THE BRIDGE

Design

Japanese company creates geeky jewelry from electronic components

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Japanese girls tend to be very fashion-conscious. And although there are popular apparel brands that they typically favor, a few individuals prefer to stand out from the crowd. If you’re one of those people looking to wear something a little different, you may want to check out ‘Rikei Accessories’. It’s a unique line of jewelry made using electronic components. Rikei Accessories comes from an Osaka company called Xi Design. The products can be purchased over on Sainome, an ecommerce site operated by the company. There you can find beautifully designed jewelry made from circuit boards, or a heat-resistant electronic wire bracelet that resembles DNA. According to the Nikkei, these jewelry are getting popular with women in their 20s and 30s Check out a few examples of this science jewelry below. Ear-pierce (¥6,600) DNA Bracelets (¥2,500) PC Board Necklace (¥3,400)

Rikei-Accessories

Japanese girls tend to be very fashion-conscious. And although there are popular apparel brands that they typically favor, a few individuals prefer to stand out from the crowd. If you’re one of those people looking to wear something a little different, you may want to check out ‘Rikei Accessories’. It’s a unique line of jewelry made using electronic components.

Rikei Accessories comes from an Osaka company called Xi Design. The products can be purchased over on Sainome, an ecommerce site operated by the company. There you can find beautifully designed jewelry made from circuit boards, or a heat-resistant electronic wire bracelet that resembles DNA.

According to the Nikkei, these jewelry are getting popular with women in their 20s and 30s Check out a few examples of this science jewelry below.

electronicparts-earpierceEar-pierce (¥6,600)

DNA-braceletsDNA Bracelets (¥2,500)

Kiban-necklace

PC Board Necklace (¥3,400)

Japanese nail art enters another dimension thanks to 3D printing

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Japan has an abundance of fun 3D printing projects, such as Fotofig which we featured just recently. And while many such projects are a little off the wall, here’s one that’s more unusual than most. Maayu Co. Ltd. offers a pretty incredible 3D nail printing service, allowing nail art fans to take their finger flair to the next level. This moko art (moko meaning ‘bump’) service became available on August 12th, and users can order nails by simply submitting a photo of a family member, a significant other, or even a pet. The process uses a soft resin which and takes cues from the shading on the photo to determine the texture and printed contours. This is an interesting concept, because it’s essentially extrapolating a third dimension from a 2D photo. After that, the face/image is printed on, and some final stage finishing is done by hand. As you might expect the process isn’t a cheap one, with a price tag of 7800 yen (or about $80) for a single nail. The nails are sent to you by mail, at which point you can sharpen or file them to your liking [1]. To find out more about the process, check…

nail-art-3d

Japan has an abundance of fun 3D printing projects, such as Fotofig which we featured just recently. And while many such projects are a little off the wall, here’s one that’s more unusual than most. Maayu Co. Ltd. offers a pretty incredible 3D nail printing service, allowing nail art fans to take their finger flair to the next level.

This moko art (moko meaning ‘bump’) service became available on August 12th, and users can order nails by simply submitting a photo of a family member, a significant other, or even a pet. The process uses a soft resin which and takes cues from the shading on the photo to determine the texture and printed contours.

This is an interesting concept, because it’s essentially extrapolating a third dimension from a 2D photo. After that, the face/image is printed on, and some final stage finishing is done by hand.

As you might expect the process isn’t a cheap one, with a price tag of 7800 yen (or about $80) for a single nail. The nails are sent to you by mail, at which point you can sharpen or file them to your liking [1]. To find out more about the process, check out the company’s website (Japanese only).

If you’d like to explore more nail art from Japan, you might check out local startup MiCHI, a company that provides an ecommerce service specializing in nail art. They ship overseas as well, so if you live outside Japan it’s no problem to order.


  1. My nail terminology is lacking here, please forgive me in advance. I don’t use this stuff myself!  ↩

Bicycle safety made pretty: LED guide lights keep cars at bay

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Japanese gadget vendor Thanko has a really fun bicycle tail light up for sale right now. The device users five LED lights to project a pair of guidelines behind you to keep tailgating cars at bay. There’s also a fun bicycle image projected too, just in case drivers aren’t clear that these strange lights are coming from a bicycle. The light system is powered by two AAA batteries, and can be used for up to 30 hours, which should be plenty of time for most cyclists. The lights power off on their own as well when the bike has been stopped for more then 5 minutes. If you’re in Japan, you can pick one up over on Thanko’s website for 1980 yen, or a very affordable $20. For those outside Japan, you can order via Thanko’s newly launched Raremono shop, although you’ll have to wait a little while as it’s currently out of stock. There have been other systems similar to this one, including this one from Korea, so it’s not an entirely unique idea. But it’s a really interesting solution that encourages bicycle safety in a fun way, so I thought I’d share it. Have a look at their…

laser-bike-taillight

Japanese gadget vendor Thanko has a really fun bicycle tail light up for sale right now. The device users five LED lights to project a pair of guidelines behind you to keep tailgating cars at bay. There’s also a fun bicycle image projected too, just in case drivers aren’t clear that these strange lights are coming from a bicycle.

