Relax, sushi lovers in Japan respond

by Iva Skoch on

Crazy Americans! You almost hear the dinner conversations in Japan right about now. Just as New Yorkers are “worried” to “panicked” about toxic levels of mercury found in several sushi restaurants in New York, the Japanese are not worried. ..just like every Japanese woman is perfectly OK eating sushi while pregnant.

The Mercury News (what a perfect name for a newspaper to cover this story) reports today that everyone in Japan apparently knows that tuna is high in mercury. That’s why you only eat a few pieces a week. It won’t kill you. The Japanese government even exempts tuna from its legal limit on mercury in seafood because it is not caught coastally.

Japanese sushi lovers interviewed in the story, said it would take more than a U.S. report to take them away from their tuna rolls, and they argued a little mercury was probably harmless compared to the fats and oils in something like a hamburger and fries.

Considering Japan’s life expectancy is higher that the US, they probably have a point.

Big in Japan: Red Sox season opener will take place in Japan

by Matthew Firestone on

Looking for another reason to visit to Japan?

Baseball may be as American as apple pie, but it’s also as Japanese as cod-roe spaghetti and green tea ice cream.

Although few Americans are aware of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), it has produced a number of major Major League Baseball (MLB) players including Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka among others.

Known as the Puro Yaky? (???????????) in Japanese, the NPB has a long history dating back to 1934 when it was originally founded as the Greater Japan Tokyo Baseball Club (?????????????????????, Dai-nippon T?ky? Yaky? Kurabu).

Of course, all of this may soon become common knowledge to Bostonians as this March, the Red Sox season opener will be a pair of exhibition games against the Hanshin Tigers on March 22 (11:07 p.m. EST March 21) and the Yomiuri Giants on March 23 (6:07 a.m. EST).

Despite the lack of publicity that the Ricoh Japan Opening Series 2008 has received in the States, the event is being billed here in Japan as something akin to the real ‘World Series.’

Here’s the answer to your first question: who are the Hanshin Tigers?

The Hanshin Tigers (阪神タイガース, Hanshin Taigāsu) are a NPB based in Nishinomiya, which is a city in the Kansai region near Osaka.

Of course, since this is Japan, the team is owned and named after the Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc.

Interestingly enough, the Tigers are often portrayed by the media as being the Japanese Red Sox since they have historically been underachievers.

In fact, they even have their own ‘Curse of the Bambino!’

After winning the 1985 Japan series, Tigers fans dressed up like their favorite players, and jumped into the adjacent Dotonbori Canal.

However, because none of the fans resembled first baseman Randy Bass (he was bearded white guy from Oklahoma), fans threw a life-sized statue of the Kentucky Fried Chicken mascot Colonel Sanders into the river.

To this day, the statue has never been recovered, and legend holds that until the Colonel is rescued from the river, the Tigers will continue to have bad luck.

Here’s the answer to your second question: who are the Yomiuri Giants?

The Yomiuri Giants (読売ジャイアンツ, Yomiuri Jaiantsu) are a NPB based in Bunkyo, which is a district in Tokyo.

Of course, since this is Japan, the team is owned and named after the Yomiuri Group, Ltd., a behemoth media conglomerate of television stations, newspapers and magazines.

Interestingly enough, the Giants are often portrayed by the media as being the Japanese Yankees since they have historically dominated the NPB (and they’re the richest franchise by a long-shot!).

Want to know more about Japanese baseball? Love the Boston Red Sox? Why not check out their season opener over here in the Land of the Rising Sun?

Here is all the info you need:

General tickets for all four Red Sox games in Tokyo go on sale Feb. 9. For more information, call 011-81-3-5777-8600 between 6 p.m. and 10 a.m. EST.

In addition, Fenway Sports Group, through its Red Sox Destinations program, has put together a full travel package for the Japan Opening Series.

Standard Red Sox destination packages to Japan start at $4,999 and are available now. Upgraded packages, including business class seating on the charter flight, a hotel suite, and premium game tickets, are also available on a limited basis.

