FEPY

There are times when a free Japanese-English dictionary just won’t cut it. In the past, this would mean paying a sizable sum for an electronic dictionary. Instead, for 24 bucks, you can get yourself The Wisdom Japanese Dictionary for the iPhone.

Before going any further, users should have a good understanding of hiragana and katakana. A decent understanding of kanji helps a lot but it’s not mandatory.

Doing a search is straightforward and quick. The search results are what separate this app from the free alternatives. You’ll often get a rich selection of example sentences that show the proper usage of the word in question.

Is this a one-stop solution? Definitely not, but it’s a good foundation. Just for fun, I did a search for some common Japanese slang words. I got zero results. So hentai manga aficionados will want to look elsewhere.

But for general use, this app shines for individuals who have outgrown some of the more basic Japanese-English dictionaries. The price is a bit steep, but considering the alternatives, it’s money well spent if you plan on taking your Japanese studies to the next level.

Related posts:

• The Best Japanese Language Learning App for the iPhone
• iPhone App Review: Peggle
• A Different Way of Learning Japanese

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The Saikyō Senritsu Meikyū (”Ultimate Horror Maze”) — a 900-meter-long zombie-infested labyrinth at Japan’s Fuji-Q Highland amusement park — is billed as the world’s longest and scariest house of horror.

However, at a “press conference” staged last month, organizers announced they had temporarily shut down the facility because the zombie staff had lost their edge and were not frightening people enough. While the haunted house was closed, the undead employees were put through a rigorous training program designed to upgrade their zombie skills.

Here’s some video showing the treatment they had to endure:

+ Video

The horror house has since reopened and the camp-hardened zombies are reportedly as scary as ever.

[More zombie training camp videos]

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Japan has had its fair share of UFO sightings over the years, but few encounters have been as peculiar as the one involving the mini-UFO captured in Kochi prefecture in 1972.

Photograph of mini-UFO captured in Japan, 1972

The strange encounter took place in the Kera area of Kochi City. On the afternoon of August 25, 1972, a 13-year-old junior high student named Michio Seo sighted a strange object flying above a rice field while walking home from school. From a distance he watched the small, mysterious object zigzag quickly around the field like a bat chasing insects.

Later that day, Michio told his friends about the curious flying object. “UFO” had yet to become a household word in Japan in 1972, but the boys were intrigued nonetheless. At around 7:00 PM, four of them set out for the rice field in search of the object.

About an hour later, they spotted the object flying over the rice field, lighting up the night with a pulsating silver light. When one of the boys tried to approach to object, it suddenly made a loud “pop” sound and started to glow blue. Frightened, they turned and fled without looking back.

Over a week later, at 9:30 PM on September 4, several of the boys once again saw the bright object in the rice field. And two days after that, on September 6, the boys and a few of their friends found the object on the ground in the field. It appeared to have crash-landed.

One of boys — a 14-year-old named Hiroshi Mori (14) — picked the object up with his hands and carried it home.

The silver, hat-shaped object weighed 1.3 kilograms (3 lbs) and measured roughly 7 centimeters (3 in) tall and 15 centimeters (6 in) in diameter. The bottom surface was perforated with an array of tiny holes and imprinted with designs depicting what appeared to be a bird, some waves, and another flying object. Something rattled around inside the object when shaken.

That night, Hiroshi wrapped the curious object in a plastic bag and placed it inside his backpack. Later, however, the object mysteriously vanished without a trace.

Before long, the boys encountered the object again. They once again captured it, but it soon vanished. This happened about five or six times over the next two weeks.

On one occasion, the boys decided to pour water into the holes on the bottom. The object emitted a loud cicada-like buzzing sound and glowed brightly inside. Later, when they ran some wire through the holes and dangled the object upside-down, the top and bottom sections of the object became slightly separated. Through the opening, they could see what appeared to be electronic components.

On the night of September 22, Hiroshi was riding his bicycle with the object in the basket when it suddenly disappeared. They never saw it again.

