Mermaid mummies

11 Aug 2006

In 18th- and 19th-century Edo (present-day Tokyo), sideshow carnivals known as misemono were a common feature of the landscape. These wildly popular shows featured crafts, acrobats and animals in a kaleidoscopic blend of attractions that were believed to bring luck, fortune and health to the audience. One attraction commonly featured at these shows was the mermaid.

Mermaid at misemono

Sideshow carnivals in Europe and America in the 1800s also featured mermaids, many of them from Japan and the West Indies. The most famous of these mermaids was P.T. Barnum's Feejee Mermaid, which is believed to have been created around 1810 by a Japanese fisherman. The art of creating faux mermaids was perfected by fishermen and often involved stitching the heads and upper bodies of monkeys onto the bodies of fish.

P.T. Barnum's Fiji Mermaid
(P.T. Barnum's Feejee Mermaid)

A few of these old, mummified mermaids can still be found in the care of temples and shrines around Japan.

Here's a photo of a mermaid mummy at Zuiryuji Temple in Osaka, which was bestowed to the temple as an offering from a Sakai-area trader in 1682. The temple also has in its possession the mummies of a kappa and a small dragon, both of which can be found by exploring the site at the link below.

Mermaid at Zuiryuji Temple in Osaka
(Link: Nightmare's Psychiatry Examination)

Another mummified mermaid is preserved at Myouchi Temple in the city of Kashiwazaki in Niigata prefecture. The mermaid is about 30 cm long and is holding its hands up near its cheeks -- apparently a common pose for mummified mermaids. The proprietors of the temple keep the mermaid in a small wooden chest out of view, but according to the account at the link below, they will allow you to check it out if you ask nicely.

Mermaid at Myouchi
(Link: One person's visit to Myouchi Temple)

The next photo shows a mermaid mummy at Karukayado Temple outside the city of Hashimoto in Wakayama prefecture. The 50-cm long mummy has fangs that protrude from its wide open mouth, and both of its hands are raised to its cheeks, like the previous mermaid. Its lower body is covered in scales, and there appear to be the vestiges of fins on its chest, as well as a pair of nipple-like protuberances.

Mermaid (unknown)
(Link: Photos of Karukayado Temple)

The next photo (left) shows the mummy owned by a Shinto sect headquartered in the city of Fujinomiya near the base of Mt. Fuji. At 170 cm tall and 1,400 years old, it is the largest and oldest known mermaid mummy in Japan. The mermaid has an unusually large head that is bald, except for some hair growth that extends from its forehead to its nose. Its eyes and mouth are open. It has webbed hands with sharp claws, and a 20-cm long tail. The lower body has a bone structure similar to that of a fish, but it is unclear whether or not the upper body has a bone structure. The entire body shows signs of having been ravaged by moths.

Legend has it that this mermaid appeared to Prince Shotoku (Shotoku Taishi) as he was passing along the shores of Lake Biwa (about 1,400 years ago). The hideous beast told the prince about how it had been transformed into a mermaid as punishment for making a living as a fishermen within the boundaries of an animal sanctuary. The mermaid claimed that over many years it had come to a clear understanding of the horrors of destroying life, and that it was prepared to move on to the next world. As a final wish before dying, though, it asked the prince to establish a temple using the mermaid's body as a centerpiece, where it could be used to educate people about the sanctity of life. The mermaid then died. The prince took the mermaid's body and set up a temple as requested. But after a number of strange occurrences, the mummy was passed on to another temple. The mummy changed hands several times before ending up at its current location at the base of Mt. Fuji.

Fuji mermaid speaks to Shotoku Taishi
(Link: Fuji mermaid)

Also claiming a connection to this legend is Kannon Shoji Temple in Shiga prefecture, which is nicknamed the "mermaid temple." This temple professes to be the one established by Prince Shotoku at the request of the mermaid. The temple reportedly has an old, 50-cm mermaid on the premises, though no images are available online.