For more information, visit redsox.com/redsoxdestinations, call 617-226-6400, or e-mail travel@fenwaysportsgroup.com.

Big in Japan: Sega plans to open mega-arcade in Dubai

by Matthew Firestone on

Here’s a quick question for you:

Name the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions the city of Dubai.

a) Billions and billions of dollars worth of untapped oil reserves
b) Something akin to the Las Vegas of the Arabian Gulf
c) A desert oasis of shopping malls and astronomically expensive hotels
d) More ridiculous bling than the front row of a Ludicrous concert
e) An environmentally unsustainable nightmare built by slave labor

If you answered any or all of the above, by all means you are indeed correct!

However, it is only going to be a few more months before Dubai also boasts what will most likely be the world’s largest video arcade.

Seriously.

From Japan to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sega is about to launch its brand name on the Arab world.

Last week, a representative from the Japanese game company announced that it intends to build a mega-arcade in the Dubai Mall, which will be completed later this year.

Needless to say, Sega also announced that their first mega-arcade in the Middle East will be unlike anything the world has ever seen before.

So, what is the Dubai Mall you ask? Good question!

The Dubai Mall is scheduled to open in late 2008, and when completed, will be the largest mall in the world.

(In a city of gross excess, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise!)

According to Wikipedia, the Dubai Mall is rumored to cover an area of 12.1 million square feet, and will actually be comprised of a dozen smaller malls.

Again, as this is Dubai, keep in mind that ‘small’ is a relative concept.

In total, the Dubai mall will offer 9 million square feet of shopping retail space, and approximately 1200 stores.

In addition to housing the world’s most exclusive brand names, the Dubai Mall will also feature the following absurdities:

– The world’s largest gold souk
– The world’s largest aquarium
– The world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai

We’re not done…

The Dubai Mall will also feature an Olympic-sized ice skating rink and a towering waterfall – keep in mind people that all of this is in the middle of the desert!

And of course, what shopping mall would be complete without a video arcade!

In America, a generation of children grew up playing Sonic the Hedgehog and other titles, though Sega stopped releasing consoles following the relative failure of the Dreamcast in 2001.

However, in 2004 Sega merged with the Sammy Corporation, the world’s largest pachinko machine manufacturer, and has since then focused on arcade theme parks throughout Japan.

Of course, nothing in Japan will stand a chance of comparing with the mega-arcade in the works.

When completed, the new Sega spot will occupy 75,350 square feet spread out over two floors of the shopping mall.

All I can say is that if you’re planning a trip to Dubai in the near future, you had better start saving your quarters!

** Today’s post is dedicated to my wanderlust-ridden sister, who made her brother incredibly jealous of her exploits by partying it up with royalty in Dubai. **

Big in Japan: Monkey brains in North Carolina make a robot walk in Japan

by Matthew Firestone on

Here at Big in Japan, we’re used to reporting all sorts of weird, wacky and wonderful stories from the Land of the Rising Sun.

With that said, today’s posting probably has one of the strangest titles ever to grace the pages at Gadling.

Just in case you’re still scratching your head as to what the title of today’s post means, let me clarify that I couldn’t be any clearer.

Last week, monkey brains in North Carolina actually made a robot walk in Japan.

Seriously.

Since you’re probably confused, doubting, shocked or a combination of all three, allow me to explain what is probably one of the coolest scientific experiments I’ve ever heard about.

According to a press release by the Duke University Medical Center, researchers used a monkey’s brain activity to control the walking patterns of a robot in Japan.

In what is being touted as a major scientific breakthrough, the research team is hoping that their latest work will be used to develop prototypes of robotic leg braces for human use.

Are you awestruck yet? If so, keep reading as this story gets a whole lot cooler!

So, how exactly were the thoughts of a monkey able to make a robot walk? Good question!

(If you’re squeamish or sensitive to animal research, I would recommend that you stop reading at this point.)

In true mad scientist form, a so-called ‘brain-machine interface’ was grafted into the brain cells of two rhesus monkeys.

