A male virgin is known as a cherry boy (pronounced che-ri bo-i).
It amuses me anyway.
Bone conductive speaker phones
Despite the delights of Pinchange’s camera phone picture printer (which I mentioned on the 21st), mobile phone company Tu-Ka have shunned such frivolity. Deciding instead to focus on more practical matters.
Concerned about the sound quality of their phones in noisy places, they came up with the idea of implementing bone conductive speaker technology. Apparently this allows you to place the phone anywhere on your head, and the callers voice will be transmitted through your skull by bone conductors. Personally speaking I think a user may attract quite a few stares walking around holding a mobile phone on the top of their head, but the company seem very excited about it.
It isn’t just me who has their doubts about the usefulness of this technology though. One reviewer complained that the phone’s screen can quickly become grimy after left touching the users cheek for a long period of time. Apparently it has a tendency to absorb oils from the skin. That’s not pleasant.
Packed in like sushi
I found this video over at A Welsh View. It shows how unbelievably busy the trains can get in Tokyo.
I’ve only had the misfortune of being on such a train once. When it’s the last train you don’t really have much choice. Needless to say it wasn’t very pleasant. Made worse by the fact that I’d been out drinking and badly needed the toilet. Although I hasten to add that despite my discomfort, I didn’t, ahem, embarrass myself.
A golfing culture degree anyone?
Hagi University, a small private school in Yamaguchi prefecture, found itself struggling to attract new students this year. It had been authorized to take up to 300 new undergraduates, but unfortunately a paltry 30 enrolled.
No doubt numerous heads were scratched, and the result was the development of a new course. Judging by the title of this post, you won’t be surprised to find that it focuses on golf culture. What the subject involves isn’t clear, however rumour has it that students will study the impact of checkered slacks and gaudy Pringle sweaters on the modern game.
Mildly amusing Japanese-English #1
Yesterday a colleague was trying to tell me about a film he’d seen. But as Japanese titles often differ from the English ones (for example Billy Elliot is known as Little Dancer), I was having trouble knowing what film he was talking about.
I asked him what kind of film it was, and he informed me that it was an animal panic movie (pronounced a-ni-ma-ru pa-ni-ku).
Needless to say this cleared nothing up. But after further prodding, it turns out that the animal panic genre encompasses such favourites as Jaws, Jurassic Park, and Gremlins.
Now it all makes sense!