A series of Panasonic product announcements in Japan includes a rethink of the power source for 3D active shutter glasses. In lieu of a watch battery, the new glasses use a rechargeable battery.

The new glasses take two hours to charge via USB input and offer 30 hours of running time. There's a special kid-size model that's said to be the lightest available. Pricing is the equivalent of $149.

This was just part of a larger announcement that regaled Japanese consumers with smaller-size 3D plasmas that record TV broadcasts onto hard drives or Blu-ray discs (don't look for Blu-ray recording to come to the States anytime soon).

We'll be keeping an eye peeled at September's CEDIA Expo for the new rechargeable glasses.

See Panasonic Japan and a tip of the hat to Engadget for both the news item and the bright idea of using Google Translate.