And so I’m off, leaving TYO-town for the next three weeks in a trip that will first take me to Boston for a week (my wife is doing some research at Harvard), two weeks in my hometown of Moncton, New Brunswick, and then a short two days in NYC before getting back at the end of July.

I’ll actually still be contributing to Game|Life on a daily basis, so it’s not really a holiday for me, but it’ll be nice to go back home for a bit — first time in three years! I will continue to pop up here every now and again, but expect to see a definite slowdown over the next three weeks.

The photo is of me enjoying a couple of beers at Minami-Ikebukuro park, taken a week ago by my friend Julie. Nothing like a good beer out in the park!

Frequent PauseTalker Chris Kirby is currently holding an exhibition, the “Negative Series,” at the cafe until July 7. Says Chris about the show:

Tomorrow night (Friday, July 4, from 19:30) Chris will be on hand at the cafe for an informal reception. It will also be my final night in Tokyo before leaving the country for the next three weeks, so if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by for a drink or two!

This week in my weekly Tokyo post for MoCo Loco: the Lamp base stand from 100%, Kyouei’s exhibition and prototypes, and the “Dinner Party of the Dead” exhibition.

I’m afraid I’m having to cancel the July edition of PauseTalk (Vol. 23) because, well, I’ll be out of the country. I’m heading to the US and Canada for three weeks — first time back in three years — and even though I was hoping to leave a bit later, circumstances made it impossible.

Apologies to those who were hoping to attend, as well as to Chris Kirby, who will be having an exhibition at Cafe Pause at the end of the month (June 30 to July 7), and was going to present his works. He’ll be having an informal reception on the evening of July 4 (Friday) at cafe, so come join us then.

PauseTalk will be back the following month, to be held August 4.

My weekly Tokyo post at MoCo Loco is up, this time covering Cocco’s Branco bench, Michiko Fukuoka’s TERU-TERU wind chimes, Flame’s Cappuccino Light, and the “Japanese Design at the Milano Salone 2008” exhibition at the Tokyo Design Center.

For the exhibition, Keiji will be participating, showing his Gravity Light and a new version of his Parabola Light during June 19-24. There’s an opening party tomorrow night (Friday) from 19:00.

As I was walking down Azuma street in Ikebukuro yesterday, near my place, I saw this poster inside a moving truck.

OK Fred is having its second “Gorilla Store” temporary shop at OK Fred HQ, this time with goods from Assistant and PMKFA on sale. The shop is open from 14:00 to 19:00. The photos are from a preview I attended Friday night.

My weekly Tokyo for MoCo Loco is up, this time covering the “Interior Lifestyle” show (at Tokyo Big Sight until today), Takafumi Nemoto’s Lessev, and the Plusminuszero Umbrella.

I attended Microsoft’s press event in Shibuya for their upcoming Xbox 360 RPG lineup yesterday, and as we left we were given this bottle of sake. I have to say this is definitely the best piece of swag I’ve ever gotten at an event. Love that play on words too — “Xbox 360 no RPG deSHU” (instead of “desu,” with “shu” being an alternate reading of the kanji for sake).

Here are the posts I wrote about the event for Game|Life:

• Gallery: Xbox Bash in Tokyo Celebrates Upcoming RPGs
• Hands-On: Tales of Vesperia Does Cel-Shading Right
• Hands-On: Infinite Undiscovery Is Action Packed
• Microsoft RPG Event: A Look at Star Ocean 4

This past Friday night I attended the reception for Assistant’s “Absent City” exhibition, held at their office in Shinjuku. The show runs until June 12.

Thanks to everyone who made it out to this month’s edition of PauseTalk (Vol. 22). It was a great group, and gave us a chance to cover some interesting projects and ideas (and thank you Julie for the above photo). Below, as always, is the list of participants. Next month’s edition is scheduled for July 7.

• Chris Kirby (Designer)
• Hiroaki Koshiba (Artist)
• James Okubo (Filmmaker)
• Jean Snow (Writer)
• Joe Keenan (Graphic Designer)
• Josh McKible (Illustrator)
• Julie Forgues (Photographer)
• Masao Tamaoki (Online Retail)
• Max Hodges (Publisher)
• Panthea Lee (Writer)
• Ralf Baehren (Designer)
• Robin Anthony Coe (Mixed-Media Artist)
• Taka Sudo (Illustrator)
• Takaaki Koshiba (Musician)

My weekly Tokyo post for MoCo Loco is up, this time covering Noritake 60’s latest dish collection, a look at the glass works of Tokujin Yoshioka, and the “Wooden Chairs for Daily Life” exhibition.

The Shu Uemura store on Omotesando. The brand is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of this, its first boutique, and the art direction for the latest line is by Tokyo-based Gwenael Nicolas. This month will also see a special exhibition for the brand at the Mori Art Museum.

The current exhibition at Atelier MUJI — inside the MUJI flagship store in Yurakucho — covers info on fair trade products, including some from MUJI.

Hiro had another live painting event earlier tonight at Cafe Pause. The place was packed!