Me taking a shot with my iPhone of some street art in Ebisu. Photo by Erika Nishizato.

Spotted on Facebook: the 101TOKYO event space being put together. The show itself runs April 2-5 at Akiba Square (inside the UDX building) in Akihabara, and make sure to drop by Thursday evening (April 2, 18:00-20:00) for a special edition PechaKucha Night hosted by our very own Mark Dytham.

I posted about it over at PechaKucha Daily last week — where you can see a few images from a PKN presentation — but I certainly need to mention here as well Claska‘s new bilingual (English/Japanese) pocket cityguide, Tokyo by Tokyo. The idea was to invite 70 creatives — our good friend Marxy is even in the mix — who each contributed their favorite Tokyo spots. Each entry even tells you which other entries are nearby, and there are also coordinates for use on Google Maps.

The price is definitely right (1,200 yen) and it can be found in stores around the city — Claska sells it online through its website, but the interface is Japanese-only.

Update: It’s also available through Amazon Japan.

I think Warren really is onto something when he talks about 2009 as the year of POD (print-on-demand). I’ve seen quite a few very nice projects take that route of late, and the latest is by Tokyo-based photographer Stephen Lebovits. His Brokenfotografy – Volume 1 is now being offered through Blurb.

Celebrated designer and media artist Gelman has been tied into Tokyo’s electronic music scene for a while now — through his associations with Minimal Tokyo and his “Gelman Lounge” events — and now he’s bringing things to a new level with the inaugural edition of Gelmannica, “the first international festival for electronic music and media arts.”

Headliners include Apparat, Ed Chamberlain, and Magnum 30 on the main floor at Unit, with the basement Saloon hosting the “Gelmannica Party of Parties,” featuring DJs and VJs from Tokyo’s best parties. It all happens Friday, April 10 from 23:00 — 3,500 yen at the door, 3,000 with flyer, which you can download here.

Update: Artist profiles have now been added — you can access them from the “Artists” page.

I posted about this the other day on PechaKucha Daily, but wanted to mention it here too. Jesper and the NCM crew — to help celebrate last week’s 60th edition of PechaKucha Night in Tokyo — created a cool web app that turns every one into a PechaKucha Head, courtesy of that great Namaiki-designed logo.

20 Japanese Architects is a new book by Roland Hagenberg that covers, well, 20 Japanese architects and their works through a series of interviews. Now for the bad news, it seems that the English/Chinese tome is currently only available in Taiwan, and there is no way — for now — to order it online. Via CScout Japan.

How’s this for a stark space. “Harajuku MTG Point” is a meeting room for a design agency by Upsetters Architects. Dezeen posts more photos.

This week’s Tokyo post for MoCo Loco covers Amadana‘s SAL pocket video camera, Corga‘s collection of leather accessories, and Sotaro Miyagi‘s Wine Bottle Bag for hmny.

Designboom covers Yuri Suzuki‘s “The Physical Value of Sound” exhibition, now on at Clear Gallery in Roppongi. It runs until May 2.

Tokyo Art Beat‘s blog has a look at Tokyo/Japan-related art news from the week of March 23-27. I hope they continue with these.

I know it’s not really Japan-related, but my good friend Jason (aka 6955) was still in Tokyo when he started work on Fez — he moved last year to Montreal to join the rest of the Polytron crew — and so that’s how I justify posting the brilliant new trailer for the game. It will be glorious.

The 101TOKYO contemporary art fair is just around the corner (April 2-5), and they’ve just announced that a new project called the “101QUESTIONS Educational Program” will be part of the show. The program is comprised of six panel discussions that will be held over the four days of the event, with the idea of addressing issues from the world of contemporary art. The lineup of speakers is extensive and should make for some interesting sessions — the schedule doesn’t appear to be online yet, but I’m sure it will be up very soon.

Update: The details are now online.

Shantell adds to her “pen tribe,” with the latest batch photographed by another PauseTalker, Benjamin Parks. You can see all the photos in this Flickr photoset. In the photo, Sophie, yet another PauseTalker.

Yes, that’s exactly what you’ll learn if you take the ten-week intensive introductory seminar on typography at Temple University Japan this summer, taught by Ian Lynam. The session will take place May 19 to July 21 on Tuesday evenings (19:10-21:00). Ian describes what will be covered in the class over at META no TAME, and here is the course info page from Temple’s website.