If there’s one thing you can say about the Wii, it’s that it is and always has been white. Back in the days when it was first called the “revolution” it seemed like we would be getting an assortment of colors, but alas, just plain old Wii white. That’s why it’s kind of shocking to see these.

While this may not be a lime or blood red Wii console, at least Nintendo is taking a baby step in the right direction with these pastel-colored Wiimote straps for Japan. You can get the whole pack for $10 or individually for afew bucks. No word if they’ll be coming our way soon.

Those lucky Japanese have one-upped us again. The DSvision service will let DS owners download and watch Japanese anime series and probably other strange programming on their DS. You do have to buy special hardware to view the downloaded episodes though. The service will go live next Wednesday and each downloaded movie will cost $4.80. They are stored on a microSD memory card. When do we get some of this action? If this keeps up I’m going to immigrate to Japan so I can have some cool stuff too.

This isn’t a gadget of course, but it does involve one of our favorite retro arcade games, Space Invaders. We love Space Invaders here at the ‘Brick and we’re a little jealous of our friends in Japan, where these Kit Kat bars are being produced in limited editions by Nestle for Taito arcades to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders.

Putting Space Invaders on a Kit Kat should make it a bit easier to fend off the invading armada as you savor every delicious bite of their little bodies. I’d love to see more retro arcade candy bars hit the market, like a Pac-Man Reese’s cup and the like, but I wouldn’t be able to resist and I’d become a large geek instead of a trim geek.

Let me say this right off. If there’s one thing we don’t need, it’s bicycle riding robots. It just makes us easier to catch come Robo-Judgement day. That being said, this robot is amazing to watch in action. The Murata Boy was developed in Japan and can ride a bicycle like you and me. Well, actually a whole lot better.

He’s got Gyro Sensors so he can detect position and balance itself accordingly. He can even identify if a surface is uneven, with obstacles or is as smooth as a human’s bottom. It transmits images back to a computer for future reference and analysis. Apparently, this creation is the product of trying to develop a robot that can lift heavy loads and assist in perilous terrain sites. I fully expect to see these chasing people through fiery streets. If not I’ll be disappointed.

Those of us in the U.S. know damn well that we are never going to have a DVD playing Wii, while those who live in Japan have reason to hope. The company has made promises stating that a DVD system was on the way in some form, at some point.

Now the poor Wii playing Japanese are thinking they may never get one as well since Nintendo has just announced yet another delay to the system while still giving no date. IGN says that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata would only say that due to the continuing worldwide Wii shortages, “the priority is on the current model.”

I choose neither the light or the dark side, instead preferring to the subtle arts of the Geek side. Which is why I love these Star Wars USB hubs. Best of all, no Jar-Jar or Ewoks. Just your favorite droid and your favorite Sith Lord. The details are super nice too.

Both feature four full-speed USB ports in front. We think R2′s head moves every 3 minutes and lights up, and both have sound effects from the movies so you can re-inact scenes as often as you like. They’re Japan only for now, but it’s only a matter of time. Oh yes, I will have one.

The Japanese have done a ton of wacky things they should be ashamed of gadget-wise and otherwise. Now they’re getting into politics to sell phones and the result is bizarre. This commercial for Japan’s EMobile cellular company has a monkey dressed up in a suit, at a podium in front of a crowd.

The crowd is holding signs that read “Change.” At the end, the monkey cries a tear, clearly ashamed as he should be. Bad monkey. Their intentions may or may not have been entirely innocent, but we all know that if this aired in America there would be hell to pay.

The Kohjinsha SX Series UMPC is pretty sweet looking, and packs a lot in a small form. It sports an 8.9 inch touch screen display at 1,280 x 768 resolution, Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD, Super Multi-DVD drive, Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity.

Some other features include an ExpressCard/34 slot, card readers, two USB 2.0 ports and VGA out. The Kohjinsha SX Series will be available in Japan. You can get it in black or white for $1199.

I guess it isn’t easy being a Japanese geek. Not that it’s easy being an American geek, but the Japanese have so much more cool stuff to tempt them out of their savings. That’s why Takara Tomy has made a new kind of piggy bank. One with an RPG game built into it. It’s called Bank Quest.

Not very original, but appropriate. You can buy weapons and armor for your character from the savings you place inside the bank. Where have I seen this before. Oh right, it was called an arcade, where you put your money in played. Except you get to keep the money with this bank. Improve the graphics and gameplay, you might just have a bunch of gamers saving their money for once.

Today, Sega Toys announced their plans to start selling a new humanoid robot in Japan, named E.M.A., on September 26th. E.M.A. stands for “Eternal, Maiden, Actualization” Translated that means, “Hi nerd. Here’s your new companion.”

The robot is of the female persuasion and stands at 38 cm tall. According to Sega, the E.M.A. is special because of her “glamorous body” and because she’s highly interactive. (Translation:Only a nerd could love that body and she kinda puts out.) She’ll sing and dance, hand out your business cards, even walk “like a lady”. I wasn’t kidding when I said she puts out. She won’t go all the way, though I’m sure some of you will force the issue, but she will kiss you if your head comes into close contact with her. That’s when the love mode switches on.

Once again Japan gets all the cool things. Like this latest, the Cinnabar Red PlayStation 2. It should be available on July 3rd, for the equivalent of $155 US. Perfect if you love rocking red, or if you have some sort of Hell theme happening. In fact, it would probably be at home in Hellboy’s house. Hell. Damnation. The damned. Red is the color of anger you know. I think it’s affecting me in a strange way.

…In a good way. Mostly. TokyoFlash continues to surprise us with unique watch designs. With their latest, the “Infection” watch, they apparently had sickness on their minds. I’m not sure if I like it or not. On one hand the design is cool, but I look at it and I feel like I need to be quarantined. It’s like ill pop-art.

The time is shown with 12 red, 11 yellow and four green LEDs, and you can choose have the display animated or just show the time. The curved watch is stainless-steel and water-resistant to 3ATM and sells for around $135.

If you live in Tokyo chances are you’ve seen the invasion of lifesize Coca-Cola robots wandering the streets. “Drink human, or I’ll pop your puny head”. Now you can own your own miniature version of the wandering Coke robot to keep you company on your desktop.

Nothing says robotics like a caffeinated robot. When you combine Japanimation and Coca-Cola vending machines, the result is supreme geekiness. If regular Coke isn’t your thing, there’s also a black Coca-Cola Zero robot waiting for you.

For those of you who like Super hero statues sawed off at the waist or higher, this deal in Japan may be for you. If you’re in Japan. And a geek. On July 23, Japanese folks will get their chance to own Batman Begins on Blu-ray.

That’s about two weeks after release in the U.S. Our gift set edition comes with story boards, script pages and a $7.50 movie credit towards Dark Knight, but in Japan they will get a 25 cm tall bust. Which begs the question, why are we always getting left out on all the cool stuff? What’s the deal with that? The standard Blu-Ray will be around $47, the gift set edition is about $180.

Oxygen bars are nothing new, and are designed to increase your health, but in Japan they have once again upped the ante with IV drip cafes. Tenteki10 is located in Ebisu, Tokyo, and offers customers a walk-in service where they can get IV drips starting at $20. The service is said to provide a skin care boost, while acting as an anti-aging remedy and alleviating stress and exhaustion. Big claims. Somehow I doubt it.

IVs are administered by on-site nurses, so Japanese men will no longer have to go to the hospital to hit on them. Great for those freaky medical fetish types too, I guess. How much you want to bet they start serving caffeine via IV at this place as well?