THE BRIDGE

tag Crowdfunding-in-Japan

One ring to hug them all: RingU gives your partner a squeeze over the net

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Professor Adrian Cheok of Keio University’s Mixed Reality Lab has been a pioneer in blending the internet and the physical world, producing creations like Petimo, which allows kids to send hugs to each other over the internet; and Huggy Pajama, a similar solution for kids whose parent might be away. Projects from Mixed Reality Lab emphasize the importance of physical touch in a world where communication is drifting away from that particular sense. Professor Cheok now has a new project in the works that iterates on this philosophy of blending physical touch with the internet. The RingU is another device that transmits these internet hugs, but it does so in a far more compact device. Using a ring connected to your smartphone by Bluetooth, signals can be sent to a paired ring over the internet. You can see a quick overview of RingU in the video below. When you want to communicate a sort of virtual hug to your partner — and it could be a family member, a lover, or just a good friend — you squeese the ring, and your partner will receive this ‘tele-hug’ in real time. So even when separated by huge distances, you know that…

ringu-logo

Professor Adrian Cheok of Keio University’s Mixed Reality Lab has been a pioneer in blending the internet and the physical world, producing creations like Petimo, which allows kids to send hugs to each other over the internet; and Huggy Pajama, a similar solution for kids whose parent might be away. Projects from Mixed Reality Lab emphasize the importance of physical touch in a world where communication is drifting away from that particular sense.

Professor Cheok now has a new project in the works that iterates on this philosophy of blending physical touch with the internet. The RingU is another device that transmits these internet hugs, but it does so in a far more compact device. Using a ring connected to your smartphone by Bluetooth, signals can be sent to a paired ring over the internet. You can see a quick overview of RingU in the video below.

When you want to communicate a sort of virtual hug to your partner — and it could be a family member, a lover, or just a good friend — you squeese the ring, and your partner will receive this ‘tele-hug’ in real time. So even when separated by huge distances, you know that a person far away is thinking of you at that very moment. There are even different types of hugs which you can send — mini, intense, and urgent — depending on the situation.

You can also control the color of your partner’s ring according to whatever emotion you’re feeling at the time. There’s also the accompanying mobile app which partners can use as a private social network to share messages, photos, videos, thus complementing your physical hugs with the other types of communication you’ve become used to in this mobile age.

You can read more about the project over on the Mixed Reality Lab website, or view the project’s fund-raising page over on Campfire. So far the project has raised 110,000 yen (over $1,100) of its 300,000 yen goal.

ring-u


This is part of our “Crowdfunding in Japan” series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, and the story above is a prime example.

Meet the Japanese company that’s making a sign language keyboard

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Here’s a great crowdfunding project that’s currently getting some attention in Japan. An initiative from Fujisawa-based ShuR, the SLinto project aspires to be the world’s first crowdsourced dictionary for sign language, with the world’s first sign language keyboard [1]. While it might be easy to look up words in an English, French, or Chinese dictionary [2], for those who use sign language, how would you go about looking up a specific sign? The company describes their solution (pictured above) as follows: Our sign language keyboard makes the whole process much easier. There are four main components for a sign; location, handshape, orientation, and movement. Our special keyboard allows you to look up a sign using its location and handshape and provide search results in videos. This is a remarkable idea not only because it will help people who already use sign language, but also because it will enable people who don’t use sign language to study it more easily. SHuR’s initiative also includes the very lofty goal of creating a crowdsourced dictionary of sign languages [3], with Wikipedia-style additions from users in video form, able to keep up with any new words or jargon that are added to sign languages…

slinto-dictionary

Here’s a great crowdfunding project that’s currently getting some attention in Japan. An initiative from Fujisawa-based ShuR, the SLinto project aspires to be the world’s first crowdsourced dictionary for sign language, with the world’s first sign language keyboard [1].

While it might be easy to look up words in an English, French, or Chinese dictionary [2], for those who use sign language, how would you go about looking up a specific sign? The company describes their solution (pictured above) as follows:

Our sign language keyboard makes the whole process much easier. There are four main components for a sign; location, handshape, orientation, and movement. Our special keyboard allows you to look up a sign using its location and handshape and provide search results in videos.

This is a remarkable idea not only because it will help people who already use sign language, but also because it will enable people who don’t use sign language to study it more easily.

