Archive for July, 2010

Doorway Monster

“Nanikore” finds a house in Japan with a scary-looking monster on its front porch:

The monster was created by the owner of the house as his graduation project for art school. It was too damn cool to throw it away, so he brought it home. Unfortunately, there isn’t much space inside the house, so he keeps it outside.

The owner says that after putting the monster by his door, he’s noticed a decrease in door-to-door salesmen.

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

Thousands Line Up For Hayabusa Exhibit

The Hayabusa space probe has been put on public display at the Sagamihara City Museum, and thousands of people have been waiting outside in the rain and the summer heat for a chance to see the probe for just a couple minutes:

At 9:30 a.m. on July 30, there were already some 2,100 people waiting in line to enter the museum, which is located next to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Sagamihara campus.

“I want to see the results of workers’ efforts that brought Hayabusa home safely,” said a 39-year-old company employee from the Osaka Prefecture city of Sennan, who was the first in line waiting from 4:30 a.m.

[...]

The museum will hold the exhibition until July 31 (9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., admission free). The capsule will also go on show at JAXA’s Tsukuba Space Center from Aug. 2 to Aug. 6 (The thermal cover to be displayed Aug. 2-Aug. 3 only) and at Tokyo’s Marunouchi Oazo building from Aug. 15 to Aug. 19 (The thermal cover: Aug. 15-Aug. 16 only).

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

Tokyo Sky Tree Beer

As the construction of the Tokyo Sky Tree progresses, Asahi Beer has decided to change to design of some of its bottles to celebrate the new monument:

Also included on the label is an image of Tokyo’s famous “golden turd” sculpture, which sites atop one of Asahi’s buildings.

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

Karuizawa Cosplay

ATV reporters Sahel Rosa and Alain visit an antique photo studio in Karuizawa and try on some costumes:

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