South Korean engineers have designed a human-looking robot to compete with one earlier designed in Japan. Taro Comments.:

In Japanese order right to left, hee, hee, via National Geographic Photo in the News: Female Android Debuts in S. Korea
You can play this game with real humans at All Look Same.com (www.alllooksame.com), where you can see if you can tell the differences between Korean, Japanese and Chinese.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, japan, korea, northeast asia, south korea

Via The Marmot, a look at Korean currency under Japanese and since independence:

Related, but not Asian, a look at when when US currency was art.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, korea, money, north korea, northeast asia, money

In this 1942 cartoon Superman takes on and defeats ‘Japoteurs’ seeking to steal the giant bomber.:

In our more enlightened age, superheros are generally no longer used for propaganda. Batman will soon be going after al Qaida, but Superman generally avoids conflicts with other nations.

Generally, but not always. In the 2003 Superman Giant Super Special, a series of short stories that were reprinted by Singapore’s Gotham Comics, the Man of Steel takes on the People’s Liberation Army, twice saving the fictional mountain nation of Bhutran from an invasion.

Bhutran seems very much like T!bet - although there are some noticeable differences. For instance, the he Da..lai Lama’s equivalent, the Rhana Bhutra, has a daughter (with whom Superman enjoys such activities as sharing a hot tub).

And, also unlike T!bet, Bhutran is never invaded. The PLA do attempt an invasion but Superman, in his own words, “gave the communists something they haven’t had in a long time … the fear of God!.”

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, japan, northeast asia, superman