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.

ISO50 highlights a rather nice poster by graphic designer Yasuhiro Sawada — the image is taken from the book Graphic Design in Japan 2007. Via FFFFOUND!

Spoon & Tamago shares a few photos of Pass the Baton, “a vintage shop that derives its name from the concept of passing things on from one generation to the next,” located in the Marunouchi area. The shop’s design is by Masamichi Katayama (Wonderwall).

TokyoMade is hosting another weeklong market event (Vol. 3), again at the Mememachine gallery in Shibuya.

The TokyoMade Market is a nomadic gathering of Japan-based art and design. An extension of the online store, theTokyoMade Market is an opportunity for designers and artists to share their latest work and sale items. A pop-up event that attracts a diverse crowd of art, fashion and design lovers, the TokyoMade Market also gives fans a chance to connect with the creators in an offline setting.

It kicked off yesterday, and runs until December 27 (12:00-18:00 daily).

The video above, “Urban Abstract,” is a project that was created in Tokyo for a Finnish TV channel, a collaboration between art director Jopsu Ramu and Shun Kawasaki (Artless).

Urban Abstract is a journey across urban space that unfolds in forty, 5 second parts. The journey, in one, two and three dimensions, is a bit like abstract sur?ng in which the original destination is only reached a er a number of seemingly random yet linked detours occur. Points , lines, planes and other abstract elements create a journey through an Urban Abstract.

HENGE is certainly an intriguing item: it’s a “transformable interior object,” or model if you will, that goes from an aircraft-like mode to full robot. It’s self-produced by Tomoo Yamaji, who lives in Takarazuka (Hyogo prefecture), and he’s selling the limited edition model through his online shop. Below, a video of the transformation process.

Yoshi Shimura (Star Graphics) is a Tokyo native who moved to LA a year ago, and he’s just released the second issue of Megane Zine. As he describes it:

Megane Zine is a regular publication aimed at introducing artwork of young, up-coming Japanese artists to the United States. “Megane” means “Glasses” in Japanese. Megane Zine focuses it lens on the inspired achievements of these fantastic artists.

A Megane Zine tee designed by Ed Templeton will be released through Beams T in January, and a show featuring works from the issue will take place at LA’s HVW8 Art + Design Gallery, starting January 9.