From character goods maker JUN Planning comes a series of mammary-shaped plush toys known as Funwari Milk-chan (”Fluffy Milk”) and friends. According to the official Funwari Milk-chan website, these mildly naughty plushies are modeled after the palm-sized inhabitants of Milk Village, a quiet southern hamlet the size of Tokyo Dome.

Each character has a distinct personality and background. Funwari Milk-chan (pictured above, center) is easygoing. Despite her dream of growing large, she remains small. She loves collagen, and napping is her favorite pastime. Can Milk-san (top left) is a celebrity entertainer, always aglitter. She has an American boyfriend and loves going to beauty salons. Ganguro Milk-chan (bottom left), despite being a gyaru with a pierced nipple, is mature and level-headed. She spends all her time practicing para-para dance, and she enjoys purikura. Peach Milk-chan (top right), a spider-hating fashionista who is scary when angry, is well-informed and into anything lowbrow. Milko-chan (bottom right) is still a baby — but a genius. She loves to invent things, and her pacifier apparently holds the secret to her smarts.

The inhabitants of Milk Village speak the Milk language, a tongue understood by all living creatures. While the size of the population is unknown, we do know that the milk-chans tend to live together as couples and raise families in milk houses, where they enjoy a variety of TV shows, including those produced by humans. Milk Village is built on forested land created long ago by an ancient volcanic eruption of Mt. Milk. The mountain is regarded as the symbol of the village.

Milk Village also enjoys four distinct seasons. In spring, everyone likes to eat dango (skewered rice dumplings) and gaze at cherry blossoms. In summer, they enjoy the beach. In autumn, they eat dango and gaze at the moon. In winter, it is customary to hole up with family in snow caves and eat mochi rice cake.

Funwari Milk Chan plushies sell for about 1,000 yen ($9) each at 8 locations in Japan (including a shop on the 1st floor of Radio Kaikan in Akihabara).

[Link: Funwari Milk-chan via Korokoro Zaeega]

(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 Premium Unit Series with the DIY-er in mind, encourages the purchaser to add his or her own custom paint job, body modifications and part upgrades, despite the 3 million yen ($26,000) cost of the tub and 1.5 million yen ($13,000) price tag on each of the other items. According to the accompanying disclaimer, Nakamura’s heavy emphasis on form — and relative disregard for function — means bathers should enter the tub at their own risk, as the artist and dealer assume no responsibility for injuries or accidents that may occur.

(Premium Unit Sink)

(Premium Unit Sink)

(Premium Unit Step/Premium Unit Pillar)

[Link: Nippon Style]

Garbage Bag Art Work trash bags aim to transform Japan’s unsightly neighborhood garbage collection points into instant works of disposable art. Produced by design agency MAQ, the bags come in three patterns — trees, fish and flowers — and they are colored to match Japan’s official color codes for various types of waste, each of which are collected on different days. Green is for recyclable trash, blue is for non-burnable and red is for burnable, so while livening up the appearance of trash heaps, the bags also remind neighbors about what trash day it is. Packs of ten 45-liter bags sell for 380 yen (about $3) at a select few Tokyu Hands and Loft outlets in Tokyo, or they can be purchased online here (Japanese).

In a related project, MAQ has also teamed up with author/illustrator Lily Franky’s SHiBA brand to plaster the unique dog logo on their trash bags. Now if they could come up with a design that would keep people from generating so much trash, they might have a masterpiece.

[Link: Garbage Bag Art Work]

Wake up and smell the pencil lead, says Japanese stationery and writing instrument manufacturer Pentel, who has combined the power of nanotechnology with the knowledge of expert aromatherapists to develop a new type of fragrant pencil lead. Featuring a long-lasting aroma designed to enhance mental capacity, the pencil lead — called “Ain supplio” — recently won the coveted Stationery of the Year Award (2007).

Unlike previous types of fragrant lead, which use weak aromatic surface coatings that tend to lose their smell quickly, Ain supplio relies on fragrant ingredients trapped in nanocapsules, or tiny air bubbles, which are infused into the lead itself. The microscopic size of the nanocapsules gives them extra strength to hold their fragrance for long periods of time — about 3 years if kept in the unopened package, 2 years if kept in their plastic case, and more than 3 months out in the open air.

Tentatively priced at 210 yen (under $2) per set, Ain supplio comes in three flavors — Refresh, Healing and Positive — each prepared by aromatherapists working with ingredients such as rosemary, mint, lemongrass and green tea. The aromatic blends are specially designed to boost the learning capacity of those in smelling range, says Pentel, who hopes the product will appeal to students. Ain supplio will hit shelves in September, just in time for the fall semester.

