Tsundere lottery game is mean to you for fun

We noticed Tsundere among other otaku female icons like the maid and the faithful little sister in the Puchi Moe unlimited bubble wrap—in fact, hers was the first to sell out. We hear she even has her own café.

Now a new lottery game features her tough but sweet visage and the voice of famous anime voice artist Rie Kugimiya.

The slots-like game, from game rental company Techno Top, is a standing machine of the kind that shows up at events and festivals. The gist of the game is to line up the animated spinning dials by pressing the buttons below each one, which we’re pretty sure has much more to do with randomness than good timing. But that’s beside the point, the appeal is in the character tie-in.

When the player misses the Tsundere character becomes tsuntsun and when the player hits the mark she becomes deredere.

In case this is new to you, to be tsuntsun means to be cold and aloof and to be deredere means to be affectionate. Someone who is tsundere is often hot and cold, and these are just the qualities that the character embodies, which is thought to be moe (cute in an otaku kind of way).

Just in case you were wondering what the next big thing is after maids!

Tags: anime, moe, otaku, tsundere

Veggie Vendor for busy city slickers

Sven shot these photos and sent them to me, and I assumed immediately that they were from his recent trip out into the countryside. I was wrong.

After all the fuss we’ve made lately about vending machines dispensing Smart Cars, to our PingMag Vending Machine Extravaganza, it’s actually a bit shocking to see something so basic made available in this way.

Yes, this is a vending machine in Tokyo that dispenses fresh vegetables. Not sure on whether it’s refrigerated or not, but when it’s 3 a.m. and you’re fiending for some broccoli, I doubt you’ll care too much.

Of course, in the end this is all about convenience. Commuters on their way home can grab some fresh goods without stopping by the market, and the prices seem reasonable enough. Once someone figures out how to grow the produce inside from the beginning we’ll be well on our way to vending machine farms dotting the roadways. Perhaps live chickens selling eggs?

Tags: Vegetables, Vending Machines

Eco home innovations from Mitsui

From June 26, major developer Mitsui Home will begin offering an eco-friendly construction option that will reduce yearly home CO2 emissions by up to 42% compared to standard home construction practices.

The design employs energy efficiency measures such as using 2×6 beams instead of the usual 2×4 and argon gas filled windows in order to improve insulation, plus a low energy-loss ventilation system. The resulting energy efficient home would produce only 998kg of CO2 gas a year, sparing the efforts of the equivalent of 74 Japanese beech trees to absorb the CO2 and saving 349 liters of gas.

The plan is available for homes more than 42 tsubo (3.31 square meters) at a cost of 25,000 per tsubo.

Japan has the technology to push construction in general to the next level, as exemplified by the model for the Eco&Ud house (pictured below) Panasonic released in 2006 and the almost C02-free model house created in cooperation with more than 50 companies on display at this summer’s G8 summit in Hokkaido; however, we hope that plans like the one above from Mitsui Homes will mean more environmentally conscious development for the mainstream population rather than just showcase pieces.

Meanwhile, Mitsui Real Estate Residential is releasing the “Save Earth Display” in cooperation with Tokyo Gas from July 1. The device shows the energy consumption level (and cost) from your home gas use and is based on the idea that being aware of your energy use tends to lower consumption by 5-10%.

The indicators will be first introduced at the Park Homes residential complex in Meguro and gradually make appearances in new developments around Tokyo. With slogans like “Save Earth” (and a product debuting in fashionable Meguro no less) and Mitsui Home’s “Make LOHAS with Mitsui Home” these new projects tap nicely into the trendy eco boom.

Tags: development, Eco, LOHAS, Mitsui Home, Mitsui Residential

Eki Tama and train station kiosk innovations

Here is a surreal take on the fast food stand: Tamachi’s station’s new Eki Tama (“station egg”).

This minimal, spacey pod designed by Osaka based Graf and developed by Ecute serves up designer hotdogs and is, appearance-wise, light years away from your average station kiosk or coffee shop.

Tamachi is a relatively high-traffic station near Shinagawa where lots of medium-sized companies have their offices, and in addition to appealing to the local lunching crowd of office workers, the Eki Tama gives Tamachi station a unique talking point to the tune of, “hey since we have to go to Tamachi today for that meeting let’s get food at that egg thing we saw on TV.”

