WTF is Maywa Denki? Among other things, it’s a Japanese performance group, an art collective, and an educational organization. Not only are they top-notch engineers, but they have a delightfully goofy and hands-on approach.

If you think your system can handle a little J-Pop, check out the cool robotic instruments in this video collection (there are two videos here, with better bot shots in the second.) Warning: Western listeners may have trouble with the psychedelic sugar-bomb sensibility of Japanese pop music. Note the mute button if you feel the need to pull the ripcord.

(And no, the Rotor has NO FREAKING IDEA what is going on with the cheerleader in the giant-mask-pullchain-headdress getup.)

But that’s not all. They make whimsically kawaii toys like the percussion-headed Knockman:

(is there a better metaphor for the modern condition?) and Knockman’s musical cousin Koron.

The Rotor’s favorite–and he actually parted with a reasonable wad of yen for one–is the deceptively useless Bitman

which is controlled through tilt sensors that, among other things, make the Bitman Man dance.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 8th, 2007 at 12:27 am and is filed under Asia Kicks Our Ass, Neat Stuff, RoboToys, Sometimes We Deal In Kinetic Art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.