Big in Japan

An American writer who is much more famous for his work in Japan. [Link]

The odd, or oddest, part, was that I had always been a fan of Japanese culture, its films, books and art, though I had never studied it, and it played no role in my books. It was like having a distant teenage crush on someone who suddenly wrote and said, “I like you, too.”

The culmination of this peculiar adventure, which I had observed only from afar, occurred when Toei Studio made “Niryuu Shousetsuka: Serialist,” a film based on my book. That is to say, a Japanese movie set in Tokyo, with Japanese actors speaking Japanese, rather than my version, which features non-Japanese people and takes place mostly in Queens.

They made the movie very fast, in about six months, and invited me to the premiere in June 2013. My Japanese publishers had contrived to release my new book, “Mystery Girl,” at the same time. The novel wouldn’t even be published in English until July. Maybe it had something to do with the international date line, the way emails from East Asia seem to come from tomorrow, but my Japanese life was clearly way ahead of my American life. So I went.

At the airport, I was met by my editor and a TV crew, which, I assure you, had never happened before. I was put up in a hotel where James Bond might have stayed, with a remote-controlled tub that filled automatically and a giant button that opened the drapes — futuristic, but a ’60s kind of future. As requested, I put on a black suit and a tie (mind you, I can barely tie a tie, because in my real life I have no need for one) and went to the premiere, where each member of the cast, including the woman who sang the theme song, bowed and thanked me.

In a daze, I was paraded before the press, blinded by flashbulbs and tracked by TV cameras. But because I couldn’t understand the directions, I often talked to the wrong camera, stared into space or even leaned on the scenery — until my intrepid and glamorous young translator told the reporters to wave if they wanted David-san to look at their cameras, like a baby at a birthday party. I watched the film with her whispering in my ear: “He is the detective.” It was as if I had fallen asleep and had a weird dream about my own book. At the end, when the lights came up and I stood to leave, she tapped my shoulder and pointed. The audience was clapping wildly. For me. I took a few deep bows and fled.

Chinese Chutzpah

China wants Japan to stop scrambling fighters when they violate their airspace. [Link]

Perversely, China accused Japan today of escalating tension in the East China Sea by scrambling fighter jets every time Chinese aircraft or ships violate Japan’s territory. Japan announced yesterday that it had sent its own planes to intercept Chinese aircraft a record 306 times in the year ending March 31, double the number of times in the previous year.

“We believe the Japanese side should not be sending out more aircraft but…find a way to appropriately manage and resolve the problem through dialogue, talks and consultations,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said today. A defense paper that China released this week also accused Japan of “making trouble.”

The Kobe Beef Lie

More like faux-be beef. [Link]

Think you’ve tasted the famous Japanese Kobe beef?

Think again.

Of course, there are a small number of you out there who have tried it – I did, in Tokyo, and it is delicious. If you ever go to Japan I heartily recommend you splurge, because while it is expensive, it is unique, and you cannot get it in the United States. Not as steaks, not as burgers, certainly not as the ubiquitous “Kobe sliders” at your trendy neighborhood “bistro.”

That’s right. You heard me. I did not misspeak. I am not confused like most of the American food media.

I will state this as clearly as possible:

You cannot buy Japanese Kobe beef in this country. Not in stores, not by mail, and certainly not in restaurants. No matter how much you have spent, how fancy a steakhouse you went to, or which of the many celebrity chefs who regularly feature “Kobe beef” on their menus you believed, you were duped. I’m really sorry to have to be the one telling you this, but no matter how much you would like to believe you have tasted it, if it wasn’t in Asia you almost certainly have never had Japan’s famous Kobe beef.

Neo-Tokyo to be built

Tokyo gets a backup. [Link]

Standby generators and batteries have been used extensively in industry, usually as a safeguard to keep vital production lines rolling. However a radical plan just unveiled by the Japanese Government for a standby city for Tokyo takes this concept to a whole new plane.

The new city, code named IRTBBC, or Integrated Resort, Tourism, Business and Backup City, will stand in for the capital in the event of it being hit by a disabling earthquake. A possible location has already been earmarked 300 miles to the west of Tokyo on the 1236 acre site of the largely superseded Itami Airport.

