Every once in a while, an invention will come along that changes everything. Unfortunately, rarely does that invention come from Japan. More often than not, Japanese inventions walk the line of being helpful for something extremely specific and being completely useless. But God bless ‘em, those Japanese scientists keep churning out these inventions year after year.

Recently, a group of Japanese were recognized for their outstanding work in the field of strange inventions. The infamous Ig Nobel Prize awarded these Japanese inventors for their work on a smoke detector that spews wasabi.

What Is The Ig Nobel Prize?

The Ig Nobel Prize is an annual prize awarded to inventions “that make people laugh then make them think.” These are inventions that won’t necessarily change the world as we know it or cure cancer, but are interesting in their own right in the ways they solve specific, niche problems. In short: this award was basically something created for wacky Japanese scientists like Dr. NakaMats.

The Prize is awarded for lots of different categories which vary from year to year including the typical Nobel Prize categories like peace, literature, and chemistry; but the Ig Nobel Prize can also award prizes for oddly specific categories like public safety, veterinary medicine, and aviation.

The Ig Nobel Prize award ceremony itself is pretty goofy. The Prizes are given away by actual Nobel Laureates, but that’s about the extent of the ceremony’s seriousness. Wacky rituals and running gags punctuate the ceremony, including barrages of paper airplanes flying at the stage and sword swallowing.

Japanese Domination

Not surprisingly, tons of previous winners have been Japanese; you could even say that the Japanese are building a dynasty of Ig Nobel Prize winners. Last year’s Japanese winners were scientists who determined that slime can be used to map out railroad tracks. 2009′s Japanese scientists discovered that kitchen garbage can be shrunk down using bacteria derived from panda poop. The list goes on.

And yes, Dr. NakaMats actually did win an Ig Nobel Prize in 2005 for photographing and analyzing every meal he’s eaten in the last 30 years, a contribution to modern nutrition that won’t soon be forgotten.

The Wasabi Smoke Detector

The Wasabi Smoke Detector won this year’s Ig Nobel Prize for chemistry. So what makes this particular invention so great? Not only was it an achievement for the scientists to get the wasabi to the right consistency to be sprayed out from the smoke detector, but the invention has uses you might not have thought about: it’s a fantastic solution for deaf people who wouldn’t be able to hear a typical fire alarm.

One of the scientists who worked on the project said this upon receiving the prize:

This prize is a gift from the subjects who slept in the examination room and had been choked with [the] pungent smell [that caused] tears and coughing. I do appreciate their courage and cooperation.

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Seriously Japan? Seriously? Every time I think that Japan’s invented the most ridiculous thing, whether it’s a burger made out of poop, sex doll dentistry robot, or a toilet-based video game, Japan just keeps taking it to the next level. All of these inventions are basically past the point of self-parody now.

But now the Japanese company Toto has upped the stakes yet again with their poop-powered motorcycle. Why on earth would anybody think that this is a good idea?

Toto

What is Toto? Before you say anything no, the Toto I’m talking about isn’t the dog from the Wizard of Oz, or the 80s band that had that song “Africa.” If you’ve ever seen or heard of those futuristic Japanese toilets with control panels that heat the seat, generate a courtesy flush noise and have a built-in bidet, it’s probably been made by Toto. In fact, Toto has even trademarked a name for these modern toilet control panels: “washlets.”

#1 sign you’re a foreigner: taking pictures of the toilet.

Not only has Toto conquered the bathroom in Japan, but it’s made a huge dent in the Japanese business world too. Toto is a major Japanese company, part of Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock market, and worth almost US$5 billion.

Waste Not, Want Not

The 3/11 disaster caused a huge energy shortage in Japan. Tons of power plants (including the infamous nuclear plants in Fukushima) were taken out of commission because of the earthquakes and tsunami, so the government began pushing for Japanese companies to cut down on their energy usage.

Companies have done this in lots of different ways. Some companies have used less air conditioning in the summer and encouraged their workers to wear cooler clothes. Toto, on the other hand, set their scientists hard at work in making a poop-powered vehicle.

