Tag: JAPANESE

Strolling around with your wheelchair-bound loved ones might one day be a whole lot less stressful, thanks to a new robotic wheelchair created in Japan. Designed by researchers at Saitama University's Human-Robot Interaction Center, the wheelchair uses distance sensors and built-in cameras to keep track of a pedestrian's position, allowing the chair to remain on the left-hand side of its targeted ...

You know how some people collect those plastic sushi replicas that Japanese restaurants place in their windows (also collected: fridge magnets)? Now you can udon your iPhone with cases that come in tasty (kind of) flavors like Bento, Sunny Side Up Egg with Bacon, Tonkatsu or Yakisoba, and are each available for pre-order at $43.20. Yes, these actually exist. [From: Serious Eats] ...

Share It's your wedding day, the single most important 24 hours of your life. You've made the arrangements, you've hired the band, the caterers and the belly dancers. You've even managed to shed 10 pounds in two weeks by eating nothing but Tabasco sauce and topsoil. But you're still worried that something could go wrong. Luckily, reliable Japanese robots are here to help. Yesterday in Tokyo, ...

It's bad enough that we've got a generation of cell phone users parading around, shouting into nearly invisible Bluetooth headsets and looking like they're having conversations with themselves. Soon, if Japanese researchers have their way, mobile phone users will add frantically waving hands to the list of traits they share with schizophrenics. Professors Masatoshi Ishikawa and Takashi ...

Right now, everyone may be focused on J. J. Abrams' reboot of the 'Star Trek' franchise, the Hollywood blockbuster that's received mixed reviews from Trekkers but certainly found success at the box office. Of course, there's over forty years of television and cinematic history that all came before, and this remote control model by a Japanese builder who goes by the name of Starfleet Yokosuka does ...

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2009/07/22/bizarre-virtual-restaurant-air-yakiniku-a-huge-success/'; Proving once and for all that perception is everything, Japanese virtual restaurant Air Yakiniku has become the 29th most searched site on Yahoo!. (Warning: Google Translator does little to help with this one.) Allow us to explain. The virtual Korean BBQ restaurant, originally designed for ...

Japan sells some of the most advanced handsets in the world. Sure, the iPhone has a fancy touchscreen, but does it use facial recognition software to unlock it? Can you watch live TV on your BlackBerry Storm? Does the Palm Pre lead a double life as a credit card? For years, the Japanese have been building phones that are years ahead of other nation's mobiles. Yet companies like NEC, Panasonic, ...

digg_url = 'http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/04/japan-sending-biped-robots-to-conquer-moon-by-2020/'; Remember back in 2006 when we told you about Japan's goal to colonize the moon with robots? Some dreams don't seem to die, and the country's Strategic Headquarters for Space Development said recently that they expect a two-legged droid traversing the satellite's surface by 2020. Should that ...

Leave it to our clever, if bizarre, Japanese friends to come up with the NoPoPo battery. According to Unplggd, the battery gets power when one of several fluids mixes together with its magnesium and carbon components. Among those fluids are beer, saliva and -- that's right -- urine. Apparently, those unlikely charging agents help the batteries to live for as long as ten years. And the bizarre ...

If you're the sort of man who has a certain penchant for lady's clothing, and we don't mean helping your wife or girlfriend find a pair of jeans at JC Penney, you may be interested in a hot new product currently available in Japan. It is, quite simply, a bra made for men, and if you like that you'll love the company's other products. The bras are exclusively available at Rakuten's WishRoom Shop, ...

We've no clue what kind of sick, demented parent would ever put their child through this, but for those with offspring who like to, say, swallow their hamburgers whole, we suppose it may come in handy. From the wide, wacky and utterly bizarre world that is Japanese gadgetry comes this: a bite counter from Nitto Kagaku. As you'd expect, the headgear keeps track of how many bites your kid takes, ...

It may be a little tough for some of us to grasp, but the latest fad among Japanese girls is the 'virtual boyfriend.' Within two weeks of launching, virtual boyfriend site Webkare (Japanese for 'Web boyfriend') already boasts over 10,000 members and over 3.5 million page views. Webkare is a combination social-networking site and online game in which young Japanese women attempt to hook up with ...

We're not even going to front -- some seriously bizarre air conditioning-related gizmos have emerged from the great nation of Japan. The latest concoction to deal with heat wave side effects actually has nothing to do with keeping folks cool; rather, AOKI's deodorant suits are designed to keep businessmen suffering from Hyperhidrosis adequately fresh. Most of the details are lost in (machine) ...