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Art Fashion Photography Web

Mondo Tokyo

Where’s the best place to get your Patrick Macias fix these days? The action is happening over at Wattpad, in the form of his “Mondo Tokyo: Snapshots from Inside Japanese Subculture” series of mini essays about aspects of Japan culture he’s been taking in over the years. In the introduction to the series, he also teases an upcoming long fiction project, which is exciting as well. Hot tears of shame forever.

 

Categories
Fashion Magazines Photography

Let Her Paint

I love this colorful fashion shoot (and more here) by Tokyo-based photographer Chris Mollison for Rogue magazine.

Categories
Books Fashion

What Comes After Ametora?

As he highlights in his latest “Ametora Dispatches” newsletter, it’s been a year since the release of David’s Ametora, and it’s great to hear that he’s already focusing on the next book he will write. Even better, we’ll get to ride along — and offer feedback — as he writes it.

Starting in January, I am going to hunker down to focus on writing a new book — which at the moment will be not about Japan but a guide to the mechanics of cultural change. I wrote Ametora semi-secretly for about two years (i.e. I did not post excerpts), but for this next book, I would like to share the content in real time to get immediate critique and feedback. I will need your help.

I’m very excited to hear more about this.

Categories
Fashion Web

The Ametora Annotation of the Beams’ 40th Anniversary Video

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David is on an absolute writing tear these days, and following last week’s Pizzicato Five discography review, this week he posts to his “Ametora Extended” collection on Medium (supporting his Ametora book) a massive — and yes, ultimate — guide to that fantastic video Beams released back in October. Sit back, and find out more about all of the fashion movements that popped up in the video.

Categories
Fashion

An Interview with Hiroshi Fujiwara

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I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but here’s an interview with legendary fashion curator Hiroshi Fujiwara by Tiffany Godoy.

Categories
Art Design Fashion Film Games Web

The Latest from Toco Toco

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I haven’t posted about Toco Toco recently, but it continues to be one of my favorite web series, and so let me remind you that you should really check it out if you’re on the lookout for a beautifully produced series of documentary shorts covering Tokyo creatives. The last 3 episodes cover accessory designer KAE, fashion designer Nukeme, and animator ShiShi Yamazaki (pictured). And here’s also a reminder that director Anne Ferrero is also behind this year’s excellent feature documentary about the Japanese indie game scene, Branching Paths.

Categories
Books Fashion

Interview with Takeyoshi Hayashida

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David continues to add to his “Ametora Extended” collection of articles that support Ametora, this time sharing an interview he conducted while researching the book, with Van’s Takeyoshi Hayashida.

Categories
Fashion Music Stores Web

40 Years of Tokyo Style in 1 Video

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I love this video so damn much. Produced by retail chain Beams, it’s a whirlwind tour of Tokyo style/culture over the past 40 years, compiled in a fun 5-minute mix of motion graphics and music. 40 years of fashion styles and music, and it makes me feel old when I think that I was there for almost half of it. Pictured, one of my favorite movements, associated with Shibuya-kei (although this is a bit early, in 1993 — I experienced the tail end). Found via David.

Categories
Advertisements Fashion Food TV

Match Set Position

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I really like this commercial for the Match energy drink — you can also watch a behind-the-scenes video. The choreography is definitely by AyaBambi, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a hand in producing the outfits as well. Found via my buddy Daniel Feit.

Categories
Art Design Fashion Games Photography

Urban Layers

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My friend Mare is a game creator (maker, with her partner Raigan, of the fantastic N series) and she’s currently spending some time in Tokyo, something that has turned into an annual sojourn for the team. The reason for this post though is to share a fantastic mood board that Mare just shared through Pinterest, which she called “Game 1 – Urban Layers.” Having spent a lot of time going through these images — a lot of them relating to Japan, like the shot in this post of a section of Golden Gai in Shinjuku — I can’t help but dream of a game that is inspired by all of this visual goodness.