The light system is powered by two AAA batteries, and can be used for up to 30 hours, which should be plenty of time for most cyclists. The lights power off on their own as well when the bike has been stopped for more then 5 minutes.

If you’re in Japan, you can pick one up over on Thanko’s website for 1980 yen, or a very affordable $20. For those outside Japan, you can order via Thanko’s newly launched Raremono shop, although you’ll have to wait a little while as it’s currently out of stock.

There have been other systems similar to this one, including this one from Korea, so it’s not an entirely unique idea. But it’s a really interesting solution that encourages bicycle safety in a fun way, so I thought I’d share it. Have a look at their demo of how it works in the video below.

It’s still not as cool as a fun animated wheel LED system that I saw here in Japan a few years back. I’m glad to see that project is still going, and you can check it out over on Anipov.jp.

Pacific Rim director pays tribute to Tokyo’s iconic Gundam statue

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I haven’t yet had a chance to see Guillermo del Toro’s latest film, Pacific Rim, but from the clips I’ve seen so far of the epic robot and monster battles, it looks like it’s going to be great. Of course a film like this obviously owes much to early Godzilla monster movies, but also to the country’s tradition of giant mechanized robots and suits. Recently del Toro visited Odaiba here in Tokyo to check out the iconic Gundam statue erected there, according to Japanese media (via ANN). The director explains that one of his characters, Cherno Alpha, was actually inspired by Gundam’s Zaku [1]. del Toro is clearly in awe, almost as if he has made a pilgrimage to see it. Here’s the entire clip below: But of course Japan has lots more to offer in the giant robot department, for anyone who wants to see. Suidobashi Heavy Industries’ Kuratas mecha is perhaps the most awesome example, standing 3.8 meters high, able to be piloted by a human passenger (pictured bottom left). If you’d like something a little on the lighter side, Sakajibara Machinery Works has a mecha suit that can be piloted by kids, appropriately called Kid’s Walker. That…

I haven’t yet had a chance to see Guillermo del Toro’s latest film, Pacific Rim, but from the clips I’ve seen so far of the epic robot and monster battles, it looks like it’s going to be great. Of course a film like this obviously owes much to early Godzilla monster movies, but also to the country’s tradition of giant mechanized robots and suits.

Recently del Toro visited Odaiba here in Tokyo to check out the iconic Gundam statue erected there, according to Japanese media (via ANN). The director explains that one of his characters, Cherno Alpha, was actually inspired by Gundam’s Zaku [1]. del Toro is clearly in awe, almost as if he has made a pilgrimage to see it. Here’s the entire clip below:

But of course Japan has lots more to offer in the giant robot department, for anyone who wants to see. Suidobashi Heavy Industries’ Kuratas mecha is perhaps the most awesome example, standing 3.8 meters high, able to be piloted by a human passenger (pictured bottom left).

If you’d like something a little on the lighter side, Sakajibara Machinery Works has a mecha suit that can be piloted by kids, appropriately called Kid’s Walker. That suit is much smaller but is still a pretty great real-life example (bottom right).

And of course, we can’t forget the (in)famous Robot Restaurant, a must-see for any robo-tourist coming to Japan.

kuratas kids-walker

Photos: Design you trust, Isstek.


  1. del Toro has also cited Tetsujin 28 as an inspiration as well.  ↩

Japan’s Designclue delivers crowdsourcing industry insights [Infographic]

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Back in February we featured logo crowdsourcing service Designclue, which leverages the power of freelance designers regardless of their location. It’s operated by Tokyo-based startup Purple Cow, and recently the company released some information about its user base and how they work. The company conducted a survey of 135 of its users, which is not an especially large sample size, but it does give us an idea of which nations are keen to use Designclue. It appears most popular in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia, although it also has users in its home market of Japan. As you can see in the graphic below, When those users were asked where they receive crowdsourced requests from, the most common answers were the US, followed by Australia and Japan. These workers are using, on average, about four different crowdsourcing services to earn income, including Designclue, earning an average wage of about $1100 from that activity. To see more of this information put together from the folks at Designclue, you can check out the full infographic below. It’s in Japanese, but I’ve summarized most of the main points above.

