Gadgets And Gizmos Aplenty

“Oh neat,” you might be saying, “a pair of pliers with built-in LED lights for plying in the dark. That’s a little different. That’s a little nifty."

Did somebody say “different” and “nifty”? Then it must be time for Part III of Weird Crap From Japan. Meh writer @skemmehs here, still in Japan and still finding weird crap on the daily. If you missed the first two installments, I’ve covered major genres such as “snacks” and “crotch costumes,” and today I’ll cover “toys and gadgets."

For toys you’ve got your basic branded tie-ins, like this Gudetama Kendama:

Don’t think a Gudetama Kendama sounds “basic”? Hold on to your butts …

WTF is happening here? Let’s consider all the available pieces of evidence:

• It appears to be a young man jumping rope
• Something about the behavior is causing him either anguish or exhaustion
• This was found in the “costume” section, not the “toy” section
• The contents of the “costume” are:

• An orange jumprope, orange flipflops, and…

• These small plastic pegs
• There are what appear to be instructions for use on the front:

That is all we know. My only hypothesis is that it is some kind of game in which the participant must place these pegs in the top of the flip-flops (facing the foot), and then jump rope, thereby experiencing excruciating agony. This hypothesis addresses much of the available information but raises two concerns, namely: (1) How is that a game? and (2) Why is that a game?

Let’s keep it simple for the next toy, which requires a video for the full sensory experience:

And these “Where’s Wally” figurines:

“Wally” being the name of “Waldo” in the rest of the world, and “Fuchicho” is his …

Who the hell is Fuchicho?

In a gadget/toy crossover, we have this:

Any idea what this adorable Hello Kitty gizmo is? It’s…

A metal loop for scraping wax from your ears! Kawaii!

Here’s something every serious homechef should own: A hole punch to turn nori sheets (seaweed) into emoji.

Or this, a special butter knife for butter that’s too cold to scrape with a regular knife. Actually, I don’t hate this. Cold butter is the worst.

Finally, I’m not sure whether this should be categorized as a “toy” or a “gadget” because …

I don’t know what it is. Here’s another angle:

Where you can see the disco-ball legs in all their glory. Maybe it’s a massager? Maybe it’s a “massager”? Whatever it is, I want to set it down and let it scurry around on my hardwood floors all day.

That’s it! I’m coming back to America and its relatively boring crap soon