And finally, here are a few sketches of mermaids drawn by Keisuke Ito (1803 - 1901), a man who played an instrumental role in introducing Western medicine to Japan. In addition to establishing a method for smallpox vaccination in Japan and helping to set up what is today known as Nagoya University, he drew numerous sketches of plant and animal specimens. Buried deep in the volumes of sketches he made of marine animals, which show a variety of rather fantastic, but mostly realistic-looking fish, are the following specimens:

Mermaids depicted by Ito Keisuke
(Link: Fish volume 3, pp.23-24)

Mermaids depicted by Ito Keisuke
(Link: Fish volume 1, page 162)

You can browse the entire Ito Keisuke collection here. There is at least one more mermaid sketch buried in the book -- and lots of other surprises.

(Many thanks to mermaid hunter Juan Cabana for the inspiration to search for these mermaids. Check out his museum here and purchase his found creatures here.)

Project promises blue-collar bots for aging society

08 Aug 2006

Maid robotTokyo University and a consortium of 7 companies have launched a long-term joint research project to develop next-generation robot and information technology aimed at supporting Japan's aging population. Over the next 10 to 15 years, the group (known as CIRT) aims to help develop robots that will, among other things, assist the elderly with housework and serve as personal transportation capable of replacing the automobile.

According to an announcement made by CIRT on August 4, group participants include Toyota, Olympus, Sega, Toppan Printing, Fujitsu, Matsushita (Panasonic), and Mitsubishi. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) will play a supportive role and bear half the cost of the research, which is expected to be as high as 1 billion yen (US$9 million) per year. Around 100 researchers from academia and the private sector are expected to participate in the project.

The participating companies will work together to combine information technology (IT) and robot technology (RT) to form a new type of technology called information/robot technology (IRT), which organizers claim will spawn new industries that will succeed the automotive and computer industries. In addition to simply developing new robots, the project is designed to spur innovation in software and other technology for automotive, home appliance and medical applications.

The project timeline includes developing robots capable of straightening up rooms by 2008, robots capable of making beds by 2013, and robots capable of lifting/carrying the elderly by 2016. Other goals include developing robots that can arrange products on supermarket shelves, fold laundry and perform heavy-duty cleaning. Enhancing robot autonomy appears to factor highly into the goals of the project, which hopes to see the development of autonomous robots able to perform product assembly work with little supervision.

Another project objective is to contribute to the development of autonomous personal transporation robots capable of moving safely through busy intersections by 2016. The development of this technology, for example, would rely on Toyota's expertise in robot development combined with Tokyo University's research on human intention recognition technology.

Japan's declining birth rate means the work force is shrinking and the population is aging. CIRT believes the next generation of robots can help bring about a more productive and comfortable society by boosting the efficiency of the work force and taking on the unwanted tasks of a graying society. However, developing robots, no matter how advanced, does not address another major problem foreseen by the Japanese government: how does a shrinking tax base pay for ballooning social security costs? Will this new breed of robot also be called upon to pay its fair share of taxes?

[Sources: Asahi Shimbun, Nikkei Net]

Video: Tokyo nuclear attack

06 Aug 2006

This short video of Tokyo under nuclear attack was pieced together using footage from a 1984 NHK documentary about nuclear war, which featured a high-tech (at the time) simulation showing the impact an 8-megaton bomb explosion would have on the city. The soundtrack is Sun Ra's "Nuclear War" (1982) as performed by Yo La Tengo (2002). Peace.

[Link: Video of Tokyo nuclear attack]

Virtual piano turns any surface into a keyboard

04 Aug 2006

Virtual piano

Digital Information Development (DID) has developed a highly portable virtual piano that is played with a keyboard consisting of projected laser beams.

The box-shaped device measures about 10 x 3 x 3 cm (4 x 1 x 1 in.) and weighs about 100 grams (3.5 oz.). Using a red semiconductor laser module and holographic optical element, the device projects a 25-key 2-octave keyboard onto the surface in front of it (black surfaces don't work because they absorb the light). A CMOS camera module and infrared (invisible) red semiconductor laser module detect which keys are touched, and the corresponding notes are emitted from speakers built into the device. Chords can also be played, and DID claims it is technically possible to reproduce weighted notes (but presumably not with this version).

The keyboard has 3 other voices in addition to piano -- organ, pipe organ and harpsichord. It is scheduled for release in Japan in November 2006 and is expected to cost around 15,000 yen (US$130).

DID says that a virtual 88-key grand piano can be created by increasing the size of the device.

