Tokyo may be the capital of Japan but that doesn’t mean that it’s the only city allowed to enjoy an awesome 1:1 giant robot displayed for it’s inhabitants to go crazy over. It may have  a 18 meter 35 tonne Gundam but Kobe is getting it’s own 18 meter giant robot named Tetsujin 28-go that outweighs the puny RX-78 Gundam at 50 tonnes.

Tetsujin 28-go

According to Wikipedia Tetsujin 28-go (Iron Man #28) is a manga from the mid 50’s which features the giant robot that was supposed to save Japan from defeat in World War II, by the time it was completed however the war was over and Japan had lost so what does it end up doing?…fighting criminals and other giant robots of course. Tetsujin 28-go was the the first manga to feature a giant robot and it’s illustrator Mitsuteru Yokoyama who passed away a few years ago was born in Kobe. Unlike the giant Gundam in Odaiba this one will not have any moving parts but the trade off is that Iron Man #28 will be a PERMANENT statue! Official unveiling is expected to be in September, check out the video after the jump. read full post…

Firefox 3.5 was released with a long list of new features, functions, updates and tweaks. I’ve been taking the new version for a spin for the past day and I love it so far. The upgrade process was nice and easy but a few plugins were not supported yet.

While checking the stats for this blog recently I realized that Firefox is now the browser most used to visit this site. Not surprising as most of my visitors young tech savvy persons. There is a breakdown of the  browsers used to access Jamaipanese.com further down in this post. So if you are a Firefox user reading this and have yet to upgrade to Firefox 3.5 do so now. It’s faster, now offers private browsing and a host of security features. Check out the video below for a quick overview on what’s new in Firefox 3.5. read full post…

Japan keeps coming up with more and more exotic uses for technology, but what might seem strange and almost humorous now might be something massive in the future. Take the i-Real from Toyota as an example, two years ago it was revealed to the world and now it is in use in one of Japans airports to emergency medical kits and computers that will allow airport staff to check flight schedules for passengers

About the i-REAL

i-REAL is a single-person concept vehicle that explores the possibilities of personal mobility, and is the latest in a succession of models that include the PM, i-unit, and i-swing. The “REAL” portion of the name represents the pursuit to convert advanced R&D into an actual electric vehicle. read full post…

K-ON! is one of those anime you end up watching after hearing everybody talking about it and seeing it being mentioned everywhere. I initially overlooked it when compiling my spring 2009 anime watchlist but eventually got caught up in the tsunami of hype surrounding this show and decided to get a first hand look at what everyone was talking about.

From left to right Ritsu, Yui, Tsumugi and my beloved Mio

K-ON! is an ongoing Japanese four-panel comic strip manga about four female teenagers who after starting high school come together to join their school’s light music or popular music club in order to save it from being abolished due to the lack of members. The four girls are Yui – an easily distracted bundle of energy who plays lead guitar, Mio – the very cute but shy lefthander who plays bass guitar, Ritsu – the club president with energy levels rivaling Yui’s who plays the Drums and Tsumugi – a dumb but filthy rich blonde that cooks very well and plays the keyboard. read full post…

I haven’t been reading as much as I used to lately. In between work, video games, anime, blogging, TV, the internet and other activities I don’t have much time left for reading anymore. Since meeting Sachiyo-san and acquiring a copy of her book about gender and sexuality in Jamaica I have found myself reading more and more. I have decided to devote at least 30 minutes each night before going to bed to reading. My usual bed time on work nights is midnight so if you see me on twitter twittering after 11:30pm (EST) be sure to give me a twitterific kick in the nuts and remind me that it’s reading time.