IRTBBC will incorporate all the vital functions of government, with duplicate facilities for parliament, ministries but also include office complexes, resort facilities, casinos, parks and the tallest tower in the world at 652 metres. The city will planned for a population 50,000 residents and a workforce of around 200,000 presumably drawn from Osaka, Japan's second largest city and the nearest to IRTBBC.
Hajime Ishii, a member of the ruling Democratic Party, said, "The idea is being able to have a back-up, a spare battery for the functions of the nation,"

Kaneda!
Tetsuo!

Can I have the Soylent Green instead?

At least Soylent Green is not made of poop. Artificial meat from human feces. [Link]

The meatpacking industry causes 18 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions, mostly due to the release of methane from animals. The livestock industry also consumes huge amounts of feed and water in relation to the amount of meat that it yields, and many find the industry to be inhumane and cruel to animals. These factors alone are reason enough for vegetarians to replace their meat intake with vegetable proteins and legumes. But Ikeda, a scientist at the Environmental Assessment Center in Okayama, sought to further the field of alternative proteins by recycling a form of protein-rich waste : sewage mud.
“Sewage mud” is exactly what you think it is – poop. Ikeda’s process begins by extracting protein and lipids from the “mud.” The lipids are then combined with a reaction enhancer, then whipped into “meat” in an exploder. Ikeda then makes the poop more savory, by adding soya and steak sauce.
Currently, the price of the poop burgers are 10-20 times that of regular meat, due to the cost of research, but he feels they will even out in a few years. He admits that “some people” may have a psychological aversion to eating artificial meat made of their own poop at first, but thinks many would be open to personally completing the food chain. He also notes that the burgers are extremely low in fat.
The artificial meat is low in fat and reduces waste and carbon emissions, however it’s hard to believe that any number of benefits could persuade consumers to take a bite out of a poop sandwich.

Saturday Night Live Japan

Now it can be unfunny in another language. [Link]

SNL JPN‘s live format is mostly unfamiliar to a country where most variety shows are heavily edited. The show will air once a month, and feature “the heavy influence of Japanese Konto style slap-stick comedy.” My favorite!

Atmosphere Above Japan Heated Rapidly Before M9 Earthquake

A new predictive tool? [Link]

Today, Dimitar Ouzounov at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland and a few buddies present the data from the Great Tohoku earthquake which devastated Japan on 11 March. Their results, although preliminary, are eye-opening.

They say that before the M9 earthquake, the total electron content of the ionosphere increased dramatically over the epicentre, reaching a maximum three days before the quake struck.

At the same time, satellite observations showed a big increase in infrared emissions from above the epicentre, which peaked in the hours before the quake. In other words, the atmosphere was heating up.

These kinds of observations are consistent with an idea called the Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling mechanism. The thinking is that in the days before an earthquake, the great stresses in a fault as it is about to give cause the releases large amounts of radon.

The radioactivity from this gas ionises the air on a large scale and this has a number of knock on effects. Since water molecules are attracted to ions in the air, ionisation triggers the large scale condensation of water.

But the process of condensation also releases heat and it is this that causes infrared emissions. "Our first results show that on March 8th a rapid increase of emitted infrared radiation was observed from the satellite data," say Ouzounov and co.

These emissions go on to effect the ionosphere and its total electron content.

It certainly makes sense that the lithosphere, atmosphere and ionosphere are coupled in a way that can be measured when one of them is perturbed. The question is to what extent the new evidence backs up this idea.

Live Action Star Blazers movie

Looks good. [Link]

We were ambivalent about the trailers for the animated Space Battleship Yamato movie, but we're full-on excited for live-action space battleship fun. Something about the crusty old captain with and the ship firing all batteries just gets us going.

Space Battleship Yamato, known in the U.S. as Star Blazers, was a total classic of our youth, featuring a massive spaceship built into the ruins of the World War II battleship Yamato. It's off to outer space to save us from the evil forces of Iscandar.

The animated version, known as Uchū Senkan Yamato: Fukkatsu Hen, was originally scheduled to come out December 12 in Japan, but it doesn't sound like it actually came out. But we're hopeful we get to see this live-action version in 2010, as promised. According to Anime News Network, Takashi Yamazaki, director of Returner, is handling the film. And pop star Takuya Kimura (Howl from Howl's Moving Castle) plays the lead role, Sasumu Kodai. The main female lead, Yuki, is more of an action hero than in the 1970s version, and two characters who were male in the original will now be female.

