It is a relative certainty that, whenever the topic of “cool technology” is mentioned, a company or a device of Japanese origin is likely to be mentioned. Japan, being a country with very few natural resources (like oil, iron ore, precious metals, etc) at its disposal, has to rely on secondary industry (the creation of new things from these natural resources) to gain a name in the export market and attain necessary amounts of national revenue. A large part of the produce that Japan makes is technology.
Today, Japan is something of a technology powerhouse. Companies like Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, Canon, Toshiba and Fujitsu have all contributed significantly to advances in technology, and most of the products that these and other Japanese companies create can be enjoyed worldwide. I only have to power up my Toshiba laptop, connect my Sony digital camera, print out photos with by Canon printer, all in a study cooled by my state-of-the-art Fujitsu air conditioner, to see that. I have mentioned some of Japan’s amazing technology in other articles, but there are some innovations out there that have yet to be truly utilised by other countries. These technologies vary from being profoundly useful to being spectacularly stupid, but to the devout tech-head, none of them will fail to impress. In this article I shall endeavour to talk about some of the more exciting advances in technology that I have experienced.
Mobile Phones
Obviously, these aren’t a solely Japanese phenomenon. Japan is not even among the top ten countries with the highest percentage of mobile phone users (although, with 85% of Japanese people owning mobile phones, it still does have a comparatively high percentage compared to most other countries). But Japanese mobile phones are definitely among the coolest in the world. Features of Japanese mobile phones include video calling, TV watching, music playing, photo editing, GPS roaming, email capabilities (by which I mean sending full emails, as well as SMSs) and mainstream game-playing (games like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy).
One feature that has not been utilised in other countries is the credit card-phone application. Phones with this feature can be used as a debit or credit card, and swiped through at most checkouts. It is surprising that this feature is not available in other countries, as it would be extremely useful for those of us that do not want to take bulky wallets with us when we go to the shops.
Japanese mobiles also have some of the nicest designs to be seen in recent times. Personally, I have noticed that in other countries mobile phones have become more monotonous, tending to be either black or grey in colour and not offering much in terms of pleasing aesthetic design. In Japan, on the other hand, a mobile phone shop might just be the most colourful place in the whole of Japan (which, considering how they have to compete with Japanese game centres and Disneyland, is quite an accomplishment). Mobile phones are available in, literally, every colour of the visible spectrum, and with the amount of dangly phone accessories (called “phone straps”) and stickers and everything else that are available in abundance, customising your phone has never been easier, or more cool, a thing to do, for men and women alike. And while it is not the accepted standard in most other countries, seeing relatively masculine-looking Japanese men sporting phones with Disney phone straps attached to them makes me smile.
Above is a display of Japanese mobile phones. As you can see, the choice of colour is staggering. Below is a selection of phone straps. It is not uncommon to see a dozen or more of those straps hanging off a person’s mobile. My personal record was about ten, I believe.
Electronic Dictionaries
These also exist in other countries. But Japan has taken what has to be the most useful learning device in recent history, save computers and the internet, and rolled with it. It is rare now, in Japan, to come across a high school or university student not equipped with an electronic dictionary.
An electronic dictionary is exactly what its name implies – a dictionary in an electronic device. These devices are typically about the size of a small novel, and cost anything from around the equivalent of $50US to $500US. Lately, electronic dictionaries have programmed into them something like 100 paper dictionaries or more. They normally contain at least one Japanese/English dictionary, one standard Japanese dictionary, one standard English dictionary, a kanji dictionary, an ancient Japanese dictionary, and a number of dictionaries on specific subjects (Japanese history, economics, business, etc).
Considering how this small device is the equivalent of a literal library of reference books, to the well-accomplished academic electronic dictionaries are an absolute godsend. For learners of Japanese they are extremely useful, but I would strongly recommend reading the instruction manual before trying to use one. Navigating through one of these devices can be somewhat daunting.
A couple of electronic dictionaries.
Rice Cookers
A Japanese invention that changed the lives of those living in rice-eating countries forever. Again, rice cookers are available in other countries, but there are not many Japanese households around today that do not have a rice cooker.
To those of you that lack cooking knowledge, rice is one of those foods that is hard to get right. It sticks to the pan, it can come out too gluggy, it can come out too hard, it burns easily if you’re not careful, etc. Most nights I’ll switch to pasta, because at least I can cook that without potentially setting fire to my kitchen.
The Japanese obviously realised that many people were struggling with cooking something that, as a staple, really should be easier to cook than anything else. So they invented the electric rice cooker in 1940. What you do with this legendary machine is:
That’s it, and the result will always be perfect, light, fluffy rice. Truly, the rice cooker will go down in history as being one of the most beneficial devices for Japanese housewives the country over. And the greatest thing about them (apart from how unbelievably easy they are to clean)? You can cook a whole bunch of other stuff in them as well.
Some modern rice cookers. The lower picture demonstrates the variety of foods that can be made with a rice cooker.