[Source: Yomiuri Shimbun]

Matchbox madness

03 Aug 2006

Match World, a virtual museum devoted to the match, hosts an online collection of hundreds of matchbox labels from the late 1800s to the 1930s. Here are a few from the "Company Brand Matches" room:

Octopus matchbox

Robot matchbox

Kannon matchbox Bee and snail matchbox

Squid matchbox

Note: You can find more labels if you browse the "Database" (instead of browsing by "Category"). Click on the thumbnails for larger images and additional information. (The gallery's Flash interface may not work very well in some browsers.)

[Link: Match World Virtual Museum: Company Brand Matches Room]

JR passengers to generate electricity at train stations

01 Aug 2006

Ticket gate electric generatorThe East Japan Railway Company (JR-East), as part of research aimed at developing more environmentally friendly train stations, is testing an experimental system that produces electricity as people pass through ticket gates. JR claims that this sort of human-powered electricity generation system may provide a portion of the electricity consumed at train stations in the future.

The ticket gate electricity generation system relies on a series of piezo elements embedded in the floor under the ticket gates, which generate electricity from the pressure and vibration they receive as people step on them. When combined with high-efficiency storage systems, the ticket gate generators can serve as a clean source of supplementary power for the train stations. Busy train stations (and those with large numbers of passengers willing to bounce heavily through the gates) will be able to accumulate a relatively large amount of electricity.

JR-East, who worked with Keio University to develop the system, claims that in addition to being put to use as an independent power supply that does not require hardwiring, the system can also be used as a way of measuring the traffic flow through ticket gates.

The system is being tested at the JR-East head office in Shibuya, where it is installed at the entrance to the reception area on the 4th floor. As visitors pass through the gate, a lamp lights up, signifying that electricity has been produced. Testing of the system will continue until August 11.

[Source: Chunichi Shimbun via /.Japan]

Ghost scroll collection at Zenshoan temple

01 Aug 2006

Ghost scroll at Zensho-an templeEvery August, Zenshoan temple in Tokyo opens the doors to its Yurei-ga Gallery, a private collection of Edo-period ghost scrolls. The 50 silk paintings, most of which date back 150 to 200 years, depict a variety of apparitions from the forlorn to the ghastly.

The scrolls were collected by Sanyu-tei Encho, a famous storyteller (rakugo artist) during the Edo era who studied at Zenshoan. Encho is said to have collected the scrolls as a source of inspiration for the ghostly tales he loved to tell in summer.

Telling ghost stories has long been a popular summer pastime in Japan, and many people believe that chilling tales have the power to take the edge off the dreadful heat. Stories of shadowy souls also make a nice, macabre complement to all the August rituals (bon festivals, memorial ceremonies, grave cleaning, etc.) performed to welcome the spirits of departed ancestors as they return en masse to the earthly world.

The ghost scrolls are on display from August 1 to 31, from 10 AM to 5 PM. Zenshoan temple is located a five-minute walk from Sendagi station (in Taito ward) on the Chiyoda subway line. The entrance fee is 300 yen.

If you can't make it to the temple, check out an online version of the gallery at the link below.

[Link: Yurei-ga Gallery]

Fingerprint sensor in your wallet

28 Jul 2006

Fingerprint sensor by Seiko EpsonSeiko Epson has developed a paper-thin fingerprint sensor measuring 0.2 millimeter in thickness, which may help bring an extra level of security to a range of items in the future. When touched, the sensor reads fingerprint patterns based on the faint electric current emanating from the user's fingertip.

The fingerprint sensor's ultrathin profile means it can easily be incorporated into a variety of commonly used items. Among the applications that Seiko Epson is targeting are self-authenticating credit cards, in which a tiny on-card processor is used to compare the captured fingerprint data with the user's fingerprint data stored in an embedded memory. A non-matching fingerprint would render the card unusable, preventing abuse in the case of loss or theft.

The company aims to commercialize the sensor by 2010.

[Source: Nikkei Net]

Denki Groove videos

27 Jul 2006

Animated videos from Denki Groove's Nisenyon Summer ("Summer 2004") DVD.


Mr. Empty, followed by Chuunen Punk ("Middle-aged Punk")


Cafe De Oni


Hikenai Gitaa O Hikun Da Ze ("Play The Guitar You Can't Play")