Ashikaga’s Flower Park transforms into a fantastical fairytale world that you can step inside for the next few months.
LED
Now you’ll never need to spill crumbs all over yourself or your keyboard again while you’re storming the enemy’s base.
Beautiful salutes to nearly two dozen anime/manga franchises light the way to the newest otaku destination.
Growing up with video games, there are a number of make-believe items we’d love to pull out from a bag to make our everyday lives better. Even just an ordinary potion could mean going from a sloth-like laziness to the get-up-and-go of a hummingbird. Sure, there have been plenty of elixirs concocted by drink makers that turn out to be delicious and colorful, but there’s another potion hitting the markets that we are looking to add to our stash to raise the hit points of our mood, since it’s an LED potion lamp!
Every year since 1957, Japan’s Good Design Awards have honored products which are designed in such a way to have a positive impact on people’s lives. The award system, which is now operated by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion, has recently released their list of 2015’s Good Design Best 100 award winners.
With such innovative ideas as LED jump ropes and basketball courts, these awards are truly the best place to catch a glimpse of athletics equipment of the future!
Every pokémon trainer has their special pokémon. Whether it’s one of the starter pokémon that you kept with you all over the Kanto region, or one of the hundreds of pokémon you can catch along the way, there is always that one particular friend that you just can’t bear to leave in storage.
If you’d like to immortalize your poképal, or if you are just a fan of the Pokémon anime or video games, then you have to take a look at these one of a kind pokéballs on Etsy that will crystallize the memory of your pokémon forever.
There are many ways that data is transferred these days, be it fiber optic cables, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G-LTE, and a whole slew of other brand names and acronyms the meanings of which I don’t care to learn.
Now Panasonic has come up with a way to send and receive data that’s easy for everyone to understand: light. Actually it uses light emitting diodes (LED) to be exact, but that’s about as technical as this explanation needs to get, I promise.
Let’s begin with a bit of linguistic trivia: How many of you know that Japanese has an expression for the area of exposed skin between the top of knee-high socks and the hemline of a skirt? No, this is not a joke, people–the actual term is 絶対領域 (zettai ryouiki), which literally means “absolute territory,” but I’m sure some of you already knew that.
If you didn’t, now is as good a time as ever to add that phrase to your mental lexicon, with LED light-emitting skirts about to enter the world of fashion and all!
Coca-Cola may not be the craziest company when it comes to special, limited edition drinks (although their Coke Orange was a pretty good), but what they lack in variety, they make up for when it comes to branded goods. Some neat finds over the years have included Coke can shaped glasses from McDonald’s, an ultra-rare gold Coke can, environmentally friendly vending machines, and the hugely successful Share a Coke campaign.
On December 1 Coca-Cola Japan launched a new product set, available only at Aeon in celebration of the store’s 40th anniversary of being a nationwide shopping center powerhouse. The limited quantity set is (probably) a must-have this holiday season.
The concept of plant factories is not a new one. Especially in space-strapped Japan, the idea of a compact garden that can simulate a natural environment in a tight urban area is highly desirable.
Keystone Technologies is one Japanese company that has been constantly refining their LED garden technology. Currently they boast a system that can fit about a quarter acre’s worth of crops into a space of a hotel’s single-room, and that’s just the beginning.
Smart products seem to be emerging left and right these days with smart wigs getting a patent by Sony and smart sushi restaurants already on the streets. With all this smartness to be had, why not give your nails the same intelligence. They deserve it. All you have to do is pick up some Smart Nails recently released by H2L.
Living in an earthquake-prone country like Japan means constant vigilance in terms of disaster preparedness. Though the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 struck during daylight hours, there’s no guarantee that a disaster of similar magnitude won’t strike at night. Most people keep a flashlight or two at home, however, if power is cut as a result of an earthquake, as groping your way around in the dark while in a panicked state might not be as easy as you think.
Thankfully, Tokyo’s Force Media group has come up with an ingenius solution to this problem. And it’s much more than just a regular-old flashlight…
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Back in my day, kids used to put little plastic beads on their bicycle wheel spokes to make them “flashy.” Now it looks as if these kids grew up and got training in optics.