SHuR’s initiative also includes the very lofty goal of creating a crowdsourced dictionary of sign languages [3], with Wikipedia-style additions from users in video form, able to keep up with any new words or jargon that are added to sign languages over time.

Appropriately, ShuR has turned to the power of the crowd to fund its project, calling for financial supporters over on Countdown, targeting 1.5 million yen (just over $16,000) in its 60 day campaign which has just recently begun. If you’d like to throw your support behind this novel idea, credit cards and Paypal payments are accepted.

For more information about this project, check out the TedxTokyo talk below from ShuR co-founder Junto Ohki.

This is part of our Crowdfunding in Japan series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, and this has been just one example.


  1. This project is a cool idea, but I really wish Japanese companies would quit with the weird capitalization in their names…  ↩

  2. Ok, ok… It’s not at all easy to look up words in a Chinese dictionary.  ↩

  3. ‘Sign languages’ is plural because there are 130 varieties in the world currently.  ↩

Japanese designer ditches chopsticks for amazing musical fork

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This is part of our “Crowdfunding in Japan” series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, and the following is a prime example. At CES 2013 Hapilabs turned a lot of heads with their smart fork. That device promotes healthier eating by making sure you don’t eat too much or too fast. But another unique utensil from Cerevo Dash, the EaTheremin, aspires to enrich your dining experience by turning your meals into a musical performance. How does it work? I’m glad you asked. The handle and tip of the fork contain separate electrodes, which create a weak electric current flowing through the food and the body (mouth → handle) when you eat. It plays different sounds depending on the type of food on the fork and the way in which it is eaten (according to changes in electrical resistance). All you have to do is add the battery and it’s ready for use. There are two varieties of EaTheremin. The digital version selects and plays pre-loaded sound effects from the internal memory based on the food’s electrical resistance. For…

EaTheremin

This is part of our “Crowdfunding in Japan” series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, and the following is a prime example.


At CES 2013 Hapilabs turned a lot of heads with their smart fork. That device promotes healthier eating by making sure you don’t eat too much or too fast. But another unique utensil from Cerevo Dash, the EaTheremin, aspires to enrich your dining experience by turning your meals into a musical performance.

How does it work? I’m glad you asked. The handle and tip of the fork contain separate electrodes, which create a weak electric current flowing through the food and the body (mouth → handle) when you eat. It plays different sounds depending on the type of food on the fork and the way in which it is eaten (according to changes in electrical resistance). All you have to do is add the battery and it’s ready for use.

There are two varieties of EaTheremin. The digital version selects and plays pre-loaded sound effects from the internal memory based on the food’s electrical resistance. For the analog version, simple sine waves change subtly based on the food’s electrical resistance and how you eat, thus producing a sound like a theremin for your enjoyment [1].

This is a cool idea for a number of reasons. The fork could prove an effective tool in convincing picky children to eat foods they don’t like or helping hospital patients or elderly folks with cognitive impairments to enjoy meals again.

They raised ¥308,500, but regrettably the project concluded before the designers could reach their reaching the funding target. But we hope that this clever fork can find its way to our dinner tables sometime soon.


  1. The theremin is an electronic musical instrument from Russia, played without making physical contact. You simply move your hand in proximity to the instrument. If you’ve ever listed to Good Vibrations from The Beach Boys, that weird whining instrument is a theremin.  ↩

How a Japanese illustrator crowdfunded a book of wonder

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This is part of our Crowdfunding in Japan series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, most notably on Campfire, the country’s answer to Kickstarter. Here’s a fun new Campfire project that aspires to create a magical short story. It springs from the mind of illustrator and graphic designer, Hidehito Shinno, and hopes to bring many eccentric characters gather together in a single book. Mr. Shinno thinks freedom is particularly important in producing his works, and this story expresses the fun of an “anything goes” mentality, and a strong departure from reality. He plans to make a full-color soft cover book of 20 to 30 pages. And while such a plan is not so remarkable by itself, we do find it interesting how Shinno has decided to pay for his project. For many illustrators looking to make a new book, funding is often the main obstacle. But now, like other creative spirits in the digital age, an illustrator can make money through a crowdfunding service like Campfire or Kickstarter. And that’s what Shinno has done. On Campfire, he can…

MOSTER MEETS

This is part of our Crowdfunding in Japan series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, most notably on Campfire, the country’s answer to Kickstarter.


