Tokyo's Coolest Sound

Last Sunday I went to Japanino Night, an event held at Nifty's Tokyo Culture Culture café in Odaiba, promoting build-your-own 8-bit computer Japanino , the latest from popular magazine Otona no kagaku. The small electronic board, despite looking simple, can be connected to a computer through USB and programmed to do anything from musical instruments to controlling robots.

The seated event first had some talk about the computer's origin, and its predecessor Arduino from Italy. One of its inventors was there as part of the audience. Tech girl named Julie Watai showed the small synthesizer she made with Japanino, hiding it inside a toy cash register and decorating it with small toys bought in Akihabara.

Then the event went into music, with first a show of 3 guys who used the Japanino to make complex synthesizers, though they looked like a bunch of wires, with tiny settings tweaked using small screwdrivers to change the sounds. The result was rather noisy retro computer-like sounds, but showed that the limits of the Japanino really are one's imagination.

Next was a "Otona no kagaku All Stars" band, featuring 5 musicians playing various toy musical instruments released by the magazine. Aside from a Japanino programmed with a touch panel interface, there was the SX-150 synthesizer (played by Elektel's Polymoog), a small electric guitar, theremins, and a very strange instrument called Uda that made really beautiful sounds. This last one might be available from the magazine later this year.

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