Japan channelling ‘spirit of James Bond’ in hopes of World Cup success

Japan’s footballers hope James Bond can inspire them as they bid to end their dismal away World Cup record.

Japan – who were drawn in Group E alongside Netherlands, Cameroon and Denmark – have never won a World Cup finals match on foreign soil but will be dressed to thrill in South Africa this summer after being sized up for special English-made ‘James Bond’ style suits.

‘The players will arrive in very cool travel suits,’ insisted Japan’s World Cup media officer Ichirota Fukushi.

‘They are a bit like the sort in the 007 movies. They even have cufflinks.’

http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/820016-japan-channelling-spirit-of-james-bond-for-world-cup

Japanese robotic skateboard combines two awesome things

Skateboards are awesome. Robots, equally awesome. So it’s surprising that it took so long for the great country of Japan to combine the two into an epic robo-skateboard.

It looks to be a bit too heavy to take to the half-pipe, but this bad boy can tool you around the streets without you breaking a sweat. You simply lean forward or back to get it to move, and it can truck along at up to 6mph. Lightning fast!

The makers are hoping to get the price down to about $1,000 by the time it’s released in 2013, which is a lot more than a normal skateboard costs, but pretty reasonable for a robotic one.

http://dvice.com/archives/2010/03/japanese-roboti-1.php

A unique resort for dogs and cats

Arf, you need a holiday….

Dogs will be walked by Sinh’s staff everyday around this lake.

Bao Sinh is an eccentric Hanoian. He’s well-known for drawing portraits, writing folk poems and engaging in extravagant activities like engaging in a boxing match at the age of 70, putting a statue of himself in his front garden, and, for the last ten years, running a hotel and cemetery for dogs and cats.

Bao Sinh’s “Dog and Cat Hotel” is at his home, 167 Truong Dinh Street, in the capital’s Hoang Mai district.  He is building a “five-star” resort for dogs and cats.

Sinh says that the new hotel deserves five stars because it is built on 100 square meters of land, with five storys, air-conditioners, a lift, a swimming pool, a path for walking dogs and cats, and a surveillance camera, a bed, a wardrobe, a toilet and other furniture in each ‘room.’

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/photogal/201003/A-unique-resort-for-dogs-and-cats-899897/

French team the winner at Da Nang firework festival

At 8.35pm the crowd burst into applause after municipal People’s Committee chairman Tran Van Minh declared the contest open to celebrate the city’s liberation day and the 1,000th anniversary of capital Ha Noi.
The water and sky were lit up by the magnificent fireworks representing “The Legend of Han River”, in harmony with a variety of music

the winners….  (Arthur how did you get in the photo?)

Five teams from France, Japan, Portugal, the US and host Da Nang-Viet Nam took part in the festival.

Competitors promised to bring something special to this years event with performances based on famous folk tales of dragons and ferries and they didn’t disappoint.

Audiences on Saturday were treated to a free and easy Portugal a Japanese philosophy of peace and hope and a Viet Nam full of vitality. Yesterday’s performances also displayed a merry US soul and a romantic France despite quite heavy rain.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/photogal/201003/French-team-the-winner-at-Da-Nang-firework-festival-901513/

by Arthur and Pip G.

Good Humor

Good Humor is one of the best Articles of Dress one can wear in Society.

William Makepeace Thackeray

by The Punjapit Collective

Teva Illum Sandals with a Built-in/Slapped-on LED Flashlight

 

Sandal company Teva has a new product, called Teva Illum. Features LED flashlights on the straps that lights up the path you’re walking on, good idea! And the LEDs can be removed and attached to a keychain as needed.

http://www.likecool.com/Teva_Illum_Sandals_with_a_BuiltinSlappedon_LED–Shoe–Style.html

Japan’s unwanted dogs face almost certain death

It’s a dog’s life for a stray mutt in any country, but in Japan a canine that ends up in the municipal pound is far more likely to be put down than to find a new home.