Well okay, Toto is doing more than just that. The company aims to cut its total emissions by 50% over the next couple of years by doing lots of different things. The poop motorcycle is more of a icon for the whole effort rather than the product of it all.

Toilet Bike Neo Project

“Just a few…more…steps…”

But let’s get down to the motorcycle itself. It’s called the “Toilet Bike Neo Project,”and it’s fueled by “biogas,” a word I can only assume is a euphemism for “lots of poop.” The motorcycle will cruise from a Toto plant in the southern island of Kyushu all the way to Tokyo starting today, October 6. The cycle will ride around for about a month, stopping to educate people on Toto’s conservation efforts and visiting exciting locales such as this butt-shaped rock (yes, I’m serious.)

But that’s not even mentioning the cool features of the Toilet Bike Neo Project. The bike itself has a few novel features that you won’t find on any other poop-powered motorcycle:

Talking Toilet

But it wouldn’t be a Toto toilet unless it was somehow over the top. So that’s why the Toilet Bike Project not only plays music, but also features a talking toilet, complete with a lid that moves up and down like a mouth. All of the childhood nightmares you thought you were long past have culminated into a real-life, ivory terror.

Light Up Messages

Not only does this motorcycle run on biogas, but it has other cool features too. There are a series of LEDs on the side of the motorcycle and a small computer that controls them. As the motorcycle makes its rounds across the country, it can use the LEDs to write messages as it rides on by. It seems that these messages can’t really be seen unless they’re captured by a long-exposure camera, but it’s still a cool effect.

What kind of messages will the Toilet Bike Project spread? I would hope that it would warn people to stay away from the poop bike and its horrible stench, but more realistically, it will probably be used to spread messages about energy conservation and Toto.

Yeah, kind of like that.

You can check out the project’s official site here, or a good write-up on Spoon & Tamago here.

What do you think of this biogas motorcycle? Do you think it can catch on in the real world, or is it just a novelty? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. Are you already building your own poop bike? Tell me on Twitter.
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Japan has never failed to bring the world terrifyingly lifelike humanoid robots. Sometimes I feel like Japan is situated right in the middle of the Uncanny Valley.

But sometimes these freakish inventions can actually do more than scare people. Sometimes these inventions can actually be very helpful, like one of Japan’s newest inventions, the dental robot. This robot helps aspiring dentists learn their craft, but also has a bit of a surprising background.

A long and illustrious line of horrifying dental robots.

Showa University has once again upped the stakes for Japan by producing a robot for dental students to practice on called the Showa Hanako 2. The university, in collaboration with Wasdea and Kogakuin Universities, teamed up with sex doll makers Orient Industries to help construct the Showa Hanako 2, creating the biggest collaboration between educators and perverts since Harvard teamed up with Hugh Hefner.

With the expertise from Orient Industries, Showa University has created a much more lifelike robot than their first attempt at a dental training robot, the Showa Hanako 1, whose wide mouth reminds me more than a little bit of Ichi the Killer:

“Smiles, everyone!”

In fact, this is Showa University’s third generation of dental robot in ten years. Each has been getting more and more lifelike, which I can’t tell is a good or bad thing.

There are lots of features that put the Showa Hanako 2 head and shoulders above other animitronic dental training robots. Showa Hanako 2 can do all of the following:

• Blink
• Talk and understand when someone is talking to it
• Move its motorized tongue
• Cough and sneeze
• Complain about having it mouth open for too long
• React with a gag reflex

Showa Hanako 2 even has a pulse in its right wrist, as if it needed to be more eerily lifelike.

With all of these feature on top of its humanoid appearance, the Showa Hanako 2 is truly cutting edge. You can see it in action as one of its creators talk more about it in this video:

The robot itself may be terrifyingly lifelike and built on pervert technology, but I can definitely get behind the concept. What better way to have dental students practice their craft without giving somebody an accidental root canal? Anything that helps medical professionals become better at what they do is a-okay in my book.

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We’ve all seen the Star Wars Force Trainer as well as many other hands-free devices that allow powerful sorcery to be done simply by the power of one’s brain alone. But have we seen a headband that turns you into a fully functional human sized cat? I think not.

