3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Meet Asako Kanda, the World’s Biggest Hello Kitty Fan
Thai “Sorcerer” Gives Disciples Bulletproof Tattoos, They Decide to Try Them Out
Chinese Airline Judges Pilot Candidates by Armpit Odor

Meet Asako Kanda, the World’s Biggest Hello Kitty Fan

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 07:54 AM PST

Hello Kitty has millions of fans around the world, but none are more in love with Sanrio’s iconic character than Asako Kanda. The 39-year-old receptionist from Japan has amassed a fantastic collection of over 4,500 Hello Kitty items.

Like many other girls of her generation, Asako’s fascination with Hello Kitty began during her elementary school days. At first, she just bought little things like pencils and erasers featuring the popular kitty, but by the time she turned 11 she was so obsessed with Sanrio’s creation that she made a Hello Kitty mug in her pottery class, and an embroided Hello Kitty apron for her home economics course. But she can’t be the only girl in the world who did this kind of stuff while growing up. But that’s the thing, while most other girls move on to idolizing boy bands or movie actors, Asako Kanda remained faithful to her childhood friend. “Kitty has always been with me, almost subconsciously,” she said in an interview a few years back. Some people call her infantile, other laugh at her bad taste, but none of this has ever affected her long-term love affair with Hello Kitty. She now holds the Guinness World Record for most Hello Kitty items, 4,519, as of August 2011.

As you can imagine, almost everything in the house of the world’s biggest Hello Kitty fan is pink. Apart from the thousands of fluffy toys she has lying around everywhere, and the hundreds of posters, Kanda even has Kitty-themed appliances, including a Hello Kitty toaster, a Hello Kitty electric fan and a Hello Kitty frying pan. She also has Hello Kitty costumes and hats, pillows, curtains, even handkerchiefs. Put simply, whatever an average person owns, Asako Kanda probably has a Hello Kitty version of. Truth be told, Sanrio, the company that created Hello Kitty, has made it pretty easy for her, releasing countless Hello Kitty themed products, from cheap marshmallows to a diamond-studded statue worth ¥10 million ($125,000). So does she ever feel tricked into buying all this stuff by Sanrio? ”Well, I sometimes feel like that,” she said, but also admitted she starts to feel antsy when she’s not surrounded by Hello Kitty stuff.

Luckily, Asako’s husband, Hiroyuki, keeps her in check so she doesn’t overspend on Hello Kitty items, but he can only do so much. For their wedding, in 2000, the dedicated collector asked her mother to make cuddly-toy versions of a Hello Kitty bride and groom for their wedding reception, because at the time Sanrio wasn’t into kitty-themed nuptial gear. Since then, Sanrio realized it was missing out on even more money so it entered this segment as well. Knowing for passion for Hello Kitty, many of their friends sent them kitty-themed telegrams of congratulations.

So, with over 4,500 Hello Kitty items under her roof, does Asako Kanda thing she has enough? Definitely not, in fact she has much bigger plans. Her biggest dream is to live in a Hello Kitty house with two giant ears sticking out of the roof, and her final wish will be to have a Hello Kitty-style funeral and a tombstone to match.

Source: Japan Times

Photos: Guinness Book of Records

Meet Asako Kanda, the World’s Biggest Hello Kitty Fan was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Thai “Sorcerer” Gives Disciples Bulletproof Tattoos, They Decide to Try Them Out

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 04:20 AM PST

Boonyong Luangjumpol, also known as Ajarn Ton, was recently arrested in Thailand’s Yanglad district after he allegedly gave local teens magic tattoos and told them they made them invincible. Unsurprisingly, they wanted to try out their ink armor and engaged in a series of brawls.

Sak Yant is an ancient type of Thai tattoo said to bestow the bearer with mystical powers. It incorporates Buddhist prayers called Mantras or Katas that will invoke supernatural powers. These magic spells were originally inscribed on pieces of cloth, and centuries ago, Thai soldiers would wear Yant-printed jackets to offer them extra protection in battle. After Budhism was adopted as a religion in Thailand, it became common for devotees to have Sak Yant tattoos etched into their skin. Even today, many Thai men believe in their mystical powers, and have one or more tattoos inscribed on their bodies. There are also lots of stories of people sporting Sak Yant tattoos who were shot at close range without even having their skin pierced, or horrific car accidents from which tattoo bearers emerged unscathed. But as recent events have proven, they don’t always work.

Sorcerer tattooist Boonyong Luangjumpol has been giving people in northern Thailand magic-infused tattoos for about 10 years, according to the Bangkok Post. But it was just recently that he got into trouble with the police over it, after reports of local teens trying out his mystical armor in frequent brawls. Large groups of teens, claiming to be followers of Ajarn Ton, would gather in crowded areas like markets or at carnivals to see if anyone wielding a weapon could hurt them. They truly believed his tattoos would protect them against gunshots, knifes, or whatever anyone attacked them with, but as Major General Kanisorn Noinard from the local police told AFP, “every single one of them was injured”.

Instead of Buddhist statues and talismans, policemen who raided Ajarn Ton’s home found 9 guns, 121 bullets, 18 swords and a number of fake guns. He admitted many poor teens gave him weapons instead of money for his tattoos, and he just took them. He also added he told kids to wear his invincible tattoos responsibly. Yeah, that’s like telling someone they can fly and asking them not to leap off of tall buildings.

Photos via Tiger Muay Thai

Thai “Sorcerer” Gives Disciples Bulletproof Tattoos, They Decide to Try Them Out was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Chinese Airline Judges Pilot Candidates by Armpit Odor

Posted: 07 Nov 2012 03:06 AM PST

A Chinese airline has sparked controversy after it was reported it included a zero-body-odor requirement in its pilot recruitment tests. Applicants had their armpits sniffed by company staff, to check for any bad smells.

You think requirements stink in your line of work? Think again. Chinese company Hainan Airlines demanded to smell under the arms of students interviewing as trainee aircrew. Obviously, there were other requirements as well, including 20/20 vision, a maximum height of 1.87 meters and a very good knowledge of the English language, but meeting them and failing the bad odor test meant instant elimination for candidates. “I passed everything, but I was doomed by my armpits, which are always a bit whiffy”, said one of the applicants. Asked about the purpose of this unusual requirement, one of the Hainan Airlines testers said “our staff works very closely with the public, and no passenger wants to smell a pilot’s armpits. And if they can keep their cool min this test, they aren’t going to sweat in the cockpit.” The photos below paint a pretty clear picture of how the BO test was conducted.

Everyone knows airlines choose their flight attendants mainly based on looks, and as unfair and misogynistic as that sounds, it does make some sense, whereas judging candidates by their armpit odor seems just dumb. But look at it this way, if one of the passed candidates ever crashes a plane, at least they’ll smell nice doing it…