For the record, a brain machine interface is any system that allows people or animals to use their brain activity to control an external device.

Next, in what must have been an amusing spectacle to watch, the monkeys were places on treadmills and hooked up to sensors in order to determine the relationship between leg movement and brain activity.

Here is where things start to get really cool:

At the same time, these brain signals were collected, fed into the computer and transmitted over a high-speed Internet link to Japan.

The recipient of this information was a robot known as CB (Computational Brain), which has the same range of motion as a human.

As the monkey’s brain signals were streamed into the robot’s actuators, CB walked at exactly the same pace as the monkey.

In fact, computers demonstrated that the monkey’s neurons fired each time it took a step and each time the robot took a step.

According to Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, the Anne W. Deane Professor of Neuroscience at Duke, “They can walk in complete synchronization. The most stunning finding is that when we stopped the treadmill and the monkey ceased to move its legs, it was able to sustain the locomotion of the robot for a few minutes — just by thinking — using only the visual feedback of the robot in Japan.”

Amazing.

Although the initial aim of the research is to create a fully-functional robotic leg brace, the applications for thought-driven motion are infinite.

In other words, for all of you Star Wars fans out there, it looks like we may be just a few short years away from being able to use to Force!

** The monkey in the photo to the right is a female howler, who was spotted by my mother while traveling in Costa Rica. Mom, if you’re reading this, hope you enjoyed the trip! **

Big in Japan: Super-crazy fast electrical cables are awesome

by Matthew Firestone on

Warning: today’s posting might sound a bit technical for those of you out there without degrees in electrical engineering and/or particle physics.

However, bear with me for a few lines as I can assure you that today’s topic is really freaking cool, and will most likely transform your life in the years ahead.

Last week, an official from the Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry announced that they will develop a next-generation power transmission cable with practically zero electrical resistance.

In a word, we are talking about superconductivity.

According to Wikipedia, ‘Superconductivity is a phenomenon occurring in certain materials at extremely low temperatures, characterized by exactly zero electrical resistance and the exclusion of the interior magnetic field.’

If successful, the energy saved by the new cable would be equivalent to a reduction of about 10 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.

Here is the coolest part:

The ministry will be working alongside Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the same people who brought you the Manhattan Project (aka the atomic bomb).

Confused yet? Keep reading and allow me to explain why the future is starting to look a lot brighter for all of us.

For starters, what exactly is superconductivity?

Good question – put on your thinking caps for a moment and let’s see if I can break this supremely complicated topic into more manageable chunks.

For starters, it helps to know that the resistance of a wire decreases gradually as the temperature is lowered.

In traditional wires made of copper, silver and even gold, there is still resistance even as the thermometer approaches absolute zero (the coldest possible temperature).

However, in materials such as tin and aluminum that have the capacity to act as superconductors, the resistance drops to near-zero once it is cooled beyond the critical temperature.

So, what does this mean?

Theoretically, an electrical current flowing in a loop of superconducting wire can persist indefinitely with no power source.

Practically, this means that your electrical bills will be a whole lot cheaper, and we can all start to feel a little bit better about our planet’s rapidly depleting resources.

So, when is this going to happen?

According to officials from the Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, the goal is to have functioning superconductive cables by the year 2020.

At that time, it is estimated that Japan’s entire power transmission network will need to be replaced, though the hope is that antiquated copper wires can be swapped out for energy-efficient superconductive cables.

Presently in Japan, power cables are mostly made out of copper, and lose about 5 percent of electricity transmitted before it reaches its end power user.

However, if conventional cables are replaced with superconducting cables, the minisitry believes that transmission losses could be reduced to about 2 percent.

Although this may sound like a small reduction, we are talking about 20 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, or about 2 percent of all power generated in Japan every year.

That is a lot of neon-light to say the least!

Note: The crazy-cool picture at the top of the post is a magnet levitating about a high-temperature superconductor, cooled with liquid nitrogen.

** All images sourced from the Wikimedia Commons Project. **