Month: May 2006

  • An Afternoon in Harajuku and Aoyama

    I had quite a productive day yesterday, starting early in Harajuku, followed by an interview session for the METROPOLIS podcast (about a piece I’m writing for them), and then some more walking around Aoyama. Took plenty of pictures — including that new building in Harajuku I’ve been talking lots about — and I’ll put those…

  • New Nintendo CM

    Terrific new Nintendo TV commercial featuring music by Mayumi Kojima (“Hatsukoi”). Link via Kotaku. Update: A reader points out that this is actually an old commercial from a few years ago.

  • APMT2

    Yosuke Kurita of CBCNET has sent me word of the APMT2 design/art conference he’s producing, which will also be accompanied by an exhibition. I happens June 17-18 at SuperDeluxe (with the exhibition June 17-July 2 at Gallery SpeakFor), with more info here.

  • Inside the New Bondi Books

    Bondi Books, the used English bookstore in Kichijoji, has just updated its blog with pictures of the new shop interior. What a change from the old shop!

  • Soccer Ball Homes

    Soccer ball-shaped model houses, called “Barier,” are on display at a facility of manufacturer Kimidori Housing, near Nagoya. The houses, which are resistant to earthquakes and float on water, are priced at 1,390,000 yen. (Crisscross)

  • Yuri Arai

    The next exhibition we have scheduled for Gallery Pause is by artist Yuri Arai, being held June 5-18. The image you see here is from the event flyer.

  • Gallery Pause

    I haven’t talked about it here yet, but I recently was put in charge of organizing the gallery space at Cafe Pause. As manager of Gallery Pause, I’m in charge of dealing with artists, and accepting or rejecting requests for shows (as well as helping with the setup). I was waiting to put up some…

  • This Week in Magazines

    The latest BRUTUS (593), another square-bound issue, celebrates the upcoming “World Cup Kick Off” with a feature that covers pretty much everything you would need to know about the “beatiful game.” There’s also an interesting fold-out within to help illustrate an article on bars. PEN (175) decides to focus on “Children and the New Future,”…

  • Naoki Honjo’s Small Planet

    I’ve already shared with you my love for Naoki Honjo’s photography, and I’m also in love with his new book that was just released through Little More, SMALL PLANET (English page with no link to order). It’s a nice little publication filled with that diorama-like photography I just can’t get enough of — and I’m…

  • Billionaire Boys Club

    The Billionaire Boys Club (Nigo/Pharell) store in Harajuku — which I’m assuming is a Wonderwall design, even though it’s not listed on their site — along with the space for its Ice Cream brand.