Kagaku

A visit to the deep sea cafe

Motoko Kakubayashi • Apr 09, 2014

With dozens of crustaceans bustling over displays and food, this cafe knew how to stand out in one of the most trendy neighborhoods in Tokyo.   Inside the Shinkai Cafe (Deep Sea Cafe) in Tokyo From February to last Sunday, the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) opened a special cafe inside major department store Tokyu Hands … Read More

24 metronomes in synchronisation

Motoko Kakubayashi • Sep 21, 2012

  It has been known if you put several metronomes (set to the same frequency, or same number of ticks per minute) on a movable platform, then no matter how out-of-sync you set them up to be at the beginning, eventually all of the metronomes will tick at the same time in the same direction.   A team of … Read More

World’s tallest tower becomes Tokyo’s new icon

Motoko Kakubayashi • May 25, 2012

The world’s tallest tower Tokyo Skytree opened to the public this week.  The broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower uses some of the latest technologies developed by Japanese companies. I read a story outlining a few of the highlights, and here they are: Control device at tip: At the top of the tower (634 metres up) is a vibration control device which … Read More

Sushi robot with top speed of 3300-sushi-per-hour

Motoko Kakubayashi • Apr 05, 2012

Spinning, pressing, chopping, and precisely-arranging sushi at speeds man could not achieve is the way for one Japanese manufacturer. Sushi-making robots are on display at a food business expo in Tokyo this week, including a shari robot (shari is prepared sushi rice) and a norimaki robot (norimaki or makizushi is sushi usually wrapped in seaweed, and it’s the most common … Read More

A trip to the doctor in Japan

Motoko Kakubayashi • Apr 02, 2012

Following a visit to my tenth doctor since moving to Tokyo, I think I have seen enough to give an insight into how different it is from seeing a doctor in New Zealand. To get an idea about my medical past, firstly, I was born in New Zealand.  A Plunket nurse came to check up on me when I was … Read More

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Bonobo apes look for injured ape

Motoko Kakubayashi • Mar 19, 2012

For the past year in Japan, there’s been a big emphasis on unity following the Japan Earthquake.  Helping a friend in need.  I came across an interesting story in the Yomiuri Shimbun suggesting humans aren’t the only ones with this ability or emotion. Japanese scientists from Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute studying Bonobo apes in Congo saw something totally … Read More

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Hayabusa movies might be a plus for science

Motoko Kakubayashi • Feb 14, 2012

Over the weekend, the second of three films (four if you include a documentary originally made for planetariums that was later released on the big screen) about the spacecraft Hayabusa opened in movie theatres across Japan. Hayabusa (Japanese for Falcon) was the first unmanned spacecraft that traveled to an asteroid, collected a sample of it, and came back to Earth … Read More