The art of “Dekotora” “or in simple English “pimping trucks” is a very know art in Japan. The truckers are decorating the trucks with neon lights, shiny paints and add everything that can be glued to the top of the truck. These trucks are used only as hobby trucks only and do not being used as commercial trucks.

The trend has probably begun in the ’70, and was inspired by a film called “Trucker”. The main character in the film drives a much customized truck.

Below are some great images of crazy trucks in Japan featuring amazing Dekotora.

Pictures: [Offbeat Earth]

The annual Meiwa Electronics annual Stupid Robot Contest, is held every year and the competitors must obey the following rules: the robot must be mechanical, It must be completely useless and it must make people laugh. Loyal readers of Japanite knows already that this can be applied to a lot of Japanese inventions throughout the year, without even a contest.

One of the robots, Papa Robopucho (picture above) is playing flags game with himself and sometime just cries for help. another example is this one, that I hope is inventor knows what it’s doing:

Last year you could see maid robots inspired from maid cafes in Akihabara (inventors probably haven’t heard about the new mom cafes trend), and a child robot that did push-ups.

This is also from last year:

So, What robot will you suggest to the competition? Share with us in the comments.

More info and videos (japanese): [Robot Watch] and [Bacarobo]

and more on the contests in [Meiwa]