It takes something pretty special to win top prize at the Monozukuri Nippon awards.  The following innovation from Japanese company Oriental recently took out this honour for their White Goat office paper recycler.  The clever twist with this machine is that it converts shredded paper (of course, it has a built-in shredder) into recycled toilet rolls.

All the user needs to do is feed the White Goat with paper, add water and the rest of the process is entirely automated. It takes approximately 40 a4 pages of office paper to make up one toilet roll and the machine moves at a steady pace of two rolls per hour.  The company claim that this saves 60 cedar trees per year; but to have a White Goat of your own you’d better start saving your pennies… upon release they will be running out the door at the bargain price of $100,000.   

Perhaps this is a small price to pay, for the pleasure of expressing your ultimate disdain to certain unwanted office documents.

Learn about the White Goat at Oriental (Japanese language, Google is your friend).

We first heard about this at PopSci, where you can also see a video of the machine in action.

A wander through West Walk Mall in Tokyo’s Roppongi district can be a memorable experience.  Amongst all the glitz and glamour, a recent exhibition challenged consumers with some interesting constructions made out of upcycled drink bottles.  

The exhibition was a part of the recycled Green Carpet produced by Teijin for the Tokyo International Film Festival.   Over 18,000 drink bottles were used to produce the carpet that wound through Roppongi, terminating at the site of the Festival opening.  At several points, eye-catching constructions (pictured above) also made from recycled material helped spread the green message.

With objects ranging from endangered species through to decorative domestic products, a light-hearted twist was given to this important consumer message.   The International Film Festival may have come and gone, but people are still seeing green in Tokyo.

How would you make use of a lifetime supply of cardboard?  Bursting beyond the science classroom comes a vortex cannon of immense proportions.   Built to test a theory of blowing out candles from ever increasing distances, Japanese TV show Hey! Spring of Trivia spent 9 hours assembling 900kg of cardboard into a giant cube.

With the co-ordinated precision of a space launch, a team of “scientists” filled the big box with smoke and then impacted the side, sending a swirling vortex towards the hapless candle.  Follow this link to see a set of action videos where, in true Japanese style, the excitement in the commentary has been turned up to 11.

To perform the simplest of tasks in a complex and roundabout way can often be a point of frustration.  Our lives are filled with devices that aim to streamline and optimise every imaginable daily activity.

But what happens when imagination, rather than the outcome of the action, is the driving factor?  Enter PythagoraSwitch, a Japanese science show for children where truly incredible machines introduce each episode.

A collection appears in the following video clip - get ready to see books, picture rails, marbles, buckets and all sorts of everyday household items manipulated in surprising harmony.   The stuff around you will never look the same again!

So what will you do next time someone asks you to pass the salt?

Read on for a longer clip and more info -

Click to read more ...