Nipponica

Being one of Kurokawa's earliest works, it is also a representative example of the "Metabolism" architecture movement.

Each room is highly independent of the other, and although the design makes it technically possible to replace each room (capsule), in practice, it has never been done because of the difficulty of replacing only some of the capsules. It was intended for the capsules to be replaced every 25 years (the first time in 1997) since completion.

This is a really cool preservation tech demo that shows the interior of a section of Nakagin before it was demolished in 2022

The National Center for University Entrance Examinations will prohibit the use of smart glasses, a type of electronic device that takes the form of a pair of eyeglasses, starting from next January’s Common Test for University Admissions.

Graphcore is the latest UK tech company to be bought by SoftBank, which acquired the Cambridge-based chip designer Arm for £24bn in 2016.

SoftBank remains the biggest shareholder in Arm after its listing in New York last year. It also recently led a $1bn (£774m) investment in the British self-driving technology startup Wayve.

In an effort to support local and surrounding residents who wish to get married, this north Japan city has opened an online marriage support center. The service is like a local government-run "dating app," so to speak, and requires an interview and photo ID to join.

A city official in charge of the service said, "We hope that many men and women will use this service as it provides a safe and secure environment for their partner hunting activities." According to the Sapporo Municipal Government, this is the first such service among local governments in Hokkaido.

Insert Grindr joke here.

The recent words of FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki back up these ostensible labor wins for Japanese workers. Of the mass layoffs that are happening in the US and elsewhere, Miyazaki said, “as long as this company is my responsibility, that’s something I would not let happen.” But more so than the personal benevolence of leaders like Miyazaki, it is the country’s robust labor regulations that most protect workers.

Tongue firmly in cheek with the headline, but overall this is a well researched article about how Japanese tech & gaming companies treat layoffs versus their American counterparts.

The work consisted of simply printing personal information data on both sides of a white card with a fake IC chip embedded. She would often make 60 cards in a day, which she would then send to specified domestic addresses. For one day’s work, she would receive electronic money equivalent to about ¥12,000 to ¥16,000.

The MPD investigated, suspecting that the person giving instructions was in China. On May 15, they arrested two Chinese nationals on charges including suspicion of forging sealed official documents for allegedly making fake My Number cards at the request of the same group. They believe the forged cards may have been used for purposes such as setting up mobile phone contracts.

The whole point of a digital ID is that the digital bit can prove authenticity of the card itself. The fact that most businesses and banks rely only on the visual information printed on a card without certifying the digital certificate renders the whole enterprise pointless. While the counterfeiting of these cards is certainly a problem, the real issue is that people don't seem to understand or care on how to use this IDs for their intended purpose.

Starting this month, the large machine with enormous arms, a crude, disproportionately small Wall-E-like head and coke-bottle eyes mounted on a truck – which can drive on rails – will be put to use for maintenance work on the company’s network.

Sometimes living in Japan feels like living back in the 1980s. In this case, and basically any time robotics in involved, this is the FUTURE I was promised. Keep being weird, JR.

SkyDrive sought to develop a flying taxi that can carry up to three people to showcase its technology at the expo as one of the event's main attractions, but it decided last month to withdraw the plan and only perform demo flights without passengers.

When passengers and airport staff speak, the display shows a translation into one of 13 languages, including English and Chinese. This appears on a transparent display, allowing speakers to still see each other’s faces.

Click through to the article to see the photo of how this works. Pretty cool tech and I hope they keep it after the trial period.

Japan successfully launched Monday its new flagship H3 rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite from a space center on a southwestern island, in a boost to the country's space aspirations following the vehicle's failed debut last year.

Space is back.