PB notes: Technology

ad nauseum, yes, we know, Japan is a technophilic kind of place. I just learned you can watch TV on your cell phone here, for example. I also recently saw an advertisement for pre-Fab homes made by Toyota that are earthquake proof.

Yes, the same technology that makes your mom’s Camry such a smooth ride has found its way into making houses (or rather “steel frame unit systems”) that even Outkast’s ‘shaking like a salt shaker,’ or ‘like a Polaroid picture’ <<-much less shaking it like a moderate-level earthquake->> would not do much damage to.
That is undeniably cool.


(the almost magic steel-frame unit system joint in question)

Toyota is perhaps the reason why the greater Nagoya area (Okazaki included) has thrived. It is a bit of a company town. Before they were in the car (or home), business, Toyota led the way in power loom technology. Spinning wheels, to steering wheels, to houses on wheels, to…? Oh the future, it rolls out in front of us like a red carpet, but doesn’t it**

Being a bit of a Luddite at heart, the idea that robots or certain other devices could replace hands or other human craft (at least for jobs besides digging coal or defusing bombs) is something at which I cringe a bit. Mitsubishi (cars, banks, homes, salt) has just come out with the ultra-uber-super-crazy-duper Fine Point Pen. It can even write R-I-C-E on a grain of rice.


(in case you forgot what this white speck was, you can now just as easily label it)

Maybe somewhat disheartening, that. I mean, I love a good pen, but that is what you could call putting a long tradition of people (those who will write your name of a grain of rice with a cat's eyelash for 5 dollars) out of a livelihood. But then, there is really no reason to be so pessimistic. “RICE”?! is that all you can bring, Mr.-I’m-a-big global-monster-conglomerate? Dude, check yourself before you wreck yourself, because supposedly a guy in Turkey can write over 200 letters on one grain! hah!

But innovation comes from all sides. It’s a matter of finding new solutions to old problems. Do you know, for example, that if your electric hotplate is on the fritz, you can quite satisfactorily cook the local favorite - kishimen noodles - in a small Tiger automatic rice cooker? I found this out just last night. Every problem has at least two solutions, and certainly in the case of noodles, as many as you got boiling in the pot.



** What is Toyota’s vision of the future? Well, that is supposed to be one of the points of the World Expo I think I'll likely pass on going to. Thomas went last Friday and waited 3 hours to get into the Toyota Pavilion only to be able to stay 20 minutes.

Sure, techonology could have saved him time: he could have reserved a pavilion pass on the Internet and not of had to wait in line. But much as it is with money, to save time you need to have some in the first place – Internet reservations necessitated booking one month in advance. that’s thinking ahead.


("Wakamaru" - Mitsubishi Corp's Expo robot (every pavilion needs at least one!))


At the Toyota Pavilion were many things (I hear), including an: Interactive Fun Zone

What fun does the future hold? Oh man, apparently one that would have made Julian Huxley and Asimov freak-out in equal measure. Couldn’t the Division Head for Corporate Communications at least have gotten some Lit. or English majors to write some decent copy, instead of taking the job on himself? egad.

“The Dream, Joy and Inspiration of Mobility in the 21st Century”

The main show will feature uplifting performances involving the i-unit, robots and human performers. A fantastic spectacle will unfold on the stage by means of a giant 360-degree screen and stage props. Through the appearance onstage of elements of life, nature and future society, visitors will be introduced to the wonder of moving about freely and living, and also to a new kind of relationship between people and cars.