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Hey Stinky! Japanese website sends anonymous body odor notifications

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.08.02

The humid summer in Japan makes many of us extra conscious about how we smell. Perhaps you’re packed into a rush hour train huddled among bunch of people without much space to breath. But that situation might be even more difficult is when you know someone — maybe a co-worker or a friend — who is struggling with a case of body odor. Maybe they’re not even aware of it themselves. You may not want to tell the person directly, and you certainly don’t want to hurt their feelings. In this sort of situation, Wakiga kokucchi might be the easy solution you’ve been looking for. The website’s name roughly translates as ‘Coming out with armpit odor’, and it works in a very simple way, sending an anonymous email to the recipient when you input their email address. Just chose the location of where the person resides, and the email is sent out. The recipient will never know who it was exactly who sent the mail. So far, there have been 74 people who have been notified of their smell by Wakiga Kokucci. This sort of service is a little bit harsh but maybe in some serious cases, it might be…

The humid summer in Japan makes many of us extra conscious about how we smell. Perhaps you’re packed into a rush hour train huddled among bunch of people without much space to breath. But that situation might be even more difficult is when you know someone — maybe a co-worker or a friend — who is struggling with a case of body odor. Maybe they’re not even aware of it themselves.

You may not want to tell the person directly, and you certainly don’t want to hurt their feelings. In this sort of situation, Wakiga kokucchi might be the easy solution you’ve been looking for.

The website’s name roughly translates as ‘Coming out with armpit odor’, and it works in a very simple way, sending an anonymous email to the recipient when you input their email address. Just chose the location of where the person resides, and the email is sent out. The recipient will never know who it was exactly who sent the mail.

So far, there have been 74 people who have been notified of their smell by Wakiga Kokucci.

This sort of service is a little bit harsh but maybe in some serious cases, it might be a reasonable way of informing without disrupting your relationship with that person.

The site wisely provides some tips and cautions for using the service. It is best not to use it with someone who is already aware of their problem. Furthermore, the site will not be responsible for any subsequent troubles that occur as a result of using the site.

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Japanese underwear Kickstarter project seeks your support. Don’t expect any support in return.

Rick Martin 2013.07.15

One Japanese organization has a pretty awesome Kickstarter project going on right now, trying to put the ‘fun’ back in Fundoshi, a form of traditional Japanese underwear. The effort comes from the Japanese Fundoshi Association, teaming up with Kayac and ShareFun on an initiative to create Manga Fundoshi. The ‘Boom’ and ‘Thud’ designs come courtesy of Kayac, certainly fun underwear for anyone who considers their nether-regions worthy of such descriptors. For backers who give over $80, you’ll receive your Fundoshi award in a beautiful masu box. For more information, do check out the promotional video below. It’s worth watching not only because it tells you all you need to know about the project, but also because the presenter, Keiji Nakagawa, strangely changes his bow-tie multiple times [1]. You can’t help but root for this project to succeed, since it not only helps promote a bit of Japanese culture, but it’s also a healthier option than the briefs that most of us wear [2]. The ‘Manga Fundoshi’ project is seeking a modest sum of $4500 before its August 31st deadline, and has so far raised $860. If you’d like to get behind this effort, drop over to their Kickstarter page and…

One Japanese organization has a pretty awesome Kickstarter project going on right now, trying to put the ‘fun’ back in Fundoshi, a form of traditional Japanese underwear. The effort comes from the Japanese Fundoshi Association, teaming up with Kayac and ShareFun on an initiative to create Manga Fundoshi.

The ‘Boom’ and ‘Thud’ designs come courtesy of Kayac, certainly fun underwear for anyone who considers their nether-regions worthy of such descriptors. For backers who give over $80, you’ll receive your Fundoshi award in a beautiful masu box.

For more information, do check out the promotional video below. It’s worth watching not only because it tells you all you need to know about the project, but also because the presenter, Keiji Nakagawa, strangely changes his bow-tie multiple times [1].

You can’t help but root for this project to succeed, since it not only helps promote a bit of Japanese culture, but it’s also a healthier option than the briefs that most of us wear [2].

The ‘Manga Fundoshi’ project is seeking a modest sum of $4500 before its August 31st deadline, and has so far raised $860. If you’d like to get behind this effort, drop over to their Kickstarter page and pledge your support. (Big thanks to Tokyo Desu for pointing this one out.

