25 Reasons Why Japan Is Unique

Unique, cross-bred fruit

Everyone eats KFC for Christmas dinner. Well, maybe not EVERYone, but at least a lot do.

Some of the world’s safest streets, on which you can go walking in the middle of the night with no worries

Fancy Japanese coins. Their 5 and 50 yen coins have holes in them.

Capsule hotels

 Electronic toilets/bidets

Buttons for summoning a server at family-style restaurants

Multistory robot-operated parking garages

Heated toilet seats

Love hotels everywhere

An incredible variety of KitKat flavors. Wasabi, anyone?

Vending machines of all types everywhere

“Lucky bags” (sold during New Year’s)

Really high-priced movie tickets

The world’s tiniest hotel rooms

Pachinko parlors everywhere

Hot springs just for your feet

 Squat toilets

 Clean, drinkable water from the tap

Free tissue packets handed out on the streets

The complex blueprint of Tokyo

 Trains and Buses ALWAYS come on time. In the rare case that they don’t, they pass out tardy notices for you to give to your employer.

Kids’-sized beverage cups for adults

Japanese people are really into Yahoo!, but have been switching over to Google lately.

 via weirdasianews.com

10 Strangest Things For Sale on eBay

Barack Obama Toilet Paper

If you want to wipe your butt with democracy, this is the toilet paper for you.
This item sells for just $5.94 a roll, which would also buy you an entire pack of regular toilet paper, for the record.

Civil War Foot Prop

This isn't just any foot — it's a Civil War soldier's infected, severed foot.
Well, it's actually a handmade prop. And it's all yours for just $39.99 plus shipping.

Haunted Demon Power Ring

For $165, you can have "the radiating, enchanted sigil ring of enochian alchemist." Apparently, it "grants the powers of wealth, sexual attraction and power."
The marketing on this demon ring is top-notch. There's even a YouTube video.

Taxidermy Duckling

This taxidermied baby duckling looks so real, you'd think Chuck Testa made it.
It's currently up for bid at $21.50, but you can still beat the three people fighting over it.

Haunted Baby Doll

The seller claims that this baby doll houses the spirit of a neglected 7-year-old middle child with autism.
She goes by the name of "Candy" and she can be purchased for $24.95.

A Niece's Hand in Marriage

Looking for love in all the wrong places? Try eBay.
A woman calling herself "Aunt Diane" has placed her niece (who's apparently unaware) up for auction, starting at $9.99. The proceeds will go to Habitat for Humanity, of course.

Giant Granny Panties

Prank your friends with the world's biggest pair of underwear. $14.99 will guarantee laughter or confusion, but likely some combination of the two.

Baby Shark Embryo

Science geeks will love this baby shark embryo in a jar, for the reasonable price of $42.99.

Voodoo Spells

Looking for love? Beauty? Revenge?
Brigitte will perform a voodoo spell for you for $8.87.

Jar of Farts

Why fart in a jar yourself when you can pay $27.52 for someone else to?

via mashable.com

13 Most Unusual Vending Machines All Over The World

Toy cars

This vending machine, seen at a Milan metro station, aims to save parents from their bored children. The Italian kiosk dispenses mostly toy cars, but, for children looking for a brainier distraction, Rubik's cubes are for sale as well.

 

Medical marijuana

Medbox could be the weed-dispensing way of the future. Southern California already has several dozen of the pot vending machines in operation, and Connecticut is also now considering using them. But if you're up to no good, be warned — Medbox's top-notch security system requires both a fingerprint and a medical marijuana card before dispensing pot-infused goodies.

Bike parts

A revolutionary self-service bicycle repair kiosk was installed last week in Minneapolis, and includes a vending machine stocked with cycling basics: Patch kits, tubes, lights, and snacks. This automated vendor is hardly the first to make out-of-the-ordinary goods keypad convenient.

Porn

At the Meitetsu-Nagoya train station in Japan, it's not just necessities like food and drinks being dispensed in vending machines. The automated machines also offer... alternative reading material.

Umbrellas

From Japan (pictured) to the U.K., pedestrians caught in a rainstorm are no longer doomed to a soaking-wet walk to work.