Back in February we featured logo crowdsourcing service Designclue, which leverages the power of freelance designers regardless of their location. It’s operated by Tokyo-based startup Purple Cow, and recently the company released some information about its user base and how they work.

The company conducted a survey of 135 of its users, which is not an especially large sample size, but it does give us an idea of which nations are keen to use Designclue. It appears most popular in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia, although it also has users in its home market of Japan.

As you can see in the graphic below, When those users were asked where they receive crowdsourced requests from, the most common answers were the US, followed by Australia and Japan. These workers are using, on average, about four different crowdsourcing services to earn income, including Designclue, earning an average wage of about $1100 from that activity.

To see more of this information put together from the folks at Designclue, you can check out the full infographic below. It’s in Japanese, but I’ve summarized most of the main points above.

Crowdsourcing infographic -- click for larger view

Japanese company to launch data sharing platform for 3D printing

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See the original story in Japanese. Adways Labot, a subsidiary of Japanese internet company Adways, has launched a teaser for its 3D printing data sharing platform, which specializes in creating figures. The service is called Delmo, and it will be available later this month. The company already started distributing several samples of 3D printed data in STL format. We’ve recently seen many vendors introducing inexpensive 3D printers for individual users, and peripheral services have been springing up at the same time. Adways Labot is taking advantage of this trend, unveiled their sharing platform to allow users to share knowledge and exchange 3D printing data. We’ve also seen many communities where pictures of figures can be shared, including Pixiv and Wonder. When 3D printers attain higher penetration, there could be a huge need for sharing knowledge and data among users. Japanese news site Toyo Keizai Online recently interviewed David Reis, the CEO of Stratasys, where he unveiled some interesting user metrics. He says their 3D data library (available on the Stratasys website) sees a million visitors and 80,000 downloads every month. Makerbot has been strong in the education space, but it will also be interesting to see how it can evolve…

delmo_featured

See the original story in Japanese.

Adways Labot, a subsidiary of Japanese internet company Adways, has launched a teaser for its 3D printing data sharing platform, which specializes in creating figures. The service is called Delmo, and it will be available later this month. The company already started distributing several samples of 3D printed data in STL format.

We’ve recently seen many vendors introducing inexpensive 3D printers for individual users, and peripheral services have been springing up at the same time. Adways Labot is taking advantage of this trend, unveiled their sharing platform to allow users to share knowledge and exchange 3D printing data.

We’ve also seen many communities where pictures of figures can be shared, including Pixiv and Wonder. When 3D printers attain higher penetration, there could be a huge need for sharing knowledge and data among users.

Japanese news site Toyo Keizai Online recently interviewed David Reis, the CEO of Stratasys, where he unveiled some interesting user metrics. He says their 3D data library (available on the Stratasys website) sees a million visitors and 80,000 downloads every month. Makerbot has been strong in the education space, but it will also be interesting to see how it can evolve in the figure space.

For Delmo, it will be probably hard to generate traffic in Japan since the platform targets a very niche group. They will probably need to expand globally like Tokyo Otaku Mode, which is now developing a strong following from users worldwide.

3D printing technology has been used at design studios and architectural offices for the purpose of rapid prototyping. These days, many startups including Makerbot, Cubify, and PP3DP are developing cheaper but more user-friendly 3D printers. Makerbot was acquired by the major 3D printer vendor Stratasys for $403 million. And here in Asia, Pirate3DP received funding amounting to $482,000 from Singapore-based Red Dot Ventures.

When we look at the Japanese market, electronics retail chain Bic Camera recently started selling Robotama.com’s’ CellP 3D printer. Another Japanese chain Yamada Denki also started 3Dsystem’s Cube and its high-end CubeX model, and Nojima has started selling the CubeX series on its e-commerce channel.

delmo

Nail art startup puts Cute Japan at your fingertips

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There are many ways to spread Japan’s Kawaii culture to the rest of the world. One common way, as we’ve seen recently, are mobile apps like Decopic or CocoPPa. But another Japanese startup called MiCHi has its sights set on something else: Finger nails. The company operates an ecommerce service that sells made-in-Japan nail tips, and so far it’s proving to be an easy sell. Hand-made nails designed by Japanese people are highly valued outside of the country. For many women all over the world, getting your nails done is an essential part of fashion. In Japan, so-called ‘Gel Nail’ is far more popular than regular manicures. The process involves a gel that dries quickly under special light, and it lasts up to three to four weeks, much longer than the average manicure. But these nails can be expensive. And that’s where MiCHi comes in, providing nail tips designed by Japanese specialists starting at $18. There are over 10 new designs made available every week. Interestingly, MiCHi was first made available to people outside of Japan, instead of launching in its home market. The ecommerce site was launched back in April of 2013, and unveiled its Japanese version only recently…