Japan: An Illustrated History – cover

After finishing the last few pages of Sachi’s book I will move on to a book I bought recently online called Japan an Illustrated History that covers the entire history of Japan from it’s earliest inhabitants right up to the Showa era that ended in 1989. I bought it with money left over from buying a bunch of journalism related books for another of my online projects @ Jamaicapage.com which I have recently started to take more seriously. Feel free to recommend other Japan related books, novels, magazines or even photobooks that I might find interesting by leaving a comment below. read full post…

The government of Japan is planning to introduce a point system for foreigners wishing to live and work in Japan similar to ones already used in Britain, Canada and other countries. Developed countries are competing for the skills of well educated and qualified professionals but Japan is often criticized for not doing enough to attract or retain enough skilled foreign workers to compliment it’s workforce.

The Diet Building is where the Japanese government meets – photo by no_typographic_man

The proposed point system will evaluate foreigners and score them by their qualifications, working careers, research achievements and other qualities and to give preferential treatment when their points exceed a certain level. For persons like me who are planning to live and work in Japan in the future should keep an eye on the progress of this. read full post…

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was my  most anticipated movie off my must watch summer 2009 movie list. After going into the first Transformers movie and being pleasantly surprised I no doubt had high expectations for the sequel. Unfortunately Transformers 2 wasn’t a movie I enjoyed very much and in fact I am quite disappointed.

Plot

Two years have gone by since the happenings of the first transformers movie. Starscream has high tailed it to space, Megatron is dead and the rest of the Deceptions are scattered and in hiding while being hunted down by Autobots and a special team of American and British soldiers called NEST. New Autobots have arrived on earth to help to protect it and all is well until Megatron is revived and his master, the last of the “fallen” ones is revealed along with his plan to destroy Earth. read full post…

Bing is the new internet search engine from Microsoft, it replaces Live Search, MSN search and Windows Live Search to become their only web search engine offering. Internet addicts and tech news geeks should be aware of the arrival of Bing in early June but feedback and acceptance of Bing has been mixed. Contrary to what many might thing (or want you to think) Bing is much more than MSN or Live search with a new coat of paint, it is a complete rework from the ground up and I am a big fan.

Bing homepage on Father’s day showing a photo of a lion and a cub

Firstly let me say I am not search engine expert but I am a technical user with experience as a website/blog developer and a heavy user of search engines to find what I need online. I have made a list below of some of the features and reasons I enjoy using Bing. read full post…

Eden of the East (Higashi no Eden) is the type of anime that I wouldn’t watch under normal circumstances, but after being recommended repeatedly by friends and then impressing me during the first couple episodes I continued to watch this series which is now at an end, well kinda, more on  that further down.

Akira Takizawa is the main character and a really cool dude

Missile Strikes and a Naked Billionaire

10 missiles strike Japan in an apparent terrorist attack resulting in no loss of life but massive property damage. The attack is branded as “Careless Monday”. Saki Morimi is in Washington DC celebrating her recent graduation from college when he clumsiness results in her having a run in with the police. A naked man armed with a cellphone and a pistol appears out of nowhere and causes a disturbance which distracts the cops. Saki assists the stranger who has seemingly lost his memory but soon finds clues to his real name Akira Takizawa. He has no idea how he ended up in America with a over 8 billion yen in digital cash charged to his cellphone engraved with the term “Noblisse Olige” and so he and Saki return to Japan to try to understand the mystery. read full post…

I Survived a Japanese Game Show is a hilarious, fun to watch and quirky television show that premiered on ABC last June. I had no idea such a show was on TV and for almost a year and throughout the first season and a half this show went on without my knowledge. That where the beauty of Twitter comes in again as fellow tweeter Miss Browning gave me the link to the entire first season of I Survived a Japanese Game Show on Youtube and I have been hooked every since.

The 10 contestants and the host at the start of Season one

I Survived a Japanese Game Show is an award winning American reality show. Ten Americans from all over the country leave the United States and arrive in Japan where they compete in a crazy Japanese style game show where the winner goes home with US $250,000 and the honour of saying “I Survived a Japanese Game Show”. Throughout the 7 episodes that make of season 1 I enjoyed myself watching the contestants competing in extremely funny challenges that had me in stitches. Challenges like “big bug splat on a windshield”, “sticky sticky bang bang” and my personal favourite “squishy squishy!” read full post…