Rapper Shing02′s latest: a short film about technology and happenstance
This weekend I had the pleasure of meeting and having a long sun-soaked breakfast with rapper Shing02, who grew up all over the world — Berkeley, Tanzania, Japan — and now lives in LA. He’s super...
View ArticleHow to do radio calisthenics the right way
Every Japanese kid at some point in their lives has to do radio calisthenics exercises in the morning. Even though I didn’t go to a Japanese school, I stumbled upon this strange ritual at a local...
View ArticleMusic video: Toastie aka Baguette Bardot in Paris
In 2009 I had the great pleasure of interviewing and becoming friends with Toastie, a lovely lady who grew up in Australia and now performs all over the world as the oh-so-wonderfully-kooky Toast...
View ArticleMichael Jackson counting sheep before his piano recital
Shing02 just sent me this hilarious voice over of Michael Jackson’s Beat It video of an insomniac man with an Osaka accent counting sheep and stressing out because he can’t sleep before his piano...
View ArticleStrange video of girls falling head first into mud
Is this a hard core version of trust falls? How do they get out? Thanks, Joe!
View ArticleNew pop-up photo booth makes miniature 3D human replicas
Hello, future of sticker pictures! From November 24-January 14, a pop-up photo booth is opening up in Omotesando that uses a 3D scanner and printer to make tiny replicas of people. Visitors have three...
View ArticleWired takes a stab at explaining Japanese torture humor
The December issue of Wired has an article about Japanese humor and the painfully hilarious batsu game culture. Much has been written about Japan’s gross national cool—the worldwide demand for the...
View ArticleThe simplicity and design of MUJI makes a debut in San Francisco
I’m excited to hear about the opening of MUJI USA’s flagship store in San Francisco. During Reverse Tofu in October, I had the incredible opportunity of talking to Mr. MUJI himself — the original...
View ArticleAloe full body mud mask for dogs
Of all the crazy pampering shenanigans that Japanese pet owners can indulge in, a full body aloe extract mud mask is definitely the strangest. I found this along Komazawa Dori in the Ebisu-Daikanyama...
View ArticleJanitor secretly draws intricate maze over seven years
Check out this crazy intricate maze created by an anonymous Japanese man – actually, a janitor who happens to be the father of a Twitter user who casually posted a photo on her feed one day. He had...
View ArticlePeople competing to get the thinnest shaving of wood possible
Kezuroukai (a play on words meaning “let’s shave, shall we?” and “Wood Planing Competition”) is held every year in a different region of Japan. Wood shaving enthusiasts from all over the country...
View ArticleThis boy and his French bulldog are besties
This photo montage of a French bulldog and his little boy owner friend will definitely fulfill your cuteness quota for the day. via Buzzfeed
View ArticleRadioactive Man, short doc about a man who lives in the Fukushima exclusion zone
This is a great mini-documentary by Vice Japan about a man who decided not to move out of the town of Tomioka in Fukushima prefecture, deserted after being designated as part of the exclusion zone...
View ArticlePhotos of school girls blowing other school girls away
Can anybody verify whether this is indeed now a thing in Japan? A much more offbeat and dramatic iteration of the wedding jump tradition? Link (Thanks, Todd!)
View ArticleOldest woman alive provides clues to longevity
Demographically, as a Japanese woman, I’m likely to live pretty much forever — average life expectancy of 87. Longevity researchers have zeroed in on three characteristics that people who live a long...
View ArticleAd campaign to end ALS delivers important messages via friends and celebrities
My high school friend Hiro Fujita was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in late 2010, and ever since then he has quickly lost the ability to control his entire body, with the exception of one...
View ArticleNew Yorker article highlights the culture of suicide in Japan
There’s a great article in the New Yorker this week about a Buddhist monk named Nemoto who has dedicated his life to supporting suicidal people in Japan. More fascinating than the statistics about...
View ArticleDots and Lines, a live calligraphy – music – art event in SF next weekend
Hi guys! Long time no chat. As most of you who still visit this site have probably realized, I’ve taken a hiatus from writing full-time and have been building things in San Francisco and Cambridge,...
View ArticleWait… what happened to the blog TokyoMango?
One Sunday afternoon more than seven years ago, I decided to start a blog. Because I am from Tokyo and I love to eat mangoes, I called it TokyoMango. There was nothing well thought out or profound...
View ArticleHiroo Onoda, soldier who fought for almost 30 years after the war ended, has...
There’s an obituary in last week’s issue of the Economist about a Japanese soldier named Hiroo Onoda who continued to believe he was still serving his duty as a spy on an island in the Philippines for...
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