One to look out for

There are three classical Chinese novels that enjoy immense popularity in present-day Japan, having been adapted or parodied into numerous novels, comic books, animation, drama series, and video games. In Mandarin, they are ”Shuihu Zhuan” (水滸傳); “Xiyou Ji” (西遊記）; and “Sanguo Yanyi” (三國演義). So I wasn’t at all surprised to learn that this film starring Andy Lau and Maggie Q has been stirring a buzz of excitement in Japan (as well as China, etc.) and I too will definitely be paying a visit to the cinema, even though I hardly ever go nowadays.

For a rainy day

The Japanese love for seemingly wack inventions never ceases to amuse me. Make way for the internet-embedded umbrella designed presumably to keep you entertained while you wait for the night bus in the drizzling cold. Just make sure you don’t get mugged for it in that case — you’ll have a hard time convincing police that a bunch of guys beat you down for your umbrella..

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) – Japanese researchers have developed a unique hi-tech umbrella named “Pileus” which is Internet ready, has an integrated digital camera, built-in Wi-Fi plus an attached video projector.

Developed at the Okude laboratory in Tokyo’s Keio University, the digitized umbrella can capture both still images and video and can automatically upload them to Flickr and YouTube respectively.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the mechanism can also project previously uploaded images above the user’s head on the inside of the umbrella.

For this hi-fi umbrella to work efficiently the user must be within range of a wireless Internet hotspot, so that it can capture the signal before he/she can access the photo- and video-sharing websites.

The umbrella’s grip can be twisted to scroll through the Flickr photo sets and YouTube videos.

We are all wonderful..

Just that some are more so, it seems. It looks like Kiyomizu Temple of Kyoto, Japan (misspelled in the article) has been shortlisted as one of the 21 candidates in the runup to deciding the New 7 Wonders of the World. The seven winners are to be announced on 7 July 2007, 07:07:07 (heh).

Webcam bot

It’s no secret that the Japanese are absolutely obsessed with robots. Well here’s the latest (I think). A webcam robot that’s controlled through WiFi and email. Out this December!

Nuke threat

So it looks like NK has pulled off the nuke test.

Folks in Japan will have front-row seats to the latest international crisis, though of course you can’t rule out the possibility it’s all a hoax.