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Japan's Hayabusa 2 mission lands on target asteroid
After months of hovering around its target, Japan's Hayabusa 2 mission has made contact. Two of the host spacecraft's landers (ROVER-1A and 1B) have touched down on the surface of the asteroid 162173 Ryugu and have already been hopping around as they take photos (like the one above) and gauge the space rock's temperature. As far as the mission has come, though, it's really just the start.
Sony will cease PS Vita production in Japan next year
At the 2018 Tokyo Game Show, Sony has announced the birth of a new product and what could possibly be the final nail in the coffin for another. Sony Interactive Entertainment SVP Hiroyuki Oda has revealed that the company will cease PS Vita's production in Japan sometime in 2019. Further, he said the electronics/gaming giant has no plans to create a successor, echoing Shuhei Yoshida's revelation way back in 2015 that Sony doesn't see a market for a follow-up to the handheld console.
SpaceX reveals identity of the world's first lunar space tourist
The last time that humanity set foot on the lunar surface, Richard Nixon was still president and Pink Floyd was still in the midst of recording their seminal album about its dark side. And while SpaceX's tourism plans don't involve actually setting down on our nearest celestial neighbor, the company does hope to put Yusaku Maezawa, the billionaire founder of Japanese fashion retailer, Zozotown, as close to it as any human has been in the past couple of decades.
Sharp's 8K satellite receiver is ready for broadcasts to start in Japan
As we learned during IFA last month, the 8K hype train is here whether we're ready or not. In Japan everything is timed to coincide with the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, and as such broadcaster NHK is planning to kick off hybrid 4K/8K broadcasts beginning December 1st. Assuming you have access to an 8K TV or projector, you'll need a box to actually catch and process the Super Hi-Vision video signal, and fortunately Sharp has one ready to connect to its 8K TV that has been on sale since 2017.
Japan teams up with Uber, Airbus and 19 others on flying taxi plan
Japan wants to bring flying taxis into the mainstream over the next decade and it's putting together a government-led group in order to do so, Bloomberg reports. The country's trade ministry said to today that the group will bring together at least 21 businesses including Uber, Boeing, Airbus, Japan Airlines and Toyota-backed Cartivator, which will meet next week to discuss plans going forward. For its part, the government will work on ways to regulate these sorts of vehicles. "The Japanese government will provide appropriate support to help realize the concept of flying cars, such as creation of acceptable rules," the ministry said.
Japan trials AI and robots to boost English skills in schools
Under pressure to improve English skills among both teachers and students, Japan's Ministry of Education is turning to robots, according to NHK. Beginning in April, the ministry will launch a trial that will put English-speaking AI robots in around 500 schools throughout the country. The ministry will also reportedly make study apps and online conversation sessions with native English speakers available to students, and those efforts along with the robot initiative are all aimed at improving students' English communication skills.
After Math: The price of doing business
Elon Musk just can't seem to stay out of the news. After last week's tirade against the Thai cave rescue diver, his girlfriend took to Twitter to defend his large donations to the GOP as "the price of doing business in america [sic]." But that price differs depending on who you ask. For right-wing troll Alex Jones, that price is a 30-day timeout from Facebook and Yahoo, but for MoviePass that price could well be the company's entire operation.
Apple will repair devices damaged by flooding in Japan for free
Earlier this month heavy rain caused devastating flooding throughout western and central Japan, resulting in more than 200 deaths and causing millions to evacuate. Now, Apple has announced that it will repair devices damaged in the floods for free. Any repairable iPhones, Macs, iPads, iPods, Apple Watches and Apple displays directly damaged by flooding will be fixed by the company for no charge. Accessories are not included as part of the offer. Apple expressed its sympathy to those affected by the floods and wished for speedy reconstruction.
The Japanese ensemble making music from old tape reels
Open Reel Ensemble doesn't play conventional instruments, like guitars, drums and keyboards. Instead, the Japanese band uses reel-to-reel tape recorders built by Pioneer and TEAC in the 1970s and '80s. They weren't designed, of course, with musical creation and manipulation in mind. Ei Wada, the leader of Open Reel Ensemble, discovered their performative qualities by accident. More than 15 years ago, he was given a couple of tape recorders by a friend of his father who worked at a radio station. He tripped over them one day and, in a mixture of panic and sadness, tried to rotate the broken reels with his hands. To his surprise, the sound changed.
Artificial meteor shower displays are coming
Fireworks. So passé, right? That could well be the thinking of one Japanese start-up, which is developing shooting stars on demand, and plans to put on the world's first artificial meteor shower in early 2020.
EU agrees to data deal with Japan as US pact hangs in the balance
The EU and Japan have reached an agreement that will allow businesses in both regions to freely share and transfer data without additional safeguards or authorizations. The deal, which covers information such as credit card details and browsing habits, will help to fortify links between the EU and Japan, which recently signed the world's largest free-trade agreement.
