It's not news that Japan is a vast emporium for some of the weirdest products ever retailed on the planet. We've all read the stories about high-tech toilet seats, used schoolgirls' underwear, million-yen pet beetles, canned whale blubber, and so on.

Even so, this is an endless and ever-changing list , and I've been asked to seek out a small sample of some of the lesser-known, but nonetheless strange items currently on offer from the nation's retailers.

If you're a guy who is woefully deficient when it comes to attaining sex, money and power, then it's time to acquire a few "strong pulse gems." These stones -- whatever type they are; the ads don't actually say -- are guaranteed to turn around the life of even the most pathetic loser. Or so promises Collaborate Inc., which markets the jewelry from glossy magazine advertisements in men's magazines.