Results for “the culture that is japan”
217 found

Self-constraint markets in everything the culture that is Japan

OKITE is a Japanese alarm clock app. It’s designed to help users wake up, but with a twist: it sends embarrassing messages to the user’s Twitter account every time they hit snooze.

And what does it send?:

“From today on I’m going to head to work via unicycle.”

“I want to buy a fast red Ferrari and a horse!”

“Just as I thought, I want to become a stewardess.”

Here are further examples, all in Japanese.

For the pointer I thank Jordan, a loyal MR reader.

Markets in everything the countercyclical asset the culture that is Japan

…Teramura’s place is neither a love nest nor a pit stop for tired travelers. The white and grey tiled building is a corpse hotel, its 18 deceased guests tucked up in refrigerated coffins…

The daily rate at Lastel, as it is known, is 12,000 yen ($157). For that fee, bereaved families can check in their dead while they wait their turn in the queue for one of the city’s overworked crematoriums.

Death is a rare booming market in stagnant Japan and Teramura’s new venture is just one example of how businessmen are trying to tap it.

Here is more.  Unlike with crematoria, in this market entry is not restricted or licensed.

The culture that is Japan there is no great stagnation

Japanese invent a box that can simulate a kiss over the Internet:

The device looks like an ordinary box attached to a computer with a rotating straw. A closer look reveals otherwise. Students at Japan’s Kajimoto Laboratory at the University of Electro-Communications have created a small device that uses motor rotations with the aim to simulate the feeling of a kiss over the Internet. Warning: this might be the most disturbing thing you’ll see today.

Upon closer inspection, we learn that the kissing device responds directly to a person’s tongue. On one end, a person rotates the “straw” in one direction and the “straw” on the other end will rotate in the same direction. The result is a powerful tactile response that feels like you’re giving or receiving a kiss. From the demonstration video, the device looks a lot more effective than that concept cellphone that uses a wet sponge to transmit moisture onto a person’s lips.

For the device’s creators at Kajimoto Laboratory, the kissing device has a lot of potential, “The elements of a kiss include the sense of taste, the manner of breathing, and the moistness of the tongue…

But where is the demonstration video?  Can you find it on the site or elsewhere?

For the pointer I thank Natalie B.

Is this our future the culture that is Japan markets in everything?

Since he was "discovered" in 1996, Tokuda has emerged as a major player in Japan's emerging adult movie genre known as "elder porn." He says he has appeared in more than 350 films such as "Prohibited Nursing" and "Maniac Training of Lolitas." In these scripts, Tokuda always gets the girl.

The films play upon well-documented Japanese male fantasies. In each, Tokuda plays a gray-haired master of sex who teaches his ways to an assortment of young nurses and secretaries. Whips and sex aides often factor in the plotlines.

Tokuda is 76 years old and he makes an average of one film a week.  It is estimated that "elder porn" now accounts for one-fifth of the Japanese adult film sector.

The article is here and for the pointer I thank Daniel Lippman.

Markets in everything Elfoid homunculus cellphone edition the culture that is Japan

For real, hat tip goes to Bamber.

Elfoid-humanoid-mobile-phone-robot--580x383 

It takes on the facial characteristics of whomever you are speaking to (with a camera intermediary) and it is "based on a larger robot created by Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro."

When asked how he responds to comments that his Telenoid appears creepy, Ishiguro simply shrugged his shoulders and said that “it is not creepy.”

The culture that is Japan

…a new breed of automated seller has smarts, too–these machines can detect your age and gender and offer drink suggestions accordingly.

The new machines under the Acure brand were recently installed in Tokyo's Shinagawa Station and they're about the size of two refrigerators.

Run by a company under the JR East railway group, the "next-generation drink machines" are imposing enough, but fortunately they don't talk to you. They have cameras that use facial-recognition algorithms to match customers' faces to a database of people types.

When you stand in front of the machine, it takes a second to process your image. It will then recommend some of the roughly 35 drinks displayed on its large touch-screen panel by showing little cartoonish speech bubbles next to them…

At one machine on the main concourse of Shinagawa, I saw a Japanese businessman being offered Coke as a suggested beverage, while a Japanese woman was offered a water-like vitamin drink.

The full story is here and for the pointer I thank Steve Silberman.

The best paragraph I read yesterday (the culture that is Japan)

The daughter of a policeman and a dance instructor, Rebecca is thought to be popular because she has big eyes, a small face and slender limbs – similar to the cartoon characters.

