Latest news with #Hotaru
The Verge
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
You can see right through Audio-Technica's new transparent turntable
Audio-Technica's engineers are seemingly working overtime to elevate the design of the record player. Following the reveal of its floating, glowing Hotaru turntable last month, the company has announced its new AT-LPA2 featuring a chassis and platter made from transparent acrylic. With electronics like its power supply and playback controls packed into a separate unit that can be kept out of sight, the turntable is a reminder that transparent tech can still look modern and sleek. The AT-LPA2 features a similar design to the Audio-Technica AT-LP2022 turntable that was released in January 2023 to help commemorate the company's 60th anniversary. The previous version was limited to just 3,000 units made available worldwide and sold for $1,200. The new AT-LPA2 is available starting today, and while its rollout won't be as limited, it now costs $2,000. The base of the turntable is made from a 30mm thick slab of high-density transparent acrylic, while the spinning platter atop is made from the same material that's 20mm thick. It not only makes for a striking design, but acrylic is also an effective material for dampening vibrations which improves playback performance and helps keep the turntable operating quietly. Direct drive turntables, in which the spinning platter is part of the electric motor, offer superior performance over those that use a separate motor connected with a belt. But in this case, a belt drive actually serves to enhance the aesthetics of the AT-LPA2. To ensure accurate playback, Audio-Technica includes an optical sensor that monitors the platter's rotation so it maintains a constant speed of either 33 1/3 or 45rpm. The company redesigned the tone arm included with the limited edition model, but it's still made from carbon fiber to help reduce its weight and includes interchangeable counterweights that can be added and removed to help keep the arm balanced with different cartridges. To help keep the turntable's chassis as transparent as possible, playback controls and other buttons are included on a separate unit that also houses the power supply. That approach not only lets you position the control unit out of sight since it's not transparent and doesn't match the AT-LPA2's aesthetic, Audio-Technica says it also isolates the turntable's audio components from power supply noise 'resulting in a cleaner, more accurate sound.'
Japan Today
14-05-2025
- Japan Today
Fireflies in downtown Tokyo – Beautiful hotel garden begins 'hotaru' season event
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24 Japan likes to mark the passing of the seasons by going out to see the beautiful sights of nature throughout the year. In April, of course, the sakura/cherry blossoms bloom, followed not too long after by the fuji/wisteria. Next on the list of delicate but breathtaking seasonal beauty? Hotaru, which aren't flowers, but fireflies. Usually, if you want to see fireflies in Japan you need to wait until early summer, and also head quite a ways outside of the big cities, since the luminous little creatures need sufficiently clean and calm water to set the mood for their mating-season meetups. However, the Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo is one of the very few places in the downtown Tokyo area where fireflies can be seen. The hotel's expansive garden is an attractive habitat for fireflies, who tend to become active a little earlier than their counterparts in most other parts of Japan. ▼ Chinzanso's garden during firefly season This year, the hotel's staff observed the first firefly larvae in the garden's soil on April 24. Since it takes a few weeks for them to mature and develop their wings, the fireflies are expected to begin taking flight in large numbers from mid-May, right about now. To prevent overcrowding, from May 16 to June 30, there's a reservation system to visit the garden between 6:30 and 11 p.m. Reservations can be made here, with a fee of 2,000 yen for adults or 1,000 yen for elementary school-age children (with younger children admitted free of charge with a parent). No reservation is required to enter the garden for guests staying at the hotel or attending functions being held in its ballrooms, or for diners or shoppers who spend above a certain amount at the property. For those looking for an especially memorable experience, the hotel is also offering a Private Hotaru Night one-night stay package which allows access to the garden after it is ordinarily closed at 11 p.m. Only three such packages are available per day between May 23 and June 8, with both dinner and breakfast included for a price of 114,500 yen for two people (Chinzanso is a luxury hotel, after all). While the hotel says that fireflies can be seen on the premises through early July, from late June they're displayed in a biotope, so if you want to see them floating freely in the garden, you'll want to plan your visit for before then. Related: Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo Source: PR Times, Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo Insert images: PR Times, Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo Read more stories from Japan Today. -- One of Tokyo's most beautiful gardens gets its own moon for moon-viewing season -- Artificial sea of clouds made by luxury hotel in Tokyo during summer -- Japan's firefly season is here, and here are four great inns to take in the softly glowing beauty External Link © SoraNews24
SoraNews24
14-05-2025
- SoraNews24
Fireflies in downtown Tokyo – Beautiful hotel garden begins hotaru season event
Fireflies get an early start in one of the only places where they can be seen in the city center. Japan likes to mark the passing of the seasons by going out to see the beautiful sights of nature throughout the year. In April, of course, the sakura/cherry blossoms bloom, followed not too long after by the fuji/wisteria. Next on the list of delicate but breathtaking seasonal beauty? Hotaru, which aren't flowers, but fireflies. Usually, if you want to see fireflies in Japan you need to wait until early summer, and also head quite a ways outside of the big cities, since the luminous little creatures need sufficiently clean and calm water to set the mood for their mating-season meetups. However, the Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo is one of the very few places in the downtown Tokyo area where fireflies can be seen. The hotel's expansive garden is an attractive habitat for fireflies, who tend to become active a little earlier than their counterparts in most other parts of Japan. ▼ Chinzanso's garden during firefly season This year, the hotel's staff observed the first firefly larvae in the garden's soil on April 24. Since it takes a few weeks for them to mature and develop their wings, the fireflies are expected to begin taking flight in large numbers from mid-May, right about now. To prevent overcrowding, from May 16 to June 30, there's a reservation system to visit the garden between 6:30 and 11 p.m. Reservations can be made here, with a fee of 2,000 yen (US$14) for adults or 1,000 yen for elementary school-age children (with younger children admitted free of charge with a parent). No reservation is required to enter the garden for guests staying at the hotel or attending functions being held in its ballrooms, or for diners or shoppers who spend above a certain amount at the property. For those looking for an especially memorable experience, the hotel is also offering a Private Hotaru Night one-night stay package which allows access to the garden after it is ordinarily closed at 11 p.m. Only three such packages are available per day between May 23 and June 8, with both dinner and breakfast included for a price of 114,500 yen for two people (Chinzanso is a luxury hotel, after all). While the hotel says that fireflies can be seen on the premises through early July, from late June they're displayed in a biotope, so if you want to see them floating freely in the garden, you'll want to plan your visit for before then. Related: Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo Source: PR Times, Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo (1, 2) Top image: PR Times Insert images: PR Times, Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! [ Read in Japanese ]
