Even though urban renewal can be an exciting topic — I’m a sucker for big projects that “positively” transform neighborhoods — Joi Ito tears down the “Chuoism” happening out in Chiba.

Lisa has a fun piece in the new issue of WIRED (14.10) on the Japanese urawaza (secret tricks) phenomenon. I love how they illustrated the article.

I think the title says it all, behold: “Master Topic List for First-Time Neomarxisme Readers.” Basically, it’s your way to get to all of Marxy’s best essays.

You’ve probably noticed me using the term LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) often in my “This Week in Magazines” posts, since it’s become a favorite topic of quite a few magazines. If you’re not really quite sure what the term represents and how it got started, last week’s issue of METROPOLIS had an informative cover feature on the LOHAS concept, which should clear things up.

Also, in that same issue, Andrew Conti does a good job of covering (if the link has expired, look in the sidebar for the new link) the newly re-opened ICC — more detailed than the short post I wrote for Gridskipper a while back.

Since, you know, “the super-techno cyberpunk Shinto Japanese like speed” so much, it’s only fitting that they would distribute their products in a fitting manner. See what Marxy has to say on the subject.

Marxy offers up some thoughts on Karl Taro Greenfeld’s 1995 look at Japanese youth culture, SPEED TRIBES. I’m quite interested by the reading suggestions he makes at the end of the piece, things I haven’t had a chance to read (I’m so behind on book reading actually, finding it hard to get through books these days — magazines and the internet have destroyed my attention span).

I’ve alluded a few times to the fact that Yuko has developed a bit of an obsession over DOUBUTSU NO MORI (ANIMAL CROSSING) and that I’ve pretty much lost access to my DS because of it — I won’t tell you how many hours she plays a day, but I think you can already figure out that it’s more than one. Want to know why DSes are selling like crazy in Japan? Just now she told me that she was spending some time with someone she later found out was an 11 year old girl. How did she find out? The other person that was hanging out in the village with them was her father, also playing on a DS right next to her. And the mother? She was in the same room, with her DS in hand, playing one of the popular brain training games. Oh, and the big brother also has his own DS.

I just can’t see the PSP developing this sort of family interaction — and that’s exactly what it is, a new way for family members to interact with each other.

From Kyodo News, under the title “Businesses, academia launch ‘Japanesque modern’ campaign”:

Japanesque modern? Is Japanesque even a word?

One thing I always appreciate when Momus spends time in Japan is that his blog, Click Opera, suddenly gets a very heavy Japan focus. Today, the topic is sleep, and he also connects it to the magazine KU:NEL.

In a related note, when I was talking with the staff at Cafe Pause this week about what they did during the New Year holidays, the most common answer pretty much revolved around one thing: sleep.

Momus gets excited about onsen again.

What you’re seeing in the above image are in fact sweets made up to look like your typical burger combo. Patrick has more on the Mamido Burger stand in Shibuya.

For those who seem to find fault in my site because I don’t address political issues — it’s a design/pop culture site, silly — let me steer you to Momus’ latest post at Click Opera.

This is where Yuko went to vote today (she’s in the picture). Looking at the TV reports right now, it looks like a landslide victory for the LDP.

Who would have imagined that keitai use would lead to a healthier lifestyle! From Japan Today:

“The number of junior high and high school students who own cell phones is increasing, and there is a high chance that phone bills are weighing on the money they spend on cigarettes.”

- Kenji Hayashi, head of the research team of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and an assistant director at the National Institute of Public Health, on the drop in the number of teenage smokers. (Kyodo)

I draw your attention to this BBC article about a Japanese bank that is now letting your try to win an exemption from usage fees through a quick game of slots. My question — the Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank? Never heard of it.