Call me a weeaboo if you want, but Japan’s cultural influence on the rest of the world can’t be understated. They gave us massive automotive companies like Toyota, Nissan, and Honda, and they’ve carved out a massive niche in the entertainment market with anime.
Every friend group’s got the anime aficionado who loves Attack on Titan, One Piece, and Fullmetal Alchemist. Heck, that friend might be you for all I know! Japanese people truly make creativity and art a massive part of their lifestyle. Need I remind you that Sony’s Playstation, Nintendo, and Capcom – who gave us Resident Evil and Monster Hunter- are all Japanese companies?
Japan’s got a whole lot more in store than just the stuff we see everyday. Even day-to-day, otherwise mundane items in Japan get the innovative treatment. So here’s 50 of them!
Source:
Imgur
A bridge taller than the folly of man.
Godzilla’s status as a cultural icon of Japan is bigger than any Kaiju, and you bet he’s bound to make guest appearances on anything that can be printed on. When you’ve got to tell people how tall a structure is, who better to stand in for comparison than old Gojira himself?
Source:
Reddit
Pringles-flavored ramen? Don’t mind if I do.
At long last, you can enjoy the succulent taste of sour cream Pringles without the pain of needing to shove your whole hand down a can that barely fits it. Thank you, Japan.
Source:
Reddit
Fun-size fire engines!
Saving space without cutting corners on efficiency, a fire engine this size can get to its destination a lot faster. It’s probably loads easier to maintain too, something that makes a world of a difference in the world of fire fighting.
Source:
Reddit
It’s just your normal everyday tie, right? Wrong!
And to think that American ties are just ties!
Source:
Imgur
Twice as much parking in any one space
In most places, it can be hard to find a parking spot. Not in Japan.
Source:
Porouquette/Instagram
Eye dropping made easy
You can also stick some fake eyes on that and cosplay as a shocked cartoon character.
Source:
Imgur
Toilets with sinks built in
Also, how does it have a remote with so many settings?
Source:
Illemu/Instagram
Instead of canvases, some artists make art out of rice paddies.
What’s crazy about this image is that anyone who knows the movie Roman Holiday will instantly recognize this scene. What kind of tech could have been used to capture the look of a movie in a field of growing rice!?
Source:
Xxkiroxx/Instagram
Baby holders in the bathroom
It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. It’s a hygenic solution!
Source:
J_a_panadventure/Instagram
Insane amounts of variety in products
Who else wants the pancake bear one?
Source:
ImagesOfNetwork/Reddit
In Japan, dogs can be and are groomed into cubes
Because dogs with fur shaped like anything other than a cuboid is so 21st century, and Japan is in the 31st century!
Source:
SierraAndFlowers/Imgur
Bullet train sneakers
What better way to encourage people to run as fast as possible? Sometimes being advanced is as much about psychology as technology!
Source:
ImagesOfNetwork/Reddit
A McDonald’s that’s supersmall
Americans supersized their McDonald’s. But Japan went the other way. Of course, as technology advances, everything gets smaller. Just think about how boxy TVs used to be. The same must have happened for fast food cooking in Japan!
Source:
Japan_totally/Instagram
Melons with branding grown onto them
And you thought you were smart when you arranged breakfast into a smiley face.
Source:
Nathui518/Instagram
Luggage is arranged like a well played game of tetris
Each bag has the handle facing up, and no space on the conveyor belt is wasted. You just know that some sort of amazing robot has done that!
Source:
Abiem01/Instagram
Grocery stores that work on the honor system
Just pick up your items and place the money in a jar. People can be trusted to give the right amount and not take the money jar, because the people are so sophisticated. And there’s possibly a robot policeman or something just out of shot.
Source:
Tsukachan91/Instagram
Who needs a hotel room when you can have a hotel pod?
It’s ok, it has a pull down sheet for privacy. And there you were thinking it would be weird to sleep in one of those!
Source:
Dearlydjoshua/Instagram
A gigantic indoor beach
When you’ve saved so much space by building tiny McDonald’s, why not build a huge inside beach?!
Source:
Avenida_viaggi/Instagram
Do you live with someone who loves karaoke, but you hate it? There’s a solution
That’s right, it’s a microphone that stops the sound from being heard!
Source:
Imgur
Because sometimes you want your melon to match your perfectly groomed dog
In Japan, it’s apparently all the rage to style things that shouldn’t be cubes into cubes .
Source:
Imgur
Food and drink products that ACTUALLY MATCH THE PICTURE
When was the last time you ordered something from Starbucks and actually thought that it matched your expectations? In Japan, it’s unusual if the product doesn’t match the image!
Source:
Fio_jubi/Instagram
Just your normal typical everyday hotel, until you notice what’s different about the employees.
That’s right. They’re all robots. There’s a sign that says “Don’t touch the robots.” But what happens if you do touch the robots? Do they turn against humanity?
Source:
Teppei_umemoto/Instagram
If you ask for directions from a cop, they will draw you a detailed map
Do they have some sort of Google Maps app installed in their brains!?
Source:
Mrtobbsie/Instagram
A fan that cools down noodles while you’re eating them
If only soup spoons could cool food down like this!
