Wasabi Fire Alarm!

Everyone that eats Sushi, should know what is Wasabi…It gives a delicious taste to sushi and can bring some tears as well.  Well, apparently,  the strong odor of Wasabi can save lives pretty soon, especially when there is a fire.

The Japanese are getting teary-eyed over a smoke alarm for deaf people that emits a strong odor of wasabi, according to a recent Nikkei Net article.

Instead of an ear-piercing wail, the device unleashes the chemical compound allyl isothiocyanate, which gives horseradish, mustard, and wasabi their bite. A red LED on the alarm also starts flashing when smoke is detected.

In tests on sleeping people with normal or no hearing, the device woke nearly all subjects up within two and a half minutes after the stench hit their nostrils. Further tests determined the ideal intensity of airborne wasabi to wake people up but not hurt their eyes in the process.

The alarm is about 8 inches long by 3 inches wide and works on a room that’s roughly 50 square feet. It was launched in 2009 following a two-year development by Kobe-based fire extinguisher company Air Water Safety Service and Seems, a bioventure in Tokyo.

The companies haven’t managed to sell too many units of the alarm, which costs around $560. A redesign may bring the price down to $225.

But interest in the smelly siren is growing, according to Nikkei. One hotel in Nagoya is offering it to hearing-impaired guests. The firms are also targeting noisy environments like karaoke parlors where crooners might drown out an alarm.

No word yet on whether they’ll try selling to sushi restaurants.

Source: CNET

I think this a nice gadget that could save lives.  How the inventors thought about this? Wasabi can burn tongues…Fire…Oh, I got it!

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It’s only the usual scenery…Sigh

Since it’s the final weekend in Japan, the time has arrived for another Haruhi DVD to reach shelves around the world. For the first time since August 2009 we DO NOT have an Endless Eight episode on the DVD! I’m sure that is enough to bring joy to everyone reading this post. This month brings to us the first two episodes of the Sigh novel adaptation. As with every pure novel adaptation so far, we begin the main plot with Itstumo no Fuukei (The Usual Scenery) and the filming of The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00 starts!

Unfortunately for me, something happened during shipping and the bottom left corner of the sliding tray was cracked when it arrived. Nothing damaged the discs, but it still is bothersome. No film strip this time either. But enough about that, how about some info on the episodes?! Sigh I looks as good as ever and II is just moreso amazing. The simple animation put into the water shooting behind Kyon and Haruhi near the end is breathtaking as is the lighting on the train as it travels. As we all know the events of the episodes, I won’t bore you with the details.  There are a couple things that are of interest animation-wise:

The animators certainly went back to the first footage for their animation. With the exception of the colors, the images almost look identical (barring the bars on the side). Great job!

Just as they did their homework for the CM, they couldn’t stay consistent from the end of one episode and into another. The most obvious change is the color of Mikuru’s hair, but the right hand of Kyon has some subtle changes as well. I’m planning on editing the episodes into one movie once I get all the DVDs so it’d be great quality compared to a fansub or raw, and this just annoyed me. Granted you do have the ED between the two shots, so it’s not as noticeable with that, but with the gimmick of having the episodes as a psuedo-movie, this is not that acceptable. Not so good job Kyo-Ani!

For the extras on this set, you have the usual TV spot, staff filming, Aya Hirano footage, BGM collection, Taniguchi travels, and Memory album. I just could not capture every single shot they included in the staff filming, but wait….

No, I didn’t plan that they would go to the real cafe this time, but there was a lot of pictures and videos taken of the cafe. Given how many times the cafe was used in the 2009 episodes, it’s not that hard to believe it wasn’t intentional for the episodes. I only captured these two to spare the Endless Eight haters some trouble. The other location they head to is the park where a lot of the footage for Sigh was taken from. Anyone heading to Japan needs to mark Kabutoyama Prefectional Forest if they would like to make a movie. For Aya, she shows off her vocal talents in a performance with the band playing right behind her and “Super Driver” sounds amazing. More Endless Eight BGM is on the limited edition disc, but this is the last one which has the EPIC finale music. Taniguchi finds a blue devil and goes to a cave. Finally the memory album focuses mostly on the sports festival. I’ve included many more pictures and screenshots here.

Overall, I enjoyed the set. Sigh I was my least favorite episode in 2009 and II helped wake me up from the stupor I had me in. I absolutely love the extras this time. The BGM is amazing as usual from Kosaki-san and Taniguchi never ceases to humor me. With the exception of no film strip and the crack, this set is pretty much solid. Sigh works as the low for Haruhi, both as a character and as the final straw after the arc that shall not be named again. The next set features the most dramatic moment of 2009 and I can’t wait. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a little longer for Vanishment. Sigh….

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Nyantype #5 Preview: Haruhi looks so hot!

Nyantype #5 was released and  it has plenty of sexy images. One of them that brought my complete attention is of course…Suzumiya Haruhi. She has long hair and nice legs!!

Suzumiya Haruhi is not the only gorgeous woman featured in this issue. There are many more…

I just cant decide which magazine is better…but Haruhi looks very tempting!

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Megami Magazine #118 Preview: Angelic Layer, Mai Hime?

Megami Magazine 118 has arrived and it is quite interesting…Not only because it has nice girls images as usual…

There are some interesting and old series featured in this issue, including Angelic Layer and Mai-Hime.

Click image to zoom!

I can guess Angelic Layer and Mai Hime were featured in this issue because of Blu-ray editions for this series coming pretty soon. I must admit I thought it was something new like a new season or something. One can dream anyway.There are other great series featured here so take a look at it and enjoy!

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