The Sonarsound music festival is coming to Tokyo. It happens October 9-10 in locations around Ebisu Garden Place.
The annual Sonar festival has made Barcelona the mecca for all fans of cutting-edge music and art. In 2002, SonarSound was established as an international edition that has so far traveled several European countries, as well as Japan and most recently Brazil. While the first Tokyo event two years ago wasn’t much more than an average techno/electronica party, this time’s “sonarsound tokyo” features an impressive lineup of roughly 30 artists from around the globe. Appearing next to the likes of Carl Craig, Akufen, and many more guests from abroad will be Rei Harakami in a collaboration with former Dumb Type member Takatani Shiro, and even Sketch Sketch show together with Sakamoto Ryuichi, in other works another renunion of the legendary YMO! Don’t miss it. (
REALTOKYO)
Have a look at the lineup: Akufen, Atom, Aoki Takamasa, Benge, Carl Craig, Ceephax Acid Crew, Chicks on Speed, Fonica, Guitar (Digital Jockey), Hifana, Hiroshi Watana.be aka Tread/Kaito/Quadra, I’m Not A Gun (John Tejada + Takeshi Nishimoto), Karafuto (Fumiya Tanaka), Little Creatures, Nujabes, O.lamm, Opiate, Qodibop, RADIQ aka Yoshihiro Hanno, Rei Harakami + Shiro Takatani (Dumb Type), Schneider TM, Sketch Show + Ryuichi Sakamoto = Human Audio Sponge (Visuals: Ryoichi Kurokawa), T.Raumschmiere, Towa Tei, and World Standard.
In the latest edition of REALTOKYO’s “Redesigning Tokyo” column, we learn a bit more about the R-Project from architect/editor Baba Masataka.
A couple of weeks ago I read about the latest exhibition happening at the Parco Museum in Shibuya (part of the renewal celebrations of Parco Part 3) covering the very funky designs of legendary airline Braniff International. As often happens if I don’t immediately write about something, it slipped my mind, but luckily a post at Groovisual Diary reminded me of it. I’ll be in Shibuya tomorrow afternoon, and I plan on dropping by. The exhibition lasts until October 11.
The excellent Japanese movie site Midnight Eye has just released an update that focuses entirely on anime. You’ll find an interview with Oshii Mamoru, an in-depth look at the early days of Japanese animation, and reviews of the following: STEAMBOY, JOURNEY TO THE WEST, CUTIE HONEY, and a round-up of 4 other films. There’s also a review of Brian Ruh’s book on Oshii, STRAY DOG OF ANIME.
I announced a while back that I was going to be involved with the MoCo network of sites, and today marks the launch of MoCo Tokyo, a guide to modern contemporary design in Tokyo. It’s edited by me (meaning I write all the entries). Here’s the announcement that MoCo Loco guru Harry Wakefield just posted:
MoCo Loco is pleased to announce that Jean Snow of jeansnow.net fame is now also the editor of MoCo Tokyo, the latest addition to the growing network of MoCo directories worldwide (
Amsterdam,
Montreal,
San Francisco). Tokyo is a hotbed of design and architecture, home to many trends that, increasingly, and rapidly, find their way to the rest of the globe. Jean is a transplanted Acadian with a unique perspective on the city and it’s design. Welcome Jean by sending him a submission
here. Bienvenue Jean!
So from now on, all of my writings about design in Tokyo will be posted at the MoCo Tokyo site exclusively (except for graphic and web design). Please let me know what you think, and of course, any suggestions on things that I should be writing about are greatly appreciated. I plan on posting new entries a few times a week.
Last in my series of pics of the Tokyo International Forum.
I’ve just been turned on to a really nice blog called Groovisual Diary. It’s written by a Japanese girl called Toe, and she writes all her entries in Japanese and English. The only sad thing is that she wrote a post today saying that she plans on stopping the blog. If you’re into the kind of stuff I talk about here, then you’re sure to enjoy her site, so have a look, and let her know if you’d like to see her keep going.
Designboom has an interview up with designer Tokujin Yoshioka. I quite like his work on the Muji/Infill installation. But then again, you all know that I’m hopelessly addicted to Muji design. I even bought a toothbrush from there today.
Link via Dezain.net.
Looks like Momus has become a fan of one of my favorite manga creators, Matsumoto Taiyo (BLACK & WHITE, PING PONG, BLUE SPRING). One thing I find so interesting about him is that he incorporates European BD in his illustrative style (if I’m not mistaken, he spent some time in France), which gives it a non-manga look.
