japan

Apple this week quietly made behind-the-scenes changes to its mapping service in Japan, fixing a handful of shortcomings.

Chief among them are changes to pronunciation during turn-by-turn navigation, a key feature introduced in Apple's own mapping service in iOS 6. The app now also alerts drivers to toll roads, and has better point-of-interest labels for things like subways, freeways, and hospitals.

Other tweaks include 3D buildings for some Japanese landmarks like Tokyo Station and Tokyo Tower, as well as changing the freeway color to green.

The changes rolled out without an additional software update from Apple. That's because … Read more

In the world of "so bad, it's good," this may well qualify as bad. Or good.

It's Domino's Pizza selling a new iTunes app in Japan. Because if there's one thing pizza needs, it's an iPhone app.

Domino's wants you to know that no expense was spared in the creation of this app. So it wasn't going to sink to using Brad Pitt, Jack Nicholson, or Leonardo DiCaprio to sell it.

No, it was going to employ that versatile performer Scott Oellkers. Should you have been unaccountably held up in North Korea playing basketball, Oellkers is the president of Domino's Japan.… Read more

Japan is the newest country to get Apple's iBookstore. The tech giant announced today that it is rolling out a diverse array of books for Japanese readers in its iTunes bookstore.

"We're excited to launch the iBookstore in Japan with a wide selection of Japanese publishers and authors," Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue said in a statement today. "We think customers are going to love how engaging and interactive the books are to read, and how beautiful they look on iPad."

The books range from novels to … Read more

A watched pot never boils, but some pots can stir themselves.

Kurukuru Nabe, a pot developed in Japan, stirs its own contents, freeing you up to do better things with your time.

You'd think this is high-tech stuff, but no. It's a conventional saucepan with a grooved insert that produces a circular motion resembling a whirlpool in the water.

The design is fairly simple, as seen in this video of an aluminum pot with grooves that induce a spin. … Read more

Tired of your iPhone case? Now you can play dress-up with tiny underwear from Japan that turns your home button into something altogether different.

Smart Pants from game giant Bandai slip over the lower part of your iPhone in a weird but very Japanese bit of anthropomorphization.

The word "pants" (or "pantsu") is often used to denote underwear in Japan, and these mini undies come in eight varieties for both men and women.

The selection runs from bland briefs and boxer shorts to strawberry-patterned panties and racy leopard-print "t-back" thongs. … Read more

If you're terrible at something, just turn it into a fun activity. The Japanese did that very successfully when they turned singing into karaoke. Now they're doing the same with saving money.

Jinsei Ginko ("Life Bank") from Takara Tomy A.R.T.S is a digital piggy bank that works with your iPhone. It's designed with a Japanese bank-style logo to get you serious about hoarding yen.

The plastic piggy bank can hold 200 coins of 500 yen, the highest denomination, each worth about $5.41. That makes for a whopping total of 100,000 yen ($1,083). You could buy a bathtub of ramen with that. … Read more

Do you really have enough camera angles when you watch a football game? Come on, you want more.

Feed your desire to be omnipresent with the wacky BallCam. It puts a camera inside the spinning football.

You'd think that would make you toss that mix of pizza, hotdogs, and beer in your stomach, but boffins at Carnegie Mellon University and Japan's University of Electro-Communications have made it a rather pleasant viewing experience.

CMU researcher Kris Kitani and UEM's Kodai Horita co-authored a paper on how algorithms in their prototype football can recognize footage of the ground as … Read more

Microsoft's Surface tablet may surface in Japan as early as next month, according to a story from the Nikkei news service, as reported by the Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch.

A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed to CNET that Surface will reach Japan in the near future but didn't specify a launch date.

"As part of our phased approach to Surface availability, Surface will be coming to Japan in the near future," the rep said, promising to provide more details soon.

Microsoft is expected to sell the Surface RT edition to Japanese consumers. That version can run certain … Read more

One feature on the beleaguered Boeing 787 Dreamliner is its electrochromic dimming system that lets passengers make windows on the aircraft more or less opaque at the touch of a button.

Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) says that while these smart windows can take about 30 seconds to change, it has a new stick-on window film that can go from reflective to see-through in only 5 seconds.

The switchable mirror device can change states when a low voltage is applied. … Read more