Today Google Japan announced that it has made two notable additions to its online Cultural Institute, incorporating new material from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. This coincides with the recent anniversaries of the two WW2 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which took place in 1945 on August 6th and 9th, respectively. It’s an important archive of two tragic moments in human history which shouldn’t be forgotten [1]. Even for those of us who feel we might already be familiar with these historical events, the images and artifacts left behind after the bombings help to convey the enormous sense of human loss that’s hard to grasp with history books alone. Google also has some Hiroshima Peace Memorial materials available on its site for primary and secondary school teachers who may want to teach more about the event. The internet giant has also archived other important events in Japan recently, most notably the effects of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, as well as various cultural events and landmarks, all using Google Street View technology. A Google Japan rep notes in the blog post that while this event took place 68 years ago, the average age of…
This coincides with the recent anniversaries of the two WW2 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which took place in 1945 on August 6th and 9th, respectively. It’s an important archive of two tragic moments in human history which shouldn’t be forgotten [1]. Even for those of us who feel we might already be familiar with these historical events, the images and artifacts left behind after the bombings help to convey the enormous sense of human loss that’s hard to grasp with history books alone.
Google also has some Hiroshima Peace Memorial materials available on its site for primary and secondary school teachers who may want to teach more about the event.
The internet giant has also archived other important events in Japan recently, most notably the effects of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, as well as various cultural events and landmarks, all using Google Street View technology.
A Google Japan rep notes in the blog post that while this event took place 68 years ago, the average age of a survivor is now about 79 years old. So certainly archival projects like these, both online and offline, are becoming increasingly important as time goes by.
Regrettably, language switching isn’t very easy in this archive, and the only way I found I could switch to English was by actually hacking the URL to include ‘en’. If you want the Japanese language archives, you can find them here: Hiroshima Peace Museum, Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum ↩
April Fools’ Day traditionally doesn’t mean much in Japan. But it seems as though a number of companies have jumped on the bandwagon this year, publishing some interesting online pranks. We’re not fans of screwing with our readers, so you won’t get any fake articles from us. But we do still have a sense of humor, so here’s a quick summary of some of the more notable ones from around the Japanese interwebs today. But be warned, some of them are better than others! 1. Au’s zzzPhoneBed ¶ Au’s April Fools effort is simultaneously the best and the worst joke of the day in Japan. The premise is that since we use our mobile phones in bed so much, that the company just decided to produce a bed-sized smartphone. It lets you exercise by running on top of it like a treadmill as it scrolls, and you can even buy sheet covers for it if you like. It’s called the zzzPhoneBed, and no, it doesn’t actually exist. Regrettably, the promo video for the zzzPhoneBed does exist. Remember that awful Domino’s x Hatsune Miku promo video? Yeah, well this is worse. I realize it’s for a Japanese audience, but man, it’s…
April Fools’ Day traditionally doesn’t mean much in Japan. But it seems as though a number of companies have jumped on the bandwagon this year, publishing some interesting online pranks. We’re not fans of screwing with our readers, so you won’t get any fake articles from us. But we do still have a sense of humor, so here’s a quick summary of some of the more notable ones from around the Japanese interwebs today. But be warned, some of them are better than others!
Au’s April Fools effort is simultaneously the best and the worst joke of the day in Japan. The premise is that since we use our mobile phones in bed so much, that the company just decided to produce a bed-sized smartphone. It lets you exercise by running on top of it like a treadmill as it scrolls, and you can even buy sheet covers for it if you like. It’s called the zzzPhoneBed, and no, it doesn’t actually exist.
Regrettably, the promo video for the zzzPhoneBed does exist. Remember that awful Domino’s x Hatsune Miku promo video? Yeah, well this is worse. I realize it’s for a Japanese audience, but man, it’s painful to watch. Truly cringe-worthy.
Speaking of Domino’s Japan, the company has a new April Fools page set up today to promote its special ‘Pizza in a can’. Priced at just 401 yen (i.e. 04/01). This is actually a smartly executed April Fools joke, because when you try to buy it, Domino’s apologizes and gives you a 20% off coupon! (h/t ascii.jp)
It’s becoming something of an April Fools tradition for Google Japan to roll out a new text input method. this year is no exception, with its ‘Patapata’ version of its Japanese input editor. Essentially, it’s scrolls characters rapidly in front of you, and you’re to push a button when you see the one you wish to type. Fun, hey? You can see Google’s official explanation in the promo video below. And for anyone who wants to try it out, there is a functioning web version online that you can try!
