news has emerged claiming that the developers, Bethesda Softworks, have made changes to the game to more comfortably appeal to the Japanese market. You can probably guess from here what changes have been made, but just in case your a little rusty on your history, I’ll tell you.
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