I come across a lot of odd signs in Japan. Some are just down right funny, some just don’t make sense and I guess some are just a bit creepy.
Found at Koganei Koen, Tokyo
Maybe I’m just used to the more familiar signs you see in parks like, “Beware of Pickpockets” or “Pick up your dog’s poop” that I find the sign above a bit creepy. The sign above says, “Beware of Perverts”.
Something I will definitely take in mind.
Today marks my 2nd year of living in Japan. And to commemorate, I have decided to write some of my own odd experiences of living in this rather crazy country.
While living in Japan may not always be pleasant, I assure you that it is always interesting.
Case in point 1: The Square Watermelon
The picture above was taken in Koriyama-shi, Fukushima, Japan
So okay, square watermelons, great – but I mean, WHY? Seriously. With Japan’s food self-sufficiency problems and all the extra effort needed to create, must I dare say, a freak of nature, why square watermelons?
Doing a bit of research, I found out that square watermelons do have a purpose and are not just for eye candy.
Given Japan’s limited space (for everything), a farmer in Zentsuji came up with the idea of a cube-shaped watermelon for easier packing and storage. Ingenious!
That makes sense but is all the trouble worth it when you can just cut it all up and put it in a container or the easier way, just eat it all up in one sitting?
Is the square watermelon also worth dumb-founding a well known fact, taught as a kindergarten that a watermelon is supposed to be round?
Went to catch the Terminator Exhibit being held at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation/ Miraikan in Odaiba, Tokyo last Saturday. In conjunction with the Terminator Salvation release and I suppose as a celebration to the fragile bond between Man and Machine, an exhibition of the robots, artworks and actual costumes used in the Terminator movies and series are being displayed until June 28.
I was expecting more props and robots to be showcased but nonetheless, the exhibit was still interesting and the robots and production tidbits were enlightening. It was a cool experience to see the actual robots and artworks used in some of the most unforgettable movies of all time. I’ll be back.
Terminator Exhibition – Battle or Coexistence?
Terminator Exhibit ・ターミネーター展(Ta-mine-ta-ten )
T-800 Endoskeleton
Appearance: The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Terminator Salvation
T-800 in the flesh
“Death rendered in steel” as James Cameron would put it. The T-800 is designed to look and act like human. Made of a yet undiscovered, ultrastrong alloy, the T-800 likes to wear dark glasses and has a knack for spilling unforgettable, comical one-liners.
Appearance: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
T-X
The T-X appeared in the what I think is the worst Terminator movie in the pack. A combination of the skeletal T-800 and the mighty morphing T-1000, this Terminator is the first to bring future weapons back to the present. T-X portrayed by Kristanna Loken is also the hottest Terminator to date.
Cameron Phillips
Appearance: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Cameron Phillips (TOK715)
Named after Terminator’s creator, James Cameron, Cameron Phillips/TOK715 is the Terminator sent to protect John and Sarah around 1999. The TO715 is disguised as a beautiful, petite, teenage infiltrator.
T-1
Appearance: Terminator3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation
The T-1 is an autonomous military robot with a rather anthropomorphic head, sensor eyes, gatling guns for arms, a torso that swivels like a human and caterpillar tracks for legs.
Hydrobot
Appearance: Terminator Salvation
Hydrobots are serpentine aquatic units that move in swarms and patrol the waters.
T-600 Endoskeleton
Appearance: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Terminator Salvation
The sinister-looking T-600 units are covered in a sheet of rubber skin meant for espionage and infiltration purposes. The T-600′s are superseded by the newer and more advanced T-800s.
Moto-Terminator
Appearance: Terminator Salvation
Moto-Terminators are high-speed pursuit units using motorcycle chassis. In the Terminator Salvation scene where John Conner reprograms a Moto-Terminator for use, I just can’t help but think of Batman’s Batpod and wait for Christian Bale to spill his line: “I’m Batman.”
By the way, In the movie John Conner also uses a Vaio UX Micro PC. 
Actroid-DER3
Other highlights of the exhibit were the Actroid DER3 and a creepy, almost real-looking moving arm. The Actroid DER3 is a humanoid robot with strong visual human-likeness developed by Osaka University and manufactured by Kokoro Company, Ltd. The Actroid DER3 can move and talk – like, whoa!
Isn’t this robotic arm just amazingly creepy!
Moving Robot Hand
More pictures can be seen here.