The name for the tower will be “Tokyo Sky Tree”, or Tōkyō Sukai Tsurii ,and it will be finished in 2011. 610 meters of concrete and steel, in the heart of Tokyo. If you also want a tower like this in your back yard, you should prepare some money. The cost of the tower is estimated in 60 billion yen or 555 million dollars (if you still believe in the dollar).

For those of you that are concerned what will happen to the tower during earthquakes, you should know that in the bottom of the tower you will find a five tier concrete “pagodas” that are supposes to withstand very strong earthquakes.

The tower will have some restaurants in the top, and a TV station – Nothing crazy or weird. What brings us to believe that until the tower will be completed there will be more weird news about robots that will live in the upper floor. We expect no less from the Japanese.

In the mean time you can enjoy more images (click to enlarge):

And a view from the top of the Tokyo Sky Tree

Here is a video of the name unveiling ceremony:

The new bakery calls itself Shirohige no shou cream kobo, which is translated into White-bearded’ cream puff workshop. Don’t miss out the beautiful bakery website.

The bakery is a huge success, and all of 100 puffs made for each day are gone in 10 minutes from opening. Custard and raw cream puffs are sold for $3.60 (390 yen), maron and maron cream puffs are sold for $3.90 (420 yen). All of the ingredients are carefully chosen, and some of them are organic or imported.

via [Japundit] More images here: [mioracle]

The art of “Dekotora” “or in simple English “pimping trucks” is a very know art in Japan. The truckers are decorating the trucks with neon lights, shiny paints and add everything that can be glued to the top of the truck. These trucks are used only as hobby trucks only and do not being used as commercial trucks.

The trend has probably begun in the ’70, and was inspired by a film called “Trucker”. The main character in the film drives a much customized truck.

Below are some great images of crazy trucks in Japan featuring amazing Dekotora.

Pictures: [Offbeat Earth]

What’s strange in this story is that the man living in the house, in the southern city of Fukuoka, only got suspicious when he noticed food disappears from his kitchen. He installed security cameras that transmitted images from the house straight to his mobile phone, and noticed a surprising movement after a couple of days.

Speedy policemen that arrived at the house, hoping to catch a burglar, were surprised to find the front door locked and the windows shuttered. Only after a thorough search around, the cops found the woman lying on a small mattress in the closet. She explained the cops that she is homeless and got into the house when it noticed it was unlocked.

The woman admitted to even take showers in the house. It’s weird to see someone that hasn’t noticed such a permanent guest for such a long time. Maybe he was working deadly overtime?

Source: [Fox News]

So that’s we are not surprised to see a real battle that was held in Japan between two robot teams. Each of the robots was given a laser gun (don’t worry it was a non-lethal laser) and the teams were programmed to exterminate the over team.

The robots were fighting in Blazer tournament which was held in Fukuoka City, Japan. The robots are actually models built by hobbyists, so no actual robots were harmed in the process if you worried to well-being of the SkyNet messengers. The tournament was held on the surface of a model city and a smoke generator was even used, to get that nice futuristic and frightening effect.

You also get the video:

More information and images (translated): Robot Watch