The robot was built by the restaurant owner, and not some geeky Japanese scientists. The customers can order via a computer in the restaurant, with the ramen robot can make more than 40 million different types of ramen. everything is travelling on a conveyor belt, where a human is adding the topping(no robot for that simple task?), and in the end the customer can eat it’s cyber-ramen peacefully on the little restaurant.

Don’t think that the robot revolution will stop there, the store owner is planning to open a chain of restaurants after shrinking the robot to a more suitable size.

Here you can see the ramen robot in action:

via [Mainichi Daily News]

The ramen robot is not alone in Japan. A few weeks ago in a food machinery trade show, a company showcased the pancake making robot:

this is actually the Japanese version of pancakes, which is called okonomiyaki, and served with mayonnaise. Don’t worry about getting the right pancake, that’s because the robot will talk to you and ask you questions about what to put on your pancake.
After this robot made meal of soup and salty pancake, you will need just to clean up a bit. Again the Japanese inventors are ahead of you and the towel serving robot will handle this task:

(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.

This is a guest post by one of Japanite! friends, who visited Tokyo recently and collected some proven advices before his trip. Some veteran Tokyo tourists will find them familiar, but if this is your first time, you might want to print out the list for the road.

1. Sleep in a Japanese Inn

Accommodation is always a great part in any travel budget. If you are not fixed on sleeping in high-priced hotels there are some great alternatives.

The Ryokans are all around Tokyo and they are nice inns that can be found in prices starting from $40 per night. The bonus is that they styled in old fashion Japanese style with paper curtains and futon bed. This is not your regular king size you are used to in high priced hotels, but this will be a much better way to feel the Japanese way of life.

If you are not spoiled and feel you can share bathrooms you can found some Ryokans in central spots for as low as $30 per night. For example you can find Kimi Ryokan that offers English speaking staff and some Japanese atmosphere for $50 per night for a single room. Kimi Ryokan is conveniently located in the Ikebukuro area in close proximity to a subway station.

a typical Ryokan (photo by spinksy)

You can search availability and prices through the International tourism center of Japan for foreign travelers, and Japanese guest houses.

If you are staying for a long period and you are willing to share a room, you can try some of the hostels in the city that are called Gaijin (Stranger in Japanese) Houses. You can find room in rates from $15 per night, and who knows your roommate can be from country.

Start your search in Gaijin House Japan.

2. Travelling alone? try a capsule

We already mentioned here in Japanite! the capsule hotels that are scattered around Tokyo. This hotels (if we can call them one) are for the more adventurous type of tourist. For about $30-$40 you get a capsule with TV, internet connection, shared bath and some towels. If you are a female traveler who travels alone, some might prefer the capsule hotels who accept only women, and feel more safe in the hotel.

Geobeats have a nice video that shows what a sleep in a capsule is all about:

3. Sleep in a chair – for the really adventurous traveler

Some of the backpackers that go through Tokyo have found another way to save in this expensive city: they just sleep in their chairs.

They are called Mangakissa and they are actually internet cafes that are scattered around the city. For about a $1 per hour you will be able to enjoy an endless supply of Japanese comic books, Playstation and Xbox games, and hundreds of titles of music to listen too. Actually for some of the people I know, it will cost them less to be in Tokyo than sitting in their homes in the US doing exactly the same things. In many of this cafes the drinks are for free, and they sell lunch boxes. Some of them offer shower rooms and massage room with extra pay. Anyway it’s a great stop even if you’re not planning on a sleepover. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you: the comic books are in Japanese.

Search for internet cafes in PaperLantern.

4. Avoid the lunch rush hour

After a good night sleep, lunch is always hard to find. If you wake up early in Tokyo, you can find some of the best deals between 11am-14pm. Many restaurants will offer a lunch deal that can be as low as $10, for an plate loaded with sushi or a nice dish of Ramen noodles and meat.

The problem is that you want to try eating your lunch before 12pm and after 13:30pm, in order to avoid the “lunch rush hour” caused by the office workers around the city.

(photo by jetalone)

In the smaller restaurants you can eat while standing or sitting with a small table, and can find a good dish of ramen noodles for about $3.5-$6. Many stores like 7-eleven offers a lunch box (Bento) which can be bought for about $5. Avoid the lunch boxes that are sold in train stations, they tend to be less tasty.

If you are missing home, why not try the usual McDonalds. a BigMac will cost you only $2.5, and a meal is only $6. That’s lower than you might find in your regular McDonalds back home.

5. Shop in the markets, avoid the big stores

Tokyo may offer great deals for sleeping or eating, but unfortunately you might not find such cheap deals via the megastores around. Most brand name stores are pretty expensive, and even the smaller ones, aren’t the best deal around.

