From Manga News Service:
In a landmark ruling in the Japanese court system, the first judgment stemming from obscenity charges has come down against a manga. The key figure in the case is Motonori Kishi (54) who first started his publishing company Shobunkan in 1968. He was arrested pending the release of his manga Honey Room, the charge being distributing obscene material. Tokyo’s District Court found Kishi guilty on January 13, sentencing him to one year in prison and suspension for three years. The verdict has the adult rich comics industry in Japan in quite a nervous state. Ashita No Joe mangaka Tetsuya Chiba appeared in court as a defendant side witness. According to the testimony of A Tokyo Metropolitan Police inspector, the investigation was started based on a memo from LDP Diet member Katsuei Hirasawa. The defendant’s side argued that charge violated the constitution that secures the freedom of expression. An appeal is currently underway and a hering is scheduled for March 17th.
So how does this affect tentacle porn?
Update: Seems that this story is actually a year old.
Trevor runs the Music Related label, who released the excellent Shugo Tokumaru album NIGHT PIECE, and now he’s started linking to Japanese indie artists’ MP3s that he finds on his blog. Time to start downloading!
Domus has an article up on designer Ito Toyo (Tod’s Omotesando building). Free registration required.
The Maruzen bookstore, inside the Oazo complex (near Tokyo station). If you’re in the area, have a look at the 4th floor foreign book section.
The OK Fredders will be giving a talk in Osaka, at the Apple Store Shinsaibashi, on February 24 at 7. I imagine it’ll include a preview of the upcoming issue, which should come out in a matter of weeks now.
Magazine journalist Douglas McGray needs your help:
I’m helping a big US-Japan institute out with some legwork on a project, which aims to identify next generation innovators in Japanese culture. They’re going to be defining culture in an appealingly broad way — contemporary artists and designers, chefs, filmmakers, authors, architects, anime directors, manga artists, philosophers, video game designers, even scientists whose work might have cultural influence or reveal cultural assumptions (a pioneering researcher in robotics, for instance, or interface design, or new ways of communicating.) They’re interested in super commercial mass culture as well as underground stuff, and everything in between. As for the “next generation” part, they don’t have a specific age range in mind, the idea is to spot innovators who may already be somewhat well known, but who will likely be more influential five or ten years from now than they are today.
If you have any ideas, he’d love it if you could email him.
This Saturday night (February 19) will see the Tokyo Q (where I write a couple of columns on design and anime) Lounge Night!
Tokyo Q presents an eclectic mix of funk, dub, desi, dub-tango, ska-boogaloo, polyphonic metal and other obscure genres from DJs Young Jeff (Play Label), Crustacean, Gangamati (Play Label and Dynastic Records), Sister Chill (Bangers & Mash) and Jinki (Bangers & Mash). On the visual side, a slide show of work by Tokyo Q photographer Mattias Westfalk, plus other secret fun from special surprise guests. Come on down and meet the Tokyo Q crew – a weird looking bunch, but friendly. Tokyo Q: eleven years old and already shaving.
It happens at SuperDeluxe, starting at 6, and the entry is free.
Go have a look at Takano Aya’s “The World After 800,000,000 Years” web piece in the MoCA‘s Digital Gallery (you need to turn off your popup blocking to view it). Link via Click Opera.
The following Japanese site reports that this Summer will see the opening of a new Apple Store in Shibuya. I still think they should have gone for Harajuku or Aoyama though. Link via Patrick.
H’action, who were behind last year’s great “Braniff Airline” exhibition, are getting ready for another promising event: “Kami-Robo Expo 2005.” What are Kami-Robo? “Robot fighters made from paper, measuring about 15 to 20 centimeters tall.” They even have their own back story, that gets mixed up with wrestling. Oh yeah, count me in. The exhibition will happen at the Parco Museum, April 1-25. Next month’s Ginza Graphic Gallery show will cover designer Aoki Katsunori, who has produced some Kami-Robo characters (and some of them will be on display).
The other day I had a chance to check out the fairly recent Oazo shopping complex near Tokyo station, not far from the Marunouchi Building. Its biggest feature is the huge Maruzen bookstore. I must admit being quite impressed with the foreign book section on the top floor. Very nice selection of design and architecture books.
The University of Tokyo is currently hosting “Architecture as a Medium: From Piranesi to Expo ’70.”
What kinds of messages did architecture try to confer in the modern age, and how were they designed to fulfill that purpose? Every man-made object acts as a carrier of information to a certain degree. Architecture is no exception.
This exhibition will look at architecture as an informative medium. The focus will be on two ideas: Architectural depictions which deeply influenced real architecture and aesthetic thought, (ex. prints by Piranesi) and buildings which were conferred with a message (ex. buildings at the expo).
On display will be prints of fantastic roman architecture by G.B. Piranesi, imaginary reconstructions of ancient ruins from the 18th century, and documents concerning the history of the world expo. (TAB)
It’s at the University Museum until May 8.
The current exhibition at Matsuya’s Design Gallery.
Well, made it to the other side, with just a few bumps and bruises. The funny thing about updating the site right now, is that it coincides with today’s official release of WordPress 1.5 — I’d been working on the redesign with an earlier build of 1.5 (gamma release).
So, about the redesign. Well, as much as a lot of people seemed to like the old version, I’d grown tired of it, and more importantly, I felt that important structural changes needed to be made, and I thought doing a slight makeover might be fun also. The orange will change, it just fits my mood right now. The site no long depends on small graphical logos as part of the color scheme, so I can easily switch things whenever I feel like it (I’m sure Paul is dreading a return of the sakura version). Oh, and the site looks much better on a Mac, where you will notice the use of the Lucida Grande font, in all its anti-aliased glory.
I’ll post more on the structural changes later, but I think the site is now closer to how I feel it should be seen on first visit. I still need to flesh out a few things (like a new “about” page), which I’ll get to as soon as possible.
Oh, and WordPress 1.5 rocks!
I’ve been secretly working on an upgrade to the site for the past week, and I’m about to make it live. Weirdness is sure to incur. Please be patient.
Jean Snow is a contributor to 
He will be contributing to the upcoming fifth editions of 
