U-Mate Mangekyo kaleidoscope projector vs. Sega Toys

One of the most exciting finds from the Tokyo Show Show is from U-Mate, a company aligned with Takara Tomy that’s been making some pretty cool products recently. We’ve covered their Aurora Lamp before, but their new Mangekyo Kaleidoscope Projector has us even more excited. Mangekyo (万華鏡) actually means “kaleidoscope” in Japanese, and this device projects a bright and evolving kaleidoscope image onto your wall or ceiling in full color. By covering it with the white lid it also becomes a room-lamp with the same effect, but contained.

Mangekyo’s design invokes the Homestar Pro planetarium from Sega, but while the Homestar uses pre-made discs, Mangekyo allows users to insert discs, beads, and other objects to create their own original patterns for projection.

Interestingly, Sega Toys is also about to release its own kaleidoscope projector in spring 2008 under the same name and strikingly similar packaging. Since U-Mate is beating them to the punch with the Mangekyo name by a good six months, it looks like Sega will have to be a little more creative, but their product is quite good as well.

The video above is actually from the Sega Toys version, but when we saw the U-Mate Mangekyo in action we weren’t able to record it, and their effects were pretty similar anyway. Unfortunately, our admittedly lame digital camera didn’t capture the brightness very well, but we can assure you that it’s considerably better. The U-Mate Mangekyo will be available at the end of the summer.

Pre-order the Mangekyo online
U-Mate homepage

McDonald’s Japan offers video game Happy Meals

Starting this August 10th and running to September 6th, Japanese kids will be treated to the coolest Happy Meal toys since the transformer-like food figures they had back in the day (don’t say you don’t remember). In Japan, the Happy Meal is called the “Happy Set” (�?ッピーセット), but that still won’t take away my private shame when I go and order one to get one of these six cool, albeit very basic, video game toys.

Clockwise from left to right we have PK Soccer, Rhythmic Dance, Bike Racing, Bowling, Music Drum, and F1 Race to keep the kids busy on the train, at least until the batteries die. Of course, with the age of kids who have their own Nintendo DS getting lower and lower, it’s possible that even the smallest of tykes will see this as quaint.

Either way, it’s a pretty cool promotion by McDonalds standards, and goes perfectly in line with the cutesy Hello Kitty promotion that the American McDonalds is doing right now. Didn’t expect that one.

Press release via IT Media

Sega Homestar PRO “Blue Earth” disc software

While The Sega Homestar home planetarium series needs no introduction around here, the new Blue Earth disc certainly does. While the original Homestar planetarium came with only two basic Star Discs which focused on the stars and constellations, but since the updated Homestar PRO came out it’s been shipped with two colored star discs plus a wicked “full moon” disc with really intricate detail. This September we’ll be treated to the latest “software” for the Homestar PRO, the Blue Earth disc (actual projection picture below).

While not an actual picture of our home planet, the Blue Earth disc is a highly detailed CG recreation of what Earth looks like from space. Since the Homestar PRO uses three powerful LED lights, the ability to project is such high color is greatly increased from the original. We’re very excited about this, as it shows that Sega and Homestar creator Takayuki Ohira are hard at work bringing even more great discs to the series (Mars would be our next guess, but Neptune would be pretty cool too). Blue Earth will be available from September.

***UPDATE: Below is a much better picture of the real deal***

Click to buy the Homestar Pro + Blue Earth Set online

Real and fake facial hair trends for Japanese men

While not exactly known for being able to grow even partially-full beards, facial hair is in for Japanese men, both young and old alike. Those on the young end of the spectrum tend to be with a hipper crowd, are students, or simply don’t care about looking like a clean-shaven salaryman. After all, most Japanese men who enter companies are forced to stay smooth per company policy. However, once they retire (or get off of work for the weekend) there’s a whole new world of goatees and mustaches that only need some patience….or a little adhesive!

Having facial hair (hige in Japanese) takes a bit of work for most men, and the older guys who can pull it off and look good doing it are called choiwaru oyaji (�?�ょ�?��?る親父), meaning “cool old man”. You can spot guys like this all over Tokyo these days, looking sharp in a modern suit with no necktie and sporting a neatly trimmed beard. For young guys, a beard is the perfect counter-action to the mainstream feminization of Japanese men, a la Kat-Tun. It separates the men from the boys, so to speak.

There’s an entire facial hair culture now, with websites like Hige Club, a portal and salon that’s all about the facial hair lifestyle. Tips on how to kiss with facial hair, dye it, or even eat natto without making a mess are included in their column section, with lots of other resources available to members. For those with money to spend, salons like Fujii in Tokyo offer high-class beard coloring and trimming with modern style, but still with a barber’s touch. After all, there’s nothing manly about growing a beard and then having it “styled”. Fujii does “base design” for facial hair, creating a good look for customers so they can go home and maintain it on their own.

Of course, not everyone is blessed with a beard that can be worked with beyond a few sprouts on the chin. For these unfortunate (lucky?) fellows, companies like Propia have had great success in marketing fake facial hair that isn’t over-the-top, but is just enough to create the look their customers want. The word for “fake beard” in Japanese is tsuke hige (�?��?��?��?�), and they’ve been a surprise hit for both retired salarymen and and current ones who want the look for just a couple of days. We’ve seen some around town that we suspected were fake, but it’s nearly impossible to tell as far as we know. At about $30 for a goatee, they’d better look pretty real.

Pictures via the above links

Mio - Sega Toys robotic dog - Tokyo Toy Show 2007

Mio is the latest robotic pet from Sega Toys in the tradition of iDog, iFish, iPenguin, Yume Neko…there’s a lot of em’, that’s for sure. However, Mio is the the only one that truly develops a personality and shows it. Unveiled at the Tokyo Toy Show last week, we got a chance to check out Mio up close, snap some pics, get some video, and cop a feel or two.

While most blogs are reporting that Mio is music-sensitive, we find that it’s more touch-sensitive than anything, conveying over a hundred emotions via eye animations, sounds, and shaking it’s tail and ears. The lighting is quite cool as well, especially the top lights that react to touch much in the way Sony’s Aibo did back in the day. Mio is no Aibo, but it has multiple sensors around it’s body, can walk, and is generally a fun toy to play with. Be sure to check out the video for more:

Buy Sega Toys’ Mio as a pre-order

Portable briefcase train set to ride the rails anywhere

I don’t know why I didn’t find out who is making this, but I snagged some video of a train set that comes in a briefcase. I guess train otaku get bored at meetings like the rest of us, but sometimes ya just gotta wait till you get home. The price tag is a hefty ¥100,000 ($815), which is good for a whole lot of actual train rides.