Yes, time for another post to keep you updated on the lack of updates. The move went well, but as you can imagine, I’m still exhausted, and now also without internet at home for about a week. I’ll say this, having to deal with a new dog, a move to a house, rainy season, and the arrival of a visiting housemate, all in a couple of weeks… But things are good, and I’ll be laughing come next weekend, when I’m enjoying some beers in our sunroom. In the meantime, do like my dog Confiture, and keep cool.

Talk about a cool way to get potential students interested in your university: Zokei Quest, a faux 16-bit tour of the Zokei University campus in Tokyo, done in the style of an RPG. Via Offworld.

Those copies of Arcade Mania in the photo above are indeed en français, and it’s truly exciting to see that the French edition of the book is now back from the printers. The book — with a slightly changed title of Japan Arcade Mania — is published in France by Pix’N Love Editions, and although I’m not sure when the book will be showing up in stores there, it is available for purchase directly from the Pix’N Love website as of today.

Let me also point you to our English website for the book if you want more info. Below, pages from the French edition — it’s nice to see that Andrew‘s layouts work just as well in other languages. And speaking of Andrew, let me point you also to his latest baby, the just-launched Otaku Encyclepdia, which is now on sale in Japan. I will be covering the book soon — just haven’t had the time to write a proper post about it — but let me assure you that it fits quite neatly in the “series” with Arcade Mania and Matt Alt’s Yokai Attack.

Keiji has been collaborating on a project with Australian architect Peter Stutchbury, and with Stutchbury in Tokyo for a few days to check in on the construction, Keiji is organizing a lecture and party at his studio (Keiji Ashizawa Design, 2-17-15 Koishikawa, Bukyo-ku — nearest station: Korakuen) on Tuesday, July 23. The reception will start at 19:00, with the lecture from 20:00 — the party will continue after the talk, until 23:00. There will be a charge of 1,000 yen, which includes snacks, beer, and wine.

The studio can probably only fit around 60-70 people, so please email Keiji if you plan on going.

Who knew shots of ink in motion could be so beautiful — see more of Shinichi Maruyama’s photography here. Via JoshSpear.com.

Craig Anczelowitz has a produced a new collection of stationery for Awagami based on Japan’s family crests (called “kamon”). Via Spoon & Tamago.

In collaboration with this year’s traveling Bicycle Film Festival, Italian manufacturer San Marco has produced a series of limited edition saddles, one for each city that hosts the event. Tokyo is covered in red. Via Cool Hunting, which includes more photos and details.

In this week’s Tokyo post for MoCo Loco I cover Metaphys‘ Soh calculator (above), Terata Shunsuke’s clear wood plates, and an exhibition by Tonerico.

ART iT’s planned online re-launch — replacing the print magazine — was set to launch in July, but it’s already up and running. Via TABlog.

Yes, it’s been a slow week here in terms of updates, and I just wanted to reassure everyone that this is just temporary. Basically, real life has gotten in the way. First, as seen in the photo above, we have a new dog. His name is Confiture, he’s a Great Pyrenees, and he has his own blog — you’re not surprised, are you? The other thing is that we are moving next week, so having to deal with that. We’re still staying in Ikebukuro, but moving into a traditional Japanese house. With a little garden. And I have a dog. Yes, I know.

Add to that what ended up being a rather hectic work week — and more responsibilities on the PechaKucha front — and it’s no wonder this blog has suffered. And yes, I’ve been told by a few people that the feed to the site is acting up, or has been spammed in some way. I’ll try and get that fixed as soon as possible.

Update: I think I fixed the feed. I wasn’t seeing any problems because I was subscribed to the Feedburner feed, and it looks like the spam problem was only affecting those subscribed to the regular WP feed. I use a plugin that is supposed to re-direct people to the Feedburner feed, and so there’s a possibility that wasn’t working properly (I re-installed it).

I’ve yet to highlight TAB‘s recently launched interview feature, but better late than never. What is TABuzz?

Tokyo Art Beat invites movers and thinkers from the Tokyo art world to contribute to this column. Our guest bloggers give their recommendations and thoughts on who to watch and what to see.

The latest one is with CBCnet founder Yosuke Kurita.

I definitely need to catch this: “The Death of Mario,” an exhibition from artist Koshi Kawachi that tries to capture aspects from the Mario series. It runs at the Lower Akihabara gallery until June 26. Via Offworld.

Spotted at the Freshness Burger near the KDa office in Ebisu.

I’m sure you’ve all heard about and seen the giant 1:1 replica Gundam statue in Odaiba, but have you seen lit up at night? Very nice gallery here, courtesy of Pink Tentacle.

The Art Space Tokyo blog has a new round-up of art links, covering the month of May.