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Pink Tentacle

Decorated trains in JapanDecember 2

Of the countless trains running on Japan’s 20,000-kilometer (12,000-mile) rail network, a few are decorated with images of anime and manga characters, colorful ads, and designs by notable artists. Here is a small sample.

Pikachu on Seto line, Aichi prefecture

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Galaxy Express 999 train, Furusato-Ginga line, Hokkaido [Photo]

Characters from Leiji Matsumoto’s “Galaxy Express 999″ anime/manga adorn this train that used to run on the Furusato-Ginga line in Hokkaido. The train line closed down in 2006.

Galaxy Express 999 train, Furusato-Ginga line, Hokkaido [More photos]

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Pink ninja train, Iga line, Mie prefecture [Photo]

Matsumoto also created a series of ninja train designs for the Iga line in Mie prefecture, the birthplace of ninjutsu.

Blue ninja train, Iga line, Mie prefecture [Photo]

Here’s some video of the ninja trains cruising the Mie countryside:

Motoman industrial robot cooks okonomiyakiNovember 27

The multi-talented Motoman SDA10, a dexterous dual-arm industrial robot manufactured by Yaskawa Electric, is demonstrating its ability to cook okonomiyaki at the International Next-Generation Robot Fair now underway in Osaka.

Designed to operate independently alongside humans in the workplace, the 135-centimeter (4.5 ft) tall, 220-kilogram (480 lb) industrial robot has 15 joints — 7 in each arm and one in the torso — allowing a wide range of motion for the job, whether it be on the factory floor or behind the kitchen counter.

Video: Pulsar +November 26

+ Pulsar (1990)

Milky white blockheads, lizardmen and assorted geometrical objects get their wiggle on in this quirky stop-motion animation short by Katsushi Bowda.

For an extra dose, see Bowda’s surreal sequence from Winter Days, a 2003 collaborative animated film based on a renku (collaborative poem) by 17th-century Japanese poet Bashō.

+ Winter Days / Fuyu no hi [19]

Japanese blood mascotsNovember 21

They may be cute, but they thirst for blood. These official mascot characters are tasked with recruiting blood donors in Japan.

Japan’s most well-known blood donation mascot is Kenketsu-chan (”blood donation girl”), a little pixie with big shiny drops of blood for ears. Kenketsu-chan is the official blood donation mascot of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, which maintains a website devoted to the character.

Kenketsu-chan

From the site, we know that Kenketsu-chan’s ears shrink when she runs low on blood, but return to their original size when people donate. We also know that she comes from Tasuke Island (Help Island), which features a heart-shaped spring at its center. The spring shoots forth rainbows that carry Kenketsu-chan to wherever people need blood.

As the Japanese government’s official blood donation mascot, Kenketsu-chan is often seen working alongside the nation’s numerous regional mascots.

Kokoron-chan

The blood donation mascot of Iwate prefecture is Kokoron-chan, whose nam

1,000 Paro robots migrating to DenmarkNovember 20

The largest-ever migration of baby harp seal robots from Japan is about to begin, following an agreement by Denmark to purchase 1,000 of them for use in health care facilities. Paro, a human-interactive robotic seal developed by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), has scientifically demonstrated the ability to elicit emotions, activate the mind and calm nerves in patients at hospitals and nursing homes, earning it the Guinness title of “world’s most therapeutic robot.” Although the well-traveled Paro now resides at welfare institutions in more than 20 nations around the world, the Danish government is the first organization to make a large-scale purchase. Denmark aims to have the Paro robots in their new homes by 2011.

[Sources: Jiji, Chunichi]