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The Maker Shed is the exclusive US distributor of Gakken products, allowing shoppers to get high-quality kits from Japan without paying out the nose for shipping costs. Gakken's kits provide the perfect mix of DIY, science, and history as they entertain as well as educate. Gakken's popularity is certainly not limited to Japan, as their following has spawned tributes such as the Gakken Flickr pool where users are eager to show off what they've done with their kits. In addition to MAKE's relationship with Gakken, MAKE has a Japanese version of the magazine as well as a very active Japanese version of Make: Online. Make: Japan has also been very proactive in their own version of the Maker Faire (the successful Make: Tokyo Meeting series), having just recently completed the fourth round of this lively event. For your gift-giving guidance, here are a few of my favorite Gakken items for the Maker Shed, as well as a few other items I've found in my travels.

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New Edison-Style Cup Phonograph Kit ($36.99)
This cup phonograph sits proudly on display in my home, and pretty much everyone who sees it wants to give it a try. This replica kit uses the same technology that Thomas Edison used, replacing Edison's waxed pipe and stylus with a plastic cup and a needle, but the end results are the same: You record your own voice on a plastic cup -- and play it back! Here's how it works, your voice vibrates the air minutely when it gets into the horn. Then the vibration is conducted to the needle and is translated into a wavy movement of the needle and carves a groove onto the cup. When replaying, the reverse is true, the waves of the carved groove vibrate the needle and the vibration is conducted to the horn and the sound is produced from the horn.

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