You might be feeling cocky after watching this robot play the violin, because it isn't all that good. But the thing is: It's just showing off. Toyota's "Partner" robots are designed to be personal assistants, and the whole "Oh? Is that a violin? Yeah, I used to take lessons, do you mind if I play a tune?" thing is just their way of bragging about how flexible they are. Jerks. (Are you imagining a sci-fi story about robot personal assistants who get laid off? And they're forced to busk in the subway, playing their violins for pennies? And it's a thoughtful, even moving story about technology and economics and self-worth and obsolescence? Nerd.) [Popular Science]

Despite the recent news about China's economy overtaking Japan's as the new second-biggest, it's doubtful that they'll be able to create the strange whimsical culture that Japan has. You can even see it in their medicine ads.

I do not know the rationale behind this mysterious Japanese TV show where dozens of kittens are set loose in a room full of casserole dishes in which they must curl up and sleep. I do not know if the rationale matters.

The Ningen Gakki - this awesome new toy from Japanese company Takara Tomy - encourages you to hit your friends for the sake of making music. Slapping someone has never sounded so sweet!

Has anyone seen 700,000 ultrathin Japanese condoms? Malaysian police are looking for them. The condoms, manufactured by the Sagami Rubber Corporation, were loaded onto a container in Malaysia last week, but never arrived in Japan (the container did arrive, empty, with its locks changed). Rest assured, no expense is being spared:

[A month-old Abyssinian Colobus cries in Japan's Nogeyama Zoological Gardens. Image via AP]

The Shinmoedake volcano in Japan erupted again today, with experts saying it was "five times" more powerful than last week's eruption. The force of the explosion blew out windows five miles away and nearby residents have been urged to leave.

Japan's Mount Shinmoedake is currently erupting, spewing smoke and ash nearly 10,000 feet in the air. Oh, and there's some lava too. But it wouldn't be a modern natural disaster if it wasn't caught on camera.

The Way We Live Now: in a state of total war. If we must sacrifice a portion of this nation in order to more thoroughly dominate another nation, well, that sounds like a good deal to us. Suck it, Japan!

"Lucky," the terrifying monkey that bit 120 people in Japan last year, has been brought back under the watchful eye of the Japanese state after briefly escaping. She was captured using the sophisticated "call her name repeatedly" technique.

The BBC has apologized for an episode of the quiz show QI last month about the "unluckiest man in the world," Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived both atomic bomb attacks on Japan. The jokes didn't go over so well in Japan.

A group of Japanese scientists claim that now that they've figured out how to extract DNA from frozen cells, they can clone a living woolly mammoth in four years. That's faster than we'll see the next Ice Age sequel.

McDonald's (formerly "The United States Department of Health") has plans for Japan. Big plans. Idaho big. With a hash brown on top.

Here's a 30-second video of three really, really, REALLY cute kitty cats sitting still for their owner. Oh, also: the aforementioned owner spends the 30 seconds stacking oranges on top of the cat's cute little paws. BAWWWWW, amirite? Watch inside.

A giant bluefin tuna was sold to wholesalers in Tokyo for a record $396,000. Want to know what it tastes like? Try one of the "up-market" sushi restaurants it'll be sold to. (Spoiler alert! It tastes like fish.)

Well, this is unfortunate! Here's a video of the final seconds of last weekend's Tokyo-Hakone relay marathon. Watch as—with less than 200 meters to go—longtime frontrunner Natsuki Terada makes an accidental wrong turn and loses the race. Ouch.

Forget the artful compositing that we get over here, in Japan 30 Rock's credit sequence is crazy. Actually, it's just a really long montage of wacky moments from the show and also a shot of Tina Fey strutting around.

The Japanese have become lemmings! Check out these precision timed divers follow one another off the diving board, leaving only a couple seconds in between plunges. It starts to look superhuman after a while.

In the annals of weird things captured by Google Street View, some random Japanese woman's underwear drying on a line would not rank high. But she's suing Google after she was shocked to discover her unmentionables were on the Internet.

If you've ever thought, "The only thing missing from sushi is an exorbitant level of calories and fat," then it's your lucky day. Here, a guy takes all of your fast food favorites and gives them an unhealthy Japanese twist.