tokyo
Design
10:05AM Jesus Diaz | If you go to Tokyo, you may want to check into 9h — Nainawasu in Japanese — a luxury capsule hotel that is nine storeys tall, storing 125 capsules that use Panasonic’s environmental and lighting control system. More »
9h: The Luxury Capsule Hotel
10:05AM Jesus Diaz | If you go to Tokyo, you may want to check into 9h — Nainawasu in Japanese — a luxury capsule hotel that is nine storeys tall, storing 125 capsules that use Panasonic’s environmental and lighting control system. More » 
Vehicles
4:10PM Damian Francis | I’m sitting at AMLUX in Tokyo watching Toyota demonstrate the i-REAL personal mobility vehicle. Currently there is a Japanese women tearing around the room in one of these things. That’s right, she’s tearing it up. For those that used to compare the i-REAL to the Segway, consider the comparison dead. The i-REAL looks cooler and goes faster. And you sit in it rather than stand. More »
Test Driving The Segway-Killing Toyota i-REAL
4:10PM Damian Francis | I’m sitting at AMLUX in Tokyo watching Toyota demonstrate the i-REAL personal mobility vehicle. Currently there is a Japanese women tearing around the room in one of these things. That’s right, she’s tearing it up. For those that used to compare the i-REAL to the Segway, consider the comparison dead. The i-REAL looks cooler and goes faster. And you sit in it rather than stand. More »
Vehicles
4:30PM Damian Francis | That would be me signing off from the Tokyo Motor Show and Japan. I’ll be hopping on a flight to Sydney in a few hours time. Hope you all enjoyed the coverage of what was certainly a pretty damn cool motor show. Before I go though be sure to do two things.
1) Check out the news of the new Toyota FT-EV II here at SMH.com.au. I didn’t have enough time to write this up with the rest of the stories but it is certainly a great car and a good look at the future and Toby Hagon, who was on this trip with us thanks to Toyota, did a rather good write up as per usual. More »
Goodbye Tokyo Motor Show
4:30PM Damian Francis | That would be me signing off from the Tokyo Motor Show and Japan. I’ll be hopping on a flight to Sydney in a few hours time. Hope you all enjoyed the coverage of what was certainly a pretty damn cool motor show. Before I go though be sure to do two things.
1) Check out the news of the new Toyota FT-EV II here at SMH.com.au. I didn’t have enough time to write this up with the rest of the stories but it is certainly a great car and a good look at the future and Toby Hagon, who was on this trip with us thanks to Toyota, did a rather good write up as per usual. More »
Vehicles
4:00PM Damian Francis | Did you know that Japan has more vending machines than any other country in the world? I could be making that up but I’m sure I read it somewhere. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong – I do make a lot of things up. Anyway, on my royal tour of Japan promoting green energy, publicising poverty and celebrating my recent win in the Brazilian Grand Prix for Red Bull Racing I saw this. Now call me crazy, but THIS is crazy (and perhaps taking the idea of the vending machine one step too far)!
Damian Francis is the editor-at-large for Australian T3 and contributing technology editor for GQ Australia. He is in Japan as a guest of Toyota Australia.
Spotted – The Car Vending Machine At Toyota Mega Web
4:00PM Damian Francis | Did you know that Japan has more vending machines than any other country in the world? I could be making that up but I’m sure I read it somewhere. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong – I do make a lot of things up. Anyway, on my royal tour of Japan promoting green energy, publicising poverty and celebrating my recent win in the Brazilian Grand Prix for Red Bull Racing I saw this. Now call me crazy, but THIS is crazy (and perhaps taking the idea of the vending machine one step too far)!
Damian Francis is the editor-at-large for Australian T3 and contributing technology editor for GQ Australia. He is in Japan as a guest of Toyota Australia.
