It’s almost that time of year again. When America gives thanks to the pilgrims and Native Americans by gorging ourselves on turkey and stuffing. But how many times have you thought of sushi on Thanksgiving day? Yep, if you’re like me, probably never.

A hip and trendy downtown L.A. Japanese restaurant wants to change that. Takami has created what they are calling a turkey sushi roll to bridge the gap between east and west for Thanksgiving. I know what you’re thinking. No, it’s not raw turkey.

The turkey roll consists of sliced turkey, avocado, asparagus, cucumber and sprouts wrapped in soy paper instead of nori. Instead of the normal vinegar flavored rice, it’s seasoned with dill and chives to compliment the turkey. The roll is then topped with a brown gravy. Takami made sure not to forget another Thanksgiving staple. The roll comes with cranberry jam on the side.

When you look at this, it actually sounds quite good. It’s essentially Thanksgiving dinner… rolled. All that’s missing is the stuffing.

Newsweek via FG

Technorati Tags: sushi for thanksgiving, thanksgiving sushi, turkey sushi, turkey sushi roll

Nope, this image hasn’t been photoshoped. A Japanese Mac addict actually grows these apples. Ok, no, it’s not a new species of apple. They are actually Fuji apples, however they really do have Apple logos.

A month before it’s time to harvest the apples, he cuts out the logos from what looks like opaque plastic sheets. He then sticks the logos directly onto the apple. The sticker blocks out sunlight to the area causing the apple to lack the normal pigment. This is very similar to females using stickers on their skin before tanning.

Who would of thought to do it on apples… besides him.

Gizmodo via JapanSoc.

Technorati Tags: apple, japanese mac, japanese mac addict, mac apples, tan apples, tanned apples

As I stopped at the last redlight before pulling into my driveway tonight, it hit me. Barak Obama and Taro Aso, prime minister of Japan, share one similarity; thier legions of fans on the internet. I believe I can safely say they are 2 of the talked about heads of state on the internet.

I know I don’t have to tell you how the internet played a huge role in Obama’s presidential campaign.  I read an article yesterday about Barak Obama having to give up his blackberry and almost all communication done through the internet. For someone who has used the internet so much in the past 2 years, I can only imagine he’s dreading the day he takes office and has to stop. They say he may be the first U.S. president to have a laptop in the Oval Office.

Taro Aso also has legions of fans from on the infamous 2ch message board and Akiba. While his appointment to prime minister didn’t utilize the same approach to the internet as Barak Obama did, his fan showed their support around various message boards and blogs.

With the internet now as the most powerful communication medium ever, one who can harness the power of the internet is truely in a powerful position. Barak’s massive social network is the first of its kind for a U.S. president. No political figure has ever been as connected to the ordinary people as Barak and Aso are online. I’m interested to see how they both take advantage of it.

Technorati Tags: 2ch, akihabara, barak obama, obama 2008, obama social network, prime minister, taro aso

I must have been Japanese in a previous life. I’m pretty sure I was a
warrioress. I can’t explain it, I just know. I’m good at fighting –
fighting with a big sword.

AZ Central reports that there may be a big custody battle between Madonna and Guy. This could be her signal that she’s willing to fight for what is hers. But why did she have to bring Japan into this?

AZ Central via FG

Technorati Tags: japanese warrioress, madonna, madonna japan, madonna japanese, madonna warrioress

I am no longer interested in three dimensions. I would even like to become resident of the two-dimensional world. However, that seems impossible with present-day technology. Therefore,
at the very least, would it be possible to legally authorize marriage
with a two-dimensional character?

Well it’s cool that he has dreams and desires. Those without them tend to be really boring people.

Via Yahoo

Technorati Tags: 2d manga, man marry manga, manga marriage, marry manga

Via New Akiba

Technorati Tags: cool origami, difficult origami, otaku, otaku origami

My favorite RSS reader by far is Google Reader. Without it, I could easily spend most of my day reading blogs without getting anything done. They just recently added a very cool new feature that integrates thier translation service into the google reader application.

While the translation service is hardly even close to perfect, it’s better than not being able to read the characters of the foreign language it was written in. Since I’m sure you are interested in Japan if you are reading this right now, chances are you can’t read Kanji. Now you don’t have to copy the URL of the post you want to figure out just to have an idea about what’s going on.

To use it, just subscribe like you would with any other feed. Then in the top right section, you will see a button listed as “Feed Settings”. Just click the button, then select “Translate into my language” and Reader will automatically translate the feed items for you whenever you view the feed. Cool huh. What will they think of next.

Technorati Tags: auto translate, google reader, japanese to english, translate

I stumbled upon this Resistance 2 commercial from Japan. I think its pretty effective, and really brings the idea of the game to life. A normal commercial here is around 30 seconds. This one did a much more effective job that most commercials in half the time. With everyone’s time becoming more valuable, companies are going to have to pull off commercials as good as this to stay competetive.

Technorati Tags: fall of resistance 2, fall of resistance 2 japan, horror games, japan commercials, ps3 games

As the temperature drops across America, cold weather typing plagues many people who just are as addicted to the Internet as I am. Leave it to the ingenuity of the Japanese to come up with a viable solution. Thanko has come up with a keyboard that has a built in heater to keep your hands and joints nice and warm. It features a control to adjust the fan speed as well as temperature. To power the actually heater, a single USB port wont do. This keyboard requires 2 USB ports to be free. Small price to pay for not only keeping your hands warm in the winter, but also cool in the summer.

Via OhGizmo!

Technorati Tags: ac keyboard, keyboard heater, thanko, thanko keyboard, usb keyboard

Who doesn’t love odd robots from Japan? Here’s a 4-legged “spider” robot that was debuted at Robo Japan 2008. While I don’t see much practicality to this setup, you gotta admit, its different. It’s basically a table with legs.

The concept may not seem new to you. There have been countless movies, cartoons, and sci-fi TV shows that have used the idea of a insect-like walking robot. And come to think of it, I don’t think I have seen a robot that did it just like what you see in the movies. I wish I could find a video of this in action. It looks like a bumpy ride.

This isn’t the only robot that I have found that moves this way. Although its certainly the biggest though I have seen. Hexabods are another alternative. They fit in the palm of your hand.offers a cool little robot that reminds me of a crab for some reason.

youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6g610buepo]

Via Gizmodo.

Technorati Tags: japanese robot, robo japan 2008, robot, spider desk