TimeBank: Community Volunteering in Japan
This novel concept of time banking is Japan’s way of promoting self-sufficiency among its aging population, while keeping seniors active. The scheme also allays the fears of those who feel embar…
The archive
Recent articles — page 488
Browse recent articles in the Akihabara archive.
Fox Village In Japan
Apparently, Japan is covered in magical and irresistibly cute animal sanctuaries. We’ve heard about the bunny island and cat island, but there’s also a fox village, where six different species of fox…
Withdrawing Cash from a Japanese ATM with a Foreign Credit Card
Japan is sometimes called the Galapagos Islands of technology—a place where systems evolve in parallel to everywhere else in the world. One area in which this is quite apparent, is bank ATMs. While m…
Fukushima: Wild boars take over Japan's evacuated towns
Hunters have been called in to deal with hundreds of wild boars who are living in evacuated Japanese towns in the Fukushima area. The area was deserted six years ago after an earthquake and tsun…
NTT's VR technology aims to impress at Tokyo Olympics
Suppose that tennis superstar Kei Nishikori serves to you in virtual reality, or a 3-D image of Mashu Baker, a Rio Olympic gold medalist in judo, appears like magic on a stage and powers into ac…
This Factory Robot Learns a New Job Overnight
Inside a modest-looking office building in Tokyo lives an unusually clever industrial robot made by the Japanese company Fanuc. Give the robot a task, like picking widgets out of one box and put…
In Japan, "Meat Cakes" Are A Thing
Who said cakes have do be made of sugar and spice and crap like that? Behold, meat cakes.
The First Nintendo Switch Sales Numbers For Japan
The Nintendo Switch has sold an estimated 330,637 units in its first three days on sale in Japan. That’s according to Famitsu, which adds that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sold an est…
DisruptingJapan podcast: Japan’s Return Path to Innovation – Tim Rowe
There are no shortage of startup accelerators, innovation spaces and startup community hubs, and sometimes it can be difficult to put your finger on what makes one a success and another a failure.…
T-shirt to conceal nipples under white shirt
In Tokyo, white button-down shirts are about as ubiquitous as the poorly concealed nipples underneath, and, according to a 2013 survey, most folks do not welcome the sight. One might suggest sim…