2005 March Archive - JeanSnow.net

The Actroid

An “actroid” robot receptionist greets visitors at the Aichi Expo. Developed by Kokoro Corp and Advanced Media Inc, the actroid can give directions in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.

“Actroid” sounds like some sort of disease.

Mar 28, 2005

Looking Down

Ryuichi Sakamoto looks down on the masses. Shot taken in Harajuku.

Mar 26, 2005

Tokyo International Anime Fair

Next weekend (April 2-3) sees the big Tokyo International Anime Fair at Tokyo Big Sight.

The biggest animation trade show in Japan attracts over 50,000 visitors in two days to see the latest anime features and TV shows, games and characters goods. 130 Japanese production companies and TV broadcasters, as well as about 30 international anime houses, will be showing their newest products. Last year was a let down, as all the long-awaited “event” animations from the masters (“Appleseed,” “Innocence,” “Steam Boy”) turned out to be yawn-filled duds – but there might be a surprise like “Mind Game” in there this year. The future is definitely Gonzo, or maybe even elsewhere in Asia. (Tokyo Q)

These things can be trying, as there’s only so much “otaku” culture a sane person can take in on one day, but might still make for an interesting outing. Oh, and I don’t agree at all with that reviewer’s statement that APPLESEED, INNOCENCE, and STEAMBOY were duds.

Mar 26, 2005

Shinako Sato

Barbie, like you’ve never seen her before.

Photographer Shinako Sato reportedly worked for five years as a makeup artist for a mortician, daubing the dead with lipstick. Perhaps that explains her fascination with elaborately staged and dressed dioramas of stiff figures (thankfully, dolls not real dead people). Sato works with Barbie dolls and plastic figures, posed and lit with cinematic intensity, then photographed and printed onto plexi-glass, and finally painted with little accents or illuminated with a witty caption. The resulting images could be surreal film stills from some weird parallel world where Barbie and Ken star in their own action, erotic and exploitation movies. In a previous show, one dead Barbie doll was inscribed “I’m gonna die… in your dirty mind.” Otaku art as only the Japanese can do. (Tokyo Q)

The show is at Gallery Side 2 in Akasaka until April 23.

Mar 26, 2005

Vodafone’s Japan Blunder

I keep hearing that Vodafone is not doing well at all in Japan, and now this:

“I can’t see how Vodafone can get out of the hole they dug themselves into.”
Â
Gerhard Fasol, president of Eurotechnology-Japan, a consulting company, speculating that Softbank Corp, a Japanese broadband Internet provider that’s trying to get a cell-phone license, may buy Vodafone’s Japan unit.Â (Bloomberg)

Goes to show that you can’t just buy yourself into a market. Take a cue from KDDI, who have been stylishly innovating their way up.

Mar 26, 2005

MM Versus Sadako

Idol group Morning Musume watch RING in front of cameras, and squeal like there’s no tomrrow (be patient, takes a while to load). Link via Waxy.

Mar 26, 2005

Yuki

I love Yuki — shhhh… don’t tell my wife. The images are from two of her latest posts, “Slave to Fashion” and “Full Feeds.”

Mar 24, 2005

Amaztype

Oh my. Keita Kitamura and Yugo Nakamura have created Amaztype, a search engine that goes through Amazon and displays results as, well, have a look for yourself. Link via Design Observer.

Mar 24, 2005

Radio OK Fred 5

OK Fred 5

Radio OK Fred 5 is now up. You can access the old shows here, and subscribe to the podcast feed.

Also, the order pages at the OK FRED site have been updated, so you can order the fifth issue (pictured above) directly from them. As for buying it in shops, it should be readily available now. Here’s a page that lists places where you can pick it up (includes shops outside of Japan).

Mar 24, 2005

Gridskipper Guest Editor

Gridskipper

I’m going to be guest editor next week at Gridskipper, and I’d love to hear from you: any tips, suggestions, recommendations on things to do, check out, or even avoid in your city (or any place you’ve been to). I’ve got Tokyo covered, and I have travelled quite a bit, but any cool tips would be greatly appreciated (either in the comment thread, or emailed directly to me).

Mar 23, 2005

Uniqlo Creative Award 2005

Pics from the “Uniqlo Creative Award 2005” exhibition at Spiral in Aoyama.

Mar 23, 2005

Design Work in Japan

I get a surprising amount of mail from designers asking me advice on how to come and work in Japan, and it’s not usually something I can be of much help with. So I’m putting up this post as a way of getting feedback from any non-Japanese designers that have managed to come here and make a living in the design field. Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Mar 23, 2005

We’re #1

Can you spare some change?

Tokyo remains the most expensive city in the world in terms of cost of living, a report released Tuesday by the Economist Intelligence Unit revealed. (Kyodo News)

Mar 23, 2005

Canada Goes Wild

Expo Stamp

Canada’s Design Exchange organization — they promote the work of Canadian designers — is organizing the “Canada Goes Wild” event at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo (March 31) and at the World Expo in Aichi (April 7).

Pictured above is the new stamp from Canada Post to commemorate the Expo. Here’s the official site for the Canadian pavilion.

Update: Apologies, but it looks like the event is invite-only.

Mar 23, 2005

Art MoCo

The MoCo network has just launched a new site: Art MoCo, “a web magazine featuring modern contemporary art news and views.” I’ll probably be posting things there from time to time.

Mar 23, 2005