Yume MRC, a Japan-based collectible manufacturer, has just unveiled a life-sized Vegeta statue that stands a towering 6.9-feet tall. It will be limited to just 150 pieces, and the standard edition shows the “Prince of Saiyans” in Super Saiyan form, complete with his Z-Fighter’s Saiyan armor outfit, and a light-up base.
Photo credit: The Verge / Reuters
Japan-based REAL-f Co. specializes in creating ultra-realistic face masks, and they don’t come cheap, with prices starting at roughly $2,650, but for good reason. These resin and plastic creations by company founder Osamu Kitagawa are the result of two years of development, translating facial data from high-quality photographs to 3D masks, right down to blood vessels in the eyes and fine skin wrinkles. REAL-f Co. receives about 100 orders a year, with some being used to train car software to learn about humans. Read more for a hands-on video and additional information.
Photo credit: Monde
This looks like a book at first, but step closer? You’ll see that it’s actually a wooden bookshelf insert hand-carved to look like a mini alleyway with lights. This was created by Japanese artist “Monde”, and so far, they’ve posted three stunning inserts on Twitter, but considering the reaction by social media, we’re guessing there are many more to come. Read more for additional images.
Before the Super NES, there was the Famicom Disk System, which was only released in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called “Disk Cards” for data storage, and during its entire production span (1986–2003), a total of 4.44 million units were sold. It’s connected to the Famicom deck by plugging a special cartridge, called the RAM Adapter, into the system’s cartridge port, and attaching the cable to the disk drive. The RAM adapter contains 32 KB of RAM for temporary program storage, 8 KB of RAM for tile / sprite data storage, and an ASIC, known as the 2C33, that acts as a disk controller for the floppy drive. Many games used both sides of a disk, requiring the user to switch sides at some point during gameplay, with a few titles using two full disks, totaling four sides.
Photo credit: Camera Man Studio
Yohei Shimada, a commercial photographer from Japan, decided to create a fully-functional DSLR costume, called “Cameraaman,” for Halloween. How does it work? Simply press the shutter button, and then an off-camera flash photo is triggered, with it instantly showing on the camera’s integrated LCD panel. Continue reading for two more videos and additional information.
NTT DoCoMo’s KY-O1L by Kyocera has been named a “card phone,” and rightfully so. This credit card-sized device is touted as the world’s thinnest and lightest cell phone, measuring in at 5.3mm thick, while weighing a mere 47g. It features a 2.8-inch monochrome e-paper screen, LTE connectivity, and a 380mAh battery. Continue reading for three more pictures and additional information.
Panasonic Wear Space, a collaboration with Japanese fashion designer Kunihiko Morinaga, is a bizarre wearable gadget with noise-cancelling headphones. The main idea is to keep the wearer focused when in open spaces such as coffee shops, schools, and co-working spaces. It consists of flexible material that wraps around the back of your head, extending all the way to the sides of your eyes, thus blocking out distractions in your peripheral view. Continue reading for another video and more information.
Photographers have it tough enough, trying to capture perfect shots of stationary objects, but imagine photographing a bullet train coming out of a tunnel at 190mph. Japanese photographer Kunihiko Tsuji has spent decades focusing on just that, and as you might’ve guessed, it requires tons of planning and preparation. Since he normally can’t see the train approaching, he relies solely on sound to time his shot. Continue reading for another video and more information.
The Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan has unveiled their latest creation, HRP-5P, a humanoid robot capable of performing simple construction tasks, such as installing drywall. The eventual goal would be to use these humanoid robots at construction sites, while providing autonomous replacement for their aging human counterparts.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo managed to create the world’s strongest controllable magnetic field and then proceeded to blow off the doors of their lab. They produced this magnetic field to test the material properties of a new generator system and expected to reach peak magnetic field intensities of around 700 Teslas, but instead, it peaked at 1,200 Teslas. Continue reading for a video about the strongest magnetic field in the universe and more information.