Vehicles
3:00PM Damian Francis | What to say? Really, what to say! It’s called the Basket and we think that’s quite appropriate. It comes with swivel seats though and can be completely customised. The three cylinder 12 valve DOHC engine won’t get you too far though. It’s 660cc but on the plus side it’s 4WD. Because we can imagine you’ll need that in the Basket – what with all the off roading to apple farms you will be doing. While it does sound rather odd at least the models were into it! More »
Daihatsu Launches Basket (Case) Truck Type Vehicle
3:00PM Damian Francis | What to say? Really, what to say! It’s called the Basket and we think that’s quite appropriate. It comes with swivel seats though and can be completely customised. The three cylinder 12 valve DOHC engine won’t get you too far though. It’s 660cc but on the plus side it’s 4WD. Because we can imagine you’ll need that in the Basket – what with all the off roading to apple farms you will be doing. While it does sound rather odd at least the models were into it! More »
Vehicles
2:00PM Damian Francis | Not only did Lexus unveil its road going version of the LF-A supercar at the Tokyo Motor Show, it also had the race version and it looked like it was fresh off the race track. Take a look at the mud spots and gaffer tape! Unfortunately there was no way in hell that they would let me take it for a spin but some lucky British chap from Autocar in the UK did and the video is totally worth checking out. Enjoy the video after the jump. More »
Lexus LF-A Race Car On Show In Tokyo
2:00PM Damian Francis | Not only did Lexus unveil its road going version of the LF-A supercar at the Tokyo Motor Show, it also had the race version and it looked like it was fresh off the race track. Take a look at the mud spots and gaffer tape! Unfortunately there was no way in hell that they would let me take it for a spin but some lucky British chap from Autocar in the UK did and the video is totally worth checking out. Enjoy the video after the jump. More »
Vehicles
1:00PM Damian Francis | While most of the cars on show at the Tokyo Motor Show are high performance cars (this will change when it opens to the public soon), Toyota still chose to show off its Plug-In Hybrid Prius. While it’s not completely electric it’s certainly another step in the right direction in terms of moving towards full electric vehicles. More »
Toyota Unveils The Prius Plug-In Hybrid
1:00PM Damian Francis | While most of the cars on show at the Tokyo Motor Show are high performance cars (this will change when it opens to the public soon), Toyota still chose to show off its Plug-In Hybrid Prius. While it’s not completely electric it’s certainly another step in the right direction in terms of moving towards full electric vehicles. More »
Gadgets
11:30AM Damian Francis | See what I did there? I started every word in the heading with an ‘s’. Oh, you saw that? Yes, well aren’t you smart then. And being that you’re smart, when you next take a trip to Tokyo, you will visit the official Sony store in Ginza. Why? Because even if you aren’t a huge Sony fan you’ll still appreciate the vast array of technology on display here. It’s pretty much all future technology that Sony plans to release soon. And best of all, it’s actually easy to get to, unlike pretty much everything else in Japan. Just hop on the subway to Ginza and the store is right on top of the subway station. More »
Sizzling Super Silly Sony Store
11:30AM Damian Francis | See what I did there? I started every word in the heading with an ‘s’. Oh, you saw that? Yes, well aren’t you smart then. And being that you’re smart, when you next take a trip to Tokyo, you will visit the official Sony store in Ginza. Why? Because even if you aren’t a huge Sony fan you’ll still appreciate the vast array of technology on display here. It’s pretty much all future technology that Sony plans to release soon. And best of all, it’s actually easy to get to, unlike pretty much everything else in Japan. Just hop on the subway to Ginza and the store is right on top of the subway station. More »
Vehicles
11:00AM Damian Francis | OK, so it’s technically not a Liberty. This is a Legacy. Which is pretty much the Japanese version of the Liberty, the refreshed Liberty model we have in Australia. But while we toddle around in the suave Subaru family car down the Pacific Highway, the Japanese have decided to show us all what a Legacy really can do. More »
Subaru Show Off Mega Liberty
11:00AM Damian Francis | OK, so it’s technically not a Liberty. This is a Legacy. Which is pretty much the Japanese version of the Liberty, the refreshed Liberty model we have in Australia. But while we toddle around in the suave Subaru family car down the Pacific Highway, the Japanese have decided to show us all what a Legacy really can do. More »
Vehicles
10:00AM Damian Francis | Forget about your Pimp My Ride vehicles. That’s nothing compared to the pimping that Mani D’oro does. If you have never heard of them, join the club. I can’t really give you much information on them either really as it was all in Japanese and all its reps only spoke Japanese. More »
Mani D’oro Do It In Style
10:00AM Damian Francis | Forget about your Pimp My Ride vehicles. That’s nothing compared to the pimping that Mani D’oro does. If you have never heard of them, join the club. I can’t really give you much information on them either really as it was all in Japanese and all its reps only spoke Japanese. More » 
