Archive for Vegetation
October 7, 2008 at 2:15 pm · Filed under Smart Tech, Vegetation, Sentient Tech, Biota, Keio University
Midori-san, the blogging houseplant, at bowls Donburi Cafe in Kamakura
If houseplants could blog, what would they say? To find out, Kamakura-based IT company KAYAC Co., Ltd. has developed a sophisticated botanical interface system that lets plants post their thoughts online. A succulent Sweetheart Hoya (Hoya kerii) named “Midori-san” is now using the system to blog daily from its home at bowls Donburi Cafe in Kamakura.
The plant interface system, which is built around technology developed by Satoshi Kuribayashi at the Keio University Hiroya Tanaka Laboratory, uses surface potential sensors to read the weak bioelectric current flowing across the surface of the leaves. This natural current fluctuates in response to changes in the immediate environment, such as temperature, humidity, vibration, electromagnetic waves and nearby human activity. A specially developed algorithm translates this data into Japanese sentences, which are used as fodder for the plant’s daily blog posts.
Diagram of plant interface system
Midori-san […]
Original post by Edo
August 5, 2008 at 7:17 pm · Filed under Vegetation, Anomaly, Biota, Discovery, Nara
One of the world’s rarest fungi, an exotic star-shaped mushroom known to exist at only three locations on Earth, has been discovered in the mountains of Nara prefecture.
The Devil’s Cigar (a.k.a. “Texas Star”) — known to botanists as Chorioactis geaster — had been observed only in central Texas and at two remote locations in Japan prior to the recent discovery in Nara. The peculiar fungus is described as a dark brown cigar-shaped capsule that transforms into a tan-colored star when it splits open to release its spores. It is also one of only a few known fungi that produce an audible hiss when releasing spores.
First reported in 1893 in Austin, Texas, the curious mushroom appears in a limited area of central Texas each year, and until now, the rare sightings in Japan have occurred in forests in Miyazaki and Kochi prefectures. The fungus is included on the red […]
Original post by Edo
July 21, 2008 at 6:56 pm · Filed under food, Vegetation, Art, Video, Aomori
This stop-motion video of the 2008 Inakadate rice crop art is composed of still images captured daily from June 1 to July 3, 2008 via the roof webcam at the adjacent town hall. The 3.7-acre work features the images of Daikoku, god of wealth (left), and Ebisu, god of fishers and merchants (right), which were cultivated using five different colors of rice plants. On July 4, just as the crop was beginning to mature, the organizers shut down the webcam when they removed the JAL ad portion of the artwork at the request of the rice paddy owner.
Original post by Edo
July 9, 2008 at 7:27 am · Filed under food, Vegetation, Art, Marketing
This photo snapped by Aomori-based blogger Pochiko shows remnants of the JAL logo still visible in this year’s Inakadate rice paddy art, several days after organizers attempted to “erase” it.
Read more: JAL logo uprooted from rice paddy art
Original post by Edo
July 4, 2008 at 3:05 pm · Filed under Vegetation, Art, Marketing, Aomori
Has Japan Airlines’ crop-based advertising gone too far? For some residents of Inakadate — a small town with a big reputation for cultivating fantastic works of multi-colored rice paddy art — the answer is “yes.”
This year’s crop art, which is Inakadate’s 16th work since 1993, features giant images of Daikoku (god of wealth) and Ebisu (god of fishers and merchants) alongside the corporate logo for sponsor Japan Airlines (JAL). Here are a few photos of the rice paddy taken in June from the 6th-floor roof of the adjacent town hall.
Daikoku (left), Ebisu (right) and JAL logo
The town committee responsible for the annual crop art project decided to incorporate advertising into this year’s work to help offset rising costs associated with increased numbers of visitors. Last year more than 240,000 people came to see the crop art, and many of them used the town hall bathrooms and elevators (there is […]
Original post by Edo
June 24, 2008 at 12:36 pm · Filed under food, Vegetation, Art, Sustenance, Attraction
Rice-growing season has only just begun, but this year’s first crop of rice paddy art, which is created by planting various colors of rice in the field, has already started to emerge.
In the Yamagata prefecture town of Yonezawa, an image of 16th-17th century samurai Naoe Kanetsugu has appeared in a field near the Onogawa hot spring. The samurai, whose image is based on a portrait housed at the nearby Uesugi Museum, appears along with a pair of fireflies and the kanji characters for “Love” and “Tenchijin,” the name of an NHK drama about Naoe Kanetsugu that will air next year. The rice will be harvested in October.
This year marks the third time that crop art has been grown in Yonezawa. Here are a few photos of works from the past two years.
2007
2007
2007
2006
In recent years, a growing number of local governments around Japan have started organizing rice paddy […]
Original post by Edo
June 9, 2008 at 9:57 am · Filed under Vegetation, Anomaly, Biota
A 21-leaf clover discovered on June 3 by Iwate prefecture farmer Shigeo Obara has shattered the Guinness world record for most leaves on a clover stem (Trifolium repens L.). The current official record is held by an 18-leaf clover that Obara found in his garden in May 2002.
The record-breaking clover’s 21 leaves each measure about 1 centimeter long and overlap each other like rose petals on a 3-centimeter stem.
Read the full post (203 words, 1 image)
Original post by Edo
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