If you spend enough time going to various stations around Tokyo (or enough time watching TV shows that do this traveling for you) you’ll notice that most of them have their unique points. I am personally fond of the okonomiyaki filled taiyaki at Sasazuka station, the cold coffee in glass bottles from the Green Farm at Shibuya station, and often wonder if I’ll ever catch anyone using the umbrella vending machine at Suidobashi station.

Yotsuya Sanchome station recently made a name for itself by becoming the first vending point in Japan for the latest food craze, “Hole’d Baguettes.”

This Danish food innovation involves piercing a sandwich-sized chunk of baguette and filling in the hole with some variety of meat, cheese, etc. Hole’d Baguettes is planning to start a franchise this year, but until then, we’ll have to come up with an excuse to visit Yotsuya Sanchome.

Tags: food, Train Stations

Kosaku Shima sponsorships, supplements for salarymen

Kosaku Shima is the new face for Suntory’s The Premium Malt’s beer. The attractive, ever-youthful Mr. Shima is not a movie star, rather he is the protagonist from the immensely popular manga “Shima Kosaku.”

Often considered the “businessman’s bible,” the manga series by Kenshi Hirokane has followed the trials of the charmed Shima from the bubble-era through the recession and into the present day. Since debuting in 1983, the hero has made his way up the ladder in the fictional Hatsushiba Electric Company, always managing somehow to come out on top of every situation.

While the story is obviously an idealized portrayal of Japanese corporate life, the details are based in real life, which accounts for a lot of the manga’s popularity. It is no surprise then that Shima would drink Premium Malts, the beer of choice served at most high class night spots.

Lest you question Shima’s cultural importance, it should be noted that when he was finally named president of the company earlier this spring, Japan’s largest newspaper, the Yomiuri, ran an article on the subject as if it were a real news story.

Meanwhile, Takara Tomy Wellness has announced plans for what might be the most clever niche supplement yet: Shima Kosaku-themed supplements intended for the ubiquitous salaryman.

Available in three varieties, designed for specific situations (receiving and entertaining clients, business negotiations, and extreme pressure) the campaign hints not so subtly that these supplements will bring out the inner Shima in the ordinary businessman. Each packet also contains one of 30 “business cards” with a printed QR code leading to additional mobile web contents.

The Shima Kosaku supplement series, available from June 23, is the first product to be released by Takara Tomy Wellness, a supplement and nutrition product subsidiary of the toy maker giant formed in December of 2007.

Tags: beer, manga, nutrition, QR Codes, Shima Kosaku, Suntory, supplements, Takara Tomy

Shava Dava, Uchi Gochi, drink names explained

Some of our favorite convenience store products have some pretty funny names, like “Crunky” chocolate and “Pocky” biscuits. In many cases however these names are not just catchy, but evocative of a sound: “Crunky,” the sound of the crispy chocolate being crunched and “Pocky,” the sound of the crisp biscuit stick being snapped in two.

Another example is “shava dava,” a jazzy sound reminiscent of scatting in music and the name of a new beverage from Kirin.

The sparkling beverage is flavored with grapefruit juice and vinegar (vinegar in small doses diluted is a common health drink in Japan). According to the press release, the name “Shava Dava” is meant to allude to the sound of the drink’s fizzing bubbles and give the product a cool image to appeal to concerning adult customers.

Shava Dava is an example of the repetitive onomotopeia common in the Japanese language. Words like “goro goro” (the sound of lying about the house) and “kira kira” (the sound of sparkling) are two oft-heard examples.

Mercian’s latest Uchi Gochi wine series is a play on words created to sound like the examples above (and thus appeal to Japanese ears) but is actually a condensed version of the phrase “uchi gohan gochisou,” which translates roughly to “eat at home.”

The wine series, which includes two reds and a white, is designed to suit traditional home-cooked meals. Meanwhile, the website is full of advice for how to pair wine and foods, like matching the smooth, slightly sweet red with a traditional favorite like ginger grilled pork.

While the Japanese have been regularly drinking wine out for years, the idea of drinking at home, especially because wine can be a tough match for many traditional dishes, is still relatively uncommon.

Tags: beverages, FMGC, Kirin, Mercien, Wine

Long-distance romance RPG for mobiles

Softbank has announced that a long-distance romance role-playing game for mobile phones, called, amusingly, the “Marginal Prince” from Serendipity will be available this month for users of the latest phone models. The game has become immensely popular since it was released exclusively on Docomo a few years ago.

