Tag: Japan

Armored Gallery

I just discovered that AirSoft pistols can be be bought at my local swapmart. Now I’ve been bitten by the ‘cool plastic gun’ bug. It’s a good thing I don’t live in Japan!

“Bringing out the aggressor that’s hidden deep inside you” is the theme of the Armored Gallery. It sells the most realistic and expensive airsoft guns ever. Guns are illegal in Japan, and maybe that is part of the fascination. Entering this store is like walking into a Wal-Mart in the middle of the US with racks and racks of guns. They look so real; it is hard to believe that people only use them to play mock military-stytle games.

[via Cool Hunting]
ARMORED GALLERY

Superstar – ???????

A cool game based on the phone and photo booth technology of Japan.
The idea of the game is pretty simple:

Goal: Get points by shooting the stickers of other players and by having other players shoot your own.

I don’t think there is any other place on the planet where this game could be easily played. Oh sure, you could try it in L.A. or New York but finding the Puri Kura sticker machines might be a little tough. And then you have the problem with taking photos of the stickers, how many cell phones in the US have a macro mode?!? Not saying that it’d impossible, just harder. I hope to see someone try this her in the states.
The mechanics of the game are pretty cool, once you shoot a photo of the players sticker (the stickers have to have a star on them to show that its in the game) and automated system matches it with the right player in the database.

[via we-make-money-not-art]
superstar – ???????

The Japanese Bath

The ofuro or bathtub is an important part of Japanese culture. It’s not just about getting clean (you do that before you enter that bath) its about relaxing and contemplating the events of the day. I hope to someday have one in my home. Over at Amazon you can pick up a book on them, “The Japanese Bath” is a book by Bruce Smith and Yoshiko Yamamoto and is packed with history, color photos of the baths and even why the selection of the wood used to build them is so important. Priced at $14.95, it is an easy buy. Once you see the baths you will know why these are part of their society.

[via metaefficient]
Amazon.com: Books: The Japanese Bath

Toshiba Develope Fuel Cell for Small Electronics

Toshiba Fuel Cell Player

You can’t tell me that once these come on the market some modding geek with a bit too much pocket money won’t go out and buy one of these and hack it apart just to use the power supply on another device? Sounds like a perfect way to power an iPod Shuffle or whatever is going to be around in 2007, that’s when they are expected to hit the market.

he company developed fuel cell units with 100mW and 300mW output, intended to be used with portable audio players that have internal flash memory or internal hard drives. The company announced fuel cells for portable audio products back in 2004, and at that time stated that they intended for implementation of the technology some time during 2005.

The 100mW unit measures 75 x 23 x 10mm (H x W x T) and is about the size of a few sticks of gum. 3.5ml of pure methanol (99.5% pure) is injected into its tank, and it can provide life for roughly 35 hours. The 300mW unit measures 75 x 60 x 10mm (same) and provides around 60 hours of playback time from 10ml of fuel.

These fuel cells that were developed are a passive type that is suited for smaller products. Unlike conventional fuel cells that require the methanol to be diluted to under 30% concentration, these units can use methanol with no need to dilute it. The company is looking for basic adoption of the technology during or after 2007, and is accelerating development o­n all fronts, including manufacturing technology

Toshiba developers fuel cell hard drive/flash players

Luxe Asian City Guide Books

This is the fist I have herd of these travel guides, sounds like i should be picking up the ones for Bangkok and Hong Kong! Not that I’d be able to afford most of the things listed in their guide books but it is nice to know that they are there.
Concise and hip, the Luxe guide books are updated twice a year and are very affordable (about $9US). Each is packed with information on the best things you can find in each city plus ‘secret’ things that only the contributions (the live in the cities they write about) know about.
The guide books cover most major cities in the Pacific rim area:

Bali
Bangkok
Beijing
Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh City
Hong Kong
Shanghai
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Melbourne
Sydney
Tokyo

So if your going to be visiting any of these places you might want to pick up a Luxe book and see what you might be missing.

Luxe City Guides

‘Otaku idol’ dazzles Tokyo Game Show

Shoko Nakagwa

And why don’t these things happen here in the US I ask…

Shoko Nakagawa, a former pin-up queen for Miss Magazine, dazzled the Tokyo Game Show by appearing on stage dressed in a costume from a popular martial arts game.

Nakagawa, clad as a character from the “King of Fighters,” wowed the audience during a talk show and photo session that followed it on the final day of the country’s biggest game event.

“I like games more than eating,” Nakagawa said. “Sometimes, I’ll even dress up and head off to the convenience store.”

Anyway, loads of cosplay photos to be had here, go have a look.

Cosplay
‘Otaku idol’ dazzles Tokyo Game Show