Source:
Imgur
A camera that lets you explore your ear
It looks like that thing could explore multiple cavities.
Source:
Imgur
The umbrella vending machine
Again, another common sense idea. Every other country just lacks the creativity to make it a reality!
Source:
Gjeangenie/Instagram
Alcoholic beverages say that they’re alcoholic with braille
Such a genius idea! Imagine how annoying it must be to open a beer when you wanted a Coke!
Source:
Grace Buchele/Wordpress
Ice cream cones that are shaped like animals
They really put animal crackers to shame!
Source:
Yb.adventures/Instagram
Black fries that taste delicious
To be fair, I once invented some black french fries by leaving them in the oven for three hours. They did not taste delicious.
Source:
Detail.kyoto/Instagram
The bus drivers hold an umbrella out for riders who are busy opening their own umbrellas.
It looks like they all used the same umbrella vending machine.
Source:
Howmuchthereis2see/Instagram
Umbrella locks
They’re the same as bike parking spaces, except you don’t have to bring your own lock.
Source:
Monikakuelsheimer/Instagram
Electronic bras
They can tell when a woman is happy with another person taking it off. If only they could make a wallet that stays closed when its owner is going to make a dumb impulse buy!
Source:
Ravijour/Instagram
What kind of restaurant is this? It’s a hospital!
Hospital food in America tends to be foul. This on the other hand…
Source:
ImagesOfNetwork/Reddit
Helmets that let you sleep upright
That’s one way of solving Japan’s intensely long working week.
Source:
Acid Cow
The super convenient dustpan and brush
Who needs tap dancing when you can do tap cleaning?
Source:
Imgur
This puts the Golden Gate Bridge to shame
Why make one bridge when you can smush three into one?
Source:
ImagesOfNetwork/Reddit
You can get a self portrait made out of sushi
It’s almost a shame to eat it.
Source:
ImagesOfNetwork/Reddit
The most unique flavor known to humanity
This is what human taste buds will eventually evolve to like the most.
Source:
ImagesOfNetwork/Reddit
Compressed T-shirts? What a novel concept, but I’m not complaining.
With the magic of wrapping technology, Japan has managed to make T-shirt vendors that dispense shirts folded into tiny cubes. Perfect for when you get stains on your shirt in public and need a quick change.
Source:
Reddit
Portable ash trays, because no one needs cigarette ashes all over their streets
Aside from how unpleasant the smell of cigarette smoke can be already, finding littered ash and cigarette butts everywhere is just as bad. So much so that Japanese people have their own portable ash trays to remind everyone to be a bit considerate.
Source:
Pikabu
Fresh air coming right up
Built-in planters across a whole side of your building? Why not? A bit of fresh air and plants never hurt anyone.
Source:
Reddit
Count your calories while counting your steps!
The amount of steps we take gets taken for granted all too easily. How about putting helpful little signs beneath your feat of what each step is achieving? That’s a grade-A solution right there.
Source:
Reddit
Anti-push and shove grids.
While we’re all social distancing to halt the spread of COVID-19, people in Japan had grids on the ground for distancing purposes way before that. The stark difference being that they just cared about each other’s personal space, which is a strangely alien concept to most other cultures.
Source:
Instagram
No one’s taking your bags here
Common decency and respect seems second nature to a lot of Japan’s citizens. Not my bag? Well I’m not taking it, clearly. It seems a whole world apart from wherever you and I live, doesn’t it?
Source:
Instagram
Taxi seats get the special treatment
Seems like Japanese citizens take sanitation and public hygiene pretty seriously. Who knows how many people have been in a taxi before you? Better put a fancy lacy seat cover on one just to be safe.
Source:
Instagram
Double the seats for double the kids
Any parent that needs to watch 2 kids at once is going to have their hands full, especially if they need to get somewhere. As Japan has shown us already, there’s always a nifty solution in store somewhere. How about a bicycle with two child seats in this case?
Source:
Instagram
No language barriers in the way of common courtesy
With the elderly, pregnant and disabled icons visualized for you, there’s not many excuses left. Just give your seat up to the old lady, it’s not that hard.
Source:
Reddit
Where you see a sewer cover, someone sees a blank canvas
Public art’s not a new thing, though the choice of canvas here definitely is unconventional. But hey, art can be eveywhere. Leave it to Japan to make even the sewer covers nice.
Source:
Reddit
Robot concierges. Yes, really.
Being a concierge is a pretty exhausting job, so I guess someone eventually thought of getting a robot to do it. I’m sure the service is great, but I don’t know if it’s worth the sheer uncanny valley feeling from these two.
Source:
Instagram
Everything a cat person could ask for
The Japanese love their cats, or Neko. In case all the cats you’ve seen in Japanese media didn’t make that clear. Cat cafes were the natural next step, and the rest of the world seems to have taken their cue.
Source:
Twitter
Truly, Japan is a country unlike anywhere else in the world. It must feel so strange for Japanese people to go on vacation. They’re stepping back to a time when dogs weren’t cubes and utensils came without fans.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
Source: Bright Side