17 comments

#technology: Who would've thought that the language barrier would be broken by a pair of glasses?These aren't your everyday glasses, though. NEC has created this eyewear translator from the future. You put th...

20 comments

#weird news: In case you didn't know yet, Microsoft has just thrown the latest punch in the ongoing OS war: Windows 7. Debuting just this week, the PC giant has placed incredible amount of marketing weight in...

17 comments

#technology: This is a real thing that is happening.Burger King Japan's commerative burger for the release of the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system has...7 beef patties. They're really going to sell this t...

4 comments

#technology: If you didn't know yet, Amazon's going to release an international version of its Kindle pickpocket-bai--I mean reader device, the Kindle, going out to tempt petty thieves in over 100 countries, ...

4 comments

#weird news: While we lament the lack of manliness in Japan's squishier citizens, their cybernetic populace certainly warrants hot-blooded "f*ck yeah!"Kyoto-based Activelink has put together a badas...

22 comments

#weird news: It's over. Microsoft wins. The OS wars are done. MS' much-hyped successor to Vista, Windows 7, has received an officially endorsed mascot in Japan, one that is far superior to Justin Long's conde...

9 comments

#weird news: Well, either him or whomever does Apple Store interiors. Normally a stay in one of Japan's famous capsule hotels is akin to spending the night in a laundromat dryer, something only a few steps up...

10 comments

#videos: Google is seeking to become the world's "do-everything" company when it comes to information, and Google Maps has been a large part of that effort. One facet of the service in partic...

14 comments

#weird news: While Japan's aging population continues to be a major concern in the long term, the country is still home to some of the spriteliest geezers you might find.Among them, this man, aged seventy-e...

7 comments

#weird news: I'd suggest trying to read this story right before you go to sleep. Turn out the lights, turn the volume on your computer up, and then play the video.Geez. This so-called "nonsense machine...

14 comments

#ZOMGWTFBBQ: The day that Glorious Nippon will once again rise to dominance over the world is coming much sooner than anticipate, because new intelligence has revealed that Japan's arms buildup has begun. A...

4 comments

#weird news: Sacrifices sometimes need to be made for the good of the community as a whole, but oftentimes the people that do the sacrificing don't always want to hear about it beforehand.In this case, I'm ...

2 comments

#technology: Japan's ongoing indifference to the Twitter micro-blogging service is well-documented. That said, you can never have enough statistics.A new survey conducted by the CLUB BBQ mail forwarding servi...

7 comments

#weird news: There are plenty of ways to shoot film, but none quite as unique as the Doryu 2-16 Pistol Camera. This gadget is a "serious camera" for the Japanese police, as they use it for...taking ...

9 comments

#weird news: The Japan Rubber Band Gun Shooting Association has sent a symbolic "screw you" to traditional guns and bullets with the construction of a powerful rubber band machine gun. And yes, th...

7 comments

#weird news: Science is not always clean. Scientists often need to roll up their sleeves and get dirty for the sake of human advancement. I doubt some of them expected to rifle through a man's dirty laundry, ...

7 comments

#technology: If you're looking for a bowl of ramen and need to have it in exactly one minute and forty seconds, two chefs in Nagoya are ready to take your order.FuA-Men (short for Fully Automated raMen) is ru...

4 comments

#technology: The ultimate otaku dream of being able to interact effectively with 2-D characters is slowly coming to realization, as researchers at Tokyo University's Shinoda Lab have managed to combine hologr...

1 comments

#technology: Hate going to the dentist? Can't stand the sound of the drill or the smell of powdered tooth? Afraid of anaesthetic injections or getting gassed? Worry no more, because the same developments that...

7 comments

#weird news: Too busy blogging to glance at the corner of your taskbar? Sick of your watch? Don't have a Nintendo DSi or access to  the Xbox Live Community Games channel? The internet has just the right ...

2 comments

#technology: There's plenty of fun to be had while at the beach. You can play volleyball, go swimming, or dig a hole, only to have it collapse in on you with high tide fast approaching. Another thing you can ...

13 comments

#technology: Oh boy, a lot of robot-related news of late, eh? From a man who "is robot" to robots taking over baseball to statues of the manliest robot around, The Machines have risen from all over ...

7 comments

#technology: The work on Kobe's planned life-sized Tetsujin 28-go statue is proceeding nicely, as you can see in the news update above, which is cued to some badass old-timey robot show music. The officia...

2 comments

#technology: As if Japanese players taking over American baseball weren't enough, human players may have to contend with robots taking over professional sports. Japanese roboticists have developed a pair of...

3 comments

#weird news: A common criticism of politicians is that they, on the whole, are a group of backwards old men with little regard for present-day progress. In light of this latest development, I'd say the charge...

