Last March, while hanging out at the Engineer Cafe in Fukuoka I heard about the annual Maker Faire in Kyoto. Some of the Engineer Cafe folk planned on coming up to Kyoto to attend. I have never been to a Maker Faire before so I decided to join. After canvassing on the HN Kansai slack group I connected with a dev that also lives in Kyoto and we trekked down to the Keihanna Open Innovation Center for the event.

It was massive! There were people there of all ages. It is incredibly inspiring to see such creativity on display, especially as a person who spends a lot of time on the philosophical edge questioning the emancipatory nature of technology.

I have published an album full of short videos featuring computer junk instruments, computer controlled pen machines, a polar-bear piloting a dinosaur mech, a home 3D ceramic printer, a tiny motorcycle ridden by a man in cybernetic wolf(?) mask, and the creepiest robotic maids that you can invite to dance with… and much more!

One project I would like to highlight since I think it is brilliant as a mechanical keyboard enthusiast is a maglev powered keyboard switch. This kind of switch is less prone to breakage, but the coolest part is that you can actually control when the actuation distance by running different amounts of electricity through it! Watch the video to get what I mean, and check out the GitHub repo to see how you can build the thing yourself!