Yesterday was Japan Day on Bitterwallet, but before we fold away our kimonos and pour all the sake that we couldn’t finish off down the sink, here’s a couple more joyful items from Tokyo.

First up is the New Ice Suit (left), designed with the clammy Japanese summer months in mind. The suit is specially tailored with spaces to fit ice packs into for keeping the wearer cool during that sweaty commute.

Like most things Japanese, it’s the stuff of fantasy for the Bitterwallet team. Whenever it gets a little hot down here in our underground HQ, we simply pour a tray of ice cubes down the front of our jogging pants. Job done.

Next comes a cumbersome but much more exciting rival for Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader. Why bother with a portable and manageable book substitute when you can have your own robot?

Meet Ninomiya-kun (right) – a 1-metre-tall, 25-kilo aluminium robot developed at Waseda University’s Information, Production and Systems Research Centre. Ninomiya-kun reads books. Not e-books, but real books. Let’s get it shipped over here and give it some telly shows to present. Can it really be any worse than Vernon Kay?

[Crunch Gear] and [Pink Tentacle]