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Softbank, one of the 4 mobile operators in Japan (with Docomo, au, Willcom), has a cute dog as a mascot, that plays the role of father of an atypical Japanese family in TV commercials.

In this commercial, done for promoting a dog-shaped mobile phone speakerphone (WTF? Who will buy it?), Quentin Tarantino is Tara-chan, the tough guy that is scared by his own wife, hahaha

Do you remember the SEGA Toylets? I mentioned it 6 months ago

I found an interesting video where it's shown at Digital Signage 2011 in Tokyo:

This system will retail around 140000 yen, with software sold for 10000 yen..

Awesome! Thanks to Mitsuyuki Ikeda from the Environmental Assessment Center in Okayama (Geez, finding this link took hours, but at least we know that the guy is not fictional) artificial meat it's here! Finally meat can be really accessible, vegetarians, poor people, thanks to the cheap price, due to the huge amounts of the main ingredient.

This "meat" is light, potentially cheap, with low fat and low calories, but has an huge defect:

The main ingredient!

... in the video they call it "sewage mud"...

Well, we have lots of this ingredient, but will you eat an hamburger like that?

Especially in offices and large corporations, every day are done thousands of "useless" printouts, as emails, drafts, internal memos, and so on. Documents that are mean to last less than one hour, but that must be printed to enhance productivity. But, using a new Japanese device it's possible to "delete" and "reprint" this papers, without using ink, toners or cartridges!

I am talking about the Sanwa Prepeat printer, it's a little bit pricey, about $6000, but can print on rewritable PET sheets. Sure, sheets are pricey too, $3 and are sold in 1000-sheets boxes, but if you consider that delete and rewrite can be done for free, for large corporations it can be convenient.

Jut take care to write on this expensive media using special felt tip markers and don't fold the sheets  

Here is the presentation video, in Japanese with English subtitles:

Everyone is aware about the damages that the tsunami wave in Japan did recently.

To help the Japanese population, the Italian division of become.com put a link to the Italian Red Cross website.

Guess what? They got a C&D letter for using the Red Cross name without prior consent! 

LOL, people is paying hundreds to have a link on a PR5 page, and they call the lawyers to remove it!

Free advertisement becomes bad publicity

To show how big was the huge tsunami that happened last friday in Japan, the New York Times has published an interactive page with aerial photos, where you can compare what happened after the tsunami in the cities of Ishinomaki, Natori, Sendai, Yuriage, Arahama.

The sight is terrible, and is available here:

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html

Update: There's also a Picasa album with more shots, and a kml file to see the area with Google Earth.

While surfing the net, I found an interesting showreel from the japanese Shirogumi studio. This movie contains a selection of their best advertisemens from the '80s, to show to their investors and customers.

I find it very interesting and astounding: if today is normal to see CG effects in almost every video, at that time it was not normal, except for big movie budgets.

This is the video:

This is a very good reason to go in Japan: the SEGA Toylet!

Why stop to play when you have "other" needs?

Finally, urinating is no more a boring task!

With two different sensors, an infrared one and a microphone to hear the "dripping", there are many different games, for measuring your "aim", "power", "speed"

Available in some Tokyo bars, I bet that the water bottle sales will skyrocket

I can see a long line for the male washroom...

Let's hope for an "home" edition?

When the Hollywood Majors see a chance to make money, they won't let it fly away, and what is the easiest way to do it? Do a remake: the story has already been written, it was already a success, risks are low, and profits are probably high, perfect!

If not for that feeling that every Hollywood remake is gonna be awful, why? Maybe just a prejudice?

By the way, cool, i just saw that there is the remake of The Karate Kid on the works. So cool, and I immediately went to watch the trailer:

What? The feeling that every remake is awful is not just a feeling?

So, they took The Karate Kid and removed:

1. The Karate (Replaced by Kung Fu)
2. Japan (The story is in China)
3. Miyagi sensei (With Jackie Chan as Mr. Han)
4. Daniel-san (With Will Smith's son that, dressed as a rapper is Dre - please note that Will Smith is also the movie producer)

Ok, the protagonist moves from a city to another, and is bullied, but it's a brand new movie! Why not choose "Kung Fu Kid"?

The Cove it's a documentary film that shows to the whole world the slaughter of thousands of dolphins by the food industry.

Set in Taiji, a small city near to Osaka, opens our eyes on the problems, filming with high-tech cameras camouflaged as rocks the biggest dolphin slaughtering organization in the world.

We, westerners, we all love Japan, beautiful scenery and suggestive culture, and when we read criticisms about Japan we tend to ignore them... but we cannot ignore this.

I love Japan, i teach Japanese every week, but I cannot tolerate a dolphinarium that offers dolphin-based treats and snacks to the visitors while watching the dolphin show!

The meat of the dolphins, highly toxic for the high mercury level, is eaten for "tradition", and it (was) also present in the school menu of the Taiji schools. (then removed after the documentary).

Luckily, things are changing, the demand for cetacean meat is falling, as for whale meat, that recently has become cheaper, due to low demand. Even if, some politicians very conservative has enacted a promotional campaign to make the population aware about whale meat. But about how good is for health that meat, by showing kids in primary schools, making future new consumers!

You can watch the documentary on Youku, by buying the dvd on Amazon.com, buying the digital download on iTunes, or "other ways"