A few days ago, Pink Tentacle had a very cool and informative post about the prototype of the Halluc II, a robotic vehicle with eight wheels and legs designed to drive or walk over rugged terrain. Halluc II made the news today, and here’s a clip of it in action!

Mezamashi TV visits the 1/1 scale RX78 mobile suit on display at Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park’s Gundam Crisis attraction:

More details can be found at Danny Choo’s site.

Here is a news report about a golf course in Mie Prefecture that somehow ended up planting a combination of vegetation that has made it a paradise for rhinoceros beetles. Catching and keeping such beetles as pets is a popular hobby for Japanese children, so the golf course invited a big group of kids [...]

This commercial for a drink called Fitness Water is currently airing on Japanese TV:

I understand that summer is fireworks season, but how exactly does screaming people running away from a burning sign make people want to drink Fitness Water?

This video of French YouTuber Germai signing the Tonari no Totoro theme song has been getting a lot of views on the Japanese blogosphere recently:

Congressman Michael Honda and the Korean/Chinese-American special interest groups that backed H.Res 121 are no doubt celebrating the fact that it has finally passed:
The U.S. House of Representatives demanded Japan officially apologize for its role in recruiting as many as 200,000 women into sexual slavery before and during World War II.
By voice vote, the House [...]

Japan-related news links for today:
Abe Under Fire: The opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will demand Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s resignation over the ruling coalition’s crushing defeat in the House of Councillors election on Sunday. [Link]

Drastic Shuffling: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to make a drastic Cabinet reshuffle in September following [...]

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban — iconic for his use of eco-friendly, lightweight materials — on Friday lifted the veil on a paper bridge over the Gardon River in southern France.
Built half a mile from the Pont du Gard — a section of ancient Roman bridge classed as a UN World Heritage site — Shigeru’s cardboard-tube [...]

Japanese YouTuber news4vipw has uploaded a few clips of the Japan vs. Korea soccer match that was held on Saturday to determine the third-place team in the 2007 Asia Cup. The Japanese failed to score against the Korean team, which was playing its hardest not to lose to the team of their hated rival. [...]

This Japanese baby really really doesn’t like it when he’s in the middle of a meal and runs out of food:

An amusing parody of the opening for Fist Of the North Star, with the Qoo Mascot as the main character:

And the original Fist Of The North Star opening:

There was an Upper House election yesterday, and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party got its ass kicked. Here are some links for those of you interested in finding out more:
Election Results:

Liberal Japan, GlobalTalk 21, and Observing Japan have great summary posts.

Some Winners and Losers in the 2007 Upper House Election:

Liberal Japan updates on the [...]