Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2010

Courtesy of Happinet

Remember when you were little and you used to flip out pretending to be a ninja turtle? OK, maybe that was just us. Today’s kids haven’t lost their appetite for mock swordplay, but the toys have got smarter. Happinet’s Samurai Katana promises all the cut and thrust your juvenile mind can handle, but slashes (ha!) the chances of things getting broken in the first place by removing the blade from the equation. That’d be a compromise too far, were it not for the addition of 48 battle-tastic sound effects that get emitted as you swish it through the air. You’ll be feeling like Toshiro Mifune in no time. Just remember to let your kids have a go, too.

Samurai Katana, ¥2,079. Available at major toy stores, Amazon Japan
and from www.happinetonline.com