I was at the lovely Get Lost travel bookstore on Market Street in San Francisco just now looking at travel books, and was pleasantly surprised by Urawaza being displayed right by the cash register. By the way, if you've been reading this blog for awhile and you still don't own the book, you should maybe get a copy. It's a great time suck if you need an easy read on a beach vacation.
Urawaza, my Japanese tips and tricks book, on Amazon
Several years ago, a doggie gadget called the Bowlingual made waves in Japan after claiming it could translate what your dog was saying every time she barked. Now, Takara Tomy is coming out with a newer version called Bowlingual Voice. There are several key differences between Voice and its predecessor. First of all, Voice is digital &mdash the original Bowlingual was analog. Voice also has a new and improved translation mechanism that has honed its understanding of doggie language to an even sharper point, and thus facilitates real-time two-way conversations between dog and owner.
Bowlingual Voice goes on sale on August 27th, in Japan only, for $200.
Press release (Japanese, via Impress Watch)
My mom tells me that one of the most popular English-language learning books on the market right now is this "Speeches of Barack Obama" booklet set, which includes a page-by-page translation of Obama's iconic speeches throughout the years &mdash his keynote at the Democratic National Congress in 2004, his battles at the primaries, and his acceptance speech among them. The booklet also includes a CD of the actual speeches by the president. At 1000 yen ($10), it's way cheaper than enrolling in an English lesson taught by amateurs at Gaba, and who better to learn how to speak English than the president in all his motivational oratory glory! Also worth noting that the publisher, Asahi Press, didn't have to pay anybody for the rights to his speeches nor to write original content, so this is just a huge profit-making venture.
The remote-controlled shinkansen (bullet train) Sushi-Go-Round restaurant kit is awesome for several reasons.
1. It's a kit that comes with its own train tracks, so you can build your own route on the table.
2. The bullet train itself is two plate-sized sushi trays.
3. It comes with a remote control that looks vaguely like a control panel for a real bullet train; a forward and back lever, plus four buttons that make real bullet train noises alerting passengers of an oncoming or departing train.
4. The kit comes with chopsticks and fake sushi, so you can use it as a tool to teach kids how to properly use chopsticks and eat fake sushi.
5. It's cute! (Most important aspect of anything Japanese!)
Buy it for $66 on Strap-Ya
Last night, the Gizmodo Japan staff caught giant Gundam in the midst of rehearsing his big launch, which will take place later today. You can see how big he is here, and you also get to hear him speak.
Link (Thanks, Hitoshi!)
A 43-year old dad and his two sons, 20 and 17, are about to see their day in court for stealing 323 rice cookers, 70 electric screwdrivers, 56 electric drills, and 39 TVs from hardware and electronic superstores in and around Saitama Prefecture, just outside Tokyo, since July of 2008. They pawned most of their stolen goods and used the money for food, rent, and gambling.
If you liked Kimiko Yoshida's amazing photographs of herself dressed up as futuristic brides, make sure you check out her other self-portraits, too. LifeLounge calls it "narcissism at its best" &mdash I'm gonna have to agree.
On July 28th, Vertical Inc will release volume six of Black Jack, the amazing manga about a mercenary genius doctor by Osamu Tezuka. I just got my preview copy, and it's awesome.
Black Jack, Vol. 6
Related stories:
Black Jack on MangoBot
Tezuka's Phoenix now available on DS
60s SciFi anime by Osamu Tezuka
The NY Times has a great article with pics about the imminent destruction of Nakagin Capsule Tower, a rare survivor from Tokyo's Metabolist architectural era of the 1970s. The tower, created by architect Kisho Kurokawa, is full of apartment units that are actually factory-made capsules with compact built-in furniture and a giant porthole that, for many residents, faces a busy highway. The writer offers this explanation as to why there isn't a bigger movement to preserve this unique building:
all over the world, postwar architecture is still treated with a measure of suspicion by the cultural mainstream, which often associates it with brutal city housing developments or clinical office blocks. Partly, too, it has to do with the nature of housing blocks in general. They are not sexy investments; they do not feed an investor’s vanity or offer the cultural prestige that owning a landmark house does.
The Telegraph reports that workers on the Keihin Electric Express Railway will soon be required to monitor their smiles using a smile scan software made by Omron. Basically, the company wants all their employees to look cheery on the job, so it's going to take photos of them, rate their smile on a scale of zero to 100, and then show messages of encouragement on the company computer screen so they are reminded of what they should be doing better.