A dog is seen through bars as it is herded to a metal container euphemistically called a “dream box,” where stray dogs are asphyxiated with carbon dioxide gas, at an animal welfare centre in Tokushima, about 600 km (373 miles) southwest of Tokyo, March 11, 2010. It’s a dog’s life for a stray mutt in any country, but in Japan a canine that ends up in the municipal pound is far more likely to be put down than to find a new home. While in some other industrialised countries the idea of “saving” a pet from a shelter is well-established, in Japan animal welfare activists say strays often fall foul of an attitude that prizes puppies and pedigrees as status symbols.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62S0KL20100329?type=lifestyleMolt

‘Godzilla’ to be remade, courtesy of Legendary Pictures

The giant Japanese monster is getting the Hollywood treatment — again. This time Legendary Pictures will do an American Godzilla movie, based on Toho Company’s legendary monster. The studio, which is behind the upcoming Clash of the Titans, has made it clear it won’t be a sequel to the 1998 film that Sony and Roland Emmerich made. (That movie starring Matthew Broderick grossed close to $400 million worldwide.) Rather, it will be a re-imagining of the original Godzilla movies. Legendary has plans to announce a director for the film soon. The movie — which Legendary hopes to release in 2012 — will be a co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros, and Toho will distribute the film in Japan.

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/03/29/godzilla-to-be-remade-courtesy-of-legendary-pictures/

Japan’s “Johnny Appleseed” walks through Vietnam

Yuji Miyata graduated from Tokyo University with a red diploma in politics. He commented: “I was born and grew up in a poor family, so I partly understand the suffering of poor children. I thought that I must do something and the idea of walking around the earth came to my mind.”

In Hue he stopped first at the Chi Lang Centre for Street Children. He said hello to the kids in Vietnamese and presented them with candies, cakes, toys, pens and notebooks. Kids eagerly received the gifts and replied thank you in Japanese, which they had just learned: “Domo arigato gozaimasu!” (Thank you very much!).

Many people were surprised to see a young Japanese man “roaming” National Highway 1A, asking, “Why don’t you choose another country for your fifth trip? Yuji replied sincerely: “I only know about Vietnam via the Internet as a heroic nation. Vietnamese people are very friendly and hardworking, but your country was devastated by wars. I think I can do a lot of work in your country. I especially want to explore Vietnamese culture and people by myself, not only through the Internet.”

Yuji started his around-the-earth walk in 2007. He has walked through Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China and this time – Vietnam –to deliver his message: “We can live without harming the environment.”

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/201003/Japan%E2%80%99s-Johnny-Appleseed-walks-through-Vietnam-901332/

Tag Heuer Celebrates 150 Years of Watch Making

The TAG Heuer company has its roots in 1860 when Edouard Heuer founded a watchmaking company in St-Imier, Switzerland, patenting his first chronograph in 1882. In 1887 Heuer patented an ‘oscillating pinion’ still used by major watchmakers for mechanical chronographs.

In 1911, Heuer received a patent for the “Time of Trip”, the first dashboard chronograph. Designed for use in automobiles and aircraft, two large hands mounted from the center pinion indicate the time of day, as on a traditional clock. A small pair of hands, mounted at the top of the dial (12 o’clock position) indicates the duration of the trip (up to 12 hours). A top-mounted crown allows the user to set the time; a button mounted in that crown operates the start / stop / reset functions of the “duration of trip” counter.

Heuer introduced its first wrist chronograph in 1914. The crown was at the twelve o’clock position, as these first wrist chronographs were adapted from pocket chronographs. In 1916, Heuer introduced the “Micrograph”, the first stopwatch accurate to 1/100th of a second. This model was soon followed by the “Semikrograph”, a stopwatch that offered 1/50th of a second timing, as well as a split-second function (which allows the user to determine the interval between two contestants or events).

by remora