Plastic beads have been replaced with synchronized LED lights which generate colorful animations as an ordinary bike wheel spins away. Not only that, you will be able to create your own animation to be displayed on your computer and upload it to your bike with ANIPOV when it goes on sale at the end of January 2013.
Electronics company Greenhouse is set to release a lantern that runs on just salt and water. It uses that old favorite of high school science teachers everywhere, electrolysis, in combination with efficient light producing LEDs to provide strong and long lasting light free of conventional batteries.
And that lesson seemed so useless when I was doing it…




















Japanese rice cooker recipe gives us a tasty new way to enjoy vegetables and wieners
New Tokyo sweets shop offers 648 different mochi ice cream dumpling combinations
Even at twice regular Daiso price, this handy item is still great for summer travel in Japan
Body of missing American college student found in Kyoto mountains
Colour Hunting: The hot new street photography trend changing how we see Japan
Ghibli’s No Face continues to demonstrate his generous character growth by dispensing soy sauce
Japan’s cheap beef bowl chain Matsuya opens gourmet Premium Matsuya with Kobe beef…inside Matsuya
Fukushima City on edge as resourceful and violent bear still not found
Japanese convenience store shows us how to dress for the rainy season
Japan Railways partners with Overwatch, heroes hit the Shinkansen for bullet train collaboration
Uniqlo reveals third round of massive 100-year-anniversary manga T-shirts for Jump’s Shueisha
Kyoto public junior high school becomes first in Japan with a hoodie school uniform
New official Ghibli anime food cookbook will teach you how to make Ponyo’s ramen and more
Starbucks Japan unveils new Frappuccino showcasing “mottainai” culture
Osaka is hosting a “hentai” event, but it’s probably not what you think
What’s it like to join Tokyo’s walking-and-talking-with-strangers club for a day?
Tokyo’s Pokémon Cafe reopens this month with brand-new sweets and Pikachu show
Tourists brave Typhoon Jangmi to queue at two famous sites in Tokyo
Tokyo’s life-size Gundam anime mecha statue will be removed this summer
Ichiraku Ramen-inspired ramen sets from Naruto anime pay homage to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura
Kanji ice cream becomes a sell-out hit in Japan
Japanese convenience store Lawson launches new “mini supermarket” chain, L Minimart
Japan’s real-world Pokémon hot spring’s first photos are here![Photos]
Japan’s human washing machines will go on sale to general public, demos to be held in Tokyo
Starbucks Japan releases new drinkware and goods for Valentine’s Day
We deeply regret going into this tunnel on our walk in the mountains of Japan
Starbucks Japan releases new sakura goods and drinkware for cherry blossom season 2026
Japan’s newest Shinkansen has no seats…or passengers [Video]
Major Japanese hotel chain says reservations via overseas booking sites may not be valid
Put sesame oil in your coffee? Japanese maker says it’s the best way to start your day【Taste test】
Japan reportedly adding Japanese language skill requirement to most common foreigner work visa
Japan’s 5.3 million beautiful Hitachi Nemophila flowers are now in full bloom[Photos]
Pokémon and Ikea Japan cross over into each other’s worlds with collaboration events
Ghibli’s No Face continues to demonstrate his generous character growth by dispensing soy sauce
Japan’s cheap beef bowl chain Matsuya opens gourmet Premium Matsuya with Kobe beef…inside Matsuya
Fukushima City on edge as resourceful and violent bear still not found
Japanese convenience store shows us how to dress for the rainy season
Japan Railways partners with Overwatch, heroes hit the Shinkansen for bullet train collaboration
What’s it like to join Tokyo’s walking-and-talking-with-strangers club for a day?
Studio Ghibli adds new range of neckties to its anime merchandise store in Japan
Uniqlo reveals third round of massive 100-year-anniversary manga T-shirts for Jump’s Shueisha
Lawson opens a new mini supermarket, and the lucky bags can essentially stock your kitchen
Starbucks Japan unveils new Frappuccino showcasing “mottainai” culture
Japanese high school closes its cafeteria, replaces it with a 7-Eleven convenience store
Osaka is hosting a “hentai” event, but it’s probably not what you think
A Japanese toast sandwich remix: The toasted rice rice ball[SoraKitchen]
Tokyo’s Pokémon Cafe reopens this month with brand-new sweets and Pikachu show