Bow-ties are cool. ↩
Of course, as a blogger my standard uniform is no pants at all. But that’s another story. ↩

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New lineup of iPhone underwear now available, includes mosaic censor sticker

Rick Martin 2013.07.10

Readers may remember that we previously featured Bandai’s wondrous home button protector that comes in the form of smartphone underwear. If you enjoyed that story will be pleased to hear that there is now a second generation of these awesome ‘Smart Pants‘, available in all new styles and colors. With this new lineup of smartphone underwear, a home button seal is also now included in case your underwear happen to come off (see below). And in true Japanese style, it takes on a pixelated/mosaic style – ostensibly a reference to censored Japanese porn [1]. You can see all the underwear and mosaic stickers over on Gashapon.jp. The banana pattern underwear shows a simple banana instead of a mosaic, which is pretty a humorous touch. There’s also Mount Fuji underwear, just in time to commemorate the mountain becoming an official World Heritage site. If you’re in Japan, keep an eye out for these new underwear styles at the many Gashapon vending machines throughout the country! People tell me that Japanese porn is censored in this way, but being completely pure of mind and spirit, I have never actually witnessed this phenomenon first hand. ↩

Readers may remember that we previously featured Bandai’s wondrous home button protector that comes in the form of smartphone underwear. If you enjoyed that story will be pleased to hear that there is now a second generation of these awesome ‘Smart Pants‘, available in all new styles and colors.

With this new lineup of smartphone underwear, a home button seal is also now included in case your underwear happen to come off (see below). And in true Japanese style, it takes on a pixelated/mosaic style – ostensibly a reference to censored Japanese porn [1].

You can see all the underwear and mosaic stickers over on Gashapon.jp. The banana pattern underwear shows a simple banana instead of a mosaic, which is pretty a humorous touch. There’s also Mount Fuji underwear, just in time to commemorate the mountain becoming an official World Heritage site.

If you’re in Japan, keep an eye out for these new underwear styles at the many Gashapon vending machines throughout the country!

People tell me that Japanese porn is censored in this way, but being completely pure of mind and spirit, I have never actually witnessed this phenomenon first hand. ↩

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Honda’s innovation history in a magical 2-minute video

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.07.09

Japanese automotive giant Honda is generally considered to be an exceptional company because of its principles and lean manufacturing. From motorcycles to cars to robots — the series of innovations that Honda has produced over the years is pretty astounding. To showcase its past achievements, the company has released a magical two minute video product history. It’s called ‘Hands.’ The video appropriately starts with the line, “Let’s see what a curiosity can do”. The Honda Supercub motorcycle (featured early in the video) was released back in 1958, and has sold a total of over 6o million by 2008. Honda’s Civic started selling back in 1972 and was the first car ever in the world to be accredited under the USA’s Clean Air Act (Muskie Act). And there there is Asimo, Honda’s humanoid robot which debuted in the year 2000. The latest model was released in November of 2011, lighter by 6 kilograms and with an improved walking speed of 9 kilometers per hour. To see more of what Honda engineers have brought to the world, check out the video below.

Japanese automotive giant Honda is generally considered to be an exceptional company because of its principles and lean manufacturing. From motorcycles to cars to robots — the series of innovations that Honda has produced over the years is pretty astounding.

To showcase its past achievements, the company has released a magical two minute video product history. It’s called ‘Hands.’ The video appropriately starts with the line, “Let’s see what a curiosity can do”.

The Honda Supercub motorcycle (featured early in the video) was released back in 1958, and has sold a total of over 6o million by 2008. Honda’s Civic started selling back in 1972 and was the first car ever in the world to be accredited under the USA’s Clean Air Act (Muskie Act).

And there there is Asimo, Honda’s humanoid robot which debuted in the year 2000. The latest model was released in November of 2011, lighter by 6 kilograms and with an improved walking speed of 9 kilometers per hour.

To see more of what Honda engineers have brought to the world, check out the video below.

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Japanese television network claims over 1M participants in interactive TV game

Rick Martin 2013.07.08

Last week we told you a little about TeamLab’s social instrument technology being implemented during Nippon Television Network’s 60th anniversary special. That event took place this past weekend, and the idea was to turn the scheduled musical performance from boy-band Arashi into a nation-wide interactive rhythm game where fans could use their mobile phones, computers, or even their TV remote controls to keep up with the beat visualized on screen. It appears that in terms of participation the game was a success. The network claims that 1.3 million viewers took part in the game – which is more than 1% of the entire Japanese population. (Of course, given how fabricated Japanese pop is these days, I don’t think it’s beyond belief that this number might be fabricated too!) Admittedly, the game play was ridiculously simple, but it was certainly a fun step in making live TV broadcasts more interactive. I wonder if we might see something like this appear in a Superbowl halftime show in the future? TeamLab has been responsible for some amazing digital feats in the past, and we encourage you to check out their website to learn more about past exhibitions and projects. Update July 10: We…

Last week we told you a little about TeamLab’s social instrument technology being implemented during Nippon Television Network’s 60th anniversary special. That event took place this past weekend, and the idea was to turn the scheduled musical performance from boy-band Arashi into a nation-wide interactive rhythm game where fans could use their mobile phones, computers, or even their TV remote controls to keep up with the beat visualized on screen.

It appears that in terms of participation the game was a success. The network claims that 1.3 million viewers took part in the game – which is more than 1% of the entire Japanese population. (Of course, given how fabricated Japanese pop is these days, I don’t think it’s beyond belief that this number might be fabricated too!)

Admittedly, the game play was ridiculously simple, but it was certainly a fun step in making live TV broadcasts more interactive. I wonder if we might see something like this appear in a Superbowl halftime show in the future?

TeamLab has been responsible for some amazing digital feats in the past, and we encourage you to check out their website to learn more about past exhibitions and projects.

Update July 10: We followed up with the folks at TeamLab to find out their reactions to the performance. While I was a little skeptical about the numbers Nippon Television Network was claiming, TeamLab says they’re accurate, and points us to further stats from the live event over at ntv.co.jp/musicday/result. We’ve translated it below.

So what’s the next step for this interactive TV technology? A TeamLab rep says they’d love to further evolve it, and they’ve gotten lots of new ideas as a result of this particular experience. As for future events, TeamLab tells me their door is always open to new clients and interesting new projects!

teamlab_game — Annotated translations by SD

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Augmented reality t-shirts stand out in Japan

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.07.01

Japanese fashion retailer Beams is experimenting with AR technology to create some truly amazing t-shirts. They’re called Asoberu-T (Asoberu means ‘to play with’ in Japanese) and by viewing these shirts with your mobile camera, a very cool, unique design will emerge. The company collaborated with a popular manga Gintama to mark the release of its movie, set to hit theaters on July 6th, and the t-shirt went on sale online for a limited time of less than a week. The shirts have famous quotes from the manga characters, and cost 4,200 yen each (or about $42). In order to play with the t-shirt, you need to download a dedicated app which will be released on July 5th. Users can take photos of the pop-out designs and share them with friends on different social networks. The app will be available for both iOS and Android. You can check out Asoberu-T over on the Beams online shop.

Japanese fashion retailer Beams is experimenting with AR technology to create some truly amazing t-shirts. They’re called Asoberu-T (Asoberu means ‘to play with’ in Japanese) and by viewing these shirts with your mobile camera, a very cool, unique design will emerge.

The company collaborated with a popular manga Gintama to mark the release of its movie, set to hit theaters on July 6th, and the t-shirt went on sale online for a limited time of less than a week. The shirts have famous quotes from the manga characters, and cost 4,200 yen each (or about $42).

In order to play with the t-shirt, you need to download a dedicated app which will be released on July 5th. Users can take photos of the pop-out designs and share them with friends on different social networks. The app will be available for both iOS and Android.

You can check out Asoberu-T over on the Beams online shop.

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TeamLab technology to make televised events more social in Japan

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.06.29

Japan’s Nippon Television Network is making the first ever attempt to make the experience of watching a music performance on TV into an extremely social experience. The creative team responsible for making this happen is TeamLab, with its ‘TeamLab Social Instrument’ technology. On July 6th, Nippon Television Network will mark its 60th anniversary. A TV program called The Music Day, Power of Music will be aired on that day for 12 hours. Japanese pop group Arashi will give performance that can be enjoyed as a real time sound game. Viewers in front of the TV can access a special web page on their mobile phones, computers, or even using their TV remote control. On the web page, they can choose an instrument and tap on the button whenever the instrument’s icon appears on TV during the performance. TeamLab’s social instrument technology has been used for real live performances before (check out the video below), but it has been enhanced to compensate for possible network delays. Each performance is given a score for rhythm accuracy after performance, and I assume that there will be some sort of social element to share the score on the internet. For those eager to join…

Japan’s Nippon Television Network is making the first ever attempt to make the experience of watching a music performance on TV into an extremely social experience. The creative team responsible for making this happen is TeamLab, with its ‘TeamLab Social Instrument’ technology.