There is much more at the link, including videos.  The upshot is this:

Rebecca, from the Isle of Man, first came to attention on YouTube where millions watched her dance to J-Pop (Japanese pop music) and the theme tunes of anime cartoons.

She appears in hundreds of clips dressed as Japanese cartoon characters.

Her new album is expected to go straight to number one in Japan.  For the pointer I thank LongTermGuy.

The culture that is Japan

“The concept of this restaurant is that Robot No. 1 is the manager, which boils the noodles, and Robot No. 2 is the deputy manager, which prepares for soup and puts toppings,” said Famen’s owner, Kenji Nagaya. “Human staffs are working for the two robots.”

Here is much more, interesting throughout.  Here is one more bit:

One entry, Beerbot, detects approaching people and asks for beer money. When it acquires enough, it “buys” itself a beer. Bystanders can watch it flow into a transparent bladder. As for other humanizing behaviors, “like a robot that doesn’t stop short at lighting a cigarette but actually goes ahead and smokes it?” Mr. Wurzer says, “We had that.”

The culture that is Japan, snow removal edition

Robot Snowplow from Japan Eats Up Snow, Poops Out Bricks.

Japan

It has a camera and GPS.  Here is a further report from Japan (remarkable detail at that link):

One protective measure against snow and ice for railroads and roadways is the "slush removal system" that hydraulically transfers collected snow that has been removed from the railroad tracks or roadways and deposits it in a river. Also, there is the "sprinkler snow melting system" that melts snow by sprinkling water on the road surface.

Here is a longer study of geothermal snow melting systems.  Here is a discussion of numerous other Japanese snow treatment and disposal technologies.  Here is a report from Tsuruta:

In town several additional unique ways of dealing with this snow exist. A concrete-contained stream runs under downtown sidewalks, covered by hinged, lightweight metal grates. People who have access to this “river” can shovel their snow into the running water, sending it floating to the nearby Sea of Japan. Around the nicer homes in town (luckily, including mine) pipes spray a constant stream of hot water onto snow, quickly melting it.

Still, the snow can gather, breaking the delicate branches of Japan’s carefully tended trees and plants. The solution: wooden cages and bamboo teepees, odd-looking sights.

The abundance of snow in Japan spawned a bewildering variety of shovels with distinct shapes and purposes. Most are plastic. There are wide shovels for moving large quantities of snow; there are smaller shovels for weaker shovelers; there are shovels with handles and shovels without; there are shovel-sleds designed to allow the user to push a large load of snow a long distance; there are also metal shovels for breaking up hard-packed snow.

The shovels come in a selection of neon colors: green, yellow, purple, orange, and blue – some marketer’s feeble attempt to make snow-shoveling fun. Shovels cost from five to thirty dollars. Most people own at least two different types, selected by need.

I like this from Japan (ultimately) too — Bohemian Rhapsody!

Markets in everything the culture that is Japan

Buy your own android double:

They will be built by Japanese robotics firm Kokoro, which is best known for its line of attractive Actroid receptionist humanoids.

The company will create the sitting robot out of silicone with the same face, body shape, hair and eyes of the recipient. Their speech will be based on recordings of the owner's voice.

The android's facial expressions and upper body will be modeled on the movements of the buyer.

Do check out the photos of the female models and the video is a must.  They're not cheap:

The mechanical doppelgangers will be on offer at Sogo, Seibu, and Robinson retailers for the princely sum of 20.1million yen or £139,000.

But they are pretty good, here is one (male) example:

Android

For the pointer I thank Bob Cottrell at The Browser.

Markets in everything; the culture that is Japanese

This year Japan has gone konkatsu-crazy, with the trend spawning countless magazine articles, a weekly TV drama and a best-selling book.

A Tokyo shrine now offers konkatsu prayer services, a Hokkaido baseball
team has set up special seats for those looking for mates, and a Tokyo
ward office arranges dating excursions to restaurants and aquariums.

A lingerie maker has even come up with a konkatsu bra with a ticking clock that can be stopped by inserting an engagement ring.

Here is much moreI thank KunLung Wu for the pointer.

The culture that is Japanese

A homeless woman who sneaked into a man’s house and lived undetected in
his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious
when food mysteriously began disappearing.

Police found the
58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man’s
closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki
Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.

Even better is how he caught her:

The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted
images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing
from his kitchen over the past several months.

Hat tip goes to Instapundit.

The Covid culture that is Japan