Great short that tells the story of Asics/Onitsuka Tiger, using origami models. It won quite a few prizes as well. Via Motionographer.

Interesting animated short by Gaku Kinoshita. Via Paul Baron.

This is how they’re selling Saint’s Row 2 in Japan — I think it’s great. Also, I’d like to give some huge thumbs up on that game. It may not have the sheen of Grand Theft Auto IV, but I might have actually had more fun with SR2. It’s an absolute blast. Via Mark Cooke.

I’m bored, and trying not to think about certain things, so let’s play a game. Pictured, a light. It’s somewhere in Tokyo. Ten points to anyone who figures out where. I may add hints in the comments section.

Assistant and PMKFA are plotting something. See, I have proof. I’m sure it’s something nasty.

I’m a bit late on this, but I realized today that I never put up a follow-up post after the December edition of PauseTalk (Vol. 27). It was actually a bit of a strange evening, with a very low attendance, and the people who did show up were pretty much all veterans, and it mostly turned into a casual get-together — it was still good fun catching up with everyone. Makes me wonder though if I need to be a bit more aggressive in the future in order to make sure that a decent amount of people show up, or if PT has simply run its course.

Nothing to do with the low turnout, but there will be no PauseTalk in January — because of the holidays — and so the next edition should happen February 2. Below, the list of participants for PauseTalk Vol. 27.

• Benjamin Parks (Photographer)
• Bianca Beuttel (Designer)
• Jean Snow (Writer)
• Joseph Keenan (Designer)
• Kristina Dryza (Strategic Insight)
• Martin Holtkamp (Photographer)
• Max Hodges (Publisher)
• Philomena Keet (Researcher)

Abaco Magazine is a downloadable photo-heavy PDF zine created by two Italians in Tokyo, Alessandro Silvestri and Flavio Parisi. Reminds me of my old Geisha zine, which only very, VERY old readers of this site will remember.

It’s the end of the year, so time to look back on 2008, and if Japanese consumer trends and fashion are your thing, then Mekas’ “2008: The Year in Trends” feature is for you. Also includes great photography by Sean Wood.

Really love this project by Joi Ito: Freesouls, a book of portraits taken by him. Pictured above is the “Luxury Boxed Set,” but even just the book alone features a really nice design. The first offering is composed of a limited print run of 1024 (50 for the boxed set). You can order it here.

I’ve of course been having a hand in all the pieces that have gone up at PingMag since I started there earlier this month, but last night marked the appearance of my first proper interview, with French gaming/digital culture magazine Amusement ‘s editor-in-chief, Abdel Bounane. Really happy with how it turned out, and big thanks to Abdel for agreeing to the interview. I absolutely love Amusement — read the interview to find out more about the magazine — and I’m sure a lot of people will be happy to hear that the magazine will be available in English in 2009.

Cyril “King of Miami” Duval writes a piece on the “Louis Vuitton at Comme des Garcons” temporary concept store in Aoyama for the latest issue of 032c. You can read it here (click on the image).

I unfortunately couldn’t make it to the “Naked Tokyo” photography group exhibition opening earlier this week, and looks like I missed Max — who has some photos in the show — bringing the White Rabbit Press mascot to life. You can see more examples on his Flickr photostream. The “Naked Tokyo” show ends today.

Seeing a Japanese film in Japan is certainly an easy thing, seeing one with English subtitles, not so much. Don’t miss your chance then to go see Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata. My friend Marie organized that the film be shown at Cinemart in Roppongi with English subtitles for one week (December 13-19), with two shows daily (16:40 and 19:15). The film won the Jury Prize in the “Un Certain Regard” section of this year’s Cannes film festival. (Photo © 2008 Fortissimo Films/ TOKYO SONATA Film Partners)

Update: The screening with subs did so well that they have extended it until early January.

• December 20-26: one show at 19:15
• December 27 – January 2: 16:40 and 19:15 (two shows)

It’s been a long wait, but I was finally able to get a new bike this week. Well, more like a new used bike, courtesy of my good friend — and biking mentor — Craig Mod. Craig decided to sell his Bianchi foldable with BD-1 OEM frame — one of four bikes he owns — and the price was right, too good to pass up. I’d had another bike on my radar for a while now, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford it anytime soon.

So of course, I’ve been biking lots, a few times to and back from work (Ikebukuro – Harajuku), and it’s also been great to use an excellent little app for the iPhone called Runkeeper. This free app not only uses your phones GPS functionality to keep track of all stats as your riding (distance, speed, etc.), but after you save the route, it automatically uploads everything to their site, where you can access your route as plotted on Google Maps. I couldn’t recommend it more.

Shane over at The Nihon Sun was nice enough to write up a review of Arcade Mania, and she’s also giving away a copy!