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Your Guide to Design and Pop Culture in Tokyo

This Week at MoCo Loco

PRISMOID

This week’s Tokyo post at MoCo Loco is up, covering the new Iida phones (above, Naoto Fukasawa’s PRISMOID), Ryohei Yoshiyuki’s “Time of the Sky” watch, and Nendo’s Music Cage speaker.

On Design for March 2008

Digital Cordless Telephone, Strapped Orthogonality, Ashtub Trico

This month’s edition of my “On Design” column was in yesterday’s THE JAPAN TIMES, and can be read online here. In it, I cover Conof’s Digital Cordless Telephone, Mitsuhiro Kanada’s Strapped Orthogonality, Ideaco’s Ashtub Trico, Nendo’s Cabbage Chair, and a peek at next month’s Milano Salone.

PingMag: Jun Hanyunyuu

Jun Hanyunyuu

PingMag interviews manga creator Jun Hanyunyuu.

Interior Lifestyle

At Tokyo Big Sight for the Interior Lifestyle show, which I’m covering for MoCo Loco.

A Sunday Night Drink

Finishing off the weekend with a glass of MUJI red wine.

Gone Hiking

Out in Okutama today. What a beautiful day!

Comics on the Train

That’s right, comics, not manga. In all my years in Japan, this is the very first time I ever see someone take out an American comic to read on the train, in this case the latest issue of Warren Ellis’ THUNDERBOLTS. I did ask this guy permission before taking the shot, telling him I knew the writer and that he’d probably get a kick out of seeing this.

Niku

The fact that someone drew the kanji for meat on the cover of this free paper is unremarkable, but what if I tell you that they also drew it on almost every forehead of every picture inside! That’s dedication.

Wall Frames by Nendo

Wall Frames by Nendo

Remember that wall-climbing room with frames that I posted about a while back? Seems that it was designed by Nendo. Via Core77 (I don’t really see why they describe Nendo as a “start-up” unit though.)

Muji Tokyo Midtown

You just know I had to come on opening day!

21_21

Checking out the 21_21 Design Sight.

Rhodia

Does my wife know how to make her husband happy or what! She came back home with these for me. I love stationery, yes I do!

Sakura 2007

It’s time — the cherry blossoms are in full bloom!

RTR 12

Copies of the latest issue of free paper RTR at Cafe Pause. There are a few pieces by PMKFA inside.

White Chocolate Strawberry Parfait

About to order one of these suckers at Royal Host in Aoyama.

PauseTalk

PauseTalk is a regular series of events that take place at Cafe Pause on the first Monday of every month, with a start time of 20:00. The idea is to create a forum where Tokyo-based creatives can get together and discuss their own projects, as well as cultural currents of the city. The next edition happens March 8.

PLAY is a series of events with Jean Snow spinning some of his favorite virtual discs in a casual setting at Cafe Pause. The next edition happens in January. See the setlist for previous editions here, and subscribe to a feed of the mixes.
Game

Being a survey of recommended titles for your gaming pleasure. New games are added 2-3 times weekly, and all selections are by your host, Jean Snow, a Tokyo-based writer and gamer.

Jean Snow is a contributor to Arcade Mania, your guide to the arcade gaming scene in Japan (Amazon US/Amazon Japan). He also provided assistance on Tokyolife: Art and Design, a guide to Tokyo's cultural output of the past few years, covering the works of over 80 influential creatives.
He will be contributing to the upcoming fifth editions of The Rough Guide to Tokyo and The Rough Guide to Japan, due for release in 2011.

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Jean Snow lives and breathes design, pop culture, and gaming in Tokyo -- sustained by an unhealthy addiction to magazines and frequent visits to his favorites cafes. He has reported on these obsessions for the following online/offline publications: Time, Inside (Australian Design Review), Gizmodo, Gridskipper, Kotaku, Tokyo Q, Superfuture, OK Fred, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, I.D. (International Design), Metropolis, Azure, MoCo Loco, Kateigaho International Edition, Wired's Game|Life, PingMag, CNNGo, and The Japan Times. He also manages the gallery space at Cafe Pause.

He writes a monthly column covering Japanese product design for The Japan Times, called "On Design." It appears on the fourth Thursday of every month, in both the print edition and online.

Pecha Kucha Night

I'm also a proud member of the Pecha Kucha Night family, working on various projects, including updating Pecha Kucha Daily, a blog that highlights the creativity coming out of PKN events worldwide.

PauseTalk

I serve as editor-at-large at Néojaponisme, a web journal covering social and cultural aspects of Japan. Read the manifesto, by founder and chief editor W. David Marx.

Colophon

The "Jean Snow" logo is made up of the Blackout open source typeface. The "M31" logo is by Ian Lynam, and is part of a series of 31 unique designs. The site's design is based on the Grid Focus WordPress theme by Derek Punsalan.

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