For some strange reason, Japan’s airports are having Sky Day on September 20, and Sky Week from September 20 to 30.
via K yodo News – Photos 2009 Sept. 22
Founded by the Ministry of Transport (now called the MLIT) in 1992, Japanese airports put on large-scale “Sky Festa”—Whatever the hell that means, you can read more on the official website (in English).
While this Transformer Bed has a noble cause, both the bed and transformed electric wheelchair would not fit in 99% of Japanese dwellings. Even if the device could fit, the wheelchair could not maneuver over the numerous doorway thresholds and changes in floor height of crappy Japanese construction.
Panasonic Develops Bed-Shaped Robot Transformable into Wheelchair;
Supports People with Limited Mobility to Lead Independent Life
Osaka, Sept 18, 2009 – (JCN Newswire) – Panasonic Corporation, a leader of electronics technology and innovation, today announced the development of a bed-shaped robot which can be transformable between a bed and a wheelchair with the user staying in bed or wheelchair. The Robotic Bed is designed to help people with limited mobility maintain an independent lifestyle, reducing the need for assistance...more…
According to MSNBC, these rags are “inspired by a Yoko Ono” brainfart and executed by the ThreeasFour fashion house for the Spring 2010 Fashion Week in New York City.
Check MSNBC to see I am not trying to trick you with Photoshop—The Japanese model above really is that skinny .
Japan’s new ‘Silver Week’ 
is another just another corporate excuse for a layoff and unpaid week since more than 40% of Japan’s workers are on part-time and subcontracts (and therefore all holidays are unpaid), meh.
First ‘Silver Week’ fall holidays a bonanza for hard-pressed tourism industry
Mainichi — September 12, 2009
Due to revisions to the Public Holiday Law, Japanese residents will for the first time enjoy a 5-day holiday break beginning Sep. 19 and dubbed “Sliver Week.”
The 2003 holiday revisions shifted Respect for the Aged Day from Sep. 15 to the third Monday of September, creating this year’s 5-day stretch, called “Silver Week” as a fall counterpart to the “Golden Week” holiday in May….more...
This is going to be a clash of corporate cultures…Delta is super-low cost carrier with a brusque, harried, but highly efficient staff and JAL is over-staffed with a polite but often ineffectually polite employees.
Delta considers ties to Japan Airlines
AP — WRAL.com 2009-09-12
ATLANTA – Delta Air Lines Inc. is considering making a cash infusion of a couple hundred million dollars to aid struggling Japan Airlines Corp…..In exchange for the infusion, the person said the world's biggest airline operator could get a stake in Japan Airlines, an expanded presence in Japan and coveted access to the closest airport to the Tokyo business center….
… key benefit for Japan Airlines, Asia's biggest airline group, to a deal with Delta would be money.
Hit by plummeting demand in a slumping global economy and swine flu fears, JAL incurred its biggest-ever quarterly net loss of 99 billion yen ($1 billion)…more…
Over the years I have heard many, many Japanese people say they rather die than use Delta (and Delta-owned Northwest) again. Many Japanese companies only buy tickets with JAL or ANA because perceived impolite service on other carriers. Delta sucking up Japan Airlines ought to result in a minor boom for ANA. Also Delta may find many of their passengers from America very angry having to use code-sharing JAL flights because JAL has Japanese-sized seats that are 20% smaller in width than the already cramped economy seats on Delta.
I remember back when I was in school that excellent solar cell conversion efficiency was only 6-13%, not 30%….Sadly that was 40 years ago.
Construction Completed on Tokai University's Solar Car Equipped with Sharp Solar Cells
Tokyo, Sept 7, 2009 – (JCN Newswire) … A team from Tokai University will use this solar car in the Global Green Challenge, one of the world's largest solar car races, to be held from October 24 to 31, 2009…
[big snip]
…The “Tokai Challenger” solar car is equipped with Sharp compound solar cells developed for outer space applications. The cells have an output of 1.8 kW and a cell conversion efficiency of 30%, the highest level in the world.
I have noticed that over the years the overall appearance of solar cars have stopped looking like an exciting collection of geeky Wacky Racers and all the team’s cars follow the same body design, yawn.
Tokai University / Sharp's solar car 2009
OLD 
SOLAR CARS
Friend of the 3Yen, “Mulboyne, found these Adhesive Face Masks being marketed in Japan by Earth Chemical Inc. KK, from the American producer of these Perfect Fit Vira Masks.
Ok, ok, so perhaps the photo of the top mask was not so yellow originally. However, these glue-n duckbills are still almost as humorous as these fun flu masks previously covered on the 3Yen:
The funloving Japanese government and telecom-music industries are planning to ‘brick‘– render cellphone incapable of playing the music—if the user is tries to download illegal music.
Govt, private firms to tackle cell phone music piracy
The Yomiuri Shimbun (Sep. 7, 2009)—The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry and the telecom and music industries plan to jointly introduce a system to prevent cell phone users from downloading illegally distributed music files to their cell phones via the Internet…
[big snip]
…the envisaged system, when users download music files to their cell phones, the song’s ID information will be sent from the cell phone to a computer server, which will check the information….If a user continues to download music, the server will either terminate the downloads or render the phone incapable of playing the music after it has been downloaded.
I cannot imagine how these ugly mickey-mouse clothes constitute “a polished design” but leave it to Uniqlo to make their mouse-sized clothing that even looks mousy.
Uniqlo to release Disney range of clothing
Mainichi September 6, 2009
Casual clothing retailer Uniqlo will be launching a new range of products featuring Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters…
…“We don't want to simply use the characters, we want to incorporate them into a polished design,” said a company spokesperson …more...
As I have said before on the 3Yen, here in Japan, UNIQLO is just cheaper copycat version of the Old Navy and not a quality brand—Much better quality is found in the Japanese generic chain, MUJI . A lot of what the UNIQLO stores in Japan sell looks like cheap clothing from a Target store in the 1970s… Just look at that ridiculous, grandma-looking, violet blouse on that poor model in the middle.
Note: I am not joking about UNIQLO’s “mouse-sized clothing”–If a person fits in anything made by UNIQLO, they need to be treated for dwarfism.
Friend of 3Yen and international man of mystery, “Mulboyne” tweeted about the government’s, “plans for the new Miyashita Nike Park in Shibuya,” which is just a two-birds-with-one-stone plan to wipe out the homeless in the park while cashing-in on Nike’s deep pockets.
Younger homeless people have gathered in Miyashita Park in Shibuya since the collapse of Japan’s Bubble Economy in the early ’90s and the following Lost Decade that has lasted for almost 20 years. In addition the park has been the staging area for Tokyo protests, which has motivated Tokyo’s arch conservative government to “Just Do It” and redevelop the intentionally neglected park.
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