In 2007, 35 years after the incident, the Japan Space Phenomena Society (JSPS) conducted a new investigation into the case. According to Kazuo Hayashi, head of the JSPS Osaka chapter, all of the witnesses still stand by their original story.

The mini-UFO of 1972 was not the last that would be encountered in Kochi prefecture. Nearly four years later, on the night of June 6, 1976, a 9-year-old girl named Sachiko Oyama in the village of Agawa (now called Niyodogawa-cho) stepped outside to look for her family cat. She noticed a bright yellow luminous object in the eastern sky.

When she went to the street for a better view, the object suddenly descended into the surrounding woods, struck a nearby tree, and landed at her feet. It made no sound when it hit the pavement.

The silver, hat-shaped object appeared to be about 15 centimeters (7 in) in diameter. Curious, Sachiko touched it with her index finger. The object was constructed of solid material, but it was covered in a slimy substance that stuck to her finger.

She suddenly felt afraid started to run home. Over her shoulder, she saw the object start to glow yellow, spin counter-clockwise three times, and shoot quickly back into the sky.

What could explain these mysterious mini-UFO sightings? Perhaps there is a rational explanation — or maybe they were hoaxes. It’s also possible the encounters were the products of overactive imaginations. Or perhaps, as suggested by JSPS head Kazuo Hayashi, these flying objects temporarily lost their way after slipping into our realm from another dimension.

[Source: Namiki, Shin-ichiro. Nippon No Kaiki Hyaku. Magazineland, 2007.]

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A robot hobbyist has developed an application that lets the iPhone 3GS function as the brain and face of a miniature humanoid robot.

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The body of the robot — named “Robochan” — consists of a Kondo KHR-2HV humanoid. The iPhone head, which attaches to the body via the dock connector, displays various facial expressions while functioning as the controller. Using Robochan’s iPhone interface, the user can program it to function as an alarm clock, dance to music, and perform other moves based on user interaction.

Incidentally, Robochan’s leek-spinning dance (and the infectious music) is a reference to the old Loituma Girl Internet meme, which began as a simple Flash animation showing a Bleach anime character (Orihime Inoue) twirling a leek to the traditional Finnish folk song “Ievan Polkka.”

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After two years, my Ultimate Buds are starting to fall apart. So an obvious replacement are the new Etymotic hf2s. These headsets combine the well-received Etymotic earphones with an integrated mic/control unit.

Starting with the good, these earphones offer a level of sonic precision that you typically won’t find in cheaper units. Highs and mids sound great and bass is neutral. Load up a particularly impressive audio performance and prepare to have the hairs on your arms stand up. Cord length is spot on and the selection of eartips should satisfy 99% of users.

Now for bad. The mic/control unit is a bit on the large side. During runs, I found the unit slapping the underside of my chin. At times this neutral bass can feel lacking. My somewhat clouded audio judgment is probably due to the years of exposure to Sony Mega Bass. In order to get decent bass response, you need to get a good airtight seal with the eartip. And even with a perfect seal, some will still wonder where all the bass went.

And finally, durability is questionable. After a little over one week, the driver in the left earphone started making crackling sounds. Not once did I subject these headphones to any sort of abuse. Could this be a fluke? Possibly. As stated earlier, I’ve owned a set of Etymotics that have lasted two years. I’ll make a call to customer service and see if this issue can be sorted out.

Overall, when they’re working, these headphones offer performance bordering on startling. People addicted to bass will want to look elsewhere. I suppose it’s just presenting bass in a more proper/neutral manner. They’re pricey, but in the end, they offer performance that’s well worth the expense.

[Pic from Amazon.com]

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To demonstrate the latest advances in high-speed industrial robot technology, researchers at the University of Tokyo have pitted a baseball-pitching robotic arm against a mechanical batter with a near-perfect swing.

+ Robot pitcher vs. robot batter

The robot pitcher consists of a high-speed, three-fingered hand (developed by professor Masatoshi Ishikawa and his team from the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology) mounted on a mechanical arm (developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology). With superb control over nimble fingers that can open and close at a rate of up to 10 times per second, the robot can release the ball with perfect timing. Precise coordination between the fingers, hand and arm allow the robot pitcher to hit the strike zone 90% of the time.

