Archive for June, 2009

Japanese probe to smash into the moon

A real Japan probe is set to crash into the surface of the moon:

Japan’s Kaguya lunar orbiter will end its nearly two-year mission when it collides with the moon at 1830 GMT on Wednesday. Observers in Asia and Australia may be able to spot a bright flash or plume of dust from the crash, and researchers will study its impact site to watch how radiation and micrometeoroids weather the newly exposed lunar soil over time.

[via Danny Choo]

—

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Umbrella built to withstand heavy wind

The rainy season has started in Japan, and stores are putting their umbrellas on display. Here’s a clip from FTV news showing a 7150 yen umbrella that is specially designed to survive strong winds:

—

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Blind pianist wins international prize

Nobuyuki Tsujii, a 20-year-old Tokyo native, has become the first Japanese pianist to win a gold medal at the Van Cliburn international piano competition. Tsujii, who has been unable to see since birth and learned to play the piano by listening to recordings, is also the first blind pianist to win the competition.

Here is a video of his winning performance:

Tsujii has been awarded $20,000 and will go on a concert tour with the other finalists. He’ll also be giving a series of concerts in Japan.

Most of the media coverage of his win has been positive, focusing on how he Tsujii worked hard to become a world class pianist. However, Benjamin Ivry of the Wall Street Journal is not-at-all pleased with the result of the competition, calling Tsujii “a student-level Japanese performer plainly out of his depth in the most demanding repertoire”:

Many articles have focused on the fact that Mr. Tsujii was born blind and learns music by ear. But only results count, and his June 6 performance of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with the mediocre Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, led with steely resolve by James Conlon, was a disaster. Soloists who cannot see a conductor’s cues should not be playing concertos in public, out of simple respect for the composers involved. Promoters can easily turn musical performances into stunts, like the staged operahouse appearances of the otherwise cannily intelligent tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Mr. Tsujii was highly uneven even in solo music, such as a jejune version of Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata on June 7, yet the jury, which included the distinguished pianists Menahem Pressler and Joseph Kalichstein, as well as the famed Juilliard piano teacher Yoheved Kaplinsky, awarded him first place.

Ivry was also unimpressed by some of the other finalists.

—

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Underwear thief caught on tape

Yesterday’s “Real Time News” had this special report about a man being caught in the act of underwear theft:

The thief, a 42-year-old with a family, was stealing underwear while on his way home from work. It was not the first thing this kind of thing had happened, and the victim had set up a camera to catch him in the act. When an NTV reporter chased the man down and confronted him, he admitted his crime. Police were summoned and he was arrested.

(About 2 minutes and 15 seconds into the video clip, he reveals all the underwear he had stuffed into his coat.)

—

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Chimpanzee learns how to recycle

As part of NTV’s “eco week” gimmick, chimpanzee pan-kun was taught how to properly dispose of a plastic bottle*:

Trash disposal rules differ greatly by locality in Japan, so not all places require you to throw away plastic bottles, bottle labels, and caps in the way shown in the clip.

—

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Badly designed building with staircase/ladder hybrid

Somebody began construction on this staircase before realizing they didn’t own the land it would have occupied when complete:

—

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)