[Julia Roberts arrives in Tokyo for the first time ever (seriously, in her 20+ years of movie stardom, she's apparently never been to Japan — weird, huh?) to promote "Eat Pray Love". Image: Splash]

China has passed Japan to become the world's second-largest economy after Justin Bieber.

[The annual Perseid meteor shower peaked yesterday, and is seen here streaking across the skies over Japan. Image via NASA]

[Doves fly past the gutted Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima during the 65th anniversary ceremony of the city's August 6, 1945 atomic bombing. Click through for an animated map of nuclear bomb detonations between 1945 and 1998. Pic via AP.]

What's better than a video of an attractive Japanese girl? A video of an attractive Japanese girl who also happens to conduct a train on Japan's high-speed rail system, Shinkansen! Watch as she revs things up to a cool 270km/h.

Just a few days after discovering that Tokyo's "oldest man" had actually been dead for 30 years, city officials found out the oldest woman—supposedly 113 years old—hasn't been seen since 1986. Embarrassing! [BBC; pic via Shutterstock]

We love any news story that includes "mummified skeletal remains." So this story about Tokyo's oldest man is a real treat. Turns out that he's been dead for 30 years, during which time he became a mummy.

Japan is so weird! Seriously. Well, not everything about Japan is weird, but some of their commercials/viral videos sure are—like this one, which appears to be a commercial for green tea that... makes you grow boobs? Video inside.

[A couple walks by paper lanterns at the Yasukuni Shrine during Japan's annual Mitama Festival. More than 30,000 lanterns are displayed each year to honor Japan's war dead. Photo via AP]

A trained dolphin attempted either an escape or suicide at Okinawa's Churaumi Aquarium: The rogue creature catapulted himself over the edge of the tank and flopped onto the sidewalk before a crowd of screaming onlookers.

Toyota is recalling 270,000 Lexus sedans in Japan due to engine problems.

The beauty of video is that you can share something awesome with others, even from across the world. Case in point: this mesmerizing Japanese water display, filled with an endless cascade of shapes, symbols, words—even animals! Video inside.

WTF Japan, Seriously?! The aforementioned is not only an appropriate question for the country that produces some of the web's weirdest video, but it's also a YouTube channel full of odd examples—like the commercial inside this post. Onward!

[Good thing the World Cup is a soccer competition, and not a "dress like a goddamn maniac" competition, because otherwise, the Japanese would already have won and we'd all have to go home. Pic via Getty]

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will resign after less than a year in office.

[Michael Patrick King and the gals (and a guy) at the "Sex and the City 2" premiere in Tokyo, Japan; image via Splash]

Peter Bethune, a Sea Shepherd boat captain, was arrested in March for illegally boarding a Japanese whaling ship in the Pacific. He has admitted to some charges, but says he had "good reason" to board the vessel. [Guardian, pic]

An aggressive strain of asparagus is disrupting the town of Bibai, in Japan's Hokkaido island. The area is renowned for its cultivation of edible green asparagus. Now "power asparagus" is striking back, wreaking havoc on Bibai's streets. [Image via Splash]

Hillary Clinton, kicking off a big tour of Asia, has arrived in Japan.

A humanoid robot with plastic pigtails, flashing eyes, and flowers glued to its head gave the vows at a Japanese couple's wedding. Her name is i-Fairy, she has a 4-year-old girl's voice, and she will soon lead the robot uprising.