Yuko was at school yesterday to check on some things, and she met an old classmate she hadn’t seen in 7-8 years. He now works for Hitachi. He’s also an active mountain climber, and has climbed to the top of Everest. He was at the university to meet with students in the mountain climbing club. Being sempai (alum), it’s something he has to do periodically. They would have liked to talk some more, but because he’s now married, it’s generally not viewed in a positive way when a man has coffee with a “female” friend. In fact, it’s not rare to have a Japanese wife looking through the husband’s pockets after he comes home, as well as looking at his contacts on his mobile.

A while back he was working on a project at Hitachi, and his superior became angry with what he had done (not up to par or something). He ordered him to shave his head in punishment, which he promptly did.

Kon Satoshi’s PARANOIA AGENT is blowing me away. I’ve seen the first 4 episodes now, and I can honestly say that it beats anything else I’ve seen. What Kon is doing with this series is a continuation of the brilliance he’s displayed in films like PERFECT BLUE and MILLENNIUM ACTRESS, with absolutely nothing being watered down for the medium of TV. It’s so interesting how every episode focuses on different characters, yet all the pieces fit in an overall storyline which is keeping me glued to every episode. I haven’t enjoyed an animated series as much as this one in quite a while. It also has a terrific weird-creepy-mesmerizing opening that I absolutely love.

Oh, I just love the new Infobar mobile from AU. It’s name, ANNIN, refers to a Chinese desert called annin doufu.

Some stickers in Nakameguro.

Shot taken with the A5403CA mobile phone.

Stunning flash work by Sonja Peng. It was the multimedia winner at the Rockstar Games Upload III competition.

Susannah Breslin has written a short comic strip about bukkake, and it’s being hosted at Artbomb.net.

From Japan Today:

“It will open at one Tokyo theater with seating for about 300. Depending on ticket sales in the first two weeks, other theaters may show it for about a month.”

- Yosuke Watanabe, a spokesman for “Lost in Translation” distributor Tohokushinsha, on the film’s low-key release in Japan in late April.

Last mention of REALTOKYO for the day, I promise (sorry, but I haven’t been web surfing lately)! This Media Arts Festival at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (same place that hosted the very cool LEVEL X show) looks like something I’d like to check out.

“How “artistic” are these “media arts”? What were the evaluation criteria? And what about the pell-mell concept of mixing virtuosos and newcomers? Well… let’s stop asking questions and look at the festival’s selection of digital art, computer games, animation, manga, and other torch-bearing Japanese “media art.” An opportunity to see a broad range of recent works including Kuwakubo Ryota’s “Digital Gadgets” and Kawamoto Kihachiro’s distich animation project “Winter Days” free of charge, the ACA Media Arts Festival is an event definitely worth visiting. Special submissions by previous prizewinners such as Oba Yasuo or Hashimoto Mika are also promising.”

Looks like I’m going to have to get a hold of some films by Korean director Kim Ki-Duk. From RT: “With his unique style, director Kim Ki-duk has created himself a reputation as a “Korean Kitano Takeshi” (or Miike Takashi if you want) at festivals around the world. His provocative films have ambivalent qualities mixing vitriolic stories and beautiful images, which is probably a result of the filmmaker’s experiences as a painter in Paris. This is the 7th film of Kim Ki-duk, whose 10th one has just won a prize at this year’s film fest in Berlin, and it made my lurch when I saw it at Pusan International Film Festival in 2001, when “Bad Guy” was released. It kicks off a series of recent works by the director to be shown in Japan, so be prepared for a Ki-duk-flavored whirlwind hitting the country.”

This festival-on-a-DVD thing from the 89mm label sounds really cool. Here’s the REALTOKYO blurb: “Launched in 2002 in Berlin, “short film label” 89mm has so far released a number of shorts on floppy disk. In a special project with the e:motion label, this time 89mm presents a DVD containing 13 collaboration pieces by pairs of visual creators and musicians. While films range from B-movie kinds of flicks to cute animation and cutting-edge computer graphics, musical styles include electronica, techno/house, ambient, and electronic rock. With another 12 TV/movie theatre commercials and other films in the “bonus material” section, the DVD offers a rich overview of contemporary creators of sound and image in and around Germany, and to people in Japan it is especially recommended as an appetizer for next year’s “German Year in Japan.”

While on the subject of shorts, I recently got the 3 BEST OF RESFEST DVDs, as well as the 3 DVDs from the Director’s Series, covering Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham, and Michel Gondry. I haven’t had a chance to check out the RESFEST shorts yet, but the director DVDs are truly great. I was a bit disapointed that the Spike Jonze one didn’t include more of his music videos (he’s done over 40), but the commentary tracks and other shorts are very nice (especially that Fatlip documentary).

Spring is already being felt here in Tokyo. Today I left home early in the afternoon for work and it was already 19 outside. Pictured here are plum blossoms, almost as beautiful as cherry blossoms, in front of a neighbor’s home. The sakura should start appearing in a couple of weeks.

Shot taken with the A5403CA mobile phone.

I finally got to see RETURN OF THE KING, and absolutely loved it. Here’s an ad for a LORD OF THE RINGS pachinko machine.

Shot taken with the A5403CA mobile phone.

You might have noticed that things have slowed down around here of late, and there’s a reason for that. I’ve been having trouble with my legs, enough that I’m uncomfortable sitting in front of the computer for long periods of time. The pic of the Tokyo Tower you saw the other day in the moblog was taken while I went to the Tokyo Medical and Surgical Clinic, on the opposite side of the street. The doctor didn’t have much to say, but they’re testing me for a bunch of things, and I’ll get the results this Thursday. Nothing much to do in the meantime but wait, live with the pain, and hope it’s nothing too serious.

Oh, and a huge thanks goes out to the people on the JapanBloggers mailing list who were quick to recommend English-speaking clinics in Tokyo to me. Believe it or not, but after all these years in Japan this was my first time going to a hospital for something serious (last time I went to a hospital for a health check was 7 years ago). I’d been to a local Japanese clinic once or twice for stomach virus problems, but that was just to get some medicine to calm things down. I chose the above clinic as it had been mentioned by a few people, and they had a website with a lot of info. I’m glad I went as the service was great. Expensive, yes, but I was expecting that.

Pretty typical view of Shibuya, but I admit that I still find it cool. Neo-Tokyo is alive and well.

Shot taken with the A5403CA mobile phone.

For those who want a peak of Kon Satoshi’s new series, WOWOW (the satellite network that’s showing it) has just posted the first episode in its entirety online.