(photo by antjeverena)

m(_ _)m  – I’m sorry. If you look good you’ll see a man nodding his head.

(^_^)/ – I’m excited.

(^_^;) – I’m uncomfortable/embarrassed. A man with a drop of sweat on his face.

(>^_^)> ( ;_;) <(^_^<) – several emoticons together meaning two friends hugging their crying friend, or actually laughing at him.

Sometimes only the eyes express the feelings of you the one you talk to.

>_<  – Something on my mind.

T_T – crying.

@_@ – puzzled.

=^.^= – a cat.

Know of any more funny Japanese emoticons? share in the comments.

The new survival gear for cats and dogs from Rinkya offers a life saving vest for your beloved pet. This is not just a shiny outfit for Lassie, but also flame resistant. You also get specially packed water bags and biscuits so your pet can have something to chew on, while you run away from disaster area.

As a bonus you get also aromatherapy oils to calm your pet during disaster. The price will surely get you anxious: $375 and it’s yours.

More photos of the Japanese survival gear:

[Product Page] via [Rinkya]

Man best friend in Japan always had a different meaning. It started when Sony introduced Aibo back in 1999 to the world. Aibo was a cute robot dog, which knew how to perform basic operations such as walking and recognizing voice commands.

Unfortunately, Sony eventually decided to cease Aibo production after 170,000 dogs sold. Although Aibo was considered a huge hit in Japan. Now a group of Japanese scientists want to create a more advanced robot dog.

The dog, “Hon Hon”, was introduced last week at Chiba’s Techno-Frontier 2008 symposium which shows technology projects from around Japan. You can see Hon Hon in action right here:

And if you want, you can always enjoy an Aibo playing with a cat:

And if you are into robotic dinosaurs, you should really take a look at Pleo.

Source (Japanese Translated): [Robot Watch]