4 comments

#technology: The sexes are at war. They always have been, and despite significant victories, The Man has had the upper hand. Now, in the field of science, The Man seeks to bring that hand down upon the rights...

3 comments

#videos: Smile for the camera. No, seriously: smile for the camera, or else you won't be able to clock in and work today. In the video above, you'll see workers at Shinagawa station checking their p...

3 comments

#weird news: Japan, as you may know, is full to the brim with trains. Train games, bullet trains, all the way up to train men, Japan has trains in the brain.But you have a lot to worry about when it comes t...

4 comments

#technology: Japan hosts nearly half the working robot population, and as such it is incredibly important that humans need to maintain control over them. Secret laboratories everywhere are working on new wa...

13 comments

#technology: Tweeting isn't for everyone. I myself haven't completely warmed up to this intertube sensation. It might take a lot longer for Japan at large though, as a recent survey by the iBridge monitor gro...

5 comments

#technology: I've been using an HP Mini as my only computer for the past four months or so. Colette is lamenting my situation as we talk now, but I've gotten used to it. As great as this HP netbook is, there ...

4 comments

#videos: I visited Japan once on a study tour way back in the day, and if there's one thing I took away from that experience, it's that Japanese arcades are eff'n LOUD. I couldn't help but wonder how th...

5 comments

#technology: Most of the robots we rightfully fear and envy are shaped like huge lumps of inhuman scrap metal. The Terminators, the Liberty Primes, the Transformers, all of them look properly alien and hatefu...

3 comments

#weird news: It's not uncommon for Japanese ads to spice up their content with exotic foreigners, but one wonders what Honda had in mind when they filmed this ad for this year's Honda Stream. Watch it after t...

3 comments

#technology: I don't know a whole lot about the devil machine that is the iPhone, but I do know that a lot of people like it, including Dale North.Of course storing one's iPhone in a pants pocket unprotected ...

11 comments

#technology: The picture above, and the video below the divide are examples of relatively mundane technology at work. It's actually quite simple. The image was projected by standard equipment you might see in...

4 comments

#weird news: In spite of all efforts by the creative industry to educate them, Japan's police still have no idea how to conduct proper law enforcement.Cops finally getting laser-guided paintball launchers ...

0 comments

#technology: As we all know, The Machines will eventually take over. I for one welcome our future robot overlords, but not everyone is as receptive to mankind's inevitable, glorious destiny. It seems the peop...

9 comments

#technology: Do you hear that? Yes, it's quiet, I know. That's because the rowdies and lawbreakers of the land have been silenced by the power of SCIENCE. Police officers at Chubu Centrair International Airpo...

18 comments

#weird news: Teens, as always, are the bane of adults' existence. Just looking up "your teen" on any bookstore website shows off just how much business has sprung up around grownups trying to deal w...

1 comments

#weird news:  What's so tragic about this video showing a high-tech chain of conveyor belt sushi restaurants, you ask? Move over to 00:45 and you'll see. Lord almighty, they tossed it! And it was only ...

4 comments

#weird news: Ah, I love catching strange and bizarre cellphone games announcements off of 2ch. It always puts some context to the absolute batshit-insanity surrounding some of these titles. Like this one: Ecc...

6 comments

#technology: I know this will come as a massive shock to the system of our readers, but Japan has a thing for two things and only two things. Those things are phones and Evangelion. Everything can be separate...

4 comments

#weird news: Japan, you should know better than to do something like this. I mean, you already have the camera tie for those perverted salarymen, so how could you not see that this camera would be a bad idea?...

7 comments

#technology: I've heard a lot of anti-iPhone stories from Japanese websites ever since the launch of the phone with Softbank. Y'know, that the phone is doing dismally, that they have to give it away for free,...

3 comments

#USB: Sushi. Humping dogs. Godzilla. All forms of removable memory for your computer, compliments of Japan and their wild imaginations. Now, here's one that combines that imagination with Japan's love ...

20 comments

#Tenga: Masanobu Sato did Japan proud at last week's Masturbate-A-Thon, held in San Francisco on Saturday. He whacked away his old record of 9 hours and 33 minutes with a new one, 25 minutes longer. This...

3 comments

#technology: Is your carpet boring, dead, useless fibers made of plastic that absorb your cheetos crumbs like a black hole? Well, it doesn’t have to be thanks to the work of Japanese flower based artist...

10 comments

#technology: When we think of robot exoskeletons, we think about some sort of a vehicle that carries two giant guns to help fight off the robots when they (eventually) gain sentience. I’m sorry to say r...

6 comments

#technology: Normally netbooks aren't worth a crap. Light and cheap are the selling points, but they leave out the ugly and slow. This custom netbook may still suffer from the slows, but it's probably the mo...