More Giant Robots in Japan

How can we compete against the Giant Robot Gap? [Link]

The Giant Robot Gap

First the Gundam in Japan and the coming Tetsujin 28 (Gigantor). Now South Korea is planning to build one that will dwarf the Gundam and be twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty. [Link]

In what at first appears to be a serious case of keeping up with the Jones’, Korea is planning to build a 111 meter (364′) tall statue of Robot Taekwon V that will dwarf the Gundam statue and the upcoming 18 meter monument to Tetsujin 28.  Robot Land, the robot-themed amusement park being built by Incheon Metropolitan City has actually been in the works for years, predating the Japanese projects.  Ironically, Robot Taekwon V (known as Voltar the Invincible in the U.S.) starred in a string of patriotic animated films that some would say brazenly copied Japan’s own Mazinger Z, which was also popular in Korea at the time.

Once completed, the ginormous statue will be more than twice the height of New York’s Statue of Liberty

Where is our giant robot? How can we compete? America needs Giant Robots Now!

Giant Robot in Japan presides over wedding

You can't make this stuff up. [Link]

A special wedding event was held at the base of the 1/1 Gundam RX78 at Odaiba on August 25, 2009. The couple was chosen out of over 500 entries by T&G wedding planners. They have a new born daughter they have named Seira from the Gundam series.

MacKobe Beef

Scots to raise Kobe Beef. [Link]

Scottish farmers have started to cross Aberdeen Angus cattle with Japanese Wagyu cattle in the hope of creating some of the world’s most expensive beef.

Up to 700 Scots-Japanese calves are due next spring on dozens of farms in Caithness, north-east Highlands, in one of the biggest cattle breeding initiatives in the UK.

The Wagyu beef, prized for its deeply marbled appearance, will be exported to Japan where imports are cheaper than home-reared Wagyu. Japanese cattle are pampered with massages to help create the marbling, and beer or sake is added to their feeding regime.

John Sutherland, MD of Caithness Beef and Lamb, spotted the potential for breeding Scottish Wagyu after visiting a stud farm for the ancient Japanese breed in Australia, and recently started a breeding programme in this country. He plans to open a new meat works later this month, where the animals will be slaughtered and finished in the traditional Wagyu style when they are just over two years old. Sutherland also plans to produce Wagyu steaks, burgers and sausages for the UK market.

Abolishing cash

Being talked about in Japan. [Link]

With recovery elusive, a population doddering into old age and perhaps a decade of deflation in prospect, Japan may start mulling the most radical monetary policy of all — the abolition of cash.

Unorthodox, untried and, said one Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi strategist, “in the realms of economic science fiction”, the recommendation has nevertheless begun floating around Tokyo’s corridors of power and economists have described Japan as particularly suitable as a testing ground.

The search for more outré economic policies continues, despite the recent surge in the Nikkei 225 index.The market may be reflecting soaring Chinese investment, rising consumer confidence and other cheerful data but economists see few long-term beacons of hope for Japan.

Other extreme ideas mooted by the financial authorities include a tax on physical currency or introducing one to operate alongside the yen.

All three ideas are based on a theory concerning interest rates and the concept that a nominal rate of zero — as Japan has now lived with for much of the past decade — may be too high. In Japan’s case, the theory would suggest that nominal rates of -4 per cent might be closer to what is required to rescue the economy from another deflationary spiral. Having agreed that this might be necessary, the next question is how it could be imposed.

Several MPs in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party believe the abolition of cash, though politically radioactive, might be technically feasible. Richard Jerram, a senior economist with Macquarie bank, told investors that “the proposal has become practical with the broad penetration of electronic money and credit cards in Japan”.

He said that all the proposals were radical but worth consideration for Japan. Without physical cash, a central bank can set rates exactly where it likes, runs the argument. Mr Jerram said: “At the heart of the problem of achieving negative nominal interest rates is the idea that physical currency is an anonymous bearer bond with a nominal interest rate of zero.” While a central bank can impose positive or negative rates on non-physical assets, transmitting those rates to physical currency is a huge challenge. By permanently removing cash from a system, he added, policymakers are robbed of the excuse that zero is the lowest that nominal rates can go as a deflation-fighting tool.

In theory, many Japanese could easily make the leap into a cashless world. The country has six main competing cashless payment systems, many of them embedded into mobile phones. Including Oyster-type cards issued by public transport companies, industry sources estimate that there are about 120 million cashless payment chips sitting in Japan’s wallets and handbags, waiting to be swiped.

