I tweeted it the other day, but I wanted to point out again that The Guardian has launched a rather nice guide to Tokyo. I should also mention that a few of my friends have contributed to this (Ashley Rawlings, Brian Ashcraft, Patrick Macias), and these are people that I would absolutely trust when it comes to recommendations in their particular fields (arts, gaming spots, otaku spots).

First off, let me start by thanking everyone who came out for last Wednesday’s PechaKucha Night Vol. 85. It was a great turnout and I think a nice collection of presentations, but even more important for me, it was the first regular PKN we do without my longtime colleague Tomoko Kagawa, who recently left the organization. So it was me and my colleague Yuki Takai behind the deck, and although I think everything went smoothly on the screen, I can tell you that there was a lot of hectic work going on in the back, as we continued to receive last-minute images for a few of the participants (who were coming from the World Congress of Architecture). But live and learn, and I think all the battle scars will mean that nothing can phase us from now on. Apologies also to anyone who wanted to chat, but that I had to turn away because of how busy things got — it shouldn’t be like this in the future, so do feel free to come and say hi.

Also, let me remind you all that this month’s PauseTalk (Vol. 54) is this Monday (October 3), at Cafe Pause as always, with the official session starting at 20:00 — feel free to come early, as a few people usually do.

So yes, time again to remind everyone that the next PauseTalk (Vol. 54) is coming up, set for this coming Monday (October 3) at Cafe Pause in Ikebukuro, with the usual start time of 20:00. As I wrote for Vol. 53, we had a terrific night, so hoping this next one will be just as good.

Also, PechaKucha Night in Tokyo Vol. 85 is happening tomorrow (September 28) — following our annual summer break — at SuperDeluxe in Roppongi. Doors open at 19:00, presentations start at 20:20, and entry is 1000 yen. You’ll find the list of presenters on the official event page, but we’re also expecting a few extras, courtesy of this week’s World Congress of Architecture.

You’ll find PauseTalk on Facebook here, and there’s a Twitter feed too.

If you’ve been to the front page of this site sometime this week (I have to assume that many of you reading this in your feed reader), then more than likely you’ve noticed the giant banner I have there now. It’s for the big Global PechaKucha Day – Inspire Japan event I’ve been working on over the past few weeks, set to happen this Saturday (April 16). I alluded to it in a recent post, but if you don’t know about it, it’s a big charity event we’ve put together, bringing together the PechaKucha community — we’re 404 cities strong, as of this writing — for a day/night of events all over the world, with the goal of raising funds for reconstruction efforts in Japan. As with last year for Haiti, we’re teaming up with Architecture for Humanity.

The core of the event is on Saturday, with a whole bunch of cities holding PKNs, and a lot of them will be streaming live as well — just go to the Inspire Japan site on the day of the event, and whatever is currently streaming live should be up at the top of the site. But our Inspire Japan efforts will also span all of April and May, and we’re inviting organizers of all PKNs during this period to collect donations — because this all came together so suddenly, many cities were not able to re-schedule already planned events, and some just found it difficult to organize something on the 16th.

Here in Tokyo, instead of our regular home of SuperDeluxe, the event will be held at the Roppongi Hills Tokyo City View (52nd floor), with doors opening at 17:00, and presentations starting at 18:00 (it should run until around 21:30 or so). Entry will be a minimum donation of 1000 yen — you’re of course welcome to leave more. To access the event, you’ll need to go to the 3rd floor to get a free ticket to get to the top, and we’ll have signs there to point you to the event space (where you’ll pay the entry fee).

This will also be the first time I present in quite a while — I only presented once at a PechaKucha Night, 3-4 years ago at a special Tokyo Design Week edition with my friend Jesper (it was about the Swedish Style event we had organized at Cafe Pause). This time, I’ll be teaming with Ian, who is responsible for all of the Inspire Japan graphics you’ve been seeing. The presentation will pretty much be about design efforts to raise money for Japan aid, based on that post I started a few days after the quake, as well as the follow-up I did in last month’s edition of my “On Design” column for The Japan Times. For his part of the presentation, Ian will cover the projects he worked on to help raise awareness and collect donations.

The event should be amazing — I mean, you can’t really beat that view — and you’ll also be contributing to reconstruction efforts, so I urge you all to come and support us. Also, if you’d like to help spread the word, feel free to get and use Inspire Japan banners and ads that Ian created, as well as a very cool (and workable) QR code that SET Japan designed for us.

Sowa Unit is a new project from architect Kensuke Watanabe, in the form of a rehabilitation center for mental illnesses located in Tokyo. The complex is made up of six connected two-storey concrete sections. Dezeen features a gallery of photos, as well as an explanation of the project from Watanabe.

Back in October was saw renderings of the Hoto Fudo complex — designed by Takeshi Hosaka Architects — and now we get to see what the completed structure looks like, courtesy of Designboom.

Another beautiful living space to drool over, this time Katsufumi Kubota‘s MA House, located in the city of Matsuyama. One thing I’m always curious about though — how do these spaces look after people have actually lived in them? Via MoCo Loco.

Ryuichi Ashizawa Architects designs this beautiful chapel, part of a hotel located near the top of Mt. Hiromine, not far from Himeji.

If you like stark white interiors, I don’t think you can get much better than Hideyuki Nakayma Architecture‘s O House, located in Kyoto — see more of the interior in this post over at Designboom.

For the Hakone Open-Air Museum, Tezuka Architects created the “Woods of Net,” a permanent pavilion for net artist Toshiko Horiuchi Macadam — ArchDaily posts a few photos of the installation. Via Dezain.net.

Designboom takes a look at the Ryuichi Ashizawa Architects‘ “Bamboo Forest and Huts with Water” installation, presented earlier this year as part of the “Aqua Metropolis” event in Osaka.

BAKOKO‘s Alastair Townsend has a post up about a great project from Tokyo Geijitsu Daigaku students, “a set of three exquisite installations they built in the Ueno neighborhood around their university.” Pictured above, “reclaimed soji screens frame a reconfigurable space for events.”

Beautiful new gallery in the city of Kyotanabe (near Kyoto) called Tanada Piece Gallery, featuring a rice field-inspired interior by Japanese architecture studio Geneto.

As factories go, you have to hand it to Ryuichi Ashizawa Architects, the Kobe Portisland factory (above) is a rather nice one — Designboom posts more images.

The thing about sci-fi-esque House 01 — a project designed by Ryuichi Ashizawa Architects — that surprises me the most is that it’s currently under construction. See this post over at Designboom for more details.