Here’s a fun new Campfire project that aspires to create a magical short story. It springs from the mind of illustrator and graphic designer, Hidehito Shinno, and hopes to bring many eccentric characters gather together in a single book. Mr. Shinno thinks freedom is particularly important in producing his works, and this story expresses the fun of an “anything goes” mentality, and a strong departure from reality.

He plans to make a full-color soft cover book of 20 to 30 pages. And while such a plan is not so remarkable by itself, we do find it interesting how Shinno has decided to pay for his project. For many illustrators looking to make a new book, funding is often the main obstacle. But now, like other creative spirits in the digital age, an illustrator can make money through a crowdfunding service like Campfire or Kickstarter. And that’s what Shinno has done. On Campfire, he can promote his work, and eventually publish a book which can then be used as a part of his portfolio — which could then in turn, kickstart more opportunities.

The progress for this particular project is updated continually via ‘the activity report’, so the patrons can observe and enjoy the process of the story’s creation. Mr. Shinno also provides illustrated icons, badges, stickers, and posters to the project’s supporters.

The target amount that was initially set for the Campfire project was 250,000 yen (almost $2,700), and it has far surpassed that goal by reaching 363,500 yen. Clearly a little ingenuity on the business side of things is a big help to the creative process as well!

To help fund full-length historical film, Japanese filmmakers turn to the crowd

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This is part of our Crowdfunding in Japan series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, most notably on Campfire, the country’s answer to Kickstarter. Japanese period dramas of the kind often found in theaters, films, or TV dramas are often set in the Edo Period or earlier, but almost always prior to the Meiji Restoration. Akira Kurasawa’s classic film Seven Samurai is a perfect example. Now there’s a Campfire project which aims to independently produce just such a historical drama. Its director is Ninkou no Junan, which roughly translates as ‘Ninkou’s ordeals.’ The director is Norihiro Niwatsukino, who had previously won awards at Japanese film festivals awards for his past films. Instead of the typical “reward good and punish evil” sort of samurai or ninja, this story is comprised of other unique Japanese cultural elements such as Buddhism, ghosts, and ukiyo-e, marking a clear departure from existing works of the genre. This particular drama draws from three primary concepts. The first is Ukiyo-e and One Hundred Ghost Tales, the culture closely-linked to Yokai. The second focuses on the…

historical-film

This is part of our Crowdfunding in Japan series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, most notably on Campfire, the country’s answer to Kickstarter.


Japanese period dramas of the kind often found in theaters, films, or TV dramas are often set in the Edo Period or earlier, but almost always prior to the Meiji Restoration. Akira Kurasawa’s classic film Seven Samurai is a perfect example. Now there’s a Campfire project which aims to independently produce just such a historical drama. Its director is Ninkou no Junan, which roughly translates as ‘Ninkou’s ordeals.’ The director is Norihiro Niwatsukino, who had previously won awards at Japanese film festivals awards for his past films.

Instead of the typical “reward good and punish evil” sort of samurai or ninja, this story is comprised of other unique Japanese cultural elements such as Buddhism, ghosts, and ukiyo-e, marking a clear departure from existing works of the genre.

This particular drama draws from three primary concepts. The first is Ukiyo-e and One Hundred Ghost Tales, the culture closely-linked to Yokai. The second focuses on the worldview of Buddhism, and the third is centered on feminine beauty in East Asia. The latter’s story describes the women who seduce the protagonist Ninkou, presenting a unique world view by mixing live-action with animation.

The maximum donation level was 300,000 yen (about $3,200), and although no individual supporters committed to that level, two supporters did agree to contribute 100,000 yen. Supporters can earn benefits such as a Blu-ray disc, a book of illustrations from the film, as well as a specific mention in the final credits. The initial funding target was 1,000,000 yen (or about $10,600), and the project achieved by raising 1,079,100 yen from 83 patrons.

It’s going to be interesting to watch and see how this one turns out. For a preview, check out the promo clip below.

