PanOrient News

Tokyo Artisan Turns Out Wooden Bicycles

Monday, August 23, 2010

Tokyo -- Sueshiro Sano hails from a family of artisans who used to be ships' carpenters in the Edo Era, but he has now turned his skills toward the production of quite a different product - wooden bicycles.

The idea may sound a bit strange at first, but in fact Mr. Sano's bikes are quite lightweight at about seven kilograms.

The material he uses is mahogany and his bikes are durable enough to be used in professional races.

Those who are interested in Mr. Sano's wooden bicycles need only...

JR East Unveils Hi-Tech Vending Machines

Friday, August 13, 2010

Tokyo -- Visitors to Shinagawa Station are gaining the opportunity to test out the next generation drink vending machines that have been introduced by JR East Water Business Company.

Sensors installed on the machine are said to be able to recognize the age and gender of its customers with a 75% rate of accuracy.

Based on those characteristics, the machine offers its recommendations as to what the customer may like to drink. (Fortunately, customers are allowed to reject the machine's recomm...

Japan Pushes into Advanced Battery Field

Monday, August 9, 2010

By Roger Schreffler

The biggest names in Japanese industry, from Panasonic and NEC to Toyota and Mitsubishi, are investing billions of dollars into battery-related research - in part because they should in the face of global warming, and in part because they must as low cost petroleum reserves are declining.

Japan's Natural Resources and Energy Agency has warned that, left unchecked, the world would likely witness a 60% increase in energy demand over the next twenty years, from 2005 levels...

Sci-Tech