Women’s bags tend to be the destination for an endless number of daily items. This causes a problem. When your phone is ringing, we often struggle to find our phones among the clutter, and we sometimes even miss the call as a result. Well, worry no more! A new iPhone case from Japan solves this problem. It’s called Julia Phone Pochette by Tunewear. This iPhone case is essentially a tiny sholder bag, just big enough to hold your handset. It also comes equipped with several pockets for your IC cards (for public transport) and a pretty gold chain to strap over your shoulder. It comes in three color variations: red, pink, and green, and is available for 3980 yen (or about $42). There are a lot mobile phone accessories and decorations in Japan — some weird, some cute, some very convenient. This product reminded me of a past initiative by Softbank Selection, where they turned to Facebook to find out what kind of things women prefer for their mobile phones. It’s great to see companies paying attention to women’s needs in this way. I’m sure it’s a strategy that will pay off with big sales, especially here in Japan.
Women’s bags tend to be the destination for an endless number of daily items. This causes a problem. When your phone is ringing, we often struggle to find our phones among the clutter, and we sometimes even miss the call as a result. Well, worry no more! A new iPhone case from Japan solves this problem. It’s called Julia Phone Pochette by Tunewear.
This iPhone case is essentially a tiny sholder bag, just big enough to hold your handset. It also comes equipped with several pockets for your IC cards (for public transport) and a pretty gold chain to strap over your shoulder. It comes in three color variations: red, pink, and green, and is available for 3980 yen (or about $42).
There are a lot mobile phone accessories and decorations in Japan — some weird, some cute, some very convenient. This product reminded me of a past initiative by Softbank Selection, where they turned to Facebook to find out what kind of things women prefer for their mobile phones.
It’s great to see companies paying attention to women’s needs in this way. I’m sure it’s a strategy that will pay off with big sales, especially here in Japan.
It has been less than 24 hours since Apple unveiled the new Mac Pro at WWDC. Since then, it hasn’t been hard to find wisecracks on the interwebs about the computer’s tubular (or Tubelor?) appearance. Maybe it’s a garbage can? A flower pot? Or maybe a long lost cousin of R2-D2? On the Japanese net, the conversation has taken a bit of a creative turn, with a number of observers pointing out that the new Mac Pro would make an awesome cooking pot. We’ve collected a few pictures from some of the matome out there, and presented them below. They don’t really require any translations as the pictures speak for themselves! [View the story “What Japan thinks of the new Mac Pro” on Storify]
It has been less than 24 hours since Apple unveiled the new Mac Pro at WWDC. Since then, it hasn’t been hard to find wisecracks on the interwebs about the computer’s tubular (or Tubelor?) appearance. Maybe it’s a garbage can? A flower pot? Or maybe a long lost cousin of R2-D2?
On the Japanese net, the conversation has taken a bit of a creative turn, with a number of observers pointing out that the new Mac Pro would make an awesome cooking pot. We’ve collected a few pictures from some of the matome out there, and presented them below.
They don’t really require any translations as the pictures speak for themselves!
Many of our readers probably work in front of a computer for long hours. Of course, doing so can be tough on your eyes if you don’t have much of a break. There’s lots of software out there that will help you adjust, including f.lux, an application that changes the color of your computer display according to the time of the day. And here in Japan, most people in the tech industry are likely familiar with Jins PC, protective glasses that filter bluelight. According to its website, Jins PC reduces the amount of bluelight you receive from your computer, mobile phone, and even your television display by as much as half. It was released back in September of 2011 and since then it has been a mega hit. It has posted a sales record of two million in just an year and a half after its release. The glasses are super light, weighing only 13 grams, with flexible frames providing a nice fit. At the time of release, Jins PC leveraged the power of bloggers to create some online buzz. This online strategy worked well, with Jins PC easily available for purchase through its website. In addition to providing customized…
Many of our readers probably work in front of a computer for long hours. Of course, doing so can be tough on your eyes if you don’t have much of a break. There’s lots of software out there that will help you adjust, including f.lux, an application that changes the color of your computer display according to the time of the day. And here in Japan, most people in the tech industry are likely familiar with Jins PC, protective glasses that filter bluelight.
According to its website, Jins PC reduces the amount of bluelight you receive from your computer, mobile phone, and even your television display by as much as half. It was released back in September of 2011 and since then it has been a mega hit. It has posted a sales record of two million in just an year and a half after its release. The glasses are super light, weighing only 13 grams, with flexible frames providing a nice fit.
At the time of release, Jins PC leveraged the power of bloggers to create some online buzz. This online strategy worked well, with Jins PC easily available for purchase through its website. In addition to providing customized glasses online, the company also sold pre-packaged glasses for only 3,990 yen (or about $40), available in 16 colors. The packaged glasses are available at offline stores as well.
Jins PC changed the pre-conception that glasses are just for vision correction, opening up an entirely new market. And as a result another well-known affordable glasses manufacturer, Zoff, entered the PC glasses market in March of 2012.Yahoo Japan has provided all of its employees with Jins PC and the glasses are often used in medical institutions too. The company behind Jins PC, Jins Co, has other lines of glasses such as Jins Moisture and Jins Kafun Cut (which roughly translates as Jins Pollen-proof).
See our report on this in Japanese Stationary exercise bikes can be pretty boring if you have nothing interesting ahead of you. But here’s a fun hack from Tokyo-based KeyValue Inc that lets you take a virtual bicycle ride though various cities around the world. The system makes use if Google Streetview imagery, displayed on a screen in front of a stationary bike – hardly the real thing, but it’s certainly a fun way to make your exercise more interesting. Using a combination of their own homemade hardware, plus a bike, an iPad, and an external display, the group has created a way to cycle through real-world locations on Google Streetview. In addition to these basic visuals, they have added some other fun elements as well, including an electric fan that blows wind in your hair when you’re going fast. There’s also a fun steering mechanism whereby the rider wears a helmet equipped with an accelerometer, and merely tilts to either side when they wish to make a turn. I don’t quite understand all the technical details, but it seems that a magnetic sensor on the bike detects the rider’s pedaling motion, and conveys an estimated speed to the server,…
Stationary exercise bikes can be pretty boring if you have nothing interesting ahead of you. But here’s a fun hack from Tokyo-based KeyValue Inc that lets you take a virtual bicycle ride though various cities around the world. The system makes use if Google Streetview imagery, displayed on a screen in front of a stationary bike – hardly the real thing, but it’s certainly a fun way to make your exercise more interesting.
Using a combination of their own homemade hardware, plus a bike, an iPad, and an external display, the group has created a way to cycle through real-world locations on Google Streetview. In addition to these basic visuals, they have added some other fun elements as well, including an electric fan that blows wind in your hair when you’re going fast. There’s also a fun steering mechanism whereby the rider wears a helmet equipped with an accelerometer, and merely tilts to either side when they wish to make a turn.
I don’t quite understand all the technical details, but it seems that a magnetic sensor on the bike detects the rider’s pedaling motion, and conveys an estimated speed to the server, which then updates the Streetview display accordingly.
To see the system in action, check out the video overview and demonstration below.
Of course, there have been other examples of this sort of hack in the past. The earliest one that I know of is Aki Mimoto who did something similar way back in 2009. He implemented a head-mounted Vusix display though, which was pretty neat.
On a related note, I have my own iMac/bicycle mashup (aka ‘the desk-cycle’) at home. Perhaps I’ll use hyperlapse to make a virtual road, and open a window to get some wind in my hair!
Many Japanese people commute to work by train. This is the core time when they use their mobile phones. Due to extended use on trains like this, people often run down their battery, resulting a big need for portable mobile phone chargers. One popular charging device is the Cheero Power Plus Danboard version. The product has proven very popular, and is currently sold out. But it will be available again in mid-June 1. ‘Danboard’ means ‘cardboard’ in Japanese, and this particular danboard is a character that appears in a famous manga called Yotsuba&! named Danbo. This manga started 10 years ago in 2003 and so far has sold 10 million books. Readers may be familiar with Yotsuba&! since it has been translated into 13 different languages and sold in 23 countries. So Japanese or even non-Japanese manga fans may be familiar with the cute looking cardboard character. The Cheero mobile charger can recharge an iPhone 5 (or any other mobile phone) up to five times, and it takes about 11 to 13 hours for a full charge. It comes with a 75 cm micro USB cable and a linen bag. There are features to prevent overcharge and discharge, and there…
Many Japanese people commute to work by train. This is the core time when they use their mobile phones. Due to extended use on trains like this, people often run down their battery, resulting a big need for portable mobile phone chargers. One popular charging device is the Cheero Power Plus Danboard version. The product has proven very popular, and is currently sold out. But it will be available again in mid-June 1.
‘Danboard’ means ‘cardboard’ in Japanese, and this particular danboard is a character that appears in a famous manga called Yotsuba&! named Danbo. This manga started 10 years ago in 2003 and so far has sold 10 million books. Readers may be familiar with Yotsuba&! since it has been translated into 13 different languages and sold in 23 countries. So Japanese or even non-Japanese manga fans may be familiar with the cute looking cardboard character.
The Cheero mobile charger can recharge an iPhone 5 (or any other mobile phone) up to five times, and it takes about 11 to 13 hours for a full charge. It comes with a 75 cm micro USB cable and a linen bag. There are features to prevent overcharge and discharge, and there is also an automatic stop feature when temperature gets too high. There are two sockets, allowing users to charge tablets and some game consoles as well.
The Cheero Power Plus Danboard version is 3,750 yen (or about $37). But as previously mentioned, it is already sold out on Amazon. Such a mobile charger is good for everyday use, but it is also useful during earthquake or other natural disasters. Yostuba, the company behind the product has also released an Amazon branded version of its character Danbo in cooperation with an anime figure manufacturer Kaiyodo.
It seems that the product’s pre-order has ended already.↩
Photo via LikeCool There are lots of iPhone covers out there, but most of them protect everything except your homescreen button. But never fear, as toy manufacturer Bandai has the answer. It’s called Smart Pants, the world’s first underwear for your smartphone. The product first became available in March as a sort of plastic ball prize (or gashapon) in vending machines. It got lots of buzz online and the company plans to sell more this coming June. The Gashapon balls are sold for 200 yen (or about $2) each. These Smart Pants are made out of silicon, and are available in eight different designs including men’s briefs, leopard print thongs, and strawberry-patterned panties. One Japanese blogger has written a post showing his iPhone modeling all the different looks, if you’d like to see more. Gashapon is where the social games mechanic ‘Kompu Gacha’ comes from, which was famously regulated by the Japanese govenment last May. Kompu comes from the word ‘complete,’ referring to the act of completing a set of items. Bandai’s Gashapon vending machine was first released way back in 1977, and it is still popular among young children — although almost all Japanese adults are familiar with the…
There are lots of iPhone covers out there, but most of them protect everything except your homescreen button. But never fear, as toy manufacturer Bandai has the answer. It’s called Smart Pants, the world’s first underwear for your smartphone.
The product first became available in March as a sort of plastic ball prize (or gashapon) in vending machines. It got lots of buzz online and the company plans to sell more this coming June. The Gashapon balls are sold for 200 yen (or about $2) each.
These Smart Pants are made out of silicon, and are available in eight different designs including men’s briefs, leopard print thongs, and strawberry-patterned panties. One Japanese blogger has written a post showing his iPhone modeling all the different looks, if you’d like to see more.
Gashapon is where the social games mechanic ‘Kompu Gacha’ comes from, which was famously regulated by the Japanese govenment last May. Kompu comes from the word ‘complete,’ referring to the act of completing a set of items. Bandai’s Gashapon vending machine was first released way back in 1977, and it is still popular among young children — although almost all Japanese adults are familiar with the game.
There are over 40,000 Gashapon vending machines throughout Japan, so if you’re lucky you might be able to finally find some underwear in one of them for your mobile phone.
Smart Pants is another “weird Japan” idea. But weird or not, it’s always refreshing to see this kind of creativity, even if it’s a little on the strange side.
When you’re trying to make a persuasive presentation, you are unlikely to be sitting in front of a computer, just clicking through your slides. Rather, you want to be standing, facing the audience, with energy in your voice and animated movements or gestures. To give you an additional tool for your presentation arsenal, stationary and office supplies manufacturer Kokuyo has announced a new ring-shaped device that can help. Using Kokuyo’s presentation remote, Kokuyoseki, people can easily click through their slides. By putting the device on your index finger, you can use your thumb to click its buttons. A simple click of the ‘Next’ or ‘Back’ button works as a page turner, and a long press allows for presentations slides to start or end. With the black out button the screen turns black, so that you can put your presentation on hold to have discussions. Kokuyoseki supports both PowerPoint for Windows and Mac, as well as Keynote 1. The device is 32 mm in diameter and weighs about 12 grams with the battery, usually good for about 15 hours. The device can be enabled by inserting a receiver in your computer’s USB port, and it doesn’t require any drivers to be…
When you’re trying to make a persuasive presentation, you are unlikely to be sitting in front of a computer, just clicking through your slides. Rather, you want to be standing, facing the audience, with energy in your voice and animated movements or gestures.
To give you an additional tool for your presentation arsenal, stationary and office supplies manufacturer Kokuyo has announced a new ring-shaped device that can help.
Using Kokuyo’s presentation remote, Kokuyoseki, people can easily click through their slides. By putting the device on your index finger, you can use your thumb to click its buttons. A simple click of the ‘Next’ or ‘Back’ button works as a page turner, and a long press allows for presentations slides to start or end. With the black out button the screen turns black, so that you can put your presentation on hold to have discussions.
Kokuyoseki supports both PowerPoint for Windows and Mac, as well as Keynote 1. The device is 32 mm in diameter and weighs about 12 grams with the battery, usually good for about 15 hours. The device can be enabled by inserting a receiver in your computer’s USB port, and it doesn’t require any drivers to be installed.
The ring comes in two sizes, a larger size for your finger, and a smaller that can be fitted on a laser pointer. Kokuyoseki will be available for 4,935 yen (or about $49) starting June 12th.
Note that some of the long press controls are unavailable on Mac PowerPoint.↩
Way before the Maker movement, a Japanese woman named Eri Kikunaga created a product that answered a very problem for many women. The product is called Hazurenikui Pierce Catch, roughly translated as ‘hard-to-come-off earring clasp.’ This was back in 2007 when she was only 26 years old. Eri is now the founder of Chrysmela, whose earring clasp has been used by over 100,000 women. The idea for the product came out of Eri’s own personal experience when she lost her earring by accident, and her boyfriend got angry at her as a result. That’s when she drew up the very first design of what the earring clasp would look like. No women is immune to losing earrings, and every time is as sad and dissapointing as the first time. In fact, according to the company’s own survey, 89% of women they questioned have lost earrings in the past. The ear-pierce holders are allergy-proof, using surgical stainless steel, the same sort of material used in tooth fillings. The product requires precision crafting, and other materials such as silver or gold do not work. Within the 5mm diameter device, there are nine different parts. They are each manufactured at dedicated factories and…
Way before the Maker movement, a Japanese woman named Eri Kikunaga created a product that answered a very problem for many women. The product is called Hazurenikui Pierce Catch, roughly translated as ‘hard-to-come-off earring clasp.’ This was back in 2007 when she was only 26 years old. Eri is now the founder of Chrysmela, whose earring clasp has been used by over 100,000 women.
The idea for the product came out of Eri’s own personal experience when she lost her earring by accident, and her boyfriend got angry at her as a result. That’s when she drew up the very first design of what the earring clasp would look like. No women is immune to losing earrings, and every time is as sad and dissapointing as the first time. In fact, according to the company’s own survey, 89% of women they questioned have lost earrings in the past.
The ear-pierce holders are allergy-proof, using surgical stainless steel, the same sort of material used in tooth fillings. The product requires precision crafting, and other materials such as silver or gold do not work. Within the 5mm diameter device, there are nine different parts. They are each manufactured at dedicated factories and put together by hand in the final process.
The very first version of the product was released back in July of 2008 and after five years, there are over 700 stores and 100 online shops that sell it. Eri explained about how her invention gained among the public:
The [positive] sales results on the online shops helped convince offline stores to coopeprate. There was an online jewerly shop on Rakuten and they believed in our product and began selling it. The conversion rate was as high as 10%. Our product began to appear in the general rankings and jewerly rankings on Rakuten and this helped us gain exposure to other potential partners. 94% of users who have bought our ear-pierce holder were satisfied with the product, and that helped to bring our product offline. ¶
Chrysmela’s ear-pierce holder was able to hold up to 8 kg in a performance test. The pin portion of an earring can vary from 0.7 to 0.9 mm, but the holder supports 0.6 to 1.1 mm. So one pair would support most earrings that you might have. The product is great, but the price is a little steep at 4,980 yen (about $49), in some cases just as much as the earring it’s holding. The pricing was the biggest problem when the company was trying to find sales partners. Eri explains:
In the jewerly industry, the executives are mostly men. They don’t have a clue about how often ear-pierces fall off. I was really surprised when they said, “If women do not lose their earrings they will not buy another.” Even if women lost their earrings it doesn’t guarantee that they will buy the same one, and because they fall off women do not spend much money on ear-pierce. They would rather buy something cheap because there is always risks of losing them, and this had to be changed. ¶
And she did indeed bring about a change. Chrysmela’s product changed the conception of an earring from an expendable that you’re likely to lose, to a precious item that you will wear for a long time, without the anxiety that you might lose it. The clasp is still being enhanced, with the latest iteration being 0.5mm or 10% smaller than the previous version.
In Japan, we have another word similar to ‘Makers’ called Mono-Zukuri. Mono-zukuri is the output of many impressive technologies in this country, and to see the Eri create an everyday product of such value is really amazing. Chrysmela’s earring clasp is available for purchase on Chrysme.la for overseas readers.
