Name: Mugen Edamame
Category: novelty (and barely a gadget)
Price: JPY630
Release date in Japan: April 26, 2008

It's not what you might call a gadget, but it's being reported in the Japanese gadget press, so here goes:

Lots of people really have a thing for popping bubble wrap (aka "puchi-puchi"). Many have discovered the similar (and tastier) joy of popping edamame soybeans from the pod. In just days (as seen on its website countdown clock), BANDAI will give both groups of addicts a fix with the "Mugen (Infinity) Edamame" keychain or cell phone fob. It looks like a three-bean edamame soybean pod; when you squeeze a bulge, a bean jumps out of the pod with an authentic "puni-puni" pop and then slips back in. And... well, sorry, that's it. That's all it does. But if tactile stress relief is what you crave, Mugen Edamame is like bubble wrap that never ends, soybeans that don't make your fingers wet.

Mugen Edamame is BANDAI's battery-less successor to last year's hit "Mugen Puchi-Puchi", a faux bubble wrap fob that required batteries for its simulated noise. BANDAI has prepared 12 little bean faces for the Edamame, plus one non-face "secret design", inviting collectors to buy a bowlful to catch all the designs.

More info: http://www.asovision.com/edamame/ (Japanese)
The Puchi-Puchi movie is worth a watch: http://www.asovision.com/putiputi/movie.html (Japanese)

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