This site has a few photos of the construction work being done on the Tadao Ando-designed subway station in Shibuya. Link via Dezain.net.

In celebrating its 10th anniversary, online Japanese design magazine SHIFT has finally gone completely blog (they started the experiment a few months ago) — it still keeps a magazine structure though — but more importantly, got rid of their popular “Girls on the Street” series. Momus laments the loss.

Jason from King of Games has put up a video of the draw for the KOG Vs. Starmen.net Mother contest, which includes a very special guest. Even better is the commercial at the end for the KOG Donkey Kong tees!

• You could pick up the new issue of IDEA (322) for the works of Otl Aicher or Osaka-based Helmut Schmid, but what made me pick up a copy — I don’t usually buy IDEA because of the high 3000 yen cover price — is their “Journal Culture” feature. It’s terrific coverage of the magazine scene, from the huge showcase of issues from William Drenttel‘s collection — see plenty of layouts here — to various media people commenting on their favorite/influential titles. As always, IDEA is completely bilingual (Japanese/English), so magazine addicts the world over will probably want to give this issue a look.
• MAC POWER (209) undergoes a cover renewal with a new white look instead of the usual gray (I don’t know if it’s a permanent change, or just for this issue). The main feature, a good one, profiles 50 international photographers. There’s also a piece that takes an extensive look at Klein Dytham architecture‘s beautiful new office for TBWA/HAKUHODO.
• OK FRED (9) is back, with their tribute to “The Mamas and the Papas” (meaning parents, not the group). My “Sekai no Omiseyasan” column returns, with a couple of Nakameguro spots.
• The new issue of ART iT (15) takes a closer look at the Asian-Pacific component of the upcoming Venice Biennale.

Update
MagCulture’s Jeremy Leslie shares some more details regarding the IDEA “Journal Culture” feature.

About a month ago I linked to a piece from BusinessWeek looking at micro-homes. As a follow-up, David Cady — that’s Mr. Canned Coffee to you and me — sent me the photo you see here, with some details:

Yeah, sign me up for a Tsubomi office right away! I also made mention of the Tsubomi in my “On Design” column last year.

Kyoto-based design unit collect.apply have an exhibition opening tomorrow (April 24) and running until May 14 at the Japonica Music Store & Cafe Gallery in Kyoto, with an opening party this Saturday (April 28, 19:00-23:00). “It Might as Well be Spring” will be a showcase of their work, past and present. In Tokyo, you can catch some of their work as part of the “Music Graffiti” group exhibition (includes 30 members of the Tokyo Type Directors Club, and 20 graphic designers in Japan) at Space ‘O’ in Omotesando Hills (April 27-May 13).

A new issue of OK FRED (9) is out, in which they celebrate all “The Mamas and the Papas” out there. My contribution to the issue is the return of my “Sekai no Omiseyasan” column, in which I cover a few spots in Nakameguro. You’ll also find an old picture of my parents on the “Outro” (contributors) page. Even though it’s out on newsstands, they haven’t updated the site yet for orders — Ay2 and Yoshi are currently in New York — but you can order it from Amazon Japan.

Update
To celebrate the release, an OK FRED Fair will be held at LIBRO (Parco Part 1 in Shibuya) from April 25.

We recently celebrated the 3rd anniversary of Cafe Pause, and produced this t-shirt (not for sale). It was designed by Next Century Modern. Below is the color we used for the final tee.

Another spring 2007 anime guide, this time from Anime News Network, and they include thoughts on the start of each series. I’ve been following a few of them, and will post my own thoughts probably later this week.

Kansai Art Beat launches, doing for the Kansai region what TAB has been doing quite successfully in Tokyo for a couple of years now.

Dezeen has posted a few photos from the Shigeru Ban-designed Artek installation in Milan.

TABlog has a review up for 21_21 Design Sight‘s inaugural exhibition. You’ll probably recognize the photos, taken from my Tokyo Midtown Flickr photoset.

What is TB.Pensar? Find out here.

Is it just me, or has everyone in the world picked this month to come to Tokyo for various projects. It’s been a rather hectic month all around, and I’m definitely looking forward to the upcoming Golden Week holiday to re-energize and re-focus — I will also need to take that time to prepare for other things, but more on that some other time.

Just to update things with PauseTalk, a deadline has been decided for the 8mm film project: May 7, which is the date of the next meetup. That’s not to say you can’t make your short after that deadline, but I need to hear about it by then. The reason for the deadline is because I want to move on to other things, and so figured this was the best way to do so. As far as the PDF magazine project, I had a very interesting chat/meeting with Alin before he left town — he’s away in Europe for a couple of months, doing an apartment exchange with the M. — and we’ve pretty much decided to take this away from just being a PauseTalk portfolio showcase kind of thing, and make it our own project. Of course, we’ll be looking for contributors, but it’s mostly going to be our baby.

If you haven’t been checking VBS of late, you should make it a point to see their 5-part “True Norwegian Black Metal” series, part of their black metal — that would be death metal injected with a true belief in satanism — theme week. The ending is truly chilling. That being said, where’s Trace? Where’s Ian? It’s been weeks since the last new installment of SOFT FOCUS, and I’m really missing it.

It’s also been a good week in terms of media exposure. First an appearance in the latest issue of PEN, and then yesterday I was interviewed by TRAVEL+LEISURE for a piece the writer is doing on bloggers worldwide (I’ll post more on that later). Also, it looks like I’ll probably be back in front of the camera for NHK come June.

And now, games (you knew it was coming). Actually, I’m thinking of spinning this off into its own regular column, a place where I can just go nuts on the games I’m playing. My latest obsession: the first PHOENIX WRIGHT: ACE ATTORNEY for the DS. A lot of silly fun that I’ve really been enjoying, although the final “extra” chapter has been frustrating at times (almost done though). I’m already looking forward to playing the second one, and of course the third (out later this year). Next, some sad news. My game partner in crime, Brad — we really are the worst of influences, enticing each other to play games that we normally wouldn’t — has finally pushed me to try that most evil and addicting of gaming crack, WORLD OF WARCRAFT. So last night I popped my WoW cherry: I downloaded the game and started playing with their 10-day trial. My biggest fear — and what has kept me from trying out the game until now — is the “Joi Ito Situation.” Must be strong, must have control. If you want to play along, my character’s name is Jordak, I’m a big-ass tauren, and I play on the Moon Guard server (because that’s where Brad was playing). After one night’s play, I’m now at level 6.

Now, time for a delicious Sunday lunch at the French restaurant Nishimura no Mise, just down the street. Yuko’s waiting…

TABlog’s Ashley was not a big fan of the recent Art Fair Tokyo, and Tetsuya Ozaki’s latest “Out of Tokyo” column offers up a different, much more positive, take.

From an editorial in today’s edition of THE JAPAN TIMES: