Jean Snow [.net]

This Week in Magazines

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by

Jean Snow
in
  • This month’s RELAX (102) is all about a subject I have next to no interest in: cars. Get a load of the title they gave the issue — “Car + You = Fun!” Bah. I enjoyed the back pages though, especially the fashion spread with SANAA’s Kazuyo Sejima, certainly an unlikely model, and then the “A Girl Like You” column (there’s even a book now).
  • The latest CASA BRUTUS (Vol. 65) is all about travel (or vacance, as they say) destinations, featuring their 100 picks for 2005. There’s also a great piece on anime classic GUNDAM called “GUNDAM as Art, Design and Architecture.”
  • CASA BRUTUS also has a mook out this month, “From Nippon: Anonymous Beauty in Japan,” and it’s bilingual. They had it on display at ABC in Aoyama, but not at Junkudo in Ikebukuro (where I do my reading), so I haven’t had a chance to leaf through it yet. It looks like it covers traditional Japanese design.
  • Another nice mook out on the newsstands is DESIGN BY DESIGN, with the tagline “Tokyo Lifestyle Design.” The inside features beautiful photography, and the “Design Index” article is mostly bilingual (but the rest of the issue is not). I was really tempted to pick it up, but it’s a bit expensive (1800 yen). It was released by TOKYO CALENDAR magazine, a monthly cityguide that usually features lots of pricey restaurants with really nice interiors.