Japan
videos and pictures and all Japanese related items
美しい日本シリーズ 紅葉の京都・嵐山での優雅な琴演奏
Madame Tussauds Exhibit on Odaiba,Tokyo
The exhibit will have a total of 19 dolls, including Pitt and Jolie in evening gowns, American pop sensation Lady Gaga in a see-through body suit and Johnny Depp in his trademark hat.
The Tokyo exhibit will run from tomorrow, September 30th, until January 4, 2012.
K-ON! The Movie – Official Trailer (映画「けいおん！」予告)
Keio University demonstrate Touchable 3D Character
Keio University demonstrate Touchable 3D Character Projected Into a Real Environment
RePro3D, developed by a research group at Keio University, is a multi-perspective, naked eye 3D display in which viewers can touch a 3D character floating in midair.
The touchable 3D display is a combination of three elements. A mechanically-controlled model environment, a tactile interface and a glasses-free 3D integral imaging display.
“We use retro-reflective projection technology, using materials with special retro-reflective characteristics. This kind of material reflects light that enters back at the same angle it entered. Using this technology enables a display to show images at a different place from the light source.”
The input interface uses an infrared camera to recognize the movements of the user’s hand, and the character on screen reacts to the movements instantly. They are currently developing a system which can replicate the sensation of directly touching the image by having the user wear a tactile feedback device on their finger.
“There are many attractive characters in animations and games, but since those characters only exist within the screen, it feels a little lonely, and so we built this image display because we wanted to bring those characters into our real-world 3D space to play.”
Using past methods to display 3D images, it was hard to perfectly match the positions and images users were touching on the 3D display. But with this technology, it feels like you are touching the exact spot as you see it. In the future, they plan to build a touchable 3D display system that expands the size of the visible image, so that multiple people can be in the same space, and can share the same image.
Hanafubuki’s Daruma Temple
Daruma Temple – A visit to the roots of Japanese cinema / だるま寺 ~映画人の魂を訪ねて
Hanafubuki’s Sunflower / ひまわり
Hanafubuki’s Late Summer
Nagoya, over 1 million ordered to evacuate
(CNN) — Two people in Japan have been killed amid heavy rain from a powerful typhoon that is expected to make landfall Wednesday afternoon, authorities there said.
The center of Typhoon Roke, which had sustained winds of up to 167 kph (103 mph) Wednesday morning, could hit Japan’s Tokai region, which includes Nagoya city — or the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo — in the afternoon, Japan Meteorological Agency chief forecaster Yutaka Kanda said at a news conference.
At of 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, Roke’s center was 280 kilometers southwest of Nagoya, where about 1 million people had been urged to evacuate.
An evacuation order for about 80,000 residents of Nagoya was lifted, according to local media reports.
Heavy rain fell in central and western Japan from the typhoon’s outer bands on Tuesday and Wednesday. Some downpours came at up to 50 millimeters (2 inches) an hour, and some parts received more than 450 millimeters (17 inches) over a day, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
Two people have died in Nagoya, including a 66-year-old man who fell from a roof Tuesday while trying to fix a stuck duct, city authorities said. Two other people — a fourth-grade boy and an 84-year-old man — were missing in Gifu prefecture, authorities said.
People in the Tokai and Kanto regions should be prepared for heavy rain Wednesday, Kanda said, adding that the Kanto region may be most affected Wednesday evening.
No airports were closed Wednesday, but several flights toward the Kyushu and Shikoku areas were canceled, transportation officials said. Several passenger trains were not running Wednesday in central and southern Japan, railway officials said.
Strike Witches figures:Next wave
The year is 1944 and the world lives in fear of unidentified flying objects called Neuroi. With the old-boy old guard unable to thwart this deadly menace, humanity turns its desperate eyes to an aerial attack force with much nicer legs. Meet the girls of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, better known as the Strike Witches. These darlings of the great blue yonder may not have standard issue uniforms, but they do have all the right stuff. Where the average flyboy falters, these dolls blast aliens to bits in the bat of an eyelash. With a little magic and a whole lot of leg, the girls of the 501st are winning the war on pants, and aliens!