Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
First, there was Super Cool Biz. Then, there was the USB-charged tie fan, and the puffy jacket with the built-in fans. And for our next story on staying cool during Japan’s setsuden summer, we bring you the super water-cooling backside pad! Yes, according to the short report at the link, this pad and water-circulation combination works pretty much like the water-cooling system in a personal computer. Code-named the Ass Water Cooler, this device has apparently been designed to keep irate drivers cool in major Japanese urban areas like Tokyo and Osaka where summer traffic jams can reach legendary proportions. You can pretty much dope out how the system works by looking at the promotional image we obtained. Pretty “cool” idea, and probably a lot more comfortable that those love beads you see taxi drivers sitting on while they plaster you to the back seat as they drive you to the airport at warp speed. (Akihabara News – Japanese Ass Water Cooler)
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As if the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown weren’t enough, the cities and towns in Fukushima Prefecture have also had to deal with a huge economic loss due to the cancellation of hotel bookings in the region. According to a recent report given to the All Nippon Travel Agents Association (ANTAA) by Fukushima prefectural officials, as of June 30th, over 680,000 reservations at hotels and inns in the Fukushima area have been cancelled, totaling a loss of over ¥7.46 billion, or roughly $97 million. Of course, the number of actual cancellations is believed to be much higher, since only 470 of the 610 lodging houses registered with the ANTAA reported their booking statistics. In addition, there are roughly 1,700 hotels, inns and ryokans in Fukushima Prefecture which are not ANTAA members and were therefore not approached for the booking survey. Although hotel bookings make up the lion’s share of the leisure and tourism dollars spent in the Fukushima area, school outings and field trips account for about 700,000 visitors to the prefecture annually, about 10 percent of the visitor total. So far this year, the number of education-related visitors has dropped to between one and five percent of the typical annual total. Because of this scenario, some hotels and inns have already gone out of business. This is not great news for the region, which has been bashed and hit hard for reasons mentioned above. Keep your fingers crossed for Fukushima, and consider planning a visit to a safe part of the prefecture the next time you’re in Japan. (Daily Yomiuri – Hotel Booking Disaster in Fukushima)
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Bento can be such amazing things. Yesterday we reported on the golden New Year’s osechi bento which is going to sell for nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Today we bring you some images and videos of bento lunches which are far more humble and in some ways just as artful and special as the fancy rich man’s meal in the opulent 18-carat-gold container. The images are nice, and feature some familiar characters. But for the real tour of artfully composed and constructed bento meals, watch all three videos. You will be almost overwhelmed with both the cuteness and the striking artwork, all made completely out of edible foodstuffs. There’s even a list at the bottom of the link of the sample ingredients used in these unusual-looking meals. Perhaps it will inspire you to attempt to create your own. Oh, and for a special treat, make sure you watch the third video, or at least the first couple minutes of it. It starts off with a truly rocking Japanese punk version of “The Mickey Mouse Club Theme”. (Japanstyle – Marvelous Art Bento Meals)
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By today’s fast-moving internet news and media standards, this is an old story. We first read about it in the online English edition of Japan’s Daily Yomiuri one month ago. Nevertheless, this story is important because it concerns likely human rights violations in Japan, one of the most economically- and technologically-advanced countries on the planet. Based on an article published by the Daily Yomiuri, and a more recent piece published just over a week ago by the New York Times, it has become apparent that the United States’ State Department considers Japan’s foreign trainee program to be harmful for most of its foreign participants, and in some ways very similar to human trafficking. The program, which is run by the Japan International Training Cooperation Organization (JITCO), is designed to recruit foreign nationals primarily from China and countries in Southeast Asia who want to learn technology and language skills by doing hands-on work for companies in Japan. It is currently estimated that 190,000 such foreigners participate in the program, mostly working in factories and on farms where they are reportedly subjected to substandard working and living conditions. According to the Daily Yomiuri, the majority of the mainland Chinese applying for the program are financially exploited by Chinese brokers in Japan, who typically charge fees of $1,400 or more so clients can secure a place in the program. And once placed with employers in Japan, many program participants have reported having passports and travel documents confiscated, and their movements and attempts at overseas communication monitored or restricted. The U.S. State Department considers factors such as this indicative of on-going human rights violations, which is whyJapan has received a Tier 2 “Watch List” rating in the most recent U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report. Sadly, this is the seventh straight yearJapan has gotten this rating in this annual State Department document. You can read the preliminary Daily Yomiuri piece about this situation here, and read the more in-depth New York Times article about the JITCO program here.
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Opulence. This Japanese bento box has it. And it is being offered for sale by high-end department store chain Takashimaya as this year’s osechi, or New Year’s meal set. Yes, for a mere $229,000, buyers of this special three-tiered bento box can partake of a rich tradition of eating special foods at the new year, which in Japan dates back to the late 8th century. It’s just that in this case, while the foods in the box will be of exceptional quality, their expense will pale in comparison to the hand-crafted 18-carat gold box in which they will be contained. About 3,300 grams of gold will be formed into the box shape by famous Japanese goldsmith Koichi Ishikawa. The elaborate surface design, which incorporates leaves, grapevines and grapes, will be carved into each tier of the golden box by Hoseki Okuyama, a sculptor who has been designated a living national treasure by the Japanese government. For those who have the disposable income, Takashimaya will start accepting orders for this amazingly elaborate meal set this October. But even for the wealthy, securing a set may still be a challenge, as only three are scheduled to be made. This is a pretty amazing thing, particularly when one considers how distasteful the Japanese find obvious displays of wealth. And as far as we’re concerned, this beats the cost and extravagance of any meal we can recall reading about in the Nieman-Marcus Christmas Book. (Wall Street Journal Japan RealTime – Costly Golden Bento Box)
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