Nana, a beluga born at the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium in July 2007, enjoys creating air bubble rings under water. While it's not uncommon for belugas to make bubbles by blowing out short puffs of air, Nana has the remarkable ability to suck air bubble rings into the water by swimming near the surface and drawing in big gulps of water. (Go :55 seconds into the video to see this in slow motion.)
[Video: Beluga bubbles]
Sento-kun
Ever since his unveiling in February, Sento-kun, the official mascot character for the Commemorative Events of the 1,300th Anniversary of the Nara-Heijokyo Capital, has garnered widespread criticism from the media, religious groups and the blogosphere. A Buddhist child monk with a rack of deer antlers sprouting from his head, Sento-kun is supposed to evoke the image of Nara's rich Buddhist history and the wild (but tame) deer that roam freely around town. But some citizens have expressed anger at officials for shutting them out of the decision-making process and wasting 5 million yen (about $50,000) of taxpayer money on an ugly mascot, and some Buddhist groups are reportedly upset with the inappropriate use of a religious image.
In response to the fiasco, a group of Nara-area designers called the "Creators Forum Yamato" have voluntarily organized an independent design contest to come up with a mascot that more closely represents the will of the people and the true spirit of Nara. After receiving 619 submissions from the general public (some from as far away as New York and Paris), organizers have narrowed the pool to 30 candidates and are encouraging the public to vote online.
Here are the candidates on the ballot...
To vote, go to the online ballot, select the button under your favorite character, and hit the confirmation button at the bottom of the screen. Then hit the confirmation button on the next screen. The polls are open until May 25. As of this writing, nearly 15,000 ballots have been cast.
As a representative of the citizens of Nara prefecture, the winning mascot will work side-by-side with Sento-kun to make the anniversary event a success.
The Commemorative Events of the 1,300th Anniversary of Nara Heijokyo Capital will be held in Nara prefecture in 2010 to commemorate the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of Heijokyo (now known as Nara), the capital of Japan from 710 to 784 A.D. The large-scale, year-long international project is expected to attract 15 million visitors.
UPDATE: The votes are in and the winner is Manto-kun (#8).
In early 19th-century Japan, it became fashionable for the culturally sophisticated theatergoing population of Edo to entertain themselves at parties by imitating the voices and gestures of famous actors. As this fad spread, people began to expand their repertoires by mimicking animals, and as animal poses became all the rage at parties, writers and artists collaborated to produce illustrated books containing model examples of these poses. One such document written by poet Santo Kyoden in 1809 included copies of these Utagawa Toyokuni ukiyo-e prints of men imitating birds.
Crow pose
Hawk pose
Duck pose
The work, titled Harasuji Omuseki (?????), consisted of several volumes that also featured poses for animals other than birds. Waseda University has an online copy of Volume 3, which includes the animal poses below.
Chicken pose
Crane pose, Owl pose
Squid pose
Goby pose
Shrimp pose
Next-generation large-screen display manufacturer Shinoda Plasma has unveiled a flexible, 1-millimeter thick, 125-inch film-type prototype display that can be used as a curved or wrap-around screen. The 3 x 1 meter plasma tube array (PTA) display (which actually consists of 3 seamlessly integrated 1 x 1 meter square sub-modules) offers a resolution of 960 x 360 and weighs 3.6 kilograms (8 lbs), or about 10 times less than a conventional plasma display. At a low-key unveiling on May 15, Shinoda Plasma announced plans to exhibit the device in June at the InfoComm 2008 conference in Las Vegas and confirmed their intent to begin small-scale production of a 150-inch (3 x 2 meter) version this autumn. While Shinoda Plasma envisions a variety of digital signage and advertising applications, the ultrathin displays would also undoubtedly make good digital wallpaper for the home.
Lingerie maker Triumph International Japan has unveiled a new eco-friendly concept bra called the "Solar Power Bra" (太陽光発電ブラ - Taiyoko Hatsuden Bra), which aims to stimulate eco-awareness and promote clean energy.
The green, high-quality cotton bra features a waist-mounted solar panel that powers a small, chest-mounted electronic billboard or any other electronic device you choose to connect. A pair of reusable drink containers attach to the bra cups, allowing the wearer to reduce consumption of aluminum cans and plastic bottles while increasing bust size. When not in use, the containers can be collapsed and stored in small pockets in the cups.
Triumph hopes the bra inspires people to think about global warming, the dwindling supply of fossil fuels, and the future of energy.
