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Toyota’s e-Palette will transport athletes during the 2020 Olympics
As part of its big robot push for upcoming the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, Toyota says it will have 20 of its e-Palette electric vehicles on-site to transport athletes.
Sony is launching an AR 'Ghostbusters' experience in Japan
Sony is testing a fun new augmented reality experience in Japan to commemorate Ghostbusters' 35th anniversary. Starting on October 12th, the company will give fans the chance to become Ghostbusters at the Ginza Sony Park in Tokyo. Trainers will lead a pack of participants, wearing what the tech giant says is a prototype AR headset, around the park to exterminate ghosts that appear throughout the venue.
Starbucks Japan wants customers to pay for coffee with pens
Starbucks Japan sells a range of NFC-enabled goods and accessories linked to a digital wallet, which you can use to pay for your purchase. Unlike Costa's NFC-enabled cups in the UK, though, those products aren't even related to coffee. The latest addition to Starbucks Japan's "Touch" line of goods, for instance, is a pen -- a stylish one at that, with coffee-colored ink. It uses a contactless technology called FeliCa that's widely used in the country, allowing customers to simply tap it on a payment terminal.
Intel is hosting an Olympics-sanctioned esports tournament in 2020
Gamers will go for the gold next summer in Tokyo, but not in the Olympics. Intel has announced it will host an esports tournament in Tokyo during the lead-up to the 2020 Olympics. Players will compete in Street Fighter V and Rocket League for a price of $250,000 for each game. Online qualifiers will kick-off early next year, with a live qualifier event in Poland in June.
Nintendo will launch a Disney-themed Switch in Japan
Now that Nintendo has finished upgrading the Switch's internals, the company has turned its attention to what's on the outside. The company has teamed up with Disney to create a Tsum Tsum-branded version of the new console to coincide with the launch of a Tsum Tsum game. Both the dock and the console get the Tsum Tsum dot branding, with a pair of Mickey Ears sitting over the home button.
Toyota's 2020 Olympics robots will include a javelin-carrying cart
Robots are going to play a large role at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and Toyota is determined to be at the forefront -- if in some occasionally strange ways. The automotive giant has unveiled its robot lineup for the summer games, and one of the biggest attention-getters is the Field Support Robot. The autonomous machine looks like a very tiny version of the e-Palette, and will carry javelins, shot puts and other items from throwing events. It won't actually fetch the items -- that's still up to humans -- but it will help reduce the number of staff on the field.
Japan reportedly pushes 'international network for cryptocurrency payments'
As governments around the world try to figure out how to deal with everything from Bitcoin to Facebook's Libra, Japan has usually been a step or two ahead in dealing with cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has been a legal form of payment there since 2017 and it's begun issuing licenses for exchanges. Now Reuters reports, based on anonymous sources, that the country's government is at the lead of an effort to create a SWIFT-style system to manage cryptocurrency payments and supposedly battle money laundering. There's very little detail about what this means or how it would potentially work, but SWIFT is the network that banks use to securely send money around the world. Cryptocurrency users aren't necessarily looking for more government oversight -- and interference -- so the question of how regulators would insert such a system also needs to be answered. Even with the regulation Japan has now, just last week the Remixpoint exchange reported it lost $32 million worth of currency after being hacked. According to the report, the network is supposed to be implemented in the next few years" with cooperation from other countries.
There's a new 'Super Monkey Ball' game on its way
A new Super Monkey Ball game will be arriving later this year -- at least, it will in Japan. Game magazine Famitsu confirmed this week in a blog post that a new entry in the popular series will be available for PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The game, apparently titled Tagogo Super Monkey Ball, is scheduled to be available on October 31st in Japan. There's no word yet on if there will be a western release for the title. Update: The game has been officially announced for PS4, Switch, PC and Xbox One, with a US release date of October 29th.
Japan's Hayabusa2 probe successfully landed on an asteroid, again (updated)
Back in February, Japan's second asteroid-exploring spacecraft touched down on the asteroid Ryugu to collect samples that it will bring back to Earth. Tonight, Hayabusa2 is making its final sample collection attempt, where it will try to collect material that was exposed by a crater it created with explosives back in April. It will once again try to quickly land, fire a tantalum bullet into the asteroid's surface and grab some of the dust that gets kicked up -- all in about one second. Assuming all goes well, the plan is to eventually deploy the Minerva II2 rover, and then begin its year-long journey back to Earth around November or December.
