Citizen's Seismic Watch earthquake warning system

citizen_seismic_watch.jpgThis chunky man’s watch features an Earthquake Early Warning radio receiver inside it, so if the roof’s about to cave in you’ll have a chance to put some clothes on so you’re not dragged out of the rubble naked on live TV.

The EEW warning system will be broadcast via radio waves, hopes Citizen, with the radio system faster than other…

Korea/Japan Week: KDDI's waterproof digital TV phone that works underwater

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“Who would like to watch TV while they’re in the bath?” asked a chap from Japanese operator KDDI, during his presentation this morning at the company’s Design Studio in Tokyo. Er…

Anyway, it was a cue to show off the W53SA phone, which lets you watch 1seg digital TV (that’s the Japanese standard), but is also fully waterproof, so works even when you dunk it in a big bowl of water. Which I proceeded to do:

Korea/Japan Week: Contrary to popular belief, the Japanese Agriculture Ministry is not in charge of Gundam :(

wikipedia-gundam.pngLast night I thought Kim Jong-Il’s comment boasting that he was an ‘internet expert’ was one of the best quotes that’s come out of this Korea/Japan Week we’re having here at Tech Digest, but I’ve discovered something even better, courtesy of Tokyo Mango, Japanese expert.

It appears that Japanese government bureaucrats may be the most obsessed Gundam fans in the world, as an internal investigation in the agriculture ministry has uncovered six staff members spend most of their time editing Gundam entries on Wikipedia rather than working on farming issues. They…

Indulge your bubble-wrap popping tendencies with Bandai's Mugen Puchi Puchi

bubble-wrap-game.jpgHands up who enjoys popping bubble-wrap? Oh hai, all of you? Thought so. The past-time which is only just eclipsed by folding tent rods up, and scraping burnt bits off toast over the sink has just been made into a little electronic gizmo, which lucky OCD-ridden Japanese can get from Bandai when it launches shortly.

Like a game of Russian Roulette, every 100 squeezes of the air bubbles produces a random noise like the sound of a fart, or a woman ‘moaning in ecstasy’. Fear not commuters, as if you simply must pop the electronic bubble-wrap on the train,..