Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
In Japanese it’s called the Nemuri Tie, which in English literally means Sleep Tie. It’s a new product in Japan, and just one look at the graphic to the left will instantly show you pretty much what it is for and how to use it. It’s a pretty straight-forward idea, of course, and makes a lot of sense at first glance. But the implications of a fashion item like this are worth considering. Japanese offices typically are large rooms with many desks and no cubicle walls. Is a salaryman going to use this tie at his desk and risk getting busted for sleeping on the job? And if a guy did have a private office, wouldn’t it be easier and more comfortable to keep a decent-sized pillow hidden in a desk drawer? And what about hard-working female Japanese office workers, who typically don’t wear neckties? This inflatable cravat pretty much ignores that demographic. Well, perhaps it’s easy to overanalyze a well-intentioned product created in a country noted for its workers’ long hours and short sleeping schedules. (The Telegraph UK – Japan’s Sleeping Tie)
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Matsumoto City, Japan, isn’t that big. It only has about a quarter of a million people. But it does boast two rather beautiful castles. One dates from the early 16th century and is a fine example of a Japanese hirajiro flatland castle. The other one dates from 1950 and sells secondhand books. The bookstore is named Seikando, and its owner made a point of building it to look like nearby Matsumoto Castle when that structure underwent five years of major renovations sixty years ago. Other than that, details about the place in English are pretty sparse. But it is a very interesting and cool discovery, and a great example of the wonderful things to celebrate about the differences between other countries and our own. And it may start you wondering if your ordinances and local zoning laws would allow such unusual construction. (Japanese Castle Explorer – Castle For Used Books) A brief description of the bookstore and its history can be found on this independent tourism site.
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Reading a report that states beef “may” have been consumed it ridiculous. Is it really safe to be eating radioactive beef from cows who ate radioactive feed and hay? Reading this makes me think that just about every wrong decision is being made, but then again, that’s what we get in the news. It does make for great headlines, but at the same time, why are cows 18 miles away from a meltdown being farmed? Why aren’t they being checked more regularly? “Goshi Hosono, state minister in charge of consumer affairs and food-safety, said he hoped to head off any overreactions. “If we were to eat the meat everyday, then it would probably be dangerous,” Hosono said at a news conference Tuesday. “But if it is consumed only in small portions, I don’t think it would have any long-lasting effects on the human body.” “… I don’t think”?! C’mon! (CNN – Cows)
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A few weeks ago, we reported on the gigantic Gulliver statue in the abandoned theme park near Mount Fuji in Japan. The Japanese have a fondness, or at least a fascination, for famous icons of literature and film from Western culture. This time, the story is about an old, beat-up and abandoned version of American movie legend John Wayne. At the link, you’ll see numerous photographs by an English-American photographer documenting the sad state of affairs at Western Village in Tochigi, Japan, an amusement park ruin (or haikyo) abandoned since 2007. An animatronic robot version of The Duke, with his shirt pulled open and his electronic innards exposed, is apparently one of the bigger attractions for the haikyo explorers who’ve been prowling the defunct park since it closed. Oh, and make sure you explore all the material compiled on Western Village at the link, because it apparently used to feature a $29 million replica of Mount Rushmore (Michealjohngrist.com – Abandoned John Wayne)
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If you’re one of the first 500 to raise $500 in donations, you’ll be invited to see them play in a small intimate venue in LA. Japanese group B’z will open up. It looks like a quick race to the finish line and one person already have $7000 donated. This seems like an easy idea, you’d figure every big band could pull this off to get huge donations. Imagine U2 – but instead make it 1000 people who need to raise 1000 dollars for 1M and do it in every “big” city? (Music for Relief – Linkin Park Secret Show) That’s Mike Shinoda crowd surfing for a previous show. Now he’ll be crowd sourcing for donating.
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