all photos by Masao Nishikawa
In a city like Tokyo, achieving both natural light and privacy in your home is a high-wire balancing act. Overdo it on side and the other suffers. The latest solution comes from Naruse-Inokuma Architects, who recently completed their “Split House” in a dense, suburban neighborhood of Tokyo.
Move over Segway. Step aside Honda’s Uni-Cub. A Japanese engineer has invented a better way to travel. The WalkCar, developed by 26-year old Kuniaki Sato looks like a laptop. Except when you put it on the ground, step on it and lean forward, it takes you on a magic carpet ride.
Masato Watanabe is an artist who lives in Ashiya, a small city in Hyogo, Japan, where he practiced perspective drawing and illustration for over 25 years. But in 2009 Watanabe discovered watercolors. Attracted by the transparency of the medium, Watanabe continued to work and now, 6 years later, he creates wonderfully complex scenes of Japan that feature lines so crisp its hard to believe they were made from watercolors.
The chubby faucet (12,500) is one of several whimsical and absurd products that Kakudai makes
The Osaka-based Kakudai has a very serious catalog of products. Over 900 pages of sinks, faucets, pipes, valves, toilets and other water-related products. But someone at the company must have a great sense of humor because because buried within those 900 pages are a series of faucets that will make you look twice.
the cover of the 1st issue of Shukan Anpo published in June of 1969
The Beheiren (previously) was a Japanese activist group formed in 1965 to protest Japanese involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1969 they started their own periodical called Shukan Anpo (Weekly Anpo). It managed to reach a significant number of students and intellectuals, rallying a group of new-leftists who were dissatisfied with policies and programs at the time. Shukan Anpo generally consisted of several longform essays, reports on other political movements in the U.S. and around the world, photo-journalistic reports on incidents around Japan and political cartoons.
“Spoon Tamago” written in Tokyo 2020 font (our only complaint is the ampersand wasn’t available)
The logo for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was revealed 2 weeks ago, on the date that marked exactly 5 years to the opening ceremony. And while you certainly can’t please everyone, we loved it and felt the general consensus was a thumbs up as well. Now, Japanese programmer Mitsuhide Matsuda has created a font generator that lets you type out words and even phrases using a font based on the original logo design.
a cake-shaped merry-go-round is the centerpiece at the new Kawaii Monster Cafe in Tokyo
If Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is the reigning queen of Japanese kawaii culture, then the king is undoubtedly Sebastian Masuda. Having founded his 6% DOKIDOKI shop in Harajuku almost 20 years ago, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Masuda was largely responsible for the cultivation and subsequent rise of Kyary herself.
Despite overseeing megahits like PONPONPON and Fashion Monster as art director, the colorful success has largely been attributed to Kyary. But in recent months Masuda has seeked greater presence and recognition, first with an art show in NYC last year, a site-specific installation (currently ongoing) and now a new café in Tokyo.
The swatting of futons being aired out on the balcony. The gentle pitter-patter of rain that falls onto ceramic tile roofs. The chiming crossing gates that holds traffic as trains pass by. If you’ve spent time in Japan these are simply, to borrow from David Foster Wallace, the banal platitudes of everyday life.
They’re some of the most obvious realities that are equally some of the most difficult to see, unless we are reminded of them. Perfectly capturing some these moments, and thereby reminding us how real, beautiful and essential they are, is illustrator Yuuta Toyoi.
“Lunch With a Helmet On” (1987) made from forks, spoons and knives
We wrote about graphic designer Shigeo Fukuda last month but there was a side of him, one that’s rare amongst graphic designers, that we didn’t get to discuss. When he wasn’t creating posters for social and environmental causes, Fukuda applied his visual wit and allusion to a series of assemblages constructed from what could only be construed as trash.
His 1987 piece “Lunch with a Helmet On” is made from hundreds of forks, knives and spoons. But when a light is cast onto the sculpture at just the right angle, a shadow of a motorcycle is cast onto floor, revealing the assemblages true intent.
Continue reading
photos by Shunsuke Shiinoki | click to enlarge
There are some places where flowers just weren’t meant to grow. Harsh environments like the stratosphere, where freezing temperatures and atomic oxygen permits only basic life forms to survive. But artist Makoto Azuma has taken it upon himself to create colorful bouquets of flowers in “environments where nature does not allow them to exist.”
His ongoing project, which he’s titled “In Bloom,” is now in its second iteration. And this time around Azuma and his staff traveled to the Hinoba-an Sea in the Philippines where they created a 13-foot flower bouquet made from 10,000 flowers and floated it in the middle of the ocean.
OrySnack: The Bar Where Bartenders Work From Home
Tokyo is Gearing Up for an Art-Filled Fall. And the Entire City is Here for It
Japanese Aquarium Drops 2026 Version of Flowchart Illustrating Their Penguin Relationships. This Year There’s an English Version.
Candidates Announced for Suica Penguin’s Successor. A Public Vote Will Decide the Outcome
Winners of Japan’s 2027 Packaging Design Awards