2 comments

#technology: Getting lost in Tokyo can be fun...for awhile. Then there comes this point where you start to realize that everything looks the same, and that addresses aren't easily accessible or understood. Su...

2 comments

#technology: A dog pedometer? Are you serious? TakaraTomy is, and that's why they've made a pedometer just for dogs, with the ability to sense the movement of four paws. Newlaunches says that the device has a...

2 comments

#technology: Sometimes, I wonder about the practicality of some apps for the iPhone. They can be gimmicky, only useful to a handful of people, or just plain stalker-ish. Well, I'll let you decide what categor...

1 comments

#video games: Pay no attention to the text here, unless you're really bored. If you're that bored, go read our fine Web sites, like this one, or Destructoid or Tomopop!Oh, did you know that Michael Jackson is...

4 comments

#weird news: Well, maybe "amazes" isn't the right word. But the noisemaking photo software works, if the video above is any evidence. A message from the makers of this software, Tokyo-based Appliya...

8 comments

#weird news: Look, my hands can't be everywhere; I'm a busy man. Honestly I'm kind of booked up right now. Here's what we'll do: I'll put you on the list, and you can pop in these babies right now.Crazy-assed...

8 comments

#technology: It's truly amazing how Japan has managed to capture my heart, time and time again with it's never ending supply of awesome technology. Being musically inclined myself, I've always had a sof...

8 comments

#technology: Dieting is tough. You start a new diet but less than a month later, your willpower gives out and you simply pig out on gyouza. But now, you can employ one of four virtual wives to help you out.Th...

15 comments

#technology: The iPhone has been a hotly awaited item in Japan. We didn't really pay attention to the warning that most Japanese wouldn't buy the phone, because having an internal battery seemed like a bit o...

7 comments

#wii: Oh Japanese otaku, with their unhealthy obsession to mate everything that has no right to be mated. If only they could do it with themselves. No wait. That didn't come out right.Anyway, here's th...

7 comments

#Video games: It seems that we just can't shake this whole make my figures real so I can touch and undress them thing. We're stuck with it. But, instead of poking fun at us otaku types that long for this dream...

9 comments

#technology: Of the three Japanese cellphone providers, Softbank has always been strikingly different from competitors AU and DoCoMo. Softbank ran pricing schemes that undercut their competitors, focusing on ...

3 comments

#technology: Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!How many times have you had the girls over and just dreamed about how TOTALLY AWESOME it would be if Gackt *squeee!*...Sorry...if Gackt just came over to your house *SQUEE...

6 comments

#videos: Have you ever wanted to store your bike like the robots store humans in the Matrix? If yes then come on down to Tokyo, where science fiction becomes reality on a daily basis. All you have to do...

4 comments

#technology: Bandai Visual USA's Web portal dot-anime.us will soon be launching a streaming video service.  Wait! Don't go hopping over there just yet. The service is slated to launch in late March, and ...

1 comments

#weird news: How wonderful to be living in a time when researchers can scientifically measure laughter. The system, developed at Kansai University, uses electrode sensors to measure nuisances in bioelectric...

1 comments

#technology: Well, not really. I could say that if I dropped some serious change for one of these Japanese-made luxury PCs.What's luxury about them? Not the specifications, that's for sure. They're top of the...

3 comments

#technology: For the low, low price of 40 million yen, Japanese police are set to upgrade current find-bad-guy toys this year with Wall Through Radar, a special doodad that can somehow detect people thro...

7 comments

#weird news: Honda Asimo, December 2007 demo, Honda HQUploaded by AkihabaraNewsHonda invited Akihabara news to a showcase featuring the newest edition of Honda’s Asimo robot, and lucky for us they vid...

0 comments

#Vending Machines: No joke. FG tells us about this Japanese drink vending machine that tells you a joke or two while it prepares your beverage of choice.New Yoshimoto Kogyo drinks vending machine, many of which whi...

8 comments

#videos: And the winner for the sexist dental robotic patient goes to… Simroid! This sassy robot was originally designed as a training tool for dentists; and well, still is a training tool for den...

3 comments

#videos: I don’t need to tell you about the cool features of Nissan’s Pivo2 since you probably already watched the above video and saw it yourselves. In this car you might not survive a car cr...

4 comments

#videos: Akihabara News recently wrote a great article (and made a video) about their experiences with the newest Initial D Arcade game; bestowing the world with information regarding this great achievem...

2 comments

#technology: The future is here now people, seeing that Fuji Xerox has created a photocopier that can translate Japanese or Korean to English and vise versa. Supposedly, it scans the image and reprints the t...

0 comments

#technology: A Japanese company is planning to unleash new technology straight out of Minority Report and lots of other James Bond-y eye-scanning movies I can't recall off the top of my head: Oki has come u...