A Geek in Japan

The Osaka City Council is planning to turn the Dotonbori canal into an 800 meter long swimming pool. The Dotonbori canal has never had a good reputation as it has always been considered a canal with dirty waters while being located in one of the most crowded and lively areas in Osaka. The canal is on the news when the Hanshin Tigers baseball team wins the league because its fans are brave enough to jump into the canal waters.

This is how the Dotonbori canal currently looks at the point where the famous Glico man sign is located.

And this is how the canal will look like in Summer 2015. By then it will be considered the longest swimming pool in the world:

The Dotonbori swimming pool is part of the City Council project to create ten new tourist sites in Osaka. It will also commemorate the 400 anniversary of the canal, whose construction was finished during the Siege of Osaka.

Source: Japantimes

The animation movie Akira correctly predicted the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The message in this billboard says “147 days for the start of the Olympics”:

Akira’s action is set in the year 2019 and the final scenes take place in the Olympics stadium built for the 2020 Olympics.

Let’s hope Third World War doesn’t break out and that Akira doesn’t destroy the stadium. The movie also predicted a radioactivity problem, but as a consequence of war and not because of a Tsunami hitting Fukushima.

A couple of Akira fan remixes about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Via @kotecinho and Kotaku