For a bit more Japanese atmosphere and much lower prices, head down to the flea markets that can be found around the city. paperlantern is a great source of markets locations.

Look around also for the “hyaku-en shoppu” or the 100-yen shops, which sells everything in about $1 (depends on the rate). You can found more details on this shops here.

6. Forget taxis, get on bikes

A great way to see the city is on bikes. You can rent bikes for about $5 per day and $10 in the weekends. There are many bike renting shops across the city, and you can find a list of shops in Cycle Tokyo.

You don’t need Hello Kitty bikes, but you get the idea (photo by doctorrow)

Another great way is of course trains and subway. The subway can get you anywhere and it’s clean and safe. In some train lines you can also find women only cars, so you can travel in confidence.

If you are on a tight budget, don’t get on taxis. Cabs in Tokyo starts at $7 per ride and adds about $1 for every few hundred feet. It’s a sure way to get your money disappear quickly.

7. A tour guide for free

It can be better than this: a free local tour guide that will show you around the city. As the name implies Tokyo Free Guide offers guides that are doing this completely free of charge. The volunteers students that want to improve their English or retired people that are happy to meet tourists from all around the world. As you know, good things aren’t easy to come by, so you’d better book you guide 2-3 weeks in advance.

Just our word of advice, we heard that some of the guides are not saying no for nice tip if you liked the trip. That’s more than polite to be generous to the guide, based on your satisfaction. You can also find more information on free tour guides through the Japanese National Tourist Organization.

8. Shop in Muji and Uniqlou

Muji is the Japanese equivalent of Ikea, and you can find tons of stuff there in very affordable prices, including toys and art times. Uniqlou is not so kept secret but will allow you to shop for clothes, without feeling you are

That’s all our tips for now. As we’ve said some of them maybe familiar to the locals and people who already traveled Japan. If you have any more tips, share them in the comments below.

Powered by USB port and weigh only 38grams and cost only $22, they are the perfect gift. Just don’t expect your girlfriend to wear them on the next visit to your mother.

If your girlfriend wants to show how much she loves you, she might find interest in the breast pillow from Japan. We didn’t try it ourselves, but someone might wonder if the pillow proves itself, what use is keeping the girlfriend?

via [rinkya]

We can’t understand why Japanese people are so bored when going to the toilet. This is the reason they invent all kind of crazy stuff like this.

Product Page (Japanese) via Rinkya

The new keyboard is rechargeable by a small solar panel right above the numeric keypad, that can be charged from indoor light also.

In addition, it’s maker promises that you can use it for up to 10 meters away from your computer. You can also find the usual additional keys like volume and video player controls. It’s weight is 840g excluding 2 AA batteries needed for operation.

Unfortunately, Buffalo, the maker of the keyboard doesn’t say for how long it can work without recharge. The price is $123 and it currently sells only in Japan.

[Product Page] (Japanese) via [AkihabaraNews]

One of the great frustrations of men around the world is that they cannot hear their wife while they drive. Women have the great habit of giving you good advices on the road, and you always want to listen carefully to them. “You should have taken the right turn, honey”, “Why are you driving so fast?” or “what have you got from bypassing this old woman that drives so slowly?” And such great questions.

It is frustrating when you buy a new car and what to hear your wife’s comments clearly inside the car. We know that your enjoyment from the car will not be complete without these useful comments.

Well Toyota introduced a new hybrid car in Japan called Crown Hybrid, which allows you to hear everything you need while driving. The car is offering a new noise cancellation system that makes the interior silent as an aquarium.

Inside the car Toyota has placed tiny speakers that generate a “counter noise”: an exact duplication of the engine noise only in reverse. Without getting too much into acoustics terminology, these sound waves counter the waves produced by the engine and eliminate them.

No word on pricing or availability, while the car and the noise cancellation system is still in developmental stage. But as soon as it gets to the US will let you know, so you can drive and hear your wife talking – without losing a single word. Now that’s good news, isn’t it?

Here you can see how the system is built (click to enlarge):

Via [TechOn]

The system in the video is called the Da Vinci system and it’s made by Intuitive Surgical from Sunnyvale in California. The system allows the surgeon to perform tasks in HD video while moving the robotic hands. COOL!

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:

A new world record was set in Japan. Toshie Kawakami (57) was announced as the person with the longest eyebrow in the world at a length of 17.2cm (6.7 inch). Kawakami says she hide the eyebrow behind her ear.

A barber once accidentally chopped her eyebrow hair down to 3cm, but it quickly grew back. Apparently Kawakami is going to set a new record soon. The eyebrow grows at a rate of a centimeter a month, so Kawakami is going for the 20cm record in about three months. We wish her and all weird Japanese people good luck!

[Asahi] Via [tofugu]