Neurowear’s Necomimi promises to do just that. Well, not really. But almost! The hairband houses sensors that read and interpret the user’s brainwaves, which are then translated into the movement of the attached cat ears. For example, the ears perk up when you are concentrating and flop down again when you are at ease.

Necomimi is a combination of the Japanese words for cat (neko) and ear (mimi), but neco is also short for neuro communication. Pretty clever, no?

The team behind Necomimi consists of a robotics expert, a technology consultant, and an advertising agency. Collectively they have spent over five months developing the product. Brainwave technology used in medical equipment today costs a lot of money, but falling costs as of late have allowed for products such as this to surface. (Furries rejoice!)

As it stands, the product is nothing more than a novelty item. However in the future, similar technology could be used to help mentally and physically disabled people express their feelings and emotions more clearly. There are many other practical applications that could make good use of similar technology as well. Only time will tell what new innovations the future will bring. (Can you say dog ears!?)

So what do you think? Would this be a product you would want to purchase? Do you expect it to catch on? Let us know in the comments below.

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P.P.S. What’s better than liking Tofugu on Facebook? Liking Tofugu On Facebook and following Tofugu on Twitter. Awww yeahhhh.

]]> http://www.tofugu.com/2011/07/27/brain-controlled-cat-ears-the-future-is-here/feed/ 26 http://www.tofugu.com/2011/07/06/going-to-the-bathroom-is-fun-again-with-segas-toirettsu/ http://www.tofugu.com/2011/07/06/going-to-the-bathroom-is-fun-again-with-segas-toirettsu/#comments Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:15:31 +0000 John http://www.tofugu.com/?p=6605

Do you dread having to run to the little boys room? Does going to the toilet leave you bored to tears? Well, no longer! Sega has unveiled its new restroom game that challenges you to pee to the very best of your ability. You’ve been honing these skills your entire life and now you can finally put your abilities to the test. It’s time to break the seal and break some records.

The game is Toirettsu (ト イレッツ) and patrons control the game by peeing on sensors in a urinal (sorry ladies, you’re missing out on this one). The user’s performance is measured by sensors and all the data is displayed on an LCD monitor above the urinal itself. One sensor detects the mighty challenger when he approaches, and a second sensor uses microwave technology to determine the speed of the stream, which in turn determines the pace of the game.

The line-up so far includes three different game modes. Two single-player modes will have you cleaning up graffiti and gusting wind at a girl to blow off her dress (only in Japan, folks, only in Japan). As for multiplayer, your urinating power is measured against those of previous users and is represented by milk streams being shot from opposing characters’ noses. A winner is determined when one character is blown out of the ring by the other character’s unrelenting milk-powered nose laser.

Sega is focusing mainly on dining and drinking establishments since their patrons frequent the restroom quite often. They believe that goal-oriented games will keep restrooms cleaner by encouraging patrons to actually aim inside the urinal. (Imagine that!) We’re not so sure that this will be the case; after all, a long night of drinking can be detrimental to your aim. And how many times will someone toss his Wii-(pun intended)-mote in frustration after failing to beat a high score?

Regardless of whether or not it will keep restrooms cleaner, it will most certainly make taking a trip to the toilet more enjoyable. Toirettsu is slated for commercial release in Japan sometime in November, and will cost establishments ¥140,000 (~$1745) for the hardware, and ¥10,000 (~$125) for each game mode.

So what do you think? Will this idea catch on? Will we ever see similar restroom games stateside? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Would you love to see this at your local watering hole? Follow Tofugu on Twitter.

Do you refuse to use public bathrooms no matter how fun they are? Then you should like Tofugu on Facebook.

What if I told you the image above was poop? Would you eat it, even if it tasted like meat? Luckily for you, the image above is not poop – it’s just regular old meat (how boring!). Despite having perfectly good, poop-free meat (like the image above), Japanese scientist Mitsuyuki Ikeda has come up with a way to turn human feces (from sewage mud) and turn it into steak. How / why is would anyone do this? No, seriously. WHY!?

How To Make Poop Burgers

I’m sure it’s harder than it sounds, but here’s the recipe on how to make steak for your poop burgers (I know you’re dying to try something new for that upcoming barbecue!).

