tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 26/07/2026For @thetimes.com, I put the new Hiyashi Cup Noodles to the slurp test: Cup Noodle has an answer to 40C temperatures — just add fridge water. Our correspondent popped to the shop www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a... 011
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 03/07/2026My latest for @thetimes.com Jellyfish, sharks and big dreams: how I conquer oceans and summits: Rob Lea has become the first person to cross seven channels and climb seven summits in a grueling challenge that was decades in the making www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a... 010
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Prices for thousands of foods have gone up in Japan over the past year, but I'm always shocked by yaki-imo (roasted sweet potatoes). I remember one being 400 yen ($2.50)--now some street vendors in Tokyo are charging 1,200 yen to 2,000 yen ($7.50 to $12.50) a potato 000
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 02/06/2026I wrote about why Jacob Weisberg, chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, says it's more dangerous than ever to be a reporter @fccjapan.bsky.social @pressfreedom.bsky.social www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shi... 000
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 13/04/2026RIP great Montreal Hungarian photographer Gabor Szilasi (1928-2026), chronicler of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 whom I had the privilege of interviewing in 2014 for @mtlgazette 010
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 20/11/2025"There are still people in the United States who don't know about American history," George Takei tells @fccjapan.bsky.social of his WWII internment, with Japanese translations of his books #StarTrek 062
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 17/11/2025The Penny Dies at 232: A brilliant eulogy by Victor Mather www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b... 020
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 06/10/2025Retracing Basho’s steps at the mountain temple of Yamadera in Yamagata, I was surprised to come across this postbox for the monks. Every weekday, in rain or shine, a Japan Post mail carrier has to climb 1,000 stairs to reach this box for the 11 am collection. 010
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 11/08/2025North #Korea dismantles propaganda speakers as border tension eases: The move comes as Seoul put in place measures to reduce confrontation with its northern neighbour after the election of a new liberal president www.thetimes.com/world/asia/a... 000
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 30/05/2025Original 1979 Sony Walkman TPS-L2 ad youtu.be/lrrTv_BzAAQ?... 000
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 17/04/2025For Sale: The World’s Most Precise Clock: It’s the size of a fridge, costs US $3.4 million, and will deviate just one second over 10 billion years spectrum.ieee.org/optical-latt... 000
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 29/03/2025At the Osaka Expo, everything old is new again: Eiji Yamaya worked on the Ultrasonic Bath launched in 1970. Sadly, it flopped — but now the 84-year-old has helped to design a new AI-assisted version www.thetimes.com/article/2ccf... 010
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 21/03/2025Mount Fuji last erupted in 1707: In a new simulation, 11 prefectures would be covered with volcanic ash, including 3 cm near Shinjuku Ward in Tokyo and 30 cm in the zone extending to Sagamihara, where evacuations would be announced www.asahi.com/ajw/articles... 101
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 19/03/2025Some of the amazing #Tokyo street photography of Bruce Gilden (ex-yakuza George Abe, 1998) www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture... via @magnumphotos 0543
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 18/03/2025For @CACMmag I wrote about how NTT and other groups are trying to simulate patient hearts for automated emergency medical care: Digital Twins Promise Personalized Medical Care cacm.acm.org/article/digi... 000
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 16/03/2025Terahertz Chip Promises Big Power Without Big Lenses: New on-chip approach uses patterned holes to boost radiating power spectrum.ieee.org/terahertz-wa... 000
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 10/03/2025It's the 80th anniversary of the U.S. firebombing of Tokyo (東京大空襲) aka Operation Meetinghouse, which may have killed over 100,000 people and left a million homeless. B-29 Superfortresses dropped E46 bombs packed with 38 M69 oil bomblets that left much of the city in ruins 010
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 02/03/2025#Japan has one of the best #rail networks in the world, but depopulation and declining demand have led to dozens of railways closing over the past 25 years, especially in rural areas. These maps show lines in Hokkaido in 1980 and 2025 020
tim hornyak @robotopia.bsky.social · 04/02/2025An unfortunate side of real estate development in Japan is the wholesale removal of all vegetation on a property, down to the last tree and bush. This large plot in #Tokyo, owned by Suginami Ward, was recently home to many tall trees and an uninhabited house for civil servants. Now it's a moonscape 010