[Source: IT Media, Pentel press release]

Want to know how you really look? USB gadget maker Thanko is planning to release a USB-powered microscope called the “Nandemo Microscope,” which ships with four separate attachments, each specifically designed to provide close-up views of different parts of the anatomy. In addition to the standard attachment, the three other attachments allow users to perform oral exams, check inside ears and get close-ups of skin and hair.

With a 1.3 megapixel CMOS sensor, 640 x 480 (VGA) resolution, adustable LED lighting and software for viewing and saving video and still images, you’re only a USB connection away from hooking your computer screen up with a very intimate picture of yourself. Whether or not you would actually want to look at it is another question.

The Nandemo Microscope, which is compatible with Windows 2000 Professional/XP/Vista, goes on sale in mid-July at a price of 12,800 yen (slightly more than $100).

[Source: Nandemo Microscope page via IT Media]

While searching the web for information on home nuclear power systems, I came across this interesting scan of an ’80s print ad for an imaginary device called the Chernobyl Household Nuclear Generator. There is no date on this mock ad, so it is unclear whether it was created before or after 1986 — the year of the Chernobyl meltdown. If the ad was created before 1986, when Chernobyl was widely regarded as a marvel of modern technology, it would appear to be some sort of attempt to arouse interest in the promise of household nuclear power. If created after 1986, it would appear to be somebody’s bad idea of a joke. Regardless, with all the talk today of global warming and peak oil, perhaps it would not hurt to take another look at what home fission reactors have to offer. If affordable, would you be interested in purchasing a Chernobyl Household Nuclear Generator?

Here is a loose translation of some of the text in the ad…

===================================

A gentle source of unlimited energy for the home

Reduce your monthly electric bill by 80% and enjoy a constant, stable supply of energy free from the fluctuations in supply that affect the oil market.

A single, user-friendly activation switch makes the Chernobyl Household Nuclear Power Generator simple to operate, even for children and the elderly. One small nuclear fuel rod (about 15 cm long) generates enough electricity to support the average household for six months. To dispose of a spent fuel rod, simply insert it into its special shielded case and discard it along with ordinary non-combustible household waste.

Main unit: 1.31 million yen [$5,450*] (plus tax)

Set of 3 fuel rods: 137,000 yen [$570*] (plus tax)
[* Dollar figures based on early ’80s exchange rate of 240 yen/dollar.]

Caution:
When using the power generator with direct current, people near the device may on rare occasions experience dizziness or a tingling sensation in the hands or feet. If you experience such conditions, temporarily discontinue use and consult a physician.

(Coming soon:
Nuclear batteries (Types AA, C and D)
500x longer lifespan than conventional alkali batteries!)

Safe, efficient nuclear power is now readily available for use in your home.

Chernobyl Household Nuclear Power Generator - Type 1
Nichigen Co., Ltd.
Nihon Shogata Genshiryoku Hatsuden, K.K.
(”Japan Compact Nuclear Generators, Inc.”)

[Link]

At the Tokyo Fiber exhibition in Omotesando last weekend, Panasonic unveiled the “No-Constraints Carpet” (tentative product name?), an innovative hot carpet with the warm, fuzzy appeal of a beloved pet. The carpet’s luxurious coat of faux fur (available in white, brown, or skunk-like black and white) houses a set of smart heating elements that deliver warmth only to the areas you touch when you cuddle it. Squishy, flesh-like control switches modeled after the paw pads of your favorite furry friend enhance the carpet’s overall zoomorphic feel. Available in two sizes — 1.5 meters (5 feet) or 7 meters (23 feet) — the carpet also makes an interesting sofa decoration when not being used as a heating device. The patent is pending, so Panasonic has not yet released all the product details.

[Photo: IN-duce’s Flickr photo stream]

NTT-Neomeit, an NTT subisidiary, has unveiled plans for a convenient and inexpensive service that allows users to remotely control home devices from their cellphones. Scheduled for launch in September, the “U-Consento” service is designed to be compatible with a wide range of existing home appliances, so users do not need to purchase new devices or perform extensive home rewiring.