japanese-nail-art-michi

There are many ways to spread Japan’s Kawaii culture to the rest of the world. One common way, as we’ve seen recently, are mobile apps like Decopic or CocoPPa. But another Japanese startup called MiCHi has its sights set on something else: Finger nails. The company operates an ecommerce service that sells made-in-Japan nail tips, and so far it’s proving to be an easy sell.

Hand-made nails designed by Japanese people are highly valued outside of the country.

For many women all over the world, getting your nails done is an essential part of fashion. In Japan, so-called ‘Gel Nail’ is far more popular than regular manicures. The process involves a gel that dries quickly under special light, and it lasts up to three to four weeks, much longer than the average manicure. But these nails can be expensive. And that’s where MiCHi comes in, providing nail tips designed by Japanese specialists starting at $18. There are over 10 new designs made available every week.

Interestingly, MiCHi was first made available to people outside of Japan, instead of launching in its home market. The ecommerce site was launched back in April of 2013, and unveiled its Japanese version only recently on August 6th.

In an interview with TechWave, the CEO Shun Nakazaki explains:

I’m sure that there are many Japanese women who have received compliments from people about their nails when they visit overseas countries. Hand-made nails designed by Japanese people are highly valued outside of the country. Since these nail tips are light in weight, the cost of shipping them is cheap. It is a good material to bring to the rest of the world.

MiCHi has over 370,000 fans of its Facebook page, and its users are mainly from New York and Paris. By launching a site for Japan as well, the company plans to acquire more nail design specialists to work for MiCHi. There are currently over 30 ‘nailists’ registered, with the hope to have 100 by the end of the year.

MiCHi was one of five startups from recently included in Movida Japan’s acceleration program.

MiCHi-nail

MiCHi

The pen is mightier than the finger: New Puzzle & Dragons branded stylus to go on sale

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If you’ve played Japan’s most popular mobile game, Puzzle & Dragons, for any real length of time, you may find that occasionally you might forget the color of the orb beneath your finger as you move it. (Or perhaps its just me and my own fat fingers?) Despite my own aversion to using a stylus, this is a game that could likely be greatly improved by using one. And now one Japanese company, MetaMoJi, through a collaboration with AppBank has created a P&D branded version of its Su-Pen stylus that will go on sale in a few weeks. This is actually a colorful version of MetaMoJi’s Su-Pen, with multi-colored Puzzle & Dragons orbs decorating the pen’s body. AppBank is the operator of the official Pazudora-ya store, which is where the new pen will go on sale on August 9th. It will retail for 1980 yen (or about $20). MetaMoji is best known for its 7notes and Note Anytime apps handwriting recognition apps, which also make use of the company’s Su-Pen stylus for a better writing experience. On a related note, the aforementioned AppBank has also recently assisted a prominent overseas company improve their reach here in Japan, lending their services…

pazudora-pen

If you’ve played Japan’s most popular mobile game, Puzzle & Dragons, for any real length of time, you may find that occasionally you might forget the color of the orb beneath your finger as you move it. (Or perhaps its just me and my own fat fingers?)

Despite my own aversion to using a stylus, this is a game that could likely be greatly improved by using one. And now one Japanese company, MetaMoJi, through a collaboration with AppBank has created a P&D branded version of its Su-Pen stylus that will go on sale in a few weeks.

This is actually a colorful version of MetaMoJi’s Su-Pen, with multi-colored Puzzle & Dragons orbs decorating the pen’s body. AppBank is the operator of the official Pazudora-ya store, which is where the new pen will go on sale on August 9th. It will retail for 1980 yen (or about $20).

MetaMoji is best known for its 7notes and Note Anytime apps handwriting recognition apps, which also make use of the company’s Su-Pen stylus for a better writing experience.

On a related note, the aforementioned AppBank has also recently assisted a prominent overseas company improve their reach here in Japan, lending their services to Finnish developer Supercell, creating Japanese tutorials for its Clash of Clans game and promoting it on the AppBank site.

Supercell’s other partner in promoting the game was GungHo, creating a cross promotion with special Clash of Clans characters within the Puzzle & Dragons game.

