Lucky Dragon is a 15-metre aluminium half-boat, half-animatronic beast. It breathes fire. And on the off-chance it battles another Lucky Dragon, it breathes water as well.

But don’t be too worried. While that lead shot implies nothing short of full-out robopocalypse, the video pasted below paints a different picture—namely one of a slow, aging Disney ride struggling to cough a few sparks to annihilate the human race through CO2 emissions.

Sorry to spoil the fun. The Lucky Dragon still looks like a wonderful means to celebrate the Aqua Metropolis festival in Osaka, should you be lucky enough to attend. [Mainichi via Pink Tentacle]

[Gizmodo Japan]

Working up the courage to talk to a woman in a skimpy outfit like one would find in the well-publicised maid cafes can be nerve-wracking for the shyest of the shy. This is perhaps what gave Mother Café boss Asahi Geino his golden egg idea; that Osaka’s loneliest otaku crowd would be more comfortable talking to someone that reminded them of their mothers.

So, what do you get at a mum café? According to Geino, “We staff our cafe with women who look older than they actually are, but they’re also capable of understanding worries people have and have experience in dealing with people of all ages. Our aim is to become a kind of therapeutic cafe where customers feel at ease enough to be able to open their hearts to staff.”

There are 10,000 manga titles to choose from, the opportunity to be hand-fed a slice of cake by a woman that may or may not remind you of your actual mother and if you are a regular; you get some lifestyle-related nagging thrown in for good measure. [Mainichi Shimbun]

A series of cameras, laser range finders and RFID tag readers are scattered around the 1000sqft section of the shopping centre. Each of these things help scan humans and determine what one of 10 categories they fall into, one of which is “lost”. Once a person is ID’ed, Robovie goes up and provides directions to where they want to go.

You may think this robot is friendly, but just look into its soulless, human-hating mechanical eyes. [Pinktentacle via Robot Watch via Yomiuri via Nikkei]

There were human-sized Gundam models for sale in a store full of all sorts of robot-themed toys (the “no photography” signs didn’t deter me, obviously), there were weird little hole-in-the-wall shops that only sold screws or engine parts or things of that nature, there were, of course, adult bookstores, and there were Crazy Eddie-style electronic warehouses full of every type of device under the sun. The neighbourhood was chock-full of socially-awkward-looking dudes thumbing through PS2 games or Hentai books, totally in their element. It was awesome.

Not all of the photos are from Den Den Town proper; the Apple store, for example, is on Mido-Suji, a posh street full of fashion boutiques, high-end department stores, and the like. Think of it as Osaka’s Fifth Avenue. Apple’s too cool for Den Den Town, apparently.

But Den Den Town is really where it’s at: a proudly geeky neighbourhood that hasn’t been overtaken by tourists or girls dressed up like French maids like Akihabara apparently has (I’ll investigate that for myself in a few days). Thanks again to Ashcraft for the walking tour, and stay tuned for more reports from Japan in the coming days.