I love POGURI, a one-page strip by Nakagawa Isami that appears in every issue of TOKYO WALKER. Remember to read from right to left.

You know you want the new Brockmann Light Volume 02 Wild Animals series from Groovisions, and there’s no reason to fight the urge. Scanned from TOKYO WALKER.

An ad from Sony in the latest issue of TOKYO WALKER (a bi-weekly city guide) advertising the big PS2 releases this holiday season. Pictured (clockwise from bottom left) are RACHET & CLANK 3, DRAGON QUEST VIII, GRAN TURISMO 4, METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER, TALES OF REBIRTH, and KESSEN III. It’s interesting to note that the release date indicated for GT4 is December 3, but just last week Sony announced that it was yet again pushing it back some more. Makes me wonder what last-minute problem is causing this new delay.

I’ve started playing around with my new scanner, and here’s the flyer I picked up at the Compound Cafe in Sangenjaya a few weeks ago. Reminds me that I’m due for another visit!

I saw the Product Design Database making the link rounds a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been emailed so many times about it that I figure I should post something here. Yeah, it’s cool, it takes a look at classic Japanese product designs, and is conveniently listed by manufacturer (although a timeline would also be nice, to be able to click through in chronological order).

Kiiiiiii will participate in the PSIONIC DISTORTION wrap up event happening tomorrow night (November 30) at SuperDeluxe. DJs will include Minoru, UbarTmar.com, Ito Keiji, and Namaiki. Kiiiiiii’s involvement is to contribute two animated shorts to a special video screening. It starts at 7 (until late), and costs 2000 yen (includes 1 drink).

This afternoon I was at Muji Yurakucho, and saw that they’ve finally setup their Muji+Infill house display (pictured above left). From what I can tell, it’s actually for sale, and I so want one. How sweet it would be to have a bit of land on the outskirts of the city (somewhere like Kamakura or near Takao mountain), and live in something like this.

Atelier Muji (pictured above right) had a neat display of make-it-yourself bags and house aprons. You start from a sheet of material, with a cutting pattern clearly marked. The thing is that each one can be customized, so the pattern is not set in stone. You can cut certain areas only, etc. They were showing some video of this in action, and it looked quite nice. It doesn’t seem like they’re selling it yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it appear on shelves in the coming year. It reminded my of the Muji remix t-shirts from 2-3 ago that had patterns you could cut up to make various objects.

Shots were taken with the W21S mobile phone.

Update: I’ve just posted an entry on the model house over at MoCo Tokyo.

I ended up picking up a printer/scanner (the HP PSC 1315) while I was at the Apple Store. This means that I’ll finally be able to scan things from magazines, or flyers and the like, to post here. Should make for some nice posts, as I often find stuff that I’d like to show off, but didn’t have the gear to let me do it.

This also means I no longer have a use for my Lexmark Z22 printer. It works fine, but I really wanted a scanner, and space restrictions made getting an all-in-one an attractive option. If anyone is in need of a printer, contact me and we can figure something out.

Oh, and I also got the iPod socks. Yeah, sure, it’s gimmicky, but they do look nice. And I think Yuko will also like using them.

Damn. I’m in Ginza right now (writing this at the Apple Store), and wasn’t able to see this month’s GGG exhibition, missing it by two days. I got there and could see them working on next month’s show, ANOTHER SIDE OF AYAO YAMANA, 1720s-70s, starting December 1.

While I’m here, I think I’m finally going to get a printer/scanner — something I’ve been eyeing for a few months now — if the price is right. Those iPod Socks are also looking quite fun, so I might grab those too (I’m still using the case that came with my iPod 40GB a year ago). After that, it’ll be on to the usual Ginza stops (I’ve had huge cravings for Taco Rice recently), but I’ll still have a look at Tokyo Art Beat to see if there’s anything worth catching while I’m here. I think I’ll also make my way to the Marunouchi area, to see some of those new massive shopping complexes that have popped up near Maru Biru in the past month or two.

As I walked out the door, my new issue of RES was in the mailbox, so I’ll probably stop somewhere for coffee and a good read. I’ve yet to find a cafe in Ginza I like, but it might be a good opportunity to go the second Dragonfly Cafe, that opened a few months ago near Maru Biru. If you have some favorite Ginza cafes, please let me know, as I’m always looking for a good place to relax while I’m in the area.

Just got back from Junkudo, where I was leafing through some magazines. The latest CASA BRUTUS looks at Japanese design hotels. I don’t think there was one featured spot where I would mind spending a night. Oh, to lead the life of the jet-setter… The new issue of PEN has a cover story on beautiful book design, and it mentions a couple of nice-looking bookshops in Ebisu that I need to visit next time I’m in the area. The new COMPOSITE is out, although they don’t have it featured on their website yet. I was surprised to see a full-page image of Cornelius and Joi Ito in the latest BRUTUS — then again, I think they’re related (maybe cousins).

Update: Joi Ito wrote a post about the BRUTUS article, and it includes the same image they ended up using.

Aaaarghhh… The WP honeymoon, regarding comment spamming, is now officially over. I’ve been getting so much of it during the past couple of week that I’m at a point where I’m seriously considering turning commenting completely off — a drastic and horrible measure, I know. I do have WP-Blacklist setup, but it doesn’t stop it or seem to want to take care of it automatically. It just helps with the cleaning, but doesn’t stop the massive amounts of notificiation messages I get in my mailbox. Anyone have some good ideas?

Update: Spam Karma seems to have done the job. Thank you, Dr. Dave!

Momus is to become a participant on the great (it’s a favorite read of mine) Design Observer site! More on this at Click Opera.

This sounds like it could get me interested in musicals.

Check this site for some more images of the girls in action. Their next show, KILL! KILL!: OBAKE GA DERUZO!!, will take place at Shinjuku’s Space Zero on December 1-8.

I’d never heard of Kathy before, but they sure do sound interesting. Here’s a bit from Ozaki Tetsuya’s latest OUT OF TOKYO column, where he talks about the Kathy performance at the recent Arto Lindsay show.

I wish that Lindsay show hadn’t been so expensive.

Yuko was telling me about this book a while back. Seems like it’s really the big hit.

Read the rest of the article here. I saw the book the other day and it’s entirely written like a 2-Channel thread, including all the wacky ASCII art. Really wish I could read it.