Japanese toilets
I truly have saved the best for last in this article. I remember one time when I was a child there was a news story on the television about a fridge from which you could access the internet. My father watched the article and said “for heaven’s sake! What’s next? A toilet you can play video games on?” Well Dad, Japanese toilets haven’t quite made it there yet, but they are coming dangerously close.
Many of the toilets in Japan are the average sort of affair that you would expect to see in any western country. Many others are the asian-style squat toilet, which can be a bit awkward for us ignorant westerners to use, but technologically they are nothing special. However in many places, including 72% of Japanese homes, you get bidet toilets, or washlets as they are commonly known. A bidet (pronounced ‘bi-DAY’; a word of obviously French origin), is a sink or a low-mounted plumbing fixture used to wash the genitals. On Japanese toilets it is a tiny nozzle attached to the inside of the bowl, and on the side of the toilet is an electronic panel from which the bidet is operated. These washlets have been in existence for a while, but nowadays washlets have a bunch of other features. Many of them have seat-warmers (which are FANTASTIC on a cold winter Japanese morning), some have deodorisers, some have sensory flushes (so, the toilet flushes after you get off it), some of the really new models will sense when a person has approached, and will automatically open the lid if the person’s back is facing the toilet, or the lid and the seat if the person is male and they are facing frontwards. Some have germ-resistant surfaces, and some play music intended to relax the person’s sphincter. There has also been talk about adding medical sensors to toilets that can measure the sugar content in the user’s urine, and also their heart rate, blood pressure and body fat content of the user. These statistics could then be sent to the user’s doctor.
One common feature in many women’s public toilets of all styles is a panel that plays a toilet-flushing sound, called a Sound Princess. These were invented in the 1980s, and the reason for their invention was that many Japanese women are embarrassed at the thought of other people hearing the sound of them urinating or what-have-you, and so they would continuously flush the toilet to cover up the sound, wasting a lot of water. After education campaigns failed to work this device was introduced, and it has apparently saved Japan from a lot of unnecessary water wastage. The very idea of this device might sound utterly ridiculous, but I think we would all be lying if we said that we have not found ourselves embarrassed by the very same thoughts at one time or another.
So perhaps you still cannot play video games with your toilet. But Japanese toilets can do pretty much everything else.
Above is a standard Japanese washlet. You can see the bidet nozzle attached to the back of the seat, and the panel to the side that controls it. Below is a Sound Princess.
As a country that makes so much of its national revenue from technology, it is no wonder that Japan is one of the most technologically proficient countries in the world. The question of whether or not a particular technology is useful can and will doubtlessly come into play quite often, but I would say that it would be hard to claim that technology is not one of the coolest things about Japan.
Today, Japan is something of a technology powerhouse. Companies like Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, Canon, Toshiba and Fujitsu have all contributed significantly to advances in technology, and most of the products that these and other Japanese companies create can be enjoyed worldwide. I only have to power up my Toshiba laptop, connect my Sony digital camera, print out photos with by Canon printer, all in a study cooled by my state-of-the-art Fujitsu air conditioner, to see that. I have mentioned some of Japan’s amazing technology in other articles, but there are some innovations out there that have yet to be truly utilised by other countries. These technologies vary from being profoundly useful to being spectacularly stupid, but to the devout tech-head, none of them will fail to impress. In this article I shall endeavour to talk about some of the more exciting advances in technology that I have experienced.
Mobile Phones
Obviously, these aren’t a solely Japanese phenomenon. Japan is not even among the top ten countries with the highest percentage of mobile phone users (although, with 85% of Japanese people owning mobile phones, it still does have a comparatively high percentage compared to most other countries). But Japanese mobile phones are definitely among the coolest in the world. Features of Japanese mobile phones include video calling, TV watching, music playing, photo editing, GPS roaming, email capabilities (by which I mean sending full emails, as well as SMSs) and mainstream game-playing (games like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy).
One feature that has not been utilised in other countries is the credit card-phone application. Phones with this feature can be used as a debit or credit card, and swiped through at most checkouts. It is surprising that this feature is not available in other countries, as it would be extremely useful for those of us that do not want to take bulky wallets with us when we go to the shops.
Japanese mobiles also have some of the nicest designs to be seen in recent times. Personally, I have noticed that in other countries mobile phones have become more monotonous, tending to be either black or grey in colour and not offering much in terms of pleasing aesthetic design. In Japan, on the other hand, a mobile phone shop might just be the most colourful place in the whole of Japan (which, considering how they have to compete with Japanese game centres and Disneyland, is quite an accomplishment). Mobile phones are available in, literally, every colour of the visible spectrum, and with the amount of dangly phone accessories (called “phone straps”) and stickers and everything else that are available in abundance, customising your phone has never been easier, or more cool, a thing to do, for men and women alike. And while it is not the accepted standard in most other countries, seeing relatively masculine-looking Japanese men sporting phones with Disney phone straps attached to them makes me smile.
