THE BRIDGE

Design

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.

Is your iPhone dirty? Japan has a miniature zamboni robot that’ll clean it!

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In a recent survey, 88% of smartphone users responded that they are often bothered by finger prints and other marks on their screens. And since not everyone has a piece of microfiber readily on hand, this is clearly a first world problem that absolutely must be solved. And fittingly, we have an equally first world solution. Use Automee-S, a tiny robotic cleaner that was just announced by TOMY Company, Ltd. Home cleaning robots like the Roomba are pretty popular in Japan. And TOMY applied the same concept to smartphones and tablets. In fact, it was way back in 1985 when they built their first cleaning robot named the SO-G (which means “cleaning” in Japanese) which uses brooms to clean. The company describes the Automee as an invention that combines practicality and playfulness. When you turn it on, it is propelled by three wheels on the bottom, and cleaning paper wipes off all fingerprints and oil on the screen. This toy is smart enough to detect the edge of whatever device it is cleaning and turns itself around to avoid from falling off. In this way, the Automee covers the entire surface, making sure everything is nice and clean. If you’d…

automee-s-2
A zamboni for your iPad or iPhone!

In a recent survey, 88% of smartphone users responded that they are often bothered by finger prints and other marks on their screens. And since not everyone has a piece of microfiber readily on hand, this is clearly a first world problem that absolutely must be solved. And fittingly, we have an equally first world solution.

Use Automee-S, a tiny robotic cleaner that was just announced by TOMY Company, Ltd. Home cleaning robots like the Roomba are pretty popular in Japan. And TOMY applied the same concept to smartphones and tablets. In fact, it was way back in 1985 when they built their first cleaning robot named the SO-G (which means “cleaning” in Japanese) which uses brooms to clean.

automee-s-1

The company describes the Automee as an invention that combines practicality and playfulness. When you turn it on, it is propelled by three wheels on the bottom, and cleaning paper wipes off all fingerprints and oil on the screen. This toy is smart enough to detect the edge of whatever device it is cleaning and turns itself around to avoid from falling off. In this way, the Automee covers the entire surface, making sure everything is nice and clean. If you’d like to see it in action, there’s a video over on the company’s website.

The approximate cleaning time is four minutes for smartphones (12cm x 6cm) and eight minutes for tablets (24cm x 19cm). Automee itself is about 7 cm in width and weighs 82g. It comes in four color variations: orange, blue, pink, and white. The two circles in front of the robot intended to mimic eyes, giving it a pet-like feel. The company is even planning to release other kinds in the future such as trains, cars, and animals.

Automee-S will be sold in a range of retail stores all over Japan, as well as online. It costs 1,575 yen (or about $17) and goes on sale on March 28 [1].

automee-s-3


  1. For those who read the headline and wondered what a ‘zamboni’ is, here you go.  ↩

How a Japanese team is crowdfunding a lunar rover

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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. The X Prize Foundation was founded by Peter H. Diamandis with the aim of developing and supporting space exploration [1]. One of participating companies in this competition is the Japanese company White Label Space. This private company independently develops Moon rovers in Japan. White Label Space is shooting for the Google Lunar X Prize, a prize awarded by the X Prize Foundation and sponsored by Google. It began back in 2007, and in order to collect the prize money a team must land a privately-developed unmanned space probe on the surface of the moon while also meeting some other specified criteria. We’re not sure exactly how they plan to get their rover onto the moon, but the professor leading the technology development team, Kazuya Yoshida, has experience in launching satellites into space. So we’re optimistic about their prospects. To fund the development of the company’s miniaturized rovers, White Label Space (WLSJ) launched a fundraising…

campfire-space

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.


The X Prize Foundation was founded by Peter H. Diamandis with the aim of developing and supporting space exploration [1]. One of participating companies in this competition is the Japanese company White Label Space. This private company independently develops Moon rovers in Japan.

White Label Space is shooting for the Google Lunar X Prize, a prize awarded by the X Prize Foundation and sponsored by Google. It began back in 2007, and in order to collect the prize money a team must land a privately-developed unmanned space probe on the surface of the moon while also meeting some other specified criteria. We’re not sure exactly how they plan to get their rover onto the moon, but the professor leading the technology development team, Kazuya Yoshida, has experience in launching satellites into space. So we’re optimistic about their prospects.

To fund the development of the company’s miniaturized rovers, White Label Space (WLSJ) launched a fundraising campaign via Campfire to pay for the production cost and testing of its prototype. Having set an initial goal of raising ¥2,000,000 (or about $22,000), they successfully gathered ¥2,301,520 by December 4, 2012.

campfire-space-2


  1. It is supported by many of the internet’s heavy-hitters including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as the founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson.  ↩

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).