Making Science More Interesting

I always thought science was pretty interesting when I was a kid, but Japan has come up with a way to make young people even more interested in science: Portraying famous historical scientists as sexy young men (and the occasional woman) with the "Visual Scientists" encyclopedia.


Written and edited by the "International Sexy Science Study Group" this book aims to introduce science and those scientists who have made major impacts throughout history in a way that will get young people excited about learning. In addition to short bios on major scientists, several different fields of science are represented with "cute figures." For example (left to right) Classical Mechanics, Botany, and Electromagnetism.

This pull-out seems to be of two young men performing a "Chemistry" experiment...

Most well-known scientists are represented, including:

Isaac Newton

Albert Einstein

Ben Franklin

In addition to mentioning many other scientists, there is a section examining famous fictional scientists, like Emmett Brown--"Doc" from "Back to the Future," Victor Frankenstein, and Yoda. There is also a section about modern-day scientists who are doing great things in our time, the majority of who, surprisingly, are Japanese, including Kodo Okuyama--the man who "liberated the Japanese people from eyeglasses." (No, he did not invent lasic eye surgery, he studied it in the former Soviet Union and was the first to perform it in Japan...Meanwhile, there is no mention of the actual inventor of the surgery, but obviously he isn't as important as the Japanese guy who copied him.)

All in all, this "encyclopedia" contains just enough information to give one the gist of who each scientist is without boring one with too many pesky dates or details and provides enough eye-candy to keep a young person's attention span long enough to finish reading it. I give it an A+ for ingenuity. Other offerings by the same publisher include:

"Element Girls"--to help you memorize the periodic table

And "Astro Girls"--to teach the basics of Astronomy

Kawasaki Halloween Adventures

So, I ended up not staying for Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I did go to the Halloween parade in Kawasaki on the 31st. I got there right before it started, so couldn't get a really good spot, but was able to take some video:

As you can see, there were three floats in the parade.

Float 1 started the parade and carried the special guests, the comedy duo "Maeda Maeda." They are elementary school aged brothers who, while not really that funny, are absolutely adorable. Float 1 = Cutest Float

Float 2 was really awesome because of all the spooky arms sticking out of it and because the DJ was spinning "Thriller." Float 2 = Most Appropriate for Halloween Float

Float 3 was pretty ridiculous because it consisted of the not-creatively costumed skanky belly dancers and skanky angel dancing to "Barbie Girl." Float 3 = Most Appropriate for Japanese Halloween Float

The others in the parade are just normal people who signed up to participate. A lot of them had some really great costumes (many of which not pictured here since I only got 1/3 of them), but there were still quite a few store-bought witch costumes and the like. But, that's what you get with non-juried parade selection, I guess.

Right before leaving, we stumbled across a street performer, who seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with Halloween. I couldn't tell if he was kinda creepy, or really awesome...probably a combination of both...you be the judge. (Commentary courtesy me and my friend Errol)