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The field of disability aids has seen many devices controlled by computers that visually track the eye movements of paralysed people, but none that reads the electricity given off by swiveling eyeballs.

Robots are good for plenty of things, but having a meaningless chat generally isn’t one of them – something that has to change if a group of Japanese researchers are to be believed.

If you’re in Japan, a Wii fan and have ¥69,800 ($675) to spare, you might want to bung it towards the chuckle brothers who run Thanko, that great purveyor of all things ridiculous.

A seemingly bizarre experiment in genetically engineering plants has come up with a strain of rice that could make vaccination injections a thing of the past.

RFID and holograms are two of our favorite technologies, so it’s a joy to see them form a double act and get together in one pretty little security device. The result is the world’s first hologram-toting IC tag, which arrives in Japan next month courtesy of Hitachi and the printing experts at Toppan.

The impending hay fever season here is kinda uncomfortable in a ‘contents of your sinuses pouring out of your nose’ way, so it’s a joy to report that the geniuses at Bio International Japan have come up with a high-tech way to keep all that runny junk up there where it belongs.

If, for some reason, you’ve been keeping track of the thrilling progress of the Guinness record for the world’s most powerful alkaline battery, then get out your pen, ruler and notebook and prepare to make a new entry courtesy of Panasonic.

The latest research on the mobile phone habits of Japanese children may be music to the ears of phone providers, but the depth to which the gadgets have penetrated the lives of the young there is bound to set alarm bells ringing elsewhere.

Twinbird’s MP3-loving Zabady costs ¥21,000 ($180) and can handle boring old audio CDs as well as disks burned with new-fangled MP3 and WMA files; just not the type with DRM slapped on. The most useful feature is a USB port inside the sealed case that allows the Zabady to play back tunes from a connected drive of up to 2GB.

KDDI, the company that recently started an online service delivering DVD-quality movies to domestic customers has upped the ante to send quad-HD films down the same pipe.

The latest piece of disaster recovery equipment to come out of Japan is an ingenious feat of engineering featuring one of the most unusual applications of solar technology that we’ve seen.

Nothing to do with gadgets really - unless you count the bidet, deodorizer auto-open and drier functions - but ain’t these some purty potties?

Humidifiers are essential in Japan’s dry winter, so quirky-looking little devices like CCP’s KZ-500AS, which vaporizes the contents of a regular plastic water bottle, are most welcome.

Glasses and contact lenses are noticeably big business all over Asia, so it’s no surprise to see a Japanese optician combining sales of spectacles with the venerable mobile phone.

The traditional flat solar panel looks like becoming a thing of the past now that a Japanese company has developed a spherical equivalent that is both more efficient and far cheaper to make.

Toyota Japan has word of a major breakthrough for one of its hydrogen-powered research cars that is sure to get plenty of column inches there.

Next time you’re done surfing at a remote beach (or trapped in a collapsing building after an earthquake) you’ll probably wish you had one of these to wash the sand (or brick dust) off - a portable, battery-powered shower.

Compulsive tooth grinders might want to look away now if they don’t wish to be reminded of their headache-inducing torment, for Osaka University in Japan has come up with a human-machine interface that is controlled by grinding the molars together.

We’re really hoping that if Panasonic is planning to market its new Oxyride electric car at Christmastime it manages to include a few packs of batteries in the box to keep the kids happy past lunchtime.

Yes, I know it’s weird and definitely not a gadget but what could be less appetizing than flavorizing your bowl of rice with the essence of Japanese sports stars?