I know this might sound horrific to some people, but I think it's okay. Japan is big on customer satisfaction, and if a simple added gesture can make customers feel better about a company's service, then it's probably worth it. (A cab company called MK Taxi provides super-polite white-gloved drivers that open doors for you &mdash and I always feel like I've lucked out when I hail one.)
Also, smiling is something that the Japanese have been working on for awhile now, and there are even gadgets to help with it, like the oral grip machine and the Beauty Smile Trainer.
Link (Thanks, @Brainopera!)
On July 30, Sega Toys will release the newest of its uber-realistic robotic animal series. It's made to look, feel, and act just like a Norwegian Forest Cat. It runs on four AAs and will retail for about $100. Perfect for cat lovers with allergies or pet-unfriendly apartments!
Press release (Japanese)
The annual Coney Island hot dog eating contest was this past weekend. Once again, the two frontrunners were American Joey Chestnut and Japan's Takeru Kobayashi &mdash Kobayashi had six victories under his belt before declaring he had jaw arthritis and then tying with Chestnut last year. Chestnut beat him this year with 68 v. 64.5 hot dogs in ten minutes. Yeah, gross.
Anyway, this photo proves that, even after all that eating, Kobayashi's belly is still not that huge.
Check out this CNN report on love hotels &mdash apparently, love and sex are recession-proof. Good to know.
To learn more about love hotels, check out these books:
Love Hotels: An Inside Look at Japan's Sexual Playgrounds
Love Hotels: The Hidden Fantasy Rooms of Japan
Check out this ingenious concept for bicycle pit stop areas by Tokyo's Store Muu Design Studio. Basically, anybody riding a bike could just ride straight into one of these tables, which locks the front wheel and provides them with an instant table to rest or snack on. The cyclist can stay on his/her seat and just have a regular seated meal. Japan has tons of bicycles, and parking them has become harder and harder as the crackdown on randomly parked bicycles continues. So this is a great solution for those who need to stop for a bite but don't want to get their bikes confiscated. I can totally see a fast food chain or restaurant wanting to install these, but I can also see it causing huge clusterfucks on sidewalks and promptly being banned.
via Shibuya246
Related stories:
Bicycle rule crackdown!
Video: the hen that rides a bicycle
Giant subterranean bicycle parking lot
Gallery of pimped out dekochari bicycles
This is not the first time I've seen urine-based beauty products in Japan, but calling something a Foot Pee! Pack takes it to a whole new level.
via Tokyo Times
Sega Toys has an awesome new toy called Uchiage. Its structure is similar to a miniature planetarium &mdash it uses multiple lenses pointed towards the ceiling to project light patterns that look just like a giant burst of fire. The cool thing is that it's completely safe, still beautiful, and you can even program it to project customized messages or images in the sky. How much are you willing to bet that somebody will use this to propose marriage? It goes on sale August 1 for about $150.
Product page (Japanese)
Related stories:
Jupiter-shaped planetarium for a starry bath
Homestar planetarium cell phone strap
Sega Toys' touch sensor robot speaks its own language
Sega Toys clock counts down to your final moment
Super realistic robotic animals from Sega Toys
According to the BBC, there's a new subset of British youth that thrives to be just like the Japanese ganguro &mdash you know, the girls with the bleached blond hair, super tanned skin, and crazy makeup. I read somewhere that for Japanese women, making themselves up this way is a deliberate form of rebellion against the traditional aesthetic of jet black hair and pale white skin. I wonder what it means when Caucasian girls with naturally lighter hair pick up the trend.
Big news from my brother in Tokyo! Nike Japan is spending a gazillion yen to transform Miyashita Park in Shibuya into a giant playground with a skate park and a rock climbing wall.
Right now, Miyashita Park is best known for booze, drugs, illicit sex, and homeless people. If all goes as planned and this facility is completed next May, it will become one of the healthiest places in Shibuya. Interesting! A decade ago I would have been pissed that the hub of many of my childhood sins is being disintegrated, but now that I'm older and super into rock climbing and gearing up to run the Nike half marathon, I'm actually pretty excited. Many locals and homeless advocacy organizations are protesting the decision, however. I suppose Nike would have been better off tearing down a bunch of izakaya instead &mdash that way they wouldn't have to displace inhabitants or deprive the city of one of its few peaceful parks &mdash but Miyashita was probably easier to negotiate.
Link (Japanese)
A couple of years ago at a film festival in San Francisco, I watched this movie, The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai
Buy The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai
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