On July 6th, Nippon Television Network will mark its 60th anniversary. A TV program called The Music Day, Power of Music will be aired on that day for 12 hours. Japanese pop group Arashi will give performance that can be enjoyed as a real time sound game. Viewers in front of the TV can access a special web page on their mobile phones, computers, or even using their TV remote control. On the web page, they can choose an instrument and tap on the button whenever the instrument’s icon appears on TV during the performance.

TeamLab’s social instrument technology has been used for real live performances before (check out the video below), but it has been enhanced to compensate for possible network delays.

Each performance is given a score for rhythm accuracy after performance, and I assume that there will be some sort of social element to share the score on the internet. For those eager to join the nation wide interactive event, you can access the special website here.

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In Japan, creative trash can mod yields faux Mac Pro

Rick Martin 2013.06.27

Many of you may have seen the now famous ‘Tubelor’ trash can selling on Amazon Japan that bears a striking resemblance to the new Mac Pro. Well, it was probably inevitable that this would happen, but someone has taken that trash can and turned it into a PC case, effectively making a very cheap, but still very slick looking faux Mac Pro computer. The folks over at Ascii.jp have outlined the process undertaken by a former PC parts shop worker. The guts of his machine are a 2.5 GHz i3 processor, two sticks of DDR3 RAM (2GB each), an Intel DH67CF system board, and two 120GB solid state drives. Also included in the build were a 150W FlexATX power supply, a 12-centimeter fan, and an aluminum plate base which will be vertically oriented within the trash-can casing. I’ve included a few pictures below, but to view the whole series of steps, do check out the Ascii post in its entirety (Google Translate). It’s a pretty great hack that will certainly turn some heads among your Mac-loving friends if you can pull it off. Of course, this isn’t the first time that Japan has been inspired by the new Mac Pro’s…

mac-pro-fauz — Faux Mac Pro made from Tubelor garbage can (photo via Ascii.jp)

Many of you may have seen the now famous ‘Tubelor’ trash can selling on Amazon Japan that bears a striking resemblance to the new Mac Pro. Well, it was probably inevitable that this would happen, but someone has taken that trash can and turned it into a PC case, effectively making a very cheap, but still very slick looking faux Mac Pro computer.

The folks over at Ascii.jp have outlined the process undertaken by a former PC parts shop worker. The guts of his machine are a 2.5 GHz i3 processor, two sticks of DDR3 RAM (2GB each), an Intel DH67CF system board, and two 120GB solid state drives. Also included in the build were a 150W FlexATX power supply, a 12-centimeter fan, and an aluminum plate base which will be vertically oriented within the trash-can casing.

I’ve included a few pictures below, but to view the whole series of steps, do check out the Ascii post in its entirety (Google Translate). It’s a pretty great hack that will certainly turn some heads among your Mac-loving friends if you can pull it off.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Japan has been inspired by the new Mac Pro’s unusual appearance. You may recall the many creative photoshop interpretations that many Japanese netizens published just after the Mac Pro was announced at WWDC. So much fun!

(Via @freaklabs on Twitter)

garbage can mac pro — The ‘Tubelor’ garbage can, as seen on Amazon Japan. 3465 yen, or $35

Faux Mac Pro made from Tubelor garbage can (photo via Ascii.jp)

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Talking Japanese robot headed to the moon, set to fly circles around Siri

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.06.27

Photo by ITmedia The famous humanoid robot Kirobo will fly to the moon on August 4th, setting off from the International Space Station, acting as a partner for Japanese astronaut, Koichi Wakata. At a recent press conference in Tokyo, Kirobo himself commented, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for robots.” The project will attempt to bring the very first human to humanoid conversation into space. The Kirobo Robot Project is operated by Jaxa in collaboration with Rcast (Research Center for Advanced Science Techonology), Robo Garage, Toyota, and Dentsu. Robo Garage is the company owned by Tomotaka Takahashi, the brains behind a wide assortment of robots, including Kirobo. Toyota techonology is present in the robot’s voice recognition and natural language processing. Kirobo, which is 34 cm tall and weighs just a kilogram, and will be launched into space on August 4th on the H-II Transfer Vehicle ‘Kounotori’. The conversation between Kirobo and the astronaut will be streamed upon their arrival in space, and will be recorded throughout the trip. Takahashi of Robo Garage explains: People may say that virtual characters on screen is enough, but it is hard to feel any emotion towards a screen. We’re going back…

