It’s easy to tell when a press release has been translated from Japanese, rather than written in self-standing English, such is the persistence of a certain, well, way of thinking.

Take Sanyo’s missive announcing the latest Xacti camcorder: “It is ideal for beautifully capturing not only special events, but also scenes from daily life…” Fortunately for the new Panasonic subsidiary, kind folk like us are on hand to explain that the ¥50,000 DMX-CG110 looks like a roaring beast of a camera.

With the dual ability to grab 14-megapixel still photos and full 1080 high-def video, all in a tiny 176g, pistol-shaped casing, the CG110 is as appealing as any. Maybe next time Sanyo will figure out how to tell us that all by itself.

http://meturl.com/xacti

Apart from the mega sales, what’s the one very obvious aspect that the iPod, iPhone and (soon, for sure) iPad all have in common? Yep: a booming after-sales market in costly accessories.

Naturally, being unreconstructed cynics, we can see most of them for the baubles they are—diamond-studded iPhone case, anyone?—but TDK’s new i-centric headphones stand out for actually being useful.

The ¥17,800 TH-WR700 cans come with a dongle that plugs into the iPhone/iPod’s audio socket for beaming choons to your ears in a wire-free fashion. TDK has avoided Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for a technology called Kleer, which it says is cleaner and less prone to interference.

While the dongle draws power from the player, two triple-As in the headphones provide up to 40 hours of listening time. Oh, and up to four sad and lonely pals can connect to a single iPod at once.

http://meturl.com/tdkkleer

It’s pretty much a given these days that we should recycle our old cell phones, but it’s equally clear that most folks don’t. That’s probably why the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has started a campaign to light a fire under the recalcitrants, using the power of anime.

The current scheme features a pop video of virtual idol Hatsune Miku warbling about recycling old phones hidden away in drawers, something that’s bound to make all the difference in the world. The METI guys even encouraged Miku fans to submit their own art for the vid, which tells us they’re really down with the kids. Keep it up, lads—you’ll get there one day.

http://meturl.com/hatsune

Whether you’re already committed to the whole cellphone Android thing or only bi-curious, NTT DoCoMo has just provided another opportunity to savor the open-source phone OS with the April arrival of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10 handset.

The smartphone will need to be better put-together than the ghastly Android model DoCoMo attempted to sell last year, and early reports from other markets say it could be a contender.

The Android OS teams up with an 8-megapixel camera, predictive text in two languages (at last!) and integration with all manner of online goodies from Twitter to Facebook and Mixi. The Xperia’s success will likely depend on how effective the Big D marketing machine manages to be, but we can see it at least making waves with the geekier set.

http://meturl.com/xperia

We hear a lot about the impact of our cars on the environment, but very little about that of the vast container ships that transport the autos around the world from factory to market. For example, did you know that the 16 largest such ships emit as much sulfurous pollution as all the cars on Earth? Yes—that really is “sixteen.”

That’s something a group of Japanese companies aims to change with the introduction of hybrid car carrier ships powered, at least in part, by solar panels on deck.

The vessels being developed by Sanyo, Mitsubishi and Mitsui OSK Lines will switch to solar-generated electric power when maneuvering in port after gathering the juice in special batteries while at sea. Although that still leaves the bulk of the voyage to diesel power, at least the solar move is a step in the right direction.

http://meturl.com/solarships

Lastly, anyone with a business eye on the all-pervasive cellphone market here in Japan will want to pick up a copy of a new book that promises to peel back the layers and reveal the secrets to becoming a success in such a cutthroat market.

Called The Six Immutable Laws of Mobile Business, the ¥4,634 tome looks at the ways the key Japanese players built their empires and explains how you might follow in their footsteps, regardless of location. Wanna know what “simplexity” is? Check out the sample at the URL below and all will be revealed.

http://meturl.com/6laws