Month: May 2004

Today’s my birthday. I turn 31. 31 on May 31. Let’s hope for a good year.

JapanDesignNet takes you on a tour of Tokyo storefronts. Pics galore. Link via RE.

Another interview with me is up, and you can read it here. I think I’ll add permanent links in my “about” section to these (also the one done with Robert).

Japanese cinema specialists Midnight Eye have recently released a new update to their site that includes a lengthy interview with Kitamura Ryuhei (known for his cult classic VERSUS, and now director of the final Godzilla film), and a review of THE TASTE OF TEA, the new film by SHARK SKIN MAN AND PEACH HIP GIRL director Ishii Katsuhito.

Marxy lets us know that Tokumaru Shugo (who I’ve been gushing about for a couple of weeks now) will be live at Enban in Koenji on Friday June 4 (he goes on at 7). That is absolute bad news for me because my job prevents me from seeing live shows that start at 7 during weekdays (including Fridays). I am so disapointed…

The latest edition of REALTOKYO editor Ozaki Tetsuya’s OUT OF TOKYO column takes us on a tour of a developing bookshop and book cafe culture in Tokyo, and takes a look at the new PAPER SKY produced BOOK246 shop. If Tokyo is to have wars, then let them be book/cafe wars!

Shortly after the “golden week” this May, Book 246 opened in Aoyama 1-chome on the front side of the first floor of Lattice Aoyama, an old building that has been in the headlines when it was “R”-ed into a designer apartment. The rather small space is produced by bilingual travel culture magazine and self-proclaimed “in-flight magazine for the living room”, Paper Sky, and in its shelves a total of about 2,000 new and old books, magazines, as well as about 100 different accessory items that are related to the travel topic in one way or another are lined up in a tasteful way. At the cosy Cafe 246 that opened at the same time right next door, I talked to one of the shop’s initiators, Haba Yoshitaka. He is a veteran book coordinator who has been working among others for Tsutaya Tokyo Roppongi.

Looks like Godzilla is going out with a bang.

The 28th film in the series will pit Godzilla against 10 other monsters, wrecking Sydney, New York, Paris, Shanghai and much of Japan in the process, said a spokesman for production company Toei.

But this won’t really be the last film in the series.

Godzilla is set for a lengthy break after this, says Toei. ‘I don’t think there will be another movie for at least five or maybe 10 years. I would like to pour all the know-how of the last 50 years into this commemorative movie and make it the best one,’ said producer Shogo Tomiyama. ‘I don’t think another Godzilla movie will be made until a completely new way of visual expression is found.’

Read the full article at the Japan Today site.