Archive for October, 2009

Jumping Robot

Video of a new jumping robot developed by a venture company supported by Kyoto University:

The 38-centimeter-high and 1.6-kilogram robot, dubbed “Ropid,” was developed by the company’s president, 34-year-old Tomotaka Takahashi, over two and a half years. Boasting the highest jumping ability among humanoid robots, the Ropid can quickly bend its knees and ankles and jump to a height of eight centimeters using a built-in belt that links its joints. -Mainichi

—

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

Pair arrested for trying to obtain Japanese nationality for baby with foreign parents

A Japanese man and a Filipino woman have been arrested for attempting to trick the Japanese government into granting Japanese nationality to a baby whose parents were both citizens of the Philippines:

Michio Uchino, 55, and Marissa Floures Ito, 31, allegedly filed a false birth report with the Ushiku municipal government office in Ibaraki Prefecture in April that says the boy was Uchino’s, the police said.

In August, the two also filed a false application with the Justice Ministry seeking the boy’s Japanese nationality, according to the police.

[...]

Ito has told investigators that she thought she could continue to stay and work in Japan if Japanese nationality is granted to her baby, the police said. Ito has given several hundred thousand yen to Uchino, with whom she got acquainted through a friend.

The child was born in Japan, but Japanese law does not automatically grant citizenship based on location of birth. The child would have required a parent who was a Japanese citizen, so Uchino was paid to pretend he fathered the child.

—

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Nintendo DSi LL to Debut in Japan Soon

Nintendo announced today that it will release a new version of the DS about a month from now on the 21st of November. Features of the device will include:

A bigger touch screen

A bigger pen to match (the old one is still included)

New internal software, including a Japanese-only version of the Rakubiki
Dictionary (a useful title I have accessed almost every day for the last three years [Amazon Japan link]) and some Brain Age-esque games.

New case colors

As Kotaku took the time to list out, the hardware will be harder, better, faster, stronger, etc. as happened with the jump to the DSi last year. If you don’t mind flash and Japanese writing, you can see some of the features here.
[via Getnews.jp]

—
Contributor Bio: Claytonian blogs and vlogs about Japan, language, and news at The Hopeless Romantic.
—

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

South Park: “F— you, dolphins!”

This week’s South Park episode, “Whale Whores,” is now viewable on SouthParkStudios.com.

Consider the comments section of this post a forum in which to discuss your thoughts of the episode.

Note: If you absolutely cannot stand the show, just skip the video to 20:55 for the last scene and listen to what Stan’s dad has to say.

—

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