See our report on this story in Japanese There appears to be no end to the things that Japan can do with robots. While many robots are for practical purposes on assembly lines, there are also some really fun robots out there too. Take for example, Z-Machines, the first ‘social party robot band’, which is scheduled to make its debut on June 24th at the Liquid Room in Ebisu, Tokyo. As you can see in their demo video above, the robot guitarist looks especially bad-ass, capable of playing at a speed of up to 1184 bpm. There’s there are no shortage of picks or nimble fingers in this mechanized setup, although I’m curious to see what the entire band looks like up close. The band’s profile shows a trio, including a keyboard robot and a drum robot too. I’m not sure if they will look much like the promotional graphics (see below), but I really hope so! So what kind of music will the band play? That’s where the ‘social’ aspect comes into play. Leading up to its June 24th debut, Z-Machines will be accepting song submissions from aspiring musicians (in wav or midi formats) on PC or by using…
There appears to be no end to the things that Japan can do with robots. While many robots are for practical purposes on assembly lines, there are also some really fun robots out there too. Take for example, Z-Machines, the first ‘social party robot band’, which is scheduled to make its debut on June 24th at the Liquid Room in Ebisu, Tokyo.
As you can see in their demo video above, the robot guitarist looks especially bad-ass, capable of playing at a speed of up to 1184 bpm. There’s there are no shortage of picks or nimble fingers in this mechanized setup, although I’m curious to see what the entire band looks like up close. The band’s profile shows a trio, including a keyboard robot and a drum robot too. I’m not sure if they will look much like the promotional graphics (see below), but I really hope so!
So what kind of music will the band play? That’s where the ‘social’ aspect comes into play. Leading up to its June 24th debut, Z-Machines will be accepting song submissions from aspiring musicians (in wav or midi formats) on PC or by using the Nana smartphone app [1]. The lucky winner will have their song played by Z-Machines during its debut.
The concept comes as part of a promotion for Zima, under the supervision of Tokyo University professor Yoichi Kawaguchi. Judging by his previous work, this looks like it will be quite a show!
Readers may recall that we featured Nana – an app that lets musicians collaborate on projects together using their smartphones – just a few days ago. ↩
Japanese toy camera manufacturer Superheadz has released the world’s first solar-panel enabled digital camera called SUN&CLOUD. In fact, the camera can be charged in three ways. You can place the device in direct sunlight for 12 hrs to get a full-charge, or turning the built-in hand crank (one minute gets you four to eight photos). Or if you’d like to do it the easy way, simply connecting to a computer via USB. What’s great about this is that on a sunny day the camera will automatically stay powered no matter how many photos you take. Even if the weather isn’t great, turning the hand crank won’t be too much trouble either. This environmentally friendly camera weighs 190 greams and has a 3 megapixel sensor. You can also enjoy taking short videos, and play with 15 color modes. The specs for SUN&CLOUD aren’t exactly cutting edge, so why should you be interested? The idea of self-sufficient camera came up over four years ago, and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake pushed the idea into a reality. Omori and Nakamura from Superheadz elaborated in a recent interview with Greenz.jp: SUN&CLOUD needs to be taken care of. Everyday when you arrive at the office, you…
Japanese toy camera manufacturer Superheadz has released the world’s first solar-panel enabled digital camera called SUN&CLOUD. In fact, the camera can be charged in three ways. You can place the device in direct sunlight for 12 hrs to get a full-charge, or turning the built-in hand crank (one minute gets you four to eight photos). Or if you’d like to do it the easy way, simply connecting to a computer via USB.
What’s great about this is that on a sunny day the camera will automatically stay powered no matter how many photos you take. Even if the weather isn’t great, turning the hand crank won’t be too much trouble either.
This environmentally friendly camera weighs 190 greams and has a 3 megapixel sensor. You can also enjoy taking short videos, and play with 15 color modes. The specs for SUN&CLOUD aren’t exactly cutting edge, so why should you be interested?
The idea of self-sufficient camera came up over four years ago, and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake pushed the idea into a reality. Omori and Nakamura from Superheadz elaborated in a recent interview with Greenz.jp:
SUN&CLOUD needs to be taken care of. Everyday when you arrive at the office, you want to place it in the sunlight. These little efforts are what makes people feel affection towards things.
The world of photography is now polarized into high-end professional cameras and built-in cameras on mobile phones. But it’s not fun really to have nothing else outside of this hierarchy. That is exactly why we developed SUN&CLOUD. It has a message to tell. We want our users to enjoy and wonder why we made such a camera.
SUN&CLOUD comes in both black and white and is available for 18,900 yen (or about $190). You can learn more over on the HeadsShop website. Check out the video below.
Yukari Mitsuhashi
Rick Martin
