Japanese firms served up lots of fun on April Fools¡¯ Day for those sharp enough to spot the joke.

Many of the falsehoods played off current social and international questions.

Daily newspaper Tokyo Shimbun surprised its readers with the news that U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump is now crazy about hanafuda (Japanese playing cards). Officials believe Tokyo could take advantage of his new interest in Japanese culture, calling it a ¡°trump card¡± for Japanese diplomacy.

The newspaper also carried two half-page , smoked with cherry wood chips and priced at ?1,129. This being Japan, the ads carried glaring disclaimers stating that, regrettably, the product is an April Fool¡¯s joke.

Meanwhile, three major companies with notoriously confusing names ¡ª Nissin Food Products Co., Nissan Motor Co. and mail-order retail firm Nissen Co. ¡ª jointly released

It said that Nissin, the producer of UFO instant fried noodles, has developed a flying object named USO in collaboration with Nissan. The word uso means ¡°a lie¡± in Japanese.

The flying object was supposed to land at Nissan¡¯s headquarters in Yokohama but somehow ended up at Nissen¡¯s logistics service center in Fukui Prefecture.

Separately, electronics and entertainment giant . The Protopack scans for and detects paranormal objects.

The company¡¯s website said the device draws on cutting edge technologies from Sony XPERIA smartphones and high-end Cyber-shot RX cameras.

Protopack, which allegedly weighs 6.66 kilograms, is also equipped with 4K live video technology. The device is allegedly compatible with other Sony products.

The device¡¯s development has long been the dream of researchers since Columbia University¡¯s Dr. Egon Spengler began work on the project, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai was quoted as saying. Spengler is a fictional character from the popular ¡°Ghostbusters¡± movies.

Not to be outdone, The Japan Times reported an initiative to develop a system using?androids,?drones and big data that will solve Japan¡¯s child care crisis.

The androids?would be able to read the same story again and again, and the sentinel drones could guide the children¡¯s trolleys ¡ª and detect bathroom malfunctions.