Electronic Dictionaries
These also exist in other countries. But Japan has taken what has to be the most useful learning device in recent history, save computers and the internet, and rolled with it. It is rare now, in Japan, to come across a high school or university student not equipped with an electronic dictionary.
An electronic dictionary is exactly what its name implies – a dictionary in an electronic device. These devices are typically about the size of a small novel, and cost anything from around the equivalent of $50US to $500US. Lately, electronic dictionaries have programmed into them something like 100 paper dictionaries or more. They normally contain at least one Japanese/English dictionary, one standard Japanese dictionary, one standard English dictionary, a kanji dictionary, an ancient Japanese dictionary, and a number of dictionaries on specific subjects (Japanese history, economics, business, etc).
Considering how this small device is the equivalent of a literal library of reference books, to the well-accomplished academic electronic dictionaries are an absolute godsend. For learners of Japanese they are extremely useful, but I would strongly recommend reading the instruction manual before trying to use one. Navigating through one of these devices can be somewhat daunting.
A couple of electronic dictionaries.
Rice Cookers
A Japanese invention that changed the lives of those living in rice-eating countries forever. Again, rice cookers are available in other countries, but there are not many Japanese households around today that do not have a rice cooker.
To those of you that lack cooking knowledge, rice is one of those foods that is hard to get right. It sticks to the pan, it can come out too gluggy, it can come out too hard, it burns easily if you’re not careful, etc. Most nights I’ll switch to pasta, because at least I can cook that without potentially setting fire to my kitchen.
The Japanese obviously realised that many people were struggling with cooking something that, as a staple, really should be easier to cook than anything else. So they invented the electric rice cooker in 1940. What you do with this legendary machine is:
- You pour out a portion of rice.
- You give the rice a wash to remove excess starch.
- You pour the rice into the rice cooker pot, along with about one and a quarter times the amount of rice in water
- You place the pot into the rice cooker
- You turn the rice cooker on
- You go away.
That’s it, and the result will always be perfect, light, fluffy rice. Truly, the rice cooker will go down in history as being one of the most beneficial devices for Japanese housewives the country over. And the greatest thing about them (apart from how unbelievably easy they are to clean)? You can cook a whole bunch of other stuff in them as well.
Some modern rice cookers. The lower picture demonstrates the variety of foods that can be made with a rice cooker.
Japanese toilets
I truly have saved the best for last in this article. I remember one time when I was a child there was a news story on the television about a fridge from which you could access the internet. My father watched the article and said “for heaven’s sake! What’s next? A toilet you can play video games on?” Well Dad, Japanese toilets haven’t quite made it there yet, but they are coming dangerously close.
Many of the toilets in Japan are the average sort of affair that you would expect to see in any western country. Many others are the asian-style squat toilet, which can be a bit awkward for us ignorant westerners to use, but technologically they are nothing special. However in many places, including 72% of Japanese homes, you get bidet toilets, or washlets as they are commonly known. A bidet (pronounced ‘bi-DAY’; a word of obviously French origin), is a sink or a low-mounted plumbing fixture used to wash the genitals. On Japanese toilets it is a tiny nozzle attached to the inside of the bowl, and on the side of the toilet is an electronic panel from which the bidet is operated. These washlets have been in existence for a while, but nowadays washlets have a bunch of other features. Many of them have seat-warmers (which are FANTASTIC on a cold winter Japanese morning), some have deodorisers, some have sensory flushes (so, the toilet flushes after you get off it), some of the really new models will sense when a person has approached, and will automatically open the lid if the person’s back is facing the toilet, or the lid and the seat if the person is male and they are facing frontwards. Some have germ-resistant surfaces, and some play music intended to relax the person’s sphincter. There has also been talk about adding medical sensors to toilets that can measure the sugar content in the user’s urine, and also their heart rate, blood pressure and body fat content of the user. These statistics could then be sent to the user’s doctor.
One common feature in many women’s public toilets of all styles is a panel that plays a toilet-flushing sound, called a Sound Princess. These were invented in the 1980s, and the reason for their invention was that many Japanese women are embarrassed at the thought of other people hearing the sound of them urinating or what-have-you, and so they would continuously flush the toilet to cover up the sound, wasting a lot of water. After education campaigns failed to work this device was introduced, and it has apparently saved Japan from a lot of unnecessary water wastage. The very idea of this device might sound utterly ridiculous, but I think we would all be lying if we said that we have not found ourselves embarrassed by the very same thoughts at one time or another.
So perhaps you still cannot play video games with your toilet. But Japanese toilets can do pretty much everything else.
Above is a standard Japanese washlet. You can see the bidet nozzle attached to the back of the seat, and the panel to the side that controls it. Below is a Sound Princess.
As a country that makes so much of its national revenue from technology, it is no wonder that Japan is one of the most technologically proficient countries in the world. The question of whether or not a particular technology is useful can and will doubtlessly come into play quite often, but I would say that it would be hard to claim that technology is not one of the coolest things about Japan.
No comments:
Post a Comment