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Your Guide to Design and Pop Culture in Tokyo

Chihiro Tanaka’s Onduler and Sakulight

Sakulight

Dezeen covers two new lights from Chihiro Tanaka: Onduler and Sakulight (pictured above).

PingMag: Masayuki Takahashi

Masayuki Takahashi

PingMag takes a look at the sexy designs of Masayuki Takahashi (MAVO).

PingMag: Christmas Gifts

Kaomoji Characters

Still not done with all your Christmas shopping? Let PingMag’s gift suggestions guide you in your time of need.

This Week from MoCo Loco

Ayuregg

In this week’s Tokyo post for MoCo Loco I cover the Ayuregg, Ace 60‘s smaller accessories, and &design‘s LED Watch for Takumi.

Onitsuka Tiger + Tokidoki

Onitsuka Tiger + Tokidoki

JoshSpear.com has news that next year will see a bunch of new collaborations between sneaker brand Onitsuka Tiger and Tokidoki (aka Italian artist Simone Legno).

Yasumasa Morimura

Yasumasa Morimura

Artist Yasumasa Morimura has an interesting take on the art of photography: he includes himself in all of his work, recreating famous photos. You can see a few examples in this Designboom post, and if you’re in New York, today’s your last chance to see an exhibition of his work, “Requiem for the XXth Century: Twilight of the Turbulent Gods,” at the Luhring Augustine Gallery.

Update
Morimura has a show, “Twilight of the Turbulent Gods/A Requiem: Chapter 2,” that started yesterday at Shugoarts and runs until February 16.

Neojaponisme: NeoMumblism

NeoMumblism

Mumbleboy contributes a gallery of images to the site.

The DoCoMo iPhone?

Although I’ve always assumed that the release of the iPhone in Japan would be through a partnership with Softbank, seems like it could very well be with DoCoMo. Thanks, Max!

Gundam-inspired Bars

Gundam-inspired Bars

Mixing anime with nightlife — and not in a kinky way — Akihabara sees the opening of two Gundam-inspired bars, one supporting the Federation Forces, the other the Zeon faction. The themed interior features costumed staff (of course), with a menu that pays tribute to various characters. Anime News Network has more details, and here’s the original post (Akiba Blog) in Japanese with some photos of the exterior.

Tokyo Eye 1st Anniversary

Starting today and running all week, NHK World TV’s TOKYO EYE is running a special episode to celebrate 1 year on the air, with a selection of segments from throughout the run. I’m told the visit I did to Cow Books in Nakameguro is to be included, and I expect you’ll see Patrick Macias and Matt Alt as well. Check here for the broadcast schedule.

Juliana 1st Anniversary

Juliana 1st Anniversary

The next “Juliana” party happens this coming Monday, December 24 (19:00-23:00), at Soft in Shibuya with the regular crew celebrating 1 year of Tokyo Fun Party action. I love what they did with the flyer design — click here to see the folding instructions.

The Return of Haruhi Suzumiya

The Return of Haruhi Suzumiya

I looooooved the original THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA series, and any fans of the show will love the way they recently revealed a few details about the upcoming second season. Anime New Network has the full rundown.

Remix Shantell Martin

TAB T-Shirt by Shantell Martin

Artist Shantell Martin is asking people to remix the “On the March” drawing she did for the Tokyo Art Beat t-shirt series, with a selection to be shown in Tokyo sometime next year. You’ll find more info on the TAB page for Shantell’s t-shirt.

Update on Claska

Claska Room 603

Earlier this year I mentioned rumors that the Claska boutique hotel would be closing down by the end of the year. Seems that it won’t be closing after all, but instead will be taken over by new management. The renewal, with more emphasis on a new “Japanese style,” will include new rooms and more events. The photo of room 603 in the post is by Liao Yusheng, who sent me the info (it appears in a comment for this photo).

PingMag: PET Bottle Design

PET Bottle Design

Tokyo-based designer — and friend of PauseTalk — Bianca Beuttel returns to PingMag with another package design-related piece, this time covering the new PET bottle designs that occupy the country’s combiniscape.

PauseTalk

PauseTalk is a regular series of events that take place at Cafe Pause on the first Monday of every month, with a start time of 20:00. The idea is to create a forum where Tokyo-based creatives can get together and discuss their own projects, as well as cultural currents of the city. The next edition happens June 4.

We hereby define a new term, that of the magaziner, described as a person who exerts an unhealthy amount of love for all things magazine. The Magaziner is a site that mostly focuses on the intersection between magazines and the digital frontier, and what it means for the medium. This does not preclude the inclusion of a healthy amount of print love.

Codex is a weekly music podcast hosted by Jean Snow, recorded in Tokyo. Playlists for all episodes are posted on the site, and you can subscribe to RSS feeds of posts and episodes.

Jean Snow is a contributor to Arcade Mania, your guide to the arcade gaming scene in Japan (Amazon US/Amazon Japan). He also provided assistance on Tokyolife: Art and Design, a guide to Tokyo's cultural output of the past few years, covering the works of over 80 influential creatives.
He will be contributing to the upcoming fifth editions of The Rough Guide to Tokyo and The Rough Guide to Japan, due for release in 2011.

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PechaKucha

Jean Snow is Executive Director of the PechaKucha organization. He also helps run the PechaKucha Night in Tokyo -- please get in touch if you are interested in presenting at a future event. For a more intimate salon-like discussion group, join him at his monthly PauseTalk event.

A longtime resident of Tokyo, he lives and breathes design, pop culture, and gaming, sustained by an unhealthy addiction to magazines and frequent visits to his favorites cafes. He has reported on these obsessions for various online/offline publications, including the following: Time, Inside (Australian Design Review), Gizmodo, Gridskipper, Kotaku, 1UP, Tokyo Q, Superfuture, OK Fred, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, I.D. (International Design), Metropolis, Azure, MoCo Loco, Kateigaho International Edition, Wired's Game|Life, PingMag, CNNGo, Phaidon, and The Japan Times.

You can subscribe to an RSS feed of this site, and also follow him on Twitter and Facebook, or get in touch by email.

 

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The "Jean Snow" logo is written using the free Kirimomi Swash typeface. The "M31" logo is by Ian Lynam, and is part of a series of 31 unique designs. The site's design is based on the Grid Focus WordPress theme by Derek Punsalan.

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