Raw Japan
Slices of Japanese business, politics and life
Brain-powered travel
It may not look like much, but this run of the mill electric wheelchair runs on brainpower – no hands required.
Part of a joint project between Japan’s Riken Brain Science Institute and Toyota, the chair reads subject’s brainwaves and converts them into movement.
While I found the technology itself quite impressive, there’s little doubt that the brain-reading headgear won’t be making fashion headlines anytime soon.
Until recently, the amount of processing time between brainwaves and the actual motion had been the major stumbling block of these type of technologies.
Hybrid, schmybrid – get on yer bike!
Can things get any worse for the car industry?
Just when you thought hybrid cars were all the rage in Japan, they’re being shoved aside for the environmental cachet by an even greener alternative: electric bicycles.
Motor-assisted “hybrid” bicycles are gaining traction thanks to a greying population and a growing interest in being green and healthy.
