JapanSugoi

Are you a Doraemon fan?  If you’ve got an iPhone here’s a nifty little  application from Japan that turns your icon set into a smiling Doraemon.  This free ap is from a set of applications from Yahoo! Japan which includes Doraemon manga as well!

Doraemon iPhone app video

Want to be a great hitter like Ichiro?  Practice makes perfect and for years, the batting cage  (which fires a baseball from a high-powered cannon) was the place to be. However the most noticeable downside of this canon is the chance of the hitter not paying attention and getting whacked in the face with a ball.  Read more...

Several years ago,  Sony developed a bio carbohydrate battery that generates power from sugar. The eco friendly battery generates electricity by mixing enzymes with a sugar solution which is capable of generating up to 50mW of power.

Creating the energy is similar to the process of converting food into energy in the human body. The enzyme’s action on the sugar pumps hydrogen ions and electrons into the solution. The ions pass through a membrane establishing the potential difference that drives the connected device where they combine with oxygen from the air and electrons through the circuit to form water as a by-product.  Read more...

What you see in the photos and video is real -  a soccerball sized flying robot 球形飛行体  capable of zipping through the air at approximately 60 kilometers (40 mph) per hour!   Developed by Japan’s Ministry of Defense Technical Research and Development Institute, the robot is  maneuverable enough to slip through windows and flit around indoors and is designed for urban reconnaissance and infiltration as it carries a camera not weapons.

The yet unnamed remote controlled robot is the only flying spherical robot in the world and the machine flies on a single propeller and eight wings.   Its spherical body reduces the effect of wind, and also has the added advantage of allowing simple controlled “crash landings” stop, drop and roll style.  Read more...

Going green is big trend in Japan and finding ways to be more efficient and save on electricity consumption is eco-friendly.   That’s where the Energy Literacy Platform (ELP) by Sassor 株式会社 is a nifty power management tool.   You put the ELP model  between your outlets and home appliances and a receiver then sends your energy data to your PC and the ELP website allows you to see how much electricity you are using.

The simple white block-shaped module has lights that change color from green to red as the energy consumption increases. When it hits red you are using the maximum capacity of electricity for the appliance.  Read more...

Aimed at restaurants and mall operators in Japan,  “Toirettsu” (トイレッツ) by Sega Toys, aims to give male toilet users a goal-oriented mini-game to focus on in hopes that the toilet might stay a bit cleaner as gents have somewhere to aim.

Toirettsu, the game’s title is a word play on “toy”, “let’s” and “toilets” and as the Sega Toys website points out, “You’re able to game with pee!”. The contraption is outfitted with mini-games, and there is a sensor in the urinal that can apparently measure the speed of one’s urine stream.

 Read more...

Japanese electronics maker Sedensha Co. has created an electric Robot fish 魚ロボット which can wriggle its way through the water just like a real with with movements controlled through electrostatic actuators which replicate the movements of fish muscles. The whole contraption is placed inside a silicon rubber fish, filled with silicone oil.

Robot fish  Video

Watch the world of super slow motion captured by a specially developed super slow motion camera ムネモシュネのたわむれ from Japan.  There are some fantastic scenes here.

Christmas is just round the corner…have you bought your cute Japanese girlfriend her Christmas present yet?

If you were stuck in Tokyo this summer,  you probably visited Tokyo Summerland with your Japanese girlfriend to try and cool down.  Besides taking a dip in the pool you probably also bought her ice cream from the popular ice cream making robot Yaskawa kun  やすかわくん.

The brainchild of the Japanese robot maker Yaskawa Electronics 安川電機 , Mitsui 三井物産 a major Japanese bank  and Hakuhodo 博報堂 a leading advertising company, the ice cream making robot Yaskawa kun  やすかわくん can take orders for your ice-cream as well as make it for you, complete with topping, size and sauce of your choice. Just visit his ice cream store, use the touch panel to select the ingredients of your choice for the ice cream, and watch him (Yaskawa kun) make ice cream in his very own robotic way.  Read more...

Living in Japan which has so many robots, a dancing robot is no longer a novelty.  Check out some groovin robos from the the 6th ROBO-ONE GATE IN INTERNATIONAL ROBOT EXHIBITION which was held at the Tokyo Big Sight last November.

`Nichibu Tokotoko Special` by Tokotokomaru (Team Tokotoko),