A magic word in the Miyazaki universe, "balus" triggers a spell of destruction when said by characters at the beloved film's climax. our editor recommends Hayao Miyazaki Anime 'The Wind Rises' website Bows in Japan to $9.6 Million Twitter confirmed the new world record on Aug. 3, saying that it had beaten the 33,388 TPS mark set, also in Japan, on Jan. 1, when "ake-ome" -- a shortened version of 'Happy New Year' in Japanese -- was tweeted en masse. By comparison, during the royal baby frenzy immediately following the birth of Prince William and Kate Middleton's first child in July, tweet rates peaked at25,300 per minute. STORY: Hayao Miyazaki Anime 'The Wind Rises' Bows in Japan to $9.6 Million The practice of posting "balus" online began back in 2003 on the country's wildly popular2channelInternet chat boards, which crashed at the time, due to the huge traffic influx, along with those of some anime fan sites where large numbers of people posted the same message. In recent years, the action has shifted to Twitter, as the microblogging platform has grown massively popular in Japan. The last time the 1986 Studio Ghibli classic was aired, in Dec. 2011, "balus" was tweeted 25,088 times a second, setting a TPS record at the time, when Princess Sheeta and Pazu read out the spell toward the end of the film, destroying the flying city of the films title, saving themselves.
More: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/japan-smashes-tweets-second-world-599381

Japan launches talking humanoid robot into space
#6 People watch in shopping districts No matter what city you happen to be, there will be shopping districts. And that always makes for good people watching, especially in Japan where teenage fashion is so varied and extreme. Find a coffee shop or restaurant with a good view to while away a few hours. This is especially fun on a weekend in Tokyo's Harajuku district, or any day of the week above Shibuya's famous Hachiko crossing. There's a Starbucks with a great view of the crossing, with hundreds of pedestrians weaving in all directions at once in a mesmerizing stop-go-stop dance timed to the traffic lights.
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/viator/top-things-to-do-in-japan_b_3519341.html
Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com The huge move higher in YCS (which is a move lower in the yen relative to the greenback), stalled a bit in May and fitness June when the Federal Reserves quantitative-easing taper talk caused a spike in the value of the dollar. But since that taper talk has been digested by the market, YCS has made a notable comeback. We suspect this comeback has more room to run now that Abenomics is on the fast track to full implementation. Of course, the other half of the yen-bearish/Japanese-equities-bullish trade is to be long Japanese stocks, and our favorite way to do just that is via the Wisdom Tree Japan fitness Hedged Equity Fund /quotes/zigman/1496633/quotes/nls/dxj DXJ +0.90% . This ETF is replete with some of the largest Japanese companies, e.g. Mitsubishi Financial, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Canon, Honda /quotes/zigman/193599/quotes/nls/hmc HMC +2.81% , Japan Tobacco and Toyota /quotes/zigman/199376/quotes/nls/tm TM +6.41% . Yet perhaps the best thing about DXJ is its active management, which is designed to home hedge out any potentially negative effects of a debased yen.
More: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/let-japan-put-money-in-your-pocket-2013-08-05
Let Japan put money in your pocket
Kirobo derived from the Japanese words for hope and robot was among five tons of supplies and machinery on a rocket launched Sunday from Tanegashima in southwestern Japan, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said. YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images Tomotaka Takahashi, of the University of Tokyo, helped design Kirobo. The childlike robot was designed to be a companion for astronaut Koichi Wakata and will communicate with another robot on Earth, according to developers. Wakata is expected to arrive at the space station in November. Toru Hanai / Reuters/REUTERS Takahashi wants Kirobo to act as a mediator between people and machines. Robot designer Tomotaka Takahashi, of the University of Tokyo, advertiser Dentsu and automaker Toyota Motor Corp. worked on the robot.
More: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/japan-launchers-talking-robot-space-article-1.1417622
Japan launches talking humanoid robot 'astronaut' Kirobo into space
A link has been sent to your friend's email address. 3 To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs Japan launches talking humanoid robot into space AP 9:50 p.m. EDT August 4, 2013 The humanoid communication robot Kirobo is shown during a press unveiling in Tokyo. (Photo: Shizuo Kambayashi, AP) Kirobo is the world's first talking robot 'astronaut' The robot is headed to the International Space Station SHARE 52 CONNECT 43 TWEET 3 COMMENTEMAILMORE TOKYO (AP) Japan has launched the world's first talking humanoid robot "astronaut" toward the International Space Station. Kirobo derived from the Japanese words for "hope" and "robot" was among five tons of supplies and machinery on a rocket launched Sunday from Tanegashima in southwestern Japan, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said. The childlike robot was designed to be a companion for astronaut Koichi Wakata and will communicate with another robot on Earth, according to developers. Wakata is expected to arrive at the space station in November.
More: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/08/04/japan-robot-space/2617905/