Archive for July, 2007

Eight-Legged Robot Halluc II In Action

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!

Gundam Crisis At Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park

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.

Golf Course In Mie Prefecture Is A Beetle Hunting Paradise

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 to round up as many beetles as they could:

They caught over 80 beetles in two hours!

Fitness Water: Like Having A Flaming Sign Fall Onto You

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?

French Guy Sings The Totoro Song

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:

U.S. House Of Representatives Passes Resolution 121: Demands Japan Apologize For Its Wartime Prostitution System

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 approved a resolution calling on Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to publicly apologize.

“The government of Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Force’s coercion of women into sexual slavery, known to the world as `comfort women,”’ the resolution says.

I’m pretty much in total agreement with the analysis that has been posted over at Liberal Japan.