4. Japanese movie site transforms into ‘Forcebook’ ¶
Here’s a fun page from Japan’s movie-focused website eiga.com. Today it has a fun landing page presenting users with a Star Wars style scrolling text intro, explaining how the internet has affected even Jedi Knights:
Not so long ago, in a galaxy far away.
Episode X. Forcebook.
As information technology swept across the galaxy, even Jedi Knights began to familiarize themselves with the internet. But it has caused social isolation and depression among the Jedi Knights, sending them one after another to the dark side of the internet.
Master Yoda takes the matter seriously when Luke Skywalker is forced to shut down his blog after a nasty smear campaign. To improve the Jedi Knights’ communication skills Master Yoda hires IT consultants from Coruscant and sets up a new social networking service called Forcebook.
Clicking anywhere on the page, however, presents you with an apologetic message saying: ‘Sorry, today is April Fools. May the force be with you!”.
Japanese internet company Dwango has a fun April Fools product called ‘i to Tunes’, which claims to be a music streaming service that involves the use of tin cans and yarn (I’m pretty familiar with this technology from back in kindergarden, actually). Signing up for the supposed application brings you to a page that says i to Tunes is undergoing maintenance, with a footnote explaining that today is also April Fools.
If you’re a member of the Amebe Pigg virtual world, you’ll notice when you sign in today that avatars have been changed into actual pig faces. Chiho Komoriya has some fun screenshots over on VS Media, if you’d like to learn more about this April Fools overhaul.
Readers might be familiar with a fun web service called ‘Bijin Tokei’ or ‘beautiful girl clock’, which uses pretty models holding up signs showing you what time it is. Today there’s a weird parody of Bijin Tokei from the folks over at web production company core-tech.jp. It’s called Cross-dressing clock, and similarly, it features women holding up signs to show the time. The only thing is, these women are not actually women at all.
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the tragic March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and on the internet a number of organizations in Japan are marking the occasion with some form of remembrance. Over on Yahoo Japan, there’s a extensive interactive display that presents general information about the disaster, some stunning photos of the aftermath, plus profiles and interviews of folks involved in the recovery effort. Amazon Japan is also pitching in by selling local foods from the affected areas as well as books [1] about the natural disaster. There’s also a Japan earthquake wishlist where you can buy goods needed by local organization, such as books for libraries, for example. Amazon was especially supportive of the recovery effort back in 2011, bringing a number of jobs to Sendai with a call center there. Softbank also has a page set up to highlight various reconstruction efforts, including its own Tomodachi program which we wrote about last month. The company’s CEO Masayoshi Son contributed the sum of 10 billion yen (over $100 million) to help the relief effort in the month after the earthquake back in 2011. As we me mentioned last week, some other organizations are making an effort or digitally…
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the tragic March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and on the internet a number of organizations in Japan are marking the occasion with some form of remembrance.
Over on Yahoo Japan, there’s a extensive interactive display that presents general information about the disaster, some stunning photos of the aftermath, plus profiles and interviews of folks involved in the recovery effort.
Amazon Japan is also pitching in by selling local foods from the affected areas as well as books [1] about the natural disaster. There’s also a Japan earthquake wishlist where you can buy goods needed by local organization, such as books for libraries, for example. Amazon was especially supportive of the recovery effort back in 2011, bringing a number of jobs to Sendai with a call center there.
Yahoo Japan’s earthquake commemoration
Amazon Wishlist
Softbank also has a page set up to highlight various reconstruction efforts, including its own Tomodachi program which we wrote about last month. The company’s CEO Masayoshi Son contributed the sum of 10 billion yen (over $100 million) to help the relief effort in the month after the earthquake back in 2011.
As we me mentioned last week, some other organizations are making an effort or digitally archive memories of the disaster, including the newly opened NDL archive which collects important photos, video, and other information. Google’s archival work – particularly its ‘Memories for the Future’ website – perhaps stands out above all other efforts, as its work has been pretty continuous in the two years since the quake.
Of course, while remembrance is important, Japanese broadcaster NHK reminds us that many people in affected areas are still struggling with recovery. As you can see in its infographic below, their survey indicates that there is still a lot of work to do, not only in terms of repairing physical damage in affected areas, but also in terms of emotional recovery.
Written with contributions from Masaru Ikeda
For English speaking readers, you might want to check out the e-book Reconstructing 3/11, which is available as a free download today. ↩
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Rick Martin
