Darth Vader Samurai

Nils — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 04:25:09 +0000

There’s reasons to believe that the evil Darth Vader, from the Star Wars movies, was inspired by Japanese samurai. Thanks to the Yoshitoku corporation, the circle has now closed, and Vader returns to its roots:

The “Samurai Vader” is a 1:4 scale costume with a traditional bow and a Samurai sword. According to Albotas, it was created for a festival called “Tango no Sekku”, “Boy’s Day”. Much of the armor is hand-crafted, and the entire set will cost over US$5000.

Compare this to the other Internet-famous Japanese Darth Vader creation…

…and you’ll appreciate Samurai Vader twice as much.

(Via Albotas.)

Rack Mounted USB Keyboard

Nils — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:15:50 +0000

Angel Kitty, a Taiwanese company which makes costumes for Japanese girls, had a very strange product listed in 2006: A rack-mounted, full-featured USB Keyboard.

It is a geek’s wet dream, even if the entire thing is very unergonomic:

As of 2007, this item is no longer produced but that doesn’t make it any less wacky. While it was being sold, it cost 15750 Yen, which is about 96.5 Euro. This included the complete “black cat” outfit seen on the photos (but excluding the lady).

(Via: Inventorspot.com)

Wacky Japanese Stuff » Costumes

Darth Vader Samurai

Rack Mounted USB Keyboard