this suggests that japan is relatively unique in its concentration of lighter coloured and/or denser web design. A companion site to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6ep308goxQ

Japan made itself rich in its industrial era by selling things like cars, TVs, and VCRs, but it made itself loved in those Lost Decades by selling fantasies. Hello Kitty, comics, anime, and Nintendo games were the first wave—“the big can-opener,” as the game designer Keiichi Yano put it. Now those childhood dreams haven given way to a more sophisticated vision of a Japanese life style, exemplified in the detached cool of Haruki Murakami novels, the defiantly girly pink feminism of kawaii culture, the stripped-down simplicity of Uniqlo, the “unbranded” products of Muji, and the Japanese “life-changing magic” of Marie Kondo. That these Japanese products are so popular, not only in America but in developed nations around the world, may indicate that we’re all groping for meaning in the same post-industrial haze.

On a warm November morning last month, I was in the grandstands for the Japanese Eastern Command’s Parade of the Eastern Army. As the seats around me slowly filled before the performance, I noticed a pair of young men in puffy down jackets on the tarmac below. Peering more closely, I could make out the action figure of a female heroine from an anime series between them. One of the young men took a photograph of the toy and, apparently satisfied with his framing of the mini-skirted cartoon girl against the backdrop of military vehicles, returned the figure to his companion’s satchel and then mounted the stands.

This recipe couldn’t be easier. You just toss the cucumbers in salt, let them sit for 5 or 10 minutes, then gently squeeze out the excess water. Then you mix the cucumber slices in a fragrant blend of sesame oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce.

Blest, a Japanese company, has created machine that melts plastic and cools the vapor to create gasoline. Yikes!

Small MIDI controllers. Glorious.

This must be the best children's show ever.

A fantastic blog on Japanese language, literature, and culture. I revel in this. (And this is what a blog should be — written only so often, and every post is high-quality. Comments are few and long and educated and of very high quality themselves.)

"Asako Narahashi’s series 'half awake and half asleep in the water,' at Yossi Milo Gallery in New York (July 17-August 22, 2008), shows Japan’s coastal areas as seen from the sea. Using a waterproof camera and watching the tide instead of the viewfinder, Narahashi captures a vision of Japan—and of the world—that is at once calming, eerie, enchanting, and unsettling. She is only occasionally swallowed by waves in the process. "

"Music. Dance. Clock."

Spectacularly awesome homespun sprite-anime disco gore apocalypse. With happy metal hardcore soundtrack to boot.

Interview with author Sumie Kawakami about sexless marriages and the falling birth rate in Japan. Covers a lot of interesting ground, if lightly.

The nooks and crannies of megacity Tokyo are filled with "flowerpot gardens." “'To be closer to nature – because otherwise you won’t get any,' says Mizuho, a resident of Asakusa."

I.e.: "She spends her evenings reading manga and drinking at home alone, and she spends her weekends lazing around in bed. She’s a dried-fish woman." And whatever you do, do not miss the Bottom-Biting Bug.

Excellent toy rail-based exhibitions and installations in art galleries, on the water and tops of buildings.

The Demekin camera closeup, with instructions.

"Demekin" is Japanese a type of fish; this is a really small fisheye lens camera. I just got one in the mail from my friend Kaname!

Oh, Japanese TV.

Train guard uses gaffer's tape to make informative and nicely-designed signs while construction blocks normal signage and routes. AWESOME!

A Japanese musician and composer's free anti-war MP3s.

"only pipes. only paper. we are piperoid." Pick up when next in Japan.

Japanese versions of the Apple ads with Mac and PC.

"Since tradition is fictive, there is no reason to feel genetically allied to a tradition. Everyone can freely choose the fictive tradition they wish to work with. Every artist may work with any of the elements found on the planet. Whether an artist can produce something new and exciting from that depends on not the origin of the artist but the artist’s ability."

A series of skits from Japanese TV. Dadaist mannequin awesomeness.

"Since 1998 ... some of the most internationally acclaimed cutting-edge artists." They fancy electronic and experimental music, especially from Japan. Don't miss "Radio Dondon."

"...if the project is successful, the space-time around a tiny point within our universe will be distorted in such a way that it will begin to form a new superfluid space, and eventually break off..."

Japanese independent music: news, reviews, features, etc.

He's working for social improvement.

"a western star who uses his or her fame to make large sums of money in a short time by advertising products in Japan that they would probably never use"

"Internet addresses of labels/distributors of Japanese progressive/independent music."