We're #1 (in Obscure Events).

A young Hiroshima lad of 16, Yu Nakajima, recently won the Rubik's Cube championship for solving the 3X3 cube in 12.46 seconds. He spends 5 hours a day practicing! I suppose there are worse ways to spend one's time (like blogging!) When will they release, Rubik, the Amazing Cube starring Ron Pallilo (Horshack) on DVD?




Other obscure events that Japanese have won in recent times include:

"And the Weiner is" Takeru Kobayashi, known as "The Tsunami". For six years in a row, Mr. Kobayashi ate the most hot dogs at the annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, New York...alas he recently lost his crown (and his lunch) this year.



Airhead, Yosuke Ochi, has been judged first at the Air Guitar World Championship in Oulu, Finland, for the past two years running, ironically winning a real guitar as top prize.






YO YO YO: Five of the top 20 in 2007's World Yo-Yo Contest held in Orlando, Florida, include Hiroyuki Suzuki with a respectable second place, and Hitoshi Ono in fifth. This video is of Tanaka Takayasu back in 2005.



From Rubik's to Rubes, Japanese are always top contestants in the Rube Goldberg Contest who use complicated methods to reach simplistic goals. For example, making Ramen:



Oh yeah, I should also mention kudos to Mayuko Kamio, who at age 21, won the violin category of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, but that's not very obscure, so I won't mention it.

Pythagorean Switch.

NHK or the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, is the Nihon version of the CBC, BBC or PBS. One of their kid's programs designed to teach them how to think "out of the box" is “Pitagora Suicchi” (ピタゴラスイッチ). We know of these physics wonders as Rube Goldberg inventions, but over here they pay tribute to Pythagoras with the Pitagora suicchi. I must say that it is extremely inventive (though the music gets a tad tedious.)

I find the best way to watch this video is while watching Sumo on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Poise your finger on the pause button and glance over at a Sumo match, then when the commentators begin to ramble, watch a few of the inventions and then switch back to the tv in time for the next match. If you don't have Sumo, then you're out of luck, you have to watch the whole video.

Well, We're Ramen, We're Ramen...

Hope ya like Ramen too. Ramen (ラーメン, 拉麺) is a Japanese dish of noodles and broth originating in China.


Ramen has a variety of toppings such as sliced pork, seaweed, kamaboko, green onions and even corn. Almost every locality or prefecture, in Japan has its own variation of ramen, from the tonkotsu ramen of Kyushu to the miso ramen of Hokkaido. Most ramen noodles are made from four basic ingredients: wheat flour, salt, water and kansui (かんすい). Making noodles with kansui lends them a yellowish hue as well as a particular flavor.

You can get instant Ramen, Ramen soup, Ramen with an egg on top, Ramen with numerous other ingredients and you can get it pretty much any time of the day or night. Frequently my mates and I will go out for ramen in the wee hours after a night of drinking.

The following clip (6 min...be patient) shows the length some people will go for a bowl of ramen. Rube Goldberg, eat your heart out (but save room for some ramen.) Warning: annoying announcer alert.