Category: Japan

Star Trek Lifeform Scanner!

Now this is nifty, I wonder if this uses some of the technology that was pioneered at Lawrence Livermore Labs a few years ago.

Japanese geological research firm Oyo will launch this month a handheld radar system that rescuers can use to locate people that are alive but unmoving and trapped under rubble.
The system can pinpoint the location and the depth of persons who are breathing by detecting the electromagnetic waves that reflect back from their moving chests.
To use the system, wireless antennas are placed at the search site to send out signals and capture the signals that reflect back. This information is relayed to the handheld radar reader, which analyzes the data and displays moving objects as black dots and living but immobile persons as red dots. Each antenna can search an area of 1 square meter to a depth of around 4.5 meters. A single radar analyzer can read the signals from as many as 30 antennas.

[via we make money not art]
Oyo

Japnese Flooing, the Tatami Mat

Tatami Mats

Not a while lot of people will know what these are but as far as floor coverings go you could do far worse. Far softer than hardwood and easier to keep clean than carpet, the Tatami Mat is a comfortable alternative for keeping your floors tidy and comfortable. Just remember to take your shoes off when you walk on them or they will be ruined (you should take your shoes off in your house anyway, it keeps your home a lot cleaner.)

Tatami Goza Mats from Japan are an interesting, natural addition to a room. They are made of sustainably-harvested rushes. Each tatami mat contains around 4,000 to 5,000 rushes. Hemp or cotton cord is then used to weave the rushes together.
The mats are especially good for children’s play rooms and bedrooms because they are long-lasting and stain-resistant. New tatami have a green color and a fresh grassy smell which fades in light to leave a bright golden color. They are naturally treated to resist insects. Goza mats are also relatively inexpensive: a 11.41′ by 11.41′ mat costs around $240

Tatami Goza Mats: Natural, Durable, Sustainable

Ell Ell: Mystery Archive

Ell Ell Mystery Archive

I know it’s in Japanese – hey, I’m giving you a link to a translated version, what more do you want?
The ‘Ell Ell: Mystery Archive’ is chock full of weird and bizarre stuff that quite frankly I have never seen elsewhere. So far all the links have been to English sites so if you work off from the Japanese page you can still go after the good stuff by clicking on the stories with the interesting pictures.

????: Mystery ?????
Translated via Google

Toyota Devises Shrub To Purify & Cool Air

Oh so cool! I would love to see these sorts of things all over the place. Much better than those darn orange trees (rever try to eat the fruit from those! Yuck!).

Toyota said recently that it has developed a new species of the Cherry Sage shrub family that effectively absorbs harmful substances in the air. The new species, called Kirsch Pink, will be sold for 380 yen per pot through Toyota Roof Garden Co, a Toyota Motor subsidiary, from March next year. While Cherry Sage plants are known to absorb nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and other harmful substances in the air, the new species does so 1.3 times more effectively, Toyota says.

Toyota Devises Shrub To Purify & Cool Air

The Soft Phone

total touch screen phone

Forget touch typing with this baby. Mitsubishi and NTT DoCoMo are working together to create a phone with no keys, just touch screens. The idea is that new features can be added to the phones at any time. The menus can also be modified by the users to reduce the over all complexity of the system. Sounds like an idea that has come none too soon. Still in its experimental phase for now but when it hits it should be very popular.

[via Gizmodo]
You heard of touch screens now check out touch keys