Awesome Japanese

Despite rampant real estate speculation in the US, this collection of the World’s Slimmest Houses shows how critically short of space and cramped living in Japan is.

The folks at Tokyoflash been busy lately; hot on the heels of the NI is the Kisai Tenmetsu. Resembling a flashing traffic light, each color represents different units of time.

Minimal talking, lots of action, and superbikes is just the way we like it: this video for Tekken 6 is basically one long, gorgeous character intro. Note that it cuts out abruptly at the end.

If you can ignore the atrocious English, this Item Getter trailer is like watching a Hayao Miyazake film; it’s a DS RPG that allows users to create their own items through alchemy.

Flickr user Derek is one lucky dude; not only does his girlfriend pack Japanese-style “bento” lunches, but arranges them into characters from Wall-E, Katamari, and Totoro. Thanks, Tenshi!

Guys with a penchant for mechanicals will like EleeNoLITE’s Wheel Watch; it’s an unusual analog watch with notched cutouts that slowly fill depending on the hour and minutes.

With all the 60s/70s style throwbacks coming out of Detroit lately, Mitsuoka’s Morgan-clone Himiko is a breath of fresh air; its internals are actually based on a Mazda MX-5 Miata.

Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft puts his time spent in Japan to good use with Arcade Mania; it explores the land of the rising sun’s game centers and the powerful hold gaming has on Japanese culture.

Japan’s Ritmo Sereno takes existing BMW R100 and R80 motorcycles and turns them into custom works of retro beauty; customers can choose from either in-house or sourced parts.

Our Japanese counterparts always seem to get the best collector’s editions, and this one for Resident Evil 5 is no different; it comes with a USB drive disguised as a T-virus vial.

None of us here own a motorcycle, but that’s not stopping us from craving this limited edition Gundam Helmet; it’s stenciled with goofy Engrish, but still looks mighty sweet in gold.

We don’t understand a lick of Japanese, but that doesn’t make this trailer for Yakuza 3 any less cool: it’s a shame that the previous game flopped in the states, as this one will be Japan-only.

Distiling an entire culture into caricatures is no small task, but “Gaijin” Peter Machat’s 51 Japanese Characters collectible postcards have done just that: they’re limited to 500 pieces.

Lucky enough to be in Singapore 11/22-23? Anime Festival Asia 2008 is a must see: Bandai, Kotobukiya and Medicom will all be dropping exclusive toys from Gundam, Tetsujin and more.

With a Warner Bros live-action Akira due in 2009, American Akira is both hilarious and terrifying, similar to what might happen if Michael Bay made a Transformers movie. Oh, wait…

Although it’s Japan only, we’d welcome Casio’s W63CA Exilim cameraphone in the States; it features an 8.1 MP camera, anti-shake and a 3.1″ organic EL display which swivels.

Snapped by Roger Snider, Japanese Art Trucks are wildly customized (and often inhabited) by their owners; if an 18 wheeler and Tokyo’s Ginza ever mated, these rigs would be their progeny.

Although it’s not scheduled for release stateside, this Dragon Quest IX trailer really wowed us with the DS’ graphic abilities; the game features co-op multiplayer and turn-based combat.

If last week’s 11″ Mechagodzilla wasn’t enough, this 20″ variant is a walkin’, wrist twirlin’, head swivelin’, screechin’, roarin’ and LED flashin’ monster worthy of the name Gojira.

Hayao Miyazaki fans are gonna love Ninokuni, Studio Ghibli’s first major foray into the gaming world with Japanese developers Level-5: think Howl’s Moving Castle meets Totoro.

We haven’t figured out a way to man them up yet, but these tiny 3.4cm tall Tomy Robo-Qs will be sure to delight the ladies by navigating around obstacles and just being ridiculously cute.

Coming this January: Max Factory will be releasing this sweet Scopedog unit from the Japanese anime series, Armored Trooper VOTOMS. Check out all those hands and attachments!

For the feudal warlord in all of us: this original 16th century Japanese Dragon Armor Helmet (Kabuto) is made with riveted plates of iron and is signed by the blacksmith on the back.