To control devices, users access a web page via cellphone and select the desired operations. The commands are then sent via the web to a wireless router in the home, which relays signals to an infrared transmitter and remote control power switches. The infrared transmitter, which operates like a universal remote, relays those signals to remote controllable devices such as home A/V equipment. Easy-to-install remote control switches connected to power outlets allow users to turn on and off the power to lamps and other devices not pre-equipped with remote control.

In addition to being able to control the room temperature, blast the stereo and program the video recorder — all while outside the home — users can also check the current operating status of each device and view records of how each device has been used. According to NTT-Neomeit, this ability to monitor device usage provides a convenient way for users to keep tabs on the activity of their elderly parents from afar.

NTT-Neomeit plans to rent the home remote control system starting at around 500 yen ($4) per month, and service will initially be limited to NTT broadband subscribers in western Japan. Pilot testing will be conducted in the Kansai area from May to August.

[Source: Yomiuri, NTT-Neomeit press release]

The harsh winter in Niigata, Japan brings heavy snow, which can pose problems for residents — particularly the elderly — who are faced with the laborious task of clearing it from driveways and entrances. To the rescue comes Yuki-taro, an autonomous snowplow robot developed by a team of researchers from five Niigata-area organizations.

The friendly-looking Yuki-taro measures 160 x 95 x 75 cm (63 x 37 x 30 in.) and weighs 400 kg (880 lbs). Armed with GPS and a pair of video cameras embedded in its eyes, the self-guided robot seeks out snow and gobbles it up into its large mouth. Yuki-taro’s insides consist of a system that compresses the snow into hard blocks measuring 60 x 30 x 15 cm (24 x 12 x 6 in.), which Yuki-taro expels from its rear end. The blocks can then be stacked and stored until summer, when they can be used as an alternative source of refrigeration or cooling.

Yuki-taro is the result of nearly seven years of work by researchers from the Niigata Industrial Creation Organization (NICO), Research and Development, Inc. (RDI), Niigata Institute of Technology, Yamagata University and the Industrial Research Institute of Niigata Prefecture (IRI), who set out to design an environmentally-friendly robot that can operate by itself and support the elderly. In 2006, Yuki-taro received a Good Design Award in the small-to-medium sized enterprise category.

Researchers continue to work on reducing Yuki-taro’s size, weight and cost, and they hope to make it commercially available in five years at a price of less than 1 million yen ($8,300). It is unclear whether or not the researchers intend to further enhance the robot’s “cute” factor, but they might ought to consider attaching a pair of pointy ears. O-negai!

[Sources: Asahi]

SGI Japan has unveiled an intelligent room system, called RoomRender, that can control the electronics, appliances and hardware in a room based on the spoken commands and emotions of the room’s occupants. The company installed the RoomRender system in one of its Tokyo office meeting rooms on December 5. With the cost of RoomRender’s basic components estimated at between 5 and 6 million yen ($40K to $50K), the company initially hopes to see the system put to use in company meeting rooms, homes, hotels, hospitals and care facilities.

RoomRender relies on AmiVoice voice recognition technology (developed by Advanced Media) to recognize and analyze spoken commands, enabling the room to close the blinds, turn on the heater, etc. as instructed. When linked with a home entertainment system, RoomRender can be instructed to record TV shows. At present, RoomRender does not have the ability to learn the routines and preferences of its inhabitants, so it has to be told specifically what and when to record, but perhaps one day when RoomRender can predict your behavior, you won’t have to tell it to record your favorite show — it’ll just know.

RoomRender also includes features that respond to the mood of its occupants. FeelingWall — a wall whose colored lights change according to the mood of the people in the room — relies on Sensibility Technology (developed by SGI and AGI), the same technology used in KOTOHANA, which was developed by SGI Japan and NEC. Like KOTOHANA, FeelingWall interprets emotions based on the intonation and rhythm of voices, adjusting the color and lighting accordingly. RoomRender can also be programmed to control an aroma diffuser, releasing fragrances that correspond to various moods. Features like these mean that if an inhabitant sighs “I’m tired,” the room can automatically respond by dimming the lights, causing the light of the FeelingWall to pulsate gently, turning on some relaxing background music and emitting a soothing fragrance from the aroma diffuser.

SGI, which recently became Segway’s official distributor in Japan, is also developing a function that enables RoomRender to control the two-wheeled transportation devices. In the future, RoomRender will be able to send a Segway to an occupant that asks for it, and it will return a Segway to its battery charger when the power starts running low.

Unfortunately, this also means you won’t be able to use the Segway as an escape vehicle if your relationship with RoomRender suddenly turns sour.

[Source: IT Media]