Jean Snow [.net]

Category: City Life

  • Tabling at Comiket

    ā€”

    by

    Jean Snow
    in ,

    I’m embarrassed to say that despite my absolute love of manga (and comics in general), I’ve never once made it out to Comiket (“Comic Market”), the world’s largest comics convention, focusing on fan/unlicensed comics, and held twice annually at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center. I have plenty of friends who have gone, but reading…

  • Controller of Controller

    ā€”

    by

    Jean Snow
    in , , , , ,

    Yesterday I wrote about this year’s edition of the Dotmov digital film festival, and I just watched one of the entries which I quite enjoyed, Controller of Controller. Directed by Densuke28, it’s an Inception-like experience of a player playing a game, and then playing a game within that game (see, told you it was Inception-like).…

  • Dotmov Festival 2016

    ā€”

    by

    Jean Snow
    in , , , ,

    As I go through my site’s archives, I’m reminded of how much I loved annual digital short film festivals — like Resfest and Onedotzero. Most of these don’t exist anymore, butĀ oneĀ that still continues with its annual showing is Shift magazine‘s Dotmov, with the 2016 edition about to hit the road. Although the best experience remains…

  • Maki Nomiya’s Un Homme et Une Femme

    ā€”

    by

    Jean Snow
    in , ,

    One of the first friends I made when I moved to Tokyo was Patrick Benny, who I had met through a Pizzicato Five mailing list (P5ML) — I metĀ quite a few good friends that way, including W. David Marx and Jesper Larsson. We all shared a love for Shibuya-kei music, and Patrick was especially into…

  • Metanet Tokyo Map

    ā€”

    by

    Jean Snow
    in ,

    When you visit Tokyo, it’s always nice to have a bunch of recommendations onĀ places to check out before you get there, and my friends Mare Sheppard and Raigan Burns — otherwise known as Metanet Software, creators of the fantastic N series of super platformers — have done everyone a solid by sharing a Google map…

  • Tomoyuki Tanaka

    ā€”

    by

    Jean Snow
    in , ,

    I can’t believe it. The image you see here (of Shibuya station, from this Architizer post) was drawn first by pencil, and then pen, by Tomoyuki Tanaka. He has created these massive and insanely detailed works for various stations, and they’re currently on show at the “Doboku Civil Engineeringā€ exhibition at 21_21 Design Sight.

  • Portland in Tokyo

    ā€”

    by

    Jean Snow
    in , , ,

    This was definitely something that I was already seeing before I left Tokyo, and I see that it has continued with gusto. I’m referring to the growing love of all things Portland in Tokyo, via quirky cafes/bars that go as far as serving imported craft beers from the city. Here’s a piece that offers up…

  • Kokoro & Moi & Escalator Records

    ā€”

    by

    Jean Snow
    in , , ,

    Back during the heights of the Shibuya-kei scene, Escalator Records was one of my favorite labels, and I loved visiting its shop and cafe as well. Kokoro & Moi were responsible for a lot of the label’s branding (including at their physical spaces), and it’s nice to see a few examples here. Now I really…

  • House Vision 2

    ā€”

    by

    Jean Snow
    in , ,

    It’s too late to take in the “House Vision 2” exhibition (it ended this past Sunday) but you can still experience some of the highlights courtesy of this Japan Times piece, written by Mio Yamada, who was theĀ last editor of my “On Design” column (and who continues to write it now). The exhibition offered a…

  • Poweredby.Tokyo

    ā€”

    by

    Jean Snow
    in , , ,

    I’ve just come across Poweredby.Tokyo, a new community site that looks to shine a light on the “Tokyojin,” the people (Japanese or not)Ā whoĀ make up the creative spirit of Tokyo, and to share the parts of the city thatĀ give them the most joy. The site is incredibly slick, and you can dig into the various stories…