[Source: Nikkei]
A few of the many concept bras by Triumph:
- NO! Shopping Bag Bra
- Voter Turnout Lift-UP Bra
- My Chopsticks Bra
An "e-mail" message from aliens inhabiting the Altair solar system could reach Earth within 7 years, some astronomers suggest. The alien message would come in response to a radio-wave signal sent toward Altair 25 years ago by Japanese astronomer Hisashi Hirabayashi, who suggests we may receive a reply as early as the year 2015 if intelligent aliens received, decoded and responded quickly to the message. Altair is located approximately 16 light-years from Earth.
Hirabayashi, a former researcher at the University of Tokyo Astronomical Observatory (now known as the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), along with colleague Masaki Morimoto, sent the message via a US radio telescope in 1983 on the Tanabata holiday, a traditional Japanese star festival celebrating the annual meeting of two stars -- Vega (which represents the goddess Orihime) and Altair (which represents the god Hikoboshi) -- in the night sky.
The message, which is believed to have reached Altair in 1999, consisted of 13 binary-encoded images (71 x 71 pixels each) that showed, among other things, the characteristics of our solar system, the location of our planet, the known chemical elements, whole numbers, human characteristics, and the basic structure of DNA. Their message also attempted to explain biological evolution with a depiction of mammals evolving from primeval life forms (see the image above of the fish crawling onto land).
Hirabayashi theorizes that if the aliens are intelligent enough to receive radio-wave signals, they should recognize that the data consists of 13 images and they should be able to send a reply. But Hirabayashi is not holding his breath. "I believe aliens exist, but they are difficult to find," he says. "We haven't even observed any planets around Altair, so it is highly unlikely we will receive a response."
Hirabayashi's original illustrations, which went missing for many years, were recently discovered at the Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory, where Morimoto works as an advisor. Strangely, one of the pictures sent to Altair includes the molecular formula for ethanol along with the kanji characters for kanpai (the Japanese toast of "cheers!") and the English word "TOAST."
"I came up with that idea while drinking," Hirabayashi playfully admits. "The aliens probably won't understand that part."
[Source: Sankei]
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UPDATE -- According to this graphic, the message to Altair included descriptions of the following:
- Whole numbers, prime numbers, definition of lengths
- Addition, multiplication
- Main chemical elements, atomic structure
- Solar system data (size of sun/planets, distance of planets from sun)
- DNA structure and basic composition
- History of terrestrial biological evolution (primeval life forms, fish, amphibians, anthropoids, etc.)
- Image of human form and face, number of human genes
- World population
- Message transmission frequency
- Chemical formula for ethanol
- Kanji character for kampai (Cheers!), English word "TOAST"
Video-sharing service Nico Nico Douga has a mesmerizing collection of 700 animated GIFs for use on their site. [Via Xorsyst]
These photographs of Japanese custom scooters come from bike shop galleries, auction sites, and Flickr. Follow the links for more images.
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Bikeshop Rodeo has killer photos of their mean machines.
Suzuki Skywave
Honda Forza
Suzuki Skywave
Honda Fusion
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Gull Craft transformed Honda Forzas into these retro-futuristic KYBELE cyber scooters, and their photo report shows how to make your own. (Via AutoblogGreen)
KYBELE Cyber Scooter
KYBELE Cyber Scooter
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Flickr user tokyo scooter stuff has thrown together an awesome collection of found photos of custom rides.
Suzuki Skywave
Suzuki Skywave
Yamaha Maxam 3000 Concept @ Tokyo Motor Show
Yamaha Maxam @ Tokyo Motor Show
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This Yamaha Maxam is for sale on Yahoo! Auctions. With only a few hours left as of this writing, the highest bid is 400,000 yen (under $4,000).
Yamaha Maxam
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From Alfa Auto:
Honda Forza
Yamaha Grand Majesty
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From Lotaus:
Suzuki Skywave
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From M-Style:
Suzuki Skywave
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The Japanese Scooters Flickr pool has lots of great photos, too. Not sure what these guys are riding, but it looks like fun.
Beat (Photo by gori-jp)
More outrageous modes of transportation:
- Dekotora photo galleries
- Extreme Japanese custom vans
- Dekochari art bikes
Omodaka, a creative project adopting a self-described "trial and error process of mutational fusion of music and motion graphics," has a new video for chiptune disco track "Kyoteizinc," which features the captivating computer-tweaked dance of Masako Yasumoto. (Watch it.)
The video is directed by Hiroshi Kizu. Omodaka is on Tokyo-based independent label Far East Recording.
