I’m pretty sure I hate Craig Mod, and the reason is because he keeps writing awesome essays and is doing plenty of things — like starting a “publishing think tank” called PRE/POST — that make me jealous. You really do need to go read his latest journal entry, “Kickstartup,” which tells the story of how he used Kickstarter to successfully fund the new edition of Art Space Tokyo, sharing everything he learned from the process. And even though it’s long, don’t Instapaper it, because you’ll miss out on the beautiful layout.

Pictured, Art Space Tokyo covers drying, after they’ve been hand-printed.

That Graniph thing I teased last week? Details are now posted on SNOW Magazine, so go have a look. In short, every month I’ll be selecting my five favorite Graniph tees (produced during the previous month) to giveaway on the site, and at the same time we’re enlisting everyone to recommend artists who should work with Graniph, with the idea to produce a tee.

Pictured, one of the tees I’ve selected for this month’s contest, “Vale Tudo.”

The SNOW Magazine Cafe flyer is now out in the wild. Again, big thanks to Hiyoko Imai for the wonderful design, based on Luis‘ original poster design.

Although we got a preview of it at PauseTalk Vol. 39 earlier this month, it’s nice to see that Hawken King’s first iPhone app, Facemakr, is now out and for sale on iTunes App Stores around the world. An extension of the service he previously offered — making icons based on photos you would send him — the app puts the creation process in your hands, and it’s actually quite versatile, especially when it comes to repositioning and enlarging certain parts of the face.

Above, what I think I look like these days, but maybe I should have looked at a photo while making it. Great fun though, and definitely worth the $3 he’s charging.

My friends Craig Mod and Ashley Rawlings produced this terrific book a couple of years ago called Art Space Tokyo, you may have heard of it — I’ve certainly plugged it and recommended it countless times to anyone I talk to when it comes to the art scene in Tokyo. It has unfortunately been out of print for quite a while now, but Craig and Ashley recently got the rights back (as Craig is no longer involved with Chin Music Press), and they’ve launched a Kickstarter project to not only get an updated version of the book back in print, but to also produce a free iPad version. So go, and support what will undoubtedly be an awesome pair of products.

After I tweeted that I got some business cards made for SNOW Magazine, a few people asked to see what it looks like, and so here goes. Big thanks again to my fellow GOOD Inc. compatriot Luis Mendo for the image on the front, and font suggestion for my name on the back — it’s the font off which the SNOW logo was created, Los Niches.

Lovely Package takes a look at a few examples of package design for Japan’s Calpis drinks. The branding was done by Taku Satoh. The packaging pictured is for gift sets of various Calpis drinks.

To commemorate the wedding of Osamu Akatsu with Manami Kondo in Kyoto last month, Akatsu himself designed the beautiful invitation pictured here. Beast Pieces goes through the intricacies of the invitation, detailing the type of paper used, as well as describing how the one-color metallic design was achieved.

Spoon & Tamago shares a few of the New Year cards it has received from designers and design studios in Japan. Pictured here, a card by creative director Yuji Tokuda for his communication design company Canaria. Tokuda is behind the “Retired Weapons” peace design project.

Incubot, a new toy company started by Matt Alt and Alen Yen, has released its first soft vinyl figure in the form of the Nekosaur. The figure was designed by Yen, sculpted by Kiyoshi Ikeda (Gargamel), and directed by Alt, and is the company’s homage to classic Japanese vinyl robot toys. The Nekosaur will be available for purchase first at this weekend’s SuperFestival 51 (January 10), and will then be available for order through the Incubot website.

In addition to the “crystal model” (pictured), a hand-painted custom version by Matt Walker will also be available for purchase.

How’s this for a first post of 2010, a photo of myself! It’s actually for my “top 5″ that was just posted at MoCo Loco. My selections are taken from all of the “This Week from Tokyo” posts I did in 2009, and are (in no particular order): Jo Nagasaka’s PACO, the Reading Lamp, the Yamagiwa lamp collection, D-BROS’ Kudamemo, and Nosigner’s AWA line.

I’ve recently mentioned a few times the new skate brand OPEN, started by my friend Trevor Sias with designs by Ian Lynam — you can order the first two boards now, and here are a few more photos — but here’s a look at the latest deck collection from Japan skateboard brand Lesque, also designed by Ian.

MUJI posts a beautiful flash-based essay — mixing visuals and text — on its global site, explaining the rationale behind the company’s line of products.

Have a look at the beautiful opening sequence for “Pocko/Magma” — it’s for an animated film that accompanies a touring exhibition of customized Russian Matryoshka dolls — featuring the illustrative work of Chisato Shinya (Kinpro). I love the homage to the Dr. No opening at the start. Via Motionographer.

The winners of the Kokuyo Design Awards 2009 — a competition for stationery design — were just announced, with the grand prize going to Nao Asanuma’s “Roots” work table (above). Below, a few of the runners-ups. Via Spoon & Tamago.

Kazunari Kodama’s “Flower” tack.

Shohei Ono’s “Margins” notebook.

Satomi Tanabe’s “Plant & Ground” pen holder.

Kaneko Hisahide’s “Black and White Graduation” ruler.