Old-school art meets modern day funding in Japan

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This is part of our Crowdfunding in Japan series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, most notably on Campfire, the country’s answer to Kickstarter. From Sukimaki Animation, While the Crow Weeps is a short animation using multiplane cameras, implementing a technique often used in the past to create 3D effects in traditional cell animation. In While the Crow Weeps this method was used to capture each individually hand-drawn frame. The subject of the art series is a group of crows, and in addition to the unique camera technique, it also uses Japanese paper (washi), black India Ink and mineral pigments as painting materials. By choosing these unusual, older methods, the project aims to expand the expressiveness of the artwork. Using this multiplane camera technique in production is very rare in the age of personal computers. The technique gives the artwork a distinct atmosphere and warmth that cannot be expressed with digital processing. The Campfire campaign aimed to raise JPY 300,000 (about $3,300) to fund production costs. That goal was reached successfully on December 13, 2012, and the project…

crows-tears

This is part of our Crowdfunding in Japan series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, most notably on Campfire, the country’s answer to Kickstarter.


From Sukimaki Animation, While the Crow Weeps is a short animation using multiplane cameras, implementing a technique often used in the past to create 3D effects in traditional cell animation. In While the Crow Weeps this method was used to capture each individually hand-drawn frame.

The subject of the art series is a group of crows, and in addition to the unique camera technique, it also uses Japanese paper (washi), black India Ink and mineral pigments as painting materials. By choosing these unusual, older methods, the project aims to expand the expressiveness of the artwork.

Using this multiplane camera technique in production is very rare in the age of personal computers. The technique gives the artwork a distinct atmosphere and warmth that cannot be expressed with digital processing.

The Campfire campaign aimed to raise JPY 300,000 (about $3,300) to fund production costs. That goal was reached successfully on December 13, 2012, and the project has since stopped seeking additional patrons. The artwork is scheduled to be completed by this spring.

For an idea of how this artwork looks, you can see the video clip below.

Japan’s amazing self-stirring pot now for sale on Amazon

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This is part of our Crowdfunding in Japan series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, most notably on Campfire, the country’s answer to Kickstarter. When we think about rapidly advancing technology sectors, we don’t often think about cooking. But if you’ve ever stood impatiently over a boiling pot, mixing vegetables or pasta, this self-stirring pot, named kurokuro nabe, is technology that will likely have you drooling. It’s a ridiculously simple design, with diagonal gutters along the sides which draw water up to create a whirlpool as water heats up. The result is a wonderful self-mixing pot that should save you the time and trouble of always watching to see when it needs stirring. If you aren’t already floored by this, let me further point out that since the whirlpool brings bubbles to the center of the pot, it also prevents water from boiling over. Undesirable material like fat or oil also gathers in the middle, and can be scooped out easily. When video of the prototype was initially posted on YouTube (see video below), it racked up over…

kurukuru nabe

This is part of our Crowdfunding in Japan series (RSS). Services like KickStarter have become a global phenomenon with the power to let creative individuals take their ideas to new heights. It’s happening here in Japan too, most notably on Campfire, the country’s answer to Kickstarter.


When we think about rapidly advancing technology sectors, we don’t often think about cooking. But if you’ve ever stood impatiently over a boiling pot, mixing vegetables or pasta, this self-stirring pot, named kurokuro nabe, is technology that will likely have you drooling.

It’s a ridiculously simple design, with diagonal gutters along the sides which draw water up to create a whirlpool as water heats up. The result is a wonderful self-mixing pot that should save you the time and trouble of always watching to see when it needs stirring.

If you aren’t already floored by this, let me further point out that since the whirlpool brings bubbles to the center of the pot, it also prevents water from boiling over. Undesirable material like fat or oil also gathers in the middle, and can be scooped out easily.

When video of the prototype was initially posted on YouTube (see video below), it racked up over 740,000 views, far exceeding the expectations of its designers and prompting them to produce a marketable product. It was even featured in prominent Western media like The Huffington Post and Daily Mail.

The funds raised for this project on were earmarked to cover production costs of at least 1000 pots, with trial manufacturing and mass production were to take place in the development department of Toyo Rikagaku Kenkyusho in Niigata Prefecture. That company is so renowned for its technology that Steve Jobs came all the way to Japan to place an order for iPad production there.

Although the creators raised 311,000 yen (almost $3,400) in their Campfire crowdfunding campaign, the project didn’t reach its funding target. Perhaps there’s not much of a crossover between cooking enthusiasts and Campfire backers? But thankfully, this miracle pot is being sold on Amazon Japan, so we’re delighted to see that it’s finally available for purchase.

You can check out more information about kurokuro nabe over on its website (in Japanese).