According to the 3Yen’s corespondent-at-large, ‘Den4′, the SANKEI News (Feb. 4th) reports that actress Keiko Kitagawa, right, and model Tsubasa Masuwaka, received Valentine Queen Awards 2010 in Tokyo. The event was sponsored by the confectionery company Glico, the maker of the Japanese chocolate stick with the kinkiest name, POCKY™.
Kitagawa won the Grand Prix award bemoaning the fact that she always gave more chocolates than she received at Valentine’s when she was in high school (which is normal in Japan on Valentine’s Day where Japanese women give chocolate to men [Wiki]).
Actually, Japan’s oddball Valentine’s Day tradition of women giving chocolate to men is “melting away” as more women show a preference for pampering each other instead of their boyfriends and spouses, according to Kyodo News ( Feb. 4, 2010): “The practice of giving tomo choco (friendship chocolate) has been highlighted as a new trend in a recent survey that found 74 percent of women plan to give a Valentine’s gift to a female friend but only 32 percent intended to buy something for a boyfriend.”
FINALLY there’s a use for vague Japanese documentation!
Oriental Co., Ltd. has come up with “The White Goat” a paper recycling machine that turns crappy Japanese paper documents into useful paper for the crapper.
Sadly the return on investment of The White Goat is about 11 years and 200,000 rolls before the Goat pays for itself.
G1TOWER, World’s Tallest Elevator Research Tower Tokyo, Jan 28, 2010 – (JCN Newswire) – Hitachi today announced that in April of this year, it will complete the “G1TOWER,” a research tower that is currently under construction at an elevator R&D and manufacturing base in Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Measuring 213 meters above ground, this will be the tallest elevator research facility in the world…more…
The above subway poster is a PSA/Public Service Announcement spotted in the subway from Japan Tobacco Corp. aka “JT” —the Japanese government’s quasi-monopoly on carcinogens, summer crafts, and humor.
Who said the Japanese were all into wabi-sabi/understated imperfect elegance?
According to AP ( Jan. 15, 2010), D.A.D, the Japanese automotive accessories company covered a Mercedes-Benz SL-600 with 300,000 gold-shadow Swarovski crystals for a show at Makuhari Messe, east of Tokyo, Japan.
Mitsubishi is marketing ‘grow-ops‘ in a container.
Mitsubishi Chemical Releases Container-type Vegetable Plant Jan 13, 2010 Nikkei Electronics
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp developed the “container vegetable plant,” a 40-foot container equipped with facilities of a vegetable plant…
The container vegetable plant is a heat-insulating container featuring (1) air-conditioning facilities to keep the inside temperature constant, (2) water treatment facilities for water circulation, filtration and recycling, (3) fluorescent and LED lighting equipment for photosynthesis, etc. About 50 leaf vegetables such as lettuce can be harvested per day…more…
Whoopie! You can grow “50 leaf vegetables” a day!
That piss-poor translation means that for only ¥60-70,000 (approximately $659-769,000 USD) you can grow 50 LEAVES IN A DAY!
Damn, that is going to one damn expensive taima grow-op.
According this funky machine translation Japanese news source, the DSO, the “I-Fairy” receptionist robot from Kokoro Company debuted the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada on Jan. 7, 2010. The I-Fairy is meant to be a receptionist or a guide at museums as funded by Japan’s National Institute Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.
Why call it a “Fairy”?
The “I” in I-Fairy stands for “Intelligent”, “Information”, and “Icon”, and the robot’s futuristic design is based on the image of what they call a “lovely fairy.”
Read the I-Fairy’s pdf brochure in English giving more details and illustrations as shown below.
< --Screwing Valentine’s Day
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I hope you pack your dorky 3D glasses when you visit Japan this summer because my Japanese HD TV operator, Sky Perfect
At 231 meters tall, this Hitachi Tower ranks as about the 15th tallest in the World. 
