On September 27, Sanrio announced plans to begin selling solid gold Hello Kitty playing cards, which the company will make available through its online shop beginning October 3. Each of the 54 cards (2 jokers included) measures 58 x 89 mm and is made from 0.73 gram of 99.99% pure gold. Pressed to a thickness […]
Researchers from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology have developed a biotech-based process for creating ultrathin computer memory. The process, which uses a protein commonly found in mammals, allows memory to be built on thinner substrates because it eliminates the need for high-temperature processing, and it could lead to significantly smaller and thinner computers […]
It takes only a few minutes to down a soft drink, but the plastic bottle it comes in is designed to last for centuries. In the eyes of Kosuke Tsumura, designer for the Final Home brand of urban survival clothing and accessories, the durability and abundance of PET plastic bottles makes them an ideal material […]
NEC Corporation has teamed up with Aida Engineering to develop a briefcase-sized DNA analysis system that allows police to perform comprehensive DNA testing at crime scenes in as little as 25 minutes. NEC is calling the device the world’s first portable all-in-one DNA analysis system able to handle all DNA testing processes from extraction to […]
A research team led by professor Masayuki Sumida at Hiroshima University’s Institute for Amphibian Biology has created a type of transparent frog whose internal organs are visible through its skin. The researchers say the see-through frogs can help in the study of diseases and in the development of medical treatments by allowing laboratory scientists to […]
Anne’s Fitting Show, an interactive ad display that allows shoppers to dress up a holographic incarnation of Japanese supermodel Anne Watanabe in World’s “Untitled” brand clothing, has been set up on the first floor of the Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku. Anne, who is the daughter of actor Ken Watanabe, is shown in the flesh […]
J-breakbeat duo Hifana’s video for “Connect” — the title track from their latest CD+DVD — stars KZO Machine and Cowman 3000 as funky robot shoppers for sale in a sweet TV shopping channel hallucination. Press “Buy” to get yours now.
Hifana are on the W+KTokyoLab label and the video is directed by +Cruz and WOOOOG, with […]
(Premium Unit Bath)
Artist Tetsuya Nakamura’s Premium Unit Series of curvaceous, luxury bathroom fixtures — a tub, a pair of sinks, a step designed for insertion into a stairwell, and a decorative column — are sculpted from fiber-reinforced plastic and painted with colorful, fluid patterns meant to evoke a sense of speed. Nakamura, who created the […]
When Osaka resident Kana Yamaguchi’s neighbors cut the grass in a nearby field, a number of fleeing insects sought refuge in her flower bed. Among them was an odd pair of grasshopper-like bugs — one pink, one white. Osaka Museum of Natural History entomologist Itaru Kanazawa identifies them as the larvae of Euconocephalus thunbergi (”kubikirigisu” […]
Shuetsu Sato is a Japan Railways employee known for making complex, stylish signs and maps from strips of colored duct tape. For years, his work graced the walls and construction barriers at Shinjuku station while it underwent extensive renovations. Sato’s creative use of tape has earned him quite a following, particularly online, and recent blog […]
