Are you ready for the toilet of the future?

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Are you ready for the toilet of the future? - Innovation- msnbc.com

Not Japan, but America. Japan already has the toilets of the future. This article from MSNBC talks about how futuristic toilets from Japan are starting to trickle (pun intended) into America and the impressions some American's have of these technological toilets.

From the article:

“You walk into a bathroom in Tokyo and the toilets are like the captain’s chair on the Starship Enterprise,” says Kim Terca.

Terca says she found Japan’s smart toilets both “hilarious” and somewhat perplexing, since not all toilets offer the same snazzy features — including a special deodorizing feature that she says she never figured out.

Mary, a 53-year-old business consultant from Manhattan, says the special sound effects were what threw her for a loop. “I went to see my client and had to use the bathroom and as soon as I sat down, there was this sound,” she says. “In retrospect, I realized it was a rainforest or some nature sound to give you your privacy, but at the time it sounded like applause." (MSNBC)

I had my own interesting experience with a Japanese toilet during one of my visits several years ago. While sitting on the toilet I accidentally pressed one of the buttons on the panel and I received quite a wet surprise.

Teaser for "Hisshiken Torisashi" (Hidden Blade series)

First teaser for "Hisshiken Torisashi" starring Etsushi Toyokawa - Nippon Cinema: "A teaser trailer has been added to the official website for Hideyuki Hirayama‘s Hisshiken Torisashi, the latest in a long line of film adaptations of stories by the late Shuhei Fujisawa. This particular film is based on a short story taken from Fujisawa’s “Hidden Blade” series, a compilation of stories which involve a character (not always the protagonist) mastering a secret sword technique to be unleashed on his enemies later on.

Etsushi Toyokawa stars as a skilled swordsman named Kanemi Sanzaemon who kills the mistress of a powerful daimyo for abusing her political influence within the fictional Unasaka domain. This eventually leads to a violent confrontation in which he utilizes a “bird-catching” sword fighting technique. Meanwhile, his niece Satoo (Chizuru Ikewaki)—who is not blood related—harbors a secret love for him.

“Hisshiken Torisashi” will be released by Toei in Japan on July 10, 2010."

(Nippon Cinema)

You don't speak Japanese? Call Google

The Los Angeles Times has an article on the newest advance of the Google Translate technology.

Google has developed a phone application that can listen to speech and provide translations in a computerized voice for English, Mandarin, and Japanese. The application runs on Google phones using the Android operating system. According to the article, the Times tested the application using several speakers of Mandarin and Japanese and the opinion was that, although not perfect, the application works surprisingly well for basic phrases. The application can translate to and from a total of about 50 languages into text but currently the only languages that it recognizes spoken words are English, Mandarin, and Japanese.

It is interesting how Google's translate computer programs are getting smarter. According to the article:

Google trains its computers to translate by constantly feeding them examples of a text that occurs in two or more languages. Many official United Nations documents, for instance, are carefully translated into the languages of member countries. Looking at those "parallel" documents, Google's translation system can deduce the way many words and phrases are translated. And the more examples it gulps down, the smarter it gets.

The idea of a Star Trek-like universal translator is coming. Maybe they will even eventually include Klingonese.

Zatoichi: The Last

Apparently this will be the very last movie in the long, long, long running Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman series and will mark the end of the franchise. It stars oddly enough Shingo Katori of the Japanese pop group SMAP but I won't judge Katori until I see the film someday.

Click here to see the trailer for Zatoichi: The Last

Plot: After years of traveling, blind swordsman Ichi (Shingo Katori) decides to give up his life of bloodshed to begin a peaceful life in his hometown with his young wife, Tane (Satomi Ishihara). Ichi puts aside his cane sword and becomes a farmer, taking up temporary residence in the home of his old friend Ryuji (Takashi Sorimachi). However, their village is ruled by the cold-blooded Tendo family, who make a habit of tormenting local farmers. Knowing of Ichi’s unparalleled skill with the blade, the other farmers beg for his help in dealing with them. Needless to say, his retirement from killing is short-lived. (Nippon Cinema)

Toho will be releasing “Ichi: The Last” in Japan on May 29, 2010.

Goyokin

Synopisis:
In this classic tale of revenge, lone samurai Magobei Wakizaka (Tatsuya Nakadai) squares off against the murderous clan he turned his back on to save innocent lives. Tasked with protecting a massacre's sole survivor, Magobei must go mano a mano with the band's nefarious leader (Tetsuro Tamba) -- who happens to be his brother-in-law. This Japanese martial arts flick holds the distinction of being the first of its kind to be filmed in Panavision.

This is a great, great film. It was released in 1969 and stars maybe my favorite Japanese samurai film actor in Tatsuya Nakadai. The story goes that a financially troubled clan during the Tokugawa Shogunate schemes to steal the shogun’s gold from one of his ships passing by their remote domain. In order to cover up the loss of the gold, the clan chief orders the murder of all the locals in a small village who witnessed the theft of the gold. Magobei, who is horrified by the evil act of his clan, flees to Edo (Tokyo) to become a ronin (masterless samurai). A few years later Magobei must fight off several assassins. It was then that he learned they were sent by his clan to silence him. He also learns that his clan is plotting another theft of the shogun’s gold and that they planned to massacre more innocent peasants in order to frame them for the theft. It is then that Magobei realizes he must stop the clan’s evil leader.

Nakadai is an incredible actor. I love his demeanor and how he speaks and he has by far the best sword fight scenes of any samurai movie (the best ever being from the movie Hara-Kiri or Seppuku). And as expected, the fight scenes in this movie are awesome, especially the final duel. The visual scenes in this film were incredible. Much of it filmed in the beautiful snowy landscape alongside a rugged coastline. This is where the awesome final battle takes place. The final battle is backed up by two taiko drummers with the most awesome beat. I replayed that scene several times just to listen to the incredible drumming. This is one of my favorite Nakadai movies, behind probably the best samurai movie of all time Hara-Kiri (Seppuku) which is right behind my favorite Seven Samurai.

The Tokyo train zombies had their baby

They are really recycling the train courtesy poster messages now, and combining multiple messages into one. But what caught my eye are the two zombies from the last poster now have a baby. A zombie baby? This poster really makes the Tokyo trains looks like they are full of inconsiderate jerks. Probably does not compare to all the jerks and weirdos I see on the Los Angeles subway.