Another shot of the Tokyo International Forum.
Just got this latest info on the upcoming DOTMOV 2004 festival, organized by the people behind Shift. I’m really getting excited about this.
DOTMOV Festival 2004 is a digital film festival that aims to discover talented creators, and provide them with an opportunity to show their work. Total submission was 385 works from 31 countries for the 2nd DOTMOV Festival, following up from last year’s successful launch.
Selected works will be screened at Soso Cafe, which is produced by an online magazine Shift, for a month from November 1st to 30th. All selected works for this year will be shown on the DOTMOV web site. During the festival, a lot of related audio & visual events will be held. With supports of Panasonic, screenings of 10 short movies created by 10 up-and-coming creators with the theme “Capture the Motion”, and with supports of Sound X Vision 2004, screenings of its works and documentary will be included in the programme list as a special programme.
For the opening event, scheduled for October 31st, a chief editor for SAL magazine, Jiro Ohashi and Kurando Furuya (SIM/SAL magazine) will host a talk show and audio visual event “SAL magazine night 5.0″. Soso Cafe will be filled with projected visuals and sounds. Nipponia Electronica will give a live set and James Clar will DJ while giving a demonstration of his dynamic sound in tandem with an interactive lighting display. On top of that, SAL magazine will give an audio visual performance featuring original visuals.
Detailed information of other related audio and visual events can be found on the web site.
DOTMOV FESTIVAL 2004
Festival term: November 1st – 30th, 2004
Place: Soso Cafe
Address: 1F Sansei Bld., S1 W13 Chuo-ku Sapporo, Japan
Official website: http://www.shift.jp.org/mov/
*All selected works will be shown on the official web site
DOTMOV FESTIVAL 2004 OPENING EVENT
Date: October 31st, 2004
Time: 16:00-18:00 Talk Show 20:00-23:00 SAL magazine Night 5.0
Guests: James Clar, Nipponia Electronica, Kurando Furuya (SIM/SAL magazine), Jiro Ohashi (SAL magazine) and more.
Ticket: 2000yen/with 1 drink
Contact: staff@shift.jp.org
Of course, I would have liked for the physical part of the festival to take place in Tokyo, but it’s still very nice that all works will be shown online. I’m looking forward to the day when other festivals, like Resfest and Onedotzero, do the same.
Onedotzero_nippon 2004 is almost upon us, taking place October 1-3 for the first time at Spiral Hall (in past years it took place at the Tokyo International Forum). Following Tokyo, the event will also be happening in Sapporo and Fukuoka this year (see the site for more info). The schedule for the Tokyo event can be found here. I’ll probably only get to see 1 or 2 programs, which I think will probably be “Wavelength” and “Wow+Flutter.” Better get my tickets soon, as a lot of the shows were sold out in past years when I went to get tickets at the door. For those who can’t make it to any of the festivals (it’s an international event now, taking place in 13 cities), there are always the compilation DVDs. I’m drooling over the MOTION BLUR book.
Yes, indeed, it’s true, animation is not just for kids. Everybody outside of North America knows this. Women’s magazine publisher Shufu-to-Seikatsusha has just launched PASH, an anime magazine aimed at adult women.
Japanese publisher Shufu-to-Seikatsusha, known for its numerous women oriented publications, has started publishing a new anime magazine aimed at adult Japanese women. The first issue of PASH!, now on sale in Japan (September 10 cover) features cover stories about Full Metal Alchemist and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny. Other series covered in the first issue include Maria-sama ga Miteru ,Kenranbutohsai The Mars Daybreak and The Prince of Tennis.
The quarterly publication will feature articles on anime, and video-gaming. (ANN)
Link via Kelly Sue.
Wired News takes a look at the Japanese Mac gaming market (pretty much non-existent right now), and how Microsoft is about to change this.
While Japan is famous for video games and is the second-largest market for Apple’s Macintosh, it is not the land of the rising sun for Mac gamers.
Go to any giant Tokyo electronics store, like the eight-story Bic-Camera Yurakucho megamart in the Ginza district, and there are only two Japanese Mac games on the shelf: Railroad Tycoon and Sega’s Puyo-Puyo Fever.
But this situation may see an upturn in the near future. Mac gamers may have a savior in the form of none other than Microsoft.
Microsoft Japan is planning to translate and market a whole series of popular Mac games, calling it the Microsoft Mac Games Collection.
Read the full thing here.
Jean Snow is a contributor to 
He will be contributing to the upcoming fifth editions of 