What exactly is a long distance romance role-playing game, you ask? Here is the premise: Your little brother Youta is studying abroad at a mysterious all-boys academy, St. Alphonso, on the remote and secluded foreign island of the same name. Youta happens to be the only boy at school with a mobile phone (the most high-tech Japanese mobile equipped with one-seg TV capability no less) which makes him very popular with his classmates who are eager to talk to people from the outside world, especially you, most likely a teenage or 20-something girl.

As you, the user, navigate the game, Youta introduces you to these “Marginal Princes,” and if you find one to your liking you can engage in a more romantic conversation, with the goal of acquiring love points in the form of letters or love songs.

If you can think of a better way to while away your morning commute or the wait at the doctor’s office, we’d like to hear about it.

Tags: Docomo, Mobile, RPGs, Softbank

Noodle News: newspaper tie-ins, heat therapy, tomatoes

Noodles, like beverages or snack foods, undergo constant reinvention in order to one-up the competition. With collaborations being the name of the current game, food manufacturer Kinrei has made an unlikely alliance with the popular Sunday Mainichi Weekly tabloid magazine.

The packaged cold noodles, Hakodate Flavor Salt Ramen, boasts of a broth made of kelp from the southern Hokkaido waters and 100% natural salt from the northern Okhotsk Sea among the ingredients. The soup was created by researching ramen and its production in the Hakodate region, the port town in southern Hokkaido famed for its ramen. An article about this process appears in the June 22 edition of the Sunday Mainichi Weekly, in addition to receiving the approval of the magazine staff.

Meanwhile, Nangatanien takes the niche route in offering “Cold Proof” cup noodle series that targets women who are sensitive to the cold with copious amounts of body warming ginger. New flavors for summer include the tempting Ginger Hot and Sour Vermicelli, Ginger Dan Dan Vermicelli, Ginger Coconut Curry Noodles, and Ginger Pork Soup Noodles.

Ms. Cold Proof, the character on the female friendly pink and black package, gets a seasonal change of clothes as well.

Another recent strategy is using local flavors, such as the Tomato Noodle series created from the Ichikai Commerce Association.

Ichikai, a town in Tochigi Prefecture, is an area known for growing plump, juicy tomatoes. The series includes ramen, udon, and yaki soba (all of which have a slightly reddish color and tangy tomato taste) and is intended as a souvenir for visitors to the region.

Considering the diverse packaged noodle options, we wonder how long one can go eating them everyday without repeating a flavor. There must be someone on the internet doing this, we just haven’t found him or her yet.

Tags: FMCG, ramen, Regionalism

Tokyo Toy Show 2008 with video and photos

As promised, and just like last year, we’re covering the annual Tokyo Toy Show with lots of video and photos to keep your toy and gadget-minded brains busy.

This year, as we’ve written about extensively in the past, almost every major toy manufacturer was knee-deep in toys that either help you cook, make characters out of food, or are dessert-related in some decorative way. Toy Show 2007 had air guitars, 2008 has the cutest little lunch in the whole wide world.

As has been the production trend in recent years, there’s an even bigger focus on so-called “adult toys”, meaning creating fun lifestyle goods for a population that is increasingly older. We’ll cover all the goods after we sort it all out. In the meantime, enjoy our short video overview!

Tags: Tokyo Toy Show, Toys

Asahi beer can celebrates Tokyo Sky Tree

Following the announcement from Tobu Railways that the name of the new Tokyo Tower would be the Tokyo Sky Tree, Asahi Beer released plans for a limited edition Asahi Super Dry can featuring the tower and an image of the future skyline.

This actually makes sense considering that Asahi headquarters (also housed in a designer building with controversial appeal, Philippe Starck’s Flamme d’Or known colloquially as the golden turd) are located in Sumida Ward, the location of the new tower.

While many Tokyoites feel a strong attachment to the original iconic 50 year old Tokyo Tower, it seems that Asahi is banking on the public warming up to the new, far more sexy one. Construction of the digital broadcast tower, initiated by NHK and five other broadcasting companies and built on Tobu railway land, began this year and is scheduled to be completed in 2011.

When finished, the 610.58 meter (2,003 ft) Tokyo Sky Tree will be the tallest structure in the city and include offices, shops, and restaurants, plus two observation decks. Asahi, however, works a little faster, the Super Dry Sky Tree can, will be available in the Tokyo area for a limited time from July 23rd.

Tags: Asahi, beer, FMCG, tobu, tokyo sky tree