Tokyo Times

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Technology Stuff

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Nasal needs

Whilst I was aware that eyelid alteration (from a single to a double) is the most common plastic surgery procedure for Asians, thanks to Popgadget I now also know that nasal bridge raising is second in the surgery stakes.

I must say though that it came as something of a surprise, as I always thought that the numerous comments I’ve had about my tall nose (yes, a nose isn’t big, it’s tall) were derogatory. Or at the very least my, ahem, noble nose was an unlimited source of mirth and merriment. And the fact that kids in kindergarten often refer to me as Pinocchio has only helped cement such feelings. Cheeky little bastards!

But enough of my nose related angst. Asians do want bigger noses, and if they didn’t, why would a Japanese professor have come up with a nasal bridge raiser? A gadget that supposedly produces a tall nose without the need for surgery.

nose enlarger

The device has a polythene nose piece that vibrates at 7,000 Hz per minute, supposedly creating a gravitational force that excites the growth of the nasal bridge. And its promoters claim that wearing it everyday for 3 minutes or so will produce noticeable differences in just 2 or 3 weeks.

If you find this hard to believe, these thoroughly unconvincing before and after pictures probably won’t change your mind.

enlarged nose

For those of you also sporting prominent noses, I’m sorry to say that despite extensive and overly optimistic research, I’ve yet to find out if the device has a reverse switch.

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Furtive fire fighter

As upskirt photography appears to be relatively common in Japan, a report of every incident or arrest would probably require a site dedicated solely to such material. Although in all honesty it has to be said that Tokyo Times hasn’t exactly shied away from mentioning such shady shenanigans. But last week a senior fire fighter was caught in the act, and his inventive approach makes his case stand out from the rest somewhat.

Rather than hanging around escalators, or taking clandestine pictures on the train, 31-year-old Michinori Okabe took a patient to the hospital along with a camera equipped mobile phone hidden in his shoe.

With incredible dedication to his own unique brand of photography, Okabe made a 5 mm hole in the instep of one of his shoes in order to line-up the camera on his phone. And using the mobile’s movie mode he attempted to film up the skirt of two women.

Despite the ingenious nature of his camera-equipped shoe, Okabe’s technique appears to have let him down, as a patient saw him engaged in a spot of foot filming. Resulting in the fire fighter’s ignominious arrest.

During questioning Okabe admitted to the charges, saying, “I wanted to film women’s underwear. I did the same thing at the hospital on January 4th.” And presumably with the body part pun very much unintended, he added, “I was trying to take secret footage.”

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Mobile monitoring

“The handset industry is trying to find the next killer application. Japanese vendors believe audiovisual could be the way to go.”

Nahoko Mitsuyama, an analyst at Gartner Research (IT ) in Tokyo.

As much as I love gadgetry, do we really need to see (and be seen by) everyone we talk to on our mobile phones?

I remain unconvinced.

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Tempting Talby

New phones seem to appear on an almost daily basis, but unfortunately whilst having varying capabilities, many of them look depressingly similar. Thankfully not so AU’s new Talby design.

talby

And unlike many models, it actually looks just as good in the flesh/plastic. Its website has a relatively interesting English version, which if the urge takes you is viewable here.

Now why can’t Vodafone (who I have a contract with) produce phones like the Talby, instead of hulking plasticy monstrosities like the design below?

vodafone design

Ok, so it doesn’t look that bad. But in reality it’s the size of a house brick and feels like a kid’s toy.

Honest.

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Rockin’ robot

At the Sony Building in Ginza at the moment, there are the usual displays of walkmans, big TVs, and computers. But as an added Christmas bonus, the company’s robot QRIO is putting on hourly 10 minute shows.

Now although the affable little robot can’t doing anything really useful like vacuuming, doing the laundry, or cooking dinner, it can ring colourful bells in a semi-tuneful manner.

musical_qrio

And if that’s not enough, young QRIO is also capable of causing a bit of a stir on the dance floor. Whilst the robot’s movement is still not fluid enough to fully mimic that of a human, I have to confess that it’s still a better dancer than me.

dancing_qrio

Clever little bastard!