Photo by ITmedia

The famous humanoid robot Kirobo will fly to the moon on August 4th, setting off from the International Space Station, acting as a partner for Japanese astronaut, Koichi Wakata. At a recent press conference in Tokyo, Kirobo himself commented, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for robots.”

The project will attempt to bring the very first human to humanoid conversation into space. The Kirobo Robot Project is operated by Jaxa in collaboration with Rcast (Research Center for Advanced Science Techonology), Robo Garage, Toyota, and Dentsu. Robo Garage is the company owned by Tomotaka Takahashi, the brains behind a wide assortment of robots, including Kirobo. Toyota techonology is present in the robot’s voice recognition and natural language processing.

Kirobo, which is 34 cm tall and weighs just a kilogram, and will be launched into space on August 4th on the H-II Transfer Vehicle ‘Kounotori’. The conversation between Kirobo and the astronaut will be streamed upon their arrival in space, and will be recorded throughout the trip. Takahashi of Robo Garage explains:

People may say that virtual characters on screen is enough, but it is hard to feel any emotion towards a screen. We’re going back to real, physical objects. There are voice recognition systems like Siri on iOS, but it is not being used as much as expected. People may feel a little hesitant to speak to a square box.

Takahashi dreams of a futuristic society where people and robots co-exist. That would certainly be a giant step for us all.

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Worried about home security? Japan has you covered with these handy products

Yukari Mitsuhashi 2013.06.26

During summertime here in Japan, many people might stay out later than usual. As a result some are now extra-cautious about their home and neighborhood security during this season. According to marketing agency Fuji Keizai, the remote monitoring market is expected to grow by over 30% by the year 2015, in comparison to 2011. Here are a few affordable products capitalizing on that trend, helping people protect their homes and neighborhoods. IP Network Camera ¶ This wireless security camera from RI-Japan lets you view surroundings from a remote location via your mobile phones and/or computers. After connecting the device to a network, you just need to download some software and log in using an ID and password. The camera angle can be controlled remotely too, and recorded video can be saved on the device of your choice, including microSD. IP Network Camera is available for 34,550 yen (or about $354) on Amazon. Digital clock-shaped home guard ¶ This security camera takes the form of a digital clock, preventing burglars and intruders from noticing that they’re being watched and recorded. The camera and SD card recorder is inside the digital clock (which is actually a fully functional clock too), and the…

During summertime here in Japan, many people might stay out later than usual. As a result some are now extra-cautious about their home and neighborhood security during this season. According to marketing agency Fuji Keizai, the remote monitoring market is expected to grow by over 30% by the year 2015, in comparison to 2011. Here are a few affordable products capitalizing on that trend, helping people protect their homes and neighborhoods.

IP Network Camera ¶

This wireless security camera from RI-Japan lets you view surroundings from a remote location via your mobile phones and/or computers. After connecting the device to a network, you just need to download some software and log in using an ID and password.

The camera angle can be controlled remotely too, and recorded video can be saved on the device of your choice, including microSD. IP Network Camera is available for 34,550 yen (or about $354) on Amazon.

Digital clock-shaped home guard ¶

This security camera takes the form of a digital clock, preventing burglars and intruders from noticing that they’re being watched and recorded. The camera and SD card recorder is inside the digital clock (which is actually a fully functional clock too), and the camera records video in a ASF file format. A time stamp is enabled on the videos, another useful feature in the case of break-ins. This digital clock home guard is available for 34,800 yen (or about $357) on bo-hanya.com.

Smoke detector-shaped home guard ¶

From the same company that makes the digital clock security camera, this one takes the form of a smoke detector. Within the mesh part of the smoke detector, there is a security camera and microphone. The camera automatically adjusts to record video even in darkness. This device is available for 17,800 yen (or about $182).

If you are interested in finding more security goods for both homes and business use, the aforementioned Bo-Hanya has a great selection of items.