Stations Turning To Robot Staff

[Mulboyne]

Photo: Asahi

JR East is planning to introduce a new information robot called "I" in their stations. Travellers can access the robot with their prepaid Suica IC cards (equivalent to the JR West ICOCA card). Quite how useful the robot will be is unclear. The manufacturer held a short trial at the end of July where users reported that it moved awkwardly and was too slow. A JR East representative stressed its entertainment value as a way of enhancing the station experience.

[Kuang_Grade]

As a part to improve Akiba's appeal to non otaku freakazoids, a new pay toilet has been launched that costs 100 yen to use, payable via by coin or Suica card. It seems targeted towards women with children or just those wanting a nicer loo.



http://akiba.ascii24.com/akiba/news/2006/10/16/665202-000.html

machine translation
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fakiba.ascii24.com%2Fakiba%2Fnews%2F2006%2F10%2F16%2F665202-000.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

[t3hWIT]

That is so cool. You have your food, drink, reading material... why bother leaving?