I went to my first Pecha Kucha Night at SuperDeluxe earlier tonight, and had a great time. I’ve never attended because I only get back home around 9 on Wednesdays, and with the event always starting at 7:30-8, I never figured it was worth going. But I had to meet some people about an article, and found out that it ends up going until around 11. Noriko Honma, one of main people behind Swedish Style, gave a presentation, and it was nice to see a slide on our Mamma Gun event and the Snapazoo. Also, I was surprised to learn during the Klein Dytham presentation (they actually organize the whole thing) that the new Uniqlo flagship store in Ginza is by them! The pics actually made me want to have a look inside (honestly, I haven’t been to a Uniqlo shop in ages — but today’s mention by Yuki on her site that they’re producing clothing with airline branding also got me wanting to check out one of their stores again).

So yeah, Pecha Kucha, great stuff, and I’m already looking forward to the next edition (even if I have to miss the first half). Actually, they have tons of interesting events happening next week also, including special Pecha Kucha nights, and celebrations for the bar’s 3rd year anniversary (have a look at the schedule). I imagine that me and Jesper will end up there a bunch of times…

I promised the other day that I would give more details on how to order Mamma Gun t-shirts and Swedish Style Snapazoos, and so here goes. The Snapazoos (for more info on the Snapazoos, visit the official Laughtoys website) came in today, so are now available. They go for 1680 yen, and are yellow/blue (not like the ones pictured in this post). The Mamma Gun t-shirts, in low quantities, will be available around November 1, and will go for 2000 yen. T-shirts are by Anvil, and will come in the following 5 sizes, with appropriate colored lettering (on white):

• Kid’s L — blue or black
• S — yellow or black
• M — red or black
• L — black only
• XL — green or black

Here are shipping costs (including packaging), first for t-shirt only:

• North America — 700 yen
• Europe — 700 yen
• Japan — 500 yen

For the Swedish Style Snapazoo only:

• North America — 550 yen
• Europe — 550 yen
• Japan — 350 yen

And if you want to order both a t-shirt and Snapazoo together (which is of course the best deal):

• North America — 800 yen
• Europe — 800 yen
• Japan — 500 yen

Payment is accepted through PayPal in Japanese funds (PayPal takes care of converting, so don’t worry about it), and you can do so by clicking on the PayPal icon that you’ll find at the bottom of the sidebar on the right (if you have a problem with the direct link, make the payment to “jean@jeansnow.net”). In Japan, payment by furikomi is fine also — email me for account info.

Items, upon availability, should be sent out within 1 business day. Like I said, the Snapazoos are available now, and the t-shirts will be ready in about a week. If you want to be sure to get a tee (remember, low quantities), I would suggest ordering one as soon as possible, as this will reserve it for you.

In case you’re wondering what all of this means in terms of US dollars, at today’s exchange rate (05/10/25), a tee would be around $17.50, a Snapazoo around $14.60, and 500 yen is around $4.35.

Update
T-shirts and Snapazoos are no longer being sold.

A few pics from the Toshiko Kimura “Nothing Happened in the Forest” exhibition at Lapnet Ship, and “Studio Poco Photo Exhibition #002 — Oh! Delicious!” at Lapnet Club.

I know I’ve been harping on and on about our “Son of a Gun” birthday party, part of the Mamma Gun festivities, at Cafe Pause on November 5 — I will see you there, right? — but the event will end at 24:00, and so for those looking to prolong the evening, let me point you to “Camouflage Vol. 07″ at Bullet’s, in which Digiki (with Antennasia, Otkaki, with a few DJs and VJs) will be participating — and quite possibly previewing parts of his new album. It goes on all night (22:00-5:00), 2000 yen at the door (includes 1 drink).

This month’s “On Design” for THE JAPAN TIMES is now online. In it I go over a few items (Yamaha’s EC-O2, Toshiba’s Wearable Star collection, and the Plusminuszero Humidifier) that made it in the Good Design Award’s “Best 15,” and then add some things I feel should have made the cut (Makoto Saito’s Penck and Tokujin Yoshioka’s Boing collection).

Also, I can confirm that my preview article on Tokyo Design Week will be in Thursday’s paper, in the Arts section (page 17).

The Omotesando Hills debate continues with Momus throwing in his 2 cents. Me? I’m definitely with Momus on this one.

I often get emails from designers asking about work in Tokyo, and so here’s some info on some job openings at the Tokyo offices of the Desgrippes Gobé Group:

Update: The job postings (with info) are also available directly from the d/g* website here.

Tokujin Yoshioka’s website (see the news section) has been updated with pics of the Toyota booth he created for Tokyo Motor Show 2005 (happening now). More highlights from the event here. Links via Dezain.net.

And speaking of Yoshioka, while I was at hhstyle.com yesterday I picked up a pamphlet announcing an exhibition he’ll be having there with Sawarovski, “Crystal Palace,” (a follow-up to what he presented at this year’s Milano Salone), November 2-11.

Here’s what the PlayStation Spot bus looks like (from Kotaku). According to Game Watch, it’ll be in and around this week’s TIFF activities. Remember to go and try out LOCO ROCO!

METROPOLIS founder Mark Devlin does not dig Ando’s Omotesando development at all.

But Archinect, get your facts straight. Newspaper?

Momus starts missing Japan terribly — but no worries, as he’ll be back for a few months (albeit in Osaka) in not too long.

Marxy shares some thoughts on TOKION magazine’s “Creativity Now Conference,” held this past Sunday at Laforet in Harajuku.

Mamma Gun now has an event page at Tokyo Art Beat.

Illustrator TokyoAlice, standing in front of some of her works (for the “Tokyo Alice Wonder Land!!!” exhibition) at the KDDI Designing Studio.