Tamagotchi Connection Series - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
This article reports on the popularity of the Tamagotchi Connection series, updates versions of the virtual pets that took the world by storm several years ago. The new Tamagotchi can communicate with each other and are even able to link up with mobile phones.

Print Club - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Print Club (known in Japanese as Purinto Kurabu, or Puri Kura for short) is a machine that lets you design and print out stickers with photos of your face on them. It's fast and easy. Ever since Print Club came out in the summer of 1995, it's been wildly popular among young people, especially junior-high-school and high-school girls. You can find Print Club machines on street corners all over Japan.

Mobile Melodies - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Japan has two types of mobile phones--cellular and PHS (personal handyphone system)--distinguished by the type of signals they operate on. Over the last few years many features have been added to these phones, such as answering services and functions that allow the user to send and receive text messages. In addition, the prices of the units and phone rates have dropped so low that one out of every three people in Japan now owns a mobile phone. The PHS, less expensive than the cellular, tends to be the phone of choice for middle and high school students.

Dancing with Robots! - Kids in Action - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
RoboCup Junior, the kids' section of RoboCup 2005 Osaka, was held from July 13 to 17, 2005. Robots designed and built by hand were fielded by 161 teams of kids from 18 countries and regions. The teams competed in three categories: robot soccer, robot dancing, and rescue.

Talk in Pictures - Kids in Action - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
A groundbreaking experiment was conducted between Tokyo and Seoul on November 20, designated as Universal Children's Day by the United Nations. In the experiment, kids from Japan and South Korea "talked" to each other using pictographs (pictures used to convey words and ideas).

Young Inventor Gets Patent for His "Umbrella Ghost" - Kids in Action - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Yamamoto Ryota, a sixth-grader at Okuda Elementary School in Toyama City, has developed a warning device to stop people from leaving their umbrellas behind in shops and restaurants. Thanks to his invention, Ryota has become the first elementary school student in Japan to be granted a patent.

Smileys - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
People always keep in touch. But while many people who were reluctant to write letters now send large volume of electronic correspondence, it is said people have grown away from the warmth of handwritten messages. Perhaps to make up for some of the facelessness, emoticons (emotive icons) created with symbols and the letters of the alphabet are often used to convey a range of emotions. Writers can show everything from pleasure and sadness to anger and embarrassment. When accompanying a text message, these "smileys" can fill in the emotional gaps in electronically transmitted text.

Inventions - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Some of the most outstanding entries in a nationwide invention contest for kids were shown at a Tokyo department store from March 13 to 18. On display were the 10 works that won the Grand Prize along with 185 others, chosen from among the 684 submissions. Most of the items were made using everyday objects and were inspired by real-life experiences or contact with nature.

Inventors - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
The spirit of scientific discovery is alive and well at the Inventor's Club in Kariya City, Aichi Prefecture. Here, boys and girls have been building their own original inventions since some companies linked to Toyota Motor Corporation started the club 27 years ago.

Solar Bikes - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
This summer, fourth graders at Jozan Elementary School worked on a special project. They turned old, battered bicycles into bicycles driven by solar power - the power of the sun. 95 kids from three classes proved that even children can achieve something great if they work together.

Cellphones - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
On July 21, a group of teenagers got a rare opportunity - they stood in front of an adult audience and presented their proposals on how society can make better use of mobile phones.

Summer - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
For Ayako Shimizu, a fourth-grader in the city of Akikawa, Tokyo, summer vacation is a time for coming up with inventions.

Astronaut - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Takao Doi became the first Japanese astronaut in history to venture outside his spacecraft on November 24 (November 25 Japan time) when he and fellow crew member Winston Scott from the United States successfully rescued a satellite that had gone out of control.

Radio - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
On February 12 the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science successfully launched an M-5 rocket from the Kagoshima Space Center in Uchinoura, Kagoshima Prefecture (map), to lift a radio telescope into orbit.

Net - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Many "pupils" from across the country are enrolling in an elementary school on the World Wide Web. They are not only "attending" classes at the Website but are doing homework and gathering for various events, such as a field day.

Plants - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
A researcher in Ibaraki Prefecture has developed a system that can "hear" what plants are saying. The messages sent by the plants are being used to determine when and how much to water them.

Space - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Nearly 6,000 elementary and middle school students across Japan duplicated two scientific experiments that Japanese astronaut Chiaki Mukai conducted aboard the U.S. space shuttle Discovery on her voyage in late October and early November 1998.

Mars - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Anyone who's ever dreamed of traveling to other planets can now do perhaps the next best thing: have an inscription of your name make the journey for you.

Islands - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Elementary and middle schools on four small islands off the coast of Toba City, Mie Prefecture, are being linked by computer with major ocean-related institutions around the city.

Wheelchair - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
A brother and sister attending an elementary school in Kyoto won a special prize in a recent wheelchair design contest. They became the youngest winners in the event, launched in 1989.