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Your Guide to Design and Pop Culture in Tokyo

2004: The End

My last posting of the year. I’m at home, finishing a cup of Kirin Namakuro after a great meal (assorted foods from the Seibu depa-chika). The TV is tuned to KOHAKU – just now we enjoyed a quite powerful rendering of the theme song for SHINSENGUMI, this year’s NHK taiga drama. I’m ringing in the new year the same way I always do: some flipping through the various TV specials (I want to catch some of the K-1 fights), a bit later we’ll prepare some soba, after eleven I’ll put it to 99’s annual year ending Okamura extravaganza, and then after midnight we’ll head to the Gokokuji temple for hatsumode (praying for a good year). I’m a bit worried about the walk there though, as we had a lot of snow today, and the streets are presently all slushed up. If we can’t make it to Gokokuji, we’ll just go to a smaller Shinto shrines near our place.

To all you readers, huge thanks for following the site this year. As you can see, I’ve been getting busier and busier with various projects, and here’s hoping that 2005 will be even bigger and better!

An Evening at Pause

An Evening at Pause

The Pause cafe at night.

Pause Cafe

Pause Cafe

The Pause cafe in Ikebukuro.

Singapore

A change of plans. Instead of heading to Kyoto, this morning we made reservations for a trip to Singapore! It’ll be our first time there for the both of us. I’ve never had that much of an interest in going there, but it ended up being one of the best packages available right now, and from doing a bit of online reading, it looks like there should be enough stuff to see and experience during the 2 days we’ll be there. I’d of course love any recommendations (even websites) from anyone who’s been there, or anyone who lives there: nice shops, cafes, etc. I’m really look forward to the markets in the city, and getting some street stall food (it’s what me and Yuko enjoy the most when we travel in Asia).

Massage 3

Massage 3
I also picked up the new issue of MASSAGE (3). Haven’t had time to read it yet, but it’s basically the same format, except that it now looks like a regular tabloid newspaper (no more glossy paper).

Axis 113

Axis 113
The new issue of AXIS (113) is out, and I picked it up today. The main features are a look at contemporary hit products, and coverage of British design. The cover boy is designer/architect Ron Arad.

Heading to Shibuya

Heading to Shibuya

Heading into Shibuya on Meiji street.

Shibuya Street

Shibuya Street

Heading into Shibuya.

Intersection

Intersection

Shot taken while walking from Harajuku to Shibuya.

Radio OK Fred Update

Just thought I’d update you on Radio OK Fred. This afternoon we (me, Ay2, and Yoshi) got together, along with our new sound engineer Gobo, to record the next show. This being the first time we recorded live, it’s a bit more chaotic than the previous mix we did, but it was also a lot more fun to do. Expect it to be online January 1.

Momus on Design

Momus’ first post at Design Observer is now up: “Berlin Wheatpasting.”

Kitchen

Kitchen
Today marks the release of Digiki’s debut album KITCHEN through Japanese label Hattrick Records. For now it’s only available for purchase through their web shop, but it should get distributed sometime soon.

ABC Foreign Book Bargain Sale!

Aoyama Book Center

As the article says, it’s been a crazy year for the Aoyama Book Center this year, but the good news is that things are back to normal, and it’s time for a foreign book bargain sale!

It was a year of calamities in Japan, and Aoyama Book Center makes no exception there. But as we all know now, everybody loves ABC, and thanks to the firm support and efforts of all parties involved, the shop has resumed business and is now operating as usual. Eager to make 2005 a better round, ABC’s head store presents with the grand bargain sale of foreign books in January its first highlight for the new year. Offered are all kinds of foreign publications, including also a selection of rare photo books. On January 9, Moriyama Daido and Hosoe Eikoh appear in a talk show. After finishing your pray at Meiji Shrine, I recommend you to head straight for the ABC! (REALTOKYO)

The sale happens January 7-9.

Koolhaus of Jazz Report

Patrick was lucky enough to win a pair of tickets (from REALTOKYO) to the Koolhaus of Jazz event at the Liquid Room in Ebisu last night, and he offers this report.

Cat Street

Cat Street

A shot of Cat Street in Harajuku.

PauseTalk

PauseTalk is a regular series of events that take place at Cafe Pause on the first Monday of every month, with a start time of 20:00. The idea is to create a forum where Tokyo-based creatives can get together and discuss their own projects, as well as cultural currents of the city. The next edition is March 5.

We hereby define a new term, that of the magaziner, described as a person who exerts an unhealthy amount of love for all things magazine. The Magaziner is a site that mostly focuses on the intersection between magazines and the digital frontier, and what it means for the medium. This does not preclude the inclusion of a healthy amount of print love.

Codex is a weekly music podcast hosted by Jean Snow, recorded in Tokyo. Playlists for all episodes are posted on the site, and you can subscribe to RSS feeds of posts and episodes.

Jean Snow is a contributor to Arcade Mania, your guide to the arcade gaming scene in Japan (Amazon US/Amazon Japan). He also provided assistance on Tokyolife: Art and Design, a guide to Tokyo's cultural output of the past few years, covering the works of over 80 influential creatives.
He will be contributing to the upcoming fifth editions of The Rough Guide to Tokyo and The Rough Guide to Japan, due for release in 2011.

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PechaKucha Global Cities Week

Jean Snow is Executive Director of the PechaKucha organization. He also helps run the PechaKucha Night in Tokyo -- please get in touch if you are interested in presenting at a future event. For a more intimate salon-like discussion group, join him at his monthly PauseTalk event.

A longtime resident of Tokyo, he lives and breathes design, pop culture, and gaming, sustained by an unhealthy addiction to magazines and frequent visits to his favorites cafes. He has reported on these obsessions for various online/offline publications, including the following: Time, Inside (Australian Design Review), Gizmodo, Gridskipper, Kotaku, 1UP, Tokyo Q, Superfuture, OK Fred, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, I.D. (International Design), Metropolis, Azure, MoCo Loco, Kateigaho International Edition, Wired's Game|Life, PingMag, CNNGo, Phaidon, and The Japan Times.

You can subscribe to an RSS feed of this site, and also follow him on Twitter and Facebook, or get in touch by email.

Neojaponisme

He serves as editor-at-large at Néojaponisme, a web journal covering social and cultural aspects of Japan. Read the manifesto, by founder and chief editor W. David Marx.

He also writes a monthly column covering Japanese product design for The Japan Times, called "On Design." It appears on the last Tuesday of every month, in both the print edition and online.

Colophon

The "Jean Snow" logo is written using the free Kirimomi Swash typeface. The "M31" logo is by Ian Lynam, and is part of a series of 31 unique designs. The site's design is based on the Grid Focus WordPress theme by Derek Punsalan.

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