Japan: WTF, yo?

I remember sitting through the TV miniseries Shogun a long time ago, something like 10 hours about an English guy that made it to Japan in the 1500s and made his way through feudal society to become Shogun, or something (I pretty much went back to my Dukes of Hazzard playset after the first 10 minutes). In any case, it's still a point of reference for me when presented with the latest Japanese exploration of whimsy. I think to myself, what would Shogun do?

When presented with Oto Kinoko, or "Sound Mushroom", I'm torn between two responses. The first would be something similar to mine: a tilt of the head, a squint of the eyes, and a slightly audible "huh?" The second would be to bust out his samurai sword and chop its smiling plastic fungi ass into little bits in a fit of confused anger. I think I'd prefer #2.

Evidently it's the first store "selling sounds", which pretty much sounds like a load of crap to me. After all, the Target by my house sells those "Sound of Nature" CDs with whales mating and whatnot, and they don't seem real popular. The bizarreness (ie stupidity) of this even has me so confused that I don't know whether to make a dick or poop joke about the shape of its logo and kiosks—it's that serious.—CL

Oto Kinoko [The Cool Hunter]