Tag: japan

drumbeat

Old space-suit recycled as experimental satellite.

I went to sleep knowing he was in the air over the ocean, on his way to Tokyo, Japan. The ceiling of my room telescoped away from me, showing me my life as a tiny toy dragon with topaz eyes. Nothing in me seemed as effervescent as the waves speeding below the plane I could sense like smoke outside and so many miles away from me that I could not walk them in a year. Rain on the windows loud enough to shut out the streetlight, lying in the sleeping nest of salty silk pillows on one end of my bed was suddenly the saddest place I had ever been. (Wrong, of course, he goes next month).

A photo gallery of Japanese manhole covers.

Sasha is moving upstairs to live with his cousin. I’m going to need a new flatmate for August 1st. Anyone interested? Rent’s $450/month + half utilities.

I love the colours (from jwz)

“Takahiro Takeda, postgraduate student of Japan’s Tohoku Univ., dances with Partner Ballroom Dance Robot (PBDR) at a factory of Nomura Unison robotic venture company in Chino city, 200-km west of Toyko. The prototype dance partner robot, developped by Japan’s Tohoku Univ Professor Kazuhiro Kosuge, enables them to move in all directions with three special wheels by predicting how its partner will mobe with a sensor.”

“Robots on the market include a machine that looks like a machine dressed in bright colors programmed to converse in just enough small talk to stop the elderly from going senile and a doll that articulates the needs of a five-year-old boy.

In January, a Tokyo University engineer unveiled a humanoid that can shuffle its feet and wave its hands to preserve a traditional Japanese dance falling out of fashion among young people.”