Categories
Art

Gener8ion

I’m not quite sure how to describe the Tumblr called Gener8ion — 80s/90s retro Japan? — but I just know that I love the visuals on display.

Categories
Games

Latest Trends in the Japanese Mobile Game Industry

If you’re curious about where Japanese mobile gaming has been over the past year and where it’s trending, here’s a great report by Motoi Okamoto to fill you in on what’s up.

Categories
Games Stores

Retro Gaming Shopping Tips

Things have changed a lot when it comes to shopping for classic games in Japan — Akihabara isn’t filled with all the gems you used to find (or at the bargain prices you remember) — and so it’s great to find a post like the one written by Steve Lin, that gives a good idea of what to expect these days, and what to be on the lookout for.

Categories
Web

The Year of Nothing

Néojaponisme has tended to end the year with a collection of short pieces by a bevy of collaborators (including me), looking back at some of the top ideas, topics, and themes that marked Japan that year. This year, as David shares in this essay, nothing much happened, and that’s OK. He also ends with a little tease about a new Néojaponisme project for 2017, and that’s certainly something to get excited about.

Categories
Books

Let’s Speak English, The Book

I wasn’t aware of the web comic by Mary Cagle that this Kickstarter book project draws from, but from what I’m seeing on the Kickstarter page, it looks like a real fun series (as evidenced by the strip above). We are definitely many to have experienced the joys of teaching English in Japan (I did it for years, and it’s what gave me the time to develop my writing skills through my blog) and so it’s great to see something that celebrates and has fun with the activity, instead of just being negative about it. Found via Daniel Feit.

Categories
Events Music

Record Day 2016

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The West has Record Store Day, but for Japan, November 3 is “Record Day,” and for this year’s edition, Patrick shares some of his picks of special vinyl releases — you’ll find the full list of releases here.

Categories
Design

Japan Expo 70 Stamp Poster

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I really love this poster that brings together pavilion stamps relating to Japan’s 1970 Expo. Designed by Alessandro Rinaudo, it’s a Kickstarter project with 2 weeks left, and currently at about 60% of its goal.

Categories
Art

Kizuna in Kobe

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The Creators Project has a nice piece up on the making of a street art project in Kobe, “Kizuna” by Sam Rodriguez. You’ll find more photos of the piece and the making of it on Sam’s Instagram account.

Categories
Events Games Personal

For Honor Alpha in Japan

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It’s been incredibly exciting for me this week to see our game, For Honor, get a live debut in Japan through our Alpha event that kicked off yesterday — following a similar event in North America and Europe last month.

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To all my friends in Japan, if you’d like to play the game, it’s available now as a download on the Japanese PSN Store, and the event runs until Monday. You’ll need a credit card for the download, due to the game being rated “Z” (for age verification).

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It’s been pretty neat seeing the game featured on the front page of the Japanese PSN Store on the web, as well as on the console (see images in this post).

Categories
Games

Oink Games

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I’ve been on a card/board game kick of late — my wife suggested she’d like to play some with me, and so I went out and picked up a few things that I thought might be good for us to play (Hanabi, Sushi Go, The Hobbit Card Game, Mr. Jack Pocket, Art of War — I used to have a rather large collection back in Tokyo, but I sold it all to friends when I left, only keeping my two editions of Love Letter).

One thing I never paid much attention to while I was in Japan were card games made by Japanese designers (well, not counting games that have been published in the west, like the aforementioned Love Letter). Last week I posted about indie publisher Manifest Destiny, and as my wife was looking for info on games online, she pointed out all the lovely card games of Oink Games (they’ve also produced a few iOS games). Most if not all of their games seem to be pretty import friendly, as the card themselves don’t have any text on them, and so it’s just a matter of finding the rules in English.