Japanese housewife creates clever inflatable umbrella for tots

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One of the reasons that I really like writing about Japan is that there is a steady flow of awesome design concepts from here that few other countries can match. Some of them are incredibly simple and elegant, and My 1st Umbrella is a perfect example of this. Umbrellas can be terribly and pokey dangerous items, especially for kids, and parents might be concerns about children getting sharp parts in their eye, or jamming their fingers in the moving components. So one clever Japanese entrepreneur has come up with an absolutely brilliant solution. Her inflatable umbrellas are great for young children, as they are light, easy to carry, and most of all, entirely safe. It looks almost like a bath toy, in fact. Another clear advantage is portability. One umbrella can be deflated in about ten seconds, quickly folded up and put into a bag or purse. Interestingly the creator of the product, Hiroko Yoshida, used to be a housewife, and is now the CEO of My1st. So far her umbrella has been featured on Japanese TV and on the popular publication Nikkei Trendy. If you would like to pick one up for your own little one, My 1st Umbrella…

my_1st_umbrella_japan

One of the reasons that I really like writing about Japan is that there is a steady flow of awesome design concepts from here that few other countries can match. Some of them are incredibly simple and elegant, and My 1st Umbrella is a perfect example of this.

Umbrellas can be terribly and pokey dangerous items, especially for kids, and parents might be concerns about children getting sharp parts in their eye, or jamming their fingers in the moving components. So one clever Japanese entrepreneur has come up with an absolutely brilliant solution. Her inflatable umbrellas are great for young children, as they are light, easy to carry, and most of all, entirely safe. It looks almost like a bath toy, in fact.

Another clear advantage is portability. One umbrella can be deflated in about ten seconds, quickly folded up and put into a bag or purse.

Interestingly the creator of the product, Hiroko Yoshida, used to be a housewife, and is now the CEO of My1st. So far her umbrella has been featured on Japanese TV and on the popular publication Nikkei Trendy.

If you would like to pick one up for your own little one, My 1st Umbrella is available at various retailers around Japan.

Japan’s latest photo meme is a miniature woman, not intimidated by large cup sizes

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Photo via 1101.com It’s really hard to predict what kind of product will be popular with consumers. But recently here in Japan a very small ‘gacha gacha‘ toy been getting lots of attention, selling three million units since initially going on sale in July of 2012. It is a small, simple figure of a girl, and she goes by the name of ‘Cup’s Fuchiko-san’. ‘Fuchi’ means edge in Japanese, and Fuchiko is a playful name for this diminutive girl who can be hung or placed on the edge of any cups or glass. Fuchiko was created by a well-known manga artist, Katsuki Tanaka, in collaboration with a toy manufacturer Kitan Club. Fuchiko wears a typical blue work uniform, and comes in various versions in different poses. There are even official mooks (a Japanese portmanteau of ‘magazine’ and ‘book’) on Fuchiko, as well as short movies. She appears in animations, most recently in a short movie premiered before movies to promote good manners in movie theaters. Cup’s Fuchiko-san gradually became an internet phenomenon, and the online buzz definitely contributed to its growing fame. Three contests have been held to date asking people to tweet unique photos of their own little Fuchiko with…

Fuchiko-by-1101.comPhoto via 1101.com

It’s really hard to predict what kind of product will be popular with consumers. But recently here in Japan a very small ‘gacha gacha‘ toy been getting lots of attention, selling three million units since initially going on sale in July of 2012. It is a small, simple figure of a girl, and she goes by the name of ‘Cup’s Fuchiko-san’. ‘Fuchi’ means edge in Japanese, and Fuchiko is a playful name for this diminutive girl who can be hung or placed on the edge of any cups or glass.

Fuchiko was created by a well-known manga artist, Katsuki Tanaka, in collaboration with a toy manufacturer Kitan Club. Fuchiko wears a typical blue work uniform, and comes in various versions in different poses. There are even official mooks (a Japanese portmanteau of ‘magazine’ and ‘book’) on Fuchiko, as well as short movies. She appears in animations, most recently in a short movie premiered before movies to promote good manners in movie theaters.

Cup’s Fuchiko-san gradually became an internet phenomenon, and the online buzz definitely contributed to its growing fame. Three contests have been held to date asking people to tweet unique photos of their own little Fuchiko with a designated hashtag. Below are some photos that were selected as winners, and you can see more over on Kitan Blog. Over 600 photos were submitted through Twitter for one of the contests, a truly great response that turned into a wonderful internet meme.

Fuchiko-hirosan415Photo via @hirosan415

Fuchiko-okome3Photo via. @okome3

Fuchiko-DokudanjoTomPhoto via @DokudanjoTom

Fuchiko-nancy_UUUPhoto via @nancy_UUU