Onw cool robot, one creepy robot

Cool. A beer segway. [Link]

It's important to keep your guests properly hydrated at a party, but it's hard to not feel awfully demeaned while wandering around with a cocktail tray. Since hiring servants is so passe, the solution is Table Robot from Laskmi-Do Corp, a two-wheeled, self-balancing bot that features a particularly unsteady looking design. It's tall and slender, balancing a tabletop on two scrawny little wheels, a feat it showed off at last week's FOOMA Japan, Tokyo's biggest gathering for foodies and related geeks.

Creepy Hand. [Link]

Sure, a few still photos of the sushi-making Chef Robot now on display at the International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition in Tokyo are all well and good, but there's nothing quite like a high def video to really bring all that creepiness home, and one has now surfaced courtesy of the brave folks at DigInfo.

Life Size Gundam Built in Japan

How can we deal with the Giant Robot Gap? [Link]

Probably the coolest thing you’ll see on the web today right here. Sorry to apoil the internet for you the rest of the day, but this is just too cool:

More on Gundam. [Link]

Gundam (ガンダム, Gandamu^?) is a metaseries of Japanese anime, featuring giant robots, or "mecha", created by Sunrise studios. The series started in April 1979 as a TV series called Mobile Suit Gundam, and later became a franchise name with more sequels, prequels, side stories and alternative timelines, published and aired in various media including TV anime, OVA, manga, novels, and video games. Gundam became a collective term for 7 different time lines, all featuring their own story-lines, with a few common denominators and war machines called Gundam.

The original timeline for the Gundam series was the Universal Century (UC) series, which included Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985). Since the 1990s, alternative timelines have been produced and developed, including the Future Century, After Colony, After War, Correct Century, Cosmic Era and Anno Domini timelines.

As of January 21, 2008, the Gundam franchise is a 50 billion yen trademark.^[1] In the 2008 ranking of average sales figures for anime copies sold in Japan (1970-2008 total sales figures averaged by episode), Gundam series were in 4 of the top 5 places: Mobile Suit Gundam ranked second, with Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny third, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED fourth, and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam fifth. Also, New Mobile Report Gundam Wing ranked 18th and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ ranked 20th.^[2] Gunpla's (Gundam Plastic model) income is 90% of the Japan character plastic model market's income.^[3]

Academic fields in Japan have also viewed the series as a good inspiration in research fields, with the Gundam academy (or officially International Gundam Society) being the first academic institution based on an animated TV series.^[4]

The original Gundam 0079 opening Credits.

Awesome robot model

Retro tech alternate history. [Link]

Kazushi Kobayashi's Chubu 01 is a robot from an alternate 1957 where robots are the primary mode of transportation. Build-it-yourself model kits are for sale in Harajuku's TOKYO CULTUART gallery at 28.000 Yen a pop ($350 or so).

Japanese fast food that should come to America

Interesting list. Some of it even sounds good. [Link]

Fast food. Any dedicated nerd's lifeblood. We're all familiar with every fast food chain in God's Green Fast Food Nation. But the Japanese have cornered their own market when it comes to fast food. Really, how sustainable would sushi and seared toro for lunch everyday be? Japan has its ashamed and tucked-away population of undernourished fat kids that it needs to feed. And it's a growing contingent.

You might not have realized that Japanese fast food chains have secretly been invading American shores for the past several years. Yoshinoya beef bowls pervade the west, Beard Papa pastries now dot both coasts, and Pepper Lunch quickie steaks have peppered a couple areas in California. But there's still a wealth of cheaply made and very satisfying "junk food" that could be imported here pronto.

Sarcasm alien to Japan

This is strange. I wonder what other cultures don't have sarcasm. [Link]

That brand of humor doesn't exist in Japanese at all, and when I started dating my wife we actually had to go through a period of "humor training" where she learned not to take my American sarcasm at face value. My style of wry humor naturally influences my kids, since children are constantly watching their parents and subconsciously copying them. When my son was suffering through a particularly boring lesson at his school, he remarked to his friend what an "interesting" lesson it was, and how the information they were learning was something they'd all treasure throughout their lives. His friend didn't understand him at first, and it took several seconds for them to realize that he was making a joke, but one that was culturally alien to Japan.

Bras for Men on Sale in Japan

Weird. Via Althouse. [Link]

Men's bras. In Japan.

"I think more and more men are becoming interested in bras."

Just weird.

From spin the cat

Amazing Giant Monster Video

Bringing the look of the 60's Japanese giant monster films to the modern era. [Link]