Apple alters its contracts to comply with Japan's antitrust laws
Japan's antitrust regulatory agency just wrapped up an investigation into Apple, and in order to ensure its compliance with the country's antitrust rules, the company will change the sales contracts it has with three of Japan's major mobile service providers. The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) looked into four sales practices, but just one stuck out as potentially anticompetitive -- Apple's requirement for service providers to offer iPhone subsidies.
Japan is spending years making one train line a minute faster
The efficiency of Japan's bullet trains are a modern marvel, and now JR East, the East Japan Railway Company, wants to increase it even further. The company began a two-year construction project that will get passengers from Ueno to Omiya an entire one minute faster (at most).
Netflix renews 'Aggretsuko' and commits to more new anime
Netflix is going all-in on anime, renewing another series and bringing in a bunch of new ones, it announced at the Anime 2018 festival. There'll certainly be a lot of variety, starting with season 2 of Aggretsuko (below, arriving in 2019) about a red panda who bristles against her quotidian life via nightly death metal karaoke sessions. It also revealed that the second season of vampire-fighting show Castlevania will debut on October 26th.
Baidu will deploy its self-driving buses in Japan
Baidu has started mass-producing its Level 4 autonomous mini-buses with the intention of deploying them not just in China, but also in other countries. Their first destination outside of China? Japan. The Chinese tech giant has teamed up with Softbank subsidiary SB Drive to launch a self-driving mini-bus service in Japan next year. They're bringing 10 "Apolong" buses to Tokyo and other Japanese cities in early 2019 after the vehicles make their debut in select Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shenzhen, Pingtan and Wuhan. The 14-seater buses will initially pick up passengers in tourist areas, parks, industrial campuses, airports and other geo-fenced locations.
Japan's latest chance at private rocket launch ends in flames
Japan's hopes for a thriving private spaceflight industry have been dashed once again. Interstellar Technologies' second attempt at a rocket launch has ended in spectacular fashion, with its 33-foot MOMO-2 vehicle crashing (and bursting into flames) just moments after liftoff. The company put on a brave face with word that the launch facility remained intact and a promise that it would continue the program, but it's hard to be optimistic when the 2017 launch at least cleared the launchpad area.
This device will literally tell you how much you stink
There's so much bad technology in the world that Japan even has a beautiful word for pointless gadgets: "chindogu." There's another splendid Japanese term, one that companies are apparently holding training sessions on how to combat: "sumeru harasumento," or in English, "smell harassment." To help keep offensively stinky people in check, Tanita is releasing a gizmo that figures out how bad your body odor is.
Xbox Japan's cult hit 'Metal Wolf Chaos' is back
Microsoft didn't have much success with the original Xbox in Japan, but it did manage to create a few games by local developers that were coveted by fans of the platform. The mech game Metal Wolf Chaos made by From Software (Dark Souls) was one of those, and even though it never saw a US release beyond a hidden demo on the Official Xbox Magazine disc, people have been looking out for it ever since. Tonight at E3 Devolver Digital announced that a remastered version, Metal Wolf Chaos XD will be released for Xbox One, PS4 and PC this year. This game will feature upgraded 4K and widescreen-ready graphics, tweaked controls and a new save system. Get ready to play as the President of the United States piloting a mech fighting against a revolution started by your own vice president. Yes, that's the plot of the game.
Airbnb pulls over 48,000 rentals in Japan following recent law
If you're planning to stay at an Airbnb rental in Japan in the near future, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. Airbnb has removed about 48,200 rentals (about 78 percent of those in the country) after the Japanese government ordered home sharing companies to pull any rentals booked before June 15th that didn't have license numbers issued under a recent law regulating home-based accommodations. This wouldn't be such an issue if it weren't that the June 1st order was "contrary" to previous guidance from the Japanese Tourism Agency, Airbnb said -- and officials didn't appear to care that "many" of the hosts were already registering or waiting for their licenses.
Nintendo Japan's new Switch bundle drops the dock
Once Nintendo's online service for the Switch launches this fall its cloud saves will make it easier to swap between systems, and now there's even more reason to nab a second one -- at least in Japan. The company just announced a "Switch Second Unit Set" there that ships without the TV/charging dock, Joy-con grip, power cord and HDMI cable usually included. As a result, it's 5,000 yen cheaper (about $45) than the standard set. A good USB-C Power Delivery charger will just about wipe out the savings, so it's really only an option if you're actually looking to add a second Switch. Also, Nintendo Japan announced neon green and neon pink as custom Joy-con color options, giving owners up to 1,372 possible combinations. There's no word on whether or not the Second Unit bundle will go on sale outside of Japan, but if Nintendo wants everyone in the house to have a Switch of their own, it could make sense.
