Japan has always been ahead of the United States on technology. Now it’s just getting unfair. While we cry about the limits imposed by Comcast, Japan is enjoying fiber-optic service from KDDI. That means that they’ll be able to download and upload up to 1GB per second. That’s four times more than you can use through Comcast in an entire month! This service will be available for only $56 per month (I currently pay $65 for 20MB download and upload through FIOS) as early as October 1st.

Perhaps it’s time we all move to Japan?

Tags: 1gb/s, comcast, fios, internet, Japan, KDDI, united states

Only in Japan could something so cool exist. The Fabria Freshness Gun transforms the process of cleaning up or hiding the smell that your gross roommates leave behind into simply enjoying a nice wintery afternoon. The Gun actually shoots out what looks like a mixture between fake snow and white confetti, but what it’s actually doing is coating your home with a “soft, snow-like mist that uses the natural deodorizing qualities of astringent persimmon and grapefruit.”

The flakes do eventually dissolve, but there isn’t really any indication of how long it would take for them to do so. But on the bright side, it is environmentally friendly!

Tags: cleaning, fabria freshness gun, flakes, grapefruit, Japan, mist, snow, winter

Ahh Japan, home of all things crazy/weird/awesome. From the land of the rising sun come these lovely pig headphones. They are (of course) made of silicon, come with a sizable 35-inch cord and are available in pink, black and white. You can pick up these hilariously offbeat headphones for a mere $11, but that’s only in Japan. Sadly, a search for “pig headphones” on Amazon yields Howard Stern’s biography.

Tags: howard stern, ipod, Japan

If you’ve ever been reprimanded for popping bubble wrap, today is your lucky day. The little device to the left here, known as the Puchi Puchi, is actually a keychain toy that can fully replicate the feel and sound of popping bubble wrap. Until the batteries run out, you won’t have to worry about satisfying your popping desires with real bubble wrap. And for those of you hardcore compulsive poppers, there’s apparently a hidden bonus sound for when you reach ultimate popping status.

The device runs about $15, but can you really put a price on ultimate satisfaction?

Tags: bubble wrap, Japan, puchi puchi

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology in Japan has released some information on the gCubik, one of the few proof of concepts of a 3D display cube. By utilizing six different LCD screens, the gCubik gives the impression of 3D very easily, but those working on the project say that it still has a long way to go.

Uses for the device could be for anything from video games to business meetings, but the cost and quality of the technology used will determine what field sees it used first.

If you’re interested in seeing the gCubik, you can catch it at Siggraph 2008 in August.

Tags: gcubik, Japan, National Institute of Information and Communications Te

Here’s a fact for you, even though Japan seems to pump out some of the coolest gadgets and gear in the world, they still manage to find comfort in believing in random miracle trinkets. What appears to be two Japanese women in bra’s is actually a lot more disturbing than it should be.

Those bra’s are laced with tourmaline, a miracle electric stone that can apparently block radiation and improve mood and stress. Not exactly sure where the electric part comes in to play, but this line of underwear dubbed "La-La" is laced with tourmaline in hopes of offering those results to women who just can’t seem to find the time to keep these rocks on them in public.

Source: 3Yen

Tags: bra, Japan, tourmaline

Sanyo announced today that their new Xacti DMX-CA8 waterproof camcorder will be available in Japan around the middle of May. The Xacti DMX-CA8 will have an 8.0 megapixel CMOS sensor, a 5x optical zoom, and face chaser capabilities. The new camcorder will also be able to take pictures underwater at depths of up to 1.5 meters for periods of no longer than an hour.

There is currently no official word as to when the camcorder will be available in the United States, but the Xacti DMX-CA8 is expected to retail for around the yen equivalent of $490 when it releases in Japan.

Tags: 8 megapixel, camcorder, Japan, sanyo, Sanyo Xacti DMX-CA8

Toshiba announced just last week that Japanese consumers would be able to purchase their 128GB SSD HD as soon as April in their line of notebooks. Apparently, Toshiba has managed to produce this very large solid state disk for well under the price of their competition and well over the size as well. Their MLC SSD’s are capable of reading at 100 MB per second and writing at 40 MB per second, which makes it significantly faster than a 7200 rpm hard drive thanks to the use of a new SATA II interface.

Let’s hope consumers are more open to Toshiba’s line of SSD as the Dell line received fairly poor reviews.

Tags: Daft Punk, Japan, MLC, ssd, toshiba