Toyota's new Prius

Toyota's new Prius

NAGOYA, Japan - Photo shows Toyota Motor Corp.'s new ''Prius a'' (Prius alpha) hybrid vehicle. The Japanese automaker said June 14, 2011, it had received around 52,000 orders for the vehicle in the first month since its debut, well above its target of 3,000 units per month.

Housesitter robot to be launched in Sept.

Housesitter robot to be launched in Sept.

TOKYO, Japan - Robot developing company tmsuk Co. has began taking orders for a housesitter robot named Roborior (in photo), which can be wirelessly controlled via a mobile phone from a remote place, at a price of 294,000 yen per unit. The Kitakyushu-based company exhibited the robot at Takashimaya department store in Tokyo's Nihonbashi to solicit orders ahead of its planned launch in September. It aims to sell about 3,000 units of the 26-centimeter-high robot weighing 3.25 kilograms.

Mitsubishi's new Grandis minivan gets over 7,000 orders

Mitsubishi's new Grandis minivan gets over 7,000 orders

TOKYO, Japan - Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said June 3 it had received 7,187 orders for its new Grandis minivan (in handout photo) launched May 17. The figure far exceeds Mitsubishi Motors' monthly sales target of 3,000 units for the new four-door minivan with three rows of seats and a 2.4 liter engine, the automaker said.

118 prefab houses loaded for Kosovo

118 prefab houses loaded for Kosovo

KOBE, Japan - Workers begin loading a cargo ship with 118 prefabricated housing units, the first batch of 500 units to be provided by the Hyogo prefectural government for Kosovo residents, at Kobe port on Aug. 8. The units, originally used to accommodate those made homeless by the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, are being sent to Kosovo at the request of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The prefectural government has already provided about 3,000 prefabs for refugees overseas.