1. Find some sewage with a bunch of human waste in it.
2. Extract the protein from said human waste (it has a lot of protein because of all the bacteria).
3. Add a reaction enhancer.
4. Put it in an “exploder.”
5. Watch tasty meat appear before your eyes!

The meat itself is made up of 63% proteins, 25% carbohydrates, 9% minerals, and 3% lipids. In order to make it taste and look better, they add some red food coloring and some soy protein. Apparently, people actually think it tastes like real meat.

So, why in the world would you want to make, let alone eat, poop burgers? First of all, it’s good for the environment. Cows supposedly cause around 18 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions. On top of that, it will help with the whole “Sewage Mud” thing (and having too much of it). In fact, Ikeda was originally contacted by Tokyo Sewage because they wanted to do something with all their crap.

If that doesn’t do it for you, then also know that Ikeda’s meat is better for you too (less fat). Right now, the poop-meat costs 10-20 times more than regular meat, but eventually he hopes to bring the price down to make it comparable to regular meat. The only question is, will people actually eat it, knowing how it’s made? If it tasted the same, I’d probably give it a shot. It seems sanitary, and everything is killed anyways. My only concern is the taste. Maybe if they serve it to people who don’t know that it’s made from poop proteins.

So what about you? Would you eat a poop burger? What kind of side would you get with it? Important questions for an important topic…

[Source]

From left to right: Dr. NakaMats, Dr. NakaMats.

Who would you say is the greatest inventor of all time? It’s kind of a tricky question. When you say “inventor,” most people think of Thomas Edison, or those late night infomercials that supposedly help aspiring inventors patent their creations. I just found out the other day that the greatest inventor of all time is not only alive, but still working hard in Japan. His name? Yoshiro Nakamatsu:

The Greatest Inventor of All Time

Thomas Edison I’m happy for you, imma let you finish, but Dr. NakaMats is one of the greatest inventors of all time!

He recently caught my attention when I saw a trailer for a documentary about Japan’s foremost inventor, “The Invention of Dr. NakaMats”:

Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu prefers to be called Dr. NakaMats. He says that an eight letter name is easier to remember than a nine letter name, but don’t ask me why he capitalizes the M. The enigmatic octogenarian inventor is a bit of a minor celebrity, dressing in extravagant suits, and is the host of the World Genius Convention. He even has his own theme song! Who exactly is this strange man? How did he get to where he is today?

The House That Floppy Disk Built

One of his greatest claims to fame is the invention of the floppy disk (remember those?) more than fifty years ago. He’s even made a floppy disk the front gate to his house:

His house, a den of invention, looks more like a funhouse than your typical Japanese home. Full of fake doors, a gold-plated bathroom (he claims that the gold blocks out all outside distractions), and a showroom of all of his inventions, Dr. NakaMats’ house is probably one of the coolest places in all of Japan.

Go inside and you’ll find a 60 year history of the inventions of the greatest inventor of all time. He claims that his first invention came when he was just five years old, and he’ll be happy to show you a picture of a kindergarten-age Dr. NakaMats with his first invention. He says he gets his best thinking done in his pool, where he jots down flashes of inspiration on a waterproof pencil and notepad – his own invention, of course. Dr. NakaMats might spend a few minutes relaxing in Cerebrex, a recliner of his own creation which he claims a “130% increase of all power,” whatever that means.

Cerebrex, hard at work

You Are What You Eat

Dr. NakaMats taken a picture of every meal he’s eaten for over thirty years, which isn’t as impressive as you may think because he only eats one meal a day. He claims that through his daily regimen of diet and exercise, he will live to the ripe old age of 144.

Dr. NakaMats has also tried his hand at cooking, inventing his own line of supposedly brain-enhancing foods. The Travel Channel show Bizarre Food, in its visit to Japan, paid Dr. NakaMats a visit and sampled some of his brain food, including patented crackers and curry filled with “nano particles.”

Is He For Real?

Trust me baby, I’m a doctor

However, some of Dr. NakaMats’ claims seem a little questionable. IBM says that it invented the floppy disk on its own with no help from the good doctor. And a lot of his claims – like that he was the guest of honor at a dinner party thrown by the U.S. president, that cities around the world celebrate “Dr. NakaMats Day,” or that he has patented the most inventions of any person ever – are all pretty false.