Sony's 230-Walkman exhibit celebrates 40 years of a music icon
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first Walkman sold (the TPS-L2, naturally), Sony is showing off the history of the portable music player in central Tokyo. It will run across the summer, through until September 1st, with writers and experts offering up interviews and talks on the iconic cassette (and CD) player series. Sony has assembled 230 different Walkmans laid out on a "Walkman Wall", and the whole thing shouldn't be hard to find -- a giant neon-yellow WM-F5 will lead the way.
Countries back plan to create 'free flow' of data across borders
It might become easier to shuttle data across borders in the future. A total of 24 countries have signed a statement supporting the Osaka Track, a plan from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that would create rules for a "free flow" of data while respecting privacy, copyright and security. The commitment is meant to foster digital businesses that might otherwise stumble over legal hurdles.
Tesla granted tariff exemption on Japanese aluminum for battery cells
Tesla has won an exemption from paying the 10 percent tariffs placed on imported aluminum from Japan. It filed a request with the Commerce Department in April for a tariff exclusion on 10 million kilograms of the metal per year from Nippon Light Metal Co for battery cells made in the Nevada Gigafactory. The department approved it this month.
Germans can soon use their iPhones as virtual ID cards
iOS 13's newly expanded NFC support will be useful for more than just hopping on the subway. Germany is taking advantage of the upcoming software's support for Apple-approved NFC identification documents to let residents scan their ID cards and use them both online and for check-ins at international airports. You'll need to wait for both the release of iOS 13 (likely in September) and the German government's AusweisApp2 to make everything work, but this might just save you the trouble of pulling out your wallet to prove who you are.
After Math: Goodbye, Grumpy Cat, whoa oh oh
Terrible news, everyone! The internet's favorite maladjusted kitteh has gone to the Great Cat Tree in the sky after succumbing to a urinary tract infection earlier this week. She -- yes, Grumpy Cat was a girl -- will be missed. Likewise, Cray Supercomputers' independence, Japan's phone number system and China's access to Wikipedia have come to similar ends over the past seven days.
Nissan's ProPilot 2.0 driver assist allows hands-off highway driving
Nissan's ProPilot driver assist could comfortably control the car with little to no input already, as Autoblog experienced on a road trip last year, but it still required a driver's hand on the wheel. Now the company has announced ProPilot 2.0 will launch first on its Skyline sedan in Japan, which supports hands-off driving within a single lane. Nissan says its next-gen driver assistance system is a world's first, but we've seen similar technology from Cadillac's Super Cruise over the last two years, which also allows for hands-off operation as long as the car doesn't need to change lanes.
Japan begins testing the world's fastest bullet train
Last week, Japan started testing its latest and fastest bullet train. The Shinkansen ALFA-X is capable of reaching 400 kilometers per hour (249 mph), and it's expected to enter operation around 2030. When it does, the ALFA-X will likely become the world's fastest bullet train, carrying passengers around 360 kph (224 mph).
First private Japanese rocket reaches space
Japan can finally include itself among the ranks of countries with successful private spaceflight outfits. Interstellar Technologies has successfully launched its MOMO-3 sounding rocket into space, with the vehicle easily crossing the Kármán line (62 miles in altitude) before splashing into the Pacific. It's a modest start -- the rocket only stayed aloft for 8 minutes and 35 seconds -- but it's also a relief after Interstellar's previous two attempts ended in failure.
Alexa's in-skill purchasing comes to the UK, Germany and Japan
In-game purchases are now par for the course on mobile, so it wasn't going to be long before the same principle was applied to voice assistants. Last year, Amazon opened up in-skill purchasing to all developers in the US after limited availability for select games publishers -- now the capability is rolling out internationally.
TikTok's next idea: To find new K-pop and J-pop stars
TikTok wants to find the next BTS. The video sharing app, owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance, is launching a talent contest aimed at discovering K-pop and J-pop acts. The auditions will take place within TikTok Spotlight: a new channel where users from Japan and Korea can upload their music videos to be judged by an all-star panel comprised of record labels, local musicians and hit-makers.
Tesla's Osaka station Powerpack is its largest storage system in Asia
Tesla has built another Powerpack system in record time, this time at Osaka train station in Japan, where it will be used as emergency backup and to reduce peak energy demand. According to the company on Twitter, the 42 Powerpack units will provide enough energy to safely move a train and its passengers for up to 30 minutes to the nearest station in the event of a power failure.
