You're not at home on the metro! And in Tokyo, the transport authorities have decided to let passengers know it. A lecture in life in pictures, with some interesting lessons to be learnt... Read more.

To publicise his donkey meat, a butcher from Hunan sent fake Japanese soldiers marching through the streets on asses. For once, the Japanese and Chinese agree on something - that the stunt was anything but funny. Read more...

Two Dutch youths were sentenced for stealing virtual goods last week, while a Japanese piano player was jailed for killing her virtual ex-husband. Real punishment for imaginary crimes? One of our Observers who exists on Second Life says so should be it. Read more...

A new generation of vending machines is out in Japan. Fitted with a direct line to the police and CCTV, the flash machines don't just serve coke, but combat crime at the same time. Not such a good idea, according to one of our Observers in the country. Read more...

The online version of British publication The Telegraph reported on Wednesday that an elderly-caring, human-like robot had been unveiled in Japan and was set to be flying off the assembly line "within days". Yet one of the scientists who worked on "robogirl" tells us that it was "unveiled" six years ago, and has no chance of being mass produced for the next ten years. Read more....

Nike Japan has bought a run down park in central Tokyo and renamed it the Nike Park. The multinational supplier plans to build a skate park and cafe, introduce an entrance fee, and kick out a group of homeless dwellers who live there in shacks. Read more...

Millions of young men live their lives entirely on the Internet, unable to leave the house in fear of human contact. In response to this troubled niche, an entertainment company has come up with a possible cure. Videos of girls that stare into the camera.... and occasionally saying good morning... Read more and see the videos.

Blogger "Pink Tentacle" has written about the discovery by a Japanese reporter that you can trick newly introduced age-verifying scanners on cigarette vending machines by holding up a picture of somebody older. Read more...

A Japanese advert that portrays Barack Obama as a monkey has outraged Web users. But is it really racist? Maybe not in Japan... Read more and see the video.

UPDATE (30 June 2008 3pm): Chairman of the telecoms company, Sachio Semmoto, has informed Reuters that E-Mobile has now withdrawn the advertisement, although he denied accusations of racism; saying that the macaque had already been used in several other of their campaigns. He said that he recognised sensitivities with the African-American/ Japanese relationship. He also said that Obama's candidacy is an opportunity for the US and that such a candidate could be beneficial for Japan.

NEW UPDATE (9 July 2008 10.30am): One of our readers has informed us that although the television adverts have been pulled, the campaign is still being circulated in print form. We have verified this with news sources.

Yesterday we published a post about a street massacre in Tokyo. Shocked Japanese web users have been poring over news reports recorded just after the tragedy, and they've noticed something that upsets them even more. Read more...