I freakin’ love Japan right now…if I ever go there, I will make sure to never sit in a port-a-potty, massage chair, or anything else that has the remote possibility of turning into a makeshift rocket or bobsled.

Nevermind that any number of those folks could have been killed (especially the ones that were propelled down the mountain). Good times.

1. Only they could get away with that.
2. Only they could build that rocket sled massage chair.

That’s amazing

Rachel, I have plenty of questions about Craig’s video too. Did the people they showed on the show agree to be shown on tv after the prank was pulled on them? Did the guy who fell off the porta potty bobsled right at the first not get hurt? Is it okay that the porta potty bobsled tips over into the water?

Do you think the boat turned around and picked up the poor soul that it dragged out from the porta-potty after they had fallen off of their makeshift wakeboard?

I have to agree with you Ryan, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a sex-crazed, insane, overdone, irrational society in all my life. But, at least we get some entertainment from their craziness. They probably think we are so boring here in the United States of Amewica.

As for your question about favorite fads from any country, I personally love Thailand’s preoccupation with sex changes. Did you know that Bangkok is the sex change capital of the world? And that they have an entire hospital dedicated to sex changes? They also have a subset of cross-dressers called “lady boys” who – unlike American drag queens – don’t go the distance to become a true female caricature. They just pick a few points of interest, say, long red nails or bright pink lips, but then otherwise they dress like men. We were in a cab once with a driver who looked like a man, but had 3-inch nails painted pink, so I made my sister (who speaks Thai) ask him why. His answer? “Because they look pretty.” Duh.

Davis, tell me that Melissa wouldn’t love to get some professional pictures taken where she was holding a shrunken Lyla on her thumb?

Ry, the best thing about the Ganguro Girls is how much they have in common with the style known as “Utah Girl”. Not up in your neighborhood, of course, with your pearl necklaces and Ann Taylor, but over in the County.

Andrea, yes, those stats are all true. No Kookin around here.

Wade and StefSass, it’s precisely their domination and brilliance in other areas that allows us to call them out on all this other stuff. Let’s be honest, I’m one bad move away from “commenting only” status here at dddt, so I don’t do this sort of thing likely. And I badly want to go to Tokyo. Of course you have been there, being from Somerset and all. Thanks for that. Why don’t you tell all our Southie readers where else you have traveled to?

Ben, good to have you back. I’ve missed you. That’s funny about the Brazilians. I wear designer at home and out, so I have a hard time understanding that.

Macy, I’m with you. I just don’t get it. Although I feel the same way about some of our U.S. teen stuff, I guess. But I expect that of lazy, worthless western kids and hold the Japanese to a higher standard.

Craig, holy crap. That is probably the best pranking I have ever seen? Do they not have law suits in japan? I want tort reform here so that we can do better pranks like that.

Angie and Ry, I feel like the Russians have an excuse though. Because they are, well, they’re just so Russian and how can you really help that? Honestly, Russia fascinates me even more than Japan. It occurred to me a a few months ago that if I could get a masters degree in anything I wanted, I would do Russian History. That place is so huge and mysterious and different and full of personality. They seem stuck between East and West like Michael Jackson was stuck between genders. And I love how the main characters in the great Russian novels talk about the Russian people with so much simultaneous pride and self-loathing. I want to understand that.

Weigh in on this one, Laynestoyevsky