I remember reading about a paint that repels water so strongly that a
bead of water will actually float above the surface rather than cover
it, and the beads will roll off the surface at an extremely slight
angle. It included a really cool photo of a water bead sphere that
looked like it was floating on a surface. It was made in Japan, and
the article stated that simply by using the paint on ship surfaces,
total fuel efficiency may increase by 3%. Maybe it was submarine
surfaces and maybe it was more or less than 3%, but I can't forget the
photograph. I thought I read about it in Popular Science or Popular
Mechanics, but was unable to find it with a search.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find that really
cool photograph, and if exists, the scientific publication which
accompanied the product research release.

Is this the site you are looking for:

http://www.wupperinst.org/FactorFour/best-practices/lotus-effect.html

This is from a German research lab

Search with   lotus-effect paint 

and you will find other sites.

I did not check further about the efficiency effect that you mention,
but it may be there.  The primary effect is that of self-cleaning.
Didn't notice a Japanese involvement, but there may be one, or maybe
the word "lotus" left that impression.

Hope that I have helped.
Myoarin

Myoarin, while that link was not exactly the one I'm looking for, it
was definitely very interesting, so I'm glad you pointed it out! I
should add that in the photo I was looking at, the water was in a near
perfect sphere, resting on a horizontal surface. My best guess, and it
may be very inaccurate, is that it was in a 1996 Popular Science
article.

The websites I have seen up to today have all attribute "hydrophobic"
surfaces to a neutral electric charge, but the link you have
attributes it to the geometry of the surface. Which do you think is
more important? In the photo that I was looking at, the surface
appeared smooth, but it may have been textured very finely. My bet
would be that the natural electric charge of the material is more
important, but I'm not sure.

Centure,
The lotus-effect paint is definitely a later dvelopment than 1996,
though the orignal research may have started back then, so I think you
are right, that you are looking for something else, and your Japanese
connection is probably right.

Good luck

Just an update: I randomly came across a photo that almost looks like
the one I saw, although the bead is not floating, it is close to it:

See page 5:
http://www.aem.umn.edu/people/faculty/joseph/archive/docs/mataddjfoam.pdf

The liquid is not water, it is Butanol.