Kobe to get 60-foot robot statue

When it comes to monuments, the Japanese know their priorities.

The port city of Kobe could get an 18-meter (60-foot) robot statue as early as spring 2008, according to the Kobe Shimbun and other newspapers. The towering steel monument, the height of a five-story building, would honor Ironman No. 28, a famous manga and anime robot created by Kobe native Mitsuteru Yokoyama in the late 1950s and known as Gigantor overseas. The statue would be about the same height as the juggernaut in Yokoyama's wild stories.

The colossus, fists raised in the air, would greet passengers coming out of JR Shin-Nagata Station in the city's Nagata Ward. A local business group, Kobe city and the central government are backing the amazing project, which is expected to be a symbol of the neighborhood's rebirth following its devastation by the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and is expected to attract visitors. The construction cost for the statue is around 135 million yen ($1.1 million).

There's a TBS TV report on it here.

My book discusses the importance of Ironman No. 28 in the evolution of Japanese robots. Yokoyama was inspired by the terrifying attacks of the gigantic American B-29 Superfortresses that laid waste to Kobe during World War II. In the manga series, the Japanese military builds Ironman No. 28, a mindless hulk controlled with a handheld box, as a last-ditch secret weapon to save the Empire. It later falls into the hands of boy detective Shotaro Kaneda, who uses it to fight an international criminal gang. The first major series in the giant robot genre, it inspired countless other manga and anime series as well as a universe of toys and other merchandise. Ironman No. 28 was also made into radio shows, TV series and films including a 2005 live-action movie.

Yokoyama's mechanical behemoth looking up into the Kobe sky, as if to rebuke the invading bombers, should make quite a sight.

It's a little monster

Brilliant ad inspired by Japanese giant robot/monster classics. It's in a genre with fab videos like Polysics' "Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto" and Beatie Boys' "Intergalactic." Pepto-Bismol even got in on the action.

Makes me want to stomp Tokyo.

Powersuits for all

Classy. But can it tango?

Those who fear the rise of robots and artificial intelligence have just gotta love one project in Japan that hits all the right buttons - Tsukuba University Professor Yoshiyuki Sankai's efforts to commercialize a strength-enhancing robotic suit.

The product name: HAL. The company: Cyberdyne.

Coincidence? Perhaps. Regardless, Sankai's robosuit, which boosts arm and leg power in response to user brain signals, just jumped closer to commercialization thanks to a 1 billion yen capital injection from major Japanese homebuilder Daiwa House Industry Co. The company took a 15% stake in Cyberdyne, a venture set up by Tsukuba U. and helmed by the good professor.

They plan to start mass production with annual output of 400 HAL suits, which are designed to help elderly Japanese stay mobile and independent longer. Wearers can tote objects weighing over 20 kg, no sweat, but they can't leap tall buildings yet. The suits would be available for rent or purchase, with a possible price tag of about 500,000 yen, or $4,200. Daiwa House is also planning HAL classes at its fitness club and even special HAL homes for wearers, according to Nikkei News.

I can already see newly young oldsters partnering up for another servo waltz.

HAL-lelujah.

Robocandy

This, gentle reader, is robot omiyage.

Omiyage are souvenirs, a de rigueur gift for colleagues if you're a salaryman on a business trip. They're usually chocolates and the like.

Never little robot buns...until now.

Thanks to the new Robot Museum in Nagoya, which I finally visited. The organizers really did their homework and have put together a very impressive multimedia chronology of famous anthropomorphic machines fictional and real, from Hadaly of Tomorrow's Eve to Honda's Asimo and beyond. A highlight of the gallery is the actual Wabot 1, the first full-sale humanoid robot, developed in 1973 by Prof. Ichiro Kato of Waseda University.

The place is more than a museum. There's also an event space that accommodates visiting robots, as well as a large "robot department store" on the ground floor. Everything robotic, from toys and robot kits to t-shirts and candies, is on offer. Thousands of customers throng the aisles on weekends; a good chunk of them are gaijin.

The manju bun above is part of a slew of Robot Museum merchandise for sale. Comes in this here package.

The taste? Milky-sweet, with a touch of silicon.