Giant Robot Store and GR2 News

This isn’t the most exciting thing in the world but the girl on the left is a huge star in Japan. Her name is Mana Ashida and as a child of 7 years, she’s a hit. If K Pop is going to reign with sexy girls, then why not combat it with a new genre of J Kid Pop? With an older demographic and aging population, this is odd and something that’ll be studied. “Most impressively, respected Japanese advertising agency Dentsu named Ashida the sixth best Japanese “product” of 2011—placing her in front of hybrid cars and emergency supplies.” (The Atlantic – Mana Ashida) [youtube]RWV_rx5PYD4[/youtube]
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[youtube]X-ozhTM0svM[/youtube] Japanese scientists have transplanted hair onto a mouse and the follicle cells actually bound to nerves and tissue, sprouting from 74% of the follicles implanted. They even used human hair on the mouse and it worked. Scary thought and ideas starting to happen here. The new tattoo might be hair transplants in odd places. (WSJ – Mouse)
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76 year old Japanese man, Masafumi Nagasaki lives on an island alone and naked. The island is 1000 meters across and he bakes in the sun. The island has no drinking water, yet this is where he chooses to call home. He gets a bit of money from his family and that’s about it. A short documentary sounds like a great plan. (Reuters – Naked Hermit)
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Sporting a funny haircut and looking a bit interesting, Kazuo Ueda spent much of his life making a Yiddish – Japanese dictionary. Is it useful? Not really, but that’s how academia works. It’s a lot of effort on one small topic no matter how narrow and useful. But it’s done! Ueda now is showing signs of Parkinson’s and it’s attributed perhaps to his hard work. That said, a dictionary will cost $700 which is a steal of the fan of both languages. Are there any aside from him? Either way, we’d say congrats on the 28,000 words and the effort. (NPR – Yiddish Japanese Dictionary)  
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