The robot batter is an upgraded version of a machine that Ishikawa’s team developed in 2003.

In the demonstration — which was designed to showcase the speed at which multiple high-speed industrial robots can respond to external circumstances and perform activities together — the researchers placed the robot pitcher 3.5 meters (11 ft) away from the mechanical batter. The pitcher’s 40-kph (25-mph) sidearm throws posed little challenge to the batter, whose 1000-frame-per-second camera eyes allow it to see the ball in super slow motion as it approaches. The robot batter has a near-perfect batting average when swinging at pitches in the strike zone.

To make future contests more interesting, the researchers plan to increase the robot pitcher’s throwing speed to 150 kph (93 mph) and teach it to throw breaking balls and changeups. In addition, they plan to train the robot batter to repeatedly hit balls to the same target.

[Source: Mainichi]

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Here comes the robot bride — HRP-4C models a wedding dress

HRP-4C, a female humanoid robot created by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), made her first professional runway appearance at a fashion show in Osaka today.

The chic robot, who stands 158 centimeters (5 ft 2 in) tall and weighs 43 kilograms (95 lbs) with her batteries installed, wore a wedding dress by designer Yumi Katsura. Like her flesh-and-bone catwalk peers, the HRP-4C strolled up and down the 10-meter runway while casting casual sidelong glances at the delighted audience.

The positive response of the crowd suggests the robot may have a future in entertainment. At her unveiling in March, HRP-4C’s creators claimed her realistic looks would help draw crowds at amusement parks and promotional events.

Developer Kazuhito Yokoi, who appeared at today’s fashion show in a tuxedo, repeated the message. “We hope she can work in fashion and entertainment,” he said, staring pensively at the stage as if seeing his creation in a bridal gown stirred his emotions. “Like the father of a bride, I feel both happy and sad,” he added.

[Source: Chunichi]

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Japan’s Himawari-7 (a.k.a. MTSAT-2) weather satellite has beamed back a series of images of Earth captured during the solar eclipse earlier today. Taken at 15-minute intervals from an altitude of 36,000 kilometers (22,400 miles), the satellite images show the dark shadow of the Moon racing east across Asia and into the Pacific.

[Images via Japan Meteorological Agency]

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Later this morning in Asia, people from India to Japan to Kiribati will turn to the sky for a glimpse of the total solar eclipse.

After appearing at dawn in India’s Gulf of Khambhat, the Moon’s shadow will sweep across Asia and the South Pacific, covering approximately 15,200 kilometers (9,500 miles) in about 3½ hours before disappearing near the Marshall Islands.

In parts of the Pacific, the duration of the total darkness will last up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds, making it the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century. The next one of this duration will not occur until June 13, 2132.

For those unable to view the eclipse in person, here are a few places to catch it online (times are indicated in JST, GMT, and EST):

- Live Eclipse 2009 (China/ Japan/ Kiribati): iPhone-friendly webcast, live from three separate locations.

- NHK (Akusekijima/ Yakushima/ Boat in Pacific/ Iwo Jima): Scheduled to broadcast from 10:30 to 11:45 AM JST (1:30-2:45 AM GMT // 9:30-10:45 PM EST) from four locations.

- RKK Kumamoto Eclipse Live (Kumamoto, Japan): Scheduled to go live at 9:30 AM JST (12:30 AM GMT // 8:30 PM EST).

- SAROS.ORG - Live Astronomy Webcast (China)

- Atlas Post (China): Broadcasting from 9:20 to 19:00 AM JST (12:20-2:00 AM GMT // 8:20-10:00 PM EST).

- University of North Dakota (Wuhan, China)

- Solar eclipse live from Guwahati (India): This Ustream broadcast is scheduled to begin at 8:15 AM JST (11:15 GMT // 7:15 PM EST).

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Here’s a peek at some of the forthcoming T-shirt designs spawned by the collaboration between legendary Tokyo streetwear brand BAPE (A Bathing Ape) and the Pokemon media empire.

[Via: World Famous Design Junkies]

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