Category: City Life

  • PauseTalk Next Week

    One of the interesting things that has happened since my return to Asia is the return of PauseTalk. As I wrote in detail in this post, when I left Tokyo back in 2015 I also decided to put an end to my PauseTalk series (with Vol. 85). I wasn’t really interested in handing it over…

  • PechaKucha

    I’m happy to say that I’m getting in the PechaKucha swing of things again, getting involved with the PechaKucha Night series in Shanghai in the lead-up to our move there. This is not to say that I left PechaKucha completely behind after I left Tokyo and the organization back in 2015. I’m still a strong…

  • Friday Fluke

    Pretty much ever since I’ve worked at Ubisoft Montréal, I’ve sent out an email at 16:oo on Fridays to invite everyone on the team to take it easy as we head into the weekend. It started out as a pretty typical “beer mail” — as Production Coordinator on For Honor, one of the things I…

  • Googie

    I finally have the name to associate with a type of old-school diner/coffee shop I love so much: googie (here are some photos). I came across it while reading an article in a recent issue of Monocle (the October 2018 issue, which I hadn’t finished reading). Although it’s a disappearing genre, there’s a bright spot…

  • GameLoop & GCX

    Today was an enjoyable day, taking in Montreal’s annual GameLoop “unconference” — “unconference” in the sense that as a group we crowdsource the sessions for the day, with each session then acting as a salon-type discussion. After leaving Japan and moving to Montreal, it’s taken a while for me to decide to start attending this…

  • Tokyo Signs

    I don’t know how I missed this, but I’m in love with everything that Tokyo Signs has to offer — t-shirts, iPhone cases, a tote bag, and even a pair of tights, all inspired by Tokyo’s signage. The line is produced by Bento Graphics (led by my buddy Benjamin) and they promise items in the future.…

  • Shibuya-kei Festival

    I so wish I could have attended this Shibuya-kei festival (Shibuya Music Scramble 2017), featuring Maki Nomiya, Yasuharu Konishi, Halfby, Hideki Kaji… Read the amazing report by Patrick here.

  • Designart Reports

    Designart has come and gone (held in Tokyo last month, October 16-22), but here are a couple of reports to read on the event that was, from The Japan Times and Dezeen. So happy to see Mark and Astrid (Klein Dytham architecture) be involved in this, and it sounds like it’s the start of a…

  • Ubiday 2017

    Hey, I get to put on my employee hat, and write something that relates to Japan today. On October 9, at Shibuya Hikarie, is Ubisoft Japan’s annual “Ubiday 2017” fan event. Lots of details here. Why no sign of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle? The game’s Japan release is set for early next year.

  • Indie Megashow Tokyo

    Alas, Tokyo Game Show is just around the corner, and it’s again going to be something I’m going to miss — along with the legendary pre-TGS 8-4 party and big Nakame drinkup at Otaru — but I’m still happy to see that there’s now a new cool event set for TGS week, organized by my buddies at…