How to make some easy money in Japan: get a piece of invisible thread, an accomplice, and cut out a bunch of paper clowns. Go to some crowded public area, and set up by taping one end of the thread to something in your bag, and the middle part to the clown’s head. Then have your accomplice hold the other end of the string inside his bag. Now put on a show and make the clown dance. You’ll find hordes of gullible people who will pay a thousand yen a pop for your paper clowns.

Editor’s note: this post was originally published in February 2008 and has been updated.