This week’s posts at Gridskipper:

• Character Expo 2005
• Mikimoto Ginza 2

And here’s a direct link to all the posts by me.

While I anxiously await to see what crazy stunt Takeshi Okamura will perform during his annual year-end TV special (last year was pretty damn classic), I guess I can start trying to best his MARIO KART DS times.

Digiki has just posted his fifth Polypunk podcast, this time calling it POLYPUNK OK. As he explains:

Get it while it’s hot!

Midnight Eye has just updated with some new articles/reviews. Nevermind that it’s almost Christmas, they’ve gone all horror on us: an interview with Norio Tsuruta (RING 0), a feature pondering the death of J-Horror, frightful reviews aplenty, including RAMPO NOIR, THE RAVAGED HOUSE, KOKKURI, even a book review (THE RING COMPANION).

The Rocket Gallery makes a comeback, sort of, with the next show scheduled at GAS’ Traveling Shop in-store gallery, “Hello Gas Gallery Exhibition Rocket Is Still On, ‘How Are You Been?’” It takes place January 14-19, with more details here (in Japanese).

I was checking out the TVs yesterday at Bic Camera, a bit curious to see what HDTV-enabled sets go for these days. I didn’t notice anything that mentioned HDTV specifically, but what looked like high-definition sets were always referred to as Hi-Vision. Are these one and the same? Is High-Vision simply the way HDTV gets branded in Japan, or is it something else altogether?

Snapped this pic today (early evening) of the new Toyo Ito-designed Mikimoto Ginza 2 building.

I did my monthly Ginza/Yurakucho tour today, and this was the scene at Atelier Muji, inside the Muji Yurakucho flagship store. Oh, and if you get the chance, you really should try to see the “Eco Bags Save the Earth” charity event at Creation Gallery G8. I can’t say that I was very excited by the Ginza Graphic Gallery‘s “Swiss Poster Art: 100 Years of Creation” exhibition though. I would have been much happier seeing a Muller-Brockmann-only show. Today (Thursday) is your last chance to see both shows.

The Retired Weapons Art Project has some special Christmas desktops for download: 1024×768 and 1280×1024.

Last Friday I wrote a post at Gridskipper about the Christmas-themed things that are going on at Cafe Pause, and I figured I’d take a few pics to give you and idea of how it looks. I supplied the Christmas tunes, as well as the Bass/Rankin TV specials for the projector.

As a festive treat, Jesper is sharing the Next Century Modern Illegal Christmas Compilation 2005.

PingMag has an interview with Thomas Heatherwick regarding his upcoming project in Japan.

Microsoft’s pulling out the big guns! Just now, in the span of a few minutes, twice I saw a commercial that shows Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the FINAL FANTASY series, sitting in front of a computer with Akira Toriyama (with Toriyama’s face hidden, of course), and he says something like, “Toriyama, you really are great!” This is followed by a few cut scenes from the Xbox 360-only RPG they’re both working on, BLUE DRAGON, which will come out “sometime” in 2006 (the TV ad just says “2006″).

• The latest issue of PEN (167) takes a look at souvenirs from around the world, spotlighting things to get from various cities.
• This month’s RELAX (107) sports a cover claiming “2006 Onsen Happy Days,” with most of the interior taken up by everything relating to hot springs, from international picks to the best in Japan. Nothing against onsen, but I can’t say that it’s something that I’m particularly interested in reading about in style/culture magazines (a recent issue of BRUTUS was also devoted to the same topic). Also, RELAX has now switched (or possibly last month, since I missed that issue) to the Japanese traditional way of back-to-front reading, and we also see the return of a newspaper-like supplement. Honestly, the most fascinating thing about RELAX these days revolves around what the magazine is going to look like (content/layout) from month to month.
• The latest DESIGNERS’ WORKSHOP (Vol. 22 No. 144) features a report on “The Graphic Designers on the Rise,” as well as a look at the Jun Aoki-designed Aomori Museum of Art. I particularly liked this bit from the feature, talking about Tetsushi Kawamura, art director for TITLE: “While most men’s culture and fashion magazines try for a hyper-masculine look even as their actual contents stress stylishness and good looks, Title’s design doesn’t go in over-the-top masculinity. Rather, Kawamura interprets the editor’s suggestion to ‘make a magazine that women also want to pick up’ in his signature light, flexible style.” Although they state on their website that the magazine is bilingual, there’s really only a 2-3 page summary of some of the articles in English (where that quote was taken).
• ECIFFO (Vol. 47) is a bilingual “Magazine About the Office,” with this latest issue featuring “The Next Step in Office Innovation.” Even though I’ve never worked in an office, I can’t help but be attracted by stylish/creative office spaces.
• This month’s CASA BRUTUS (70) features (take a deep breath) “The Great Journey of Japanese Local Food and Architecture,” which is basically just an excuse to list spots to see (and where to eat) around Japan. There’s also an article sharing the magazine’s best architecture and design picks of 2005.
• The latest BRUTUS (585) devotes most of the issue to souvenirs/gifts from around Japan, a follow-up to an article they did a few months ago.

The latest issue of WALLPAPER* (December/January) is certainly heavy on the Japanese content — mostly written by their Tokyo correspondent, Fiona Wilson — including pieces on Wonderwall, the current popularity of LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) in Japan, the work of Ubushina, the new Kisho Kurokawa-designed National Art Center in Roppongi Hills (to open in January 2007), Yoko Matsumura’s Atelier Sheep Pen, and the D&Department new brand of relaunched/repackaged classics, 60 Vision.