But that hasn’t stopped Dr. NakaMats from continuing to experiment, invent and just do his own thing. Dr. NakaMats was a recipient of the 2005 Ig Nobel Prize, a prize given out every year for weird, off-the-wall unusual scientific discoveries, for his ongoing documentation about the food he eats. He’ll be happy to show off his collection of trophies and awards, but you might not want to quiz him about their validity.

All that being said, though, he is the proud owner of many patents and inventions. Here are some of the coolest ones.

Underwater Pencil and Notepad

As I said before, Dr. NakaMats gets some of his best thinking done underwater. His theory is that too much oxygen is bad for the brain, and that the best insight comes when your brain is so oxygen-deprived that you’re 0.5 seconds away from dying. He also believes that these flashes of insight are temporary, and you have to write them down immediately or they’ll slip away. Hence, he invented his own waterproof pencil and notepad so he could jot down those brilliant ideas before they disappear

Self-Defense Wig

Have you ever been walking alone down a dark street late at night, and wished that you had something to keep you safe? Something like mace, or a taser, or maybe martial arts lessons? Dr. NakaMats can do you one better. His self-defense wig can protect you from any potential attackers, as long as you’re wearing the hair piece. As the patent application above shows, it’s an easy and effective tool to stopping assailants dead in their tracks. Well, maybe not, but it’s kind of nifty anyway.

Pyon Pyon Flying Shoes

This is probably the most fun invention Dr. NakaMats has ever created. These “Pyon Pyon” shoes can makes you bound across distances with the greatest of ease, or jump really high like the good doctor above is doing. It looks like a lot of fun, and it can be yours for the low, low price of $180 on Dr. NakaMats’ site.

Golf Putter

Some people learn game theory, I want to learn grip theory

Dr. NakaMats will be the first person to tell you that he’s pretty bad at golf. But while some people might improve their golf game with long hours of practice on the links, Dr. NakaMats did what he does best: invented a solution. A different grip and a different head supposedly make it much easier to putt than with a normal putter.

Dr. NakaMats might not have the most patents of anyone in the history of the world, and his inventions might not be the most practical, but in my book he’s still one of the coolest, weirdest inventors of all time.

P.S.: You can follow Dr. NakaMats on Twitter or better yet, you should follow Tofugu on Twitter if you aren’t already!

The most important part is the top left. That baby’s never been happier!

Basically, what you do is you stick the soft end in the baby’s sloppy, gushing nose and put the other end in your mouth. Luckily there is an easy to clean bottle between you and your child’s snot factory, but what seems to be missing is the brown paper bag for when you have to throw up. Maybe that will appear in version two. If you’d like to see the product “live” on video, go ahead and read more:

If you like this video, then check out Zenhill’s other stuff!

I really want to know about the market research before the Mama Hanamizu Totte was released. Granted, Japan is a pretty sexist society, but I love how papa is left completely free of responsibility when it comes to sucking baby’s brains out. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a Papa Hanamizu Totte. I guess papa is busy enough slapping his children for kanchoing him in the butt.

Luckily, as long as your child is old enough (or you’re brave enough), you can do a thing called “self mucus sucking.” Strangely, I found a couple of Japanese blogs that talked a little about this. Unfortunately, the children doing it don’t seem to have the right idea. They try though:

Stay away mom. I don’t want another lobotomy. (Source)

I can’t figure out why it isn’t working…oh wait, that’s because both tubes are in the same nostril. (Source)

Here Mommy! Now that I’ve put both tubes in my nose you try to do it! (Source)

In all honesty, though, this is another one of those genius Japanese products. Have you ever seen the book “Crazy Japanese Inventions?” (or something like that) This really feels like one of those except so much better. No more raw noses from blowing. No more clogged noses…even the toughest clogs can be torn right out of your inner sanctum with one sharp swig on the ‘ol hanamizu totte. Still, something like this would never sell over here. It’s not a pill so us American’s won’t deal with it.

So, what do you think? Would you use it? Just imagine your mom trying to pull this on you in public.