Sandwiches

In the Netherlands, busy pedestrians on the go aren't limited to sugary snacks and greasy potato chips. Here, a Dutch vending machine stocks a variety of sandwiches. Grillburger, anyone?

SkyMall

SkyMall catalogs have long provided air travelers with in-flight perusing material, spotlighting "random gadgetry" like Solafeet Foot Tanner and Ultrasonic Dog Deterrent Bird Feeder. Now, you don't have to be airborne to enjoy such strange shopping, as SkyMall has installed vending machines peddling the same kooky merchandise in airports, too, like this kiosk in New York's JFK Airport.

Library books

The Edmonton Public Library lets its card-holding members skip a lengthy search of the shelves. An offsite vending machine like the one seen here allows users to check out books, DVD, CDs, and video games, all without ever being shushed by a librarian. There's even a return bin.

Live crabs

The first live crab vending machine, pictured here, was installed in China earlier this year. The crabs cost between $1.50 and $7.50 each, and the machine reportedly sells 200 live crabs a day. If the machine spits out a dead crab, customers are promised three live ones as compensation.

Hug for a Coke

The National University of Singapore is home to one of the world's most inviting Coke machines. The words "Hug Me," written in signature Coca-Cola script, grace the giant red box, and when curious students wrap their arms around the cumbersome machine, it dispenses a free Coke — all in the name of making people smile.

Pizza

"Thirty minutes or less" will soon seem interminable, thanks to a new pizza vending machine that cranks out piping-hot, freshly-made pies in less than three minutes. The "Let's Pizza" machine has been satiating Europeans for the past three years, and now the contraption is coming to the states, with the first machine set to be installed in Atlanta later this year.

Fresh eggs

Villagers in Japan can grab farm fresh eggs in the morning from this vending machine. Each refrigerated compartment stores a bag with a dozen eggs, stocked daily by local farmers. A bag of eggs cost 200 yen, which is roughly $2.50.

Smart car

Why let kids have all the fun? Japan one-ups Italy's toy car vending machine with one that markets Smart cars. Well, sort of. You can't actually purchase a vehicle using the machine, but it does dispense various brochures and promotional materials that could lead to an eventual purchase.

via theweek.com

Guinness World Records' Bonkers Sporting Champions

Guinness World Records, the global authority on record-breaking achievement, has unveiled a selection of the wackiest feats ever achieved in the world of alternative sport in a new book.

Some will make you marvel, others will have you gasping with astonishment and one or two could make you feel slightly nauseous.

The unique athletes who have taken record-breaking to new and outrageous extremes have been honoured in the new Guinness World Records e-book, Totally Bonkers Sporting Champions, which is available on iPad, nook and kindle.

They include New Zealand’s Veronica Torr who recorded the Fastest 100 Metre Hurdles Wearing Swim Fins - in 18.52 seconds - and Kenichi Ito, from Japan, who ran the Fastest 100m Running on All Fours in 18.58 seconds.

Cinderella May completed the highest dog jump in 2006

Frank Simon, the greatest weight balanced on teeth

Vittorio Innocente, who became the deepest cycling underwater world record holder in 2008. He is pictured here at the London Aquarium

Thomas Blackthorne, world record holder for the heaviest weight lifted by tongue

Hauling HGVs: Kevin Fast takes it slow as he drags this lorry. In 2008 he became the Guinness World Record holder for the heaviest vehicle pulled over 100 feet

Christopher Irmscher also features in the book. In Cologne, Germany, he ran the fastest 100m hurdles wearing swim fins, completing his feat in 14.82 seconds

Fastest man on all fours: Why use two legs when you can make use of your arms as well, which is what Kenichi Ito from Japan did when he ran 100m in 18.58 seconds on all four limbs

Making a splash: Darren Taylor - a.k.a. Professor Splash - achieved the highest shallow dive in history when he plunged from a height of 11.20 m into 30 cm of water in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China

Claudia Gomez, for the farthest arrow shot using feet

This one might bring a tear to the eye... Ilker Yilmaz, from Turkey, holds the Guinness World Record for milk squirting

Natasha Veruschka, world record holder for swords swallowed simultaneously

This fish has the largest repertoire of tricks in the world

via dailymail.co.uk